FCPS comprehensive boundary review

[Anonymous]

I disagree. We are a WSHS family that is not in a neighborhood being considered to move. I think it’s completely unnecessary to move a whole elementary school. I think it makes sense to adjust a few of the split feeders. But I have a son currently at WSHS and we don’t see a capacity problem. We love the school the way it is and don’t trust the numbers they’ve projected. It just doesn’t need a fix.

[Anonymous]

Reid stated at a meeting tonight that rezoning is about manipulating space to move all the 6th grades to middle school.

That is a hill she isn't willing to give up.

She is using WSHS capacity as an excuse to move a WSHS feeder from Irving to Key so she can move 6th grade to middle school.

She was fairly emphatic at the meeting tonight that she will not budge on moving 6th to middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reid stated at a meeting tonight that rezoning is about manipulating space to move all the 6th grades to middle school.

That is a hill she isn't willing to give up.

She is using WSHS capacity as an excuse to move a WSHS feeder from Irving to Key so she can move 6th grade to middle school.

She was fairly emphatic at the meeting tonight that she will not budge on moving 6th to middle school.

What sense does this make?! If you look at the CIP, so many are already over capacity with no budget plans for expansion to accommodate entire new grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reid stated at a meeting tonight that rezoning is about manipulating space to move all the 6th grades to middle school.

That is a hill she isn't willing to give up.

She is using WSHS capacity as an excuse to move a WSHS feeder from Irving to Key so she can move 6th grade to middle school.

She was fairly emphatic at the meeting tonight that she will not budge on moving 6th to middle school.

Can someone put this incredibly stupid woman on a plane back to the Pacific Northwest?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reid stated at a meeting tonight that rezoning is about manipulating space to move all the 6th grades to middle school.

That is a hill she isn't willing to give up.

She is using WSHS capacity as an excuse to move a WSHS feeder from Irving to Key so she can move 6th grade to middle school.

She was fairly emphatic at the meeting tonight that she will not budge on moving 6th to middle school.

Can someone put this incredibly stupid woman on a plane back to the Pacific Northwest?

+1
Please refer to the last work session meeting where Reid said she already had the models for moving 6th to middle school. I would love to know how closely her models align with the maps by Thru.

As an Irving parent each class is 680-700+ and it is very close to capacity. How can they add an entire grade level even if they remove an elementary?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reid stated at a meeting tonight that rezoning is about manipulating space to move all the 6th grades to middle school.

That is a hill she isn't willing to give up.

She is using WSHS capacity as an excuse to move a WSHS feeder from Irving to Key so she can move 6th grade to middle school.

She was fairly emphatic at the meeting tonight that she will not budge on moving 6th to middle school.

What sense does this make?! If you look at the CIP, so many are already over capacity with no budget plans for expansion to accommodate entire new grades.

Hold on, hold on. Let’s give this a close look before we pass judgment. Dr. Reid brings her unique expertise, experience, and insight to this $4 billion organization. After spending her first year and a half getting to know the district and its many diverse pyramids she may have spotted a pattern with her fresh set of eyes that we may not have seen.

Hmmm…let’s see…make middle school grades 6-8…ah, there it is! Did you know that three middle schools are already 6-8 in FCPS:

Glasgow Middle School
Oliver Wendell Holmes Middle School
Edgar Allan Poe Middle School

There it is, you judgmental fools, she is simply trying to replicate the clear outcome success that students from these top middle schools in FCPS have shown at the top high schools these middle schools feed into, such as (checks notes):

Justice High School
Falls Church High School
Annandale High School

Wow. I bet you feel silly now. We should embrace the new slogan for FCPS:

FCPS, More Justice (High) for Everyone

Seriously, though, has it worked at those schools? More importantly, are [u]are the needs of the students at those schools the same as the needs of the students in other pyramids[u]?

We are an enormous and diverse community. More focus should be placed on the unique needs of each group, providing resources directly to schools and teachers to meet the student populations where they are. Simply mushing everyone together into a “One Fairfax” pot only ensures degraded services to each unique group.

