FCPS comprehensive boundary review

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW we moved from a shitty school pyramid to a "good" one and really regret it. The community was a lot better and the children's education was better - more of a focus on the average child whereas in our "good" pyramid, the focus is solely on the "advanced" children.

You may have just inadvertently stumbled on a big reason many of us don’t want to move out kids from our “good” pyramid. We want that focus on the “advanced” children that we won’t get at the redistricted school.

I love our community at the “good” school. It’s exactly what we’ve been looking for in a community.

This is a lot of fearmongering without anything to base it on. I live in a "shit" pyramid that gets a lot of crap on here and find that my advanced kids get everything they need and more. There is more than enough focus on the advanced kids in addition to the focus the school is placing on helping the lower performing students. I would never trade it for anything to have them be just another number amongst the many overprivileged affluent kids with overachieving parents. Plus, I get a great community to belong to.

Notice how you are telling us your preferences? That’s fine, I’m fine with you having different preferences than I do.

I would never think of telling you that you are fearmongering because you don’t want to live in my area.

But you're ok with telling everyone what you definitively will or won't get at a "lesser" redistricted school with no actual knowledge of that school at all. Ok Jan.

Nah, we just chose where we live based on the school that we wanted. As did you it seems.

Those quotes you use for “lesser,” where did that come from? I certainly never called your school lesser. Maybe you’ve got a weird inferiority complex that is causing you to believe I said things that I didn’t?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW we moved from a shitty school pyramid to a "good" one and really regret it. The community was a lot better and the children's education was better - more of a focus on the average child whereas in our "good" pyramid, the focus is solely on the "advanced" children.

You may have just inadvertently stumbled on a big reason many of us don’t want to move out kids from our “good” pyramid. We want that focus on the “advanced” children that we won’t get at the redistricted school.

I love our community at the “good” school. It’s exactly what we’ve been looking for in a community.

This is a lot of fearmongering without anything to base it on. I live in a "shit" pyramid that gets a lot of crap on here and find that my advanced kids get everything they need and more. There is more than enough focus on the advanced kids in addition to the focus the school is placing on helping the lower performing students. I would never trade it for anything to have them be just another number amongst the many overprivileged affluent kids with overachieving parents. Plus, I get a great community to belong to.

Notice how you are telling us your preferences? That’s fine, I’m fine with you having different preferences than I do.

I would never think of telling you that you are fearmongering because you don’t want to live in my area.

+100
I guess it’s ok for certain parents to have preferences, but not others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are zoned for HVES and for us school proximity is everything. The psychological barrier of the commute between our neighborhood and driving to Lewis is real. We want to remain an engaged family that supports our schools but it is not doable if it means a drive through traffic to Lewis. You could reverse Lewis and South County HS and we would want Lewis for proximity (if we are forced out of WSHS).

Bullsh*t.

That traffic isn’t bad. Stop your nonsense. It’s similar to everywhere here in NOVA.

And tell your mates to stop suggesting South County….thats a bad look.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are zoned for HVES and for us school proximity is everything. The psychological barrier of the commute between our neighborhood and driving to Lewis is real. We want to remain an engaged family that supports our schools but it is not doable if it means a drive through traffic to Lewis. You could reverse Lewis and South County HS and we would want Lewis for proximity (if we are forced out of WSHS).

Bullsh*t.

That traffic isn’t bad. Stop your nonsense. It’s similar to everywhere here in NOVA.

And tell your mates to stop suggesting South County….thats a bad look.

It really is a bad drive down the parkway especially in rush hour. Would you rather have a commute down the parkway (50 mph) all the way basically to the mall, past a few bad intersections that have been known to have severe accidents, and the ramp to the Metro station, or a commute on suburban residential streets? There’s a reason the board fixed this split feeder back in 2005-ish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are zoned for HVES and for us school proximity is everything. The psychological barrier of the commute between our neighborhood and driving to Lewis is real. We want to remain an engaged family that supports our schools but it is not doable if it means a drive through traffic to Lewis. You could reverse Lewis and South County HS and we would want Lewis for proximity (if we are forced out of WSHS).

Bullsh*t.

That traffic isn’t bad. Stop your nonsense. It’s similar to everywhere here in NOVA.

