Overcrowding brings trailer classrooms to Herndon school
http://www.insidenova.com/news/education/overcrowding-brings-trailer-classrooms-to-herndon-school/article_d36bc574-9d09-11e3-8033-001a4bcf887a.html


Mayor Lisa Merkel and members of the Herndon Town Council expressed frustration at a recent public meeting that, while some Fairfax County schools in nearby clusters remain at around 50- to 60-percent capacity, most Herndon schools are approaching as much as 18 percent above capacity.

For that reason, the council voted last week to allow the school district to install two trailers containing four additional classrooms at Herndon Elementary to help relieve the school’s severe space issues.

“The children [at Herndon Elementary] are facing a hardship because of lack of classroom space,” said the town’s community development director, Liz Gilleran.

Herndon Elementary Principal Anne Gwynn said part of why the school is lacking the necessary space is the fact that more than 50 percent of the school’s students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches—and when that is the case, the state puts a cap on the number of students that can be in each class. In Herndon’s case, that number is 24, and means the school is in dire need of more classrooms.

“We’re to the point where we’re starting to make instructional decisions based on space. And we never want to get to the point where we have to do that,” Gwynn told the mayor and council last week.

The situation is only expected to get worse, as the county predicts enrollment across the district to increase even more over the next five years. Gwynn said Herndon Elementary will likely reach 108 percent of capacity by the start of next year.

“I honestly don’t know where we’ll put these children,” Gwynn told the council. “We’ve maxed out our capacity; we’ve done everything we can to make sure our needs are met. Now we need your help.”

Gwynn said some classes and school groups are having to meet in the cafeteria regularly. Some teachers addressed the council to say that the school’s STEM lab (science, technology, engineering and math) may soon have to be canceled due to lack of space.

Mayor Lisa Merkel expressed frustration as she read aloud from Fairfax County Public Schools’ CIP (Capital Improvement Plan), which indicated that all but one school in Herndon over capacity by anywhere from 2 to as much as 18 percent, yet nearby clusters like Forest Hills and Great Falls are at only 48 and 64 percent of capacity, respectively.

“This is what really upsets me,” she said. “Something is not right about this map.”

Merkel said that in 2009, Herndon Elementary had been number 21 on the district’s list of schools to be renovated—but by the following year, renovations had been pushed back to 2021.

“It’s a little disheartening,” Merkel said, and vowed to ensure the town staff, mayor’s office and council would “stay on top of school officials” to make sure something is done.

In the meantime, Community Development Director Liz Gilleran, Fairfax schools engineer Eric Brunner and Gwynn recommended the council approve the installation of two trailers to the Herndon Elementary campus.

Brunner explained that each trailer is a “duplex,” and contains two classrooms, for a total of four, and each can fit around 52 students each.

Gilleran recommended the council approve a contingency called a “Time Allowance” in the agreement with the district that stipulates that the trailers can remain for no more than five years— and that, within two years, the district must present a permanent solution to relieve overcrowding at Herndon Elementary by the time the five years is up.

Dranesville District school board member Jane Strauss said she understands everyone’s frustration with the overcrowding in the Herndon area.

“We are experiencing tremendous growth, and last fall we opened with 1,000 trailers, which is more than we've ever had to use before,” Strauss said. “We have not been able to build new classrooms as fast as the students are coming to us.”

Strauss said, the reason clusters like Forest Hills and Great Falls are only around half of capacity is because there has actually been a decline in births in that area over the past few years, and the housing is also a lot less dense in those areas.

The Herndon area, being in such close proximity to the Dulles Toll Road, is seeing an increase in births, and housing is much more densely packed, she explained.

“The area is producing much more children; and as we prepare for the coming Silver Line extension, we anticipate even more growth,” she said.

Strauss said, in her experience, trailers and modular buildings can be an effective way of dealing with overcrowding quickly, rather than waiting for schools to be permanently renovated.

Strauss said the district is very aware of the overcrowding problems in the Herndon area.

“We are beginning to start to plan to address continuing growth in the student population in the Herndon area,” she said, explaining that Herndon High School is already on the short list for renovation and expansion.

As a “legacy school,” Herndon High has not had any renovations since opening in the 1960s.

An estimated 80 million students will be in classrooms for the 2013-14 school year, based on previous years' totals reported by the U.S. Census Bureau. (Census Bureau photo)
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Let's see, we can find money for turf fields, football, cheerleading, band trips, do nothing bureaucrats, but not for classrooms. That makes so much sense.

The BoS needs to fire Karen Garza and send her back to Texas.

Fire Karen Garza Wrote:
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> Let's see, we can find money for turf fields,
> football, cheerleading, band trips, do nothing
> bureaucrats, but not for classrooms. That makes so
> much sense.
>
> The BoS needs to fire Karen Garza and send her
> back to Texas.

