FCPS Boundary Review Updates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After speaking to several school board members. It seems like Sandy came in wanting boundary changes to be her lasting legacy and there has never been any discussion on why.

almost no one wants to be moved, yet instead of listening to reasons from the people it actually effects, she has blinders on and continues to push forward. The job is too big for the firm they hired and are in over their heads. (Confirmed by people on the committee) The pushback from nearly all communities asking to step back and not rush into these changes has fallen on deaf ears. SA has flat out said she doesn’t care if she doesn’t get re elected. She’s bulldozing the entire boundary review even while other board members have said to slow down and re evaluate trends, especially with the RIFs and people moving from this area. The random shuffling of neighborhoods does nothing for the bigger issue and as the home owners age fluctuates, it just leads everything to need to be changed again in 10 years.

It’s extremely frustrating and my personal conversations with her have left me feeling that she absolutely does not care what anyone thinks. She’s flippant and honestly, obnoxious in her responses. Telling me about people who live on the “wrong side of the parkway” and I should be happy I’m not getting switched to XYZ. As the top ranked member of the school board, she absolutely should not make comments about how any school is less than another. She should be an advocate and a supporter of making all FCPS schools strong and singing their praises, not just telling us we are lucky we don’t have to go there.

I want to get to the bottom of why she is so adamant about this being her legacy, which one of her financial supporters is it benefiting

Lady, not sure what your grudge is against Sandy Anderson, but it's clear that it's one person going on and on about her and it's getting old.

The entire area is unhappy SA, her roll in pushing rezoning, her refusal to advoacte for or listen to constituents, and her weird fixation on moving one Rolling Valley neighborhood of very nice houses from Lewis to WSHS at the expense of neighborhoods that have been zoned for WSHS for over 4 decades

It is definitely not one person who is incredibly disappointed with Sandy Anderson as a school board rep.

+100. In the meetings she has had with the Gambrill Rd neighborhoods, she has only done them via Zoom and only answered questions submitted via chat or messenger or emailed ahead of time, presumably picking which questions she would respond to. Maybe she has been more forthcoming with other groups, but she doesn’t have many fans in our area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After speaking to several school board members. It seems like Sandy came in wanting boundary changes to be her lasting legacy and there has never been any discussion on why.

almost no one wants to be moved, yet instead of listening to reasons from the people it actually effects, she has blinders on and continues to push forward. The job is too big for the firm they hired and are in over their heads. (Confirmed by people on the committee) The pushback from nearly all communities asking to step back and not rush into these changes has fallen on deaf ears. SA has flat out said she doesn’t care if she doesn’t get re elected. She’s bulldozing the entire boundary review even while other board members have said to slow down and re evaluate trends, especially with the RIFs and people moving from this area. The random shuffling of neighborhoods does nothing for the bigger issue and as the home owners age fluctuates, it just leads everything to need to be changed again in 10 years.

It’s extremely frustrating and my personal conversations with her have left me feeling that she absolutely does not care what anyone thinks. She’s flippant and honestly, obnoxious in her responses. Telling me about people who live on the “wrong side of the parkway” and I should be happy I’m not getting switched to XYZ. As the top ranked member of the school board, she absolutely should not make comments about how any school is less than another. She should be an advocate and a supporter of making all FCPS schools strong and singing their praises, not just telling us we are lucky we don’t have to go there.

I want to get to the bottom of why she is so adamant about this being her legacy, which one of her financial supporters is it benefiting

Lady, not sure what your grudge is against Sandy Anderson, but it's clear that it's one person going on and on about her and it's getting old.

The entire area is unhappy SA, her roll in pushing rezoning, her refusal to advoacte for or listen to constituents, and her weird fixation on moving one Rolling Valley neighborhood of very nice houses from Lewis to WSHS at the expense of neighborhoods that have been zoned for WSHS for over 4 decades

It is definitely not one person who is incredibly disappointed with Sandy Anderson as a school board rep.

+100. In the meetings she has had with the Gambrill Rd neighborhoods, she has only done them via Zoom and only answered questions submitted via chat or messenger or emailed ahead of time, presumably picking which questions she would respond to. Maybe she has been more forthcoming with other groups, but she doesn’t have many fans in our area.

That’s the hallmark of a board member with a guilty conscience. Sounds a lot like our former SB member. She lied about her intentions when getting elected, only looked after her own pyramid, and then eventually started only dealing with people in moderated sessions where she could hand-pick which questions to answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After speaking to several school board members. It seems like Sandy came in wanting boundary changes to be her lasting legacy and there has never been any discussion on why.

almost no one wants to be moved, yet instead of listening to reasons from the people it actually effects, she has blinders on and continues to push forward. The job is too big for the firm they hired and are in over their heads. (Confirmed by people on the committee) The pushback from nearly all communities asking to step back and not rush into these changes has fallen on deaf ears. SA has flat out said she doesn’t care if she doesn’t get re elected. She’s bulldozing the entire boundary review even while other board members have said to slow down and re evaluate trends, especially with the RIFs and people moving from this area. The random shuffling of neighborhoods does nothing for the bigger issue and as the home owners age fluctuates, it just leads everything to need to be changed again in 10 years.

