Anonymous wrote:Is there any proof this actually slaughters home values? I highly doubt that’s true and have seen no evidence. Sounds like hyperbolic hysteria.

Local real estate agents in Great Falls state that they already have sellers due to this issue and buyers are edgy. They predict a 25 to 30% drop in value if rezoned to Herndon High.

One of the questions of the voting ballots will be a little gem that tries to hide that Fairfax County School boards wants to be able to shift boundaries if it involves a move of only 5% of the students WITHOUT having to go public with it. They'd like 10%.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most people are not unreasonable. I think in FCPS that lack of transparency has caused a lot of problems. Most people want to stay where they are. Yes, it does affect property values, but I think that school and community loyalty is the bigger issue.

People pay closer attention to what the SB is doing now, but in the past, some boundary redistrictings seemed to come out of nowhere. My community went through a middle and two high school redistrictings over the last twenty years. Two of them involved new schools and did not take anyone by surprise. The third was totally a surprise to our community. We ended up being unaffected, but we had to fight for it. Our property values would not likely have been affected as one option was actually a "better rated" school than the one we are assigned and the other was quite similar. Distance and community were the driving factors to us.

All good points. I agree that FCPS has not been transparent. I can also see why folks would be concerned about community related issues.

But you can’t argue that those in the far west side of GF are truly part of the Langley community some 14 miles away? I can assure you those in McLean do not care about that side of GF.

You absolutely can argue that for those on the Seneca/Utterback Store side of 7. I agree it's dicey for residents of Reston and beyond the Seneca/Georgetown intersection. More importantly is what the town of Herndon and Fairfax County has done. Residents in GF can easily make the argument that officials have not been enforcing zoning laws in Herndon (and other towns/cities in Fairfax County) and that has led to the overcrowding and other issues with some of the schools.

Anonymous wrote:Why do people feel that because they buy a house in one school boundary that they are entitled to that same boundary for eternity? Are they so stupid that they don’t realize that populations and needs shift from time to time?

Take a lesson from the McLean fight re: the 'residential' houses in neighborhoods. It's WHY the shifting of boundaries is occurring. It's one thing to take an overcrowded school and try to solve that problem. It's another thing when your goal is to socioeconomically re-engineer the schools, as the county and board has stated they are doing. That's a class-action lawsuit waiting to happen. They've already uncovered all sorts of violations by Fairfax County/Newport and I would not be surprised if their due diligence helps this boundary fight as well. It's all for the same reasons.

Langley is NOT over-enrolled and one can make a case for shifting some of the students in McLean into Langley to alleviate overcrowding in McLean. Marshall is also under-enrolled so they can absorb new Tysons Corner students, which makes sense because Tysons is very close to Marshall. Pulling Langley students out of Langley (under-enrolled) and moving them to Herndon (over-enrolled) only makes sense if you are trying to re-engineer the student population at Herndon and at Langley to make things less "socioeconomically pure". And in doing so, you know you are destroying property values but don't care because that's the goal to begin with.

Anonymous wrote:

Furthermore, I do think PROXIMITY should matter when doing school zoning. The schools we are zoned to are also the closest ones to our house, so I would also be annoyed for that reason if they changed.

+1

+2 that's why be bought between longfellow and McLean HS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any discussion between now and the November election will be minimal. Look for some heavier discussion after the election. I doubt seriously they will vote on anything controversial between now and the election.

+1. The July discussions will just be more chattering among the lame ducks who’ve done nothing useful for years.

We sure need a change on the Board. Don't think we'll get it--except Mr. Moon will be gone. It looks like the Board will be worse instead of better.

How do worse? More Liberal? More Conservative? Pro boundary change? Anti boundary change?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any discussion between now and the November election will be minimal. Look for some heavier discussion after the election. I doubt seriously they will vote on anything controversial between now and the election.

+1. The July discussions will just be more chattering among the lame ducks who’ve done nothing useful for years.

We sure need a change on the Board. Don't think we'll get it--except Mr. Moon will be gone. It looks like the Board will be worse instead of better.

Anonymous wrote:Is there any proof this actually slaughters home values? I highly doubt that’s true and have seen no evidence. Sounds like hyperbolic hysteria.

It happened in my area and the housing values definitely took a hit. When a school goes from <10% FARMS to >30% in a couple years’ time, it has an effect.

Anonymous wrote:Any discussion between now and the November election will be minimal. Look for some heavier discussion after the election. I doubt seriously they will vote on anything controversial between now and the election.

+1. The July discussions will just be more chattering among the lame ducks who’ve done nothing useful for years.

Any discussion between now and the November election will be minimal. Look for some heavier discussion after the election. I doubt seriously they will vote on anything controversial between now and the election.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Furthermore, I do think PROXIMITY should matter when doing school zoning. The schools we are zoned to are also the closest ones to our house, so I would also be annoyed for that reason if they changed.

+1

Which is why the western GF people should go to Herndon HS and shut up about it.

Except that Herndon cannot absorb the extra kids. Proximity is first to me, but you have to consider the enrollment, too. There is no logical group to kick out.

Anonymous wrote:

Furthermore, I do think PROXIMITY should matter when doing school zoning. The schools we are zoned to are also the closest ones to our house, so I would also be annoyed for that reason if they changed.

+1

Which is why the western GF people should go to Herndon HS and shut up about it.

Furthermore, I do think PROXIMITY should matter when doing school zoning. The schools we are zoned to are also the closest ones to our house, so I would also be annoyed for that reason if they changed.

+1

I don't think there's a law that I am aware of, but basically the way things are set up now - we chose where to buy based on the schools, so it would be frustrating if that changed (bait and switch). At any rate we did try to consider what if boundaries changed and we don't think we are on the cusp of any zones - we are pretty solidly in the zone for all of our schools - though I of course know nothing is 100%.

Furthermore, I do think PROXIMITY should matter when doing school zoning. The schools we are zoned to are also the closest ones to our house, so I would also be annoyed for that reason if they changed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Aldrin and Armstrong should be feeding into South Lakes. That frees up more than enough room at HHS for western GF. It will be a quicker commute for them anyway.

Seriously? Both are closer to Herndon High and the commute is much shorter. Especially, in the morning. How could you possibly figure a quicker commute. They would have to cross the DTR which has heavy, heavy traffic in the morning. It will be worse when the Reston Town Center Metro opens.

I meant a quicker commute for western GF families to Herndon HS.

So, why should Aldrin and Armstrong feed into South Lakes?

Because it makes more sense for the Reston community to be together.

A community is not determined by your "legal" address. To me, it is more where you shop, which athletic groups your kids play in, where you socialize, and the people who live around you. It is not determined by the name of your postal code. The DTR is a pretty big dividing point in Reston.
Frankly, I think these days that the roads make a big difference in our communities. We're lucky where I live that our schools are easy access. I would hate to have a long drive to pick up kids from after school activities in high school--or worse, having them drive long distances when they are able to drive.