You seem to be pretty confident that the lawsuit will fail. The CAPS lawyer has an impressive history I checked his website - I doubt he would file something that is totally baseless.

Thomas More Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> notyet Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Dont panic. The lawsuit may still save us.
>
> From what accumulating wealth? It ain't going to
> save you from the RD.

slgrad Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> To FM MOm
>
> Your kids should fit in really well ,at south
> lakes ( with your perception of it) I heard Fox
> Mill has a real bullying problem going on. Could
> it be ? Smart White kids being mean to each other
> .?


What perception do you think I have about SL? I certainly don't have a negative perception (except from some of the ugly members of that community who frequent this forum but I know the Undergound can bring out the worst in some people, so you are forgiven.) The only bad perception I have is of the school board.

We went to the march 25th event at SL. I've been impressed with the principal, faculty and students. Except for the IB program (which is a big problem) I have no problem with SL--and I do love that it is much closer than Oakton. Bring in AP and I am there (and so are MANY others from the FM community.)

I don't know what you refer to when you talk about bullying problem. I've always been impressed that that kind of thing doesn't exist at FM. And, just for the record I know NOBODY who is worried about bullying or other bad behaviors if they go to SL. BTW, my son is a good kid and he is comfortable about going to whichever HS he ends up at.

I think the benefits of going to SL far outweigh the IB/AP differences.

On the 4/10 session the school board is voting on a motion by Stu Gibson to shut down this thread. This thread is overcrowded with over 280 pages. There are other threads on other message boards that are only 30 pages. Gibson says that all message board threads should be 100 pages only. On this thread 1 in 16 posters do not wirte good english. On the other message boards, 1 in 5 posters cannot write good english. Raney and Tina are opposing. The motion is expected to pass 10-2 to shut down this thread. There will be no grandfathering. The old posters on this thread will also be shutdown. You can pupil place to the nearest other message board to your base home router, or one that is hosted in a data center nearest to this website. You will have to meet with Bruce for 1 hour before you are allowed to post on other message board. Should you post on the other message board, you have to make at least 3 posts a day, otherwise the SB will take away your internet access.
This is serious stuff. The public hearing signup list opens on 4/6 at 4:01 AM and closes at 4:01 AM and 1 second. If you sign up during that 1 second, you have to agree to only speak either for the proposal or for the proposal.

Hey thanks for the enlightment, but guess what? This thread will most likely continue. I am sure the SB knows about these high school redistricting blogs and do not give a sh't about them much like what they did to the anti-RDers, only listened to the pro-RDers which was to vote for the RD and ignored thousands of emails and letters, etc.

backintog Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think the benefits of going to SL far outweigh
> the IB/AP differences.


Here's the thing: I know SLPTA hopes that they can make us IB converts--that we just don't GET IT. But most families have done a lot of research and they still prefer AP. Please respect individual academic choices parents make for their children. I'm glad you think the benefit outweigh the differences--but the choice is personal and you shouldn't have a bigger vote about my child's education that I do.

backintog Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think the benefits of going to SL far outweigh
> the IB/AP differences.

Care to elaborate?

notyet Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You seem to be pretty confident that the lawsuit will fail. The CAPS lawyer has an > impressive history I checked his website - I doubt he would file something that is > totally baseless.

You're relying on what he wrote about himself?

Having litigated against local governments and against Mr. Stone, it would be a shock if this case survives 6 weeks in the Circuit Court.

Baffled Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hey thanks for the enlightment, but guess what?
> This thread will most likely continue. I am sure
> the SB knows about these high school redistricting
> blogs and do not give a sh't about them much like
> what they did to the anti-RDers, only listened to
> the pro-RDers which was to vote for the RD and
> ignored thousands of emails and letters, etc.


Lighten up brother. Don't take yourself so seriously :)

I can not think of any benefits. Only disadvantages - No AP , low scores mean lower standards, etc. What could one possibly gain by switching from Oakton to SL?

backintog Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think the benefits of going to SL far outweigh
> the IB/AP differences.

Baffled Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hey thanks for the enlightment, but guess what?
> This thread will most likely continue. I am sure
> the SB knows about these high school redistricting
> blogs and do not give a sh't about them much like
> what they did to the anti-RDers, only listened to
> the pro-RDers which was to vote for the RD and
> ignored thousands of emails and letters, etc.

Other than themselves, the school administration, and their buddies on the board of supervisors, is there anyone else they care about? Nope. They don't care, they don't have to.

benefits? Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I can not think of any benefits. Only
> disadvantages - No AP , low scores mean lower
> standards, etc. What could one possibly gain by
> switching from Oakton to SL?


I know the answer to that! (Waving hand wildly) DIVERSITY!!!!

Haven't you been paying attention?! SL's people talk about it constantly. Diversity trumps everything in education. Just ask them. They are more than happy to tell you ALL about it.