It’s extremely frustrating and my personal conversations with her have left me feeling that she absolutely does not care what anyone thinks. She’s flippant and honestly, obnoxious in her responses. Telling me about people who live on the “wrong side of the parkway” and I should be happy I’m not getting switched to XYZ. As the top ranked member of the school board, she absolutely should not make comments about how any school is less than another. She should be an advocate and a supporter of making all FCPS schools strong and singing their praises, not just telling us we are lucky we don’t have to go there.

I want to get to the bottom of why she is so adamant about this being her legacy, which one of her financial supporters is it benefiting

It has to be some person who is in the current RV/Lewis pocket, right? She is the only one who keeps talking about those neighborhoods staying at Irving/WSHS where none of the maps so far have showed that move. That or she is a hardcore equity warrior. But honestly, I can imagine what hardcore equity moves might look like and they don’t look like the weird, piecemeal shifting around of neighborhoods that we’ve seen so far.

I wonder what the SES is like in that RVES pocket? I honestly don't know, but I wonder if it is on the lower end SES wise, if that is why she wants it moved into WSHS? I know there ae some apartments along Rolling closer to the Parkway and if those are in that pocket? I also suspect that she is ultimately going to push for either all or part of HVES to be pushed into Lewis, thus altering the SES balance between WSHS and Lewis.

I just hope the rest of the School Board pushes back on her. But they may not care if it doesn't affect their constituents.

Many of the Lewis zoned houses in that area outside the parkway are very nice for the area.

They are easily the nicest house zoned for Rolling Valley by a mile. Most, if not all, of the WSHS zoned houses in the Rolling Valley neighborhoods are small ramblers and split levels, some of the smallest 1960s houses in the area, plus townhouses. The RV houses zoned for Lewis are large, spacious, much newer and updated. They are very nice houses at a Lewis discount. If they get rezoned for WSHS, they will shoot up in value over night.

Just in general, many of the houses that are zoned for Lewis are nice. There are neighborhoods closer to Lewis that are very nice and the whole Saratoga area is nice. All of those families deserve better than what the SB has done to Lewis re: IB vs AP, the academy etc.

+ 1 we are one of “those families” and totally agree!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After speaking to several school board members. It seems like Sandy came in wanting boundary changes to be her lasting legacy and there has never been any discussion on why.

almost no one wants to be moved, yet instead of listening to reasons from the people it actually effects, she has blinders on and continues to push forward. The job is too big for the firm they hired and are in over their heads. (Confirmed by people on the committee) The pushback from nearly all communities asking to step back and not rush into these changes has fallen on deaf ears. SA has flat out said she doesn’t care if she doesn’t get re elected. She’s bulldozing the entire boundary review even while other board members have said to slow down and re evaluate trends, especially with the RIFs and people moving from this area. The random shuffling of neighborhoods does nothing for the bigger issue and as the home owners age fluctuates, it just leads everything to need to be changed again in 10 years.

It’s extremely frustrating and my personal conversations with her have left me feeling that she absolutely does not care what anyone thinks. She’s flippant and honestly, obnoxious in her responses. Telling me about people who live on the “wrong side of the parkway” and I should be happy I’m not getting switched to XYZ. As the top ranked member of the school board, she absolutely should not make comments about how any school is less than another. She should be an advocate and a supporter of making all FCPS schools strong and singing their praises, not just telling us we are lucky we don’t have to go there.

I want to get to the bottom of why she is so adamant about this being her legacy, which one of her financial supporters is it benefiting

Lady, not sure what your grudge is against Sandy Anderson, but it's clear that it's one person going on and on about her and it's getting old.

The entire area is unhappy SA, her roll in pushing rezoning, her refusal to advoacte for or listen to constituents, and her weird fixation on moving one Rolling Valley neighborhood of very nice houses from Lewis to WSHS at the expense of neighborhoods that have been zoned for WSHS for over 4 decades

It is definitely not one person who is incredibly disappointed with Sandy Anderson as a school board rep.

+100. In the meetings she has had with the Gambrill Rd neighborhoods, she has only done them via Zoom and only answered questions submitted via chat or messenger or emailed ahead of time, presumably picking which questions she would respond to. Maybe she has been more forthcoming with other groups, but she doesn’t have many fans in our area.

