Thoughts on Fairfax neighborhoods

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Haycock in Falls Church sounds like it may be great option. How long would my husband's commute be the Pentagon? We're looking for a single family home PP.

Haycock is a great option. That's about 30 minutes by train, changing at Rosslyn. Driving would be about 35-40 minutes in rush hour, more like 20 minutes if traveling in non-rush.

Must warn you that there are some posters here who are quite jealous of Haycock, so be prepared. But Haycock/Longfellow/McLean are wonderful schools.

Jealous of Haycock? Are all of the McLean mom's this egotistical? Haycock is a great school yes but it is over crowded. No one is secretly trying to hurt your feelings because they don't go to haycock or cry themselves to sleep. Now if you are in your late 40s and look like you are 25, that is something people would be jealous of!

Yes. Yes, they are. I was at the renovation/redistricting meeting last night and the parents were nasty, condescending, and absolutely disrespectful to their school board member and asst superintendent. I wouldn't talk to my worst enemy the way they were talking to these people. It made me ashamed to be associated with them.

I completely DISAGREE with this poster and was also at the reno meeting. Parents were civil and got their point across FINALLY. Something needed to be done for Janie Strauss to FINALLY answer questions without sugar coating her response like all of the past meetings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its no surprise by the horrid attitude of the mclean poster making fun of donating to other schools and putting down any schools without the mclean zip code.

Oh boy, here comes Crazy Marshall Lady to join the party.

Haycock is in Falls Church, not McLean. Same zip code as Marshall.

+1 It is not a McLean zip code and half of the population doesn't have a McLean zip code.

[Anonymous]

"Parents were civil and got their point across FINALLY. Something needed to be done for Janie Strauss to FINALLY answer questions without sugar coating her response like all of the past meetings."

Uh, no. I was at the meeting, and the parents were screaming and yelling at Janie Strauss. She couldn't even get through her presentation, because certain parents would not stop interrupting her. The meeting was much less civil than the VP debates!

Regarding the AAP center, a center will open in Cluster 2 and Haycock is currently closed to any new out-of-boundary students. The real issue is whether the current Cluster 2 AAP kids will be grandfathered or required to leave next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I completely DISAGREE with this poster and was also at the reno meeting. Parents were civil and got their point across FINALLY. Something needed to be done for Janie Strauss to FINALLY answer questions without sugar coating her response like all of the past meetings.

I've been listening to some of the You Tube videos of this meeting. Quite honestly, particulary if you don't have the background, some of the parents do sound very rude and condescending. Strauss was interrupted repeatedly by a few parents who seemed to be more interested in making speeches and getting applause from other parents than engaging in a civil discussion.

Having watched similar sessions at other School Board meetings, parents in this area behave like that when issues affecting schools are concerned. Parents at Haycock don't react any differently than some parents in Herndon and Vienna reacted when the School Board proposed to redistrict their kids to South Lakes, or when some parents in Alexandria reacted when the School Board proposed to redistrict their kids to Edison, or when parents in Clifton learned that the School Board planned to close Clifton Elementary. Some get emotional; others go into "I'm the smartest guy/gal in the room" mode and start offering their own solutions.

The flip side of it is that, obviously, the parents care deeply about the school. If you don't care about the school, you don't show up at these meetings or other PTA events. There are plenty of schools in the area that would love to have the same group of involved, vocal parents that Haycock attracts. In Haycock's case, a lot of the angst/nastiness seems to come from the fact that some parents feel like the renovations to Haycock should have come sooner, or that FCPS could have done a better job of anticipating the growth in Haycock's enrollment. Hindsight, as they say, is 20-20.

If this was a small town, not a large metropolitan region with millions of people, I expect people would conduct themselves differently, but the end result hopefully will be schools - not just Haycock, but in Cluster 2 as well - that better serve the needs of students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Parents were civil and got their point across FINALLY. Something needed to be done for Janie Strauss to FINALLY answer questions without sugar coating her response like all of the past meetings."