May be Mz Graza can take get some of the illegal aliens and their kids to help with the move. Then point them towards the border when they get there.

They had trailers when I was there! They were doing some kind of construction and moved us mid year. It wasn't so bad. They don't have any there now?

Herndon has been going downhill for years. My folks pulled us out of that school. We had terrible teachers and the population got more and more trashy. It was like gangland in the end and I still remember 2 6th graders having sex in the bathroom, no teachers even noticed they were missing for like an hour.

From last month...

Parents Talk School Crowding at FCPS Hearing

Fairfax County school board members will vote on five-year school building, renovation plan later this month.
http://herndon.patch.com/groups/schools/p/parents-talk-school-crowding-at-fcps-hearing

Parents and students told the Fairfax County School Board on Monday night it worried the 2014-2018 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) wouldn't adequately address overcrowding in all places.

Doing small boundary adjustments to overcrowded areas and then readjusting the plan's renovation queue, which calculates the order in which major school repairs will occur, might be a better, more efficient long-term strategy, they said.

The five-year CIP budget will total $871.2 million or roughly $174.2 million per year. Funds approved in the 2011 School Bond Referendum and previous referenda will address approximately $190.8 million of the five-year requirement, leaving a balance of $680.3 million unfunded.

Officials expect another school bond referendum in 2013.

Along with detailing renovations at 63 Fairfax County school buildings, the CIP -released in December - anticipates needing two possible elementary schools in the Richmond Highway Corridor and the eastern area of Fairfax County and two more elementary schools in the Fairfax/Oakton area and in western Fairfax County, in the vicinity of Route 28 and the Dulles Airport Access Road.

The plan also explores a potential new high school in the southwestern portion of the county to provide relief to overcrowding at existing high schools such as Centreville, Chantilly and Reston South Lakes High School.

utilization for 2012-13 and will be at capacity utilization of 140 percent by 2017-18 if an addition or a nearby area high school is not built.

The latter number would make South Lakes the most overcrowded school in the county.

Capacity utilization refers to the percentage of capacity that is being utilized by a building based on the building’s program capacity and the number of enrolled students. A school is considered overcrowded when the enrollment of the school is higher than its capacity.


Despite a contentious redistricting battle five years ago, there was little input from SLHS-area parents at Monday's public hearing. Most speakers were from Haycock Elementary. Speakers from Haycock, set to be renovated by Fiscal Year 2016, said renovations would diminish the remaining green space at the school, something parents called already sorely lacking.

They also said renovations would fail to accommodate the high numbers of students expected in the future.

“Does the current design really solve all of our problems?” asked Christie Johnson, a member of the Haycock PTA.

Between September 2011 and 2012, total FCPS membership grew by nearly 3,000 students; enrollment has grown by more than 17,000 since 2006, Dale wrote in the CIP report. By 2017-18, he predicted membership would reach 195,800 students.

Parents urged the school board to consider rezoning the school and revising the design, because once it was renovated, officials likely wouldn’t come back to it for decades.

Some parents at the meeting used the opportunity to remind the school board about how renovations and overcrowding impact its potential restructuring Advance Academic Programs (AAP).

Amy Yam, Benjamin’s mother, agreed with officials that Haycock, a school currently at 120 percent capacity, desperately needed a renovation, but not at the expense of her son’s classes.

Benjamin Yam, a 4th grader at Haycock and a student in AAP classes, may have to attend AAP classes at Lemon Road Elementary School as part of an overcrowding solution, his mother said.

“I’d like to stay at Haycock,” Benjamin, the evening's first speaker, said. “I think that I should stay with my friends … I love it there.”

But Sally Johnson, another Haycock parent, didn’t think it would be fair to keep extra AAP students in a school so overcrowded.

“It’s just not fair,” she said. “We’re stretched too thin.”

The school board is scheduled to have a work session on the CIP on Jan. 14. It will vote on the five-year plan Jan. 24.

To see the entire CIP report, click here.
http://www.fcps.edu/fts/planning/cip/cipbook2014-18.pdf

If we actually started enforcing the immigration laws these sorts of problems would mysteriously vanish.

"Strauss said, in her experience, trailers and modular buildings can be an effective way of dealing with overcrowding quickly, rather than waiting for schools to be permanently renovated."

And, just what would Janie's "experience" be? Remember, the redistricting of South Lakes when her main goal was to protect Langley?

Too many mexicans Wrote:
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> If we actually started enforcing the immigration
> laws these sorts of problems would mysteriously
> vanish.


32% of the school is on free or reduced lunch.

Herndon - a decade + ago: "WELCOME ILLEGALS!!! We won't prosecute or enforce laws, and we'll trot out support for every family member you can drag along! We want you to feel superwelcome here, 'cause that makes us cry happy tears"

Herndon Today: "hey, anyone notice we're fucked? Wonder why?"

