Places to Sign Recall Petitions - Tholen/Omeish/Cohen

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe start a new petition to recall on different grounds. That’s the thing with these School Board members. It’s not like they just mess up once.

Lol. Is there a petition circulating for Omesh? I would go out of my way to sign that one.

[twitter] https://twitter.com/fcpsopen/status/1445015989536628738?s=21[/twitter]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My reference to her "puppet masters" at MHS is as follows - she promised mcspaces and her predecessor a boundary change. She started down that road with mhs parents and mcspaces supporting her efforts. It was great - she was pushing it through and everyone was happy. Then the pandemic delayed things. But mhs parents and the most vocal in mcspaces pushed her to reenergize the boundary effort despite the many factors I listed in an earlier post above, to include the lie that a boundary had to happen before a reno. It was a lie. She did that. They unquestioningly accepted her ludicrous logic. She was doing what they wanted. Everyone was once again happy.

All of a sudden, mhs parents and mcspaces realized that mhs was going to lose too many kids due to pandemic-related lower enrollment, the TJ debacle, and the boundary. All of a sudden they wanted her to stop, rethink this, pull back. Otherwise if mhs loses too many kids, mhs loses classes and teachers. So mhs and mcspaces all of a sudden tried to slow her down. but no, she kept going. At that point, her gullible cheerleaders aka mhs parents and mcspaces should have realized that she was actually helping her (not-so-)Great Falls fanatics with a meaningless boundary change of single family homes, saving (not-so-)great falls from having to take in multi-family dwellings <gasp>.

And your comment about having hindsight now - well, it was obvious to anyone who questioned her logic during the process that she was full of double-talk. She changed her message depending on the audience. I along with others, highlighted her hypocrisy at the time - no one at mhs wanted to listen.

So yes, her puppet masters at mhs got duped. she made fools of them, and us all. As you pointed out, she has alienated everyone at this point, except those mhs parents and mcspaces who dont want to admit they got fooled. Even if she gets a bond for mhs, the damage is done. She is done.

Neither McSpaces nor other McLean parents were asking for anything unreasonable: (1) relief from the overcrowding that had led to 20 trailers, overcrowded hallways, and articles in newspapers (The Guardian) citing McLean's facilities as a poster child for the neglect of public school buildings in Virginia; and (2) a permanent addition at MHS similar to what FCPS had built or committed to build at several other high schools (South Lakes, Justice, Madison, West Potomac) outside the normal renovation cycle.

I guess you think that, rather than trying to advocate constructively, they should have stomped their feet, yelled louder, and insisted on an addition right away? Unfortunately, that's what FCPS had promised the school in 2015, only for Facilities to yank it away and expand Langley during its renovation to 2370 seats even though LHS only had an enrollment of around 1900. Once that decision was made, both Strauss and then Tholen said a boundary change would have to happen before any addition was considered at McLean. Tholen did promise before Covid that she'd do both - work on a boundary change and get McLean promptly slated in the next CIP for a future addition. Then, once in office: she (1) pushed through a boundary change during a pandemic, even when FCPS had lost any ability to project future enrollments and people were begging her to pause; (2) turned the need for "equity" and "transparency" that her colleagues had used for years to delay a boundary change on its head by waiting until the last minute to push through the change she wanted that the public had never heard was her preferred approach and was anything but "equity-based"; and (3) did nothing to get McLean in the pipeline for a permanent addition.

So if they were all dupes, it was because FCPS already had them flat on their backs. It's not like there were great alternatives in the 2019 campaign, as the other two Dranesville candidates were also from the Langley HS district and motivated to run primarily by their desire to protect Langley's boundaries from any changes that might ever put Great Falls at risk of getting moved to Herndon. Had Karloutsis been elected, she would have faced opposition from the Democratic majority on the board. Had Mobasheri been elected, he would have tilted at windmills trying to get a brand-new secondary school costing far more built in Tysons. Tholen likely seemed like the best of the three options; arguably, she turned out to be the worst. It's telling that the McSpaces group that had pushed for relief (yes, a boundary change PLUS getting in the queue for an addition) never once acknowledged or thanked Tholen for the change she rammed through. They appear to have disbanded in disgust, perhaps now lying in wait to see if she's planning to bow out or run again.

