FCPS Boundary Review Updates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It needs to be paused. Too many changes at once.

The incompetence that FairFACTS Matters has uncovered relating to the selection of BRAC members raises bigger issues as to whether those currently running FCPS and on the School Board could possibly be trusted with fair and valid county-wide boundary changes.

FCPS has never had a more incompetent Superintendent and School Board and they need to pause the boundary study, figure out how to improve their processes, and form a new advisory committee (one where obnoxious School Board shills aren't rewarded with seats for their long history of sucking up to the School Board) before doing any further work.

Fairfax matters discovered a typo on a spreadsheet, maybe. Theres a reason no legitimate new outlet is running that “story” except a local blog.

I see what you did there. What makes a news outlet “legitimate”? Is WaPo “legitimate” under Bezos. Is WTOP legitimate in their “hard hitting” reporting? Would a larger news outlet national (WaPo) or even regional (pick one) outlet report on such a local issue? Or would you expect a local, county news outlet to report on it:

https://www.fairfaxtimes.com/articles/area-residents-ask-what-happened-to-mother-no-35/article_b904ab6c-faac-11ef-9d3c-c3bb6b474982.html

Ah, but this particular reporter and this publication has reported on FCPS in the past so this must not be “legitimate.”

That is hilarious. Legitimately hilarious.

Thanks.

I really do not see how anyone can support the current boundary adjustment, given how obviously corrupted and biased the process has been shown to be:

“Scott Jones, a member of the local group FairFACTS Matters, which advocates on education issues, received a copy of the video and other documents in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by a local father. Parents and community members are now expressing outrage at the sequence of events captured in the video as they watch the segment on social media postings in local neighborhood groups.

The disclosure underscores deeper issues into the integrity, legitimacy, and transparency of the FCPS boundary review committee selection process, which requires members to sign non-disclosure agreements. The documents in the public records request included a file marked “Superintendent’s Boundary Review Committee,” which included a comment from Tracey Wynne, FCPS director of community relations, stating, “Each member has signed a limited non-disclosure agreement (NDA) in order to participate on the committee.”

For Jones, the selection process is “invalid” due to how FCPS officials allegedly mishandled it. He said the incident raises questions about whether FCPS officials intentionally selected only people who would rubber stamp the school district’s remapping of the district.

The public records documents released for the first time revealed all of the committee's members. A Dec. 11 Excel spreadsheet titled “Advisory Committee” includes the names of 87 people in a list marked “Confirmation NDA.” Of those listed, 22 are FCPS employees.

That poster doesn’t care about facts. She’s got her own alternative facts to fit her narrative of unwavering support for corrupt FCPS.

Gaslight much? “That poster,” was me, and you failed to realize I quoted a reputable media source:

https://www.fairfaxtimes.com/articles/area-residents-ask-what-happened-to-mother-no-35/article_b904ab6c-faac-11ef-9d3c-c3bb6b474982.html


Question for you PP: You work for FCPS don’t you?

I don't work for FCPS, because I know you will ask and I am not the poster you are responding to.

Fairfax Times is not a reputable source, it is pretty biased in its reporting. And the FairFacts group, or whatever it is call, is pretty biased. I was on the FairFacts FB page for a while and there is a real bias there.

I don't think kids should be moved to rebalnace economic imbalances in the county. I do think that kids need to be moved to decrease enrollment at schools that are over capacity.

I think that IB should be dropped, and students should return to their base schools.

I think that we should be using the existing space that we have instead of expanding capacity at overcrowded schools. I don't think schools udnergoing a renovation should be expanded just because there is a renovation ongoing.

I think that schools that need to be renovated should be renovated, although that is technically a different conversation. It is a legitimate complaint that schools like McLean are falling apart and should be moved up in the renovation cue.

I understand that boundrary changes are disruptive and people don't like them but that doesn't mean there are not valid reasons for doing them. I don't think that FCPS is talking about these shifts for the right reasons, the focus on moving kids to balance FARMs rates in inappropriate. Some kids might be shifted to reduce overcrowding to a school that is a lower FARMs rate because the school closest by has a higher percentage of FARMs kids but a geographic shift possible.