Is it true that SL is offering only 3 additional classes next year? Everyone went through the hell of his redistricting for THREE classes? Sheeze.

SPTCAPS Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> backintog Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I think the benefits of going to SL far
> outweigh
> > the IB/AP differences.
>
>
> Here's the thing: I know SLPTA hopes that they
> can make us IB converts--that we just don't GET
> IT. But most families have done a lot of research
> and they still prefer AP. Please respect
> individual academic choices parents make for their
> children. I'm glad you think the benefit outweigh
> the differences--but the choice is personal and
> you shouldn't have a bigger vote about my child's
> education that I do.

Yes, that's right, you just aren't as smart as those SL's PTSA moms who LOVE IB. You are simply ignorant. You are too dumb to know what is best for your child. They know better than you. They will teach you, fill you with the wisdom of the IB program, they will show you the light and the way.

SBGibson Wrote:
> On the 4/10 session the school board is voting on
> a motion by Stu Gibson to shut down this thread.
> This thread is overcrowded with over 280 pages.
> There are other threads on other message boards
> that are only 30 pages. Gibson says that all
> message board threads should be 100 pages only. On
> this thread 1 in 16 posters do not wirte good
> english. On the other message boards, 1 in 5
> posters cannot write good english. Raney and Tina
> are opposing. The motion is expected to pass 10-2
> to shut down this thread. There will be no
> grandfathering. The old posters on this thread
> will also be shutdown. You can pupil place to the
> nearest other message board to your base home
> router, or one that is hosted in a data center
> nearest to this website. You will have to meet
> with Bruce for 1 hour before you are allowed to
> post on other message board. Should you post on
> the other message board, you have to make at least
> 3 posts a day, otherwise the SB will take away
> your internet access.
> This is serious stuff. The public hearing signup
> list opens on 4/6 at 4:01 AM and closes at 4:01 AM
> and 1 second. If you sign up during that 1 second,
> you have to agree to only speak either for the
> proposal or for the proposal.

A better attempt at humor than most, and shows a better understand of the issues than most. Thank you.

the whole race thing is wrong, just the school board is racist otherwise they would not have let sl become a low performing school. dont you all get it, this is why everyone bought homes not in reston, or not in south lakes attendance areasSo if the school board would have fixed and make a good attempt for fix the low performance problems of south lakes then we would not have this thread right now. the ap vs ib thing might not be so serious if south lakes wasnt low performing, that doesnt give parents a good impression of ib.

DISCRIMINATION Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> FCPS Cite ‘Morality Gap’
> School Board questions accuracy of data showing
> gap between ethnicities.
> Julia O'Donoghue
> April 2, 2008
>
>
> At-large School Board member Tina Hone questioned
> the validity of data that shows a "morality gap"
> between white students and some minority groups in
> Fairfax County Public Schools.
>
>
> At-large school board member Tina Hone walked off
> the dais during Fairfax County Public Schools’
> presentation on student "essential life skills"
> March 27.
>
> Hone, one of only two non-white members of the
> school board, said she was "troubled" by the
> report, particularly the gap between black and
> Hispanic students and their peers.

Whoa! Tina Hone is non-white? I hate to sound ignorant here, but can someone tell what race she claims to be? She appears to be as Caucasian as anyone on the SB except for Mr. Moon.

One of the plaintiffs in the suit is a racist. She stood on the sidewalk in front of one of the Reston elementary schools and bemoaned the number of brown-skinned children taking over, and then she moved to 'whiter' pastures. She knows who she is.

Little Birdie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One of the plaintiffs in the suit is a racist.
> She stood on the sidewalk in front of one of the
> Reston elementary schools and bemoaned the number
> of brown-skinned children taking over, and then
> she moved to 'whiter' pastures. She knows who she
> is.


These secretive comments don't really shed light on the situation. I don't know who you're referring to, and it doesn't matter to me because it might be true or might not, or it might have been taken out of context. All of us have said things that if taken as a snippet, could be interpetted as negative. I don't mean that racism doesn't exist in the world, but saying that one of the plaintiffs made a racist comment is meaningless.
On that note, let's all remember the goals of MLK Jr. today.

There is always the pupil placement option. We did ours this week. A lot of folks tried to convince us about greatness of IB program, but we did our research. We talked to our son, his schedule and goals in life. He thinks AP program is what he wants to do.

Good luck to all the folks who want to pursue the IB program. We respect their decision and we expect the rest of you to respect our decision.

OK-so I took some tome looking into this "Morality Gap" report the geniuses in accountability came up with.

According to the survey, 36% of Hispanic and 21% of Whites and Blacks (the percentage was identical) in 8th grade reported using any of 15 different illegal substances (alcohol, tobacco, drugs, etc) over the prior 30 day period. The use could occur on or off school grounds. There are about 12000 8th graders in FCPS, which would mean about 3000 8th graders are abusing these drugs.

