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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

My reference to her "puppet masters" at MHS is as follows - she promised mcspaces and her predecessor a boundary change.  She started down that road with mhs parents and mcspaces supporting her efforts.  It was great - she was pushing it through and everyone was happy.  Then the pandemic delayed things.  But mhs parents and the most vocal in mcspaces pushed her to reenergize the boundary effort despite the many factors I listed in an earlier post above, to include the lie that a boundary had to happen before a reno.  It was a lie.  She did that.  They unquestioningly accepted her ludicrous logic.  She was doing what they wanted.  Everyone was once again happy.

All of a sudden, mhs parents and mcspaces realized that mhs was going to lose too many kids due to pandemic-related lower enrollment, the TJ debacle, and the boundary.  All of a sudden they wanted her to stop, rethink this, pull back.  Otherwise if mhs loses too many kids, mhs loses classes and teachers.  So mhs and mcspaces all of a sudden tried to slow her down.  but no, she kept going.  At that point, her gullible cheerleaders aka mhs parents and mcspaces should have realized that she was actually helping her (not-so-)Great Falls fanatics with a meaningless boundary change of single family homes, saving (not-so-)great falls from having to take in multi-family dwellings &lt;gasp&gt;.

And your comment about having hindsight now - well, it was obvious to anyone who questioned her logic during the process that she was full of double-talk.  She changed her message depending on the audience.  I along with others, highlighted her hypocrisy at the time - no one at mhs wanted to listen.

So yes, her puppet masters at mhs got duped.  she made fools of them, and us all.  As you pointed out, she has alienated everyone at this point, except those mhs parents and mcspaces who dont want to admit they got fooled.  Even if she gets a bond for mhs, the damage is done.  She is done.

[/quote]

Neither McSpaces nor other McLean parents were asking for anything unreasonable:  (1) relief from the overcrowding that had led to 20 trailers, overcrowded hallways, and articles in newspapers (The Guardian) citing McLean's facilities as a poster child for the neglect of public school buildings in Virginia; and (2) a permanent addition at MHS similar to what FCPS had built or committed to build at several other high schools (South Lakes, Justice, Madison, West Potomac) outside the normal renovation cycle.

I guess you think that, rather than trying to advocate constructively, they should have stomped their feet, yelled louder, and insisted on an addition right away?  Unfortunately, that's what FCPS had promised the school in 2015, only for Facilities to yank it away and expand Langley during its renovation to 2370 seats even though LHS only had an enrollment of around 1900.  Once that decision was made, both Strauss and then Tholen said a boundary change would have to happen before any addition was considered at McLean.  Tholen did promise before Covid that she'd do both - work on a boundary change and get McLean promptly slated in the next CIP for a future addition.  Then, once in office: she  (1) pushed through a boundary change during a pandemic, even when FCPS had lost any ability to project future enrollments and people were begging her to pause; (2) turned the need for "equity" and "transparency" that her colleagues had used for years to delay a boundary change on its head by waiting until the last minute to push through the change she wanted that the public had never heard was her preferred approach and was anything but "equity-based"; and (3) did nothing to get McLean in the pipeline for a permanent addition.

So if they were all dupes, it was because FCPS already had them flat on their backs.  It's not like there were great alternatives in the 2019 campaign, as the other two Dranesville candidates were also from the Langley HS district and motivated to run primarily by their desire to protect Langley's boundaries from any changes that might ever put Great Falls at risk of getting moved to Herndon.  Had Karloutsis been elected, she would have faced opposition from the Democratic majority on the board.  Had Mobasheri been elected, he would have tilted at windmills trying to get a brand-new secondary school costing far more built in Tysons.  Tholen likely seemed like the best of the three options; arguably, she turned out to be the worst.  It's telling that the McSpaces group that had pushed for relief (yes, a boundary change PLUS getting in the queue for an addition) never once acknowledged or thanked Tholen for the change she rammed through.  They appear to have disbanded in disgust, perhaps now lying in wait to see if she's planning to bow out or run again. [/quote]

I agree with everything you said.  I supported a boundary change, but just wanted it done right and in a meaningful way.  Instead she fanned the flames of division among the mhs "community," manipulated the process, maneuvered around everyone, delivered a meaningless boundary change, and moved on leaving many kids behind and an overcrowded school.

The only thing I disagree with you on is your comment that she was arguably the worst of all options.

She was and continues to be, in fact, the absolute worst.

[/quote]

Enough about the boundary issue.  When you look at all of Elaine’s poor decisions, the boundary negatively impacted the least amount of kids.  Don’t lose sight of the fact that she also failed to proactively try to get our kids back in school last year because she was too busy supporting the renaming of schools, dumbing down the TJ admission process, and supporting CRT. [/quote]

Well said and totally agree.[/quote]

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