The efforts of the people strongly opposed to redistricting to shut down anyone whose opinion disagrees with theirs is problematic. FCPS didn't need to hrie consultants to do this, they needed maps and people to look at the maps and make adjustments based on relieving overcrowded schools based on geography.

Fairfax Times does meticulous investigative reporting. They broke the Hayfield scandal months before everyone else.

Their issue is that in the midst of their very good reporting, they throw in a bit too much editorial and hyperbole, with a right wing bent. But the reporting is sound, thoroughly researched, and supported by extensive FIOA requests.

They do some of the best investigative reporting anywhere in the area.

If they had a left wing bent, even with the same amount of editorial and hyperbole, you would be falling all over yourself to laud them for their journalism.

Don't let the messenger get in the way of their very valid investigative reporting.

Look beyond your political biases to see the extensive facts behind their reporting.

The Fairfax Times is a reputable, reliable, and accurate source of factual news concerning events in our county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It needs to be paused. Too many changes at once.

The incompetence that FairFACTS Matters has uncovered relating to the selection of BRAC members raises bigger issues as to whether those currently running FCPS and on the School Board could possibly be trusted with fair and valid county-wide boundary changes.

FCPS has never had a more incompetent Superintendent and School Board and they need to pause the boundary study, figure out how to improve their processes, and form a new advisory committee (one where obnoxious School Board shills aren't rewarded with seats for their long history of sucking up to the School Board) before doing any further work.

Fairfax matters discovered a typo on a spreadsheet, maybe. Theres a reason no legitimate new outlet is running that “story” except a local blog.

I see what you did there. What makes a news outlet “legitimate”? Is WaPo “legitimate” under Bezos. Is WTOP legitimate in their “hard hitting” reporting? Would a larger news outlet national (WaPo) or even regional (pick one) outlet report on such a local issue? Or would you expect a local, county news outlet to report on it:

https://www.fairfaxtimes.com/articles/area-residents-ask-what-happened-to-mother-no-35/article_b904ab6c-faac-11ef-9d3c-c3bb6b474982.html

Ah, but this particular reporter and this publication has reported on FCPS in the past so this must not be “legitimate.”

That is hilarious. Legitimately hilarious.

Thanks.

I really do not see how anyone can support the current boundary adjustment, given how obviously corrupted and biased the process has been shown to be:

“Scott Jones, a member of the local group FairFACTS Matters, which advocates on education issues, received a copy of the video and other documents in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by a local father. Parents and community members are now expressing outrage at the sequence of events captured in the video as they watch the segment on social media postings in local neighborhood groups.

The disclosure underscores deeper issues into the integrity, legitimacy, and transparency of the FCPS boundary review committee selection process, which requires members to sign non-disclosure agreements. The documents in the public records request included a file marked “Superintendent’s Boundary Review Committee,” which included a comment from Tracey Wynne, FCPS director of community relations, stating, “Each member has signed a limited non-disclosure agreement (NDA) in order to participate on the committee.”

For Jones, the selection process is “invalid” due to how FCPS officials allegedly mishandled it. He said the incident raises questions about whether FCPS officials intentionally selected only people who would rubber stamp the school district’s remapping of the district.

The public records documents released for the first time revealed all of the committee's members. A Dec. 11 Excel spreadsheet titled “Advisory Committee” includes the names of 87 people in a list marked “Confirmation NDA.” Of those listed, 22 are FCPS employees.

That poster doesn’t care about facts. She’s got her own alternative facts to fit her narrative of unwavering support for corrupt FCPS.

Gaslight much? “That poster,” was me, and you failed to realize I quoted a reputable media source:

https://www.fairfaxtimes.com/articles/area-residents-ask-what-happened-to-mother-no-35/article_b904ab6c-faac-11ef-9d3c-c3bb6b474982.html


Question for you PP: You work for FCPS don’t you?

I don't work for FCPS, because I know you will ask and I am not the poster you are responding to.

Fairfax Times is not a reputable source, it is pretty biased in its reporting. And the FairFacts group, or whatever it is call, is pretty biased. I was on the FairFacts FB page for a while and there is a real bias there.

