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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Ya'll need to wave the white flag, and accept whatever school the school board wants to send your kids to.

They received a resounding mandate last night to do whatever they want to do to your kids education (or lack thereof) however they want to do it, under any timeline, without grandfathering if need be.

They know that there will be zero consequences in the next election for rezoning anyone.

Read the tea leaves and save your energy.
[/quote]
What is: How to totally misread last night’s results for a thousand, Alex.

Now, in a couple of years if they clean sweep the school board elections, that would be a better signal. 
[/quote]

Of course they will clean sweep the school board elections.

They know after last night that they have support to do whatever they want to do however they want to do it.

You all know you will vote them back into office no matter who runs, and they know it too.

Anyone who is fighting the rezoning is fairly delusional that their opinion matters to the school board.  They know and you know that they will either get reelected, or someone far worse/more extreme/more left than them will get elected, no matter which neighborhoods get rezoned.[/quote]
I don’t buy that for a second. There are areas that have successfully fought boundary changes through each turn of the map.  And don’t forget, the puppet masters of the school board is the Democratic Party, and margins statewide are much much closer.  Sure, maybe the bond passes 70-30 in Fairfax, but push too hard and vouchers statewide become a real possibility.[/quote]

What is the actual % of students who will be affected by redistricting?  And maybe more to the point, how many will be affected negatively?  1%?  This is a non-issue for almost everyone.[/quote]

Exactly. Families who live on the boundaries of schools are the ones affected and that is a relatively small percentage of kids and parents. And it is not one or two kids but a group of kids that will be moving together, which will make the transition easier for the kids. They will move with friends and classmates, just like they would do going into MS or HS.

I have learned that people are far more attached to schools then I ever have been and will be. I have good memories, for the most part, of school but I never had a desire for my kid to attend the same schools I did because they were so amazing. I want school to be a positive experience for my kid, but it shouldn't be his identity. But so many people seem to be invested in their schools in ways that I don't understand.

That said, most people are not going to be affected by the moves. The only reason this might touch them is the amount of time the School Board has spent on it. The expenditure on the new school maybe but I think it is an easy case to make why it was needed. [/quote]
Sounds like you had a tough time making friends in grade school.  I truly feel sorry for you. Others of us realize just how incredible and formative those years and friends were for us, and stability was the key factor for us.

You can’t do math if you think this only impacts 1% of the students. That number is a gross underestimate.[/quote]

Nope, I had friends. I still talk with them on Facebook. We moved in between my Sophomore and Junior year, it was fine. I was unhappy to leave my friends at my original HS but made friends at my new HS. I attended the dances and played sports and joined clubs. I enjoyed myself, did well in school and went to college. I had high school classmates at my wedding. I suspect that there are plenty of military families that can point to moving regularly and their kids adapting and finding friends. I know at my kids ES the teacher would send an email out to the parents when a new student was joining the class and asking us to talk to our children about ways they can welcome the new student. Kids moved in and out and it was ok.

My kid is at a school that might be moved, we are all fine with the move. He'll be at a new school with kids he knows, and he'll make friends with new kids. Just like he did when he moved from ES to MS and just like he will do in HS. He will join clubs and activities and try out for teams, regardless of the name of the school.

I am pretty sure one of the boundary meetings put out that the number of kids moved will be about 1% but I could be misremembering that. 1% of 180,000, using rough numbers, is probably low, 1,800 kids, obviously low. Whatever the number is, there will be some pain but it is not going to be the mass trauma that parents think unless they have built up the importance of attending this specific school and only this school. Otherwise, kids will adapt to a new school with new friends just fine.

I get concerns moving to a school that is struggling, like Lewis or Herndon or Mt Vernon. I fully understand the concerns there. There are different class offerings and club opportunities and sports opportunities. The environment is obviously different. I don't have a solution. But when you have schools that are over crowded and schools that are under enrolled it is not a surprise that kids would be moved. And the class offerings will increase as more kids move to the schools who need and want those classes. But I understand why people are unhappy with that type of a move.[/quote]

Fyi,  The military families are the most against moving their high school studdnts out of anyone in our high school.  They are the ones fighting the hardest for stability for teenagers.

That being said, they do not seem as bothered by the idea of rezoning elementary school kids to a different middle school or high school.  They understand how fluid elementary friend groups are when the kids transition to middle school,  and how easily little kids make friends.

But the mere whisper of a rumor to rezone teenagers has set them into a fighting frenzy.

Military families want stability for their teenagers.

The only person I have heard who has tried to argue that moving high school kids is good for military kids because it teaches them adaptability and "resiliance" is the Springfield school board rep.

Your argument is not popular with military families who are firmly and publicly against rezoning teenagers.[/quote]

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