If you look at the incident data as reported to VA DOE, there were 40 incidents involving ATOD at middle schools during the 2005-06 year. Assuming half of the 40 incidents reported were 8th graders, that brings it down to 20.

So we have 3000 users and 20 reported violations. Granted, most kids are not going to be stupid enough to do it at school, but most 14 year olds don't exercise very good judgement particulary if they are using these things fairly regularly.

What troubles me, is that Blacks and Hispanics are punished at a rate of three times Whites relative to their populations. The user rates are identical for Whites and Blacks and slightly higher for Hispanics.

Could it be that FCPS practices racism in their disciplinary policies? The numbers certainly don't lie.

It cracks me up that FCPS used this report to give them an excuse why the minoritiy achievement gaps persist, when in fact it just proves racial bias and arbitrary practices within their ZT practices.

How ironic.

The school board is totally racist. Bunch of racists trying to only protect the Langley community.

mr e Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> the whole race thing is wrong, just the school
> board is racist otherwise they would not have let
> sl become a low performing school. dont you all
> get it, this is why everyone bought homes not in
> reston, or not in south lakes attendance areasSo
> if the school board would have fixed and make a
> good attempt for fix the low performance problems
> of south lakes then we would not have this thread
> right now. the ap vs ib thing might not be so
> serious if south lakes wasnt low performing, that
> doesnt give parents a good impression of ib.

notyet Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You seem to be pretty confident that the lawsuit
> will fail. The CAPS lawyer has an impressive
> history I checked his website - I doubt he would
> file something that is totally baseless.

Read the lawsuit. It's a complete joke. Looks like some intern on Spring Break wrote it.

The problem is that SL HS has forgotton its main goals. They are only touting diversity as the sole goal for the school. A school's main goal should be education. Once they get off their diversity agenda and start focussing on educating their students the school can compete with Langley and Oakton.

problems Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The problem is that SL HS has forgotton its main
> goals. They are only touting diversity as the sole
> goal for the school. A school's main goal should
> be education. Once they get off their diversity
> agenda and start focussing on educating their
> students the school can compete with Langley and
> Oakton.

Notwithstanding the AP/IB debate, it is not that simple. There is not that much wrong with the education, or with the school or with the teachers or with the admoinistration. The fact of the matter is that some of the kids in the school come from backgrounds that have traditionally not been the best environment to allow the kids to succeed, that's where the whole issue of socio-economic backgrounds comes in.

If you normalize for those that fall into these at-risk categories, my guess is that the performance of the more "main stream" kids is similar, or maybe even better than that at Westfield and Chantilly, and would probably be in the top 3-4% of all school sin US .

Whether it will be able to achieve Oakton and Langley status, remains to be seen, but not even Westfield and Chantilly achieve that level of performance at the present time.

I BELIEVE THAT FOR THE MOST PART, OUR SCHOOL BOARD IS A BUNCH OF WHITE, ELITIST WHO ARE RACISTS.

BECAUSE THEY ARE FAILING BLACKS AND HISPANICS WITH HIGH DROP OUT RATES AND 70 SCHOOLS ARE FAILING NCLB THEY WANT BLACKS AND HISPANICS TO LEAVE THE FCPS SYSTEM IN ORDER TO MAKE THEMSELVES LOOK GOOD.

SINCE SOUTH LAKES IS ALSO FAILING, THEY WANT WHITE AND ASIAN STUDENTS FROM THE SURROUNDING SCHOOL TO REDUCE DROP OUT RATES AND INCREASE SAT SCORES. THAT'S WHY THEY VOTED TO REDISTRICT SOUTH LAKES.

BRING IN WARM WHITE AND ASIAN BODIES IN ORDER TO FIX A FAILING SCHOOL, THAT HAS BEEN GOING DOWN HILL FOR ALMOST TEN YEARS.




agree Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The school board is totally racist. Bunch of
> racists trying to only protect the Langley
> community.
>
> mr e Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > the whole race thing is wrong, just the school
> > board is racist otherwise they would not have
> let
> > sl become a low performing school. dont you all
> > get it, this is why everyone bought homes not
> in
> > reston, or not in south lakes attendance
> areasSo
> > if the school board would have fixed and make a
> > good attempt for fix the low performance
> problems
> > of south lakes then we would not have this
> thread
> > right now. the ap vs ib thing might not be so
> > serious if south lakes wasnt low performing,
> that
> > doesnt give parents a good impression of ib.

Tina Hone is African American. One of her parents is black and the other is from (I think) Yugoslavia. She mentioned it at the school board meeting on 2/28.
>
> Whoa! Tina Hone is non-white? I hate to sound
> ignorant here, but can someone tell what race she
> claims to be? She appears to be as Caucasian as
> anyone on the SB except for Mr. Moon.

That makes Tina half-white, half-black. She has probably never been mistaken for a black person, but perhaps has witnessed racism from those not realizing she is half-black.

