FCPS Boundary Review Updates

[Anonymous]

So are West Springfield/Lewis and Langley/Herndon boundaries back in play now that we have School Board members like Dunne saying the October maps are going to be “substantially different” from the Thru proposals released in May?

They really do know how to waste people’s time and money. We very much regret having bought in Fairfax County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they get what everyone is trying to say? Will it work in people’s favor or not?

https://www.fcps.edu/about-fcps/maps/2024-2026-boundary-review/boundary-review-community-feedback-results

Finally some acknowledgement of Lewis's underenrollment. It seemed crazy to me that all the gears were turning and a high school with 1600 kids was not even part of the picture.

Agreed. The proposed “fixes” to WSHS did not include moving students to Lewis, an under enrolled school.

"underenrolled?" Check out the transfer stats.
https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/fcps.fts/viz/SY2024-25StudentTransfersDashboard/ReadMe

Well over 200 transferring out could make a big difference in the enrollment.

So, about 10% of inbounds families pupil place out? They need to shut down the IB loophole and fix that first.

It’s highlighted in some of the Annandale comments. When pyramids don’t have an AAP center, they funnel kids out of pyramid for 3-8 grades and then expect them to attend their home school. This is a major pipeline for student transfers of high achieving students who want to remain with their cohorts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So are West Springfield/Lewis and Langley/Herndon boundaries back in play now that we have School Board members like Dunne saying the October maps are going to be “substantially different” from the Thru proposals released in May?

They really do know how to waste people’s time and money. We very much regret having bought in Fairfax County.

West Springfield, maybe, because THRU has already thrown out their current recommendation due to the split feeder. Langley/Herndon? Doubtful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So are West Springfield/Lewis and Langley/Herndon boundaries back in play now that we have School Board members like Dunne saying the October maps are going to be “substantially different” from the Thru proposals released in May?

They really do know how to waste people’s time and money. We very much regret having bought in Fairfax County.

If so, it is a political disaster in the making.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So are West Springfield/Lewis and Langley/Herndon boundaries back in play now that we have School Board members like Dunne saying the October maps are going to be “substantially different” from the Thru proposals released in May?

They really do know how to waste people’s time and money. We very much regret having bought in Fairfax County.

West Springfield, maybe, because THRU has already thrown out their current recommendation due to the split feeder. Langley/Herndon? Doubtful.

WS’s boundaries are in play if they create a split feeder moving 35% of Hunt Valley to South County. There’s also a proposal to close the Rolling Valley split feeder by sending the whole thing to Saratoga, but that’s just at the elementary level as those neighborhoods already nominally attend Key/Lewis. But didn’t Sandy Anderson stick her neck out for that one and say she would not only try to keep them at RV but also try to get them back to Irving/WS? Interesting times …

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they get what everyone is trying to say? Will it work in people’s favor or not?

https://www.fcps.edu/about-fcps/maps/2024-2026-boundary-review/boundary-review-community-feedback-results

The feedback is a broad repudiation of the Thru proposals but more fundamentally of the priorities the School Board identified in amended Policy 8130. The consultants may be weak but the root cause is the incompetence of the current School Board and how little they respect parents. They had ample feedback that families did not want major boundary changes and they ignored it. They also failed to address grandfathering up-front, which was a huge mistake.

Now you see members like Anderson and Dunne breaking ranks and saying they’ll oppose specific boundary changes, even when those changes have been described as “easy fixes” aligned with Policy 8130. The acquisition of the KAA in the middle of all this just creates more uncertainty. The entire review is in shambles at this point

Do you mean Dr. Anderson?

Sandy Anderson is lockstep with the school board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they get what everyone is trying to say? Will it work in people’s favor or not?

https://www.fcps.edu/about-fcps/maps/2024-2026-boundary-review/boundary-review-community-feedback-results

Finally some acknowledgement of Lewis's underenrollment. It seemed crazy to me that all the gears were turning and a high school with 1600 kids was not even part of the picture.

Man, I would kill for a 1600 size school for my kids.

Yeah, until you found out about the courses (or number of sessions) and activities not offered at that school.

