Anonymous wrote:+1

Bye bye Haycock, hello lower test scores on your profile! And your average and below average "base" kids whose parents bought in McLean can stick together at Haycock in their regular or remedial classes while my AAP DD goes elsewhere.

You mean Haycock might sink all the way down to the level of a .... Kent Gardens or Franklin Sherman? That's really scary to contemplate.

There are only a couple of dozen houses in McLean for which Haycock is the base school. Haycock is in Falls Church, where most in-boundary students live. Not that it really matters, but if you want to go all snarky, checking your facts first always helps set up the punch-line.

I wish that a 970-student facility would magically appear at Haycock & Westmoreland tomorrow, so that no one had to make any tough decisions, but that seems not to be in the cards.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess I don't see the purpose of realigning the centers by pyramid when the feeder schools are not even aligned by pyramid or cluster.

If FCPS wants to realign everything, they need to slow down and do in a way that really does realign pyramids. Their current proposal aligns some, but removes the current alignment for others.
I think it should be a several year process that starts by eliminating split feeders, followed by aligning AAP centers.

+1
Plans that are pushed through this quickly, end up causing more problems than they solve.

+2
And it takes a long time to undo the damage created in the first place.

Anonymous wrote:For all those parents who can't wait for AAP kids from Shrevewood, Lemon Rd, Westgate, Franklin Sherman... to leave, have you considered why Haycock is considered such a good school? Haycock is our base school and I'm perfectly happy with the education there. But I believe the reason why Haycock has such a good rep is b/c of the unusally large number of AAP kids, not b/c its principal, teachers or facility is so much better than any other FFX Co school. It just has a huge AAP population (3 to 4 AAP classes per grade compared to 2 Gen Ed classes). So it just makes sense that the more AAP kids you have at a school, the better the test scores, better standing in academic competitions etc... hence the better overall reputation. I don't think Haycock is doomed if these kids leave, but I do believe eventually if you bring the number of AAP kids down, it will be no worse or better than any other Center school.

+1

Bye bye Haycock, hello lower test scores on your profile! And your average and below average "base" kids whose parents bought in McLean can stick together at Haycock in their regular or remedial classes while my AAP DD goes elsewhere.

Anonymous wrote:I guess I don't see the purpose of realigning the centers by pyramid when the feeder schools are not even aligned by pyramid or cluster.

If FCPS wants to realign everything, they need to slow down and do in a way that really does realign pyramids. Their current proposal aligns some, but removes the current alignment for others.
I think it should be a several year process that starts by eliminating split feeders, followed by aligning AAP centers.

+1
Plans that are pushed through this quickly, end up causing more problems than they solve.

Anonymous wrote:Freedom Hill is largely overcrowded, hence the redistricting toward Lemon Road last year. Lemon Road and Westgate are both potential centers for cluster 2, but both are also split feeders between Longfellow/McLean and Kilmer/Marshall. The current AAP proposal will actually shift some McLean HS families out of their own pyramid and send them to the new Cluster 2 center. It really doesn't make any sense unless they redistrict the entirety of Lemon Road and Westate to Kilmer/Marshall while they're at it.

So, I guess this is a scenario where, say, an AAP center gets opened at Westgate, and an AAP kid zoned for Lemon Road/Longfellow/McLean now gets sent to Westgate rather than Haycock. Not ideal, because she'll still be assigned to Longfellow rather than Kilmer, and won't know too many kids when she gets there. But, if that prospect really unnerves a parent, she can keep her kid at Lemon Road with a slightly larger cohort of kids going to Longfellow and forego the AAP center.

I don't see much to suggest the HS boundaries in that part of the county are in play. Not as many students showed up at Marshall this fall as FCPS had expected, but many of the feeder elementary schools - such as Freedom Hill and Shrevewood - have large enrollments. Conversely, more students showed up at McLean this fall than expected, and it's currently above-capacity, but the enrollment is projected to go down over the next few years. Even though Marshall is currently the smallest HS in Fairfax County, changing the boundaries there could end up having the same impact as the 2008 reditricting had on the enrollment at South Lakes (where Stu Gibson complained that South Lakes was too small at @1500 students and engineered a redistricting that's now left South Lakes as one of the most overcrowded high schools in the county).

