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Anonymous wrote:Meren’s end of the year email said that she was recommending moving FMES to Hughes and staying at SLHS. Never mind that moving anyone to Hughes wasn’t in any of the plans.

I suspect that the school board's final map is going to be very different than the maps the parents have been commenting on from BRAC.

We have no idea what the map looks like now. They never updated it after Version 4 even though they showed a new version to parents at that Lewis meeting. Reid refuses to release any new maps until she gives her version to the school board. It's anyone's guess what's been proposed now.

When does she present her version to the board? Early January?

She delivers it Jan. 8. Two days later, Jan. 10, there will be the final opportunity for families and students to weigh in at a school board meeting on this. It's not much time for the community to really digest the changes on the next map. Board votes to approve a week later.

They really screwed this up completely. It took far too long yet will still be way too rushed at the end.

There needs to be a complete revamp of the School Board and senior leadership in FCPS. These people should be utterly ashamed of themselves.

People have the memory of goldfish and vote like sheep down the D ballot.

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Anonymous wrote:Meren’s end of the year email said that she was recommending moving FMES to Hughes and staying at SLHS. Never mind that moving anyone to Hughes wasn’t in any of the plans.

I suspect that the school board's final map is going to be very different than the maps the parents have been commenting on from BRAC.

We have no idea what the map looks like now. They never updated it after Version 4 even though they showed a new version to parents at that Lewis meeting. Reid refuses to release any new maps until she gives her version to the school board. It's anyone's guess what's been proposed now.

Agreed. The fact that a School Board member sent out an update that included recommendations that we have never seen is problematic.

They should dial this back to 1) Address the Western HS boundaries 2) Dealt with any school that is overcrowded.

Stop there. They could have reasonable solutions that some people would not love, because no one wants to move, but would make sense because they address an identified need.

OK, but in that case they need to have a clear metric for overcrowding.

Changing boundaries based on being over 105% overcrowding in the fall of 2024 doesn't necessarily make sense. Some enrollments have come down this year.

We were specifically told by a School Board member in the past that FCPS only cared about schools over 110%.

Don't use 2025-26 enrollment. The year is almost over and class of 2026 is abnormally huge.

At many of the schools, class of 2026 is 100 to 150 students larger than the 8th grade classes replacing them. I think Chantilly class of 2026 is over 200 students larger than the 8th grade class replacing them.

Use the current 8th through 11th grade numbers to determin overcrowding.

It will paint a very different picture than the 2024 enrollment projections that FCPS is using to justify rezoining.

Looking forward is smarter than looking backwards but a lot of high schools pick up kids from K-8 private and parochial schools so a comparison of 11th and 8th grade enrollments could be misleading.

We’ve listened to people at one crowded high school say year after year that the enrollment will come down “next year” and it stays overcrowded. They just don’t want to move.

Now re read your last sentence.

Parents don’t want their kids moved. Almost universal!

Parents want their kids' school to not be overcrowded. They just want other kids moved to get it. If it looks like it might be them, than all of the sudden it's not so bad to be overcrowded, or the problem will "fix itself" in a couple years (although it never has).
Just be honest. People want to be zoned to whatever school is perceived to be "better." They are incapable of detaching their personal interest from the problem. That's why we get some truly exaggerated "mental health" and "community" reasoning that they fully commit to posted here which just sounds silly from an objective point of view to those unaffected.

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Anonymous wrote:Meren’s end of the year email said that she was recommending moving FMES to Hughes and staying at SLHS. Never mind that moving anyone to Hughes wasn’t in any of the plans.

I suspect that the school board's final map is going to be very different than the maps the parents have been commenting on from BRAC.

We have no idea what the map looks like now. They never updated it after Version 4 even though they showed a new version to parents at that Lewis meeting. Reid refuses to release any new maps until she gives her version to the school board. It's anyone's guess what's been proposed now.

Agreed. The fact that a School Board member sent out an update that included recommendations that we have never seen is problematic.

They should dial this back to 1) Address the Western HS boundaries 2) Dealt with any school that is overcrowded.

Stop there. They could have reasonable solutions that some people would not love, because no one wants to move, but would make sense because they address an identified need.

OK, but in that case they need to have a clear metric for overcrowding.

Changing boundaries based on being over 105% overcrowding in the fall of 2024 doesn't necessarily make sense. Some enrollments have come down this year.

We were specifically told by a School Board member in the past that FCPS only cared about schools over 110%.

Don't use 2025-26 enrollment. The year is almost over and class of 2026 is abnormally huge.