And tell your mates to stop suggesting South County….thats a bad look.

Wow someone got triggered. PP has a valid point, and one of the updated 8130 priorities is to keep students in close proximity to schools for engagement and sense of community. It’s not just about commute, it’s about not riding in a vehicle to a far off school that makes no sense when there are two closer high schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are zoned for HVES and for us school proximity is everything. The psychological barrier of the commute between our neighborhood and driving to Lewis is real. We want to remain an engaged family that supports our schools but it is not doable if it means a drive through traffic to Lewis. You could reverse Lewis and South County HS and we would want Lewis for proximity (if we are forced out of WSHS).

Bullsh*t.

That traffic isn’t bad. Stop your nonsense. It’s similar to everywhere here in NOVA.

And tell your mates to stop suggesting South County….thats a bad look.

Wow someone got triggered. PP has a valid point, and one of the updated 8130 priorities is to keep students in close proximity to schools for engagement and sense of community. It’s not just about commute, it’s about not riding in a vehicle to a far off school that makes no sense when there are two closer high schools.

Another priority is providing students with equitable opportunities and kids at a school like Lewis with 1600 students don’t have the same breadth of opportunities as kids at a school with over 2500 kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are zoned for HVES and for us school proximity is everything. The psychological barrier of the commute between our neighborhood and driving to Lewis is real. We want to remain an engaged family that supports our schools but it is not doable if it means a drive through traffic to Lewis. You could reverse Lewis and South County HS and we would want Lewis for proximity (if we are forced out of WSHS).

Bullsh*t.

That traffic isn’t bad. Stop your nonsense. It’s similar to everywhere here in NOVA.

And tell your mates to stop suggesting South County….thats a bad look.

Wow someone got triggered. PP has a valid point, and one of the updated 8130 priorities is to keep students in close proximity to schools for engagement and sense of community. It’s not just about commute, it’s about not riding in a vehicle to a far off school that makes no sense when there are two closer high schools.

Another priority is providing students with equitable opportunities and kids at a school like Lewis with 1600 students don’t have the same breadth of opportunities as kids at a school with over 2500 kids.

What specific “opportunities” are missing? No one can answer this. I even asked upthread and the answer was basically “we have to have our school dances on Friday because they’re cheaper and the athletic boosters aren’t as involved.”

[Anonymous]

I would love for my dc's high school to have 1600 students. 2700 is a real drag. Impossible to get on sports teams, had to wait a year for a turn to write for the paper etc etc etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are zoned for HVES and for us school proximity is everything. The psychological barrier of the commute between our neighborhood and driving to Lewis is real. We want to remain an engaged family that supports our schools but it is not doable if it means a drive through traffic to Lewis. You could reverse Lewis and South County HS and we would want Lewis for proximity (if we are forced out of WSHS).

Bullsh*t.

That traffic isn’t bad. Stop your nonsense. It’s similar to everywhere here in NOVA.

And tell your mates to stop suggesting South County….thats a bad look.

Wow someone got triggered. PP has a valid point, and one of the updated 8130 priorities is to keep students in close proximity to schools for engagement and sense of community. It’s not just about commute, it’s about not riding in a vehicle to a far off school that makes no sense when there are two closer high schools.

Another priority is providing students with equitable opportunities and kids at a school like Lewis with 1600 students don’t have the same breadth of opportunities as kids at a school with over 2500 kids.

What specific “opportunities” are missing? No one can answer this. I even asked upthread and the answer was basically “we have to have our school dances on Friday because they’re cheaper and the athletic boosters aren’t as involved.”

Sports for freshman and JV. Those are missing at Lewis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are zoned for HVES and for us school proximity is everything. The psychological barrier of the commute between our neighborhood and driving to Lewis is real. We want to remain an engaged family that supports our schools but it is not doable if it means a drive through traffic to Lewis. You could reverse Lewis and South County HS and we would want Lewis for proximity (if we are forced out of WSHS).

Bullsh*t.

That traffic isn’t bad. Stop your nonsense. It’s similar to everywhere here in NOVA.

And tell your mates to stop suggesting South County….thats a bad look.

Wow someone got triggered. PP has a valid point, and one of the updated 8130 priorities is to keep students in close proximity to schools for engagement and sense of community. It’s not just about commute, it’s about not riding in a vehicle to a far off school that makes no sense when there are two closer high schools.

