Based upon our review of the boundary and non-boundary options proposed by FCPS to relieve the overcrowding at Annandale HS, we prefer Boundary Option 2 as the solution that makes long-term sense for FCPS because it provides the most enrollment balance for FCPS and it is easier to implement administratively. Option 2 eliminates some split feeders and attendance islands, both stated goals of School Board policy 8130, providing smooth transitions throughout their school years.
Boundary Option 1 does not remove enough students from AHS, and will more than likely require another boundary study soon to relieve additional overcrowding. Non-Boundary Option 4 will not give FCPS the flexibility it may need in future years to resolve other boundary adjustments, will not relieve the overcrowding at AHS in the long term, and will be disruptive to the lives of all AHS-bound students. Options 2 and 3 relieve the overcrowding at AHS, Option 2 is easier to administrate and does a better job of balancing enrollments across our region.
There will be calls to retain the status quo. However, if you do not want to revisit this situation and are a part of WFES that currently feeds to Frost MS and Woodson HS, OR if you believe that Frost MS or Woodson HS should not lose additional students, we believe that your best course of action is to tell the school board members that you are in support of Boundary Option 2.
Please write the school board members (schoolboardmembers@fcps.edu) and Denise James and Ajay Rawat of FCPS Facilities staff (djames@fcps.edu; ajay.rawat@fcps.edu) and tell them that you support Boundary Option 2 and that additional WFES students will be welcomed at Frost MS and Woodson HS. Backing Boundary Option 1 will not help in this situation as it will merely put us all in the same position again in a few years. Let's fix this situation now.
Look for more detailed analysis of these options on this site in the days to come. In the meantime, please take our survey indicating which option you prefer! See "Take Our WFES Boundary Survey" adjacent to this post.
I guess I'm confused and would like some clarification before I can consider supporting Option 2. The data provided by FCPS shows that Frost is already at 117% capacity - more crowded than Annandale High School - and moving all the WFES kids to Frost would put it at 123% capacity in 2012/2013 - and puts Woodson slightly over capacity. How would Option 2 benefit anybody? If the concerns are overcrowding and eliminating the split feeder - Option 3 clearly addresses both, no?
ReplyDeleteI am a Wakefield Chapel resident, and both of my children attended WFES. I DO NOT support Option 2. I DO NOT AGREE that the split-feeder needs to be "corrected." I knew which schools my children would attend when I bought my home, and I'll bet all of you did, too. Now, you're asking the school board to change where our community attends high school, and in the process depriving me of my right as a parent to choose what I think is best for my child. If it was important to me for my children to attend Frost/Woodson, I would have purchased my home in the Frost/Woodson district. I don't agree that in an ideal world students attend school with the same children from K-12. The split-feed from WFES was a blessing to both of my children, for different reasons. Poe has been a great experience for both of my children, and Annandale has provided a great experience for my older child who is finishing up her second year there. Please don't take it upon yourselves to relocate my children. I want them at Annandale.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your question. There is a difference between program capacity and design capacity. Program capacity is dependent upon the programs that are offered by a school; design capacity is what the building is able to handle, programs or not. The program capacity of Frost MS is 864, but the design capacity of Frost is 1,062. Based upon the building capacity alone, Frost MS is not overcrowded and could easily accomodate the children who would be moved under Option 2. If you speak to the parents of those at Frost MS, you will find that they did not even know that Frost MS is overcrowded until the boundary options were issued. In other words, the children move around easily and are able to get to their classrooms on time with minimal disruption. Contrast this with the current overcrowding at Annandale HS and the projected overcrowding at Poe MS, and you will find a very different situation, which is of course why the school board is examining Poe MS and Annandale HS to reduce the overcrowding in the first place.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, Option 2 includes sending AAP children from North Springfield ES (including children to be moved from Bren Mar Park ES) to Frost MS for the AAP Center, despite the fact that North Springfield ES feeds into Holmes MS, which is proposed to receive an AAP Center. These children could be reunited with the children from their base school and still receive AAP services by being sent to Holmes MS.
