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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Why is it that none of the elementary schools that feed into West Springfield are Title 1, whereas all but one (the AAP center) of the elementary schools that feed into Lee High School are Title 1?  If that's not discriminatory, I don't know what is.[/quote]

Both the Lee and West Springfield boundaries are relatively compact, and on their face they don't look obviously gerrymandered to create an affluent school and a poor school. But Lee is near the older part of Springfield, with lots of garden apartments and small homes built in the 1950s, whereas most of the housing in the West Springfield district was built later and commands a higher price. You could swap some of the WS and Lee feeders to promote greater SES balance, but you'd have checker-board attendance areas and students with longer trips to school.[/quote]

Totally disagree.  Just look at the Saratoga area.  It has been totally gerrymandered.  It is part of the Lee HS pyramid, the Mount Vernon supervisor/school board district, and in a different Congressional district that those directly across Pohick Creek.  Both West Springfield and South County are closer than Lee HS, not to mention that kids in that neighborhood have to cross two parkways and an interstate to reach the MS and HS they're zoned for.  What's happened in Saratoga is the middle class and affluent families that live there use private school or pupil place to other schools and, as a result, even Saratoga ES has suffered.  Perfect example of a neighborhood that is relatively middle class and affluent, but for which the the politicians have gerrymandered into districts that don't benefit them - what happens? The middle class flees. [/quote]
Lee has been a comparatively low-performing school for a long time. That impacts the prices in places like Saratoga. I don't understand why someone buys a lower-priced house and then expects to get redistricted to a school that will boost their home equity overnight.  There are lots of areas all over the county where kids don't attend the high schools closest to their houses.[/quote]

Who said anyone expects that?  Just making he point that the Saratoga neighborhood has clearly been gerrymandered.  And, so be it.  That's life, and, certainly anyone doing their homework before buying there will realize it. [/quote]

There is a parent or parents up thread saying that this area shouldn't have to wait for economic development policies that could take ten years to have an impact. And that politicians who vote for the status quo should be voted out. I can sympathize. But, we paid a lot more for a lot less house a lot further out that were solidly zoned for good schools. I do not agree with parents who want to buy in the biggest house they can in the least expensive school zone, and then act like FCPS should rezone them. They should have know where they were buying. If they didn't want Lee or Mount Vernon, they should have paid more, or bought less house elsewhere. Everyone in the DC metro area has to make a cost/ location/ size/ schools housing trade off. [/quote]

Well, you can't fault people for advocating for their interests.  And, you don't really get that much of a discount on a house buying in the Saratoga are over a similar home north of the FFX Count Pkwy in the West Springfield HS - maybe $50k.  Not to mention the fact that the school board has brought this on themselves with recent rezoning of the Daventry neighborhood from Lee to West Springfield.  Yes, I know that was a split feeder situation, but it doesn't exactly help Lee.  If you're in Saratoga, why can't you have the same?    [/quote]

You get a HUGE discount for buying a house in Saratoga vs a house feeding into Orange Hunt, Hunt Valley or West Springfield. It is almost $100K less to buy in Saratoga compared to buying a similar but older house that feeds into one of the WSHS elementaries.

The houses are so much cheaper, so to buy for so much less then complain about school zoning is a bit silly.[/quote]

+100.  [/quote]

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