Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Novel idea:

Don't make SES, ESL or any other demographics part of the boundary decision.

Instead, draw a circle or square around said schools and that's the boundary. Period.

Your school should be reflective of your neighborhood and community.

If you don't want lots of lower SES, don't buy in certain areas. I.e. If a SFH in one area is priced the same as a no garage town home in a different area, I'd bet the town home is in a more desirable district.

You get what you pay for!

It wouldn't be as simple as a circle or a square, given where the schools have been built. The proximity of schools is one reason why some of the current boundaries are so funky.

You could presumably come up with an algorithm to assign students or planning units to schools with the goal of minimizing total commuting time for all students, subject to a cap on commuting time for any student. It would be interesting to see how the current boundaries might change if such a system were in place.

Anonymous wrote:And Herndon is where they should be, then.

Anonymous wrote:Novel idea:

Don't make SES, ESL or any other demographics part of the boundary decision.

Instead, draw a circle or square around said schools and that's the boundary. Period.

Your school should be reflective of your neighborhood and community.

If you don't want lots of lower SES, don't buy in certain areas. I.e. If a SFH in one area is priced the same as a no garage town home in a different area, I'd bet the town home is in a more desirable district.

You get what you pay for!

Anonymous wrote:Novel idea:

Don't make SES, ESL or any other demographics part of the boundary decision.

Instead, draw a circle or square around said schools and that's the boundary. Period.

Your school should be reflective of your neighborhood and community.

If you don't want lots of lower SES, don't buy in certain areas. I.e. If a SFH in one area is priced the same as a no garage town home in a different area, I'd bet the town home is in a more desirable district.

You get what you pay for!

Anonymous wrote:Lee is the worst school mentioned. Why make that The IB school? Yuck!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is a crazy, crazy idea. Make Lee the sole IB school in the county. Include bussing from anywhere. Redistribute the students from Lee to neighboring schools.

One reason why I think it would work is that if you took the whole county's IB participation, it would likely only fill a single school. So why bother spreading it around. That way demand matches the usage. And the building is used.

This is actually a very sound idea.

I could be wrong, but my sense is that both Marshall and South Lakes are very invested in their IB programs. They get pupil placements from surrounding AP schools that boost their enrollments and test scores, and people in both communities would fight very hard to keep IB. Robinson has a big IB program, too, but I'd bet most (not all) parents there would favor having a full menu of AP courses over IB and a handful of AP courses, which is what they have currently. Fairfax Station and Clifton are fairly conservative areas, and areas like that tend to prefer AP over IB given a choice.

As for the other five schools, shrinking IB from five to one or two schools would make sense. I'd keep IB at Lee, since Edison has the Edison Academy, and maybe Stuart, but get rid of it at Annandale, Edison and Mount Vernon. It would attract more IB students to Lee and stem pupil placements from the other IB schools to AP schools like Woodson, Lake Braddock and West Potomac.

But this is FCPS, so none of this will ever be up for reconsideration. It would be tantamount to conceding that FCPS made a bad decision installing IB at so many schools, and FCPS never acknowledges mistakes.

That's a good point. I do think if it was built as a cost cutting measure, they might try this. I don't know what IB participation rates at Marshall and South Lakes looks like, but I do think you could probably get away with a single IB school (i.e. Lee) to serve South County, Lake Braddock, West Springfield, Mount Vernon, West Potomac, Edison, Annadale, Woodson. I imagine if you were to limit the school to solely IB, you could probably even absorb capacity from Robinson (many parents would likely have their kids switch to AP to avoid bussing).

Having the 3 IB schools (South Lakes, Marshall, and ONE in the eastern/northern part of the county - not the cluster of Edison/Lee/Annandale/Stuart/Mount Vernon which are all pretty close to one another) would make a lot of sense. Then turn the rest of them into AP. If you keep IB at Lee, maybe students from those areas would pupil place and improve the school as a whole.

But seriously, it makes no sense that Lee and Edison are both IB. They are on the same damn road.

I completely agree (and put up the crazy idea). I think the whole point is that if we could turn Lee into a higher performing "choice" school would be a great way to utilize an underused school that is surrounded by schools that either have space or could accommodate space if Lee is turned into a choice school. I agree, keeping South Lakes and Marshall makes sense. But I would send kids from Stuart, Robinson, Lake Braddock, South County, West Springfield, Mount Vernon, Edison, West Potomac, Annadale, Woodson, and Hayfield who want to pursue IB coursework to a single school.

I disagree. As posted up thread, the numbers are too great to fit them all in a single school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is a crazy, crazy idea. Make Lee the sole IB school in the county. Include bussing from anywhere. Redistribute the students from Lee to neighboring schools.

