FCPS HS Boundary

[Anonymous]

I think it’s important that all pyramids balance the number of kids that are economically disadvantaged. Let’s say, 20-25%? We should adjust the boundaries to match these stats.

Doesn’t have to be overnight, but start phasing in low income neighborhoods on edges or high income neighborhoods on edges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s important that all pyramids balance the number of kids that are economically disadvantaged. Let’s say, 20-25%? We should adjust the boundaries to match these stats.

Doesn’t have to be overnight, but start phasing in low income neighborhoods on edges or high income neighborhoods on edges.

what would you do with the other 10% of students? According to FCPS website, 33.4% of students received free or reduced price lunches?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Before any rezoning ovvurs, two critical things should occur:

#1. All students attending a school affected by rezoning should be required to supply a proff of residency in the form of a recent utility bill in one of their parent's name.

If they cannot produce a current utility bill proving they are attending the correct school for their address, then they need to be moved out of the school the following year, back to their zoned school, and removed from the capacity counts. I suspect that there are dozens or more families that fall into this category, falsely inflating the capacity numbers.

#2 All loopholes allowing students to transfer out of receiving schools, such as Lewis where over 12% of the students transfer away to other high schools.

Once the transfer out loopholes are closed, FCPS needs to wait 2 full academic years to see if this increases enrollment and test scores at the school, or if those roughly 200 students find a different way to avoid attending Lewis.

If Lewis attendance shows no notable increase in Lewis students attending their zoned high school, then FCPS needs to halt rezoning and look at other solutions for Lewis, that do no involve rezoning kids from WSHS to fill spots that Lewis zoned students refuse to fill.

Rezoning into any school that is pupil placing OUT hundreds of students is short sighted and a terrible waste of taxpayer money, not to mention a huge disruption to students lives, and an attack on families that purchased their home based on a specific high school zone.

Kids are not political pawns.

Enforce existing district residency rules.

Look at the student actually zoned for the schools who are not attending, and fix those deficiencies.

The solution is simple.

I'm not sure the residency problem is quite what you think - I don't think it will turn up dozens or hundreds of students that need to be returned to some other school. Maybe across the county you might find some, but nothing likely that will have a big impact on any one school.

As far as Lewis and transfers, cracking down on voluntary pupil placement could return some students, but it won't be all 200. I think at the high end it might be 75. I suppose that is a start. I think many of the rest are special education students, transfers for teachers' children (which you are not going to stop), behavioral (Bryant), and TJ. The biggest wildcard are the Edison transfers. That is the biggest number out of Lewis but it also has IB, so that is not the reason for the transfers. The guess is the STEM academy. Short of creating a similar program at Lewis I don't know that they can forbid students transferring to that program. Of course, this all argues for the first thing that should really be addressed - looking at standardizing the programs across the county high schools. First move should be to go back to all AP. That is the no brainer in all of this and the root of many of the problems (and started years ago). Standardizing language offerings would also help, but I don't see the county doing that.

So cracking down on pupil placements could help a little bit, but for Lewis and West Springfield, the projected gap (county projections) in enrollments in several years would still be in the 1400-1500 student range with West Springfield being over capacity. The county could still consider rezoning some West Springfield students to Lewis for capacity reasons. Not saying they will, just saying they could.

DP. I’ve looked at this at Herndon High, and, with a net outflow of nearly 300 students, it’s abundantly clear that curtailing the massive outflow would negate the need for any wholesale redistricting. That’s like 13% off the student body. Sure a couple dozen are TJ, but most are just parents trying to get their kids into the best educational situation for each. I’m not an advocate for moving these kids back, but I absolutely will advocate for it if they start messing with the boundaries, because they claim that process is about efficiency and using all the seats, and it’s hypocritical to move other districts in before dealing with the gigantic net outflows at these schools.

It looks like 150 Herndon zoned students are attending South Lakes. Another 20 Herndon zoned students are attending Langley. Curtailing the voluntary pupil placements might help at Herndon more so than Lewis. The county would be wise to consider standardizing on AP and standardizing languages in order to stop these transfers. Otherwise, they might have legal trouble on their hands. Not a lawyer, but I can see parents filing lawsuits over equal access to programs. Academies are also problematic in this way.

I’ll absolutely sue if my kids get denied access after redistricting. The good news is that the county will have lots of surplus money to defend the lawsuits based on the savings of one or two bus drivers.

Lawyers make $25/hour too, right?

In the current state of affairs there are already thousands of kids being denied access and yet no frivolous lawsuits exist.

Because except in a few rare cases, people knew what pyramids they were buying into. It’s the bait-and-switch that creates the legal peril.

*Only someone who does not value education would deem a deprivation of an education “frivolous”.