With regard to Woodson HS, program capacity utlization percentage at Woodson HS in the 2012-2013 school year is 100.3%, but drops to 95.3% by the 2016-2017 school year. Woodson HS program capacity is 2,339, and its design capacity is 2,356 (a difference of only 17 students). While we want to adjust schools for overcrowding, we can also object to schools being so severely undercrowded that they are negatively impacted. Option 3 would hurt Woodson HS by reducing its program capacity to 83.1% in the 2016-2017 school year. It does not provide adequate county-wide balance for the schools. Option 2 would serve to undercrowd Annandale HS while filling excess capacity at Woodson HS, providing better county-wide balance.
In the end, Option 2 is easier to implement than Option 3. The transportation already runs through our neighborhood. Additionally, approximately 70% of Wakefield Forest ES is closer geographically to Frost MS and Woodson HS than Lake Braddock SS, which will result in higher transportation costs.
Thank you for your comment. While we empathize with the position of parents who are understandably worried for the future of their children, we have to stand by the facts. Annandale HS is overcrowded. If Option 4 is not implemented (and we do not believe it should be for the reasons articulated in "About V.O.I.C.E."), someone has to move. Option 1 does not move sufficient children to relieve the AHS overcrowding, even using Facilities' own numbers. The only viable options are Options 2 and 3 because they are the only ones that move sufficient children out of Annandale HS to relieve the overcrowding, and for the reasons articulated above, we prefer Option 2.
ReplyDeleteWe strongly support grandfathering any child who has completed their freshman year at AHS by the 2012-2013 school year.
FCPS considers Frost overcrowded period. While this group seems to believe that ignoring data they don't like in favor of what they do like...."Based upon the building capacity alone," that's not the only way capacity is measured by FCPS. Frost is overcrowded period. And what difference does it make that Frost parents don’t know it, I'm wondering? The fact that Frost parents want to stay at Frost, regardless of the overcrowding is no different than parents who want to stay at Annandale, regardless of the overcrowding. Again immaterial to what FCPS cares about.
ReplyDeleteThrowing in Woodson into this answer means absolutely nothing to the issue that Frost is more overcrowded than AHS. The only way you can get around that fact is to manipulate the numbers (ignoring some in favor of others).
This is not an honest way to make your case. We all have a right to our own opinion but not our own facts.
We agree that the facts are what is important. We care about developing long-term solutions to our area's enrollment issues rather than short-term band-aids, and we believe that Option 2 is preferable to Option 3 because it provides long-term solutions and area-wide balance. By proposing Option 2, FCPS staff considered that Frost and Woodson were viable options to relieve the overcrowding at Poe and Annandale. As you will see, we have posted a more detailed analysis of the Frost issue. If you feel that Frost is not a viable option to the overcrowding issues at Poe and Annandale after reading our analysis, we suggest you notify the school board members of your preferences.
ReplyDeleteRegarding The Voice's comment:
ReplyDelete"If you speak to the parents of those at Frost MS, you will find that they did not even know that Frost MS is overcrowded until the boundary options were issued."
WRONG. Talk to me. I was a Frost parent. I knew it was over-crowded every day.
Class size was too big and did affect how teachers taught - we saw that, too. They did the best they could, but if you have 34 students, you're limited in how you run a class; it's not the same.
Lunch periods began at 10:15 to handle the numbers -
We knew.
Perhaps things have gotten better since you were last there. (Which would be consistent with the declining population the county's numbers demonstrate.) A review of the official bell schedule at Frost shows that first lunch actually starts at 11:02, and not the "10:15" that you recall in your post. We also note again that compared to other middle schools, Frost does quite well with its lunch schedule, accomplishing in a very reasonable 3 periods what it takes Lake Braddock Middle School five periods to achieve. This would also be consistent with the design capacity of the school (which measures the actual physical capacity of the building, including common areas such as gym, cafeteria, hallways) being stated at 1062 students (in excess of the current population) on the FCPS facilities dashboard.
ReplyDelete