Lee HS Enrollment Falls Below 1700

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if this is at least in part why Tamera Dereneax Kauffax hasn't been making a peep about the "Robert E Lee" name. She is a HUGE IB supporter and has even said generally that it would be good in every FCPS high school b/c it is exactly what the "portrait of a graudate" is all about.

That said, I don't think the size of Lee is an issue at all. If their population is sunk b/c they no longer go to ESOL/alternative schools and the testing requirements can't be met, then I can see that as a reason to re-brand and re-think. And I wouldn't be surprised if they shifted several of their elementary schools into the Hayfield pyramid. Note that Springfield Estates is still serving Hayfield pyramid as the AAP center. I love Springfield Estates (so no complaints there), but pushing other low-income schools into Hayfield is not going to be a good thing. Hayfield is already teetering. It doesn't need a shove in the wrong direction.

But, given the intel in this thread, it is sort of making sense.

If they reassign elementary schools, Hayfield would most likely pick up Forestdale, which isn't as high FARMS as some of the Lee feeders. The biggest impacts would probably be on Annandale and West Springfield.

Lynbrook 85.3% [Annandale or Edison]
Garfield 69.7% [West Springfield]
Crestwood 68.9% [Annandale or West Springfield]
Forestdale 52.9% [Hayfield]
Saratoga 50.0% [South County]
Springfield Estates 32.2% (but AAP center w/kids from other schools) [Edison]
Rolling Valley 17.6% (but largely West Springfield feeder) [West Springfield]

I think this is a smart plan. Obviously this idea has been given some thought.

PP here --- doesn't make sense to put Springfield Estates in Edison since they just voted to remove ALL the Edison kids from SEES, leaving only Hayfield and Lee pyramid kids there. Edison is getting a new AAP center at Bush Hill and they already have 2 local level 4 programs plus a language immersion school, a middle school AAP center, and a HS academy. SEES would have to go to Hayfield.... perhaps with Forestdale. They should take Lorton Station and put it at South County b/c it is so close to SCnty already... and in the same area as Saratoga.

[Anonymous]

LEE = Leading in Educational Equity

Hopefully will be after redistricting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LEE = Leading in Educational Equity

Hopefully will be after redistricting.

Like it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just came here to point out how laughable it is that West Springfield is being called "superior." Carry on.

Well, you can laugh all you want. Doesn’t change the fact that people are willing to pay a premium to be in the West Springfield pyramid over the Lee pyramid. If you think the schools in the Lee pyramid aren’t inferior to West Springfield, well, enjoy your schools, and quit complaining.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LEE = Leading in Educational Equity

Hopefully will be after redistricting.

Like it!

There's no reason to keep "LEE" as a moniker -- their stadium signs and school signs say "Robert E. Lee". They will have to be changed even if the "LEE" part was recycled. There wouldn't be a cost savings worth recycling the name. Might as well pick something completely new... like "All Nations HS" or "International HS" or perhaps the name of a well-known diplomat or international leader (like Carter or someone else who has worked to build bridges... in fact, a name like "Bridges HS" would be good -- with the idea that the IB program builds bridges, and since it is a general name, not a proper name, it can't go bad later.)

[Anonymous]

I think the LEE poster was just joking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just came here to point out how laughable it is that West Springfield is being called "superior." Carry on.

Well, you can laugh all you want. Doesn’t change the fact that people are willing to pay a premium to be in the West Springfield pyramid over the Lee pyramid. If you think the schools in the Lee pyramid aren’t inferior to West Springfield, well, enjoy your schools, and quit complaining.

DP here. Can you give this “premium” BS a rest? Even if houses zoned for West Springfield are more expensive than those zoned to Lee, it’s not like West Springfield is Langley. Housing there is not that expensive, and you won’t melt if FCPS decides to change the boundaries. Sheesh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just came here to point out how laughable it is that West Springfield is being called "superior." Carry on.

Well, you can laugh all you want. Doesn’t change the fact that people are willing to pay a premium to be in the West Springfield pyramid over the Lee pyramid. If you think the schools in the Lee pyramid aren’t inferior to West Springfield, well, enjoy your schools, and quit complaining.

DP here. Can you give this “premium” BS a rest? Even if houses zoned for West Springfield are more expensive than those zoned to Lee, it’s not like West Springfield is Langley. Housing there is not that expensive, and you won’t melt if FCPS decides to change the boundaries. Sheesh.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just came here to point out how laughable it is that West Springfield is being called "superior." Carry on.

Well, you can laugh all you want. Doesn’t change the fact that people are willing to pay a premium to be in the West Springfield pyramid over the Lee pyramid. If you think the schools in the Lee pyramid aren’t inferior to West Springfield, well, enjoy your schools, and quit complaining.

DP here. Can you give this “premium” BS a rest? Even if houses zoned for West Springfield are more expensive than those zoned to Lee, it’s not like West Springfield is Langley. Housing there is not that expensive, and you won’t melt if FCPS decides to change the boundaries. Sheesh.

Whatever. It’s pretty indisputable that if you take two similar houses in Lee and West Springfield, the house in West Springfield will fetch at least a $50k to $100k premium. No one is talking about Langley. There isn’t much that accounts for that difference other than the schools. If anything, homes in the Lee pyramid are in a better location in terms of jobs and being closer to the work centers in the area. But, you know, go ahead and try to get FCPS to propose moving some of West Springfield to Lee - I’m sure no one will care about property values because there’s just no significant difference in housing values (LOL).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just came here to point out how laughable it is that West Springfield is being called "superior." Carry on.

