Reply to School Boundaries and "One Fairfax"

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[quote=Anonymous]I don't think anywhere close to a majority of county residents with kids want massive boundary changes simply to make sure there are X% of white kids, Hispanic kids, black kids, and Asian kids at every school.

FCPS has never done that; it would be a logistical and transportation nightmare; it would result in litigation; and it would end the political careers of many SB (and, possibly, BOS) members.

Most boundary changes by FCPS over the past decade - ever since the South Lakes redistricting in 2008 - have gone in the other direction and increased segregation.  When Board members voted to move kids from upper-income neighborhoods from Jackson to Thoreau, they increased segregation.  When they voted to go ahead and build an addition at West Potomac, they are making it far less likely West Potomac kids will get moved to under-enrolled Mount Vernon, again promoting segregation.  When their predecessors moved kids out of single-family neighborhoods zoned for Annandale to Lake Braddock, Woodson, and Edison, they increased segregation at Annandale.

If they've woken up and decided they want to stop re-segregating schools, that's fine by me.  It's not radical to move kids from Woodson or Lake Braddock back to nearby Annandale.  It's not radical to decide that, if they have to move some kids to Langley, they should look at Tysons apartments before moving even more single-family neighborhoods there.  It's not radical to tinker with the West Springfield boundaries if nearby Lee is chronically under-enrolled.  If they decide that certain numbers of TJ seats should be filled by students at each region, that's not radical, either.

You are misreading the current policy when you suggest there currently is a "mandate that any boundary change can only affect 15% of the student population at a school."  The School Board is already authorized to make boundary changes that affect more than 15% of a school's population; it would continue to be authorized to make such changes under the proposed revisions; and a public hearing would continue to be required for any changes affecting 15% or more of a school's population.  The main change would be to eliminate a provision that allowed the Superintendent to make changes affecting less than 5% of a school's population on his own initiative, with no formal School Board involvement.  [/quote]

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