Changes to French Immersion at Kent Gardens?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well once MS and HS hit the FLI is over. Students are simply in 1 language class at a higher level. Mclean Pyramid? How many are at Mclean HS because of FLI and are out of boundary?

You can take a language class earlier in MS if you've been in an ES immersion program. It appears there are about 25 kids outside the McLean pyramid who transferred to Longfellow this year to take French on an accelerated basis. Presumably most had been at KG.

LI kids can start high school language classes in 7th grade so they complete 2 years of high school language in MS.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:If you go to Kent gardens you should be in the neighborhood, stop being cheap

What does being cheap have to do with parents that like the idea of language immersion and applying out of boundary to Kent Gardens for the French program?

You seriously don’t get it?

KG is centered in McLean - where home prices are extremely high. Out of boundary homes are far less expensive.

PP is just trolling. The issue at KG hasn’t been the finances of the families whose kids attend the school. It’s that KG is among FCPS’s most overcrowded schools and FCPS has no plans to either change the boundaries or expand it. That left reducing the number of out-of-boundary kids in the immersion program as the only other option to address the overcrowding.

It is specifically because KG is in a wealthy area that the current radical-left school board will do nothing the alleviate the overcrowding and use of dangerously-outdated trailers.

The current school board hates successful parents.

I would put it somewhat differently and say the current School Board is obsessed with the idea of not appearing to favor schools that serve wealthier neighborhoods, to the point where they end up discriminating against them.

So when South Lakes, Justice and Madison got overcrowded, for example, FCPS adjusted the CIP and budgeted for additions at those schools, even when they were not coming up for renovations or on the 2008 renovation queue.

When McLean and Kent Gardens get overcrowded, the current School Board turned a blind eye and pretended there's nothing that can be done to expand either school until every school currently on the queue is renovated.

Then Elaine Tholen goes to the community and says, as she did today to the McLean PTSA, that she's only one of 12 School Board members and there's only so much she can do. But one thing that she NEVER does is use her platform as an opportunity to point out in public the disparities between how FCPS has treated schools in her district and other schools. And so the bullies on the School Board keep making sure that we get nothing.

Under the circumstances, I'm sure Elaine thinks she's protecting KG families in her district, because it's going to be kids at other schools whose access to French immersion at KG is being curtailed. Unfortunately for her, many of those families also reside in her district.

I think the real solution is to redraw the school boundaries across all of FCPS and see how we can use that to redistribute students so that underutilized schools are better used and overcrowded schools see that population adjusted. Then look at what schools need to be expanded to handle any over crowding issues. The problem for McLean and schools in that area is that I think parents are afraid of what happens with boundary shifts and do anything they can to fight that process.

I'm curious - can you tell us what high school you're zoned for and its current/planned capacity?

South Lakes which I believe is already at or near capacity after completing a remodel and a boundary shift 15 or so years ago. I have no clue how the new school would impact us but know that most of the high schools in this area are near capacity or over capacity. I suspect that boundary shifts would cause a good amount of change in this area and I don't think anyone from my neighborhood would be moved to McLean. But there would be a real impact on my area.

South Lakes was the subject of a major boundary change in 2008, which was around the time the school was renovated and expanded, and then the school got another permanent addition outside the normal renovation cycle in 2016. As a result, it currently has a design capacity of over 2700 students and is only slightly over capacity (at 102%).

In comparison, McLean receive a less extensive renovation in the early 2000s, was denied an addition when other schools received or are getting them outside the normal renovation cycle, has a design capacity of under 2000 students, and is currently at 122% capacity, excluding the detached modular relocated to the grounds last year.

So if you now suggest it's time to switch gears and just start changing boundaries across the county rather than making additional investments in other schools, it's OK timing for a South Lakes but not so great for a McLean. You end up with a school has received a lot of attention and investment from FCPS, and we'll end up with a neglected runt of a school.

