Anonymous wrote:Did anyone go to the meeting this evening???

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is clearly easier and better to align the current HS designation to the MS- that just makes sense. HS is 4 years- MS 2 years. HS is the reason why anyone bought into a house (which frankly is HUGE since we are all tax payers). So aligning for 2 years/MS is absurd. Tell this to all the builders and home owners that bought based on HS- just not gonna happen.

If there is a strong desire to align the MS and HS boundaries among those four schools, it is indeed easiest to align the HS boundaries to the current MS boundaries. Then the cohort of students stays together for six years or more.

The notion that you can't adjust HS boundaries because people buy into a HS district is a tired canard. Have you never heard of the "Madison Island" that was redistricted to South Lakes seven years ago? The parents put up a big fuss and threatened litigation. They got redistricted anyway. Life went on. More recently, FCPS eliminated a Woodson attendance island in the middle of the Robinson district, even though some Fairfax Station parents argued they had bought their homes specifically for Woodson. If there is truly a desire to eliminate the split feeders at Kilmer and Thoreau efficiently and expeditiously, the clear and obvious solution is to have Thoreau's current boundaries become Madison's new boundaries, and have Kilmer's current boundaries become Marshall's new boundaries. Otherwise, people can just suck it up and live with the status quo for at least another decade, while students in many other parts of the county enjoy aligned middle and high schools.

What they can do now is redistribute the middle school students for Marshall and Madison among Kilmer and Thoreau so that there is not such a great majority at one school verses another.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is clearly easier and better to align the current HS designation to the MS- that just makes sense. HS is 4 years- MS 2 years. HS is the reason why anyone bought into a house (which frankly is HUGE since we are all tax payers). So aligning for 2 years/MS is absurd. Tell this to all the builders and home owners that bought based on HS- just not gonna happen.

If there is a strong desire to align the MS and HS boundaries among those four schools, it is indeed easiest to align the HS boundaries to the current MS boundaries. Then the cohort of students stays together for six years or more.

The notion that you can't adjust HS boundaries because people buy into a HS district is a tired canard. Have you never heard of the "Madison Island" that was redistricted to South Lakes seven years ago? The parents put up a big fuss and threatened litigation. They got redistricted anyway. Life went on. More recently, FCPS eliminated a Woodson attendance island in the middle of the Robinson district, even though some Fairfax Station parents argued they had bought their homes specifically for Woodson. If there is truly a desire to eliminate the split feeders at Kilmer and Thoreau efficiently and expeditiously, the clear and obvious solution is to have Thoreau's current boundaries become Madison's new boundaries, and have Kilmer's current boundaries become Marshall's new boundaries. Otherwise, people can just suck it up and live with the status quo for at least another decade, while students in many other parts of the county enjoy aligned middle and high schools.

Anonymous wrote:It is clearly easier and better to align the current HS designation to the MS- that just makes sense. HS is 4 years- MS 2 years. HS is the reason why anyone bought into a house (which frankly is HUGE since we are all tax payers). So aligning for 2 years/MS is absurd. Tell this to all the builders and home owners that bought based on HS- just not gonna happen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think all high schools should be aligned. There are a lot of moving parts. At some point there will be another high school built out west. There really should have been one built years ago. That will change boundaries and hopefully align pyramids better. Tysons and Springfield are areas where the county has designed higher density so boundaries will change in these areas too. I've long fought for no less than 30% of any school, elementary or middle, be a split feeder. If you are going to have a split feeder, the division needs to be as equal as possible.

You could align Madison's boundaries with Thoreau's current boundaries, and Marshall's boundaries with Kilmer's current boundaries, and eliminate the MS/HS split feeders next year, if not this fall.

The only impediment is people in the Town of Vienna who like to complain, but are apparently prepared to want to until the stars are magically aligned (shifts in the western part of the county due to a new HS that will boot county kids out of Thoreau/Madison to either Oakton or South Lakes and their feeders, combined with growth in Tysons that might lead to overcrowding at Kilmer that isn't due to AAP or at Marshall) and then lobby for changes that would send all of the Town to Thoreau and all of Thoreau to Madison. If that ever happens, it's probably at least a decade away.

You could also align Thoreau's boundaries with Madison's and same for Marshall with no problem. The high school is 4 years and middle school is 2 years. Theoretically, if the kids can fit in high school for four years, they can fit in middle school for 2. Don't act like one is easier than the other.

