FCPS comprehensive boundary review

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Really feel all this time money and energy spent rearranging the deak chairs on the Titanic is completely idiotic when all that time, money and energy could be used for improving and delivering academic instruction...

+1000. But that would mean confronting the real issues, rather than pretending there are phony solutions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they're really doing to do this, then they rip it all up. Change every boundary for every neighborhood and every school. Start completely over. Convert some of the ES to MS because the current MS's aren't large enough to accomodate 6-8.

They said they want a holistic review of every boundary. If this is the direction they're heading, it's not just going to be the Langley and West Springfield communities complaining once those draft maps come out in June.

This. This is the (unfortunate) answer.

[Anonymous]

I am totally fine with the 6-8 middle school model in a district that is set up that way. Or I guess if FCPS can figure it out, sure. But as a PP said, sending 6th graders to a secondary school is a nightmare. As a parent, I would absolutely not want my 11-12 year old mixing with 17-18 year olds. And I have many friends whose kids attend secondary schools and the DO mix. It's not two separate worlds at those.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they're really doing to do this, then they rip it all up. Change every boundary for every neighborhood and every school. Start completely over. Convert some of the ES to MS because the current MS's aren't large enough to accomodate 6-8.

They said they want a holistic review of every boundary. If this is the direction they're heading, it's not just going to be the Langley and West Springfield communities complaining once those draft maps come out in June.

This is what's been stated the "AI Tool", Frontline GIS, will do being used by Thru Consulting. They will use a clean slate, plug in "the data" they've collected and completely redraw everything. Some of the most recent minutes have identified "natural boarders" like the beltway, 66, 50. If all this ES to MS efforts are true, this will be plugged now vs later. It's been mentioned that many of the SB members don't have kids in school anymore so what do they have to lose? Thru Consulting is not local to DC which removes neighborhood bias as well. If they are going to anger and have to deal with a few subsets, why not Big Bang it all at once? If they are willing to risk not getting re-elected over pockets of change, why not rip it all up?

[Anonymous]

It’s not about them getting reelected. It’s about the statewide governor’s race this fall. This will blow that up. Fairfax will still go blue, but not blue enough for a win.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they're really doing to do this, then they rip it all up. Change every boundary for every neighborhood and every school. Start completely over. Convert some of the ES to MS because the current MS's aren't large enough to accomodate 6-8.

They said they want a holistic review of every boundary. If this is the direction they're heading, it's not just going to be the Langley and West Springfield communities complaining once those draft maps come out in June.

This is what's been stated the "AI Tool", Frontline GIS, will do being used by Thru Consulting. They will use a clean slate, plug in "the data" they've collected and completely redraw everything. Some of the most recent minutes have identified "natural boarders" like the beltway, 66, 50. If all this ES to MS efforts are true, this will be plugged now vs later. It's been mentioned that many of the SB members don't have kids in school anymore so what do they have to lose? Thru Consulting is not local to DC which removes neighborhood bias as well. If they are going to anger and have to deal with a few subsets, why not Big Bang it all at once? If they are willing to risk not getting re-elected over pockets of change, why not rip it all up?

My apologies to Mother Goose:

FCPS sat on a wall.
FCPS had a great fall.
All the tax money
and all the consultants
couldn't put it together again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not about them getting reelected. It’s about the statewide governor’s race this fall. This will blow that up. Fairfax will still go blue, but not blue enough for a win.

If they rip up FCPS the way Reid is suggesting then I'm not voting for any Democrat for any state or local office until the entire group running FCPS is gone. They are out of control and drunk with their 12-0 dominance on the School Board. Lots of Democrats need to suffer politically for these idiots to take notice, and I'm prepared to vote for Republicans I'd otherwise never support to send that message.

[Anonymous]

Someone needs to get the message to every Republican running for office in Fairfax or at the state level that the Democrats are making a complete hash out of FCPS. Reid, Frisch, etc. will be the gift that keeps on giving until Reid, they are GONE. We've got a dimwit lady from the Pacific Northwest conspiring with a childless LBGTQ radical activist from California to destroy one of the country's best public school systems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

There is a lot to say for starting accelerated math (and other academics) earlier. That doesn't happen as well in 6th grade when the classes are 35 minutes long and there's a lot of wasted minutes with morning meeting garbage and specials filling up the day. The 90-minute block in MS gets the advanced kids on that track earlier.