At many of the schools, class of 2026 is 100 to 150 students larger than the 8th grade classes replacing them. I think Chantilly class of 2026 is over 200 students larger than the 8th grade class replacing them.

Use the current 8th through 11th grade numbers to determin overcrowding.

It will paint a very different picture than the 2024 enrollment projections that FCPS is using to justify rezoining.

Looking forward is smarter than looking backwards but a lot of high schools pick up kids from K-8 private and parochial schools so a comparison of 11th and 8th grade enrollments could be misleading.

We’ve listened to people at one crowded high school say year after year that the enrollment will come down “next year” and it stays overcrowded. They just don’t want to move.

Now re read your last sentence.

Parents don’t want their kids moved. Almost universal!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is such a mess. Meren tries to pay more attention than most, and she can't keep up and ends up confusing people. Most of the rest of them have no clue. They just want to give Reid a blank check and Reid doesn't have the slightest idea what she's doing when it comes to boundaries.

Does Michelle have any idea what she’s doing when it comes to anything?

The school board dances around them with their manipulative and grifter ways that nothing gets done.

Unless Michelle is the master manipulator and gets her way in getting a security detail or a fat salary.

Who is Michelle?

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Anonymous wrote:This is such a mess. Meren tries to pay more attention than most, and she can't keep up and ends up confusing people. Most of the rest of them have no clue. They just want to give Reid a blank check and Reid doesn't have the slightest idea what she's doing when it comes to boundaries.

Does Michelle have any idea what she’s doing when it comes to anything?

The school board dances around them with their manipulative and grifter ways that nothing gets done.

Unless Michelle is the master manipulator and gets her way in getting a security detail or a fat salary.

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Anonymous wrote:West Springfield parents have claimed for years that the enrollment would decline significantly the next year and it didn’t happen. It’s a classic case of crying wolf. You could even be right this time but you’ve been wrong so many times that your credibility is shot.

Fun fact, that's because the number of transfers into the school, which has been closed to transfers for years, continues to rise. Last year it was like 60 kids. And no one at Gatehouse can explain why. WSHS families have asked. But gotten nowhere on this.

Exactly this.

They did say some were for German immersion, which violates FCPS own policy on language transfers.

If a school is closed to transfers like WSHS for over a decade, then the kids requesting language transfers are supposed to attend the next closest school offering the language, with parents providing their own transportation, or take the language online.

I don't know what other high schools offer German, but zero students should be approved for transferring into WSHS for German, based on FCPS own long standing language transfer policiy.

And to the parent saying WSHS parents are "crying wolf" what they have been saying for years is that once class on 2026 graduates, WSHS enrollment will drop steadily, since class of 2026 is around 130 students larger than the replacement class of 8th graders, class of 2027 is much larger than the replacement 7th grade class, and 2028/2029 much larger than the current 5th and 6th grade classes.

Both Irving and WSHS will see drops in the next 1-4 years that will put WSHS just slightly over full capacity, with zero need for rezoning.

If WSHS sends most of the 50-60 transfer students back to their neighborhood high schools, and starts to enforce the closed to transfers rule as written by FCPS, then WSHS would not need any rezoning as there are more transfers into WSHS than Sangster kids who are part of the neighborhood, getting kicked out by FCPS.

They could get it slightly wrong and WSHS would still have a huge enrollment. This school is regularly given preferential treatment and treated with kid gloves.

Oh please. It's a middle class school. We aren't talking about Langley or McLean here.

Renovation of WSHS was moved up in the queue as part of the brokered deal to close Clifton ES.

Renovation and expansion was bigger than other schools built in the mid-60s (Facilities head at the time was a WSHS graduate). If WA had only been expanded to the size of an Edison or Marshall kids would already have been moved out of WSHS.

There’s never been a proposal to move WSHS kids to adjacent Lewis, despite the obvious imbalance in enrollments.

It’s more favorable treatment than Langley gets and far more favorable treatment than McLean gets.

That's absolutely untrue. Kids have moved from WSHS to Lewis (or then Lee HS) over the years. Despite what the school board says, there have been boundary changes throughout the last 40 years. And maybe WSHS moved up in the queue, but the school's condition had deteriorated to the point where you could see the first floor from the second floor in some of the classrooms. There are plenty of complaints that can be made about how they manage the renovation list.

You’re not really denying the favorable treatment that West Springfield has received from FCPS, only rationalizing it.

And do let us know the last time anyone was moved from West Springfield to Lee/Lewis. We’ll wait.