That is on the leadership, not the school size

At 1600, Lewis is larger than all the private and Catholic high schools that all offer a full slate of class options for advanced students.

Lewis could too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So are West Springfield/Lewis and Langley/Herndon boundaries back in play now that we have School Board members like Dunne saying the October maps are going to be “substantially different” from the Thru proposals released in May?

They really do know how to waste people’s time and money. We very much regret having bought in Fairfax County.

West Springfield, maybe, because THRU has already thrown out their current recommendation due to the split feeder. Langley/Herndon? Doubtful.

WS’s boundaries are in play if they create a split feeder moving 35% of Hunt Valley to South County. There’s also a proposal to close the Rolling Valley split feeder by sending the whole thing to Saratoga, but that’s just at the elementary level as those neighborhoods already nominally attend Key/Lewis. But didn’t Sandy Anderson stick her neck out for that one and say she would not only try to keep them at RV but also try to get them back to Irving/WS? Interesting times …

Yes, she said in a community meeting that her priority was making sure the RV families get redistricted to Irving/WS, even though other of her constituents would potentially get moved to South County because of "overcrowding" at Irving and then cause overcrowding in South County. And the cascading impact of that would be sending some South County kids to LBSS, which upset those families because it's much further away than their current schools. It really didn't make much sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they get what everyone is trying to say? Will it work in people’s favor or not?

https://www.fcps.edu/about-fcps/maps/2024-2026-boundary-review/boundary-review-community-feedback-results

Finally some acknowledgement of Lewis's underenrollment. It seemed crazy to me that all the gears were turning and a high school with 1600 kids was not even part of the picture.

Agreed. The proposed “fixes” to WSHS did not include moving students to Lewis, an under enrolled school.

They just need to stop transfers out of Lewis, around 250 students each year.

Doing this would make Lewis fully enrolled, and also improve its academic standings, without unnecessary rezoning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they get what everyone is trying to say? Will it work in people’s favor or not?

https://www.fcps.edu/about-fcps/maps/2024-2026-boundary-review/boundary-review-community-feedback-results

Finally some acknowledgement of Lewis's underenrollment. It seemed crazy to me that all the gears were turning and a high school with 1600 kids was not even part of the picture.

Agreed. The proposed “fixes” to WSHS did not include moving students to Lewis, an under enrolled school.

"underenrolled?" Check out the transfer stats.
https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/fcps.fts/viz/SY2024-25StudentTransfersDashboard/ReadMe

Well over 200 transferring out could make a big difference in the enrollment.

So, about 10% of inbounds families pupil place out? They need to shut down the IB loophole and fix that first.

More like 15% of the Lewis students transfer out each year.

That is Lewis' core issue. It has zero to do with WSHS, except there are plenty of Lewid zoned families using fake addresses to attend WSHS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So are West Springfield/Lewis and Langley/Herndon boundaries back in play now that we have School Board members like Dunne saying the October maps are going to be “substantially different” from the Thru proposals released in May?

They really do know how to waste people’s time and money. We very much regret having bought in Fairfax County.

West Springfield, maybe, because THRU has already thrown out their current recommendation due to the split feeder. Langley/Herndon? Doubtful.

WS’s boundaries are in play if they create a split feeder moving 35% of Hunt Valley to South County. There’s also a proposal to close the Rolling Valley split feeder by sending the whole thing to Saratoga, but that’s just at the elementary level as those neighborhoods already nominally attend Key/Lewis. But didn’t Sandy Anderson stick her neck out for that one and say she would not only try to keep them at RV but also try to get them back to Irving/WS? Interesting times …

A lot of those Rolling Valley kids attend WSHS, either through legit transfers or using faked addresses. Look at the number of Spartan car magnets in those neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So are West Springfield/Lewis and Langley/Herndon boundaries back in play now that we have School Board members like Dunne saying the October maps are going to be “substantially different” from the Thru proposals released in May?

They really do know how to waste people’s time and money. We very much regret having bought in Fairfax County.

West Springfield, maybe, because THRU has already thrown out their current recommendation due to the split feeder. Langley/Herndon? Doubtful.