Wrong. If we are talking about the current boundaries, it is easier to align the HS boundaries with the current MS boundaries than vice versa. As previously explained, if you just align the MS boundaries with the current HS boundaries, you end up with students living in Thoreau's immediate neighborhood (Stonewall Manor, Amanda Place, Dunn Loring Woods) being reassigned to Kilmer.

Oh, but then you say, "let those kids stay at Thoreau, but just reassign them from Marshall to Madison." In that scenario, both Thoreau and Madison pick up students, but no students move to Kilmer or Marshall. But that's a bit dicey for Thoreau, which is already going to see a big increase in students when the AAP students move back to Thoreau from Jackson and Kilmer. Adding to that, FCPS has identified the possibility of moving the part of Jackson MS that feeds into Oakton HS to Thoreau. You could create a real mess at Thoreau very quickly.

Again, Thoreau and Kilmer are like 1/2 mile away from each other. It doesn't really matter which school these kids go to.

Anonymous wrote:Like we need another AAP "center" for the 50% of the students now qualified

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think all high schools should be aligned. There are a lot of moving parts. At some point there will be another high school built out west. There really should have been one built years ago. That will change boundaries and hopefully align pyramids better. Tysons and Springfield are areas where the county has designed higher density so boundaries will change in these areas too. I've long fought for no less than 30% of any school, elementary or middle, be a split feeder. If you are going to have a split feeder, the division needs to be as equal as possible.

You could align Madison's boundaries with Thoreau's current boundaries, and Marshall's boundaries with Kilmer's current boundaries, and eliminate the MS/HS split feeders next year, if not this fall.

The only impediment is people in the Town of Vienna who like to complain, but are apparently prepared to want to until the stars are magically aligned (shifts in the western part of the county due to a new HS that will boot county kids out of Thoreau/Madison to either Oakton or South Lakes and their feeders, combined with growth in Tysons that might lead to overcrowding at Kilmer that isn't due to AAP or at Marshall) and then lobby for changes that would send all of the Town to Thoreau and all of Thoreau to Madison. If that ever happens, it's probably at least a decade away.

You could also align Thoreau's boundaries with Madison's and same for Marshall with no problem. The high school is 4 years and middle school is 2 years. Theoretically, if the kids can fit in high school for four years, they can fit in middle school for 2. Don't act like one is easier than the other.

Wrong. If we are talking about the current boundaries, it is easier to align the HS boundaries with the current MS boundaries than vice versa. As previously explained, if you just align the MS boundaries with the current HS boundaries, you end up with students living in Thoreau's immediate neighborhood (Stonewall Manor, Amanda Place, Dunn Loring Woods) being reassigned to Kilmer.

Oh, but then you say, "let those kids stay at Thoreau, but just reassign them from Marshall to Madison." In that scenario, both Thoreau and Madison pick up students, but no students move to Kilmer or Marshall. But that's a bit dicey for Thoreau, which is already going to see a big increase in students when the AAP students move back to Thoreau from Jackson and Kilmer. Adding to that, FCPS has identified the possibility of moving the part of Jackson MS that feeds into Oakton HS to Thoreau. You could create a real mess at Thoreau very quickly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think all high schools should be aligned. There are a lot of moving parts. At some point there will be another high school built out west. There really should have been one built years ago. That will change boundaries and hopefully align pyramids better. Tysons and Springfield are areas where the county has designed higher density so boundaries will change in these areas too. I've long fought for no less than 30% of any school, elementary or middle, be a split feeder. If you are going to have a split feeder, the division needs to be as equal as possible.

You could align Madison's boundaries with Thoreau's current boundaries, and Marshall's boundaries with Kilmer's current boundaries, and eliminate the MS/HS split feeders next year, if not this fall.

The only impediment is people in the Town of Vienna who like to complain, but are apparently prepared to want to until the stars are magically aligned (shifts in the western part of the county due to a new HS that will boot county kids out of Thoreau/Madison to either Oakton or South Lakes and their feeders, combined with growth in Tysons that might lead to overcrowding at Kilmer that isn't due to AAP or at Marshall) and then lobby for changes that would send all of the Town to Thoreau and all of Thoreau to Madison. If that ever happens, it's probably at least a decade away.

You could also align Thoreau's boundaries with Madison's and same for Marshall with no problem. The high school is 4 years and middle school is 2 years. Theoretically, if the kids can fit in high school for four years, they can fit in middle school for 2. Don't act like one is easier than the other.

Again, Thoreau and Kilmer are like 1/2 mile away from each other. It doesn't really matter which school these kids go to.