The 90 minute class block is HARD for 7th graders and the adjustment period is steep.

Most 6th graders will not do well making that switch.

How many 6th graders do we have who are skilled enough to take Algebra in 6th grade successfully?

Very, very few. Moving them 6th to middle school will not change this small number.

In fact, the longer classtimes and less qualified kids signing up for algebra might make things worse.

Have you seen the latest assessment ratings?

The 4th/5th/6th graders are WOEFULLY behind in math dues fo fake covid school in Kinder/1st/2nd grade. They missed critical building blocks during their formative education years and have not caught up

These kids will not benefit from being in middle school or the 7th-12th secondary schools where there is so much less structure and so many opportunities to fall into the wrong crowd, especially for those kids (full grades of upper elementary students) who are already so far behind academically in math and reading.

Sixth graders all over the country are in middle school and they’re fine. Elementary students as young as kindergarten have been doing a 90-minute literacy block for decades. It’s on the teacher to break up the time into age-appropriate chunks. Please don’t dwell on the 90-minute block. It weakens the argument. The important thing is that there is no room for 6th in the middle school buildings. They cannot just add another entire grade ( universal prek) without trailers, quads, and modulars. It would be hugely disruptive.

Well, no

The 6th graders in middle schools in the county are not fine.

We have 3 6th-8th middle schools in FCPS.

They are the worst performing middle schools in the county.

Do we have data on how 6th graders in elementary school compare to 6th graders in middle school? Saying those three schools are the worst in the county ignores other factors, including which neighborhoods they pull from.

[Anonymous]

The only reason we have 6-8 middle schools is because there was a glut of schools in eastern Fairfax. They converted Jefferson HS to TJHSST but that left Holmes and Poe both as feeders to Annandale, so they added 6th graders when they probably should have closed Holmes or Poe as well. Maybe make one of them an elementary school (presumably Poe since Holmes is so close to Weyanoke), make the other (and Glasgow) a 7-8 middle school, and adjust the other ES boundaries as needed. Glasgow parents and Ricardy Anderson are always complaining about Glasgow being too big so it's a way to shrink Glasgow without imposing a 6-8 model that most people do not want on the rest of the county merely for the sake of uniformity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they're really doing to do this, then they rip it all up. Change every boundary for every neighborhood and every school. Start completely over. Convert some of the ES to MS because the current MS's aren't large enough to accomodate 6-8.

They said they want a holistic review of every boundary. If this is the direction they're heading, it's not just going to be the Langley and West Springfield communities complaining once those draft maps come out in June.

This is what's been stated the "AI Tool", Frontline GIS, will do being used by Thru Consulting. They will use a clean slate, plug in "the data" they've collected and completely redraw everything. Some of the most recent minutes have identified "natural boarders" like the beltway, 66, 50. If all this ES to MS efforts are true, this will be plugged now vs later. It's been mentioned that many of the SB members don't have kids in school anymore so what do they have to lose? Thru Consulting is not local to DC which removes neighborhood bias as well. If they are going to anger and have to deal with a few subsets, why not Big Bang it all at once? If they are willing to risk not getting re-elected over pockets of change, why not rip it all up?

On the October 8 work session, this is exactly what Thru said they would do.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i04W3vvtV4w

The rezoning discussion starts at 2:47.

Thru discusses the software around 3:34.

There is discussion around 3:31 that part of the process will be marketing the change to parents by convincing them that school rankings by Niche and Great Schools are flawed and that the new 3 rated schools they are rezoned to are actually "equal or better" quality than the 8 or 10 school they purchased a home in.

4:01 they discuss that the Equity Officer will be involved in the process to guarantee compliance with One Fairfax

4:05 they state EVERY high school pyramid will be rezoned

4:17 discuses diversity in the advisory committee

4:19 discusses how the special interest groups were already involved with advising rezoning before the brac was formed

4:25 They discuss how the rezoning software can isolate addresses by demographic for the purpose of rezoning.

4:31 Reid states the software they are using can chart any program (AAP, demographics, etc) down to the individual household address.