The Wayback Machine Wrote:
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> Herndon - a decade + ago: "WELCOME ILLEGALS!!! We
> won't prosecute or enforce laws, and we'll trot
> out support for every family member you can drag
> along! We want you to feel superwelcome here,
> 'cause that makes us cry happy tears"
>
> Herndon Today: "hey, anyone notice we're fucked?
> Wonder why?"


It's Bush's fault, of course.

where do you put the white kids garza ? you don't touch them bitch

you and your green cards go back to mexico

to f'ing lazy you get 3x the pay and say you didn't buy even trailers ?

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anyway they are just lying. they have plenty of space with the $1B + they gave mexicans to build schools

they are fucking lying about being short

they are making threats they will collect tax without permission of VA as if the school system is it's own goverment ruling over locals

when you raise the mexican flag you can try that kind of facist "tax" collection mrs garza. try it.

The Wayback Machine Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Herndon - a decade + ago: "WELCOME ILLEGALS!!! We
> won't prosecute or enforce laws, and we'll trot
> out support for every family member you can drag
> along! We want you to feel superwelcome here,
> 'cause that makes us cry happy tears"
>
> Herndon Today: "hey, anyone notice we're fucked?
> Wonder why?"


Lol. Truth.

What did they think was going to happen when they became a locust safe haven? 4 families to a house, each with 3 kids? You reap what you sow, Herndon. Enjoy the fast track to becoming another Baileys Crossroads.

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No different than Lorton Station E.S. -- 400 over capacity -- you want to talk about chaos -- visit the cafeteria during lunch.

A criminal sanctuary city in the middle of a criminal sanctuary county.

Gee, who could ever have envisioned this?

Article is nuts. There's no "Forest Hills" cluster or school near Herndon.

No wonder the place gets screwed when people there are idiots.

If there are some schools that are not at capacity, why not transfer the extra kids there? Or what about redrawing the school district boundaries?

Let's bring back forced busing. Kids should have same long as shit commutes as their parents do.

This Ain't Queens Wrote:
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> Article is nuts. There's no "Forest Hills"
> cluster or school near Herndon.
>
> No wonder the place gets screwed when people there
> are idiots.

So what? I lived in Herndon back in the 80's. High School was over capacity then, so they bused us out to Oakton High School in Vienna.

I am not sure why this is being made so difficult. They could do a number of things to help currently. Blaming others will get us no where fast. We need to all work together.

options
1.fast track approvals for transfers to parents willing to move their child to an under capacity school. Many parents could easily take their kids to schools closer to their work.

2. build up with community involvement. There are many cheap laborers hanging around here needing a job. Get the whole school boundary involved. fundraisers, churches, neighbors, business material donation, etc. Things cost a lot less when you are not paying for profits or labor.

3. draw new boundary lines to start implementing this coming school year. That gives everyone months to prepare.

and so on.

What is happening at Herndon Elementary? Why is there a new principal being placed?

Herndon?

Check the immigration status of the parents of East Indian kids
If they are illegal somehow -- ship em back.

Do the Same with Latinos with illegal status.

Go Trump.

Previous posters really do have it right. Herndon is stuffed to the gills mostly because nobody wants those kids. They're very low socio-economic, and very high ESOL population. In a lot of the classes at Herndon 85% of the kids are from Central America. 85%. Good night.

So for another school with good socio-economic numbers to take those kids means a huge change to the school.

Your heart breaks for the kids involved, but if you've got a regular old American, English speaking kid in a school with high ESOL levels, your kid doesn't get much help or instruction at all. Almost all the school's time and effort goes to the ESOL kids. The regular old American kids--they'll pass the SOLs, everybody says, and so they're kid of shoved to the side.

> some Fairfax County schools in nearby clusters remain at around 50- to 60-percent capacity

ok there's lie #1

if there is even one such it's only because it just opened and the high density housing mexicans are building nearby aren't yet finished

i've mistakenly read tons of the county tax appropriations discussions and funding decisions for schools

its' not at all true they fund one school and not another

the article is a complete mis-representation of reality

infact - i obama.gov remember clearly that just after obama election HERNDON requested $500,000,000 (yes that's FIVE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS)

TO RENOVATE JUST ONE SCHOOL

i have no idea if it was agreed - but obviously $500 million (which i triple checked in the news) requested was absolutely a money grab - a new school doesn't coast that much

SKY SCRAPERS HAVE BEEN BUILT FOR LESS

the appropriations discussions are very boring fair and predictable (also they are ALL overpriced :)

if it's funding season it's very normal to come out in public and make tall stories that the sky is falling

however it's only been that way since the mid 90's. lying of that yuppie kind wasn't allowed in the 80's - there would be immediate removal of even a president if tall stories were found out to be untrue

it had been called "public lying" and wasn't allowed

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