Where in the world do I say that “McLean kids can roll easily”? My post quite literally says the exact opposite. And just to refute one of your central points- they probably will consider moving more than just the spring hill kids, because if they don’t then they won’t really need to mess with Langley at all as it won’t be overcrowded (or marginally so). They need the inflated Langley numbers to justify the Forestville move to Herndon. Although based on their Herndon projections, they may just politically change the Langley projections next CIP. Let me be clear, because you are trying to put words in my mouth. I absolutely think a county-wide redistricting is going to be a significant disaster for the county. Major disruption to thousands or tens of thousands of kids, thousands of impacted families, a decline in school quality, and a significant loss of tax revenue. And it’ll be a catastrophic hit to the FC Democratic brand. Nonetheless, they seem heck-bent on going through with it. I hope I’m wrong, but I fear I’m not. |
Funny, I’ve looked at the school map more than I’ve ever wanted to. I’ve got spreadsheets projecting out various scenarios, and I’ve spent significant hours scrutinizing the last few CIPs. I get why you want to dismiss the possibility of a significant negative impact to McLean, but discount my argument at your own peril. |
I didn’t put words in your mouth. I drew inferences based on how readily you seemed to entertain multiple scenarios at once to move 20% of McLean students out of the school, while expressing revulsion at any suggestion Forestville kids now zoned to Langley might move to Herndon. I didn’t see you so quickly jumping to “run those numbers.” If you are in favor of putting this entire boundary change exercise on hold until they actually have a far better sense of what they are proposing to do and its longer-term implications for FCPS and the county we are actually in agreement. |
Ah, now I see, you don’t even have school age kids, do you? |
We are in agreement. Nothing would make me happier than killing the redistricting effort. Unfortunately, Robyn Lady’s newsletter this week confirmed that they are likely to go ahead with it. Most residents will be impacted in one way or another, some much more than others - they plan to pick winners and losers with this process. I have spent entirely too much time running the Forestville Herndon numbers in anticipation of the SB moving ahead with this, even over the objection of a clear majority of the county residents. |
I have multiple school age children in FCPS. Why would what I said lead you to believe otherwise? And how is that at all germane to the points I was making in my post? Like I said, discount my analysis at your own peril. |
Before any rezoning ovvurs, two critical things should occur:
#1. All students attending a school affected by rezoning should be required to supply a proff of residency in the form of a recent utility bill in one of their parent's name. If they cannot produce a current utility bill proving they are attending the correct school for their address, then they need to be moved out of the school the following year, back to their zoned school, and removed from the capacity counts. I suspect that there are dozens or more families that fall into this category, falsely inflating the capacity numbers. #2 All loopholes allowing students to transfer out of receiving schools, such as Lewis where over 12% of the students transfer away to other high schools. Once the transfer out loopholes are closed, FCPS needs to wait 2 full academic years to see if this increases enrollment and test scores at the school, or if those roughly 200 students find a different way to avoid attending Lewis. If Lewis attendance shows no notable increase in Lewis students attending their zoned high school, then FCPS needs to halt rezoning and look at other solutions for Lewis, that do no involve rezoning kids from WSHS to fill spots that Lewis zoned students refuse to fill. Rezoning into any school that is pupil placing OUT hundreds of students is short sighted and a terrible waste of taxpayer money, not to mention a huge disruption to students lives, and an attack on families that purchased their home based on a specific high school zone. Kids are not political pawns. Enforce existing district residency rules. Look at the student actually zoned for the schools who are not attending, and fix those deficiencies. The solution is simple. |
Great recommendations. I urge you to share your thoughts with your SB representative before it is too late. |
I'm not sure the residency problem is quite what you think - I don't think it will turn up dozens or hundreds of students that need to be returned to some other school. Maybe across the county you might find some, but nothing likely that will have a big impact on any one school. As far as Lewis and transfers, cracking down on voluntary pupil placement could return some students, but it won't be all 200. I think at the high end it might be 75. I suppose that is a start. I think many of the rest are special education students, transfers for teachers' children (which you are not going to stop), behavioral (Bryant), and TJ. The biggest wildcard are the Edison transfers. That is the biggest number out of Lewis but it also has IB, so that is not the reason for the transfers. The guess is the STEM academy. Short of creating a similar program at Lewis I don't know that they can forbid students transferring to that program. Of course, this all argues for the first thing that should really be addressed - looking at standardizing the programs across the county high schools. First move should be to go back to all AP. That is the no brainer in all of this and the root of many of the problems (and started years ago). Standardizing language offerings would also help, but I don't see the county doing that. So cracking down on pupil placements could help a little bit, but for Lewis and West Springfield, the projected gap (county projections) in enrollments in several years would still be in the 1400-1500 student range with West Springfield being over capacity. The county could still consider rezoning some West Springfield students to Lewis for capacity reasons. Not saying they will, just saying they could. |
DP. I’ve looked at this at Herndon High, and, with a net outflow of nearly 300 students, it’s abundantly clear that curtailing the massive outflow would negate the need for any wholesale redistricting. That’s like 13% off the student body. Sure a couple dozen are TJ, but most are just parents trying to get their kids into the best educational situation for each. I’m not an advocate for moving these kids back, but I absolutely will advocate for it if they start messing with the boundaries, because they claim that process is about efficiency and using all the seats, and it’s hypocritical to move other districts in before dealing with the gigantic net outflows at these schools. |
It looks like 150 Herndon zoned students are attending South Lakes. Another 20 Herndon zoned students are attending Langley. Curtailing the voluntary pupil placements might help at Herndon more so than Lewis. The county would be wise to consider standardizing on AP and standardizing languages in order to stop these transfers. Otherwise, they might have legal trouble on their hands. Not a lawyer, but I can see parents filing lawsuits over equal access to programs. Academies are also problematic in this way. |
Just move out all of the kids from Hunt Valley and Orange Hunt and rezone them for Key and Lewis. Problem solved. |
This must be the most absurd post on this entire thread. What a very week attempt at trolling, showing zero ability to read a map. |
Uh, okay. Take all of the kids from Hunt Valley and West Springfield ES and rezone them for Key and Lewis. That sound better to you? All of this is absurd. Why not throw out some more stupid ideas? |
I’ll absolutely sue if my kids get denied access after redistricting. The good news is that the county will have lots of surplus money to defend the lawsuits based on the savings of one or two bus drivers. Lawyers make $25/hour too, right? |