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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The bloodlust of this subset of Dranesville folks who didn’t get their way is scary.  I think she’s doing a fine job during really bad times.  Not just the pandemic but the radicalization of some in the community.

She seems kind and like she totally does the work.  I disagreed with her TJ vote and I think more should have been done to help the McLean overcrowding but I don’t always get what I want.  And I watched how some in the McLean community came after her about the boundary and it was scary.[/quote]

So easy for you to say, since it sounds like it did not negatively impact your child. If everyone in Dranesville watched her lying, flip-flopping, double talk, and manipulation on the boundary, she would get zero votes in 2023.

What's worse, MHS is at 100% capacity with the new, temporary building, so it did not need a boundary change.   AND the boundary change only moves about 140 kids/year over three years.  According to FCPS numbers, this does NOT change MHS capacity at all -   ZERO change.  So the boundary change did nothing to address capacity at MHS  AND she did not get MHS a bond on the most recent CIP, so no reno coming.  Failure after failure after failure.  And this is only on one issue.  [/quote]

Actually, she has fixed the capacity issue - at least temporarily. Mclean was projected to be at 123% of capacity over the next 5 years prior to the boundary change and modular. And she eliminated a split feeder at Colvin run, which is something Janie Strauss had been promising for years. The school board did not follow gatehouse recommendations, but they did follow the community committee recommendations on the boundary change. Which one do you think did more actual research? Yep - the unpaid community committee.

She has failed in multiple other ways, along with the rest of the board. Schools online for a year, focusing on admissions of one school and renaming schools while school buildings were shuttered. Crazy surveys and expensive studies.

[/quote]

Please - get your facts straight.  Your post is a great example of how people conflate issues.  After the modular building, MHS was at roughly 100% capacity (+/- less than 1%).  This was BEFORE the boundary change.  This is according to FCPS numbers.

There was no school in all of FCPS that was at 100% that was also subject to a boundary change.  100% capacity does not necessitate a boundary change.  BUT tholen had to do the bidding of her puppet masters at mclean and flip-flopped at the last second, literally the morning of the vote, to overrule the staff's recommendation, and go with a boundary change that has ZERO impact on capacity. She created a new split feeder for one year at Longfellow, as 7th graders at the time will now go through a second split feeder, separating from 99% of the Longfellow class in high school.  Some might say that these kids were sacrificed so that we could reduce capacity at MHS, except this change makes ZERO difference in terms of capacity.  It was a hollow and meaningless change intended only to make good on campaign promises tholen made to mclean parents, while disrupting the experience of other kids for no reason.

These are facts - the percentage at MHS is from FCPS.  Look it up.  Do the math on the number of kids who will move from MHS to LHS and divide by total population at MHS using FCPS stats - it does not change the capacity number.  Use FCPS numbers and you will see what a total failure tholen is on this issue.  Never mind all of her other follies.

Ill add that I did not talk to anyone who was opposed to a boundary change.  LHS is a great school.  It was just a matter of making the change in a way that did not leave kids behind, and that actually had impact on MHS capacity.  tholen failed on both.

It is long past time for tholen to go.[/quote]

I looked at the math.

Agree McLean was under 100% capacity when the boundary change was made, but that's only if you treat the cheap modular classrooms (which FCPS treated as adding 350 seats) the same as permanent seats.  Exclude the second-hand modular, and they were still projecting McLean would be over 10% over-capacity even with the boundary change.

Also, FCPS was projecting that the boundary change would move 8% of McLean's students to Langley once fully phased-in.  They did not factor into account the additional kids McLean would pick up from Longfellow due to the TJ admissions change. I'd guess that would add another 3% or so back.

Elaine was more responsive to the desires of those wanting to cap the number of kids moved to Langley than to those you call her "puppet masters at mclean."  Some people at McLean supported a boundary change only after they were told there would have to be a boundary change before any permanent addition was built, and even then many suggested putting it on hold once enrollments started to fluctuate last year in response to Covid-19.  Instead, Elaine pushed through the boundary change, yet continues to do nothing to get funds budgeted for a future addition.  [/quote]

Now we're talking!

So here is another conflation.  There was no repeat no requirement that a boundary change had to occur before a permanent fix, i.e. renovation.  This my friend, is the tholen-b.s. and really the FCPSBS.  Why didnt mclean parents question her 'logic' then??  What sense does that make, especially when you see how few kids would be rezoned??

Those who were actually questioning tholen on all of this quickly realized that this statement (must do boundary first then reno) was crap.  It then became clear that all of her arguments were crap.  platenburg's numbers were crap.  FCPS was not talking to Fairfax Count Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission to get development projections, to include in Tysons.  tholen ignored parents who told her to wait until we see what post-pandemic numbers look like.  tholen ignored parents who said let's see how the FCPS decision on TJ impacted mhs.  tholen ignored parents who urged her to wait for the boundary consultant to set stronger boundary policies.  tholen ignored parents who told her a boundary would not impact mhs capacity.  Add in gamara and rachna, there were lies and fast talking all over the place, with tholen at the helm.

You are 100% right on the modular being a temporary and less than satisfactory fix, which is why those who recognized the FCPSBS pushed tholen to do a modular and then write a bond for MHS.  Why didnt more mhs parents push her to do this??   Unfortunately, the puppet master mhs parents were myopically fixated on kicking kids out of their "community" in order to reduce capacity.  They got what they wanted!  Congrats!  A boundary change!  There are what about 20 fewer kids going to mhs now!  Yea!  Oh sorry, Im wrong.  platenburg forgot about Tysons development.  So there are probably 70 more kids GOING to mhs this year, with hundreds more to follow in the coming years, and no bond in sight, no change to capacity, in fact capacity still increasing from tysons development.  Congratulations.  It might be too tough for mhs parents to admit, but tholen duped you.

Welcome to the tholen show, we are glad you finally made it.[/quote]

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