I don't think kids should be moved to rebalnace economic imbalances in the county. I do think that kids need to be moved to decrease enrollment at schools that are over capacity.

I think that IB should be dropped, and students should return to their base schools.

I think that we should be using the existing space that we have instead of expanding capacity at overcrowded schools. I don't think schools udnergoing a renovation should be expanded just because there is a renovation ongoing.

I think that schools that need to be renovated should be renovated, although that is technically a different conversation. It is a legitimate complaint that schools like McLean are falling apart and should be moved up in the renovation cue.

I understand that boundrary changes are disruptive and people don't like them but that doesn't mean there are not valid reasons for doing them. I don't think that FCPS is talking about these shifts for the right reasons, the focus on moving kids to balance FARMs rates in inappropriate. Some kids might be shifted to reduce overcrowding to a school that is a lower FARMs rate because the school closest by has a higher percentage of FARMs kids but a geographic shift possible.

The efforts of the people strongly opposed to redistricting to shut down anyone whose opinion disagrees with theirs is problematic. FCPS didn't need to hrie consultants to do this, they needed maps and people to look at the maps and make adjustments based on relieving overcrowded schools based on geography.

Often when I read a post like this, I walk away with the conclusion that the poster doesn’t have kids that’d be impacted by boundary changes. It’s pretty offensive when people pretend that there are legitimate reasons to go after other people’s kids like this.

In these scenarios, I think of the BRAC member who has advocated zealously for boundary changes but has argued equally zealously that there should be no changes for her kids. She is a F’ing hypocrite.

[Anonymous]

Who is that BRAC member?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax Times is a reputable source. Their journalists do real research. You might not like the political views of their journalists, but the reporting is solid and accurate. The Post has completely given up on any kind of local reporting.

Yes.

They FIOA things and first person source stuff, using official government websites and documents.

Their research is impeccable.

Overlook some of their politicsl language, and use their articles to do your own verification research.

You will rapidly discover that their reporting is top notch and completely supported by facts.

+1
- moderate Dem.
WaPo could learn a thing or two from how Fairfax Times does actual reporting on local issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It needs to be paused. Too many changes at once.

The incompetence that FairFACTS Matters has uncovered relating to the selection of BRAC members raises bigger issues as to whether those currently running FCPS and on the School Board could possibly be trusted with fair and valid county-wide boundary changes.

FCPS has never had a more incompetent Superintendent and School Board and they need to pause the boundary study, figure out how to improve their processes, and form a new advisory committee (one where obnoxious School Board shills aren't rewarded with seats for their long history of sucking up to the School Board) before doing any further work.

Fairfax matters discovered a typo on a spreadsheet, maybe. Theres a reason no legitimate new outlet is running that “story” except a local blog.

I see what you did there. What makes a news outlet “legitimate”? Is WaPo “legitimate” under Bezos. Is WTOP legitimate in their “hard hitting” reporting? Would a larger news outlet national (WaPo) or even regional (pick one) outlet report on such a local issue? Or would you expect a local, county news outlet to report on it:

https://www.fairfaxtimes.com/articles/area-residents-ask-what-happened-to-mother-no-35/article_b904ab6c-faac-11ef-9d3c-c3bb6b474982.html

Ah, but this particular reporter and this publication has reported on FCPS in the past so this must not be “legitimate.”

That is hilarious. Legitimately hilarious.

Thanks.

I really do not see how anyone can support the current boundary adjustment, given how obviously corrupted and biased the process has been shown to be:

“Scott Jones, a member of the local group FairFACTS Matters, which advocates on education issues, received a copy of the video and other documents in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by a local father. Parents and community members are now expressing outrage at the sequence of events captured in the video as they watch the segment on social media postings in local neighborhood groups.

The disclosure underscores deeper issues into the integrity, legitimacy, and transparency of the FCPS boundary review committee selection process, which requires members to sign non-disclosure agreements. The documents in the public records request included a file marked “Superintendent’s Boundary Review Committee,” which included a comment from Tracey Wynne, FCPS director of community relations, stating, “Each member has signed a limited non-disclosure agreement (NDA) in order to participate on the committee.”

