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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Jackson has the AAP center -- isn't that going to keep the scores high (enough)?  Giving the kids at LJMS more space asap has to be a good thing (be they poor or not poor kids).  Relieving the crowding has to have a positive effect, especially when they have the center.

How can you be so sure that losing this group of kids (MWES, part of OES, and a bit of MRES)  will have a negative impact on the base school of LJMS?  Are most of the wealthier kids in this group already separated into the AAP center?

Re: aligning Thoreau's boundaries with Madison -- well, almost everyone going to Madison comes from Thoreau (except a few from Kilmer and any AAP kids in Madison's zone who want to go to the center at Jackson).  The problem is that some elementary schools feed to both Madison and Oakton (i.e. Oakton ES and Marshall Rd. ES).  By keeping those kids together from elem school to middle school, they don't have to break friendships heading into MS where the pool is a much bigger group and it can be hard to make friends if you do not have your elem. school posse with you (trust me, I know -- we move our DD going into 7th grade.... it was hard to show up day one and not have her ES friends to manage the transition).

The other problem is that keeping Thoreau for only those kids who go to Madison means that Thoreau continues to be under capacity... which is not a good use of resources for a newly renovated school that has capacity.  Some 350 kids are needed to move into the new improved Thoreau.

To be sure, some kids at Jackson have had a very good experience.  Other kids, I've heard, have had such an unhappy 7th grade there that they want to switch schools next year if they can.  That's kind of telling -- kids would switch schools in the middle of a two year program.  I don't think these kids are in AAP... so that already speaks to the atmosphere in gen. ed. even with the OES/MWES/MRES kids still in Jackson.  Decreasing the crowding asap has to be a good thing.

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There are already a significant number of LLIV-eligible students at Thoreau who stay there, rather than at Jackson.  This trend will only continue if these kids are moved to Thoreau.

The enrollments at both Thoreau and Madison are increasing, without a boundary change.  Thoreau's is up by about 115 kids over the past five years alone.  Kilmer/Madison students can move to Thoreau if FCPS wants to fill additional seats more quickly.

And you don't solve one purported problem (elementary schools that split to two middle schools) by turning Thoreau into a three-way split feeder to three different high schools.

As for your last point, there are other ways to reduce the enrollment at Jackson besides moving kids from its most affluent feeders to Thoreau.   If it takes another year to get it right, FCPS should take the extra time.  It obviously has no problem leaving schools like Poe, Key, Lee and Mount Vernon well under capacity for extended periods.   There is no law that says Thoreau has to be at full capacity this fall.

You don't solve one problem (elementary school split feeders) by creating a three-way split feeder in middle school.  [/quote]

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