Herndon HS most likley has adjusted ratios [lower class sizes] than Langley. Schools can have the exact floor plan and design specs yet have lower capacity based on demographics. So what are persons proposing? Bus base elemenary school Hutchison to Langley ? A swap of Hutchison and Forestville? Install a new voluntary program at the Langley site ?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's be brutal - the School Board is not going to do jack squat about boundaries. If their solution for West Potomac overcrowding was to add a giant addition rather than move students to Mt. Vernon, which has hundreds of empty seats and is projected to continue to have hundreds of empty seats, then they are never going to move students to a poorer high school again. WP and Mt. Vernon are literally right next to each other and the Board refused to make the move. It makes you think that School Board members are making deals with each other so as to not make these changes. They talk a big game, but nothing every happens. The work sessions on boundaries are just more big talk with no action.

Boundary changes have been made in the last few years, but they only moved students to wealthier schools. So this problem of disparity is only getting worse. Way to go Fairfax.

I am not familiar with those schools, so I really cannot speak to it--but, it sounds almost as stupid as expanding Westfield right before they decided that a school should be at @ "2000." It's almost like the people in engineering and construction (or whatever they call it in FCPS) want to justify their jobs by running projects, while the other side is playing with maps.

One thing, though, that really is not being discussed here is the "elephant in the room." Fairfax County has had a huge influx of very poor non-English speaking kids into the schools over the last few years. This was not predicted. And, from what I see, these families settle in communities that are ill-equipped to absorb them. I live in Western Fairfax, and there is a very large pocket in Herndon. I would guess there are also pockets along Rt 1 that affect Mt Vernon/West Potomac. I'm not talking about second generation, I'm talking about very recent.

We should and must educate these children. But, it is not going to be resolved by shifting boundaries.

This.

Whether or not you are pro or anti immigration is not relevant. This is a HUGE problem for the county and school system that we ALL need solve. The biggest way to help this situation is boundary adjustments. A large portion of Great Falls is actually closer to Herndon high school than Langley. That is a fact. So either redraw the Great Falls boundary or open up the Langley boundaries to absorb the large immigrant population in Herndon.

Anonymous wrote:^i agree about the elephant in the room. Our schools are not effectively handling or teaching recent immigrants. They don’t speak English and can’t read or write in Spanish either. It’s completely different than educating the previous low income populations.

Anonymous wrote:Langley and Herndon should split (50/50) the immigrants in Herndon. Would eliminate the FARM disparity between the two schools and would lift all students up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you actually don't know the answer, I don't think you should be calling anyone stupid.

School assignments are closely connected to property values. If you paid a lot for a house in one zone, of course you would object to being rezoned in a way that devalues your house, which is likely your largest asset. It has nothing to do with what people would agree is best in the abstract, or with what is legally allowed. But you knew that.

Let’s say your house value declines because the housing market tanks. Are you entitled to sell your house at a greater price than you bought it for? Are you going to yell and stomp your foot at the unfortunate luck?

That’s what a boundary change is. The luck of the draw. You need to accept that.

First, I'm entitled to stomp my foot at anything. Doing so doesn't hurt anybody. Your main complaint in this thread is about "throwing a fit" or otherwise protesting boundary changes, which people have a right to do. It is okay to advocate for what you want. You may lose, and yes you have to accept that once it actually happens.

Second, it's not luck of the draw. It's policy choices made by elected officials. To the extent policy choices seem poised to cause the housing market to tank, I am absolutely entitled to be upset, and to fight for change before that happens.

Your property value should not be part of the school board decision making process.

Anonymous wrote:Langley and Herndon should split (50/50) the immigrants in Herndon. Would eliminate the FARM disparity between the two schools and would lift all students up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's be brutal - the School Board is not going to do jack squat about boundaries. If their solution for West Potomac overcrowding was to add a giant addition rather than move students to Mt. Vernon, which has hundreds of empty seats and is projected to continue to have hundreds of empty seats, then they are never going to move students to a poorer high school again. WP and Mt. Vernon are literally right next to each other and the Board refused to make the move. It makes you think that School Board members are making deals with each other so as to not make these changes. They talk a big game, but nothing every happens. The work sessions on boundaries are just more big talk with no action.

Boundary changes have been made in the last few years, but they only moved students to wealthier schools. So this problem of disparity is only getting worse. Way to go Fairfax.

I am not familiar with those schools, so I really cannot speak to it--but, it sounds almost as stupid as expanding Westfield right before they decided that a school should be at @ "2000." It's almost like the people in engineering and construction (or whatever they call it in FCPS) want to justify their jobs by running projects, while the other side is playing with maps.