4:32 Discusses that the school board already accepted "The Plunker Report" regarding AAP centers, and now they just need to work the recommendations into the rezoning process.

3:36 Dixon asks why did Reid not include any role for the Chief ACADEMIC Officer in the rezoning process, since this will greatly affect academics. Reid responds that the Chief Academic Officer will be brought in eventually, during the BRAC meetings.

If you care about the rezoning process, watch the October 8, 2024 planning meeting to get informed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they're really doing to do this, then they rip it all up. Change every boundary for every neighborhood and every school. Start completely over. Convert some of the ES to MS because the current MS's aren't large enough to accomodate 6-8.

They said they want a holistic review of every boundary. If this is the direction they're heading, it's not just going to be the Langley and West Springfield communities complaining once those draft maps come out in June.

This is what's been stated the "AI Tool", Frontline GIS, will do being used by Thru Consulting. They will use a clean slate, plug in "the data" they've collected and completely redraw everything. Some of the most recent minutes have identified "natural boarders" like the beltway, 66, 50. If all this ES to MS efforts are true, this will be plugged now vs later. It's been mentioned that many of the SB members don't have kids in school anymore so what do they have to lose? Thru Consulting is not local to DC which removes neighborhood bias as well. If they are going to anger and have to deal with a few subsets, why not Big Bang it all at once? If they are willing to risk not getting re-elected over pockets of change, why not rip it all up?

My apologies to Mother Goose:

FCPS sat on a wall.
FCPS had a great fall.
All the tax money
and all the consultants
couldn't put it together again.

Edit to amend Great Falls -

My apologies to Mother Goose:

FCPS sat on a wall.
FCPS had a great fall(s).
All the tax money
and all the consultants
couldn't put it together again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only reason we have 6-8 middle schools is because there was a glut of schools in eastern Fairfax. They converted Jefferson HS to TJHSST but that left Holmes and Poe both as feeders to Annandale, so they added 6th graders when they probably should have closed Holmes or Poe as well. Maybe make one of them an elementary school (presumably Poe since Holmes is so close to Weyanoke), make the other (and Glasgow) a 7-8 middle school, and adjust the other ES boundaries as needed. Glasgow parents and Ricardy Anderson are always complaining about Glasgow being too big so it's a way to shrink Glasgow without imposing a 6-8 model that most people do not want on the rest of the county merely for the sake of uniformity.

Wow - this is great. I really hope they read this board and take ideas like this into consideration.

[Anonymous]

I don't have any issue if Michelle Reid thinks the 6-8 model is superior to the 7-8 model from a developmental perspective. People take both sides on that issue.

What I do have an issue with is her being so utterly clueless as to the impediments to, and costs associated with, trying to implement the 6-8 model with the current FCPS inventory of ES, MS, HS, and SS buildings, when by now she should be well aware of the constraints and should have adjusted her public statements accordingly.

Meanwhile, we have School Board members and their proxies going out and telling everyone these boundary changes are necessary due to a need to save money. That's obviously a joke, when they don't mind wasting $85 million taxpayer money on Dunn Loring, but the mixed messaging from the various actors is absolutely insane.

Make it stop, please.

[Anonymous]

Can't wait for the letters:

Dear Parent,

Congratulations! The Boundary Study is complete and your child's new school has been determined. Your neighborhood has been selected to move from _________to ________. Bus schedules will be adapted and you will be advised of the bus stop and time shortly before the new school year.

There may be some adjustments needed, so please contact one of the counselors at your new school to decide on adjustments to your child's previously selected classes. It may be that your child can not take the language he has already taken, but, don't worry, we have lots of options for him to choose from.
Also, because your child is moving from AP school to IB school, you may want to learn more about the IB program. We realize that some of the classes your child has already taken will not adapt to this program--but, no worries, IB is a terrific program. Just be advised that in order to get the diploma, your child will need to take two year cllasses. We realize you may not be aware of this, but your counselor will be delighted to walk your child through it. Please contact your new counselor to determined if this is the right fit. Your counselor will be available in fifteen minute sessions for the week of July 1-JUly 8. Unfortunately, we do not yet have a full slate of counselors at your child's new school-but we are working hard to fill those positions.