I totally agreed with this statement -- actually my daughter, who is a current 4th-grader at Haycock, told me that there is no way for her to move to another school!
"I don't believe there is a single current Haycock parent who wishes their kid would be sent to a new Cluster 2 center next year instead of remaining at Haycock for the duration of ES. "

so I guess most parents will do what are the best for their kids.

I guess I don't see the purpose of realigning the centers by pyramid when the feeder schools are not even aligned by pyramid or cluster.

If FCPS wants to realign everything, they need to slow down and do in a way that really does realign pyramids. Their current proposal aligns some, but removes the current alignment for others.
I think it should be a several year process that starts by eliminating split feeders, followed by aligning AAP centers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS is considering grandfahtering current 5th graders only, but for many of current 4th graders moved to Haycock AAP due to last year base school boundary changes of Lemnon Road -Freedom Hill, Haycock is 3rd elementary school. If they have to move to new Center next year it would be 4 different shcools for 6years of elementary. Don't FCPS board members care about these kids before reassign them to Haycock ?

So..the progression would be Freedom Hill to Archer (AAP) to Haycock (AAP) to a new Cluster 2 AAP, right?

Guess you could lobby to have the Cluster 2 AAP center based at Freedom Hill. Or you could argue for grandfathering these kids at Haycock, given the number of schools they have already attended. But, if others in Cluster 2 now at Haycock get sent to a new AAP center, while your kids remain at Haycock, that means they'd finish up at Haycock mostly with kids who are going to Longfellow, while your kids go to Kilmer.

It's not an easy situation. Haycock is overcrowded, and the county did not anticipate the number of people who would move to the Haycock area or find a way to get into the Haycock center. Had economic conditions been more normal, more people typically would have moved out of the area and some of the school enrollments would be lower.

As tough as it is, maybe it will help your kids be more resilient and used to meeting more people, and perhaps we should all be glad we live in an area that's been more fortunate economically than many other areas.

Freedom Hill is largely overcrowded, hence the redistricting toward Lemon Road last year. Lemon Road and Westgate are both potential centers for cluster 2, but both are also split feeders between Longfellow/McLean and Kilmer/Marshall. The current AAP proposal will actually shift some McLean HS families out of their own pyramid and send them to the new Cluster 2 center. It really doesn't make any sense unless they redistrict the entirety of Lemon Road and Westate to Kilmer/Marshall while they're at it.

What solution do you propose instead?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Centers are currently assigned without regard to cluster or to pyramid. Why the sudden push to align by pyramid and cluster when most elementary schools are split feeders to different clusters and different pyramids? I can't figure out why it suddenly makes a difference? It won't solve overcrowding, it will just shift it elsewhere.

A school like Haycock is way above-capacity, so if the net result is hypothetically two schools at 115% capacity, rather than one at 130% capacity and another at 100%, that may be fairer.

I think part of what's driving this is also the complaints in some quarters about access to middle-school AAP programs and TJ. There are some in the Marshall pyramid and other pyramids who don't like the fact that there's no AAP elementary school in their pyramids and that their kids have to attend AAP centers in the Madison and McLean pyramids. Obviously, there are also others who feel differently, and would like their kids to be grandfathered at Haycock.

I don't believe there is a single current Haycock parent who wishes their kid would be sent to a new Cluster 2 center next year instead of remaining at Haycock for the duration of ES.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS is considering grandfahtering current 5th graders only, but for many of current 4th graders moved to Haycock AAP due to last year base school boundary changes of Lemnon Road -Freedom Hill, Haycock is 3rd elementary school. If they have to move to new Center next year it would be 4 different shcools for 6years of elementary. Don't FCPS board members care about these kids before reassign them to Haycock ?

So..the progression would be Freedom Hill to Archer (AAP) to Haycock (AAP) to a new Cluster 2 AAP, right?