Ask a teacher: does intentionally grouping students in a manner that will require additional in-class differentiation improve student learning?

But what would I know. I am just a teacher who has taught in one of the title one school ESs that feeds into one of the middle schools noted above.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:So - I checked the calendar; We should be ending "Data Collection" phase and begin the "Draft Analysis and Draft Scenarios" phase;

June 2025 is the "Community Engagement";

So - the items I'm reading on the thread seem to be more speculation? what am I missing?

I'm looking at HS utilization - Herndon is at 114% and Langley is at 90%. McLean and Marshall are at 128% and 119%. Why is there so much talk about moving kids from Langley to Herndon? You are going to move from a less utilized to over utilized school to teach Langley parents a lesson? I can see moving kids from McLean to Langley the schools are close to each other. Marshall to Falls Church. Falls Church to Annandale;

South Fairfax has the greatest capacity. Logic would indicate shift of students north to south.

No idea where you’re getting these Herndon numbers from. FCPS has Herndon HS at 69% capacity in 2029-30.

And no one wants to be shifted south into low performing schools that often have unattractive IB programs.

Can you show me your source? This is the only one I could find: https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/high2019-20.pdf

I know mine is 5 years old but that's all I could find on the web-site.

You are looking at an old document with capacity numbers that predate Herndon’s expansion.

The latest: https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/Draft-Proposed-CIP-FY2026-30.pdf

Thx. This document goes wildly the other way - Centerville/Chantilly boxed in Wakefield. They need to go North to Herndon/South Lakes/ Oakton/ Madison. Not sure about the racial-balancing conspiracy. You have your hands full just balancing capacity.

If you target Langley to Herndon that would be at the expense of Centerville and Chantilly. If these are the numbers they are going by then no-choice. Madison and Herndon are the only path for these schools.

The CIP they just approved provided for a major expansion of Centreville to 3000 seats.

Chantilly families are in no rush to move and the enrollment is projected to decline.

There are some parents absolutely obsessed with filling up Herndon with kids from schools other than Langley.

Just to be clear; I'm a Herndon grad. Looked at Herndon after renovation and it looks great. Very close with colleagues that have kids in Herndon. In my graduating class - we had one go to Stanford, Princeton, John's Hopkins, and Brown.

My obsession isn't with not going to Herndon it's chasing down some real truth since a lot of what's been said doesn't make sense.

And Chantilly according to the doc will be at 125%(2029-2030) directly contradicts what you just said. Which makes me wonder why you are throwing stones?

Chantilly had a membership of 2916 in the fall of 2024. They are projecting that its enrollment will decline to 2605 by 2029-30.

The latest projections have Chantilly at 98% by 2029-30, including the modular, and 112% excluding the modular (not 125%).

You can talk to Chantilly families, and you aren't going to find many who want to move. Your quest to "chase down some real truth" should start by looking at the latest projections, portraying them accurately rather than inaccurately, and talking to more people in the area.

My source: https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/Draft-Proposed-CIP-FY2026-30.pdf which someone else posted.

Yours?

Same, except I'm reading it correctly. There's nothing in that CIP that projects Chantilly at 125% in 2029-30, as asserted above. The CIP has Chantilly at 125% of program capacity now and next year, exluding the modular currently at the school, and projected to decline to 112%, again excluding the modular, by 2029-30. If the modular were included (and FCPS long took the position that modular seats should be treated the same as permanent seats when considering whether a school was overcrowded), FCPS's latest projection has Chantilly at 98% capacity in 2029-30.

Chantilly has the most compact boundaries in FCPS, along with West Springfield, and people do not want to be moved out of the school, especially if the enrollment is projected to decline.

I read it correctly - you just cherry picked yours.

Even going with your numbers: 98% crowded in 2029/2030 (on an estimate). You need to rephrase to: Chantilly will be overcrowded for at least 5 years. You stated that Chantilly has no reason to move. I guess if your kid is in 3rd grade then Chantilly HS would probably be at capacity.