This was exactly the same experience that our group had. She said she would download the chat to personally respond to our questions, but I’ve yet to hear.

[Anonymous]

Ladies and gentlemen, Your new board chair, Ms. Sandy Anderson!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After speaking to several school board members. It seems like Sandy came in wanting boundary changes to be her lasting legacy and there has never been any discussion on why.

almost no one wants to be moved, yet instead of listening to reasons from the people it actually effects, she has blinders on and continues to push forward. The job is too big for the firm they hired and are in over their heads. (Confirmed by people on the committee) The pushback from nearly all communities asking to step back and not rush into these changes has fallen on deaf ears. SA has flat out said she doesn’t care if she doesn’t get re elected. She’s bulldozing the entire boundary review even while other board members have said to slow down and re evaluate trends, especially with the RIFs and people moving from this area. The random shuffling of neighborhoods does nothing for the bigger issue and as the home owners age fluctuates, it just leads everything to need to be changed again in 10 years.

It’s extremely frustrating and my personal conversations with her have left me feeling that she absolutely does not care what anyone thinks. She’s flippant and honestly, obnoxious in her responses. Telling me about people who live on the “wrong side of the parkway” and I should be happy I’m not getting switched to XYZ. As the top ranked member of the school board, she absolutely should not make comments about how any school is less than another. She should be an advocate and a supporter of making all FCPS schools strong and singing their praises, not just telling us we are lucky we don’t have to go there.

I want to get to the bottom of why she is so adamant about this being her legacy, which one of her financial supporters is it benefiting

It has to be some person who is in the current RV/Lewis pocket, right? She is the only one who keeps talking about those neighborhoods staying at Irving/WSHS where none of the maps so far have showed that move. That or she is a hardcore equity warrior. But honestly, I can imagine what hardcore equity moves might look like and they don’t look like the weird, piecemeal shifting around of neighborhoods that we’ve seen so far.

Those Rolling Valley/Key/Lewis neighborhoods were neve zoned for West Springfield.

Thru moving their elementary from Rolling Valley to Saratoga makes perfect sense. Saratoga is the exact same distance as Rolling Valley, and limits their change to just elementary and not high school.

Moving that Lewis neighborhood to WSHS, when Anderson is also saying WSHS must be rezoned because of overcrowding makes no sense.

My gut says either a political donor, a coworker, or someone with a close personal connection owns property in that Rolling Valley Lewis neighborhood, because SAs idea is so out of left field and makes no sense in the context of the rezoning process.

It is so out of left field, yet and she us they she needs to help advocate for this RVES/Lewis pocket, because they don’t have as much advocacy on their end…as if we, a group of working parents have extra time and resources to advocate? We are not dissimilar to this pocket. We are many civil servants, teachers, military members who are just trying to do our best to advocate. It was an odd comment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After speaking to several school board members. It seems like Sandy came in wanting boundary changes to be her lasting legacy and there has never been any discussion on why.

almost no one wants to be moved, yet instead of listening to reasons from the people it actually effects, she has blinders on and continues to push forward. The job is too big for the firm they hired and are in over their heads. (Confirmed by people on the committee) The pushback from nearly all communities asking to step back and not rush into these changes has fallen on deaf ears. SA has flat out said she doesn’t care if she doesn’t get re elected. She’s bulldozing the entire boundary review even while other board members have said to slow down and re evaluate trends, especially with the RIFs and people moving from this area. The random shuffling of neighborhoods does nothing for the bigger issue and as the home owners age fluctuates, it just leads everything to need to be changed again in 10 years.

It’s extremely frustrating and my personal conversations with her have left me feeling that she absolutely does not care what anyone thinks. She’s flippant and honestly, obnoxious in her responses. Telling me about people who live on the “wrong side of the parkway” and I should be happy I’m not getting switched to XYZ. As the top ranked member of the school board, she absolutely should not make comments about how any school is less than another. She should be an advocate and a supporter of making all FCPS schools strong and singing their praises, not just telling us we are lucky we don’t have to go there.

I want to get to the bottom of why she is so adamant about this being her legacy, which one of her financial supporters is it benefiting

It has to be some person who is in the current RV/Lewis pocket, right? She is the only one who keeps talking about those neighborhoods staying at Irving/WSHS where none of the maps so far have showed that move. That or she is a hardcore equity warrior. But honestly, I can imagine what hardcore equity moves might look like and they don’t look like the weird, piecemeal shifting around of neighborhoods that we’ve seen so far.

Those Rolling Valley/Key/Lewis neighborhoods were neve zoned for West Springfield.

Thru moving their elementary from Rolling Valley to Saratoga makes perfect sense. Saratoga is the exact same distance as Rolling Valley, and limits their change to just elementary and not high school.

