Reply to SB Member Anderson on County-wide Boundary Study

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The same Langley posters who complain that FCPS should never offer Russian to all students online as opposed to in-person at their school would also be the first to complain if FCPS ever proposed to move them to another school that didn’t offer Russian.

That’s why more standardized academic options across schools really are a pre-condition to discussing any county-wide changes. FCPS would need to be in a position to say in good faith that students generally will have access to the same courses at every school (the academies complicate matters, but not as much as currently having both AP and IB schools and different in-person foreign language options).

If that’s not feasible, Anderson and her colleagues should stop talking about any type of county-wide boundary review, as it will be a total waste of time and effort. [/quote]

I agree with much of what you wrote, but no one from Langley is "complaining" about anything.  They are simply pointing out that Russian would never be moved online because it is a very popular (and valuable) language to study and has plenty of interest from students at that school.  There would be no issues with moving it online *as well* as continuing to offer it in person.  But really, this is a moot point and another one of those straw man / speculations that has no basis in reality.  Not even sure why it was brought up in the first place as languages aren't even an issue the SB has expressed interest in.[/quote]

Please stop trying to dictate what FCPS-related topics people can discuss. [b] The new SB has definitely expressed interest in a county-wide boundary review[/b] and some of us are previewing some of the specific issues that will make that challenging, including current disparities among schools when it comes to programs and course offerings. 
[/quote]

I find that hard to believe. When it was posted last fall it was dismissed as pre-election “fear mongering” [/quote]
Go watch the January 25 SB meeting. Throughout that meeting, multiple SB members referenced the staff’s work on revised priorities to inform a county-wide redirecting.  My recollection is that there was one comment about the disparity in course offerings at different schools, although most of the SB comments pertained to overcrowded schools, underutilized capacity, wasteful spending on inefficient busing, etc.[/quote]

Yes, four different SB members referenced the "holistic boundary review" that the SB is currently undertaking, so it is definitely happening.  They first will want to modify Policy 8130 so that they can do more of what they want during the boundary review.  That fell apart when they last tried to amend 8130 back in 2018-2019, but I have no doubt that they will try again.  This was raised by Rachna Sizemore Heizer, Mateo Dunne, Sandy Anderson and Kyle McDaniel at the February 13 Work Session.

https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=BDZRXQ6E59AB[/quote]

The effort didn’t “fall apart.”

They tabled it because the democrat majority didn’t want to lose any seats in the imminent election.[/quote]

That was five years ago.  It fell apart.  But with a 100% Democrat school board they want to take their shot now.  [/quote]

Of course. They were just elected, so if they are going to do it, now is the time.

Hopefully they get cracking and implement new boundaries by fall of 2025[/quote]

I think some of us have made a strong case that they can't just "get cracking and implement new boundaries" without at a minimum first considering whether they ought to be making sure there is more consistency among programs and courses, especially at the HS level.

I'd be very surprised they can pull this off, especially by the fall of 2025.   They would be providing a supply of something (boundary changes) for which there is relatively little demand.[/quote]

Boundaries shouldn't stay the way they are because the majority of the population doesn't want them to change. No one wants to be affected by a boundary shift, there will never be an appetite for a boundary change. That doesn't mean they don't need to happen. Some schools are over crowded while other schools are under enrolled. Some of these schools are neighbors.

There is no consistency of programs at any level in FCPS. LIV looks different at pretty much every Center and Local program. There are magnet schools and language immersion programs. There are IB ES, MS and HS. People will be grandfathered into existing programs so they can complete them when the changes first happen and that is all that will be done.

That said, I doubt that any changes would be implemented by 2025, that would be amazingly fast.

Most of the people who are vocally afraid of boundary changes are people in high SES schools that are terrified of moving to a different school. The fear is for falling housing values and kids having to move to schools with lower test scores. My kid might end up in a different high school. He is at a middle of the pack school. More likely then not any change will be to another middle of the pack school. He'll be fine. the vast majority of the kids will be fine.

If it happens, which I doubt it will. But that doesn't mean that I don't think that FCPS is long over due for a county wide look at the boundaries and a major reshuffling. [/quote]

If you look at the high schools, a large majority have received decent renovations and/or expansions.  It's ridiculous for either School Board members or community residents to then tell those at the handful of schools that still need a capacity upgrade that they should just suck it up and expect to be redistricted if they are overcrowded, even if they want to stay at their schools and the overcrowding isn't at a level that poses safety concerns.

Also, you assume that kids will be grandfathered into existing schools and programs if there are county-wide changes.  That's a big assumption.  The grandfathering in recent changes is possible because they've been limited changes at any one time.  Make enough changes and there won't be a big enough bus fleet to run all the routes to multiple schools.  [/quote]

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