What eventually happens, of course, is probably beyond either of our control but maybe this helps explain why we'd prefer equitable treatment to simply the prospect of more boundary changes (they just changed the boundary with Langley, which resulted in McLean families competing with each other to get reassigned to wealthier Langley, and even then they still project we're going to be above capacity). Meanwhile, they are projecting that Madison, which is getting an addition now even though it's less crowded, will be at 82% capacity in 2026.

[Anonymous]

DP. One thing I learned a long time ago is that almost all want to stay in their current school. My kids' HS is overcrowded--but everyone wants to stay there. So, they put up with the numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DP. One thing I learned a long time ago is that almost all want to stay in their current school. My kids' HS is overcrowded--but everyone wants to stay there. So, they put up with the numbers.

That's usually what people say when either they already have kids at a particular school, or the alternatives are getting moved to a lower ranked school or a school that is a long way away. That's not always the situation, however, and there are certainly examples in FCPS where people have gone to bat to explain why they should be the ones who get redistricted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh it's fair sister. Kent Gardens should prioritize neighborhood kids over outsiders.

Yes agree we should move the French Immersion from KG to another school and neighborhood parents who want to have their kids in the program apply as out of the boundary , personally K am fine my kids are already out of the boundary so they will be just transferring to another school my tax money are used anyway for another FPC School so I am fine

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It looks like 4 of the 16 language immersion programs are school based placement already, so it is something that can be done. It makes sense if the school is at capacity or over capacity to change the placement. I know that at least 1/3 of the kids in my sons language immersion program are from outside the boundary. If the school were at capacity I can see the benefit to limiting outside placement into the program.

Yes make sense let's move the French Immersion completely to another school , then you will need to apply as out of the boundary and the 25/75 % will apply to you , it will not be an issue for kids who are already considered as outside the boundary. You need to remember that the immersion program is paid for by all FairFax county taxpayers not only "neighborhood parents", so to be fair we will ask to have the French Immersion moved to another ES

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh it's fair sister. Kent Gardens should prioritize neighborhood kids over outsiders.

Amen!

Absolutely.

The out-of-bounds French Immersion parents are the worst!

They care not-at-all about KG and speed through local neighborhoods, block driveways, etc.

Trailers - the temporary trailers - are still in use at KG after 7+ years (way beyond the trailers' designed lifespan). Many are now FULL of black mold (teachers have suffered respiratory problems).

KG is about LAST on the current school board's list for improvements/spending, for obvious reasons.

How do you know they are out of the boundary, maybe you know every single car owner driving in the KG neighborhood. Are you discriminating people based on their Zip codes ? Will you be able to have the courage to state who you are and assume what you are writing ?
Should I remind you that the FCPS Immersion program is paid by all FC tax payers so proportionally more people outside the boundary ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It looks like 4 of the 16 language immersion programs are school based placement already, so it is something that can be done. It makes sense if the school is at capacity or over capacity to change the placement. I know that at least 1/3 of the kids in my sons language immersion program are from outside the boundary. If the school were at capacity I can see the benefit to limiting outside placement into the program.

Yes make sense let's move the French Immersion completely to another school , then you will need to apply as out of the boundary and the 25/75 % will apply to you , it will not be an issue for kids who are already considered as outside the boundary. You need to remember that the immersion program is paid for by all FairFax county taxpayers not only "neighborhood parents", so to be fair we will ask to have the French Immersion moved to another ES

Or you could do what other parents do and move to that schools boundaries. One of the reasons we bought were we did was to be in boundary for a LI program. Our school happens to have out of boundary kids and no one is worried about it. I can’t see limiting the program. But we also knew that we had a better chance of getting into the LI if we were in boundary.

Many parents look into these things. It is nice that there is the option to send kids to other schools but the schools should not be over crowded because of people applying for a special program. High Schools are closed to transfers due to over crowding even when people want to transfer for specific programs or classes, there is no reason to not apply the same logic to ES programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It looks like 4 of the 16 language immersion programs are school based placement already, so it is something that can be done. It makes sense if the school is at capacity or over capacity to change the placement. I know that at least 1/3 of the kids in my sons language immersion program are from outside the boundary. If the school were at capacity I can see the benefit to limiting outside placement into the program.