Moving that Lewis neighborhood to WSHS, when Anderson is also saying WSHS must be rezoned because of overcrowding makes no sense.

My gut says either a political donor, a coworker, or someone with a close personal connection owns property in that Rolling Valley Lewis neighborhood, because SAs idea is so out of left field and makes no sense in the context of the rezoning process.

It is so out of left field, yet and she us they she needs to help advocate for this RVES/Lewis pocket, because they don’t have as much advocacy on their end…as if we, a group of working parents have extra time and resources to advocate? We are not dissimilar to this pocket. We are many civil servants, teachers, military members who are just trying to do our best to advocate. It was an odd comment.

Any time the school board members hear feedback from communities that runs counter to the sb’s extreme agenda, they just pretend to be working on behalf of constituents who don’t speak up.

It’s very undemocratic and completely infuriating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After speaking to several school board members. It seems like Sandy came in wanting boundary changes to be her lasting legacy and there has never been any discussion on why.

almost no one wants to be moved, yet instead of listening to reasons from the people it actually effects, she has blinders on and continues to push forward. The job is too big for the firm they hired and are in over their heads. (Confirmed by people on the committee) The pushback from nearly all communities asking to step back and not rush into these changes has fallen on deaf ears. SA has flat out said she doesn’t care if she doesn’t get re elected. She’s bulldozing the entire boundary review even while other board members have said to slow down and re evaluate trends, especially with the RIFs and people moving from this area. The random shuffling of neighborhoods does nothing for the bigger issue and as the home owners age fluctuates, it just leads everything to need to be changed again in 10 years.

It’s extremely frustrating and my personal conversations with her have left me feeling that she absolutely does not care what anyone thinks. She’s flippant and honestly, obnoxious in her responses. Telling me about people who live on the “wrong side of the parkway” and I should be happy I’m not getting switched to XYZ. As the top ranked member of the school board, she absolutely should not make comments about how any school is less than another. She should be an advocate and a supporter of making all FCPS schools strong and singing their praises, not just telling us we are lucky we don’t have to go there.

I want to get to the bottom of why she is so adamant about this being her legacy, which one of her financial supporters is it benefiting

It has to be some person who is in the current RV/Lewis pocket, right? She is the only one who keeps talking about those neighborhoods staying at Irving/WSHS where none of the maps so far have showed that move. That or she is a hardcore equity warrior. But honestly, I can imagine what hardcore equity moves might look like and they don’t look like the weird, piecemeal shifting around of neighborhoods that we’ve seen so far.

Those Rolling Valley/Key/Lewis neighborhoods were neve zoned for West Springfield.

Thru moving their elementary from Rolling Valley to Saratoga makes perfect sense. Saratoga is the exact same distance as Rolling Valley, and limits their change to just elementary and not high school.

Moving that Lewis neighborhood to WSHS, when Anderson is also saying WSHS must be rezoned because of overcrowding makes no sense.

My gut says either a political donor, a coworker, or someone with a close personal connection owns property in that Rolling Valley Lewis neighborhood, because SAs idea is so out of left field and makes no sense in the context of the rezoning process.

It is so out of left field, yet and she us they she needs to help advocate for this RVES/Lewis pocket, because they don’t have as much advocacy on their end…as if we, a group of working parents have extra time and resources to advocate? We are not dissimilar to this pocket. We are many civil servants, teachers, military members who are just trying to do our best to advocate. It was an odd comment.

Any time the school board members hear feedback from communities that runs counter to the sb’s extreme agenda, they just pretend to be working on behalf of constituents who don’t speak up.

It’s very undemocratic and completely infuriating.

Any response to us was a “what about this pocket (insert rolling valley, Clifton, etc).” It is infuriating. All of our time was wasted with responses that had nothing to do with our demographic’s concerns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After speaking to several school board members. It seems like Sandy came in wanting boundary changes to be her lasting legacy and there has never been any discussion on why.

almost no one wants to be moved, yet instead of listening to reasons from the people it actually effects, she has blinders on and continues to push forward. The job is too big for the firm they hired and are in over their heads. (Confirmed by people on the committee) The pushback from nearly all communities asking to step back and not rush into these changes has fallen on deaf ears. SA has flat out said she doesn’t care if she doesn’t get re elected. She’s bulldozing the entire boundary review even while other board members have said to slow down and re evaluate trends, especially with the RIFs and people moving from this area. The random shuffling of neighborhoods does nothing for the bigger issue and as the home owners age fluctuates, it just leads everything to need to be changed again in 10 years.