Democrats are too wrapped up in identity politics, and she is typical of the breed.

Very early on several school board members disclosed to several of us meeting with them that they had met with a group of South Lakes parents and South Lakes PTSA reps. These board members stated that the South Lakes parents they met with all of whom were causasion, expressed to them that the reason they so desperately desired a redistricting was to stop the 'white flight' from South Lakes.
We know that these groups were all caucasion because upon hearing from 3 seperate board members that these meetings with South Lakes parents and PTSAs regarded concern over 'white flight' we asked if people of color were concerned about 'white flight' or if this concern was only being expressed by caucasions. These meetings occured in November and have colored my view of this process from that point on. It is clear to me who the racists are. At a point where many of us were only just hearing about South Lakes we were hearing this. Prior to November of last year when the redistricting moved to the forfront of my attention, I really had no knowledge whatsoever about South Lakes.
Hearing that these parents were deeply concerned about 'white flight', made me wonder why are these whites moving out? What must be wrong with SLHS? What kind of people organize to bring more whites into an area because others are leaving? It was not a positive first impression. It certainly set the tone for the entire thing.

FCPS Morality Report Analysis-PART 2

According to student surveys of 12th graders in FCPS, 60% of Whites, 59% of Hispanics and 44% of Blacks reported using one of 15 forms of illegal substances including alcohol, drugs, tobacco, etc within the last 30 days. The usage could occur on or off school property.

I find it interesting that the Whites led the pack. Certainly FCPS disciplinary data should mirror these percentages. Let's see, shall we?

The total high school population is around 48,000 students. According to data reported to VA DOE, FCPS high schools reported 650 incidents involving ATODs in school year 2005-06. These incidents resulted in 260 expulsion recommendations for these types off offenses. FCPS takes this very seriously, as you can see.

So we have on average 55% users, which is about 26,000 students and only 650 reported incidents.

Even though Whites have the higher usage rates, Blacks and Hispanics are punished at a rate 3 times that of Whites based on their populations. That doesn't make sense, does it???

The schools with the highest incident rates, AS REPORTED BY FCPS, were Falls Church, South Lakes, and WestPot. Some of the lower incident rates were at TJ, Oakton, Langley and McLean. Is there a pattern here???


So you see, the schools with the highest White populations received the fewest punishments even though the usage rate is highest among Whites. And the schools with higher minority populations had the most punishments.

I am beginning to think that FCPS engages in some dicriminatory practices within their Disciplinary Department. I hope I am wrong.

Little Birdie-

By typical for her 'breed' what is it you are trying to say?

Are you trying to make an anti Democrat comment or an anti black comment?

You do a fabulous job of generalizing. Apparently everything in your world is black or white, you are clearly not open to the many shades in between.

Lopter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> notyet Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > You seem to be pretty confident that the
> lawsuit
> > will fail. The CAPS lawyer has an impressive
> > history I checked his website - I doubt he
> would
> > file something that is totally baseless.
>
> Read the lawsuit. It's a complete joke. Looks
> like some intern on Spring Break wrote it.

I had dinner with a buddy from Hunton Williams recently. He said they are laughing all the way to the bank. They are planning on billing large sums while addressing each claim in great detail. SB told them to squash CAPS. Their response will be dynamite.

Only fly in the ointment is the Dillon charge. My bud said the big dogs at his shop are worried that this claim may actually work. They are planning a moot court to practice their responses to what may be some tough questions from the judge. Eg, is it okay for the SB to use family home value as a criteria, or family income, or other things? What is an improper socioeconomic factor? Is it okay to use nationality (e.g., Hispanic, Asian). If not, why not. Why isnt ESOL just code word for anti-Hispanic. To me, this question boils down to "How many Hispanics (or FRM kids) in a HS does the SB think is too many, how do they know, and who gave the SB the power to set this quota?" So they are getting ready for a question like "if no one can tell which socioeconomic factor is okay, and if the legislature didnt expressly say you can use them, why use them at all?"

So, my buddy said there is a fair chance the SB will actually lose. If SB loses, they will argue it was harmless error so no injunction, but that is not likely to fly. But then more smiles...the SB can decide to appeal all the way to the Virginia Supremes for a final ruling....more billing, and a chance to further establish Hunton as the big dog in Richmond for education matters. They compete with a few other firms for SB related litigation (usually employee grievances). They think this suit will help them get more work from other SBs, and all good firms like the prestige of Supreme court cases.

Also, about timing Storck told Hunton to work with CAPS and the judge to get an early court date so the decision will be known sooner than later so parents can plan. They hope for a hearing in June, if not sooner. But if they lose and appeal, there is no way the appeal can be heard before the new school year will be starting. He said Hunton could ask the judge to delay any injunction of the RD until the appeal is heard, but that judge may not agree. Thus, if SB loses, the RD plan would be stopped while any appeal goes forward. I have been thinking about that part...SB will have to decide if they want to put all on hold for the appeal, or just do it again w/out socioeconomics. Either way, nothing will happen for at least one year.

