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Anonymous wrote:Why is it that none of the elementary schools that feed into West Springfield are Title 1, whereas all but one (the AAP center) of the elementary schools that feed into Lee High School are Title 1? If that's not discriminatory, I don't know what is.

Both the Lee and West Springfield boundaries are relatively compact, and on their face they don't look obviously gerrymandered to create an affluent school and a poor school. But Lee is near the older part of Springfield, with lots of garden apartments and small homes built in the 1950s, whereas most of the housing in the West Springfield district was built later and commands a higher price. You could swap some of the WS and Lee feeders to promote greater SES balance, but you'd have checker-board attendance areas and students with longer trips to school.

Totally disagree. Just look at the Saratoga area. It has been totally gerrymandered. It is part of the Lee HS pyramid, the Mount Vernon supervisor/school board district, and in a different Congressional district that those directly across Pohick Creek. Both West Springfield and South County are closer than Lee HS, not to mention that kids in that neighborhood have to cross two parkways and an interstate to reach the MS and HS they're zoned for. What's happened in Saratoga is the middle class and affluent families that live there use private school or pupil place to other schools and, as a result, even Saratoga ES has suffered. Perfect example of a neighborhood that is relatively middle class and affluent, but for which the the politicians have gerrymandered into districts that don't benefit them - what happens? The middle class flees.

Lee has been a comparatively low-performing school for a long time. That impacts the prices in places like Saratoga. I don't understand why someone buys a lower-priced house and then expects to get redistricted to a school that will boost their home equity overnight. There are lots of areas all over the county where kids don't attend the high schools closest to their houses.

Who said anyone expects that? Just making he point that the Saratoga neighborhood has clearly been gerrymandered. And, so be it. That's life, and, certainly anyone doing their homework before buying there will realize it.

There is a parent or parents up thread saying that this area shouldn't have to wait for economic development policies that could take ten years to have an impact. And that politicians who vote for the status quo should be voted out. I can sympathize. But, we paid a lot more for a lot less house a lot further out that were solidly zoned for good schools. I do not agree with parents who want to buy in the biggest house they can in the least expensive school zone, and then act like FCPS should rezone them. They should have know where they were buying. If they didn't want Lee or Mount Vernon, they should have paid more, or bought less house elsewhere. Everyone in the DC metro area has to make a cost/ location/ size/ schools housing trade off.

Well, you can't fault people for advocating for their interests. And, you don't really get that much of a discount on a house buying in the Saratoga are over a similar home north of the FFX Count Pkwy in the West Springfield HS - maybe $50k. Not to mention the fact that the school board has brought this on themselves with recent rezoning of the Daventry neighborhood from Lee to West Springfield. Yes, I know that was a split feeder situation, but it doesn't exactly help Lee. If you're in Saratoga, why can't you have the same?

You get a HUGE discount for buying a house in Saratoga vs a house feeding into Orange Hunt, Hunt Valley or West Springfield. It is almost $100K less to buy in Saratoga compared to buying a similar but older house that feeds into one of the WSHS elementaries.

The houses are so much cheaper, so to buy for so much less then complain about school zoning is a bit silly.

Well, that wasn't my experience in 2013 when I bought my house - a $50k difference, yet. A $100k difference? I don't think so. YMMV.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it that none of the elementary schools that feed into West Springfield are Title 1, whereas all but one (the AAP center) of the elementary schools that feed into Lee High School are Title 1? If that's not discriminatory, I don't know what is.

Both the Lee and West Springfield boundaries are relatively compact, and on their face they don't look obviously gerrymandered to create an affluent school and a poor school. But Lee is near the older part of Springfield, with lots of garden apartments and small homes built in the 1950s, whereas most of the housing in the West Springfield district was built later and commands a higher price. You could swap some of the WS and Lee feeders to promote greater SES balance, but you'd have checker-board attendance areas and students with longer trips to school.

Totally disagree. Just look at the Saratoga area. It has been totally gerrymandered. It is part of the Lee HS pyramid, the Mount Vernon supervisor/school board district, and in a different Congressional district that those directly across Pohick Creek. Both West Springfield and South County are closer than Lee HS, not to mention that kids in that neighborhood have to cross two parkways and an interstate to reach the MS and HS they're zoned for. What's happened in Saratoga is the middle class and affluent families that live there use private school or pupil place to other schools and, as a result, even Saratoga ES has suffered. Perfect example of a neighborhood that is relatively middle class and affluent, but for which the the politicians have gerrymandered into districts that don't benefit them - what happens? The middle class flees.

Lee has been a comparatively low-performing school for a long time. That impacts the prices in places like Saratoga. I don't understand why someone buys a lower-priced house and then expects to get redistricted to a school that will boost their home equity overnight. There are lots of areas all over the county where kids don't attend the high schools closest to their houses.