It’s extremely frustrating and my personal conversations with her have left me feeling that she absolutely does not care what anyone thinks. She’s flippant and honestly, obnoxious in her responses. Telling me about people who live on the “wrong side of the parkway” and I should be happy I’m not getting switched to XYZ. As the top ranked member of the school board, she absolutely should not make comments about how any school is less than another. She should be an advocate and a supporter of making all FCPS schools strong and singing their praises, not just telling us we are lucky we don’t have to go there.

I want to get to the bottom of why she is so adamant about this being her legacy, which one of her financial supporters is it benefiting

It has to be some person who is in the current RV/Lewis pocket, right? She is the only one who keeps talking about those neighborhoods staying at Irving/WSHS where none of the maps so far have showed that move. That or she is a hardcore equity warrior. But honestly, I can imagine what hardcore equity moves might look like and they don’t look like the weird, piecemeal shifting around of neighborhoods that we’ve seen so far.

Those Rolling Valley/Key/Lewis neighborhoods were neve zoned for West Springfield.

Thru moving their elementary from Rolling Valley to Saratoga makes perfect sense. Saratoga is the exact same distance as Rolling Valley, and limits their change to just elementary and not high school.

Moving that Lewis neighborhood to WSHS, when Anderson is also saying WSHS must be rezoned because of overcrowding makes no sense.

My gut says either a political donor, a coworker, or someone with a close personal connection owns property in that Rolling Valley Lewis neighborhood, because SAs idea is so out of left field and makes no sense in the context of the rezoning process.

It is so out of left field, yet and she us they she needs to help advocate for this RVES/Lewis pocket, because they don’t have as much advocacy on their end…as if we, a group of working parents have extra time and resources to advocate? We are not dissimilar to this pocket. We are many civil servants, teachers, military members who are just trying to do our best to advocate. It was an odd comment.

Any time the school board members hear feedback from communities that runs counter to the sb’s extreme agenda, they just pretend to be working on behalf of constituents who don’t speak up.

It’s very undemocratic and completely infuriating.

Any response to us was a “what about this pocket (insert rolling valley, Clifton, etc).” It is infuriating. All of our time was wasted with responses that had nothing to do with our demographic’s concerns.

It’s especially troubling when a magisterial district representative is at their most adversarial when dealing with their own constituents. That’s why the likes of Sandy Anderson and Robyn Lady should be limited to a single term.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After speaking to several school board members. It seems like Sandy came in wanting boundary changes to be her lasting legacy and there has never been any discussion on why.

almost no one wants to be moved, yet instead of listening to reasons from the people it actually effects, she has blinders on and continues to push forward. The job is too big for the firm they hired and are in over their heads. (Confirmed by people on the committee) The pushback from nearly all communities asking to step back and not rush into these changes has fallen on deaf ears. SA has flat out said she doesn’t care if she doesn’t get re elected. She’s bulldozing the entire boundary review even while other board members have said to slow down and re evaluate trends, especially with the RIFs and people moving from this area. The random shuffling of neighborhoods does nothing for the bigger issue and as the home owners age fluctuates, it just leads everything to need to be changed again in 10 years.

It’s extremely frustrating and my personal conversations with her have left me feeling that she absolutely does not care what anyone thinks. She’s flippant and honestly, obnoxious in her responses. Telling me about people who live on the “wrong side of the parkway” and I should be happy I’m not getting switched to XYZ. As the top ranked member of the school board, she absolutely should not make comments about how any school is less than another. She should be an advocate and a supporter of making all FCPS schools strong and singing their praises, not just telling us we are lucky we don’t have to go there.

I want to get to the bottom of why she is so adamant about this being her legacy, which one of her financial supporters is it benefiting

It has to be some person who is in the current RV/Lewis pocket, right? She is the only one who keeps talking about those neighborhoods staying at Irving/WSHS where none of the maps so far have showed that move. That or she is a hardcore equity warrior. But honestly, I can imagine what hardcore equity moves might look like and they don’t look like the weird, piecemeal shifting around of neighborhoods that we’ve seen so far.

I wonder what the SES is like in that RVES pocket? I honestly don't know, but I wonder if it is on the lower end SES wise, if that is why she wants it moved into WSHS? I know there ae some apartments along Rolling closer to the Parkway and if those are in that pocket? I also suspect that she is ultimately going to push for either all or part of HVES to be pushed into Lewis, thus altering the SES balance between WSHS and Lewis.

I just hope the rest of the School Board pushes back on her. But they may not care if it doesn't affect their constituents.

Many of the Lewis zoned houses in that area outside the parkway are very nice for the area.

They are easily the nicest house zoned for Rolling Valley by a mile. Most, if not all, of the WSHS zoned houses in the Rolling Valley neighborhoods are small ramblers and split levels, some of the smallest 1960s houses in the area, plus townhouses. The RV houses zoned for Lewis are large, spacious, much newer and updated. They are very nice houses at a Lewis discount. If they get rezoned for WSHS, they will shoot up in value over night.