I agree with everything you said. I supported a boundary change, but just wanted it done right and in a meaningful way. Instead she fanned the flames of division among the mhs "community," manipulated the process, maneuvered around everyone, delivered a meaningless boundary change, and moved on leaving many kids behind and an overcrowded school.

The only thing I disagree with you on is your comment that she was arguably the worst of all options.

She was and continues to be, in fact, the absolute worst.

Enough about the boundary issue. When you look at all of Elaine’s poor decisions, the boundary negatively impacted the least amount of kids. Don’t lose sight of the fact that she also failed to proactively try to get our kids back in school last year because she was too busy supporting the renaming of schools, dumbing down the TJ admission process, and supporting CRT.

Well said and totally agree.

[Anonymous]

Should we shut down this thread before the FBI arrests us? We may be guilty of hurting Elaine's feelings.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Should we shut down this thread before the FBI arrests us? We may be guilty of hurting Elaine's feelings.....

If anyone has called and left personally threatening messages with a School Board member they should be investigated.

Advocating for the recall or replacement in the next election of an elected official is protected speech.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Should we shut down this thread before the FBI arrests us? We may be guilty of hurting Elaine's feelings.....

If anyone has called and left personally threatening messages with a School Board member they should be investigated.

Advocating for the recall or replacement in the next election of an elected official is protected speech.

+1, or at least it should be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pushing through a boundary change at a time when FCPS was losing 10,000 kids and with no appreciation yet as to what the full impact of the change in the TJ admissions policy (also supported by Tholen) would be served only one purpose: to reassure Great Falls/Langley that the number of kids moved was finite and would not add so many kids to Langley as to create pressure to move part of Langley to Herndon, which was also just expanded.

If Tholen really gave a crap about McLean, she would:

- demand an answer from staff as to why FCPS reneged on its statements to McLean 5-6 years ago that it would build an addition there (and instead expanded Langley more than originally planned);

- demand an explanation from staff as to why West Potomac is getting expanded to 3000 seats when nearby Mount Vernon is 15-20% under capacity, whereas McLean is left with under 2000 permanent seats and kids are getting reassigned to a school that’s further from their homes;

- insist that FCPS explain why it’s now spending or budgeting $80-130 million on HS renovations when it spent less than $40M on McLean’s last renovation;

- work diligently to make sure that FCPS budgets at least $20M for a permanent addition to McLean, similar to what it’s currently spending at Justice and Madison HS, neither of which was otherwise scheduled for a renovation.

But she won’t do any of this, because she made sure Langley, her school, got what it wanted and otherwise doesn’t want to rock the boat. As a result, McLean will continue to have less permanent space than every other high school, despite all the ongoing and planned growth in the Tysons/McLean/WFC area, and they’ll only get around to discussing a permanent addition after all the trailers that were removed last year end up back on the tennis courts again (and even then it will still get pushed off for years).

We need a fighter and instead we got a behind-the-scenes wheeler-dealer who simply took care of her own friends.

McLean is not the only school in FCPS. Though by this post, and all of your demands, you'd think it is.

Lots of schools are crowded, have trailers, require kids who would otherwise be zoned there to go to schools farther away, and have other issues with infrastructure. It sucks you didn't get what you thought was coming to your school. That's life. Posts like yours are a real turn-off. McLean is not, in fact, the center of the universe.

[Anonymous]

Am I missing something? Is McLean more overcrowded than any other FCPS HS? Every other FCPS HS has trailers, right?

[Anonymous]

Chantilly and McLean have been the two most overcrowded schools for which FCPS has made no plans to add permanent seats, and McLean has less permanent learning space than any other high/secondary school in FCPS. FCPS also spent less money renovating McLean in the early 2000s than it has spent on any high school renovation over the past 20 years.

This has occurred even though less overcrowded schools like Justice and Madison are getting additions and they are spending over $40M to expand West Potomac when nearby Mount Vernon is 15-20% under capacity.

Like it or not, McLean will not support local School Board members who don’t ensure the school is treated fairly. And, no, not every high school has trailers, much less as many as McLean had until they finally got the second-hand modular this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Am I missing something? Is McLean more overcrowded than any other FCPS HS? Every other FCPS HS has trailers, right?

Yes, yes, and no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Am I missing something? Is McLean more overcrowded than any other FCPS HS? Every other FCPS HS has trailers, right?

