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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If you would like to contact Sandy Evans to comment about HVES/WSHS students being moved to Lewis HS, https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fcps.edu%2Fstaff%2Fsandy-anderson%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0Gr3cAoZnJjBsEbcH17W9nrzCATjQz1jkd4738QQIv6J2czoJJsOakSrc_aem_5LAlboGhtWlnyzOk6TmejA&h=AT1upZxnEvMyjYUIbWPZqa_42yfaQYrNgXcsxeysrCfF7TeaC62598bH5-c7HFm_rHGi9RQ68PeO2FS6iXXZVByTgOMhstF3NfvpH3Cf3fgDO8y6zDaNrXhceGozfM8u5g&__tn__=R]-R&c[0]=AT0eMXYcxKKCnoAV3K2xTOke30P9EWcS-jOEOa-esEHravjz14pJp56bkaFOfaJbTP7G0gJw01i3_Ul4-znX7FYoSxsZZcoEH3vWQRERu79Oc6ycXXNOtifzJOiEx4WR8qfQ61HtixWJE_rz4XkHdNz9VqTgcSpA7rwDujkDOylf2yoHz9qqwl5zQxis9E8

Lewis is a failed HS and a lot of time, money, and resources has been poured into Lewis over the past 5 years, with no improvement. Now they want to move high SES, non-FARMS students to come in to help fix the school?  Lewis is an FCPS problem, expecting good students from stable families to come in save the school is an interesting Hail Mary by Dr Reid. [b]No way that people who paid almost a million dollars for a 50 y.o. split level in West Springfield [/b]are going to go for that nonsense.[/quote]

No dog in this fight, but that attitude needs to go. It's absolutely not FCPS's nor the taxpayer's responsibility to remove all risk from overbidding for real estate. Do you always support government intervention, or only when the government will save your bottom line?[/quote]

No one overbid for a house in West Springfield, we bought in a stable district with great schools. Lewis has been mismanaged by years, including appointing a Principal and nominating him as Principal of the Year, for no accomplishment. Why was that? [b]Enormous amounts of money, resources, staff, and trial programs have been poured into Lewis, with no results[/b]. Nearby Hayfield HS and Edison HS have a number of out of state and out of district students, no one is focused on that issue either. [b]There are 4 other HS's closer to West Springfield,[/b] but somehow bussing West Springfield students through the Mixing Bowl during morning and evening rush hours and requiring parents and student drivers to move through that same traffic nightmare is going to help solve what issue? The traffic and bussing issue should have made this a nonstarter from the get go. [b]WS students will now spend 1+hour commuting each way for Dr Reid's equity experiment[/b].

No dog in the fight? Are you a taxpayer? Are you concerned about FCPS waste and abuse? Are you a county resident and tax payer? Which school district do you live in?

Actually I do not support government intervention. At all. The government is seldom concerned about the bottom line or doing what is best for the majority of citizens. The school district is spending millions to build the Dunn Loring ES, where it is not needed; spent millions to expand WestPo, when it was not needed. [/quote]

Can you substantiate that first bold claim? ESL and high FARMS heavy schools typically do get more funding, but 'enormous' amounts? And no results? The results are different because many of the students are starting at a much different place.

Second bold statement - the only high school closer to West Springfield than Lewis is Lake Braddock. The drive to Lewis is either straight down Old Keene Mill / Franconia to Frontier or you can use the elevated section of Franconia to bypass the mall area and then go in through the Springfield Estates neighborhood. Or other students would go straight down the parkway to Frontier. This is not a terrible commute. But you know that.

Third bold statement - just a bit of exaggeration in that commute timeline...[/quote]

The mental gymnastics people attempt to justify the commute is insane. It doesn't make any sense on any level for any reason to do this.  [/quote]

Why is the debate surrounding Hunt Valley elementary? It’s a slow day at work so I just looked at the maps since I live in the area. West Springfield elementary is closer to Lewis than Hunt Valley. Saratoga zoned for Lewis makes sense and I can see why that was done when South County was built. It’s cut off from the other areas due to Pohick Creek. Hunt Valley doesn’t make sense. However, the boundaries of West Springfield are compact and it doesn’t make sense to transfer kids from a successful school closer to their home to help improve a poorly performing school. [/quote]
I think the issue is that rolling valley, Keane mill , cardinal forest, and WSES are so close including walkers I believe to at least Irving and WSHS. Orange Hunt would create an island.

WSES seems like the only alternative if you have to pick one and could work but they are right next to Irving and then there’s the name.

HV shares boundaries with Lewis and are already on a bus. Not that I agree with it but I think that’s the logic. And yes I understand that a longer commute goes against statements about boundary change purpose. That same argument works for WSES as well wrt to Key and Lewis.

[b]The compact boundaries make it really hard to move any school without feeling like it doesn’t make sense.[/b][/quote]

+1 there’s no current gerrymandering in WSHS boundaries. There IS some weirdness they could clean up at the ES level, but that would be just within the pyramid and would not affect the high school.[/quote]

Even with those compact boundaries, if a move needs happen, SCHS makes much more sense if we are really looking at enrollment and transportation costs.  Lewis and SCHS are both under enrolled by a very similar amount (at 86% and 88% capacity last school year)  My HVES neighborhood is 3.5 miles and 8 minutes to SCHS along neighborhood roads, whereas Lewis 6 miles and 12 minutes using the Parkway and traversing the mess and congestion around the mixing bowl area.  Note these times are from right now, other times of the day would tell a different story, especially for the Lewis commute.  West Springfield High School is 4.7 miles away and can be reached by neighborhood roads.  The commute is a major quality of life issue.  It's the difference between driving to an event or activity vs fighting traffic to get to an event or activity.  I really hope a traffic study is part of this process.

[/quote]

The psychological barrier is real and will impact family engagement.  I'm not a HVES parent but there is absolutely no way I would make that drive in the morning or evening in either direction.  There's a difference between what is measured on google and waze and the true nature of the drive and stoplight  delays.  But there are parents who surprisingly do not prioritize the school pyramid and who do not care about engaging with their child's school, and these are the types of families that will eventually fill out whatever WS neighborhood is rezoned to Lewis. [/quote]

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