FaifaxOne Issue?
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Anonymous
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The county is planning to destroy Blake Lane Park in order to build a new elementary school. The park is one of only two green spaces that serves a high density, diverse MC/LMC community, of which approximately half feeds into Oakton ES and the other half Mobsy Woods ES. Capacity numbers don't show a need for the school in this area. We now hear it is needed because of proramming and split feeder issues. The initial line of reasoning was that they needed to pull FCPS students in from Providence ES. When the transcript of the school board meeting was released in which it was clearly stated that no request had been made by the city of Fairfax to move these students, they are now going with capacity is needed because of the development going on around the Dulles Silver Line Metro.
Why are we building a school in Blake Lane Park, 5 minutes from the Vienna Metro, for development that is going on 45 minutes away in the Dulles Corridor? See the link to the FCPS press release. If this school is built it will eliminate the larger of the only two green spaces remaining in the community, and quite possibly create a school in which when the demographic mix shakes out, ends up concentrating MC/LMC/LC in one school. The created school will have 800 students in a building with a much smaller footprint than the other schools, It won't have the same outdoor space as the other two, gym will be smaller, class rooms smaller, everything will be smaller because it is a much smaller site, yet it will need to accommodate the same number of students as the other school. Why is a county that is supposedly committed to One Fairfax setting out to create a situation in which OES and Mosby Woods will both be less economically, and ethnically diverse, and concentrating middle class and lower income and more ethnically diverse students into one much smaller ES, which will, given the capacity issues at Thoreau, more than likely feed into LJ because of development going on on the other end of the county? https://www.fcps.edu/event/oakton-fairfax-es-community-meeting |
Anonymous
| I have no dog in this hunt, but something smells. FCPS has many split feeders. |
Anonymous
| It has been earmarked for an ES for as long as I can remember. |
Anonymous
| My spidey senses are tingling too! |
Anonymous
Don't tell OP that. It doesn't fit her narrative. |
Anonymous
| Well, at least the land wasn't sold to developers to build 75 townhouses. |
Anonymous
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The land was set aside to be a school back in the 1970's when there was a lot more open space around it. Now it has the only open fields in the area, plus a dog park, and some woodsy areas. The park is a very important part of the community. It is also an IMA( Invasive Management Area) site. Just because it may have been a good site back in the 1970's doesn't mean it is a good site for a school now.
Most of the homes surrounding the park are town homes or condos - the park is their backyard. |
Anonymous
+1 Fcps turned it over to the County in 2006 as part of a quid pro quo 150 million funding. Looks like the County is giving the land back to fcps. |
Anonymous
Great detail in your stats. Where did you get this information from? |
Anonymous
| I sometimes drive by through that road and the playground is usually full of children running around ad playing. there are apartments, condos and townhouses close by so it'll be shame if those families no longer have the park and playground. FCPS schools are crowded so I can also understand why they are desperate to use land for building schools. |
Anonymous
| If they build an elementary school, it will have a playground that the children living close by can use after school hours. |
Anonymous
| Isn’t missy woods horribly overcrowded? They should build the school taller than usual (three or four stories) to preserve enough space for a nice playground. |
Anonymous
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/27/AR2006042702481.html?noredirect=on |
Anonymous
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Faux outrage over green space.
The real outrage from the OP is that she bought a home zoned for one school and now realizes her kid will have to go to the new school with a less desirable demographic |
Anonymous
| Blake Lane Park serves the community in 22124. I live here and don’t see a school as a negative issue. I project OES and Providence kids will be the majority of the kids in the school and a lesser amount of MWES. |