It is a known risk that school boundaries can change. It not a legal peril to change boundaries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s important that all pyramids balance the number of kids that are economically disadvantaged. Let’s say, 20-25%? We should adjust the boundaries to match these stats.

Doesn’t have to be overnight, but start phasing in low income neighborhoods on edges or high income neighborhoods on edges.

what would you do with the other 10% of students? According to FCPS website, 33.4% of students received free or reduced price lunches?

Well it wouldn’t be perfect, some would have more, but it’s a reasonable goal to start with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s important that all pyramids balance the number of kids that are economically disadvantaged. Let’s say, 20-25%? We should adjust the boundaries to match these stats.

Doesn’t have to be overnight, but start phasing in low income neighborhoods on edges or high income neighborhoods on edges.

what would you do with the other 10% of students? According to FCPS website, 33.4% of students received free or reduced price lunches?

Well it wouldn’t be perfect, some would have more, but it’s a reasonable goal to start with.

They’d destroy the county in an attempt to meet your “reasonable goal.” Communism works in theory.

Someone should have taken an economics course in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s important that all pyramids balance the number of kids that are economically disadvantaged. Let’s say, 20-25%? We should adjust the boundaries to match these stats.

Doesn’t have to be overnight, but start phasing in low income neighborhoods on edges or high income neighborhoods on edges.

what would you do with the other 10% of students? According to FCPS website, 33.4% of students received free or reduced price lunches?

Well it wouldn’t be perfect, some would have more, but it’s a reasonable goal to start with.

They’d destroy the county in an attempt to meet your “reasonable goal.” Communism works in theory.

Someone should have taken an economics course in college.

Don’t be so dramatic. It wouldn’t happen overnight. Current freshman , maybe even middle schoolers, would finish their time at the current high school. It’s would be so enriching for the residents of this county to share a high school experience with many who are not like them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Before any rezoning ovvurs, two critical things should occur:

#1. All students attending a school affected by rezoning should be required to supply a proff of residency in the form of a recent utility bill in one of their parent's name.

If they cannot produce a current utility bill proving they are attending the correct school for their address, then they need to be moved out of the school the following year, back to their zoned school, and removed from the capacity counts. I suspect that there are dozens or more families that fall into this category, falsely inflating the capacity numbers.

#2 All loopholes allowing students to transfer out of receiving schools, such as Lewis where over 12% of the students transfer away to other high schools.

Once the transfer out loopholes are closed, FCPS needs to wait 2 full academic years to see if this increases enrollment and test scores at the school, or if those roughly 200 students find a different way to avoid attending Lewis.

If Lewis attendance shows no notable increase in Lewis students attending their zoned high school, then FCPS needs to halt rezoning and look at other solutions for Lewis, that do no involve rezoning kids from WSHS to fill spots that Lewis zoned students refuse to fill.

Rezoning into any school that is pupil placing OUT hundreds of students is short sighted and a terrible waste of taxpayer money, not to mention a huge disruption to students lives, and an attack on families that purchased their home based on a specific high school zone.

Kids are not political pawns.

Enforce existing district residency rules.

Look at the student actually zoned for the schools who are not attending, and fix those deficiencies.

The solution is simple.

I'm not sure the residency problem is quite what you think - I don't think it will turn up dozens or hundreds of students that need to be returned to some other school. Maybe across the county you might find some, but nothing likely that will have a big impact on any one school.

As far as Lewis and transfers, cracking down on voluntary pupil placement could return some students, but it won't be all 200. I think at the high end it might be 75. I suppose that is a start. I think many of the rest are special education students, transfers for teachers' children (which you are not going to stop), behavioral (Bryant), and TJ. The biggest wildcard are the Edison transfers. That is the biggest number out of Lewis but it also has IB, so that is not the reason for the transfers. The guess is the STEM academy. Short of creating a similar program at Lewis I don't know that they can forbid students transferring to that program. Of course, this all argues for the first thing that should really be addressed - looking at standardizing the programs across the county high schools. First move should be to go back to all AP. That is the no brainer in all of this and the root of many of the problems (and started years ago). Standardizing language offerings would also help, but I don't see the county doing that.

So cracking down on pupil placements could help a little bit, but for Lewis and West Springfield, the projected gap (county projections) in enrollments in several years would still be in the 1400-1500 student range with West Springfield being over capacity. The county could still consider rezoning some West Springfield students to Lewis for capacity reasons. Not saying they will, just saying they could.

DP. I’ve looked at this at Herndon High, and, with a net outflow of nearly 300 students, it’s abundantly clear that curtailing the massive outflow would negate the need for any wholesale redistricting. That’s like 13% off the student body. Sure a couple dozen are TJ, but most are just parents trying to get their kids into the best educational situation for each. I’m not an advocate for moving these kids back, but I absolutely will advocate for it if they start messing with the boundaries, because they claim that process is about efficiency and using all the seats, and it’s hypocritical to move other districts in before dealing with the gigantic net outflows at these schools.