Just in general, many of the houses that are zoned for Lewis are nice. There are neighborhoods closer to Lewis that are very nice and the whole Saratoga area is nice. All of those families deserve better than what the SB has done to Lewis re: IB vs AP, the academy etc.

+ 1 we are one of “those families” and totally agree!

I agree that Lewis deserves better, but almost 300 Lewis students pupil place to other high schools each year.

It seems like very few Lewis zoned families have skin in the game to make the school more appealing to families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After speaking to several school board members. It seems like Sandy came in wanting boundary changes to be her lasting legacy and there has never been any discussion on why.

almost no one wants to be moved, yet instead of listening to reasons from the people it actually effects, she has blinders on and continues to push forward. The job is too big for the firm they hired and are in over their heads. (Confirmed by people on the committee) The pushback from nearly all communities asking to step back and not rush into these changes has fallen on deaf ears. SA has flat out said she doesn’t care if she doesn’t get re elected. She’s bulldozing the entire boundary review even while other board members have said to slow down and re evaluate trends, especially with the RIFs and people moving from this area. The random shuffling of neighborhoods does nothing for the bigger issue and as the home owners age fluctuates, it just leads everything to need to be changed again in 10 years.

It’s extremely frustrating and my personal conversations with her have left me feeling that she absolutely does not care what anyone thinks. She’s flippant and honestly, obnoxious in her responses. Telling me about people who live on the “wrong side of the parkway” and I should be happy I’m not getting switched to XYZ. As the top ranked member of the school board, she absolutely should not make comments about how any school is less than another. She should be an advocate and a supporter of making all FCPS schools strong and singing their praises, not just telling us we are lucky we don’t have to go there.

I want to get to the bottom of why she is so adamant about this being her legacy, which one of her financial supporters is it benefiting

It has to be some person who is in the current RV/Lewis pocket, right? She is the only one who keeps talking about those neighborhoods staying at Irving/WSHS where none of the maps so far have showed that move. That or she is a hardcore equity warrior. But honestly, I can imagine what hardcore equity moves might look like and they don’t look like the weird, piecemeal shifting around of neighborhoods that we’ve seen so far.

Those Rolling Valley/Key/Lewis neighborhoods were neve zoned for West Springfield.

Thru moving their elementary from Rolling Valley to Saratoga makes perfect sense. Saratoga is the exact same distance as Rolling Valley, and limits their change to just elementary and not high school.

Moving that Lewis neighborhood to WSHS, when Anderson is also saying WSHS must be rezoned because of overcrowding makes no sense.

My gut says either a political donor, a coworker, or someone with a close personal connection owns property in that Rolling Valley Lewis neighborhood, because SAs idea is so out of left field and makes no sense in the context of the rezoning process.

It is so out of left field, yet and she us they she needs to help advocate for this RVES/Lewis pocket, because they don’t have as much advocacy on their end…as if we, a group of working parents have extra time and resources to advocate? We are not dissimilar to this pocket. We are many civil servants, teachers, military members who are just trying to do our best to advocate. It was an odd comment.

She isn't advocating for poor families.

Much of that area are the nicest houses zoned for Rolling Valley. They are owned by upper middle class people, not poor people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After speaking to several school board members. It seems like Sandy came in wanting boundary changes to be her lasting legacy and there has never been any discussion on why.

almost no one wants to be moved, yet instead of listening to reasons from the people it actually effects, she has blinders on and continues to push forward. The job is too big for the firm they hired and are in over their heads. (Confirmed by people on the committee) The pushback from nearly all communities asking to step back and not rush into these changes has fallen on deaf ears. SA has flat out said she doesn’t care if she doesn’t get re elected. She’s bulldozing the entire boundary review even while other board members have said to slow down and re evaluate trends, especially with the RIFs and people moving from this area. The random shuffling of neighborhoods does nothing for the bigger issue and as the home owners age fluctuates, it just leads everything to need to be changed again in 10 years.

It’s extremely frustrating and my personal conversations with her have left me feeling that she absolutely does not care what anyone thinks. She’s flippant and honestly, obnoxious in her responses. Telling me about people who live on the “wrong side of the parkway” and I should be happy I’m not getting switched to XYZ. As the top ranked member of the school board, she absolutely should not make comments about how any school is less than another. She should be an advocate and a supporter of making all FCPS schools strong and singing their praises, not just telling us we are lucky we don’t have to go there.