One thing, though, that really is not being discussed here is the "elephant in the room." Fairfax County has had a huge influx of very poor non-English speaking kids into the schools over the last few years. This was not predicted. And, from what I see, these families settle in communities that are ill-equipped to absorb them. I live in Western Fairfax, and there is a very large pocket in Herndon. I would guess there are also pockets along Rt 1 that affect Mt Vernon/West Potomac. I'm not talking about second generation, I'm talking about very recent.

We should and must educate these children. But, it is not going to be resolved by shifting boundaries.

This.

Whether or not you are pro or anti immigration is not relevant. This is a HUGE problem for the county and school system that we ALL need solve. The biggest way to help this situation is boundary adjustments. A large portion of Great Falls is actually closer to Herndon high school than Langley. That is a fact. So either redraw the Great Falls boundary or open up the Langley boundaries to absorb the large immigrant population in Herndon.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's be brutal - the School Board is not going to do jack squat about boundaries. If their solution for West Potomac overcrowding was to add a giant addition rather than move students to Mt. Vernon, which has hundreds of empty seats and is projected to continue to have hundreds of empty seats, then they are never going to move students to a poorer high school again. WP and Mt. Vernon are literally right next to each other and the Board refused to make the move. It makes you think that School Board members are making deals with each other so as to not make these changes. They talk a big game, but nothing every happens. The work sessions on boundaries are just more big talk with no action.

Boundary changes have been made in the last few years, but they only moved students to wealthier schools. So this problem of disparity is only getting worse. Way to go Fairfax.

I am not familiar with those schools, so I really cannot speak to it--but, it sounds almost as stupid as expanding Westfield right before they decided that a school should be at @ "2000." It's almost like the people in engineering and construction (or whatever they call it in FCPS) want to justify their jobs by running projects, while the other side is playing with maps.

One thing, though, that really is not being discussed here is the "elephant in the room." Fairfax County has had a huge influx of very poor non-English speaking kids into the schools over the last few years. This was not predicted. And, from what I see, these families settle in communities that are ill-equipped to absorb them. I live in Western Fairfax, and there is a very large pocket in Herndon. I would guess there are also pockets along Rt 1 that affect Mt Vernon/West Potomac. I'm not talking about second generation, I'm talking about very recent.

We should and must educate these children. But, it is not going to be resolved by shifting boundaries.

Anonymous wrote:While looking at elementary schools in Fairfax we heard rumors that the county was thinking of resdistricting that neighborhood to a different high school.

That's when we decided to move to Falls Church City. The schools are as good as the top schools in Fairfax and you have no doubt where your kid will go from Pre-school through grade 12.

Also, if you have something to bitch about, and you know you will in any school district, it's easy to find the people in charge in FCC and get them to listen to you. A school board member probably lives down the street. And if you want you can run yourself.

FCC isn't perfect but there are definitely some significant benefits.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do people feel that because they buy a house in one school boundary that they are entitled to that same boundary for eternity? Are they so stupid that they don’t realize that populations and needs shift from time to time?

Take a lesson from the McLean fight re: the 'residential' houses in neighborhoods. It's WHY the shifting of boundaries is occurring. It's one thing to take an overcrowded school and try to solve that problem. It's another thing when your goal is to socioeconomically re-engineer the schools, as the county and board has stated they are doing. That's a class-action lawsuit waiting to happen. They've already uncovered all sorts of violations by Fairfax County/Newport and I would not be surprised if their due diligence helps this boundary fight as well. It's all for the same reasons.

Langley is NOT over-enrolled and one can make a case for shifting some of the students in McLean into Langley to alleviate overcrowding in McLean. Marshall is also under-enrolled so they can absorb new Tysons Corner students, which makes sense because Tysons is very close to Marshall. Pulling Langley students out of Langley (under-enrolled) and moving them to Herndon (over-enrolled) only makes sense if you are trying to re-engineer the student population at Herndon and at Langley to make things less "socioeconomically pure". And in doing so, you know you are destroying property values but don't care because that's the goal to begin with.

Marshall is actually over enrolled. They added a modular this year, despite their renovation, and they are closed to transfers.

The issue at McLean is that there is an island near Timber Lane elementary, that still attends Longfellow and McLean The other half of Timber Lane attends Luther Jackson and Falls Church. Shifting that neighborhood would alleviate some crowding, although I assume they don’t because of demographics.