Yes, yes, and no.

As to the second "yes," McLean is more overcrowded than many other high schools, but not every other high school. However, one of the schools that has been more overcrowded (Centreville) has an upcoming renovation/expansion in the works and they are already building an addition at another (West Potomac). In West Potomac's case, they could have moved kids to Mount Vernon, which is both nearby and under-enrolled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pushing through a boundary change at a time when FCPS was losing 10,000 kids and with no appreciation yet as to what the full impact of the change in the TJ admissions policy (also supported by Tholen) would be served only one purpose: to reassure Great Falls/Langley that the number of kids moved was finite and would not add so many kids to Langley as to create pressure to move part of Langley to Herndon, which was also just expanded.

If Tholen really gave a crap about McLean, she would:

- demand an answer from staff as to why FCPS reneged on its statements to McLean 5-6 years ago that it would build an addition there (and instead expanded Langley more than originally planned);

- demand an explanation from staff as to why West Potomac is getting expanded to 3000 seats when nearby Mount Vernon is 15-20% under capacity, whereas McLean is left with under 2000 permanent seats and kids are getting reassigned to a school that’s further from their homes;

- insist that FCPS explain why it’s now spending or budgeting $80-130 million on HS renovations when it spent less than $40M on McLean’s last renovation;

- work diligently to make sure that FCPS budgets at least $20M for a permanent addition to McLean, similar to what it’s currently spending at Justice and Madison HS, neither of which was otherwise scheduled for a renovation.

But she won’t do any of this, because she made sure Langley, her school, got what it wanted and otherwise doesn’t want to rock the boat. As a result, McLean will continue to have less permanent space than every other high school, despite all the ongoing and planned growth in the Tysons/McLean/WFC area, and they’ll only get around to discussing a permanent addition after all the trailers that were removed last year end up back on the tennis courts again (and even then it will still get pushed off for years).

We need a fighter and instead we got a behind-the-scenes wheeler-dealer who simply took care of her own friends.

McLean is not the only school in FCPS. Though by this post, and all of your demands, you'd think it is.

Lots of schools are crowded, have trailers, require kids who would otherwise be zoned there to go to schools farther away, and have other issues with infrastructure. It sucks you didn't get what you thought was coming to your school. That's life. Posts like yours are a real turn-off. McLean is not, in fact, the center of the universe.

+100
That PP has been spewing the exact same talking points for months and months. She is absolutely obsessed with ousting Tholen because she (the PP) didn't get her way. Broken record.

[Anonymous]

Actually we’re less interested in “ousting” Tholen - that was an effort her Great Falls neighbors largely spearheaded - than trying to get her to pay attention and do her job properly during the rest of her term.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually we’re less interested in “ousting” Tholen - that was an effort her Great Falls neighbors largely spearheaded - than trying to get her to pay attention and do her job properly during the rest of her term.

Correction - The effort to oust tholen was supported by people far outside of just Great Falls. We've given up trying to get her to pay attention and do her job properly. And her incompetence negatively impacted kids far beyond any boundary change at McLean. This is not a McLean vs. Great Falls issue - this is a Dranesville-wide issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Am I missing something? Is McLean more overcrowded than any other FCPS HS? Every other FCPS HS has trailers, right?

Yes, yes, and no.

Than any other school??? Debateable. But lots of schools have trailers, including ours. We are within a job from 2 other HSs. But are stuck with 40 min bus ride bc of current boundaries (both of the closer schools grossly overcrowded. Neither are McLean.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Am I missing something? Is McLean more overcrowded than any other FCPS HS? Every other FCPS HS has trailers, right?

Yes, yes, and no.

Than any other school??? Debateable. But lots of schools have trailers, including ours. We are within a job from 2 other HSs. But are stuck with 40 min bus ride bc of current boundaries (both of the closer schools grossly overcrowded. Neither are McLean.)

Already clarified how the reference to “any other school” was interpreted - you may have interpreted it as “every other school.” But suggesting MHS has been no more or no less overcrowded than any other high school in FCPS isn’t correct. Not only has it been one of the more overcrowded high schools for years, but it’s also been overcrowded for a longer time than most as well.

Anyway, sorry you also have trailers and cannot send your kids to a more conveniently located school.