Anonymous wrote:I have heard people in GF shake their heads at McLean’s (former, perhaps) blind trust in the school board (and their bosses, the board of supervisors) but I have never seen or heard anyone ridicule McLean High School.

The kids talk a little trash about their rival.

Overt hostility, such as previously displayed by One Great Falls towards the School Board, is not the same as blind trust, but Tholen is now engendering the former among people who had been cautiously optimistic. Now we just want her and some of the other clowns like Frisch off the Board.

I have heard people in GF shake their heads at McLean’s (former, perhaps) blind trust in the school board (and their bosses, the board of supervisors) but I have never seen or heard anyone ridicule McLean High School.

The kids talk a little trash about their rival.

Many in McLean who usually vote Democratic will break ranks and support other candidates if Tholen runs again with an FCDC endorsement. We may not vote for Republican candidates enough to make the Great Falls Republicans happy, or to keep them from ridiculing us and (behind the scenes) our school, but we will do everything we can to keep Tholen from holding office again. McSpaces and Gore are AWOL and irrelevant now.

Nope. The republican candidate regardless of qualification will be labeled white supremacist Trumpy if white, a white-adjacent suck up if Asian, a wannabe white sellout if Latino, and the black face of white supremacy if an indigenous Black American,African, or Afro Caribbean descent.

McLean will quake in its boots, fearful of even discussing the pros and cons of the candidate with their friends and neighbors. They can’t have anyone thinking they would even consider voting for a Republican!

Then they will bite the bullet, vote blue no matter who, and complain later.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you look at this issue from the perspective of the rest of the SB, they view Dranesville, and McLean, as one area. The SB probably looked to the Dranesville rep to prioritize and put forth the school that was most in need of a renovation. Elaine's predecessor put forth Langley. LHS got a $78 million renovation. Done. The School Board took care of this area, and moved on to their own districts.

If true, this means that McLean parents got out maneuvered so many times its funny. Great Falls won, and now Elaine is powerless to ask for more.

This is all compounded by the fact that Elaine is too weak, feckless, and dishonest to actually fight for McLean.

She is "monitoring" the situation. Sure she'll keep making moves to try and demonstrate she is trying, especially before the election.

She needs to know that we've "monitored" her for over two years, and we want our money back.

McLean and other schools built in the 1950s were renovated in the early 00s.

Langley and other schools built in the 1960s were renovated more recently. That happened in schedule; it wasn’t due to some special maneuvering or prioritization by Janie Strauss.

FCPS’s attitude toward renovations has evolved over. They now spend far more to renovate and expand schools than they used to. So they ended up spending over twice as much renovating Langley as they did renovating McLean years earlier. And they expanded the school much more as well.

When two of the other schools renovated around the same time as McLean later ended up overcrowded - Justice and Madison - they went ahead and authorized additions. They aren’t forcing Justice to wait until Falls Church - also in the Mason District - is renovated to get an addition. There is no reason that they haven’t slotted McLean for an addition but for the animus of some School Board members towards the McLean/Great Falls area and the lack of effort and courage of Elaine Tholen.

Tholen is useless. She only cares about TJ, Great Falls, and about being a loyal Democrat who doesn’t ruffle any feathers, but that leaves her exposed because Great Falls is mostly Republican and not ruffling any feathers means accepting that it’s OK to treat McLean less favorably than Justice and Madison, which are both getting additions although they were built after McLean, last renovated around the same time, and less overcrowded.

Basically, no one respects her at this point. Her own Great Falls neighbors were the main force behind the recall petition, and McLean parents will oppose her in droves if she tries to run again.

There will be a new mcspaces in 2023. It will send candidates a questionnaire and set-up a fancy website, just like mcspaces did. It will ask "tough" and specific questions of candidates.

I just hope that voters are not fooled by future mcspaces-like organizations in 2023.

People need to ask questions before they sign a petition.

People shouldnt just listen to a slack-jawed spinster who promises that if you sign this piece of paper and get on the mailing list, we'll get ourselves a renovation.

This is what the mindless masses of McLean parents did with mcspaces. I cant tell you how many times vance would say "we've got 1000 members" or whatever. Hollow.

Here is a plea to the voters in Dranesville - dont be fooled by partisan hacks and their candidates. Ask tough questions and dont take party rhetoric as an answer.

This goes for all parties.

Electing Elaine was a huge mistake, for everyone. Let's not make that same mistake again in 2023.

Anonymous wrote:If you look at this issue from the perspective of the rest of the SB, they view Dranesville, and McLean, as one area. The SB probably looked to the Dranesville rep to prioritize and put forth the school that was most in need of a renovation. Elaine's predecessor put forth Langley. LHS got a $78 million renovation. Done. The School Board took care of this area, and moved on to their own districts.