I want to get to the bottom of why she is so adamant about this being her legacy, which one of her financial supporters is it benefiting

It has to be some person who is in the current RV/Lewis pocket, right? She is the only one who keeps talking about those neighborhoods staying at Irving/WSHS where none of the maps so far have showed that move. That or she is a hardcore equity warrior. But honestly, I can imagine what hardcore equity moves might look like and they don’t look like the weird, piecemeal shifting around of neighborhoods that we’ve seen so far.

I wonder what the SES is like in that RVES pocket? I honestly don't know, but I wonder if it is on the lower end SES wise, if that is why she wants it moved into WSHS? I know there ae some apartments along Rolling closer to the Parkway and if those are in that pocket? I also suspect that she is ultimately going to push for either all or part of HVES to be pushed into Lewis, thus altering the SES balance between WSHS and Lewis.

I just hope the rest of the School Board pushes back on her. But they may not care if it doesn't affect their constituents.

Many of the Lewis zoned houses in that area outside the parkway are very nice for the area.

They are easily the nicest house zoned for Rolling Valley by a mile. Most, if not all, of the WSHS zoned houses in the Rolling Valley neighborhoods are small ramblers and split levels, some of the smallest 1960s houses in the area, plus townhouses. The RV houses zoned for Lewis are large, spacious, much newer and updated. They are very nice houses at a Lewis discount. If they get rezoned for WSHS, they will shoot up in value over night.

Just in general, many of the houses that are zoned for Lewis are nice. There are neighborhoods closer to Lewis that are very nice and the whole Saratoga area is nice. All of those families deserve better than what the SB has done to Lewis re: IB vs AP, the academy etc.

I do agree that they desrve better than what the school board has done to them.

But Franconia district continues to elect the same people to represent them. If you keep doing the same thing you will keep getting the same results.

A few things.

1) The school boundaries don't necessarily line up with the School Board district boundaries, so people don't necessarily get to vote for the School Board member that represents all of their schools. For example, the elementary school is represented by one School Board member, and the middle and high schools are represented by a different School Board member.

2) School Board members, as many on this board would attest, frequently don't listen to their constituents. IB/AP would be a classic example. For several schools IB has clearly not worked and yet School Board members have refused to seriously consider reverting to AP despite constituent requests.

3) One party is likely to continue winning the School Board seats and they seem to have no motivation to change course on IB. They really seem to love the idea of IB, ignoring the actual results.

In the case of Lewis, the first thing that should be done is to revert to AP and boost language offerings even if it means small language classes. If this is not done it does not matter what they do with boundaries as people will continue to pupil place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After speaking to several school board members. It seems like Sandy came in wanting boundary changes to be her lasting legacy and there has never been any discussion on why.

almost no one wants to be moved, yet instead of listening to reasons from the people it actually effects, she has blinders on and continues to push forward. The job is too big for the firm they hired and are in over their heads. (Confirmed by people on the committee) The pushback from nearly all communities asking to step back and not rush into these changes has fallen on deaf ears. SA has flat out said she doesn’t care if she doesn’t get re elected. She’s bulldozing the entire boundary review even while other board members have said to slow down and re evaluate trends, especially with the RIFs and people moving from this area. The random shuffling of neighborhoods does nothing for the bigger issue and as the home owners age fluctuates, it just leads everything to need to be changed again in 10 years.

It’s extremely frustrating and my personal conversations with her have left me feeling that she absolutely does not care what anyone thinks. She’s flippant and honestly, obnoxious in her responses. Telling me about people who live on the “wrong side of the parkway” and I should be happy I’m not getting switched to XYZ. As the top ranked member of the school board, she absolutely should not make comments about how any school is less than another. She should be an advocate and a supporter of making all FCPS schools strong and singing their praises, not just telling us we are lucky we don’t have to go there.

I want to get to the bottom of why she is so adamant about this being her legacy, which one of her financial supporters is it benefiting

It has to be some person who is in the current RV/Lewis pocket, right? She is the only one who keeps talking about those neighborhoods staying at Irving/WSHS where none of the maps so far have showed that move. That or she is a hardcore equity warrior. But honestly, I can imagine what hardcore equity moves might look like and they don’t look like the weird, piecemeal shifting around of neighborhoods that we’ve seen so far.

I wonder what the SES is like in that RVES pocket? I honestly don't know, but I wonder if it is on the lower end SES wise, if that is why she wants it moved into WSHS? I know there ae some apartments along Rolling closer to the Parkway and if those are in that pocket? I also suspect that she is ultimately going to push for either all or part of HVES to be pushed into Lewis, thus altering the SES balance between WSHS and Lewis.

I just hope the rest of the School Board pushes back on her. But they may not care if it doesn't affect their constituents.

Many of the Lewis zoned houses in that area outside the parkway are very nice for the area.

