FCPS Ready to Screw Poorer/GenEd Kids Again

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When is the vote on this?

It was presented as new business, but no follow-up work session or vote has yet been scheduled. Time will tell what to make of the failure to act promptly on the staff recommendation.

The vote has been scheduled for Thursday February 22

[Anonymous]

Note. There has been zero analysis on the number of AAP students that likely would stay at LJ or the resulting FARMS percentage that will be left at LJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Note. There has been zero analysis on the number of AAP students that likely would stay at LJ or the resulting FARMS percentage that will be left at LJ.

I'm sure that there's been an analysis. They just won't make it public because they typically get it wrong and fail to anticipate the extent to which boundary changes that pull higher-income kids out of schools that are already near a tipping point drive up the ESOL/FARMS rates and trigger more flight out of Fairfax County.

[Anonymous]

This topic is not AAP related. Why is it here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This topic is not AAP related. Why is it here?

Um, Jackson is overcrowded because of the size of its AAP program, just like several other AAP centers.

Are the AAP parents really so self-centered that they have no idea how many decisions are made with a view towards preserving the options that AAP students, but not other kids, have to choose between schools? This is a classic example of a boundary study being undertaken with the least consideration given to the GenEd environment at the school that will be affected the most.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This topic is not AAP related. Why is it here?

Um, Jackson is overcrowded because of the size of its AAP program, just like several other AAP centers.

Are the AAP parents really so self-centered that they have no idea how many decisions are made with a view towards preserving the options that AAP students, but not other kids, have to choose between schools? This is a classic example of a boundary study being undertaken with the least consideration given to the GenEd environment at the school that will be affected the most.

They say intelligence is inherited. The highlighted response probably illustrates why your kid is not in AAP. AAP kids having choice has been around for a while. The vote on the 22nd does not affect that! Did you know that?
AAP students do not "have to choose" between schools. They "are allowed to" choose (as in they "have the right to but not the obligation to" choose). If the vote on the 22nd were not allowed to happen, Jackson will continue to be overcrowded.

[Anonymous]

Did anyone else notice the following:

"Three community boundary scoping meetings were held in June 2017 at Marshall Road, Mosby Woods, and Oakton Elementary schools. These meetings presented the purpose of the study as follows: “The purpose of the boundary adjustment is provide capacity relief to Jackson MS by using available capacity at the newly renovated Thoreau MS.” The meetings utilized participant-facilitated break out groups in order to collect feedback for consideration by Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS).

As a result of the three community boundary scoping meetings and online feedback, FCPS received comments which were compiled and posted on the FCPS website. Three schools were identified by the community to be considered as part of the boundary study: Marshall Road, Mosby Woods, and Oakton Elementary schools."

That is from Attachment A for the upcoming School Board meeting (link below) where they will approve the change:

[url]https://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/AVSR5L6B1A7D/$file/Attachment%20A%20-%20Jackson%20Middle%20School%20Boundary%20Adjustment%20(proposed).pdf
[/url]
Does it seem odd to anyone else that they had meetings at three elementary schools regarding the relief of overcrowding at Jackson and those three schools are the schools being moved? Did the residents really get to decide that their own schools should be moved rather than others? If they had meetings at other elementary schools, could they have also chosen to move themselves to the wealthier and newly refurbished school? What am I missing about this process?

[Anonymous]

I don't think the three schools were identified by the community at all. What community chose them? The Luther Jackson community? They had all the meetings away from Luther Jackson as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone else notice the following:

"Three community boundary scoping meetings were held in June 2017 at Marshall Road, Mosby Woods, and Oakton Elementary schools. These meetings presented the purpose of the study as follows: “The purpose of the boundary adjustment is provide capacity relief to Jackson MS by using available capacity at the newly renovated Thoreau MS.” The meetings utilized participant-facilitated break out groups in order to collect feedback for consideration by Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS).

As a result of the three community boundary scoping meetings and online feedback, FCPS received comments which were compiled and posted on the FCPS website. Three schools were identified by the community to be considered as part of the boundary study: Marshall Road, Mosby Woods, and Oakton Elementary schools."