Anyway, for me it seems the suit could have two winners: CAPS and Hunton. Or SB and Hunton. Either way, Hunton is happy.

"So, my buddy said there is a fair chance the SB will actually lose. If SB loses, they will argue it was harmless error so no injunction, but that is not likely to fly. But then more smiles...the SB can decide to appeal all the way to the Virginia Supremes for a final ruling....more billing, and a chance to further establish Hunton as the big dog in Richmond for education matters. They compete with a few other firms for SB related litigation (usually employee grievances). They think this suit will help them get more work from other SBs, and all good firms like the prestige of Supreme court cases."

Hahahahaha, so the SB will use this excuse as saying it was a "harmless error" about the socio-economics crap and will say no injunction and then would continue to appeal all the way to the VA Surpreme Court? Yeah right. Idiotic SBMs except for Hone and Raney.

SLPTA has worked hard to indoctrinate/welcome the new draftees. Tonight was supposed to be a free sports and pizza night. But those damn CAPS folks made it rain. Not to worry. Stu will order clear skies for the rescheduled night. He will make sure it only rains in Fox Mill and Floris.

draftees? I saw a prior post here where they were POWs

damn CAPS Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SLPTA has worked hard to indoctrinate/welcome the
> new draftees. Tonight was supposed to be a free
> sports and pizza night. But those damn CAPS folks
> made it rain. Not to worry. Stu will order clear
> skies for the rescheduled night. He will make
> sure it only rains in Fox Mill and Floris.

How dare it rain with out asking Stu Gibson first. He is the decider. Rain is going to be redistricted every year to another school by Gibson.
Rain is also proved to be racist as it rained on SL HS. All raindrops are the same and rain does not understand diversity of SL. Bad Rain. Stu Gibson is going to give rain a timeout


damn CAPS Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SLPTA has worked hard to indoctrinate/welcome the
> new draftees. Tonight was supposed to be a free
> sports and pizza night. But those damn CAPS folks
> made it rain. Not to worry. Stu will order clear
> skies for the rescheduled night. He will make
> sure it only rains in Fox Mill and Floris.

I BELIEVE DAN STORCK, LIZ BRADSHER AND MOST OF THE GROUPS IN SOCO ARE A BUNCH OF WHITE, ELITIST WHO ARE RACISTS.

THEY DO NOT WANT TO GO TO ANY SCHOOL THAT HAS A LARGE GROUP OF MINORITY STUDENTS. ALL THEY WANT IS THEIR ALL WHITE SCHOOLS FROM ES, TO MS, TO HS.

mr e Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> the whole race thing is wrong, just the school
> board is racist otherwise they would not have let
> sl become a low performing school. dont you all
> get it, this is why everyone bought homes not in
> reston, or not in south lakes attendance areasSo
> if the school board would have fixed and make a
> good attempt for fix the low performance problems
> of south lakes then we would not have this thread
> right now. the ap vs ib thing might not be so
> serious if south lakes wasnt low performing, that
> doesnt give parents a good impression of ib.

Are you yet another victim of whole language and IB? You are not yet literate in English. Please learn to use punctuation if you want anyone to be able to read your posts.

what breed Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Little Birdie-
>
> By typical for her 'breed' what is it you are
> trying to say?
>
> Are you trying to make an anti Democrat comment or
> an anti black comment?
>
> You do a fabulous job of generalizing. Apparently
> everything in your world is black or white, you
> are clearly not open to the many shades in
> between.

How DARE she not recognize the value of all the many shades of diversity!

answer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Tina Hone is African American. One of her parents
> is black and the other is from (I think)
> Yugoslavia. She mentioned it at the school board
> meeting on 2/28.
> >
> > Whoa! Tina Hone is non-white? I hate to sound
> > ignorant here, but can someone tell what race
> she
> > claims to be? She appears to be as Caucasian
> as
> > anyone on the SB except for Mr. Moon.

Tina Hone claims to be African American. She is also very committed to Serbia.
http://serbblog.blogspot.com/2007/05/tina-hone-for-fairfax-county-school.html