They are easily the nicest house zoned for Rolling Valley by a mile. Most, if not all, of the WSHS zoned houses in the Rolling Valley neighborhoods are small ramblers and split levels, some of the smallest 1960s houses in the area, plus townhouses. The RV houses zoned for Lewis are large, spacious, much newer and updated. They are very nice houses at a Lewis discount. If they get rezoned for WSHS, they will shoot up in value over night.

Just in general, many of the houses that are zoned for Lewis are nice. There are neighborhoods closer to Lewis that are very nice and the whole Saratoga area is nice. All of those families deserve better than what the SB has done to Lewis re: IB vs AP, the academy etc.

+ 1 we are one of “those families” and totally agree!

I agree that Lewis deserves better, but almost 300 Lewis students pupil place to other high schools each year.

It seems like very few Lewis zoned families have skin in the game to make the school more appealing to families.

Yes. Lewis' current membership 1632 and its capacity is 1886 on the FCPS dashboard. You return around 200 students, it is not longer under enrolled. If adding students is the fix, start with the ones currently zoned for Lewis. Get rid of IB and plug the leaks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After speaking to several school board members. It seems like Sandy came in wanting boundary changes to be her lasting legacy and there has never been any discussion on why.

almost no one wants to be moved, yet instead of listening to reasons from the people it actually effects, she has blinders on and continues to push forward. The job is too big for the firm they hired and are in over their heads. (Confirmed by people on the committee) The pushback from nearly all communities asking to step back and not rush into these changes has fallen on deaf ears. SA has flat out said she doesn’t care if she doesn’t get re elected. She’s bulldozing the entire boundary review even while other board members have said to slow down and re evaluate trends, especially with the RIFs and people moving from this area. The random shuffling of neighborhoods does nothing for the bigger issue and as the home owners age fluctuates, it just leads everything to need to be changed again in 10 years.

It’s extremely frustrating and my personal conversations with her have left me feeling that she absolutely does not care what anyone thinks. She’s flippant and honestly, obnoxious in her responses. Telling me about people who live on the “wrong side of the parkway” and I should be happy I’m not getting switched to XYZ. As the top ranked member of the school board, she absolutely should not make comments about how any school is less than another. She should be an advocate and a supporter of making all FCPS schools strong and singing their praises, not just telling us we are lucky we don’t have to go there.

I want to get to the bottom of why she is so adamant about this being her legacy, which one of her financial supporters is it benefiting

It has to be some person who is in the current RV/Lewis pocket, right? She is the only one who keeps talking about those neighborhoods staying at Irving/WSHS where none of the maps so far have showed that move. That or she is a hardcore equity warrior. But honestly, I can imagine what hardcore equity moves might look like and they don’t look like the weird, piecemeal shifting around of neighborhoods that we’ve seen so far.

I wonder what the SES is like in that RVES pocket? I honestly don't know, but I wonder if it is on the lower end SES wise, if that is why she wants it moved into WSHS? I know there ae some apartments along Rolling closer to the Parkway and if those are in that pocket? I also suspect that she is ultimately going to push for either all or part of HVES to be pushed into Lewis, thus altering the SES balance between WSHS and Lewis.

I just hope the rest of the School Board pushes back on her. But they may not care if it doesn't affect their constituents.

Many of the Lewis zoned houses in that area outside the parkway are very nice for the area.

They are easily the nicest house zoned for Rolling Valley by a mile. Most, if not all, of the WSHS zoned houses in the Rolling Valley neighborhoods are small ramblers and split levels, some of the smallest 1960s houses in the area, plus townhouses. The RV houses zoned for Lewis are large, spacious, much newer and updated. They are very nice houses at a Lewis discount. If they get rezoned for WSHS, they will shoot up in value over night.

Just in general, many of the houses that are zoned for Lewis are nice. There are neighborhoods closer to Lewis that are very nice and the whole Saratoga area is nice. All of those families deserve better than what the SB has done to Lewis re: IB vs AP, the academy etc.

+ 1 we are one of “those families” and totally agree!

I agree that Lewis deserves better, but almost 300 Lewis students pupil place to other high schools each year.

It seems like very few Lewis zoned families have skin in the game to make the school more appealing to families.

Yes. Lewis' current membership 1632 and its capacity is 1886 on the FCPS dashboard. You return around 200 students, it is not longer under enrolled. If adding students is the fix, start with the ones currently zoned for Lewis. Get rid of IB and plug the leaks.

Eliminating IB at South Lakes and adding AAP to Herndon MS would also return a lot of kids to the Herndon pyramid for MS/HS.

The fact that they don't even consider such actions, but are willing to change boundaries, speaks volumes about the unwillingness of the current School Board members to grapple with the real issues facing FCPS and their preference for cosmetic boundary adjustments.

[Anonymous]

Offer the same few languages at every school. Get rid of IB and transferring for languages.