Luther Jackson MS Enrollment Plunges as Expected
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Anonymous
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FCPS released its September 2018 enrollment numbers today.
Following the ill-considered decision to move several neighborhoods from Jackson to Thoreau, while giving Thoreau AAP students the option to attend either school, the 7th grade enrollment at Jackson has dropped to 489 kids (including AAP), while the Thoreau 7th grade enrollment has gone up to 658 kids. By next year Jackson's enrollment will probably be under 1000, and the ESOL/FARMS percentages will keep going up. Congratulations, FCPS. |
Anonymous
| Yay - so glad with FCPS' decision. It eliminated a lot of LJ's overcrowding and Thoreau is STILL under capacity. Thanks for the info! |
Anonymous
LOL, just wait until next year. Hope the NAACP reams the School Board out about its phony commitment to "equity." |
Anonymous
| LJMS was seriously and dangerously overcrowded. There was no reasonable way to balance out FARMS numbers while reducing overcrowding. Hopefully they were able to anticipate staffing needs and not lose any of the great staff members. Thoreau would be better able to handle overcrowding after their renovation and due to their demographics. |
Anonymous
On what planet do you think a school in FCPS loses that much of its enrollment without destaffing? |
Anonymous
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Great news! I’ve never understood why parents of AAPers well within TMS boundaries would ever consider sending their GT student to LJMS.
And, the argument for sending zoned TMS AAP students was always that the AAP kids were self contained and kept away from the base students. Segregation? |
Anonymous
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Maybe they can send some of the staff members to Thoreau, if it's truly that dire?
Giving AAP kids within the Thoreau boundary the option has been the opposite of terrible for us. The commute from north of 123 to Jackson alone (at the ass crack of dawn, no less) had us seriously considering just skipping middle school AAP. Now, our kid doesn't have to spend as much time commuting to school and can be at the same school as non-AAP friends. |
Anonymous
| Yep. As some of us predicted. It was obvious what would happen. F/R lunch numbers will spike at Jackson over the next several years. |
Anonymous
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There have always been some gloating Oakton parents who are happy that their Gen Ed kids now get to hang out with kids going to Madison rather than Falls Church. There are also parents of AAP kids zoned for Madison happy that they have an LLIV option at two schools - Jackson and Thoreau, even though neither Gen Ed kids, nor AAP kids in many pyramids, have similar options.
However, the enrollment numbers for this year already show a sharp decline in the enrollment at Jackson, which likely means the ESOL/FARMS numbers will jump. It also suggests Thoreau will be overcrowded by next year. Realistically, this is happening because FCPS didn't want to formally designate Thoreau as an AAP center, even though its approach will have an even greater adverse effect on Jackson. They had every reason to know this would happen. |
Anonymous
I’m hoping they were able to keep the great teachers and staff, but yes I’m aware that some need to go |
Anonymous
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And: equity? I don’t understand why this is a goal. We moved here mostly for the school pyramid and chose our neighborhood accordingly. We avoided the LJMS district.
I don’t want my kids in a Title One school, either. |
Anonymous
As long as you get yours, right? Even better if you get a windfall to someone else's detriment. |
Anonymous
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OP -- this is actually a success! LJMS was in fact way over crowded. Now they are not! They are right at capacity. This is actually a good use of the facility. Likewise, TMS was previously under-enrolled and not it is closer to capacity.
If you look at the numbers, LJMS shed about 200 kids in the current 7th grade enrollment. TMS picked them up. LJMS lost about 75 kids who apparently could have stayed there for 8th grade, but decided to move over to TMS.... b/c they gained about 75 kids from last June to this SEpt. in the group that is now 8th grade. So, a net gain at TMS of 275. Next year, they should even out to add another 75-ish, and that will be the end of it. 300-350 was what the planners expected would be moving out of LJMS and into TMS. I see that the membership numbers are not separating out the AAP kids. In the past they used to do that. Not sure how the AAP numbers have changed. I don't think it has been much of a change -- maybe 20 or so more at TMS. But the bulk are still at LJMS. Separating out the issue of SES, the attendance and capacity balancing was a success. |
Anonymous
Nope. Not my attitude at all. I just wonder why all of a sudden schools are supposed to be equal? FCPS will waste precious time and resources if the end game is demographic equivalency? So, should Langley HS just close? Maybe students from Lee HS should have the option to be bussed to McLean HS to even things out? This is not real life. Or, let’s move students from West Springfield HS to Lee or Annandale. This has been attempted before and didn’t go well. If we’re going to equalize things, let’s eliminate AAP. I’d argue that students in AAP have school choice (i.e., LJMS or Thoreau) whereas gen ed students do not! |
Anonymous
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19:30 Were you living under a rock these past 30 years? Bussing? Civil Rights?
We really won't know more until the demographics page gets updated and right now it isn't and neither is dashboard. |