If true, this means that McLean parents got out maneuvered so many times its funny. Great Falls won, and now Elaine is powerless to ask for more.

This is all compounded by the fact that Elaine is too weak, feckless, and dishonest to actually fight for McLean.

She is "monitoring" the situation. Sure she'll keep making moves to try and demonstrate she is trying, especially before the election.

She needs to know that we've "monitored" her for over two years, and we want our money back.

McLean and other schools built in the 1950s were renovated in the early 00s.

Langley and other schools built in the 1960s were renovated more recently. That happened in schedule; it wasn’t due to some special maneuvering or prioritization by Janie Strauss.

FCPS’s attitude toward renovations has evolved over. They now spend far more to renovate and expand schools than they used to. So they ended up spending over twice as much renovating Langley as they did renovating McLean years earlier. And they expanded the school much more as well.

When two of the other schools renovated around the same time as McLean later ended up overcrowded - Justice and Madison - they went ahead and authorized additions. They aren’t forcing Justice to wait until Falls Church - also in the Mason District - is renovated to get an addition. There is no reason that they haven’t slotted McLean for an addition but for the animus of some School Board members towards the McLean/Great Falls area and the lack of effort and courage of Elaine Tholen.

Tholen is useless. She only cares about TJ, Great Falls, and about being a loyal Democrat who doesn’t ruffle any feathers, but that leaves her exposed because Great Falls is mostly Republican and not ruffling any feathers means accepting that it’s OK to treat McLean less favorably than Justice and Madison, which are both getting additions although they were built after McLean, last renovated around the same time, and less overcrowded.

Basically, no one respects her at this point. Her own Great Falls neighbors were the main force behind the recall petition, and McLean parents will oppose her in droves if she tries to run again.

If you look at this issue from the perspective of the rest of the SB, they view Dranesville, and McLean, as one area. The SB probably looked to the Dranesville rep to prioritize and put forth the school that was most in need of a renovation. Elaine's predecessor put forth Langley. LHS got a $78 million renovation. Done. The School Board took care of this area, and moved on to their own districts.

If true, this means that McLean parents got out maneuvered so many times its funny. Great Falls won, and now Elaine is powerless to ask for more.

This is all compounded by the fact that Elaine is too weak, feckless, and dishonest to actually fight for McLean.

She is "monitoring" the situation. Sure she'll keep making moves to try and demonstrate she is trying, especially before the election.

She needs to know that we've "monitored" her for over two years, and we want our money back.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Elaine Tholen to McSpaces in 2019: "Immediate scoping for a permanent addition to McLean HS to increase capacity is necessary. The land area is small so efficient use of the space is essential. Size of the addition needs to take into consideration future population growth in McLean due to McLean and Tysons developments."

Elaine Tholen to McLean PTSA in 2022: "I am monitoring development in Tysons....I am only one of 12 Board members."

Elaine Tholen to MCA in 2022: "Realistically, we can't get McLean an addition now because we are on a 37-year renovation cycle and there is only so much money available."

The guy who set up McSpaces must feel like such a dupe. They should have joined forces with One Great Falls and made sure lying Elaine never got elected.

I hear that some people from Great Falls tried to tell MCA that the school board hadn’t been honest with them about their decisions and that they got laughed at.

So it is what it is.

Good point - Add MCA to the growing list of people/groups that Elaine duped - she made MCA look stupid.

Hindsight is 20/20. The real crime would be to re-elect her just because she ran as a D. She deserves an F.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Elaine Tholen to McSpaces in 2019: "Immediate scoping for a permanent addition to McLean HS to increase capacity is necessary. The land area is small so efficient use of the space is essential. Size of the addition needs to take into consideration future population growth in McLean due to McLean and Tysons developments."

Elaine Tholen to McLean PTSA in 2022: "I am monitoring development in Tysons....I am only one of 12 Board members."

Elaine Tholen to MCA in 2022: "Realistically, we can't get McLean an addition now because we are on a 37-year renovation cycle and there is only so much money available."

The guy who set up McSpaces must feel like such a dupe. They should have joined forces with One Great Falls and made sure lying Elaine never got elected.

I hear that some people from Great Falls tried to tell MCA that the school board hadn’t been honest with them about their decisions and that they got laughed at.

So it is what it is.

Back in 2019 sometime.

She doesn’t have much support in either community at this point.

Anonymous wrote:Elaine Tholen to McSpaces in 2019: "Immediate scoping for a permanent addition to McLean HS to increase capacity is necessary. The land area is small so efficient use of the space is essential. Size of the addition needs to take into consideration future population growth in McLean due to McLean and Tysons developments."

Elaine Tholen to McLean PTSA in 2022: "I am monitoring development in Tysons....I am only one of 12 Board members."

Elaine Tholen to MCA in 2022: "Realistically, we can't get McLean an addition now because we are on a 37-year renovation cycle and there is only so much money available."

