Anonymous
Post 02/21/2014 15:57     Subject: Longfellow MS AAP overcrowding plans?
Anonymous wrote:People that live in the Langley pyramid pay top dollar relative the remainder of the county-so if they are under enrolled (which I find very hard to believe given the size of Spring Hill and Churchill Road) then let it stay that way. We already have to suffer large class sizes and declining resources so the school board can shunt resources to the "poorer" parts of the county-which our lovely school board member Janie Strauss proudly crows at every opportunity. Enough already!



How do you spell ENTITLED!

It's the Fairfax County Public School System, not the McLean or Langley area school system. Attitudes like this belong at a private school -- and would probably even be offensive there.

Anonymous
Post 02/21/2014 11:03     Subject: Longfellow MS AAP overcrowding plans?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I understand that people don't trust Cooper to provide appropriate AAP options for their children. If this is the case though, you may simply have to move to be within the smaller Longellow AAP boundaries.

I don't always trust the schools to provide the best education for my children, but I work with the school/teachers to improve things. I would hope the Cooper parents would be willing to do the same.

We can't keep having overcrowded schools because Longfellow/Kilmer are where many want their children to go.



What complicates this is that the enrollment at Langley is also declining, yet FCPS plans to build an addition there as part of Langley's renovation. So there will be pressure to assign current Kilmer/Marshall and Longfellow/McLean neighborhoods to Cooper/Langley independent of the AAP decisions.

That may be needed if the enrollments at Marshall and McLean keep growing at their current rate, but the Cooper/Langley boundaries are already enormous. If people can't afford or don't want to live in Great Falls because it's too expensive or too far away from their jobs, I wish FCPS would just let the enrollments stay small and build new schools (or expand the capacity) closer to where people now live.


Any boundary additions to Langley would be closer to Langley than any Great Falls home. The current boundary between Langley and McLean is less than a mile from Langley High School. ( if not a half mile). If you move the rest of Franklin Sherman to Langley, most will be closer to Langley than McLean. The Spring Hill kids that go to Longfellow and McLean would be another place I would move the boundary to Langley. I would think any boundary change may include putting two or three of the western ES in the Langley pyramid into the Herndon district and then move more of Marshall and McLean to Langley - Long range to accommodate the additional expected increases due to Tyson's expansion.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2014 11:02     Subject: Longfellow MS AAP overcrowding plans?
People that live in the Langley pyramid pay top dollar relative the remainder of the county-so if they are under enrolled (which I find very hard to believe given the size of Spring Hill and Churchill Road) then let it stay that way. We already have to suffer large class sizes and declining resources so the school board can shunt resources to the "poorer" parts of the county-which our lovely school board member Janie Strauss proudly crows at every opportunity. Enough already!
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2014 10:09     Subject: Longfellow MS AAP overcrowding plans?
Anonymous wrote:I understand that people don't trust Cooper to provide appropriate AAP options for their children. If this is the case though, you may simply have to move to be within the smaller Longellow AAP boundaries.

I don't always trust the schools to provide the best education for my children, but I work with the school/teachers to improve things. I would hope the Cooper parents would be willing to do the same.

We can't keep having overcrowded schools because Longfellow/Kilmer are where many want their children to go.



What complicates this is that the enrollment at Langley is also declining, yet FCPS plans to build an addition there as part of Langley's renovation. So there will be pressure to assign current Kilmer/Marshall and Longfellow/McLean neighborhoods to Cooper/Langley independent of the AAP decisions.

That may be needed if the enrollments at Marshall and McLean keep growing at their current rate, but the Cooper/Langley boundaries are already enormous. If people can't afford or don't want to live in Great Falls because it's too expensive or too far away from their jobs, I wish FCPS would just let the enrollments stay small and build new schools (or expand the capacity) closer to where people now live.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2014 09:26     Subject: Longfellow MS AAP overcrowding plans?
I understand that people don't trust Cooper to provide appropriate AAP options for their children. If this is the case though, you may simply have to move to be within the smaller Longellow AAP boundaries.

I don't always trust the schools to provide the best education for my children, but I work with the school/teachers to improve things. I would hope the Cooper parents would be willing to do the same.

We can't keep having overcrowded schools because Longfellow/Kilmer are where many want their children to go.

Anonymous
Post 02/21/2014 07:59     Subject: Longfellow MS AAP overcrowding plans?
PP - I do not agree. Every child has the chance to qualify for AAP. Appeal if necessary, etc.....this option is available to all students. If you think it is offered to too high of a number, that is a different story....and I may even agree with you.

And from first hand experience I can tell you that FCPS may direct the established centers to help, but that doesn't mean they will. In so many ways, some schools are just out for themselves with complete disregard to what FCPS instructs them to do...Depends on the honest desire on the part of the staff of the established center to help others out instead of just thinking of themselves.

What will make the new center thrive is Cooper parents and staff embracing the plan and making it happen. Working hard to eliminate the AAP/Gen Ed divide. Making it a better school for everyone....not just focusing on the fact that they will now be offering LLIV.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2014 07:18     Subject: Longfellow MS AAP overcrowding plans?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Putting a center at cooper would help with that problem. It would take some time, but the center would grow and improve.