This is causing an argument just to nitpick.

No, you did not read the CIP correctly, and you misquoted it earlier. The fact that you did so gives you no excuse to put words in my mouth (for example, I never said that Chantilly has "no reason to move," but instead that Chantilly families do not "want" to move) and wish that I'd said something other than what I actually did say when accurately characterizing the information in the latest CIP.

If you want to nitpick, at least show up with a full deck so we have something to discuss. All that's happening now is that you're getting corrected.

No one wants to move but Reid and the school board don’t care. Chantilly is going to be crowded for at least 5 years. They have said at multiple school board meetings they want to do away with Modulars. I don’t know what will happen but it seems unlikely to leave one of the most crowded schools in the county alone and move kids out of under enrolled schools. They want to look at these every 5 years. I bet the SB says we will move you now and revisit in 5 years if population goes down

Chantilly's current 9th grade membership is currently more than 100 fewer than the senior class. I'm not sure about other factors, but, to me, that indicates a decreasing enrollment.

Yep. The latest enrollment numbers are consistent with the forecasts that suggest that Chantilly will not be overcrowded, taken the modular seats into account, by 2029.

And while the SB has talked about getting kids out of modulars, the cost of installing them can run into the millions, so they haven't really considered that it's inefficient not to make use of modular seats that have already been added. The alternative - moving kids around when families don't want to move - seems like political suicide. Mostly we hear about the need to get kids out of modulars from people like Rachna Sizemore-Heizer, who doesn't give a shit about Chantilly and who doesn't have to worry since her kids are out of school and the only school she really cares about - Lake Braddock - has capacity.

Add to that, there is no one in the Chantilly boundary that has a closer high school to attend. Westfield is full and so is Centreville.

Once Centerville expansion is done they will be at 69% and then there will be the discrepancy like there is from Herndon to Langley and Lewis to WSHs. Will Chantilly families care about moving to Centerville then?

No one wants to leave Chantilly. My kid has no problem being in the modular.

Chantilly seems to work fine. Proves that it can be done. And, it is not a "wealthy" school, but the proximity makes it easier for the kids to interact. I do remember once-when my DD had a project with a student who had PP'd there--that it was a pain in the neck to get them together to work on the project. It is a community school.

It is not wealthy like Langley but it has MUCH lowe FARMs rates that all of its surrounding high schools, which makes it a "better" school academically.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:So - I checked the calendar; We should be ending "Data Collection" phase and begin the "Draft Analysis and Draft Scenarios" phase;

June 2025 is the "Community Engagement";

So - the items I'm reading on the thread seem to be more speculation? what am I missing?

I'm looking at HS utilization - Herndon is at 114% and Langley is at 90%. McLean and Marshall are at 128% and 119%. Why is there so much talk about moving kids from Langley to Herndon? You are going to move from a less utilized to over utilized school to teach Langley parents a lesson? I can see moving kids from McLean to Langley the schools are close to each other. Marshall to Falls Church. Falls Church to Annandale;

South Fairfax has the greatest capacity. Logic would indicate shift of students north to south.

No idea where you’re getting these Herndon numbers from. FCPS has Herndon HS at 69% capacity in 2029-30.

And no one wants to be shifted south into low performing schools that often have unattractive IB programs.

Can you show me your source? This is the only one I could find: https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/high2019-20.pdf

I know mine is 5 years old but that's all I could find on the web-site.

You are looking at an old document with capacity numbers that predate Herndon’s expansion.

The latest: https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/Draft-Proposed-CIP-FY2026-30.pdf

Thx. This document goes wildly the other way - Centerville/Chantilly boxed in Wakefield. They need to go North to Herndon/South Lakes/ Oakton/ Madison. Not sure about the racial-balancing conspiracy. You have your hands full just balancing capacity.

