Reply to One Fairfax and Thoreau

Forum Index » Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)

Reply to "One Fairfax and Thoreau"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]FWIW, both Mosby Woods and Marshall Road (a subset of which goes to Jackson now) have FARMs rates of about 25%.

That is probably artificially low b/c Mosby Woods' AAP section (which feeds to about 5 different MSs -- not just Jackson) likely has less than 25% farms --- meaning the gen. ed part (which is the part feeding into Jackson now) would be higher than 25% FARMS.  Those schools will be "contributing" to added diversity at Thoreau.  Taking those kids out of Jackson isn't the same as taking 100% economically wealthy/not poor out of Jackson.  There are Farms/ESOL kids who would be shifted from Jackson to Thoreau.

As for the suggestion (PP above) that Jackson's lower performing students should be shifted to Poe -- that wouldn't do anything to put kids INTO Thoreau -- which has the additional capacity (brand new capacity).

I think One Fairfax is a farce too... but if you want to use it as a weapon in this zoning decision, then we might as well rezone all of FCPS to equalize economic and racial stats.  I think One Fairfax is meant to be a general consideration, not THE deciding factor.  I knew it would be used as a weapon when it passed.  If you want to make it THE deciding factor, then rezone ALL schools across the county and start bussing kids to equalize all educational experiences... some will go up in status, some will go down... that is the point of equalization.  
[/quote]

With or without the AAP students at Mosby Woods, Oakton, Mosby Woods and the part of Marshall Road zoned for Jackson is wealthier than the rest of Jackson.  Taking it out of Jackson will drive up the ESOL/FARMS rates there.

Conversely, moving some other parts of Jackson to Poe would reduce the ESOL/FARMS rates at Poe, which now has the highest poverty rate of any middle school in the county.

FCPS can increase enrollment at Thoreau by making Thoreau an AAP center (similar to what it did at Cooper) and stop allowing Thoreau AAP students to transfer to Jackson and Kilmer.  If appropriate, part of Kilmer can be moved to Thoreau as well.

If the wealthier families want to move to Thoreau because it's a wealthier school, they can lobby for that, but it's obviously inconsistent with both One Fairfax, and FCPS's stated decision to eliminate split feeders (since it would turn Thoreau into a three-way split feeder to Oakton, Madison and Marshall).  [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics