Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem isn't racism its the fact that freedom hill has a majority of under performing students. The racial background of freedom hill and lemon road are similar but freedom hill has poorer and less academically excelling kids

Huh... That is a statement with NO basis in the facts of SOL test scores at Freedom Hill and just sadly misinformed "facts" compared to the posted material at

http://schoolprofiles.fcps.edu/schlprfl/f?p=108:18:2705193762234763:::0_CURRENT_SCHOOL_ID,P18_TESTLEVEL:077,Grade%203
2010-2011 Percent passing in each grade:
Grade 3: Reading - 74.0 History - 80.6 Math - 91.1 Science - 80.9
Grade 4: Reading - 93.8 Math - 83.5
Grade 5 Writing - 91.2 Reading - 87.3 Virginia Studies - 70.3; Math - 95.1; Science - 78.6
Grade 6: Reading - 92.2 U.S. History - 83.6 Math - 86.8

Seems pretty strong to me... and Freedom Hill has local level IV AAP services.

As far as AYP is concerned Lemon Road has few than 50 students it each of the subcategories Hispanic, FARMS, ESOL it ends up exempt on these categories for AYP with too few students. Freedom Hill on the other hand did not meet AYP because the passing rate in categories was in the high 70's and they needed at least 80% to meet the goals. 70% passing, over 80% in many categories is VERY different than saying Freedom Hill has a majority of underperforming kids.

Those are VERY poor scores compared to the rest of virginia and lemon road.

Here is the text of a letter written to the school board prior to last night's meeting. In the letter you will see a call for the boundary study to be expanded not eliminated. I think across the board what the Lemon Road community has been asking for is to be part of the solution to the county's problem of overcrowding and we strongly feel that we were not represented in this process. I am sorry that Freedom Hill has gotten to this point in overcrowding but what is being proposed is going to result in Lemon Road being also overcrowded if our concerns are not addressed.

"The parents and community members around the school are quite concerned about the changes being planned for Lemon Road and especially the process that has been used to move forward on these changes. First I would like to point out that no one is arguing that the excess capacity at Lemon Road should not be used to the fullest extent possible. Everyone I have spoken with acknowledges that our school needs to be part of the overall solution for the county. I will summarize the situation as I have experienced it as a parent at the school.

"In November the proposal for bringing more students to Lemon Road was first presented to the parents of the school. At that presentation, we were told that about 100 students would be moved from Freedom Hill to fill Lemon Road's capacity. While that is quite understandable given the capacity situation at both schools, what we were not told was more telling. It seems that Freedom Hill has had difficulty meeting AYP and the set of students that they are planning to send to Lemon Road are a set of high needs students--the overwhelming majority being FRL and/or ESL students. No mention was made of the dramatic transformation that would occur to the Lemon Road student body. Also the thought of putting on an addition to the school so that we could take in more Freedom Hill students was alluded to as something we could consider after we fill the school to capacity.

"In a Jan. letter from the principal, Dr. Carolyn Miller who will be retiring in March, she announced that the plans are laid for an addition to the school and work is beginning and that the addition is now independent of the boundary study. The addition will add 8 classrooms to Lemon Road and increase our capacity by another 200 students. In the meantime, the only common space expansion that is being addressed is the cafeteria. The other common areas in the school gym, library, music, art, technology, and specialist rooms, are expected to absorb a doubling of the population. Lemon Road was renovated just 8 years ago and the common areas were sized appropriately for a school with a capacity of 318 students. The capacity of the base building alone has increased now to 347 due to a change in the way these numbers are calculated (which is based on a formula for class size.) The Lemon Road PTA was first able to meet on this subject in a special meeting last night. The situation is progressing more rapidly than we can respond.