For Jones, the selection process is “invalid” due to how FCPS officials allegedly mishandled it. He said the incident raises questions about whether FCPS officials intentionally selected only people who would rubber stamp the school district’s remapping of the district.

The public records documents released for the first time revealed all of the committee's members. A Dec. 11 Excel spreadsheet titled “Advisory Committee” includes the names of 87 people in a list marked “Confirmation NDA.” Of those listed, 22 are FCPS employees.

That poster doesn’t care about facts. She’s got her own alternative facts to fit her narrative of unwavering support for corrupt FCPS.

Gaslight much? “That poster,” was me, and you failed to realize I quoted a reputable media source:

https://www.fairfaxtimes.com/articles/area-residents-ask-what-happened-to-mother-no-35/article_b904ab6c-faac-11ef-9d3c-c3bb6b474982.html


Question for you PP: You work for FCPS don’t you?

I don't work for FCPS, because I know you will ask and I am not the poster you are responding to.

Fairfax Times is not a reputable source, it is pretty biased in its reporting. And the FairFacts group, or whatever it is call, is pretty biased. I was on the FairFacts FB page for a while and there is a real bias there.

I don't think kids should be moved to rebalnace economic imbalances in the county. I do think that kids need to be moved to decrease enrollment at schools that are over capacity.

I think that IB should be dropped, and students should return to their base schools.

I think that we should be using the existing space that we have instead of expanding capacity at overcrowded schools. I don't think schools udnergoing a renovation should be expanded just because there is a renovation ongoing.

I think that schools that need to be renovated should be renovated, although that is technically a different conversation. It is a legitimate complaint that schools like McLean are falling apart and should be moved up in the renovation cue.

I understand that boundrary changes are disruptive and people don't like them but that doesn't mean there are not valid reasons for doing them. I don't think that FCPS is talking about these shifts for the right reasons, the focus on moving kids to balance FARMs rates in inappropriate. Some kids might be shifted to reduce overcrowding to a school that is a lower FARMs rate because the school closest by has a higher percentage of FARMs kids but a geographic shift possible.

The efforts of the people strongly opposed to redistricting to shut down anyone whose opinion disagrees with theirs is problematic. FCPS didn't need to hrie consultants to do this, they needed maps and people to look at the maps and make adjustments based on relieving overcrowded schools based on geography.

Of course alarm bells go off when a massive number transfer out of AP Herndon to IB South Lakes. Unprecedented anywhere else in this county. 11% of the base school transfers out net TJ. Are they coming primarily from the Reston schools Aldrin and Armstrong? Ex Hughes AAP transfers? Irresponsible on the part of Strauss and Tholen to NOT have put in Herndon MS AAP Center. Not having it could also be a function of Hunter Mill rep snarfing up potential IB Diploma candidates for South Lakes. Senior/diploma candidates IB enrollment should be roken down by base ES

What happened in prior boundary changes to boost academics? Kilmer was a base school only and in poor condiition. FCPS did not want to change base school boundaries to load the site. Longfellow was a mega AAP center- all non Mclean HS or Mclean address schools got moved to Kilmer. Renovated and a desirable tech course plus great band director from Longfellow. Extrapolate that to the HS level. Meanwhile some South Lakes pyramid schools get exhorbitant extra funding- IB, magnet $.
Herndon pyramid gets no bonus cash. Bonus cash for Langley pyramid is the JIP extra staffing due to class size problems. Mclean pyramid Kent Gardens immersion problem was not solved but that program is so large there should be zero extra staff in a budget or staff reallocated.

Edison transfer numbers need to be scrapped or broken down by reason- isolating tech course. IB Edison gets a huge number from IB Lewis. Were SB members historically residing in the Edison pyramid? Some pyramids appear to have had sequential school board members with exhorbitant subjective focus on their base schools plus some special programs.

And there are a good number of students who principal place from SLHS to Langley, Oakton, and Herndon. The Langley and Oakton are folks placing for AP and a language. The Herndon are folks placing for AP without a language.