Another priority is providing students with equitable opportunities and kids at a school like Lewis with 1600 students don’t have the same breadth of opportunities as kids at a school with over 2500 kids.

What specific “opportunities” are missing? No one can answer this. I even asked upthread and the answer was basically “we have to have our school dances on Friday because they’re cheaper and the athletic boosters aren’t as involved.”

Example - a few years ago they did not field a baseball team. The football team has been in jeopardy of not being viable.

At 1600 students they can't offer as many different classes or as many instances of those classes relative to other schools in the county (FCPS high schools average around 2300 students). So maybe they offer a class, but it only gets offered for one period - so if that doesn't fit in your schedule then you are out of luck.

And on top of that, the concentration of poverty puts a very large burden on those families that can support the extracurricular activities.

If all the schools in the FCPS legal jurisdiction were of similar size then this wouldn't stand out, but Lewis really is an outlier.

[Anonymous]

Lewis doesn’t have a full slate of AP courses, the language offerings are paltry, advanced classes have fewer sessions (so greater likelihood of a scheduling conflict), fewer parents get involved, some sports don’t have teams below varsity, extra-curricular programs fiction on a shoestring compared to wealthier schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lewis doesn’t have a full slate of AP courses, the language offerings are paltry, advanced classes have fewer sessions (so greater likelihood of a scheduling conflict), fewer parents get involved, some sports don’t have teams below varsity, extra-curricular programs fiction on a shoestring compared to wealthier schools.

Yes. And it really is the compounding impact of being POOR, SMALL, and heavily populated by ESL students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lewis doesn’t have a full slate of AP courses, the language offerings are paltry, advanced classes have fewer sessions (so greater likelihood of a scheduling conflict), fewer parents get involved, some sports don’t have teams below varsity, extra-curricular programs fiction on a shoestring compared to wealthier schools.

Aren’t they offering AP at Lewis these days? I thought they were getting away from IB because of all the transfers out. And if a student maxes out the offered AP/IB classes, there is always dual enrollment. Honestly the rest of the stuff ultimately sounds petty to me. The purpose of high school is to get an education. You’ll never have high parental involvement at a high ESOL, high poverty school, no matter if it’s elementary, middle, or high school. Undoing a boundary change from 20(!) years ago to create another split feeder won’t bring in an onslaught of parental involvement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lewis doesn’t have a full slate of AP courses, the language offerings are paltry, advanced classes have fewer sessions (so greater likelihood of a scheduling conflict), fewer parents get involved, some sports don’t have teams below varsity, extra-curricular programs fiction on a shoestring compared to wealthier schools.

Aren’t they offering AP at Lewis these days? I thought they were getting away from IB because of all the transfers out. And if a student maxes out the offered AP/IB classes, there is always dual enrollment. Honestly the rest of the stuff ultimately sounds petty to me. The purpose of high school is to get an education. You’ll never have high parental involvement at a high ESOL, high poverty school, no matter if it’s elementary, middle, or high school. Undoing a boundary change from 20(!) years ago to create another split feeder won’t bring in an onslaught of parental involvement.

Fortunately, with a 2800-student school nearby, they can adjust the boundaries, create two schools closer to 2200 students each, and mitigate these “petty” problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lewis doesn’t have a full slate of AP courses, the language offerings are paltry, advanced classes have fewer sessions (so greater likelihood of a scheduling conflict), fewer parents get involved, some sports don’t have teams below varsity, extra-curricular programs fiction on a shoestring compared to wealthier schools.

Aren’t they offering AP at Lewis these days? I thought they were getting away from IB because of all the transfers out. And if a student maxes out the offered AP/IB classes, there is always dual enrollment. Honestly the rest of the stuff ultimately sounds petty to me. The purpose of high school is to get an education. You’ll never have high parental involvement at a high ESOL, high poverty school, no matter if it’s elementary, middle, or high school. Undoing a boundary change from 20(!) years ago to create another split feeder won’t bring in an onslaught of parental involvement.

Fortunately, with a 2800-student school nearby, they can adjust the boundaries, create two schools closer to 2200 students each, and mitigate these “petty” problems.

Don’t get your hopes up.