"There are numerous concerns about both the ability of the school to ramp up to bring in 100 more students next year (a 40% increase in our student body) and in the considerations regarding an addition, yet it seems that there is no time to have these concerns heard and factored into the plans.. The impression is that while we may have concerns the plans are forging ahead without due consideration. For example, the Lemon Road Civic Association has promoted a strategy whereby the boundary study is extended to a larger set of schools, yet it seems that proposal has been rejected for the near term because the other plans are already in motion. I encourage you to slow this process down, initiate a multi-school boundary study which would include schools both to the east and west of Freedom Hill and seek an alternative near term solution for Freedom Hill. One option for Freedom Hill that Dr. Miller told us she has suggested is for the school system to take full advantage of Lemon Road's current open enrollment policy. Under this policy we could integrate many new students into the school through an application process. That process would allow the school to balance their resources to fit the entering student body. For example, they could accept students based on the space available at specific grade levels. While this process itself would be somewhat complicated since you do need to consider family units, it would allow for a proper planning and vetting of the longer term issues including plans for an addition. I'm not promoting this as a solution so much as suggesting that due consideration involving the whole community needs to be given to the situation and multiple alternatives need to be explored. A boundary study limited to two schools can not yield multiple options. In the meantime, the school geographically adjacent to Lemon Road, Shrevewood, is expected to be significantly over it's capacity next year as well.

"If the addition is truly outside the control of the school board and can not be delayed, then I encourage the board to insist on consideration being given how the common use areas of the school might be expanded in the context of the addition. Perhaps an 8 classroom addition is not appropriate can we not meet the additional needs of the school and some of that space should be devote to a special room such as expanded library or technology lab. I urge to you to insist on more options being explored.

"Regarding the process by which this is all happening, it seems that these plans were being formulated without any input from the Lemon Road community. It has been reported that parents and students from Freedom Hill have been waiting for all this to occur yet our school was unaware. It is even suggested that the timing of all this with our principal about to retire is no coincidence and common sense would suggest that to be true. I encourage you to stand up for our small school and see that justice is served."

Anonymous wrote:The problem isn't racism its the fact that freedom hill has a majority of under performing students. The racial background of freedom hill and lemon road are similar but freedom hill has poorer and less academically excelling kids

Huh... That is a statement with NO basis in the facts of SOL test scores at Freedom Hill and just sadly misinformed "facts" compared to the posted material at

http://schoolprofiles.fcps.edu/schlprfl/f?p=108:18:2705193762234763:::0_CURRENT_SCHOOL_ID,P18_TESTLEVEL:077,Grade%203
2010-2011 Percent passing in each grade:
Grade 3: Reading - 74.0 History - 80.6 Math - 91.1 Science - 80.9
Grade 4: Reading - 93.8 Math - 83.5
Grade 5 Writing - 91.2 Reading - 87.3 Virginia Studies - 70.3; Math - 95.1; Science - 78.6
Grade 6: Reading - 92.2 U.S. History - 83.6 Math - 86.8

Seems pretty strong to me... and Freedom Hill has local level IV AAP services.

As far as AYP is concerned Lemon Road has few than 50 students it each of the subcategories Hispanic, FARMS, ESOL it ends up exempt on these categories for AYP with too few students. Freedom Hill on the other hand did not meet AYP because the passing rate in categories was in the high 70's and they needed at least 80% to meet the goals. 70% passing, over 80% in many categories is VERY different than saying Freedom Hill has a majority of underperforming kids.

Anonymous wrote:The problem isn't racism its the fact that freedom hill has a majority of under performing students. The racial background of freedom hill and lemon road are similar but freedom hill has poorer and less academically excelling kids

which is why Freedom Hill has AAP Local Level IV program and classes. For all those "less academically excelling kids."

Anonymous wrote:We WANT them, just don't have anyplace to put them... Someone comes up with $1-$2 million to move a modular classroom or two we'll keep them.

What you are saying has been brought up by Lemon Road parents and staff. $ 2 million at Lemon Road/$2 million at Freedom Hill? FCPS staff states that they do not want to interrupt the Freedom Hill field irrigation system in order to put more space there. Lemon Road would gladly accept approx 100 students, but this needs to be carefully. Another proposal that LRES principal brought to facilities was opening up pupil placement to Freedom Hill. This would allow Lemon Road to fill their under enrolled classes without over taxing the building. All classrooms are in use in the building. With an addition in the works, there is no where to put an additional classroom if one or more grades were over filled with students.