Lee Parent Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> FCPS Morality Report Analysis-PART 2
>
> According to student surveys of 12th graders in
> FCPS, 60% of Whites, 59% of Hispanics and 44% of
> Blacks reported using one of 15 forms of illegal
> substances including alcohol, drugs, tobacco, etc
> within the last 30 days. The usage could occur on
> or off school property.
>
> I find it interesting that the Whites led the
> pack. Certainly FCPS disciplinary data should
> mirror these percentages. Let's see, shall we?
>
> The total high school population is around 48,000
> students. According to data reported to VA DOE,
> FCPS high schools reported 650 incidents involving
> ATODs in school year 2005-06. These incidents
> resulted in 260 expulsion recommendations for
> these types off offenses. FCPS takes this very
> seriously, as you can see.
>
> So we have on average 55% users, which is about
> 26,000 students and only 650 reported incidents.
>
> Even though Whites have the higher usage rates,
> Blacks and Hispanics are punished at a rate 3
> times that of Whites based on their populations.
> That doesn't make sense, does it???
>
> The schools with the highest incident rates, AS
> REPORTED BY FCPS, were Falls Church, South Lakes,
> and WestPot. Some of the lower incident rates
> were at TJ, Oakton, Langley and McLean. Is there
> a pattern here???
>
>
> So you see, the schools with the highest White
> populations received the fewest punishments even
> though the usage rate is highest among Whites.
> And the schools with higher minority populations
> had the most punishments.
>
> I am beginning to think that FCPS engages in some
> dicriminatory practices within their Disciplinary
> Department. I hope I am wrong.

Perhaps white kids party on weekends, and not so dumb as to use drugs at school. How did you think those kids at top schools get such good grades and SATs? It's not being stoned all day.

Gibson works in Department of Justice. Is there a risk that he can influence the lawsuit case?

There are a ton of branches of DOJ. It's nice to know that somebody from DOJ is on the School Board. Congrat's to Stu.

Are you saying it is ok for Stu Gibson to use his DOJ influence to sway this case?

Chantilly Dad Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There are a ton of branches of DOJ. It's nice to
> know that somebody from DOJ is on the School
> Board. Congrat's to Stu.

Anything is ok for Stu Gibson. He just pulled off the feat of protecting Langley for North Reston, while dragging every one else into RD for Reston school

gibson doj? Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Are you saying it is ok for Stu Gibson to use his
> DOJ influence to sway this case?
>
> Chantilly Dad Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > There are a ton of branches of DOJ. It's nice
> to
> > know that somebody from DOJ is on the School
> > Board. Congrat's to Stu.

Not much has changed in the FCPS system since 2006.

Read below.



Let us consider now consider Fairfax County Public Schools, which will spend half of that $3 billion.

The Fairfax County Public Schools budget over the past three decades has been increasing nine times faster than enrollment. That is after adjusting for inflation. School staff has been increasing four times faster than enrollment, again over three decades.

The school superintendent states that this is the price of excellence, and as evidence cites last year’s record-high SAT score.

However the school system is not publicizing that the percent of seniors taking the SAT has decreased from 89 percent in 1997 to 79 percent two years ago. Last year Fairfax County Public Schools was the only suburban Washington DC school system to not publish the percent of seniors taking the SAT. Is the school system trying to cover up a further decrease in SAT participation?

Fairfax County Public Schools boasts that nearly 90 percent of its graduates go on to either two-year or four-year colleges. However, the school system provides no estimate of what percentage will eventually earn four-year college degrees. This is an issue because of the high rate of attrition among college freshmen.

Based on numbers available from the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia, the Taxpayers Alliance estimates that while 90 percent of graduates may go on to college, only about 60 percent will earn four-year degrees.

Coincidentally, nearly sixty percent of Fairfax County adults have four-year college degrees. Are the school system’s successes due to soaring funding or due to favorable demographics?

Fairfax County Public Schools says it is the Education Empire, the best school district in the nation. But is it the best in Virginia?

Schoolmatters.com, a website sponsored by Standard & Poors and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has done a statistical analysis to identify the top school districts in each state. The analysis considers test scores and demographics. For Virginia, Standard and Poors identified 16 top or "outperforming" school districts. Fairfax County was not one of them.

According to the National Assessment of Education Progress, about 65 percent of Virginia students achieve below grade level. (Nationally, 70 percent of students achieve below grade level.)

It turns out that last year the average SAT score Fairfax County seniors was at the 65th percentile. This suggests that half of our seniors are below the 65th percentile and therefore achieve below grade level.

For three decades school staff has been growing four times faster than enrollment and the school budget has been increasing ten times faster than enrollment. If money could fix public schools, they would have been fixed by now.

They’re not fixed.

The SAT achievement gap between Whites and Asians on the one hand and Hispanics and Blacks on the other hand has increased.

The school system reports that nearly 100 percent of second graders read at grade level. The Taxpayers Alliance has asked what percentage of seniors read at grade level. We have received no answer.

We question the effectiveness of the Learning Disabilities (LD) program, which layers an expensive bureaucratic IEP (Individualized Education Plan) process over an ineffective curriculum. We are concerned that many children get the LD label not because they are disabled but because they have not had phonics-based reading instruction.

Our question is what percentage of LD children are successfully remediated. Stated differently, what percentage of LD children test out of the LD program before graduation? Again, we have received no answer. The LD program keeps children in the same curriculum that did not teach them in the first place.