The guy who set up McSpaces must feel like such a dupe. They should have joined forces with One Great Falls and made sure lying Elaine never got elected.

I hear that some people from Great Falls tried to tell MCA that the school board hadn’t been honest with them about their decisions and that they got laughed at.

So it is what it is.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, Tholen couldn't get the support of her colleagues to get a motion approved to direct Facilities to have a new renovation queue ready by the next CIP.

And she certainly can't get money for an addition at McLean even though (1) it got the cheapest renovation of any FCPS high school in the early 00s, (2) it has the least amount of permanent learning space of any high school in FCPS, and (3) its enrollment is at an all-time high and higher than other schools already getting additions (Madison, Justice). But she'll get a few hundred thousand to renovate a couple of bathrooms by 2030 and pretend she's a warrior.

School needed a pit-bull on the School Board and got a lazy, ineffective wallflower.

Off the top of my head two other schools renovated in the early 00s are getting overhauled and expanded: West Potomac and Madison. (Does the town of Vienna pay for the Madison renovations?) McLean really did get screwed with the first renovation, and it's getting shafted again. Meanwhile, directly adjacent to McLean, the high schools have all the latest bells and whistles: the brand new Meridian HS, the overhauled Langley HS, Yorktown and W-L in Arlington, Marshall, Falls Church, Oakton, etc.

As you said - McLean ALREADY had a renovation, while all those other schools you listed were sitting, patiently waiting their turn. Kind of seems like McLean will have to wait in line for its turn to roll around again.

I don't know if you're intentionally trying to create confusion here to make Tholen look better, but there's a difference between renovations and additions.

Schools are renovated in order based on a renovation queue established by FCPS back in 2008. All the schools on the queue have been renovated in more or less the order set forth in that queue.

Separately, FCPS has on multiple occasions built additions at schools outside the queue process when those schools were overcrowded. Over the past decade, at least four high schools have received additions due to overcrowding - South Lakes, Justice, Madison, and West Potomac. Of the four, West Potomac is the only one that was more overcrowded than McLean when an addition got funded. And they are building an addition at West Potomac even though nearby Mount Vernon has surplus capacity that could have been used to alleviate the overcrowding there.

Obviously, if they spend money on additions, it delays renovations, but they've been willing to do that in the past because additions cost much less than renovations, and sometimes there are compelling needs for additions.

In McLean's case, the amount that was spent on the school's renovation was the least of any school renovation since the early 00s, and the School Board continues to refuse to fund an addition to the school despite the compelling need. They are so afraid of appearing to favor McLean that they end up discriminating against the school. This has been going on for years, and Tholen made a big pitch when she ran for School Board in 2019 that one of her tp[ priorities would be getting McLean scoped into the Capital Improvement Program for a future addition. Once elected, however, she dropped the ball, and now she just robotically repeats the same BS about how she'd like to see FCPS come up with a new renovation queue - which again totally ignores the fact that FCPS repeatedly has built additions at other schools outside the queue.

We need Norah Molnar to run for School Board. She's one of the only people willing to call out Tholen for her BS in public.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, Tholen couldn't get the support of her colleagues to get a motion approved to direct Facilities to have a new renovation queue ready by the next CIP.

And she certainly can't get money for an addition at McLean even though (1) it got the cheapest renovation of any FCPS high school in the early 00s, (2) it has the least amount of permanent learning space of any high school in FCPS, and (3) its enrollment is at an all-time high and higher than other schools already getting additions (Madison, Justice). But she'll get a few hundred thousand to renovate a couple of bathrooms by 2030 and pretend she's a warrior.

School needed a pit-bull on the School Board and got a lazy, ineffective wallflower.

Off the top of my head two other schools renovated in the early 00s are getting overhauled and expanded: West Potomac and Madison. (Does the town of Vienna pay for the Madison renovations?) McLean really did get screwed with the first renovation, and it's getting shafted again. Meanwhile, directly adjacent to McLean, the high schools have all the latest bells and whistles: the brand new Meridian HS, the overhauled Langley HS, Yorktown and W-L in Arlington, Marshall, Falls Church, Oakton, etc.

As you said - McLean ALREADY had a renovation, while all those other schools you listed were sitting, patiently waiting their turn. Kind of seems like McLean will have to wait in line for its turn to roll around again.

So what if it got a renovation, when the renovation was CHEAP compared to other and later renovations and the school remains seriously OVERCROWDED?

Did you miss the part where it was pointed out that South Lakes, Justice, Madison, and West Potomac all got or or are now getting ADDITIONS outside the normal renovation cycle? What is your problem with McLean that you think it's fine for FCPS to treat it differently than those schools, which apart from West Potomac were/are LESS overcrowded.

Obviously Tholen knew it was a big issue when she ran; she just didn't deliver on her campaign promises. She's a fraud.