The problem isn't racism its the fact that freedom hill has a majority of under performing students. The racial background of freedom hill and lemon road are similar but freedom hill has poorer and less academically excelling kids

and, seriously: "Miscarriage of Justice." Really???

Anonymous wrote:...sand many,many of the out-of-bounds and in-bounds kids are also not "shiny white." If you'd ever stepped inside Lemon Road you would see it's diversity. Look to the right and see a flag of all the countries represented. I don't remember the exact number but the principal likes to brag about the number of language groups spoken at Lemon Road and it's in a the dozens. Not bad for a very small school! What's more our International Night is so popular that many of the "native" kids felt that the US needed a table or two. I bet you don't see that at many schools. At math tech night there is always a wall where kids can write the numbers in as many languages as they can and it fills up completely. International families are actually drawn to Lemon Road because of its diversity and inclusiveness.

Then the kids from Freedom Hill should fit right in. Freedom Hill is pretty international as well... I believe there are over 70 distinct countries represented by Freedom Hill kids.

So please don't go accusing the school of racist slants. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Obviously you are grasping at straws to justify this miscarriage of justice.

I believe this whole distasteful part of the discussion was in response to the very thinly veiled comments upthread by posters who don't want "those kinds of kids" -with no basis in fact as to what kinds of kids they would be- to attend Lemon Road.

Lemon Road has a strong community and deserves to be allowed to be part of how that community grows--

So we're in agreement that the STUDY should proceed so that those who will be affected can be a part the decision process. FCPS will be sending home a "backpack" letter that will explain the process and steps from here on out.

http://www.fcps.edu/fts/planning/freedomlemon/index.shtml
http://www.fcps.edu/fts/planning/freedomlemon/backpackletter.pdf

not have kids thrust on us because another school doesn't want them.

No one at Freedom Hill wants to lose these kids. They are part of the Freedom Hill Family. I'm sure Freedom Hill would happily take the 8 new classrooms off your hands and keep the kids.

We WANT them, just don't have anyplace to put them... Someone comes up with $1-$2 million to move a modular classroom or two we'll keep them.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

...sand many,many of the out-of-bounds and in-bounds kids are also not "shiny white." If you'd ever stepped inside Lemon Road you would see it's diversity. Look to the right and see a flag of all the countries represented. I don't remember the exact number but the principal likes to brag about the number of language groups spoken at Lemon Road and it's in a the dozens. Not bad for a very small school! What's more our International Night is so popular that many of the "native" kids felt that the US needed a table or two. I bet you don't see that at many schools. At math tech night there is always a wall where kids can write the numbers in as many languages as they can and it fills up completely. International families are actually drawn to Lemon Road because of its diversity and inclusiveness. So please don't go accusing the school of racist slants. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Obviously you are grasping at straws to justify this miscarriage of justice. Lemon Road has a strong community and deserves to be allowed to be part of how that community grows--not have kids thrust on us because another school doesn't want them.

Anonymous wrote: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

More specifically, Lemon Road is geographically in Cluster I.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:they will certainly do the study

Study and addition were approved. Up to Lemon Road parents now to insist on multiple options to consider within the small study area.

Thanks for the update.

Assholes, private school for us

Buh-bye, then. Don't let the door hit ya on the way out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:they will certainly do the study

Study and addition were approved. Up to Lemon Road parents now to insist on multiple options to consider within the small study area.

Thanks for the update.

Assholes, private school for us

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:they will certainly do the study

Study and addition were approved. Up to Lemon Road parents now to insist on multiple options to consider within the small study area.

Thanks for the update.

Anonymous wrote:they will certainly do the study

Study and addition were approved. Up to Lemon Road parents now to insist on multiple options to consider within the small study area.