Who said anyone expects that? Just making he point that the Saratoga neighborhood has clearly been gerrymandered. And, so be it. That's life, and, certainly anyone doing their homework before buying there will realize it.

There is a parent or parents up thread saying that this area shouldn't have to wait for economic development policies that could take ten years to have an impact. And that politicians who vote for the status quo should be voted out. I can sympathize. But, we paid a lot more for a lot less house a lot further out that were solidly zoned for good schools. I do not agree with parents who want to buy in the biggest house they can in the least expensive school zone, and then act like FCPS should rezone them. They should have know where they were buying. If they didn't want Lee or Mount Vernon, they should have paid more, or bought less house elsewhere. Everyone in the DC metro area has to make a cost/ location/ size/ schools housing trade off.

Well, you can't fault people for advocating for their interests. And, you don't really get that much of a discount on a house buying in the Saratoga are over a similar home north of the FFX Count Pkwy in the West Springfield HS - maybe $50k. Not to mention the fact that the school board has brought this on themselves with recent rezoning of the Daventry neighborhood from Lee to West Springfield. Yes, I know that was a split feeder situation, but it doesn't exactly help Lee. If you're in Saratoga, why can't you have the same?

You get a HUGE discount for buying a house in Saratoga vs a house feeding into Orange Hunt, Hunt Valley or West Springfield. It is almost $100K less to buy in Saratoga compared to buying a similar but older house that feeds into one of the WSHS elementaries.

The houses are so much cheaper, so to buy for so much less then complain about school zoning is a bit silly.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps a school closer to Lake Braddock could be moved to accommodate Saratoga? Or perhaps Saratoga should be moved to South County, which is also in the Mt. Vernon district- so that would make sense for voting representation. I think Saratoga voters are trying to garner attention to the fact that the current system is broken. Saratoga doesn't really belong at Lee because Lee is not their "neighborhood" school, but it's up to FCPS to figure out who does. It's going to have a domino effect, but it needs to occur. A lot of issues were never resolved during the South County HS opening.

Well, that won't happen. The Lake Braddock neighborhoods closer to Lee have a close association with the Burke area.

I don't see any compelling reason to move Saratoga out of Lee, and I would be extremely surprised to see any significant support on the School Board for doing so. Just because you've discovered you're zoned for a school with comparatively poor test scores doesn't mean the system is broken.

No the PP, but I didn't "suddenly discover" anything. I knew exactly what I was getting when I bought my home in Saratoga several years ago. That doesn't change the fact that kids in the Saratoga neighborhood have to cross the FFX County Pkwy, the Franconia-Springfield Pkwy, and Interstate 95 to attend the MS and HS to which they're zoned when there are multiple MS and HS's closer to them or the fact that they neighborhood is represented by elected officials that do not represent the rest of the Lee HS pyramid (with the exception of State Delegate Vivian Watts, I believe). Personally, I don't think Key and Lee are as bad as a lot of people make them out to be and I wouldn't be afraid to send my kids there in the least, but I wouldn't mind better representation of my neighborhood's interests than I currently have.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it that none of the elementary schools that feed into West Springfield are Title 1, whereas all but one (the AAP center) of the elementary schools that feed into Lee High School are Title 1? If that's not discriminatory, I don't know what is.

Both the Lee and West Springfield boundaries are relatively compact, and on their face they don't look obviously gerrymandered to create an affluent school and a poor school. But Lee is near the older part of Springfield, with lots of garden apartments and small homes built in the 1950s, whereas most of the housing in the West Springfield district was built later and commands a higher price. You could swap some of the WS and Lee feeders to promote greater SES balance, but you'd have checker-board attendance areas and students with longer trips to school.

Totally disagree. Just look at the Saratoga area. It has been totally gerrymandered. It is part of the Lee HS pyramid, the Mount Vernon supervisor/school board district, and in a different Congressional district that those directly across Pohick Creek. Both West Springfield and South County are closer than Lee HS, not to mention that kids in that neighborhood have to cross two parkways and an interstate to reach the MS and HS they're zoned for. What's happened in Saratoga is the middle class and affluent families that live there use private school or pupil place to other schools and, as a result, even Saratoga ES has suffered. Perfect example of a neighborhood that is relatively middle class and affluent, but for which the the politicians have gerrymandered into districts that don't benefit them - what happens? The middle class flees.

Lee has been a comparatively low-performing school for a long time. That impacts the prices in places like Saratoga. I don't understand why someone buys a lower-priced house and then expects to get redistricted to a school that will boost their home equity overnight. There are lots of areas all over the county where kids don't attend the high schools closest to their houses.

Who said anyone expects that? Just making he point that the Saratoga neighborhood has clearly been gerrymandered. And, so be it. That's life, and, certainly anyone doing their homework before buying there will realize it.