A few years ago, the School Board hired a consultant to evaluate Special Education Centers. The consultant found that even though Special Education Centers had one adult instructor for every three students, in 59 of 62 cases Special Education students scored below the school system average on state tests. The report stated, "many students with emotional disorders are very bright and have great academic potential." This was experience of the well-known Chicago teacher, Marva Collins, whose phonics-based curriculum with intensive drill did succeed with emotionally disturbed children.

Between last year and this, Fairfax County Public Schools enrollment increased by 300 students.

Amazingly, to teach 300 more students, the school system hired 250 more full-time staff.

We are usually told that more staff is needed even during flat enrollment due to increasing numbers of low-income children, Special Education children, and immigrant children needing English instruction.

However, between last year and this, according to the School Superintendent’s own budget, Special Education enrollment increased by only 250 students, and the number of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals decreased by 1000. The number of immigrant children requiring English-for-Speakers-of-Other-Languages (ESOL) instruction, did increase by six percent, or 1200 students.

According to last year’s proposed Program Budget, the schools were going to hire 20 more ESOL teachers.

According to this year’s Program Budget, the system actually hired two more ESOL teachers.

Of the 250 new hires, 100 were technical specialists and 40 were Instructional Support Teachers. The number of classroom teachers was unchanged. The number of instructional assistants increased by 48. The number of office personnel increased by 24.

Regarding salaries and benefits, it is difficult for County and school employees to afford to live in Fairfax County. It is also difficult for many non-County and non-School employees to afford to live in Fairfax County.

The data we’ve seen suggests that County and school salary increases have been well above the private-sector average, which is generally inflation plus one percent. For a random example, a new teacher hired under a 203-day contract in 2003 would have had by next year average annual raises of over seven percent. The average private sector raise over the same period would have been four percent. Retirees on pensions would have seen less.

In addition, government employees are getting generous pensions, while the private sector is losing theirs.

Is it right to increase homeowner taxes by ten percent or more a year to fund government-employee salary increases that are forty percent higher than private sector salary increases, especially when homeowners may be at risk of losing their pension — if they have one?

It is claimed that teachers are fleeing to neighboring counties that offer higher salaries. However school surveys of teachers leaving the system turned up not one teacher who was going to a neighboring district for higher salaries.

While County salaries are apparently not increasing as fast as school salaries, they too seem to be increasing faster than private-sector salaries and benefits.

One way to determine if salaries are adequate is to compare the number of job openings with the applicants. We have asked the school system for those numbers but have not received an answer. However, a few years ago the school superintendent stated that the school system had had 13,000 applications for 1500 openings.

The County, which did answer our question, reports that each year the County averages about 60,000 applicants for 1000 job openings.

We find that the school system’s claims of academic excellence are not well-founded, and that the Supervisors need to keep public-sector salaries and benefits in line with private-sector salaries and benefits.

FCPSFAILS -
It is the School Board that is failing. This RD showed that the school board members are only looking after their political future. In this RD millions were wasted in the Westfield additions by not using those facilities, and millions will be again wasted for addressing Langley and Madison overcrowding by building new additions there. IB costs more than double than AP per student, the general population wants AP, but school board memebers passed a 5 year freeze on IB at south lakes.

The school board members are using FCPS funds to further their political and personal objectives. What you stated are the symptoms and results of these school board members.