It looks like 150 Herndon zoned students are attending South Lakes. Another 20 Herndon zoned students are attending Langley. Curtailing the voluntary pupil placements might help at Herndon more so than Lewis. The county would be wise to consider standardizing on AP and standardizing languages in order to stop these transfers. Otherwise, they might have legal trouble on their hands. Not a lawyer, but I can see parents filing lawsuits over equal access to programs. Academies are also problematic in this way.

I’ll absolutely sue if my kids get denied access after redistricting. The good news is that the county will have lots of surplus money to defend the lawsuits based on the savings of one or two bus drivers.

Lawyers make $25/hour too, right?

In the current state of affairs there are already thousands of kids being denied access and yet no frivolous lawsuits exist.

Because except in a few rare cases, people knew what pyramids they were buying into. It’s the bait-and-switch that creates the legal peril.

*Only someone who does not value education would deem a deprivation of an education “frivolous”.

Again, you're implying that in the current state of affairs the kids who attend the schools that you don't want to go to are currently being deprived of an education. So why aren't you up in arms to defend them?

[Anonymous]

“Let’s try to fix public school boundaries.”

“Good luck with your godless communism!”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s important that all pyramids balance the number of kids that are economically disadvantaged. Let’s say, 20-25%? We should adjust the boundaries to match these stats.

Doesn’t have to be overnight, but start phasing in low income neighborhoods on edges or high income neighborhoods on edges.

what would you do with the other 10% of students? According to FCPS website, 33.4% of students received free or reduced price lunches?

Well it wouldn’t be perfect, some would have more, but it’s a reasonable goal to start with.

They’d destroy the county in an attempt to meet your “reasonable goal.” Communism works in theory.

Someone should have taken an economics course in college.

Don’t be so dramatic. It wouldn’t happen overnight. Current freshman , maybe even middle schoolers, would finish their time at the current high school. It’s would be so enriching for the residents of this county to share a high school experience with many who are not like them.

Yeah, why be dramatic about petty things like my kids’ education. (Eye roll). We don’t subscribe to your SJW platform. And I don’t want your extreme agenda imposed on my kids.

If you care so much about an “enriching” experience, you seriously should bring your kids to a third world country. Nothing more enriching than that for them. If you don’t, then you’re nothing but a big old hypocrite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s important that all pyramids balance the number of kids that are economically disadvantaged. Let’s say, 20-25%? We should adjust the boundaries to match these stats.

Doesn’t have to be overnight, but start phasing in low income neighborhoods on edges or high income neighborhoods on edges.

what would you do with the other 10% of students? According to FCPS website, 33.4% of students received free or reduced price lunches?

Well it wouldn’t be perfect, some would have more, but it’s a reasonable goal to start with.

They’d destroy the county in an attempt to meet your “reasonable goal.” Communism works in theory.

Someone should have taken an economics course in college.

Don’t be so dramatic. It wouldn’t happen overnight. Current freshman , maybe even middle schoolers, would finish their time at the current high school. It’s would be so enriching for the residents of this county to share a high school experience with many who are not like them.

Yeah, why be dramatic about petty things like my kids’ education. (Eye roll). We don’t subscribe to your SJW platform. And I don’t want your extreme agenda imposed on my kids.

If you care so much about an “enriching” experience, you seriously should bring your kids to a third world country. Nothing more enriching than that for them. If you don’t, then you’re nothing but a big old hypocrite.

I suspect you’re being trolled.

Most people know you can’t achieve similar demographics at every high school by just tweaking boundaries on the edges. You’d have to replace contiguous school boundaries with a checkerboard pattern to disperse the concentration of low-income kids in certain areas.

You can’t do that without being very transparent as to your objectives, and that’s not what this School Board is about. They mostly want low-cost virtue signaling that they can pass off as an exercise in “efficiency.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s important that all pyramids balance the number of kids that are economically disadvantaged. Let’s say, 20-25%? We should adjust the boundaries to match these stats.

Doesn’t have to be overnight, but start phasing in low income neighborhoods on edges or high income neighborhoods on edges.

what would you do with the other 10% of students? According to FCPS website, 33.4% of students received free or reduced price lunches?

The only solution is long term, but it involves stopping the importation of poverty. The number didn't rise to 33.4% without lack of enforcement of immigration law. I don't blame these people for coming to the U.S., but it burdens on our country, state, and county. And it is acutely felt by some pyramids.

Stop voting for politicians at all levels who have no interest in enforcing current immigration law - specifically illegal entry.

Some of you would continue the current lack of enforcement while at the same time arguing to keep these poor students out of your pyramids or more accurately, keeping them in certain pyramids. Please stop doing this.

