FCPS comprehensive boundary review

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get the sense that Gatehouse told its employees to stop the inflammatory boundary change advocacy on DCUM since we are so close to the election.

They’re scared about what the boundary changes will do to politics in our area. As they should be. It’ll be like the San Francisco and Portland backlash to too liberal policies.

Or maybe, despite what you believe, there are actually lots of actual parents who support this review and the SB’s efforts.

That’s what SB members and their cronies would have you believe but the outreach conducted by the prior consultant confirmed that most parents engaged enough to weigh in oppose major boundary changes.

The resistance to rezoning was across the board, even in the "bad" pyramids.

People don't like the disruption of rezoning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line to all of these discussions seems to be: If I bought in WSHS pyramid, I'm against boundary changes and if I bought in Lewis pyramid, I'm for and can think of all the justifications for/against in either scenario. Honestly though, the boundaries haven't changed since the 80s and there has been a lot of growth and change.

The bolded is a lie being told by the school board.

The entire area from West Springfield, Lake Braddock, Lewis (then Lee) and Hayfield was completely rezoned when South County opened in 2005.

Using "they haven't been rezoned since the early 80s" as one of the justifications for rezoning those 22150, 22151, 22152 and 22153 neighborhoods is very disingenuous, if not an outright lie

And that also involved Edison. Another mystery is how Bren Mar Park ended up at Edison instead of Lewis during the 2011 Annandale boundary process. Maybe the consultant will make Sandburg the MS for Mount Vernon and Whitman the MS for West Potomac? A gift from the rest of rest of county after the politicians from that part of the county were the architects of the land zoned for a school sale to the Saudis, excluding West Potomac and Mount Vernon [then 870 under] from the 2004-05 South County boundary process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line to all of these discussions seems to be: If I bought in WSHS pyramid, I'm against boundary changes and if I bought in Lewis pyramid, I'm for and can think of all the justifications for/against in either scenario. Honestly though, the boundaries haven't changed since the 80s and there has been a lot of growth and change.

Maybe in some parts of the county, but in West Springfield, they changed in 2004 when South County HS opened. (See this collection of Letters to the Editor sent by unhappy residents at that time: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2004/12/09/drawing-south-county-lines/b39f8591-b68b-4db3-855a-1aefacdc14ec/).

They changed again more recently when the Daventry neighborhood was switched to WSHS from Lewis HS.

I don't know why Daventry Mom keeps turning this thread to focus on WSHS when there are a lot of areas of the county that make more sense for this boundary study to focus on. But here we are.

I went back and researched old Washington post articles from when South County was opened. The school board has been hurting Lewis high school for close to 20 years. South Hunt Valley was redistributed to West Springfield from Lee as part of the South County boundary adjustment when the school was opened. Then Daventry was moved to West Springfield. Why did that happen?

Hunt Valley was redistriced to WSHS 20 years ago because kids south of the parkway went from Hunt Valley to Irving to Lee(Lewis) while their friends went on to WSHS. The neighborhoods asked the SB to send their kids to WSHS instead so they wouldn’t lose all their friends.

+1 they fixed a split feeder, which is one of the stated goals of the current boundary changes as well.

There wouldn’t be a split feeder if all of Hunt Valley or another WS feeder were reassigned to Key and Lewis.

That would have disrupted 75 to 80% of the HV families, and given all of them a much longer commute, from a walkable/bikeable high school 2 miles away, for the majority of the families, to a distant high school not connected to their community, the 4th farthest high school from their neighborhood after WSHS, LB and SoCo, and given them a 30 minute minimum bus ride past a major traffic interchange, which at the time was the worst traffic interchange on the east coast and was in the early stages of a years long major construction project, which would have turned their 30 minute bus ride to a 45 minute or longer bus ride.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line to all of these discussions seems to be: If I bought in WSHS pyramid, I'm against boundary changes and if I bought in Lewis pyramid, I'm for and can think of all the justifications for/against in either scenario. Honestly though, the boundaries haven't changed since the 80s and there has been a lot of growth and change.

The bolded is a lie being told by the school board.

The entire area from West Springfield, Lake Braddock, Lewis (then Lee) and Hayfield was completely rezoned when South County opened in 2005.

Using "they haven't been rezoned since the early 80s" as one of the justifications for rezoning those 22150, 22151, 22152 and 22153 neighborhoods is very disingenuous, if not an outright lie

And that also involved Edison. Another mystery is how Bren Mar Park ended up at Edison instead of Lewis during the 2011 Annandale boundary process. Maybe the consultant will make Sandburg the MS for Mount Vernon and Whitman the MS for West Potomac? A gift from the rest of rest of county after the politicians from that part of the county were the architects of the land zoned for a school sale to the Saudis, excluding West Potomac and Mount Vernon [then 870 under] from the 2004-05 South County boundary process.