SLHS test scores improved after the boundary change 20 years ago but I have never seen anything that shows that the scores for the FARMs or ELL kids have actually improved or if the improvement is because of the few hundred kids moved from other schools into SLHS. I suspect tha latter.

Moving the MC/UMC into the high FARMs schools will make the scores look better without fixing the real issues. And, truth be told, no one has the slightest clue of how to fix the real problem. The generationally poor and the uneducated immigrant families tend not value education for a variety of reasons. Their kids don't see school as important because their parents don't care. Teachers and Administration cannot make them care so the cycle continues. We have been discussing this as a society since the 1950's, probably even before then. You can make it look prettier with some window-dressing, but it doesn't address the larger problem.

Trying to balance out FARMs rates is a crappy reason for redistricting. Dealing with overcrowded schools is a legitimate reason for re-districting. Start with getting rid of IB and get kids back to their base schools. See what the numbers look like. Draw maps that start to relieve the numbers at the schools that are crowded. The bigger issue is that FCPS is trying to rebalance based on SES and is trying to pretend that isn't what is happening.

[Anonymous]

If they had a competent FTS department focused on adding capacity where it was actually needed, rather than wasting hundreds of millions expanding schools merely because they were in some outdated renovation queue developed over 15 years ago, we wouldn’t be in this mess. Everything going on now is intended to cover up for the past mistakes of incompetent FCPS employees and a School Board too busy with pointless “equity” initiatives to exercise proper oversight.

The state VDOE should take over FCPS and place it in receivership. It is a failed system that has demonstrated it can no longer manage its own affairs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they had a competent FTS department focused on adding capacity where it was actually needed, rather than wasting hundreds of millions expanding schools merely because they were in some outdated renovation queue developed over 15 years ago, we wouldn’t be in this mess. Everything going on now is intended to cover up for the past mistakes of incompetent FCPS employees and a School Board too busy with pointless “equity” initiatives to exercise proper oversight.

The state VDOE should take over FCPS and place it in receivership. It is a failed system that has demonstrated it can no longer manage its own affairs.

I’m sure it’s been reported to the DOE End DEIA portal by now

[Anonymous]

There’s a BRAC meeting tonight. Will see what comes out of it! I do feel like they post content fairly quick

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s a BRAC meeting tonight. Will see what comes out of it! I do feel like they post content fairly quick

How do we attend the BRAC meeting? FOIA requires those meetings to be open, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a BRAC meeting tonight. Will see what comes out of it! I do feel like they post content fairly quick

How do we attend the BRAC meeting? FOIA requires those meetings to be open, right?

No, those meetings are closed to the public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a BRAC meeting tonight. Will see what comes out of it! I do feel like they post content fairly quick

How do we attend the BRAC meeting? FOIA requires those meetings to be open, right?

No, those meetings are closed to the public.

What?! That’s a clear violation of FOIA.

[Anonymous]

SLHS test scores improved after the boundary change 20 years ago but I have never seen anything that shows that the scores for the FARMs or ELL kids have actually improved or if the improvement is because of the few hundred kids moved from other schools into SLHS. I suspect tha latter.

At the expense of another high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a BRAC meeting tonight. Will see what comes out of it! I do feel like they post content fairly quick

How do we attend the BRAC meeting? FOIA requires those meetings to be open, right?

No, those meetings are closed to the public.

What?! That’s a clear violation of FOIA.

Umm, no it isn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a BRAC meeting tonight. Will see what comes out of it! I do feel like they post content fairly quick

How do we attend the BRAC meeting? FOIA requires those meetings to be open, right?

No, those meetings are closed to the public.

What?! That’s a clear violation of FOIA.

Umm, no it isn't.

McDaniel said school board created BRAC. It falls under FOIA as a result.

These meetings must be open by law.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a BRAC meeting tonight. Will see what comes out of it! I do feel like they post content fairly quick

How do we attend the BRAC meeting? FOIA requires those meetings to be open, right?

No, those meetings are closed to the public.

What?! That’s a clear violation of FOIA.

Umm, no it isn't.

DP. It is certainly not transparent. Especially when they make the members sign an NDA.