Reply to Hearing Testimony on FCPS Proposed CIP

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Here's a plan to close Lee:

Move Bren Mar Park back to Annandale from Edison  [Annandale is projected to have space]

Move Springfield Estates and Lynbrook from Lee to Edison  [Swap at Edison - might need to add modular]

Move Forestdale from Lee to Hayfield [Hayfield is projected to have space]

Move Saratoga from Lee to South County [SoCo is projected to have space]

Move Crestwood and the portion of Rolling Valley at Lee to West Springfield  [Swap at West Springfield]

Move Orange Hunt and the portion of Sangster at West Springfield to Lake Braddock [Swap at West Springfield; Lake Braddocik is projected to have space]

They should keep Mount Vernon open, but move Fort Hunt there from West Potomac[/quote] [Mount Vernon is projected to have space]

Sorry but this is the silliest, most ridiculous and disruptive idea ever posted on this board about redistricting, and that is saying a lot.[/quote]

Why?  Scared of kids from Lee coming to your school?   [/quote]

Because it shows how very disruptive closing a high school would be.[/quote]

I think I can give a little context to the rumor that the county is considering closing Lee. The issue came up once when main office assessment folks were discussing what could happen if Lee runs into trouble with student performance on a state level. One way to avoid having Virginia DOE sanctions is to essentially close the school. Alexandria, for example, did this when it built the new Jefferson Houston elementary school.

The issue for Lee is that it's sort of a perfect storm on the eastern/southern side of the county. There's actually sufficient room in the neighboring schools to redistrict everyone to new middle/high schools.

So, why would the county consider this? If Lee is within spitting distance of running into Virginia DOE sanctions, then a plan of some sort needed to be thought through. The closing of the school was one scenario that could accomplish this.

Then the question is what do you do with Lee? It's a good building and decent property. One thought was to do a consolidation of the IB programs on the eastern/south eastern part of the county. That idea is something that hasn't been developed yet, but the super is likely going to consider putting resources to see if it makes sense from an efficiency standpoint.

-Someone who works in the Gatehouse.[/quote]

Right now Lee is fully accredited, so any issue with test scores would be several years away. And the scores actually seem pretty stable right now.

The surrounding schools are projected to have room for only about 740 students in five years (room at Annandale, South County, and Hayfield; Edison and West Springfield will be over capacity in five years.). Lee is projected to have 1802 students at that time, so you would be short more than 1000 seats. Some of the spare space at Hayfield may get used if they move students out of West Potomac to Hayfield and Mount Vernon. Overcrowding at Falls Church and Stuart, as is projected in five years, would most likely be relieved by moving some students to Annandale, using up some of that space. So it seems very unlikely to me that they will have enough room to close Lee. Closing a high school also might cause a cascade of boundary changes sure to anger many constituents.

As for an IB magnet at Lee - are we talking a dedicated IB program with no regular student body? Not sure you could sell that to enough students to make it worth while. You would particularly have to sell it to students from the surrounding schools to free up enough room in those schools for the students that would have to be relocated from Lee. I'm just not sure, given the choice of AP at their home high school, versus IB at a school that is farther away, is a real selling point. They would have to make is feel exclusive like TJ. Are they willing to do that?

If you work at Gatehouse, do FCPS staff members or School Board members ever admit they totally screwed Lee? Boundary changes without regards to demographics? Sticking with the IB program despite it being the leading reason for students pupil placement out of Lee? Reduction of the language program to the bare minimum (leading to more pupil placements)? It seems like they didn't care.
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