Reply to FCPS School Board candidates in Dranesville

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I believe the following is an honest assessment:

* In early 2019, the School Board was operating under the assumption that it would not add any more boundary studies to the CIP until it had, at a minimum, considered revisions to its policy governing boundary adjustments and, at most, had undertaken a county-wide redistricting to address capacity issues and adjust boundaries "through an equity based lens";

* At the same time, Janie Strauss offered a proposed amendment to the CIP to include a McLean/Langley boundary study that she had not taken the time to preview with most of her colleagues.

* As a result, Strauss's proposal did not get majority support and, therefore, was never put to a vote.

* The failure to amend the CIP led to the creation of McSpaces, which pressed the case for relief at McLean.  The discussion of potential revisions to the boundary policies and individual school boundaries led to the creation of One Great Falls, which was primarily concerned with any potential adjustments that might send students from the Langley pyramid to the Herndon pyramid, but also attacked the idea that any adjustments to boundaries should take "equity" and/or the socio-economic composition of students or neighborhoods into account.

* While the School Board had additional conversations about potential revisions to its boundary policy, it was unable to agree upon those revisions and unwilling to wait until such revisions had been adopted before responding to the community pressure to address the McLean overcrowding.  As a result, the School Board went ahead in September 2019 and approved a CIP amendment to authorize a McLean/Langley boundary study.  This decision split entirely along political lines:  all the Democrats supported the CIP amendment, and neither of the Republicans (Schultz and Wilson) supported it.

* The approval of the CIP amendment allows FCPS staff to move forward with the scoping of a boundary study that, if adopted next spring, could move some students from McLean to Langley as early as fall 2020.

* Those who believe it was appropriate for the School Board to go ahead and approve the CIP amendment and/or for the Board to continue its consideration of potential revisions to the boundary policy will tend to support Democratic candidates for the Dranesville and at-large seats (Tholen, Keys Gamarra, Omeish,  Sizemore Heizer).

* Those who believe the CIP amendment was simply intended to mollify McLean parents before the election and/or are fearful about what could result from future revisions to the boundary policy will tend to support the other candidates for those positions (Karloutsos, Mobasheri, Buford, DeStefano, Palathingal). [/quote]

This is very helpful thanks.

Is there any reliable polling data? I’m starting to pull my hair out on who to vote for lol, and maybe if I know some people are shoo-ins it’ll make things easier to figure out. Thanks[/quote]

No reliable polling data for such local elections.

If you’re talking about SB choices for Dranesville voters the only shoo-in is Keys Gamarra, the only incumbent at-large candidate.[/quote]

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