Uh, no. I was at the meeting, and the parents were screaming and yelling at Janie Strauss. She couldn't even get through her presentation, because certain parents would not stop interrupting her. The meeting was much less civil than the VP debates!

Regarding the AAP center, a center will open in Cluster 2 and Haycock is currently closed to any new out-of-boundary students. The real issue is whether the current Cluster 2 AAP kids will be grandfathered or required to leave next year.

My bet would be that, with the possible exception of rising 6th graders, there won't be any grandfathering. It goes against what they are trying to achieve, which is a reduction in Haycock's enrollment.

The interesting thing is that it doesn't sound like FCPS has really engaged yet with parents at whatever Cluster 2 school is going to get a new AAP center. Does Lemon Road have enough space? If it does, my guess is that many parents there would welcome an AAP center. But I can't see parents of GE kids at schools like Shrevewood or Westgate that are already pretty full jumping up and down in excitement at the prospect of getting an influx of AAP kids.

I hope the Shrevewood parent has a thick skin. Before this is over, she's going to get the sense at times that nobody wants her kid(s) at their school, but once it's settled people usually get on board quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My bet would be that, with the possible exception of rising 6th graders, there won't be any grandfathering. It goes against what they are trying to achieve, which is a reduction in Haycock's enrollment.

The interesting thing is that it doesn't sound like FCPS has really engaged yet with parents at whatever Cluster 2 school is going to get a new AAP center. Does Lemon Road have enough space? If it does, my guess is that many parents there would welcome an AAP center. But I can't see parents of GE kids at schools like Shrevewood or Westgate that are already pretty full jumping up and down in excitement at the prospect of getting an influx of AAP kids.

I hope the Shrevewood parent has a thick skin. Before this is over, she's going to get the sense at times that nobody wants her kid(s) at their school, but once it's settled people usually get on board quickly.

I'm a Shrevewood parent. I'm not sure what Cluster 2 school has the capacity for AAP, but I'm OK with not having our AAP at Haycock. I would have said Lemon Road might be the obvious choice, but now that FCPS just moved some additional kids there, I'm not sure there's enough excess capacity with the planned renovation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Parents were civil and got their point across FINALLY. Something needed to be done for Janie Strauss to FINALLY answer questions without sugar coating her response like all of the past meetings."

Uh, no. I was at the meeting, and the parents were screaming and yelling at Janie Strauss. She couldn't even get through her presentation, because certain parents would not stop interrupting her. The meeting was much less civil than the VP debates!

Regarding the AAP center, a center will open in Cluster 2 and Haycock is currently closed to any new out-of-boundary students. The real issue is whether the current Cluster 2 AAP kids will be grandfathered or required to leave next year.

My bet would be that, with the possible exception of rising 6th graders, there won't be any grandfathering. It goes against what they are trying to achieve, which is a reduction in Haycock's enrollment.

The interesting thing is that it doesn't sound like FCPS has really engaged yet with parents at whatever Cluster 2 school is going to get a new AAP center. Does Lemon Road have enough space? If it does, my guess is that many parents there would welcome an AAP center. But I can't see parents of GE kids at schools like Shrevewood or Westgate that are already pretty full jumping up and down in excitement at the prospect of getting an influx of AAP kids.

I hope the Shrevewood parent has a thick skin. Before this is over, she's going to get the sense at times that nobody wants her kid(s) at their school, but once it's settled people usually get on board quickly.

I think I'm the Shrevewood parent you're talking about. My skin is plenty thick. Let's hope FCPS is up for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I think I'm the Shrevewood parent you're talking about. My skin is plenty thick. Let's hope FCPS is up for it.

I think it's tough to be a party to these types of discussions and hear your kids (though not by name) treated like a number and/or a problem that someone else gets to solve.

Usually the best gut-check is that, if you hear yourself using the expression "thrown under the bus," you know you're starting to take it personally.

Good luck. Glad my kids are past elementary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I think I'm the Shrevewood parent you're talking about. My skin is plenty thick. Let's hope FCPS is up for it.