Wrong. If we are talking about the current boundaries, it is easier to align the HS boundaries with the current MS boundaries than vice versa. As previously explained, if you just align the MS boundaries with the current HS boundaries, you end up with students living in Thoreau's immediate neighborhood (Stonewall Manor, Amanda Place, Dunn Loring Woods) being reassigned to Kilmer.

Oh, but then you say, "let those kids stay at Thoreau, but just reassign them from Marshall to Madison." In that scenario, both Thoreau and Madison pick up students, but no students move to Kilmer or Marshall. But that's a bit dicey for Thoreau, which is already going to see a big increase in students when the AAP students move back to Thoreau from Jackson and Kilmer. Adding to that, FCPS has identified the possibility of moving the part of Jackson MS that feeds into Oakton HS to Thoreau. You could create a real mess at Thoreau very quickly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think all high schools should be aligned. There are a lot of moving parts. At some point there will be another high school built out west. There really should have been one built years ago. That will change boundaries and hopefully align pyramids better. Tysons and Springfield are areas where the county has designed higher density so boundaries will change in these areas too. I've long fought for no less than 30% of any school, elementary or middle, be a split feeder. If you are going to have a split feeder, the division needs to be as equal as possible.

You could align Madison's boundaries with Thoreau's current boundaries, and Marshall's boundaries with Kilmer's current boundaries, and eliminate the MS/HS split feeders next year, if not this fall.

The only impediment is people in the Town of Vienna who like to complain, but are apparently prepared to want to until the stars are magically aligned (shifts in the western part of the county due to a new HS that will boot county kids out of Thoreau/Madison to either Oakton or South Lakes and their feeders, combined with growth in Tysons that might lead to overcrowding at Kilmer that isn't due to AAP or at Marshall) and then lobby for changes that would send all of the Town to Thoreau and all of Thoreau to Madison. If that ever happens, it's probably at least a decade away.

You could also align Thoreau's boundaries with Madison's and same for Marshall with no problem. The high school is 4 years and middle school is 2 years. Theoretically, if the kids can fit in high school for four years, they can fit in middle school for 2. Don't act like one is easier than the other.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think all high schools should be aligned. There are a lot of moving parts. At some point there will be another high school built out west. There really should have been one built years ago. That will change boundaries and hopefully align pyramids better. Tysons and Springfield are areas where the county has designed higher density so boundaries will change in these areas too. I've long fought for no less than 30% of any school, elementary or middle, be a split feeder. If you are going to have a split feeder, the division needs to be as equal as possible.

You could align Madison's boundaries with Thoreau's current boundaries, and Marshall's boundaries with Kilmer's current boundaries, and eliminate the MS/HS split feeders next year, if not this fall.

The only impediment is people in the Town of Vienna who like to complain, but are apparently prepared to want to until the stars are magically aligned (shifts in the western part of the county due to a new HS that will boot county kids out of Thoreau/Madison to either Oakton or South Lakes and their feeders, combined with growth in Tysons that might lead to overcrowding at Kilmer that isn't due to AAP or at Marshall) and then lobby for changes that would send all of the Town to Thoreau and all of Thoreau to Madison. If that ever happens, it's probably at least a decade away.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think all high schools should be aligned. There are a lot of moving parts. At some point there will be another high school built out west. There really should have been one built years ago. That will change boundaries and hopefully align pyramids better. Tysons and Springfield are areas where the county has designed higher density so boundaries will change in these areas too. I've long fought for no less than 30% of any school, elementary or middle, be a split feeder. If you are going to have a split feeder, the division needs to be as equal as possible.

You could align Madison's boundaries with Thoreau's current boundaries, and Marshall's boundaries with Kilmer's current boundaries, and eliminate the MS/HS split feeders next year, if not this fall.

The only impediment is people in the Town of Vienna who like to complain, but are apparently prepared to want to until the stars are magically aligned (shifts in the western part of the county due to a new HS that will boot county kids out of Thoreau/Madison to either Oakton or South Lakes and their feeders, combined with growth in Tysons that might lead to overcrowding at Kilmer that isn't due to AAP or at Marshall) and then lobby for changes that would send all of the Town to Thoreau and all of Thoreau to Madison. If that ever happens, it's probably at least a decade away.

Anonymous wrote:I think all high schools should be aligned. There are a lot of moving parts. At some point there will be another high school built out west. There really should have been one built years ago. That will change boundaries and hopefully align pyramids better. Tysons and Springfield are areas where the county has designed higher density so boundaries will change in these areas too. I've long fought for no less than 30% of any school, elementary or middle, be a split feeder. If you are going to have a split feeder, the division needs to be as equal as possible.