The CIP proposes capacity enhancements to Langley,
Herndon, Oakton and West Springfield High Schools as
part of their renovations and additions at Westbriar
Elementary and South Lakes High Schools to expand
the schools’ capacities.

So 5 high schools were approved in the same CIP, but one of them got special treatment? That isn’t what special treatment means.

https://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/9RS2U3647CAD/$file/Proposed%20CIP%202016-20_Final_Web.pdf

This doesn't mean what you seem to think it means. WS got a larger expansion than Langley even though it sits next to an under-enrolled school and Langley sits next to an overcrowded one. And it's renovation was accelerated in exchange for closing Clifton ES permanently.

Anyway, still waiting for that data on the last time anyone from West Springfield got moved to Lee/Lewis.

Sure it does.

Lee High School has lost enrollment slowly over a period of time. WSHS renovations were approved in 2009. When we looked for a house in the area 2008, Lee was not under enrolled.

Of course WHSH got a larger expansion, it was a bigger school. Langley is only 2000 kids.

Lee had under 1800 kids at the time. Under-enrolled then and even more under-enrolled now.

In any event, leaving WS with over 2800 kids and Lewis with only slightly over 1500 now underscores what a farce this current boundary review has been.

Lewis would have around 1800 students if FCPS ditched IB and made it an AP school, and put AAP at Key, so Lewis wasn't losing 300 students per year for pupil placement.

For the size of the Lewis building,1800 students wouldbe a fairly full school.

Lewis design capacity over 2100.

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Anonymous wrote:Meren just walked back her remarks in a Facebook post.

All it means is that she won’t push for it now but it is her plan if Fox Mill stays at SLHS. Any Fox Mill ES family that doesn’t want to move to Hughes will need to decide if they want to stay at Carson and push for Western HS or end up at Hughes and SLHS. They are not going to keep Fox Mill at Carson is Fox Mill is not at Western. They will get rid of part of the split feeder at Carson.

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Anonymous wrote:At least Meren tries. Sandy Anderson is actively trolling her constituents. From tonight’s newsletter:

“ Finally, the Superintendent’s recommendations for the Comprehensive School Boundary Review will be presented to the Board at the January 8 Regular Meeting, followed by a public hearing on Saturday, January 10, 2026. I encourage you to visit the FCPS website for details on how to sign up to speak and to review the information that has already been shared about the boundary review process.”

The link she shared provided no info on how to sign up to speak at that meeting.

+1M. She also gaslighted her constituents in that newsletter by saying the no transportation is all Reid's idea (when Sandy has been pushing it from day one). Then last night, when she realized she would not have enough votes to pass the no transportation motion (especially since Rachna can't vote anymore), she passed around a note and told her SB supporters to just abstain from the vote so they can pass it when Dixit comes back. I'm honestly not sure who the students and families she claims to care about Actually are, because she seems to actually dislike her constituents. I'm not even in a neighborhood that was ever proposed to move, yet I've been following closely and upset by her incompetence.

Anonymous wrote:Meren just walked back her remarks in a Facebook post.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At least Meren tries. Sandy Anderson is actively trolling her constituents. From tonight’s newsletter:

“ Finally, the Superintendent’s recommendations for the Comprehensive School Boundary Review will be presented to the Board at the January 8 Regular Meeting, followed by a public hearing on Saturday, January 10, 2026. I encourage you to visit the FCPS website for details on how to sign up to speak and to review the information that has already been shared about the boundary review process.”

The link she shared provided no info on how to sign up to speak at that meeting.

+1M. She also gaslighted her constituents in that newsletter by saying the no transportation is all Reid's idea (when Sandy has been pushing it from day one). Then last night, when she realized she would not have enough votes to pass the no transportation motion (especially since Rachna can't vote anymore), she passed around a note and told her SB supporters to just abstain from the vote so they can pass it when Dixit comes back. I'm honestly not sure who the students and families she claims to care about Actually are, because she seems to actually dislike her constituents. I'm not even in a neighborhood that was ever proposed to move, yet I've been following closely and upset by her incompetence.

Anonymous wrote:This is such a mess. Meren tries to pay more attention than most, and she can't keep up and ends up confusing people. Most of the rest of them have no clue. They just want to give Reid a blank check and Reid doesn't have the slightest idea what she's doing when it comes to boundaries.

Anonymous wrote:At least Meren tries. Sandy Anderson is actively trolling her constituents. From tonight’s newsletter:

“ Finally, the Superintendent’s recommendations for the Comprehensive School Boundary Review will be presented to the Board at the January 8 Regular Meeting, followed by a public hearing on Saturday, January 10, 2026. I encourage you to visit the FCPS website for details on how to sign up to speak and to review the information that has already been shared about the boundary review process.”