I think it's tough to be a party to these types of discussions and hear your kids (though not by name) treated like a number and/or a problem that someone else gets to solve.

Usually the best gut-check is that, if you hear yourself using the expression "thrown under the bus," you know you're starting to take it personally.

Good luck. Glad my kids are past elementary.

Thanks! We're just doing what everyone else on this board would do -- advocating for our kids. No one in the room Tuesday would take that lying down.

[Anonymous]

I think all parents should advocate for their children. This would include those that live in the base area. The general ed kids don't have the option of going to another school. I hope FCPS takes that into account when the school population goes over 1,000 students next year. When does the tipping point come when the school has too many students? It really isn't fair to make the students who live in boundary go to a giant elementary because cluster 2 kids don't want to go to an AAP center within ther cluster when it becomes available. Even Janine Strauss stated that it's not in the kids' best interests to go to large elementary schools. I hope the base parents fight for the best education for their kids.

[Anonymous]

Our base school was Freedom Hill. This year we got switched to Lemon Road. My AAP kid was at Louise Archer and just started this year at Haycock. Not even 2 months in and Haycock wants him out. Yes, I'm pissed, and prepared to fight this with a lawyer if necessary. 4 schools in 4 years without moving is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think all parents should advocate for their children. This would include those that live in the base area. The general ed kids don't have the option of going to another school. I hope FCPS takes that into account when the school population goes over 1,000 students next year. When does the tipping point come when the school has too many students? It really isn't fair to make the students who live in boundary go to a giant elementary because cluster 2 kids don't want to go to an AAP center within ther cluster when it becomes available. Even Janine Strauss stated that it's not in the kids' best interests to go to large elementary schools. I hope the base parents fight for the best education for their kids.

You could argue the equities all sorts of ways. The AAP parents don't want their kids to change schools again, unless it's necessary. They could argue that parents of gen-ed students bought into the Haycock district knowing that it had a large, and growing, AAP program. They could argue that some of the boundaries could be adjusted to expand the districts for Lemon Road and Franklin Sherman, and so on.

Your kids are important. So are the kids of the AAP parents ASSIGNED to Haycock. There's no need to make this as us-vs.-them debate, unless you're just trying to stir things up. It's taken far longer than many would like, but there will be a solution here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our base school was Freedom Hill. This year we got switched to Lemon Road. My AAP kid was at Louise Archer and just started this year at Haycock. Not even 2 months in and Haycock wants him out. Yes, I'm pissed, and prepared to fight this with a lawyer if necessary. 4 schools in 4 years without moving is ridiculous.

Prior poster here who just spoke up for the AAP families.

A lawyer isn't going to do you any good here. You might as well just take out your 401(k) money and start a bonfire.

[Anonymous]

The truth is that all students at Haycock go to a public school. Everyone should know that the district can reassign students as the population ebbs and flows in various regions. This is the nature of the public school system. As the greater Tyson's areas grows, Fcps will redistrict to accommodate the new schools being built. I find it difficult to believe that it is in interest of all students to have 250 kids at Lemon Rd and 977 at Haycock one mile away. Whether it is base students or AAP, some need to be shifted for the welfare of all the children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The truth is that all students at Haycock go to a public school. Everyone should know that the district can reassign students as the population ebbs and flows in various regions. This is the nature of the public school system. As the greater Tyson's areas grows, Fcps will redistrict to accommodate the new schools being built. I find it difficult to believe that it is in interest of all students to have 250 kids at Lemon Rd and 977 at Haycock one mile away. Whether it is base students or AAP, some need to be shifted for the welfare of all the children.

Just so we're clear, FCPS has already started to move kids to Lemon Road, which is a smaller school that FCPS plans to expand. There are more than 320 students there this year.

Janie Strauss made it clear that there will be more elementary schools built near Tysons as the population grows. It sounds like one may be in a mixed-use building that is part of the Capital One project.