Guess you could lobby to have the Cluster 2 AAP center based at Freedom Hill. Or you could argue for grandfathering these kids at Haycock, given the number of schools they have already attended. But, if others in Cluster 2 now at Haycock get sent to a new AAP center, while your kids remain at Haycock, that means they'd finish up at Haycock mostly with kids who are going to Longfellow, while your kids go to Kilmer.

It's not an easy situation. Haycock is overcrowded, and the county did not anticipate the number of people who would move to the Haycock area or find a way to get into the Haycock center. Had economic conditions been more normal, more people typically would have moved out of the area and some of the school enrollments would be lower.

As tough as it is, maybe it will help your kids be more resilient and used to meeting more people, and perhaps we should all be glad we live in an area that's been more fortunate economically than many other areas.

Freedom Hill is largely overcrowded, hence the redistricting toward Lemon Road last year. Lemon Road and Westgate are both potential centers for cluster 2, but both are also split feeders between Longfellow/McLean and Kilmer/Marshall. The current AAP proposal will actually shift some McLean HS families out of their own pyramid and send them to the new Cluster 2 center. It really doesn't make any sense unless they redistrict the entirety of Lemon Road and Westate to Kilmer/Marshall while they're at it.

Anonymous wrote:Centers are currently assigned without regard to cluster or to pyramid. Why the sudden push to align by pyramid and cluster when most elementary schools are split feeders to different clusters and different pyramids? I can't figure out why it suddenly makes a difference? It won't solve overcrowding, it will just shift it elsewhere.

A school like Haycock is way above-capacity, so if the net result is hypothetically two schools at 115% capacity, rather than one at 130% capacity and another at 100%, that may be fairer.

I think part of what's driving this is also the complaints in some quarters about access to middle-school AAP programs and TJ. There are some in the Marshall pyramid and other pyramids who don't like the fact that there's no AAP elementary school in their pyramids and that their kids have to attend AAP centers in the Madison and McLean pyramids. Obviously, there are also others who feel differently, and would like their kids to be grandfathered at Haycock.

Anonymous wrote:FCPS is considering grandfahtering current 5th graders only, but for many of current 4th graders moved to Haycock AAP due to last year base school boundary changes of Lemnon Road -Freedom Hill, Haycock is 3rd elementary school. If they have to move to new Center next year it would be 4 different shcools for 6years of elementary. Don't FCPS board members care about these kids before reassign them to Haycock ?

So..the progression would be Freedom Hill to Archer (AAP) to Haycock (AAP) to a new Cluster 2 AAP, right?

Guess you could lobby to have the Cluster 2 AAP center based at Freedom Hill. Or you could argue for grandfathering these kids at Haycock, given the number of schools they have already attended. But, if others in Cluster 2 now at Haycock get sent to a new AAP center, while your kids remain at Haycock, that means they'd finish up at Haycock mostly with kids who are going to Longfellow, while your kids go to Kilmer.

It's not an easy situation. Haycock is overcrowded, and the county did not anticipate the number of people who would move to the Haycock area or find a way to get into the Haycock center. Had economic conditions been more normal, more people typically would have moved out of the area and some of the school enrollments would be lower.

As tough as it is, maybe it will help your kids be more resilient and used to meeting more people, and perhaps we should all be glad we live in an area that's been more fortunate economically than many other areas.

Centers are currently assigned without regard to cluster or to pyramid. Why the sudden push to align by pyramid and cluster when most elementary schools are split feeders to different clusters and different pyramids? I can't figure out why it suddenly makes a difference? It won't solve overcrowding, it will just shift it elsewhere.

FCPS is considering grandfahtering current 5th graders only, but for many of current 4th graders moved to Haycock AAP due to last year base school boundary changes of Lemnon Road -Freedom Hill, Haycock is 3rd elementary school. If they have to move to new Center next year it would be 4 different shcools for 6years of elementary. Don't FCPS board members care about these kids before reassign them to Haycock ?

PP, I'm so sorry that's how it sounds. That's not at all it!!! I have another child at my base school. I'd love for the center to end up there (because it'd be so easy for me). It's really about the program and building it right.