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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You can't have a county-wide school and tolerate the disparities that exist between West Springfield and Lewis.  It's about time they do something about it.

Past School Boards and FCPS staff have absolutely played favorites.  That's how West Springfield got renovated ahead of schedule (trade-off that involved closing Clifton ES) and then got a major expansion courtesy of a former facilities head who went to WSHS.  It's also why schools like Lewis, in contrast, ended up with a poor reputation.  They need to start making amends. [/quote]

Lewis ended up in this situation because of the decade long Mixing Bowl construction project.

Lewis (then Lee) sits directly inside.

For years, the high school and surrounding neighborhoods were directly under all the noise, mess, traffic problems and toxic dust of that gigantic, drawn our construction project.

Any family that could afford to move elsewhere did.

They were replaced by recent immigrant families that were happy to have a nice home in a neighborhood with manicured lawns, nice sidewalks, and things like grocery stores, restaurants, jobs,  malls, schools and public transit within walking distance.

As the number of non English speaking working class and lower class families increased, Lewis's test scores decreased, making it increasingly undesirable to families with kids, even after the Mixing Bowl construction ended.

That construction project sent Lewis on its downfall.

To claim otherwise and blaming the neighboring school's families is complete ignorance and ignores the true catalyst of Lewis/Lee's decline.[/quote]

There were multiple UMC areas redistricted out of Lee/Lewis over the years.  Same thing happened at Annandale.  Also no MS AAP centers in those pyramids.

It's not about blaming families in neighboring pyramids, but about acknowledging that past decisions had consequences that disadvantage current students at Key and Lewis. [/quote]

The main reason the decline of then Lee started was the mixing bowl construction.

The rezoning of neighborhoods out of Lee (now Lewis) had nothing to do with social engineering.

Those neighborhoods were rezoned out of Lewis because South County HS opened and the entire Springfield - West Springfield - Lorton - Kingstown area was adjusted to fill the new school.

There was no giant conspiracy against lewis/lee to turn it into some sort of pariah school.  Remember, Saratoga [b]lobbied[/b] to stay at Lee/Lewis when South County opened and Saratoga was supposed to move to the new high school.

The timing of the mixing bowl construction following the South County rezoning was the catalyst for the decline of Lewis.  It was accelerated by migrant and ESOL families moving into the homes of people who sold to get away from the mixing bowl construction.

You can try to spin it as some big conspiracy against Lewis by the school board and WSHS families, but that would be completely dishonest.

It occured as a result of a natural series of 2 big events.  To claim it is anything else is completely inaccurate.[/quote]

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