Yes! I forgot Edison.

That area had a major rezoning less than 20 years ago.

It should not be included in this round of rezoning, except for cleaning up some of the weird attendance islands, such as rezoning that random Keene Mill attendance island from KM-Irving-WSHS to White Oaks- LBSS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line to all of these discussions seems to be: If I bought in WSHS pyramid, I'm against boundary changes and if I bought in Lewis pyramid, I'm for and can think of all the justifications for/against in either scenario. Honestly though, the boundaries haven't changed since the 80s and there has been a lot of growth and change.

The bolded is a lie being told by the school board.

The entire area from West Springfield, Lake Braddock, Lewis (then Lee) and Hayfield was completely rezoned when South County opened in 2005.

Using "they haven't been rezoned since the early 80s" as one of the justifications for rezoning those 22150, 22151, 22152 and 22153 neighborhoods is very disingenuous, if not an outright lie

And that also involved Edison. Another mystery is how Bren Mar Park ended up at Edison instead of Lewis during the 2011 Annandale boundary process. Maybe the consultant will make Sandburg the MS for Mount Vernon and Whitman the MS for West Potomac? A gift from the rest of rest of county after the politicians from that part of the county were the architects of the land zoned for a school sale to the Saudis, excluding West Potomac and Mount Vernon [then 870 under] from the 2004-05 South County boundary process.

West Potomac is too big to be fed by Whitman, MVHS is too small to be fed by Sandburg. If they want think outside of the box, make MVHS a middle school, Hayfield a high school and use divide the West Potomac, Hayfield, and Mt Vernon pyramids between the three high schools

[Anonymous]

Lots of proposals to send middle class kids to bad schools, but a total absence of proposals to send more FARMS and ELL kids to the better high schools. Either there will be a surprise, or this will be limousine liberalism at its finest

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of proposals to send middle class kids to bad schools, but a total absence of proposals to send more FARMS and ELL kids to the better high schools. Either there will be a surprise, or this will be limousine liberalism at its finest

A bussing surprise! What can go wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of proposals to send middle class kids to bad schools, but a total absence of proposals to send more FARMS and ELL kids to the better high schools. Either there will be a surprise, or this will be limousine liberalism at its finest

The proposals on this thread, or things the SB is saying?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of proposals to send middle class kids to bad schools, but a total absence of proposals to send more FARMS and ELL kids to the better high schools. Either there will be a surprise, or this will be limousine liberalism at its finest

The proposals on this thread, or things the SB is saying?

The SB is silent. This thread is echoing what they few local outlets and local facebook groups are reporting. The board apparently hates transparency and meaningful public input

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line to all of these discussions seems to be: If I bought in WSHS pyramid, I'm against boundary changes and if I bought in Lewis pyramid, I'm for and can think of all the justifications for/against in either scenario. Honestly though, the boundaries haven't changed since the 80s and there has been a lot of growth and change.

The bolded is a lie being told by the school board.

The entire area from West Springfield, Lake Braddock, Lewis (then Lee) and Hayfield was completely rezoned when South County opened in 2005.

Using "they haven't been rezoned since the early 80s" as one of the justifications for rezoning those 22150, 22151, 22152 and 22153 neighborhoods is very disingenuous, if not an outright lie

And that also involved Edison. Another mystery is how Bren Mar Park ended up at Edison instead of Lewis during the 2011 Annandale boundary process. Maybe the consultant will make Sandburg the MS for Mount Vernon and Whitman the MS for West Potomac? A gift from the rest of rest of county after the politicians from that part of the county were the architects of the land zoned for a school sale to the Saudis, excluding West Potomac and Mount Vernon [then 870 under] from the 2004-05 South County boundary process.

West Potomac is too big to be fed by Whitman, MVHS is too small to be fed by Sandburg. If they want think outside of the box, make MVHS a middle school, Hayfield a high school and use divide the West Potomac, Hayfield, and Mt Vernon pyramids between the three high schools

Beyond square footage is design/program capacity.
Whitman MS 1,344/1,041
Sandburg MS 1,460/1,450

Sandburg used to be a high school. What comes with high schools not found in many middle schools? Auditoreums with stages and space for seating. Not exactly a small stage attached to a cafeteria. Lecture halls?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line to all of these discussions seems to be: If I bought in WSHS pyramid, I'm against boundary changes and if I bought in Lewis pyramid, I'm for and can think of all the justifications for/against in either scenario. Honestly though, the boundaries haven't changed since the 80s and there has been a lot of growth and change.

Maybe in some parts of the county, but in West Springfield, they changed in 2004 when South County HS opened. (See this collection of Letters to the Editor sent by unhappy residents at that time: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2004/12/09/drawing-south-county-lines/b39f8591-b68b-4db3-855a-1aefacdc14ec/).

