Anonymous
Post 02/09/2012 22:57     Subject: Re:Lemon Road Elementary
Anonymous wrote:Are you guys really so afraid that a couple apartment complexes and some very nice townhomes are going to ruin your kids education because the kids coming in will not be all white upper/middle class?

Have you no faith in the teachers? the administration? your own child's ability to learn??
Are you afraid that your kids might have friends that don't look like them, or are (god forbid) bilingual?

Lemon Road has been significantly under capacity for at least 10 years and has been surrounded by overcrowded elementary schools for at least 5. Yes, some people bought homes zoned for it because of the small school size, but really, it was just a matter of time before there was a redistricting.

If you're really so afraid of your shiny white school being tarnished, Northern VA really isn't the right place for you anyway.


I think that you need to check your facts. Lemon Road has never been exclusively white upper/middle class. In fact, it is quite ethically economically diverse. My kids have friends ( and family) from all over the world that actually speak 3 or 4 languages.

As far as Lemon Road being under capacity for at least 10 yrs, this is a false statement. It has only been trending downwards in enrollment over the last 3 or 4 yrs. Pupil placement has been an option for many years and many families have taken the opportunity to send their children to Lemon Road because their schools were over crowded. It has been an option that ALL families in the area had the opportunity to take advantage of. Often these students have learning disabilities that their base school can not address appropriately. The come to Lemon Road and thrive.
Anonymous
Post 02/09/2012 17:52     Subject: Lemon Road Elementary
they will certainly do the study
Anonymous
Post 02/09/2012 17:44     Subject: Lemon Road Elementary
Odds? ? ? SB vote up or down for the study?
Anonymous
Post 02/08/2012 16:50     Subject: Re:Lemon Road Elementary
And in fact most of the transfer students currently come from cluster I.
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2012 20:47     Subject: Re:Lemon Road Elementary
Not to mention the fact that for reasons that appear completely arbitrary, this proposal was entirely limited to cluster II even though geographically, lemon road is much closer to cluster I and those schools are plenty overcrowded

Anonymous
Post 02/07/2012 18:08     Subject: Lemon Road Elementary
I don't think Indians or Vietnamese speak Spanish....
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2012 16:35     Subject: Lemon Road Elementary
maybe this is the way fairfax county is going to introduce a spanish immersion program to lemon road?
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2012 16:04     Subject: Lemon Road Elementary
Anonymous wrote:Question: Is there SACC at Lemon Road or Vienna?


Both have SACC.
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2012 16:02     Subject: Re:Lemon Road Elementary
Anonymous wrote:It depends what the study includes. If the study is only to look at Freedom Hill and Lemon Road, then yes, it is limiting and won't take into consideration many other options. I'm not sure why Freedom Hill didn't get the classes it wanted, but I'm pretty sure Lemon Road faculty and parents had nothing to do with it. If there are only 12 students within Freedom Hill limits that attend Madison, why wouldn't this area be redistricted to Vienna Elementary? At least that should be a small part of the solution.


Agreed. If not too many students are involved, that change could be made administratively, without a boundary study. In comparison, any redistricting that would involve sending 100 new kids to Lemon Road requires a full boundary study, and FCPS might as well do the entire study now and put all the options on the table.
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2012 15:59     Subject: Lemon Road Elementary
Question: Is there SACC at Lemon Road or Vienna?
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2012 15:53     Subject: Re:Lemon Road Elementary
It depends what the study includes. If the study is only to look at Freedom Hill and Lemon Road, then yes, it is limiting and won't take into consideration many other options. I'm not sure why Freedom Hill didn't get the classes it wanted, but I'm pretty sure Lemon Road faculty and parents had nothing to do with it. If there are only 12 students within Freedom Hill limits that attend Madison, why wouldn't this area be redistricted to Vienna Elementary? At least that should be a small part of the solution.
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2012 15:40     Subject: Lemon Road Elementary
Anonymous wrote:Tell that to the diplomats kids who go to Freedom Hill...


Who probably live in Ashgrove Plantation, not off Los Pueblos.

Anonymous
Post 02/07/2012 15:23     Subject: Lemon Road Elementary
Tell that to the diplomats kids who go to Freedom Hill...
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2012 14:53     Subject: Lemon Road Elementary
They call it Freedom Run for the Hills from ICE. Or Sneak Across the Border to Freedom Hill.
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2012 14:44     Subject: Re:Lemon Road Elementary
Anonymous wrote:Asking for a study to be performed does not rubber stamp Dean Tistadt. That is fanciful thinking. Approving his preferences as a result of the study might?!?! Might not?!?! Who knows unless a study is done. You are also making some tremendous assumptions on demographics in the area...that would not be born out by the data...if a study was allowed to be performed.
The suggestion to move Thoreau/Madison kids has a problem in that the Town of Vienna students at Freedom Hill number about 12 in all grades (right, a handful) which doesn't even approach solving a 144 student over capacity problem for next year...and opens up a much larger can of worms for a full Tysons area boundary study which would take years. Exactly the kind of delaying action that will continue to impact Freedom Hill students until a solution is found.
Hey, here's an idea how about Lemon Road gives up a potential expansion $$ and see if FCPS facilities will add 8 more classrooms to Freedom Hill as it wanted 3 years ago. Oh no... that violates all of FCPS facilities ranking criteria for the capital program doesn't solve the next year issue and will really piss off some other schools at the top of the renovation list like Westgate among others.


I think at this point neither of us really knows whether the study will be voted down or not.

The fact that only a small number of Freedom Hill students currently go to Thoreau and Madison is all the more reason to make that small change now. No one said it was all that was needed.

If you look at FCPS's documents, they eventually want to do a boundary study that includes, at a minimum, Freedom Hill, Lemon Road, Westgate and Shrevewood. However, if they do this is stages, and start off by sending the highest-needs section of the Freedom Hill study area to Lemon Road without letting parents know what's in store down the road, it creates a tremendous amount of uncertainty. I think it would be better if FCPS made all the decisions sooner rather than later, and phased them in over time, if necessary. This plan just leaves people hanging and will devastate Lemon Road.

My assumptions about the demographics are based on FCPS's own statements that the study area has a high FRR and high ESOL population. There are virtually no single-family homes in the entire area, though there are some nice townhouses.