Yes make sense let's move the French Immersion completely to another school , then you will need to apply as out of the boundary and the 25/75 % will apply to you , it will not be an issue for kids who are already considered as outside the boundary. You need to remember that the immersion program is paid for by all FairFax county taxpayers not only "neighborhood parents", so to be fair we will ask to have the French Immersion moved to another ES

You do realize they'd have to move the staff too, right? And whatever school staff at the new school would have to be moved over to KG. I'm not a teacher, so I have no clue what is or isn't in their contract about staying at the same school each year, but I know most of my teacher acquaintances and family in other states have a strong opinion about which school they work at because the principal and leadership can really affect the environment. Not to mention changes in commutes. I'm sure trying to just swap several teachers between the schools wouldn't go well, if it was even allowed by their contracts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've heard that, rather than undertake an expansion or boundary change at Kent Gardens to address the overcrowding there, FCPS may be allocating more immersion seats to students whose base school is Kent Gardens. The intent would be to reduce the school's overall enrollment by reducing the number of students from other schools, while keeping the immersion program roughly the same size.

Has anyone else heard this? Is this really fair, since Kent Gardens is the only school left in FCPS with a French immersion program in ES?

And what exactly is the student supposed to eventually do with French??

You probably speak only one language - American, right?🤣

[Anonymous]

Why is KG the only school where the French Immersion program is? Why can it not be spread to other schools across different boundaries? You won't have the overcrowding/traffic in KG. You won't have handicap kids affected. You won't have other kids from the KG boundary affected by large class sizes. More power to the people who want to learn french, no issue there but I don't see why it needs to be centralized in one school. This makes no sense that FCPS can't figure out a solution for this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is KG the only school where the French Immersion program is? Why can it not be spread to other schools across different boundaries? You won't have the overcrowding/traffic in KG. You won't have handicap kids affected. You won't have other kids from the KG boundary affected by large class sizes. More power to the people who want to learn french, no issue there but I don't see why it needs to be centralized in one school. This makes no sense that FCPS can't figure out a solution for this.

+100. There are many elementary schools that could use boosts in enrollment and would benefit from access to immersion programs. But FCPS for whatever reason keeps the languages outside Spanish locked to very selective areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is KG the only school where the French Immersion program is? Why can it not be spread to other schools across different boundaries? You won't have the overcrowding/traffic in KG. You won't have handicap kids affected. You won't have other kids from the KG boundary affected by large class sizes. More power to the people who want to learn french, no issue there but I don't see why it needs to be centralized in one school. This makes no sense that FCPS can't figure out a solution for this.

+100. There are many elementary schools that could use boosts in enrollment and would benefit from access to immersion programs. But FCPS for whatever reason keeps the languages outside Spanish locked to very selective areas.

There was another French Immersion ES besides KG and the program apparently had a hard time sustaining sufficient interest. With KG overcrowded and some parents disappointed with the lottery results it may well make sense to reconsider that decision and have a second FI program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is KG the only school where the French Immersion program is? Why can it not be spread to other schools across different boundaries? You won't have the overcrowding/traffic in KG. You won't have handicap kids affected. You won't have other kids from the KG boundary affected by large class sizes. More power to the people who want to learn french, no issue there but I don't see why it needs to be centralized in one school. This makes no sense that FCPS can't figure out a solution for this.

+100. There are many elementary schools that could use boosts in enrollment and would benefit from access to immersion programs. But FCPS for whatever reason keeps the languages outside Spanish locked to very selective areas.

There was another French Immersion ES besides KG and the program apparently had a hard time sustaining sufficient interest. With KG overcrowded and some parents disappointed with the lottery results it may well make sense to reconsider that decision and have a second FI program.

I believe this was in Herndon. It changed to a Spanish program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish the French immersion would get canceled at KG and just let ithe school serve the neighborhood kids.

+1000. Can we also talk about the lunatic out-of-bounds parents driving through the neighborhood?