If you target Langley to Herndon that would be at the expense of Centerville and Chantilly. If these are the numbers they are going by then no-choice. Madison and Herndon are the only path for these schools.

The CIP they just approved provided for a major expansion of Centreville to 3000 seats.

Chantilly families are in no rush to move and the enrollment is projected to decline.

There are some parents absolutely obsessed with filling up Herndon with kids from schools other than Langley.

Just to be clear; I'm a Herndon grad. Looked at Herndon after renovation and it looks great. Very close with colleagues that have kids in Herndon. In my graduating class - we had one go to Stanford, Princeton, John's Hopkins, and Brown.

My obsession isn't with not going to Herndon it's chasing down some real truth since a lot of what's been said doesn't make sense.

And Chantilly according to the doc will be at 125%(2029-2030) directly contradicts what you just said. Which makes me wonder why you are throwing stones?

Chantilly had a membership of 2916 in the fall of 2024. They are projecting that its enrollment will decline to 2605 by 2029-30.

The latest projections have Chantilly at 98% by 2029-30, including the modular, and 112% excluding the modular (not 125%).

You can talk to Chantilly families, and you aren't going to find many who want to move. Your quest to "chase down some real truth" should start by looking at the latest projections, portraying them accurately rather than inaccurately, and talking to more people in the area.

I don't

My source: https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/Draft-Proposed-CIP-FY2026-30.pdf which someone else posted.

Yours?

Same, except I'm reading it correctly. There's nothing in that CIP that projects Chantilly at 125% in 2029-30, as asserted above. The CIP has Chantilly at 125% of program capacity now and next year, exluding the modular currently at the school, and projected to decline to 112%, again excluding the modular, by 2029-30. If the modular were included (and FCPS long took the position that modular seats should be treated the same as permanent seats when considering whether a school was overcrowded), FCPS's latest projection has Chantilly at 98% capacity in 2029-30.

Chantilly has the most compact boundaries in FCPS, along with West Springfield, and people do not want to be moved out of the school, especially if the enrollment is projected to decline.

I read it correctly - you just cherry picked yours.

Even going with your numbers: 98% crowded in 2029/2030 (on an estimate). You need to rephrase to: Chantilly will be overcrowded for at least 5 years. You stated that Chantilly has no reason to move. I guess if your kid is in 3rd grade then Chantilly HS would probably be at capacity.

This is causing an argument just to nitpick.

No, you did not read the CIP correctly, and you misquoted it earlier. The fact that you did so gives you no excuse to put words in my mouth (for example, I never said that Chantilly has "no reason to move," but instead that Chantilly families do not "want" to move) and wish that I'd said something other than what I actually did say when accurately characterizing the information in the latest CIP.

If you want to nitpick, at least show up with a full deck so we have something to discuss. All that's happening now is that you're getting corrected.

No one wants to move but Reid and the school board don’t care. Chantilly is going to be crowded for at least 5 years. They have said at multiple school board meetings they want to do away with Modulars. I don’t know what will happen but it seems unlikely to leave one of the most crowded schools in the county alone and move kids out of under enrolled schools. They want to look at these every 5 years. I bet the SB says we will move you now and revisit in 5 years if population goes down

Chantilly's current 9th grade membership is currently more than 100 fewer than the senior class. I'm not sure about other factors, but, to me, that indicates a decreasing enrollment.

There was a noticeable decline in pregnancies and births during the last great recession. There are fewer kids born in 2010-2011.

Why isn't there that drop in other schools? Looks to me like it is a factor of a maturing community.

The drop in planned births due to the 2008-2010 recession is a known demographic phenomenon across the US.

[Anonymous]

I said about 400 pages back - it’s going to happen all at one time. Boundary changes to support: 6th in MS, no AAP centers, and adjusted start times to match. No equity rationale needed.
Look, 6th graders are middle schoolers pretty much everywhere in the nation. The state curriculum (science 6-7-8, history split over 2 years) assumes they are in middle school for 3 grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reid stated at a meeting tonight that rezoning is about manipulating space to move all the 6th grades to middle school.

