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Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)
Boundaries assessment update 2023
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Anonymous
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Of all the major jurisdictions in NoVa (Arlington, Fairfax, and Loudoun), Fairfax is by far the most screwed up when it comes to planning and boundaries.
Loudoun is more fortunate in the sense that it has more land for new construction and is more homogeneous both demographically and in terms of academic programs. So they continue to build new schools and then can say in good faith that there won't be much difference between a student's old school and new school. While some people complain, the complaints are relatively muted and they are generally not heeded. Arlington suffers from the same constraints as Fairfax when it comes to available land, but when they do change boundaries they are more transparent and people can more easily see the options and trade-offs. For example, when they adjusted HS boundaries a while back, they made a planning tool available where people could see how reassigning discrete "planning units" to new schools would impact enrollments and demographics. That doesn't guarantee that people will be happy with boundary changes, but they are more likely to understand them. Fairfax, on the other hand, is the worst. They expand schools that don't need to be expanded, neglect schools that are grossly overcrowded, drag their heels for years on boundary changes, and then let individual School Board members cut deals behind the scenes to further their own agendas and make their neighbors happy when boundaries are adjusted. I'm not sure it can be fixed - the rot seems to be pervasive and the more "progressive" the School Board members claim to be the more likely they are to be self-serving hypocrites. |
Anonymous
I'm curious to know how segregation-era housing policies were still leaving their mark in the 1980s the last time boundaries were considered. If even now in 2023 there is such fervor against SES integration, I imagine community input in the 80s played a role in creating the disparities we still see. |
Anonymous
Where do you see "fervor" again SES integration? When a neighborhood has had a connection to a high school for some years, and wants to remain there, it is understandable that you wish to remain there. Crisscrossing buses across the county is not helpful. |
Anonymous
Some neighborhoods have changed dramatically since then. Fairfax County has changed dramatically, as well. Some schools were built very close to one another. |
Anonymous
The changes in demographics and boundaries that resulted in the wide disparities among schools that now exist generally happened after the last county-wide redistricting in the mid-80s. |
Anonymous
+1 I don't understand why people think redistricting will help educating kids. It just moves them around. The answer it to take the kid where he is and teach him. And, yes, it can be done. But, it takes work and it is not resolved by "equity" talk. It is resolved by instruction. |
Anonymous
Pretty sure most people are aware of that, and the boundary conversation isn't about attempting to help the ESOL kids by moving them. We know shifting them around won't solve anything for their needs. The issue pertains to either normal or advanced kids whose needs are increasingly difficult to meet at schools where the majority of kids are below grade level. Schools where enrichment opportunities and clubs are scarce due to low levels of parental involvement and volunteering. Not blaming the parents there; they're likely working double-shift service and retail jobs. Not blaming FARMs kids either; they don't have the privilege of savvy parents pushing them into activities like Science Olympiad. But nonetheless the state of affairs creates a dearth of opportunity in some regions. It's the middle-of-the-road kids that are left in a situation that is too under-subscribed. |
Anonymous
This won't help. Schools should be based on location and community. Shifting kids out of neighborhoods is not helpful. After school clubs and activities in high schools requires transportation. Shifting kids out of neighborhoods will not help that. And, we already have problems with having enough bus drivers. |
Anonymous
I say this politely but if it really bothers you that much the solution is probably for you to move, not to bus someone else’s kids across the county to address your fear of missing out. |
Anonymous
| I honestly still think the two best things to address some of the underlying issues are to get rid of AAP centers (have LLIV at every ES/MS) and IB (thereby reducing the number of pupil placements). |
Anonymous
If you think that getting rid of IB will fix Lewis, you are not coming from a place of good faith. |
Anonymous
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1/3 of FCPS students are economically disadvantaged. You are never going to be able to get perfect parity with this. There are also over 35,000 English learners --they may not all be disadvantaged.
With 179,000 students, a boundary shift would be massive. It would also involve major shifts in staffing. In a nutshell: it would be a mess. There is no easy fix to this. The SB and the superintendent need to drop the social issues and work on good, solid instruction. And, from what I can tell, the schools with the real poverty are not anywhere near affluent schools. |
Anonymous
Yes, but there are communities that have schools closer to them but they get bussed to a different area. They should absolutely fix boundaries that make no sense. If there is a school a mile away and then they get bussed to one 4 miles away. |
Anonymous
But, sometimes schools are overcrowded and there is no other way. For example, there are several neighborhoods that are much, much closer to Chantilly than Oakton. However, they go to Oakton because there is no room at Chantilly and all the neighborhoods that are assigned to Chantilly are close to Chantilly, too. How would you resolve that? |
Anonymous
Lewis has large out-placements to AP schools. Get rid of IB at Lewis and offer a full menu of AP courses - even if some of those AP classes only have a small number of kids - and the number of pupil placements immediately goes down significantly. |