It seems to me that people want access to the amazing teachers and extracurricular activities at Longfellow without having to live within its neighborhood boundaries.


Hate to tell you, but for AAP, these people DO live in the boundary for Longfellow. It isn't like they are gaming the system.

That's one part of this argument that I do not get....people think that parents should just accept it because they don't live in the Longfellow base zone....ahhh, but according to FCPS, they do.

It is a boundary change for those affected AAP students. Plain and simple. Parents have a right to be frustrated because it is not what they were anticipating.

That being said, parents also need to realize that if FCPS wants to do something, they will. Also, that a new center is not a bad thing. Just requires a lot of effort from parents, teachers and administration to get it going.

Don't expect help (teachers, materials, equipment) from Longfellow.....because it likely won't happen. Work constructively with the staff to get get programs going that mean a lot to you. Speak up, be heard, get involved.



Agree these are assigned schools and no one is gaming the system, but at the end of the day FCPS is giving AAP students an option not available to other students, so expect parents to be at least as protective of the base boundaries as of the AAP assignments.

Longfellow and Kilmer will help if directed to help. Otherwise they have their own schools to run. The people at Gatehouse presumably are paid to coordinate the impact of boundary and program changes. Make them earn their salaries.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2014 07:10     Subject: Longfellow MS AAP overcrowding plans?
Anonymous wrote:But once the schools get overcrowded (haycock is the perfect example), rezoning has to be done and sometimes that involves opening new aap centers.

If we don't want to open new centers to keep overcrowding in check, then aap needs to shrink back to its original intended size.

We can't keep moving large populations of students to a few schools and expect the schools to be able to accommodate the population increases. Especially when the other schools are correspondingly under capacity.


Precisely. But no one seems to want to face this fact.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2014 07:07     Subject: Longfellow MS AAP overcrowding plans?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Wouldn't this partly be because there are NOT AAP centers at these schools? Seems like the odds are stacked against Cooper and Thoreau if their strongest students are leaving to go to other schools.


Of course, but it begs the question as to whether the AAP centers take strong students and make them stronger, or at least appear better candidates for TJ. Many believe they do.


Hence the insanity to get kids into centers. Sadly a miniscule percentage will go on to TJ.



The percentage of students applying to TJ from Carson, Rocky Run, Longfellow and Kilmer who are admitted is not "minuscule."

If you dislike AAP and/or TJ, OK, but better not to make phony arguments to support your position.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2014 06:08     Subject: Longfellow MS AAP overcrowding plans?
Anonymous wrote:Putting a center at cooper would help with that problem. It would take some time, but the center would grow and improve.

It seems to me that people want access to the amazing teachers and extracurricular activities at Longfellow without having to live within its neighborhood boundaries.


Hate to tell you, but for AAP, these people DO live in the boundary for Longfellow. It isn't like they are gaming the system.

That's one part of this argument that I do not get....people think that parents should just accept it because they don't live in the Longfellow base zone....ahhh, but according to FCPS, they do.

It is a boundary change for those affected AAP students. Plain and simple. Parents have a right to be frustrated because it is not what they were anticipating.

That being said, parents also need to realize that if FCPS wants to do something, they will. Also, that a new center is not a bad thing. Just requires a lot of effort from parents, teachers and administration to get it going.

Don't expect help (teachers, materials, equipment) from Longfellow.....because it likely won't happen. Work constructively with the staff to get get programs going that mean a lot to you. Speak up, be heard, get involved.

Anonymous
Post 02/20/2014 21:30     Subject: Longfellow MS AAP overcrowding plans?
But once the schools get overcrowded (haycock is the perfect example), rezoning has to be done and sometimes that involves opening new aap centers.

If we don't want to open new centers to keep overcrowding in check, then aap needs to shrink back to its original intended size.

We can't keep moving large populations of students to a few schools and expect the schools to be able to accommodate the population increases. Especially when the other schools are correspondingly under capacity.
Anonymous
Post 02/20/2014 21:13     Subject: Longfellow MS AAP overcrowding plans?
Anonymous wrote:Putting a center at cooper would help with that problem. It would take some time, but the center would grow and improve.

It seems to me that people want access to the amazing teachers and extracurricular activities at Longfellow without having to live within its neighborhood boundaries.


No different from any other AAP center school. Same as Kent Gardens having access to Churchill's center or Chesterbrook kids going to Haycock.
Anonymous
Post 02/20/2014 20:24     Subject: Longfellow MS AAP overcrowding plans?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Wouldn't this partly be because there are NOT AAP centers at these schools? Seems like the odds are stacked against Cooper and Thoreau if their strongest students are leaving to go to other schools.


Of course, but it begs the question as to whether the AAP centers take strong students and make them stronger, or at least appear better candidates for TJ. Many believe they do.


Hence the insanity to get kids into centers. Sadly a miniscule percentage will go on to TJ.

Anonymous
Post 02/20/2014 20:19     Subject: Longfellow MS AAP overcrowding plans?
Putting a center at cooper would help with that problem. It would take some time, but the center would grow and improve.

It seems to me that people want access to the amazing teachers and extracurricular activities at Longfellow without having to live within its neighborhood boundaries.