Reply to Langley/McLean/Marshall Boundaries

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[quote=Anonymous]Part of the issue here is that FCPS has no coherent framework for considering high school boundary changes or additions, and its default approach over the past decade has been cowardly.

McLean currently has an enrollment of 2251 kids, which is slightly lower than average in FCPS (it's #13 out of the 25 high/secondary schools).  The school is crowded now, but that's because FCPS invests less in the school than it does in other schools (it gets a bunch of trailers, but no modulars, and there are no permanent additions currently planned, as at other schools).  If they move kids to Langley, they'll leave McLean one of the smallest schools in the county.

In comparison, FCPS plans to build an addition at West Potomac, even though West Potomac has 600 more kids than Mount Vernon and Mount Vernon has capacity.  In addition, FCPS is expanding West Springfield as part of its renovation, even though West Springfield has 550 more kids than nearby Lee and Lee has capacity.  FCPS also has plans to expand Justice and Madison, even though neither of those schools currently has, or is projected to have, as many students as McLean, and both Justice and Madison sit on less land than McLean.

In McLean's case, it appears FCPS, with Janie Strauss's support, has decided McLean parents would be fine moving to Langley.  That's consistent with FCPS's practice over the past decade of moving kids from one high school to another school only when the new high school is considered at least as strong academically as the old high school. Recent examples include moving Annandale kids to Lake Braddock and Woodson, moving Fairfax kids to Woodson, and moving some Lee kids to West Springfield.  The only guiding philosophy appears to be that it's OK to move kids if they don't expect many parents to complain, regardless of the effect on the high school that loses students.

McLean parents should ask why FCPS is spending money on expansions and additions at other schools, but not McLean, and exactly how FCPS plans to go about identifying redistricting options, if a boundary change is ultimately determined to be necessary. [/quote]

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