They changed again more recently when the Daventry neighborhood was switched to WSHS from Lewis HS.

I don't know why Daventry Mom keeps turning this thread to focus on WSHS when there are a lot of areas of the county that make more sense for this boundary study to focus on. But here we are.

I went back and researched old Washington post articles from when South County was opened. The school board has been hurting Lewis high school for close to 20 years. South Hunt Valley was redistributed to West Springfield from Lee as part of the South County boundary adjustment when the school was opened. Then Daventry was moved to West Springfield. Why did that happen?

Hunt Valley was redistriced to WSHS 20 years ago because kids south of the parkway went from Hunt Valley to Irving to Lee(Lewis) while their friends went on to WSHS. The neighborhoods asked the SB to send their kids to WSHS instead so they wouldn’t lose all their friends.

+1 they fixed a split feeder, which is one of the stated goals of the current boundary changes as well.

There wouldn’t be a split feeder if all of Hunt Valley or another WS feeder were reassigned to Key and Lewis.

That would have disrupted 75 to 80% of the HV families, and given all of them a much longer commute, from a walkable/bikeable high school 2 miles away, for the majority of the families, to a distant high school not connected to their community, the 4th farthest high school from their neighborhood after WSHS, LB and SoCo, and given them a 30 minute minimum bus ride past a major traffic interchange, which at the time was the worst traffic interchange on the east coast and was in the early stages of a years long major construction project, which would have turned their 30 minute bus ride to a 45 minute or longer bus ride.

False. Nobody zoned for Hunt Valley is a walker to WSHS. FCPS would never allow that. They all bus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line to all of these discussions seems to be: If I bought in WSHS pyramid, I'm against boundary changes and if I bought in Lewis pyramid, I'm for and can think of all the justifications for/against in either scenario. Honestly though, the boundaries haven't changed since the 80s and there has been a lot of growth and change.

Maybe in some parts of the county, but in West Springfield, they changed in 2004 when South County HS opened. (See this collection of Letters to the Editor sent by unhappy residents at that time: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2004/12/09/drawing-south-county-lines/b39f8591-b68b-4db3-855a-1aefacdc14ec/).

They changed again more recently when the Daventry neighborhood was switched to WSHS from Lewis HS.

I don't know why Daventry Mom keeps turning this thread to focus on WSHS when there are a lot of areas of the county that make more sense for this boundary study to focus on. But here we are.

I went back and researched old Washington post articles from when South County was opened. The school board has been hurting Lewis high school for close to 20 years. South Hunt Valley was redistributed to West Springfield from Lee as part of the South County boundary adjustment when the school was opened. Then Daventry was moved to West Springfield. Why did that happen?

Hunt Valley was redistriced to WSHS 20 years ago because kids south of the parkway went from Hunt Valley to Irving to Lee(Lewis) while their friends went on to WSHS. The neighborhoods asked the SB to send their kids to WSHS instead so they wouldn’t lose all their friends.

+1 they fixed a split feeder, which is one of the stated goals of the current boundary changes as well.

There wouldn’t be a split feeder if all of Hunt Valley or another WS feeder were reassigned to Key and Lewis.

Exactly. Hunt Valley going to Lewis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of proposals to send middle class kids to bad schools, but a total absence of proposals to send more FARMS and ELL kids to the better high schools. Either there will be a surprise, or this will be limousine liberalism at its finest

Maybe they will send some Tysons apartments zoned for McLean and Marshall to Langley now that Elaine Tholen isn’t around any longer to police Langley’s boundaries to keep any FARMS kids out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of proposals to send middle class kids to bad schools, but a total absence of proposals to send more FARMS and ELL kids to the better high schools. Either there will be a surprise, or this will be limousine liberalism at its finest

Maybe they will send some Tysons apartments zoned for McLean and Marshall to Langley now that Elaine Tholen isn’t around any longer to police Langley’s boundaries to keep any FARMS kids out.

That’d be great. Would lower the FARMs at Marshall and McLean!

Turns out the only way to solve the rampant farms at some schools is to bus poor kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of proposals to send middle class kids to bad schools, but a total absence of proposals to send more FARMS and ELL kids to the better high schools. Either there will be a surprise, or this will be limousine liberalism at its finest

Maybe they will send some Tysons apartments zoned for McLean and Marshall to Langley now that Elaine Tholen isn’t around any longer to police Langley’s boundaries to keep any FARMS kids out.

That’d be great. Would lower the FARMs at Marshall and McLean!

Turns out the only way to solve the rampant farms at some schools is to bus poor kids.

Those are the types of changes to are easier to implement without bussing kids long distances than moving Justice kids to Madison.