There is a parent or parents up thread saying that this area shouldn't have to wait for economic development policies that could take ten years to have an impact. And that politicians who vote for the status quo should be voted out. I can sympathize. But, we paid a lot more for a lot less house a lot further out that were solidly zoned for good schools. I do not agree with parents who want to buy in the biggest house they can in the least expensive school zone, and then act like FCPS should rezone them. They should have know where they were buying. If they didn't want Lee or Mount Vernon, they should have paid more, or bought less house elsewhere. Everyone in the DC metro area has to make a cost/ location/ size/ schools housing trade off.

Well, you can't fault people for advocating for their interests. And, you don't really get that much of a discount on a house buying in the Saratoga are over a similar home north of the FFX Count Pkwy in the West Springfield HS - maybe $50k. Not to mention the fact that the school board has brought this on themselves with recent rezoning of the Daventry neighborhood from Lee to West Springfield. Yes, I know that was a split feeder situation, but it doesn't exactly help Lee. If you're in Saratoga, why can't you have the same?

You get a HUGE discount for buying a house in Saratoga vs a house feeding into Orange Hunt, Hunt Valley or West Springfield. It is almost $100K less to buy in Saratoga compared to buying a similar but older house that feeds into one of the WSHS elementaries.

The houses are so much cheaper, so to buy for so much less then complain about school zoning is a bit silly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it that none of the elementary schools that feed into West Springfield are Title 1, whereas all but one (the AAP center) of the elementary schools that feed into Lee High School are Title 1? If that's not discriminatory, I don't know what is.

Both the Lee and West Springfield boundaries are relatively compact, and on their face they don't look obviously gerrymandered to create an affluent school and a poor school. But Lee is near the older part of Springfield, with lots of garden apartments and small homes built in the 1950s, whereas most of the housing in the West Springfield district was built later and commands a higher price. You could swap some of the WS and Lee feeders to promote greater SES balance, but you'd have checker-board attendance areas and students with longer trips to school.

Totally disagree. Just look at the Saratoga area. It has been totally gerrymandered. It is part of the Lee HS pyramid, the Mount Vernon supervisor/school board district, and in a different Congressional district that those directly across Pohick Creek. Both West Springfield and South County are closer than Lee HS, not to mention that kids in that neighborhood have to cross two parkways and an interstate to reach the MS and HS they're zoned for. What's happened in Saratoga is the middle class and affluent families that live there use private school or pupil place to other schools and, as a result, even Saratoga ES has suffered. Perfect example of a neighborhood that is relatively middle class and affluent, but for which the the politicians have gerrymandered into districts that don't benefit them - what happens? The middle class flees.

Lee has been a comparatively low-performing school for a long time. That impacts the prices in places like Saratoga. I don't understand why someone buys a lower-priced house and then expects to get redistricted to a school that will boost their home equity overnight. There are lots of areas all over the county where kids don't attend the high schools closest to their houses.

Who said anyone expects that? Just making he point that the Saratoga neighborhood has clearly been gerrymandered. And, so be it. That's life, and, certainly anyone doing their homework before buying there will realize it.

There is a parent or parents up thread saying that this area shouldn't have to wait for economic development policies that could take ten years to have an impact. And that politicians who vote for the status quo should be voted out. I can sympathize. But, we paid a lot more for a lot less house a lot further out that were solidly zoned for good schools. I do not agree with parents who want to buy in the biggest house they can in the least expensive school zone, and then act like FCPS should rezone them. They should have know where they were buying. If they didn't want Lee or Mount Vernon, they should have paid more, or bought less house elsewhere. Everyone in the DC metro area has to make a cost/ location/ size/ schools housing trade off.

Well, you can't fault people for advocating for their interests. And, you don't really get that much of a discount on a house buying in the Saratoga are over a similar home north of the FFX Count Pkwy in the West Springfield HS - maybe $50k. Not to mention the fact that the school board has brought this on themselves with recent rezoning of the Daventry neighborhood from Lee to West Springfield. Yes, I know that was a split feeder situation, but it doesn't exactly help Lee. If you're in Saratoga, why can't you have the same?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it that none of the elementary schools that feed into West Springfield are Title 1, whereas all but one (the AAP center) of the elementary schools that feed into Lee High School are Title 1? If that's not discriminatory, I don't know what is.

Both the Lee and West Springfield boundaries are relatively compact, and on their face they don't look obviously gerrymandered to create an affluent school and a poor school. But Lee is near the older part of Springfield, with lots of garden apartments and small homes built in the 1950s, whereas most of the housing in the West Springfield district was built later and commands a higher price. You could swap some of the WS and Lee feeders to promote greater SES balance, but you'd have checker-board attendance areas and students with longer trips to school.

If they changed the boundary assignments just to move some of the wealthier west springfield elementaries into Lee it WOULD be gerrymandering. People would be furious and property values

Heaven forbid that the "poors"want a piece of the pie, too. Clutch the pearls