One reason why I think it would work is that if you took the whole county's IB participation, it would likely only fill a single school. So why bother spreading it around. That way demand matches the usage. And the building is used.

This is actually a very sound idea.

I could be wrong, but my sense is that both Marshall and South Lakes are very invested in their IB programs. They get pupil placements from surrounding AP schools that boost their enrollments and test scores, and people in both communities would fight very hard to keep IB. Robinson has a big IB program, too, but I'd bet most (not all) parents there would favor having a full menu of AP courses over IB and a handful of AP courses, which is what they have currently. Fairfax Station and Clifton are fairly conservative areas, and areas like that tend to prefer AP over IB given a choice.

As for the other five schools, shrinking IB from five to one or two schools would make sense. I'd keep IB at Lee, since Edison has the Edison Academy, and maybe Stuart, but get rid of it at Annandale, Edison and Mount Vernon. It would attract more IB students to Lee and stem pupil placements from the other IB schools to AP schools like Woodson, Lake Braddock and West Potomac.

But this is FCPS, so none of this will ever be up for reconsideration. It would be tantamount to conceding that FCPS made a bad decision installing IB at so many schools, and FCPS never acknowledges mistakes.

That's a good point. I do think if it was built as a cost cutting measure, they might try this. I don't know what IB participation rates at Marshall and South Lakes looks like, but I do think you could probably get away with a single IB school (i.e. Lee) to serve South County, Lake Braddock, West Springfield, Mount Vernon, West Potomac, Edison, Annadale, Woodson. I imagine if you were to limit the school to solely IB, you could probably even absorb capacity from Robinson (many parents would likely have their kids switch to AP to avoid bussing).

Having the 3 IB schools (South Lakes, Marshall, and ONE in the eastern/northern part of the county - not the cluster of Edison/Lee/Annandale/Stuart/Mount Vernon which are all pretty close to one another) would make a lot of sense. Then turn the rest of them into AP. If you keep IB at Lee, maybe students from those areas would pupil place and improve the school as a whole.

But seriously, it makes no sense that Lee and Edison are both IB. They are on the same damn road.

I completely agree (and put up the crazy idea). I think the whole point is that if we could turn Lee into a higher performing "choice" school would be a great way to utilize an underused school that is surrounded by schools that either have space or could accommodate space if Lee is turned into a choice school. I agree, keeping South Lakes and Marshall makes sense. But I would send kids from Stuart, Robinson, Lake Braddock, South County, West Springfield, Mount Vernon, Edison, West Potomac, Annadale, Woodson, and Hayfield who want to pursue IB coursework to a single school.

I disagree. As posted up thread, the numbers are too great to fit them all in a single school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is a crazy, crazy idea. Make Lee the sole IB school in the county. Include bussing from anywhere. Redistribute the students from Lee to neighboring schools.

One reason why I think it would work is that if you took the whole county's IB participation, it would likely only fill a single school. So why bother spreading it around. That way demand matches the usage. And the building is used.

This is actually a very sound idea.

I could be wrong, but my sense is that both Marshall and South Lakes are very invested in their IB programs. They get pupil placements from surrounding AP schools that boost their enrollments and test scores, and people in both communities would fight very hard to keep IB. Robinson has a big IB program, too, but I'd bet most (not all) parents there would favor having a full menu of AP courses over IB and a handful of AP courses, which is what they have currently. Fairfax Station and Clifton are fairly conservative areas, and areas like that tend to prefer AP over IB given a choice.

As for the other five schools, shrinking IB from five to one or two schools would make sense. I'd keep IB at Lee, since Edison has the Edison Academy, and maybe Stuart, but get rid of it at Annandale, Edison and Mount Vernon. It would attract more IB students to Lee and stem pupil placements from the other IB schools to AP schools like Woodson, Lake Braddock and West Potomac.

But this is FCPS, so none of this will ever be up for reconsideration. It would be tantamount to conceding that FCPS made a bad decision installing IB at so many schools, and FCPS never acknowledges mistakes.

That's a good point. I do think if it was built as a cost cutting measure, they might try this. I don't know what IB participation rates at Marshall and South Lakes looks like, but I do think you could probably get away with a single IB school (i.e. Lee) to serve South County, Lake Braddock, West Springfield, Mount Vernon, West Potomac, Edison, Annadale, Woodson. I imagine if you were to limit the school to solely IB, you could probably even absorb capacity from Robinson (many parents would likely have their kids switch to AP to avoid bussing).

Having the 3 IB schools (South Lakes, Marshall, and ONE in the eastern/northern part of the county - not the cluster of Edison/Lee/Annandale/Stuart/Mount Vernon which are all pretty close to one another) would make a lot of sense. Then turn the rest of them into AP. If you keep IB at Lee, maybe students from those areas would pupil place and improve the school as a whole.