That is from Attachment A for the upcoming School Board meeting (link below) where they will approve the change:

[url]https://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/AVSR5L6B1A7D/$file/Attachment%20A%20-%20Jackson%20Middle%20School%20Boundary%20Adjustment%20(proposed).pdf
[/url]
Does it seem odd to anyone else that they had meetings at three elementary schools regarding the relief of overcrowding at Jackson and those three schools are the schools being moved? Did the residents really get to decide that their own schools should be moved rather than others? If they had meetings at other elementary schools, could they have also chosen to move themselves to the wealthier and newly refurbished school? What am I missing about this process?

Yes, it is odd, but consistent with the preference within FCPS to only gather confirmatory information. This was never a fair process, and the fix was in from the start. Brabrand and the School Board need to step in and tell the lazy Facilities staff that this process and recommendation are unacceptable.

[Anonymous]

Those ESs are "the LJ community" ( at least part of the lj community)...the part that would be most affected by the rezoning....you know...the kids who would actually be changing schools. The admin/planning dept is looking at this in a race neutral way. I understand that there could be secondary effects of this rezoning and good people can debate whether and how those secondary effects should be considered. But, the primary effect in any rezoning proposal is that some kids/families are moved out of the school they have always expected to attend.

Fcps does not have an obligation to maintain property values. They believe that they can continue providing the same education that they have always provided. The student population may be a bit different, but their side of the education equation will remain the same. Your children will still have access to the same teachers and courses they always have had.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those ESs are "the LJ community" ( at least part of the lj community)...the part that would be most affected by the rezoning....you know...the kids who would actually be changing schools. The admin/planning dept is looking at this in a race neutral way. I understand that there could be secondary effects of this rezoning and good people can debate whether and how those secondary effects should be considered. But, the primary effect in any rezoning proposal is that some kids/families are moved out of the school they have always expected to attend.

Fcps does not have an obligation to maintain property values. They believe that they can continue providing the same education that they have always provided. The student population may be a bit different, but their side of the education equation will remain the same. Your children will still have access to the same teachers and courses they always have had.

It sounds nice to claim FCPS is being race-neutral but in fact what FCPS repeatedly does is accede to the wishes of white and UMC parents who welcome a move to schools with fewer low-income kids, and then profess shock when the schools that shed higher SES families see accelerated UMC flight, a rapid increase in poverty, and a decline in enrollment. We’ve seen this movie before at Annandale, Poe and Lee, and now they are doing the same thing at Jackson.

And, yes, while they need not worry about the property values of individual homeowners, they might well be mindful of the broader impact their decisions may have on county tax revenues.

This is a bad decision recommended by Gatehouse bureaucrats whose guiding philosophy is simply to stick it to poorer neighborhoods because they tend to make less noise.

[Anonymous]

How many of those on here that are against this move will be at the hearing on the 22nd when this will be voted on? Raise your hands please..

[Anonymous]

It is the responsibility of the School Board and FCPS Staff to do the right thing. It's not consistent with the One Fairfax resolution to always put the burden on the people who are getting the short end of the stick to complain, especially when FCPS did not reach out to them previously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is the responsibility of the School Board and FCPS Staff to do the right thing. It's not consistent with the One Fairfax resolution to always put the burden on the people who are getting the short end of the stick to complain, especially when FCPS did not reach out to them previously.

So you have the right to complain and whine about things but not the obligation to do anything about it? The county management works for you (theoretically). Most of them are limited when it comes to brain power/empathy. Unless you tell them what you want, they don't care. That's your responsibility as an affected citizen. Have you done that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many of those on here that are against this move will be at the hearing on the 22nd when this will be voted on? Raise your hands please..

Not living in the area, I may not show up. I know the school board has read these threads and have talked to them personally about the issues. I have also talked to facilities. It's their responsibility to make a sound decision. I do not feel obligated to show up just to make sure they do the right thing. I cannot show up to every hearing and it is not my responsibility. What if I was sick or had an obligation? These are the people we elected. The responsibility is on their shoulders.