Well, you can laugh all you want. Doesn’t change the fact that people are willing to pay a premium to be in the West Springfield pyramid over the Lee pyramid. If you think the schools in the Lee pyramid aren’t inferior to West Springfield, well, enjoy your schools, and quit complaining.

DP here. Can you give this “premium” BS a rest? Even if houses zoned for West Springfield are more expensive than those zoned to Lee, it’s not like West Springfield is Langley. Housing there is not that expensive, and you won’t melt if FCPS decides to change the boundaries. Sheesh.

Whatever. It’s pretty indisputable that if you take two similar houses in Lee and West Springfield, the house in West Springfield will fetch at least a $50k to $100k premium. No one is talking about Langley. There isn’t much that accounts for that difference other than the schools. If anything, homes in the Lee pyramid are in a better location in terms of jobs and being closer to the work centers in the area. But, you know, go ahead and try to get FCPS to propose moving some of West Springfield to Lee - I’m sure no one will care about property values because there’s just no significant difference in housing values (LOL).

$50k is $240/m over 30 years at 4% interest. Most people who are buying a house can find that in their budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just came here to point out how laughable it is that West Springfield is being called "superior." Carry on.

Well, you can laugh all you want. Doesn’t change the fact that people are willing to pay a premium to be in the West Springfield pyramid over the Lee pyramid. If you think the schools in the Lee pyramid aren’t inferior to West Springfield, well, enjoy your schools, and quit complaining.

DP here. Can you give this “premium” BS a rest? Even if houses zoned for West Springfield are more expensive than those zoned to Lee, it’s not like West Springfield is Langley. Housing there is not that expensive, and you won’t melt if FCPS decides to change the boundaries. Sheesh.

Actually, according to Great Schools, West Springfield is the only equivalent to Langley, and GS is what people use to buy houses...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just came here to point out how laughable it is that West Springfield is being called "superior." Carry on.

Well, you can laugh all you want. Doesn’t change the fact that people are willing to pay a premium to be in the West Springfield pyramid over the Lee pyramid. If you think the schools in the Lee pyramid aren’t inferior to West Springfield, well, enjoy your schools, and quit complaining.

DP here. Can you give this “premium” BS a rest? Even if houses zoned for West Springfield are more expensive than those zoned to Lee, it’s not like West Springfield is Langley. Housing there is not that expensive, and you won’t melt if FCPS decides to change the boundaries. Sheesh.

Whatever. It’s pretty indisputable that if you take two similar houses in Lee and West Springfield, the house in West Springfield will fetch at least a $50k to $100k premium. No one is talking about Langley. There isn’t much that accounts for that difference other than the schools. If anything, homes in the Lee pyramid are in a better location in terms of jobs and being closer to the work centers in the area. But, you know, go ahead and try to get FCPS to propose moving some of West Springfield to Lee - I’m sure no one will care about property values because there’s just no significant difference in housing values (LOL).

You seem to be operating on the principle that FCPS should recoil in fear at the prospect that some West Springfield parents will complain about the impact of a boundary change on their property values. And I think what others have been suggesting is that it’s not all about you and you seem to have a vastly inflated sense of West Springfield’s importance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just came here to point out how laughable it is that West Springfield is being called "superior." Carry on.

Well, you can laugh all you want. Doesn’t change the fact that people are willing to pay a premium to be in the West Springfield pyramid over the Lee pyramid. If you think the schools in the Lee pyramid aren’t inferior to West Springfield, well, enjoy your schools, and quit complaining.

DP here. Can you give this “premium” BS a rest? Even if houses zoned for West Springfield are more expensive than those zoned to Lee, it’s not like West Springfield is Langley. Housing there is not that expensive, and you won’t melt if FCPS decides to change the boundaries. Sheesh.

Actually, according to Great Schools, West Springfield is the only equivalent to Langley, and GS is what people use to buy houses...

In that case I wonder why homes in so many other school districts besides Langley sell at a significant “premium” to West Springfield.

[Anonymous]

Historical perspective. I started at Lee in 1984. That year they had redistricted several West Springfield neighborhoods over to Lee. They did not grandfather siblings. There was not a big stink because back then the two High Schools were equivalents. We had 98% of graduates in my class go on to 4 year colleges. It was very competitive. Lee also had several State Championship sports teams---particularly dominated boys and girls HS soccer in VA throughout the 80s.

So what happened? Did they pull out some of the WS neighborhoods that were brought in? Did they redistrict other neighborhoods? Did Demographics drastically change? Demographics were about 20% Vietnamese (area directly surrounding Lee) and the rest Caucasian when I attended.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Historical perspective. I started at Lee in 1984. That year they had redistricted several West Springfield neighborhoods over to Lee. They did not grandfather siblings. There was not a big stink because back then the two High Schools were equivalents. We had 98% of graduates in my class go on to 4 year colleges. It was very competitive. Lee also had several State Championship sports teams---particularly dominated boys and girls HS soccer in VA throughout the 80s.

So what happened? Did they pull out some of the WS neighborhoods that were brought in? Did they redistrict other neighborhoods? Did Demographics drastically change? Demographics were about 20% Vietnamese (area directly surrounding Lee) and the rest Caucasian when I attended.

ohh..and my own friends ended up at Duke, Notre Dame, UVA, Bates, William&Mary, Michigan-Ann Arbor, Princeton, UNC Chapel Hill and VA tech. HS education was solid.