But seriously, it makes no sense that Lee and Edison are both IB. They are on the same damn road.

I completely agree (and put up the crazy idea). I think the whole point is that if we could turn Lee into a higher performing "choice" school would be a great way to utilize an underused school that is surrounded by schools that either have space or could accommodate space if Lee is turned into a choice school. I agree, keeping South Lakes and Marshall makes sense. But I would send kids from Stuart, Robinson, Lake Braddock, South County, West Springfield, Mount Vernon, Edison, West Potomac, Annadale, Woodson, and Hayfield who want to pursue IB coursework to a single school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is a crazy, crazy idea. Make Lee the sole IB school in the county. Include bussing from anywhere. Redistribute the students from Lee to neighboring schools.

One reason why I think it would work is that if you took the whole county's IB participation, it would likely only fill a single school. So why bother spreading it around. That way demand matches the usage. And the building is used.

This is actually a very sound idea.

I could be wrong, but my sense is that both Marshall and South Lakes are very invested in their IB programs. They get pupil placements from surrounding AP schools that boost their enrollments and test scores, and people in both communities would fight very hard to keep IB. Robinson has a big IB program, too, but I'd bet most (not all) parents there would favor having a full menu of AP courses over IB and a handful of AP courses, which is what they have currently. Fairfax Station and Clifton are fairly conservative areas, and areas like that tend to prefer AP over IB given a choice.

As for the other five schools, shrinking IB from five to one or two schools would make sense. I'd keep IB at Lee, since Edison has the Edison Academy, and maybe Stuart, but get rid of it at Annandale, Edison and Mount Vernon. It would attract more IB students to Lee and stem pupil placements from the other IB schools to AP schools like Woodson, Lake Braddock and West Potomac.

But this is FCPS, so none of this will ever be up for reconsideration. It would be tantamount to conceding that FCPS made a bad decision installing IB at so many schools, and FCPS never acknowledges mistakes.

That's a good point. I do think if it was built as a cost cutting measure, they might try this. I don't know what IB participation rates at Marshall and South Lakes looks like, but I do think you could probably get away with a single IB school (i.e. Lee) to serve South County, Lake Braddock, West Springfield, Mount Vernon, West Potomac, Edison, Annadale, Woodson. I imagine if you were to limit the school to solely IB, you could probably even absorb capacity from Robinson (many parents would likely have their kids switch to AP to avoid bussing).

Having the 3 IB schools (South Lakes, Marshall, and ONE in the eastern/northern part of the county - not the cluster of Edison/Lee/Annandale/Stuart/Mount Vernon which are all pretty close to one another) would make a lot of sense. Then turn the rest of them into AP. If you keep IB at Lee, maybe students from those areas would pupil place and improve the school as a whole.

But seriously, it makes no sense that Lee and Edison are both IB. They are on the same damn road.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is a crazy, crazy idea. Make Lee the sole IB school in the county. Include bussing from anywhere. Redistribute the students from Lee to neighboring schools.

One reason why I think it would work is that if you took the whole county's IB participation, it would likely only fill a single school. So why bother spreading it around. That way demand matches the usage. And the building is used.

This is actually a very sound idea.

I could be wrong, but my sense is that both Marshall and South Lakes are very invested in their IB programs. They get pupil placements from surrounding AP schools that boost their enrollments and test scores, and people in both communities would fight very hard to keep IB. Robinson has a big IB program, too, but I'd bet most (not all) parents there would favor having a full menu of AP courses over IB and a handful of AP courses, which is what they have currently. Fairfax Station and Clifton are fairly conservative areas, and areas like that tend to prefer AP over IB given a choice.

As for the other five schools, shrinking IB from five to one or two schools would make sense. I'd keep IB at Lee, since Edison has the Edison Academy, and maybe Stuart, but get rid of it at Annandale, Edison and Mount Vernon. It would attract more IB students to Lee and stem pupil placements from the other IB schools to AP schools like Woodson, Lake Braddock and West Potomac.

But this is FCPS, so none of this will ever be up for reconsideration. It would be tantamount to conceding that FCPS made a bad decision installing IB at so many schools, and FCPS never acknowledges mistakes.

That's a good point. I do think if it was built as a cost cutting measure, they might try this. I don't know what IB participation rates at Marshall and South Lakes looks like, but I do think you could probably get away with a single IB school (i.e. Lee) to serve South County, Lake Braddock, West Springfield, Mount Vernon, West Potomac, Edison, Annadale, Woodson. I imagine if you were to limit the school to solely IB, you could probably even absorb capacity from Robinson (many parents would likely have their kids switch to AP to avoid bussing).