Reply to Saratoga/Key/Lee?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]They are doing massive construction/expansion on WSHS right now, why would they move kids out of WS at this point? If Lee really does become the IB magnet for the entire eastern and central portions of the county, WSHS will need the capacity to assume some of the kids who would have gone to Lee. [/quote]

West Springfield, even with the expansion, is projected to be at 105% of capacity in just a few years. Lee on the other hand, will be at 85% of capacity.

I think, despite what the Gatehouse insider says, that the School Board will never be able to pull off closing Lee. There are just too many political hurdles. If it angers some West Springfield parents to think about moving some neighborhoods to Lee with just a simple boundary change, imagine what moving even more of them out would do under the Lee closing scenario (and moving Lee students to that school). And Annandale would have to be involved and that would probably mean moving Lynbrook there because it is geographically the logical choice. So you would move Lynbrook, the second or third poorest school in the entire county, from the third poorest high school to the second poorest high school. And both have very high ESOL populations. That will not help Annandale very much.

Steps that can be done to help Lee:

1) Reopen the Marshall night school (it appears that the special ESOL program is going to cause Lee some accreditation trouble) - or otherwise separate that ESOL program from Lee
2) Return to full AP and drop IB
3) Guarantee AP classes will be taught even with low enrollment (lower student to teacher ratio might entice more parents to keep their students at the school)
4) Counter pupil placement for language - If a bunch of students try to pupil place for Japanese in 9th grade - then offer Japanese. Don't cancel language offerings because of low enrollment
5) Start an AAP center at Key - a number of AAP students currently leave the pyramid (Lake Braddock and Twain) and never return

Big changes like this in the Lee pyramid are the only way to ensure parents that FCPS is serious about fixing Lee. They need to make these changes and make it a big news item.

I also don't think IB is popular enough to fill a school with students. The entire county only produces around 450-475 IB graduates a year. A large number of those come from Robinson and Marshall which are not likely to be closed. Same with South Lakes. So it would be a big gamble to close Lee as a regular school, make it an IB magnet, and then hope students enroll - what if they don't?[/quote]

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