[Anonymous]

The main reason boundaries have been and forever will be moved is due to overcrowding.

There is growth in the Tysons area that will cause boundary changes. The schools closest (Langley, McLean, Marshall, and Madison) will take the large brunt of it. Schools that abut them will need to pick up some neighborhoods. The most likely neighborhoods to move out of those four are the neighborhoods in Langley that are closer to Herndon and the neighborhoods in McLean that are closer to Falls Church. No communism, just practical planning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s important that all pyramids balance the number of kids that are economically disadvantaged. Let’s say, 20-25%? We should adjust the boundaries to match these stats.

Doesn’t have to be overnight, but start phasing in low income neighborhoods on edges or high income neighborhoods on edges.

what would you do with the other 10% of students? According to FCPS website, 33.4% of students received free or reduced price lunches?

The only solution is long term, but it involves stopping the importation of poverty. The number didn't rise to 33.4% without lack of enforcement of immigration law. I don't blame these people for coming to the U.S., but it burdens on our country, state, and county. And it is acutely felt by some pyramids.

Stop voting for politicians at all levels who have no interest in enforcing current immigration law - specifically illegal entry.

Some of you would continue the current lack of enforcement while at the same time arguing to keep these poor students out of your pyramids or more accurately, keeping them in certain pyramids. Please stop doing this.

Agree. There are a ton of Democratic constituents in the area who are generally supportive of public schools but who stop short of the extreme positions of the current school board and a handful of posters on this discussion board. It’s unfortunate, but the solution is to not vote for democrats anymore (at least at the local level).

That feels weird to say as someone who always voted for democratic candidates and who detests TFG, but this school board and the Redistricting agenda is just too radical for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The main reason boundaries have been and forever will be moved is due to overcrowding.

There is growth in the Tysons area that will cause boundary changes. The schools closest (Langley, McLean, Marshall, and Madison) will take the large brunt of it. Schools that abut them will need to pick up some neighborhoods. The most likely neighborhoods to move out of those four are the neighborhoods in Langley that are closer to Herndon and the neighborhoods in McLean that are closer to Falls Church. No communism, just practical planning.

Why are you pinning the School Board's apparent desire (inferred from the statements of School Board members like McDaniel and Lady) to move Langley kids to Herndon on these four schools? The five-year projections in the latest CIP have McLean at 104% (w/modular), Marshall at 101% (w/modular), Langley at 98% (no modular), and Madison at 89% (no modular) in 2028. There is no group of any size at any of these schools asking to be redistricted, and many who would actively oppose it. [i]

Currently, Tysons feeds entirely to Marshall (55-60% of Tysons) and McLean (35-40% of Tysons). If they start moving kids out of Marshall and McLean, what is their plan? Do they just move single-family neighborhoods in Vienna out of Marshall to Madison and single-family neighborhoods in McLean out of McLean to Langley? If so, that approach - turning Marshall into Tysons South HS and McLean into Tysons North HS - is the same approach that has led over time to the concentration of poverty at schools like Annandale. To be clear, there isn't the same concentration of poverty in Tysons now as there is in Annandale, but they ought to be very careful about how they approach this.

And if this "practical planning" is really just an equity-driven agenda by another name, it's not even likely to be very successful at that. Look at the numbers and this should be obvious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Before any rezoning ovvurs, two critical things should occur:

#1. All students attending a school affected by rezoning should be required to supply a proff of residency in the form of a recent utility bill in one of their parent's name.

If they cannot produce a current utility bill proving they are attending the correct school for their address, then they need to be moved out of the school the following year, back to their zoned school, and removed from the capacity counts. I suspect that there are dozens or more families that fall into this category, falsely inflating the capacity numbers.

#2 All loopholes allowing students to transfer out of receiving schools, such as Lewis where over 12% of the students transfer away to other high schools.

Once the transfer out loopholes are closed, FCPS needs to wait 2 full academic years to see if this increases enrollment and test scores at the school, or if those roughly 200 students find a different way to avoid attending Lewis.

If Lewis attendance shows no notable increase in Lewis students attending their zoned high school, then FCPS needs to halt rezoning and look at other solutions for Lewis, that do no involve rezoning kids from WSHS to fill spots that Lewis zoned students refuse to fill.

Rezoning into any school that is pupil placing OUT hundreds of students is short sighted and a terrible waste of taxpayer money, not to mention a huge disruption to students lives, and an attack on families that purchased their home based on a specific high school zone.

Kids are not political pawns.

Enforce existing district residency rules.

Look at the student actually zoned for the schools who are not attending, and fix those deficiencies.

The solution is simple.

DP. I agree with you in theory but what if a pyramid has a significant number of homeless or undocumented students whose parents are not on a lease or have a utility bill (many have these but some don’t).