WS’s boundaries are in play if they create a split feeder moving 35% of Hunt Valley to South County. There’s also a proposal to close the Rolling Valley split feeder by sending the whole thing to Saratoga, but that’s just at the elementary level as those neighborhoods already nominally attend Key/Lewis. But didn’t Sandy Anderson stick her neck out for that one and say she would not only try to keep them at RV but also try to get them back to Irving/WS? Interesting times …

Yes, she said in a community meeting that her priority was making sure the RV families get redistricted to Irving/WS, even though other of her constituents would potentially get moved to South County because of "overcrowding" at Irving and then cause overcrowding in South County. And the cascading impact of that would be sending some South County kids to LBSS, which upset those families because it's much further away than their current schools. It really didn't make much sense.

Arent those Rolling Valley families Franconia District constituents, not Springfield District constituents?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So are West Springfield/Lewis and Langley/Herndon boundaries back in play now that we have School Board members like Dunne saying the October maps are going to be “substantially different” from the Thru proposals released in May?

They really do know how to waste people’s time and money. We very much regret having bought in Fairfax County.

West Springfield, maybe, because THRU has already thrown out their current recommendation due to the split feeder. Langley/Herndon? Doubtful.

WS’s boundaries are in play if they create a split feeder moving 35% of Hunt Valley to South County. There’s also a proposal to close the Rolling Valley split feeder by sending the whole thing to Saratoga, but that’s just at the elementary level as those neighborhoods already nominally attend Key/Lewis. But didn’t Sandy Anderson stick her neck out for that one and say she would not only try to keep them at RV but also try to get them back to Irving/WS? Interesting times …

Yes, she said in a community meeting that her priority was making sure the RV families get redistricted to Irving/WS, even though other of her constituents would potentially get moved to South County because of "overcrowding" at Irving and then cause overcrowding in South County. And the cascading impact of that would be sending some South County kids to LBSS, which upset those families because it's much further away than their current schools. It really didn't make much sense.

Arent those Rolling Valley families Franconia District constituents, not Springfield District constituents?

Yes, I believe so. Sandy doesn't care. She wants to close that split feeder. The problem is, it causes cascading issues.

[Anonymous]

What a shit show.

It's hard to know what's worse - the members like Sandy Anderson and Mateo Dunne who are free-ranging and already signaling how they will try to override Thru's recommendations or the members like Robyn Lady and Karl Frisch who have even more upset constituents (judging from the heat maps) but pretend they have no idea what's going on.

FCPS is in free fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So are West Springfield/Lewis and Langley/Herndon boundaries back in play now that we have School Board members like Dunne saying the October maps are going to be “substantially different” from the Thru proposals released in May?

They really do know how to waste people’s time and money. We very much regret having bought in Fairfax County.

West Springfield, maybe, because THRU has already thrown out their current recommendation due to the split feeder. Langley/Herndon? Doubtful.

WS’s boundaries are in play if they create a split feeder moving 35% of Hunt Valley to South County. There’s also a proposal to close the Rolling Valley split feeder by sending the whole thing to Saratoga, but that’s just at the elementary level as those neighborhoods already nominally attend Key/Lewis. But didn’t Sandy Anderson stick her neck out for that one and say she would not only try to keep them at RV but also try to get them back to Irving/WS? Interesting times …

Yes, she said in a community meeting that her priority was making sure the RV families get redistricted to Irving/WS, even though other of her constituents would potentially get moved to South County because of "overcrowding" at Irving and then cause overcrowding in South County. And the cascading impact of that would be sending some South County kids to LBSS, which upset those families because it's much further away than their current schools. It really didn't make much sense.

Arent those Rolling Valley families Franconia District constituents, not Springfield District constituents?

Yes, I believe so. Sandy doesn't care. She wants to close that split feeder. The problem is, it causes cascading issues.

It also won't be just a handful of students.

It will be just like Daventry, where the "4 or 5 students per grade" quickly becomes 20+ students per grade, overcrowding WSHS far more than the Hunt Valley neighborhood currently has enrolled.

The Rolling Valley split feeder outside the Parkway should be moved to Saratoga, with middle and high school remaining at Key and Lewis.

Moving it to WSHS will create greater overcrowding at WSHS in a year or two after rezoning.