That is a hill she isn't willing to give up.

She is using WSHS capacity as an excuse to move a WSHS feeder from Irving to Key so she can move 6th grade to middle school.

She was fairly emphatic at the meeting tonight that she will not budge on moving 6th to middle school.

“And you get a split feeder, and you get a split feeder…”

[Anonymous]

Parents don't want their 6th graders in middle school.

[Anonymous]

When is a map of proposed boundary changes expected?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reid stated at a meeting tonight that rezoning is about manipulating space to move all the 6th grades to middle school.

That is a hill she isn't willing to give up.

She is using WSHS capacity as an excuse to move a WSHS feeder from Irving to Key so she can move 6th grade to middle school.

She was fairly emphatic at the meeting tonight that she will not budge on moving 6th to middle school.

I've heard her say the same thing. Some of the reasons for moving 6th graders:

1. Families, students and staff do not feel as connected to their 7-8 middle schools as they do to the elementary and high schools. It is such a short period of time - the students come in one year and they're out the door the next. By moving 6th graders in, you now have students at a school for 3 years and have a chance to make more connections.

2. 6th grades are much closer emotionally/socially to 7th and 8th graders than they are to K - 4th graders. I sub in elementary school. I was in a school last week and a group of 6th grade girls walked by - I was shocked! If I had seen them outside of school, I would have thought they were around 16 years old.

3. Making room in all elementary schools for universal PreK.

She is going to fight for this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reid stated at a meeting tonight that rezoning is about manipulating space to move all the 6th grades to middle school.

That is a hill she isn't willing to give up.

She is using WSHS capacity as an excuse to move a WSHS feeder from Irving to Key so she can move 6th grade to middle school.

She was fairly emphatic at the meeting tonight that she will not budge on moving 6th to middle school.

I've heard her say the same thing. Some of the reasons for moving 6th graders:

1. Families, students and staff do not feel as connected to their 7-8 middle schools as they do to the elementary and high schools. It is such a short period of time - the students come in one year and they're out the door the next. By moving 6th graders in, you now have students at a school for 3 years and have a chance to make more connections.

2. 6th grades are much closer emotionally/socially to 7th and 8th graders than they are to K - 4th graders. I sub in elementary school. I was in a school last week and a group of 6th grade girls walked by - I was shocked! If I had seen them outside of school, I would have thought they were around 16 years old.

3. Making room in all elementary schools for universal PreK.

She is going to fight for this.

Interesting. I am all for 6-8 middle schools. But it just doesn't seem feasible with the building space we have. And I think that breaking up community schools and making crazy boundaries to get there is a very strange idea. I'm skeptical that we have the space throughout the county to shift things around and accept a whole new class of pre-k students in terms of space. Seems like a lot of upheaval to fix something that isn't broken.

I noticed in the middle school start time email that it looks like they are going to change boundaries and middle school start times at the same time - in the 26-27 school year. That's the first thing I've heard that actually makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reid stated at a meeting tonight that rezoning is about manipulating space to move all the 6th grades to middle school.

That is a hill she isn't willing to give up.

She is using WSHS capacity as an excuse to move a WSHS feeder from Irving to Key so she can move 6th grade to middle school.

She was fairly emphatic at the meeting tonight that she will not budge on moving 6th to middle school.

“And you get a split feeder, and you get a split feeder…”

If she is so committed to this, I wish she’d layout how it could be accomplished. There are not enough middle school seats to add an extra grade. Many middle schools aren’t even designed to meet half of their expanded high school’s capacity. There’s no way this can be done without splitting pockets of schools every which way across the county to fill an empty seat.

If they’re going to convert elementary schools say it. And please, change Dunn Loring ES to Dunn Loring MS before it’s too late.

I have no issue with 6-8 middle school. This goal seems so short sighted though. It’s an enormous school district that has been designed and built around the 7-8 concept and recent middle school renovations have done nothing to work toward this goal.