The link she shared provided no info on how to sign up to speak at that meeting.

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Anonymous wrote:West Springfield parents have claimed for years that the enrollment would decline significantly the next year and it didn’t happen. It’s a classic case of crying wolf. You could even be right this time but you’ve been wrong so many times that your credibility is shot.

Fun fact, that's because the number of transfers into the school, which has been closed to transfers for years, continues to rise. Last year it was like 60 kids. And no one at Gatehouse can explain why. WSHS families have asked. But gotten nowhere on this.

Exactly this.

They did say some were for German immersion, which violates FCPS own policy on language transfers.

If a school is closed to transfers like WSHS for over a decade, then the kids requesting language transfers are supposed to attend the next closest school offering the language, with parents providing their own transportation, or take the language online.

I don't know what other high schools offer German, but zero students should be approved for transferring into WSHS for German, based on FCPS own long standing language transfer policiy.

And to the parent saying WSHS parents are "crying wolf" what they have been saying for years is that once class on 2026 graduates, WSHS enrollment will drop steadily, since class of 2026 is around 130 students larger than the replacement class of 8th graders, class of 2027 is much larger than the replacement 7th grade class, and 2028/2029 much larger than the current 5th and 6th grade classes.

Both Irving and WSHS will see drops in the next 1-4 years that will put WSHS just slightly over full capacity, with zero need for rezoning.

If WSHS sends most of the 50-60 transfer students back to their neighborhood high schools, and starts to enforce the closed to transfers rule as written by FCPS, then WSHS would not need any rezoning as there are more transfers into WSHS than Sangster kids who are part of the neighborhood, getting kicked out by FCPS.

They could get it slightly wrong and WSHS would still have a huge enrollment. This school is regularly given preferential treatment and treated with kid gloves.

Oh please. It's a middle class school. We aren't talking about Langley or McLean here.

Renovation of WSHS was moved up in the queue as part of the brokered deal to close Clifton ES.

Renovation and expansion was bigger than other schools built in the mid-60s (Facilities head at the time was a WSHS graduate). If WA had only been expanded to the size of an Edison or Marshall kids would already have been moved out of WSHS.

There’s never been a proposal to move WSHS kids to adjacent Lewis, despite the obvious imbalance in enrollments.

It’s more favorable treatment than Langley gets and far more favorable treatment than McLean gets.

That's absolutely untrue. Kids have moved from WSHS to Lewis (or then Lee HS) over the years. Despite what the school board says, there have been boundary changes throughout the last 40 years. And maybe WSHS moved up in the queue, but the school's condition had deteriorated to the point where you could see the first floor from the second floor in some of the classrooms. There are plenty of complaints that can be made about how they manage the renovation list.

You’re not really denying the favorable treatment that West Springfield has received from FCPS, only rationalizing it.

And do let us know the last time anyone was moved from West Springfield to Lee/Lewis. We’ll wait.

The CIP proposes capacity enhancements to Langley,
Herndon, Oakton and West Springfield High Schools as
part of their renovations and additions at Westbriar
Elementary and South Lakes High Schools to expand
the schools’ capacities.

So 5 high schools were approved in the same CIP, but one of them got special treatment? That isn’t what special treatment means.

https://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/9RS2U3647CAD/$file/Proposed%20CIP%202016-20_Final_Web.pdf

This doesn't mean what you seem to think it means. WS got a larger expansion than Langley even though it sits next to an under-enrolled school and Langley sits next to an overcrowded one. And it's renovation was accelerated in exchange for closing Clifton ES permanently.

Anyway, still waiting for that data on the last time anyone from West Springfield got moved to Lee/Lewis.

Sure it does.

Lee High School has lost enrollment slowly over a period of time. WSHS renovations were approved in 2009. When we looked for a house in the area 2008, Lee was not under enrolled.

Of course WHSH got a larger expansion, it was a bigger school. Langley is only 2000 kids.

Lee had under 1800 kids at the time. Under-enrolled then and even more under-enrolled now.

In any event, leaving WS with over 2800 kids and Lewis with only slightly over 1500 now underscores what a farce this current boundary review has been.

Lewis would have around 1800 students if FCPS ditched IB and made it an AP school, and put AAP at Key, so Lewis wasn't losing 300 students per year for pupil placement.

For the size of the Lewis building,1800 students wouldbe a fairly full school.