Anonymous wrote:I understand the OP. I would be very annoyed if my kid went to a school where 90% go to a different middle and high. There are people who go to Vienna elementary who do not live anywhere near Vienna elementary and are outside the town limits. Move those kids to Freedom Hill and the other kids like the OP's to Vienna.

I am neither a Freedom Hill nor Vienna ES parent, but we live very close to Vienna ES and feed to Marshall Road. We would be walkers to Vienna ES but instead get bus service to Marshall Rd. But at least most of the kids at Marshall Rd go on to Thoreau/Madison so it's not as big of a deal as OP's gripe.

Has this changed lately? Because when I was in Vienna (08-10), the entire boundary was in the Town of Vienna. I don't think any of the other ES were entirely in the Town.

Now if there was some special education programs or the like there, then that might explain something.

Yes, OP. I live I the Southeast Vienna. I am very disappointed as it seemed the majority of the residents and parents in this area are in support of the change. VES is the right school for these children due to the split feeder resolution, over crowding, and proximity. This has nothing to do with one school is better than the other. Again, that is the feeling of most residents and parents in Southeast. There are some people in the minority and I think they should have the right to pupil place their children in Freedom Hill. At the end of the day, this is the right decision for the community as a whole.

The liberal transfer option is an interim approach. It took into account the fears that some had about how the School Board might exercise its new discretion to make larger "administrative" boundary changes than in the past, and the fact that the Marshall pyramid has often gotten the short end of the stick with boundary or program changes. Moving these kids out of Freedom Hill right now doesn't sit well with some of them.

At some point there will need to be a broader study of school boundaries near Tysons, and when this happens this part of the Town of Vienna probably will move from Freedom Hill to Vienna. Just not yet.

So...if you are so wed to going to Vienna ES why don't live within its existing zoned boundary. Seems like a pretty straight forward choice when making a home buying decision...

Anonymous wrote:The map for Freedom Hill shows that about 20% of the acreage is Thoreau-Madison, 80% Kilmer-Marshall. But the Madison area is SFHs and the Marshall area includes apartment buildings and townhouses, so the final split of students is more like 10-90%. I'm not sure why Lemon Road is relevant to our situation. When I look at the map for that school, it seems that Lemon Road is already the closest elementary school for the students who go to Longfellow, so it wouldn't make sense for them to be reassigned. But Vienna is closer for most of the Freedom Hill students who go to Thoreau instead of Kilmer.

When the time comes, we will ask for a transfer to Vienna if that is still an option. Hopefully before then the county will make some of the adjustments that others have proposed here.

When the time comes, I hope you make an educated decision based on what is best for your child taking into consideration ALL factors for your child and his/her educational opportunities, and not rely on others to tell you what they think is best for your child.

The map for Freedom Hill shows that about 20% of the acreage is Thoreau-Madison, 80% Kilmer-Marshall. But the Madison area is SFHs and the Marshall area includes apartment buildings and townhouses, so the final split of students is more like 10-90%. I'm not sure why Lemon Road is relevant to our situation. When I look at the map for that school, it seems that Lemon Road is already the closest elementary school for the students who go to Longfellow, so it wouldn't make sense for them to be reassigned. But Vienna is closer for most of the Freedom Hill students who go to Thoreau instead of Kilmer.

When the time comes, we will ask for a transfer to Vienna if that is still an option. Hopefully before then the county will make some of the adjustments that others have proposed here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Lemon Road is close to a 90-10 split now. 10% to Longfellow and 90% to Kilmer.

More like 75-25 than 90-10. If you look at the map, everything east of Pimmit Run is Longfellow and everthing west of Pimmit Run or on the opposite side of Route 7 is Kilmer.

http://www.fcps.edu/images/boundarymaps/lemonroades.pdf

The year my son graduated it was 75-25, with the boundary change adding more Kilmer/Marshall it will go up. I am talking about actual students not acreage. The Longfellow side is SFHs on larger lots. The Kilmer side includes apartment buildings and townhouses in addition to the SFHs in Pimmitt Hills.

I understand the OP. I would be very annoyed if my kid went to a school where 90% go to a different middle and high. There are people who go to Vienna elementary who do not live anywhere near Vienna elementary and are outside the town limits. Move those kids to Freedom Hill and the other kids like the OP's to Vienna.

I am neither a Freedom Hill nor Vienna ES parent, but we live very close to Vienna ES and feed to Marshall Road. We would be walkers to Vienna ES but instead get bus service to Marshall Rd. But at least most of the kids at Marshall Rd go on to Thoreau/Madison so it's not as big of a deal as OP's gripe.

...be careful discussing splits solely based on map area unless you have enrollment numbers...map area and number of school age children within an area are two different things.

Anonymous wrote:
Lemon Road is close to a 90-10 split now. 10% to Longfellow and 90% to Kilmer.

More like 75-25 than 90-10. If you look at the map, everything east of Pimmit Run is Longfellow and everthing west of Pimmit Run or on the opposite side of Route 7 is Kilmer.

http://www.fcps.edu/images/boundarymaps/lemonroades.pdf

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are many elementary schools in fairfax where kids go on to different middle/high schools.

Yes, but not very many where it's a 90-10% split. Vienna splits, too, but it's not so lopsided. Same for Marshall Road.

Lemon Road is close to a 90-10 split now. 10% to Longfellow and 90% to Kilmer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are many elementary schools in fairfax where kids go on to different middle/high schools.

Yes, but not very many where it's a 90-10% split. Vienna splits, too, but it's not so lopsided. Same for Marshall Road.

FCPS should move the Vienna kids who go to Kilmer/Marshall to Freedom Hill, and the Freedom Hill kids who go to Thoreau/Madison to Vienna. Gets rid of two unbalanced split feeders and makes more sense than current boundaries.

Anonymous wrote:There are many elementary schools in fairfax where kids go on to different middle/high schools.

Yes, but not very many where it's a 90-10% split. Vienna splits, too, but it's not so lopsided. Same for Marshall Road.

How did you get them to do this? I would love to pupil place my DC into another school without all the restrictions FCPS puts up.

There are many elementary schools in fairfax where kids go on to different middle/high schools.