FCPSFAILS Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Not much has changed in the FCPS system since
> 2006.
>
> Read below.
>
>
>
> Let us consider now consider Fairfax County Public
> Schools, which will spend half of that $3 billion.
>
>
> The Fairfax County Public Schools budget over the
> past three decades has been increasing nine times
> faster than enrollment. That is after adjusting
> for inflation. School staff has been increasing
> four times faster than enrollment, again over
> three decades.
>
> The school superintendent states that this is the
> price of excellence, and as evidence cites last
> year’s record-high SAT score.
>
> However the school system is not publicizing that
> the percent of seniors taking the SAT has
> decreased from 89 percent in 1997 to 79 percent
> two years ago. Last year Fairfax County Public
> Schools was the only suburban Washington DC school
> system to not publish the percent of seniors
> taking the SAT. Is the school system trying to
> cover up a further decrease in SAT participation?
>
>
> Fairfax County Public Schools boasts that nearly
> 90 percent of its graduates go on to either
> two-year or four-year colleges. However, the
> school system provides no estimate of what
> percentage will eventually earn four-year college
> degrees. This is an issue because of the high rate
> of attrition among college freshmen.
>
> Based on numbers available from the State Council
> for Higher Education in Virginia, the Taxpayers
> Alliance estimates that while 90 percent of
> graduates may go on to college, only about 60
> percent will earn four-year degrees.
>
> Coincidentally, nearly sixty percent of Fairfax
> County adults have four-year college degrees. Are
> the school system’s successes due to soaring
> funding or due to favorable demographics?
>
> Fairfax County Public Schools says it is the
> Education Empire, the best school district in the
> nation. But is it the best in Virginia?
>
> Schoolmatters.com, a website sponsored by Standard
> & Poors and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
> has done a statistical analysis to identify the
> top school districts in each state. The analysis
> considers test scores and demographics. For
> Virginia, Standard and Poors identified 16 top or
> "outperforming" school districts. Fairfax County
> was not one of them.
>
> According to the National Assessment of Education
> Progress, about 65 percent of Virginia students
> achieve below grade level. (Nationally, 70 percent
> of students achieve below grade level.)
>
> It turns out that last year the average SAT score
> Fairfax County seniors was at the 65th percentile.
> This suggests that half of our seniors are below
> the 65th percentile and therefore achieve below
> grade level.
>
> For three decades school staff has been growing
> four times faster than enrollment and the school
> budget has been increasing ten times faster than
> enrollment. If money could fix public schools,
> they would have been fixed by now.
>
> They’re not fixed.
>
> The SAT achievement gap between Whites and Asians
> on the one hand and Hispanics and Blacks on the
> other hand has increased.
>
> The school system reports that nearly 100 percent
> of second graders read at grade level. The
> Taxpayers Alliance has asked what percentage of
> seniors read at grade level. We have received no
> answer.
>
> We question the effectiveness of the Learning
> Disabilities (LD) program, which layers an
> expensive bureaucratic IEP (Individualized
> Education Plan) process over an ineffective
> curriculum. We are concerned that many children
> get the LD label not because they are disabled but
> because they have not had phonics-based reading
> instruction.
>
> Our question is what percentage of LD children are
> successfully remediated. Stated differently, what
> percentage of LD children test out of the LD
> program before graduation? Again, we have received
> no answer. The LD program keeps children in the
> same curriculum that did not teach them in the
> first place.
>
> A few years ago, the School Board hired a
> consultant to evaluate Special Education Centers.
> The consultant found that even though Special
> Education Centers had one adult instructor for
> every three students, in 59 of 62 cases Special
> Education students scored below the school system
> average on state tests. The report stated, "many
> students with emotional disorders are very bright
> and have great academic potential." This was
> experience of the well-known Chicago teacher,
> Marva Collins, whose phonics-based curriculum with
> intensive drill did succeed with emotionally
> disturbed children.
>
> Between last year and this, Fairfax County Public
> Schools enrollment increased by 300 students.
>
> Amazingly, to teach 300 more students, the school
> system hired 250 more full-time staff.
>
> We are usually told that more staff is needed even
> during flat enrollment due to increasing numbers
> of low-income children, Special Education
> children, and immigrant children needing English
> instruction.
>
> However, between last year and this, according to
> the School Superintendent’s own budget, Special
> Education enrollment increased by only 250
> students, and the number of students eligible for
> free or reduced-price meals decreased by 1000. The
> number of immigrant children requiring
> English-for-Speakers-of-Other-Languages (ESOL)
> instruction, did increase by six percent, or 1200
> students.
>
> According to last year’s proposed Program Budget,
> the schools were going to hire 20 more ESOL
> teachers.
>
> According to this year’s Program Budget, the
> system actually hired two more ESOL teachers.
>
> Of the 250 new hires, 100 were technical
> specialists and 40 were Instructional Support
> Teachers. The number of classroom teachers was
> unchanged. The number of instructional assistants
> increased by 48. The number of office personnel
> increased by 24.
>
> Regarding salaries and benefits, it is difficult
> for County and school employees to afford to live
> in Fairfax County. It is also difficult for many
> non-County and non-School employees to afford to
> live in Fairfax County.
>
> The data we’ve seen suggests that County and
> school salary increases have been well above the
> private-sector average, which is generally
> inflation plus one percent. For a random example,
> a new teacher hired under a 203-day contract in
> 2003 would have had by next year average annual
> raises of over seven percent. The average private
> sector raise over the same period would have been
> four percent. Retirees on pensions would have seen
> less.
>
> In addition, government employees are getting
> generous pensions, while the private sector is
> losing theirs.
>
> Is it right to increase homeowner taxes by ten
> percent or more a year to fund government-employee
> salary increases that are forty percent higher
> than private sector salary increases, especially
> when homeowners may be at risk of losing their
> pension — if they have one?
>
> It is claimed that teachers are fleeing to
> neighboring counties that offer higher salaries.
> However school surveys of teachers leaving the
> system turned up not one teacher who was going to
> a neighboring district for higher salaries.
>
> While County salaries are apparently not
> increasing as fast as school salaries, they too
> seem to be increasing faster than private-sector
> salaries and benefits.
>
> One way to determine if salaries are adequate is
> to compare the number of job openings with the
> applicants. We have asked the school system for
> those numbers but have not received an answer.
> However, a few years ago the school superintendent
> stated that the school system had had 13,000
> applications for 1500 openings.
>
> The County, which did answer our question, reports
> that each year the County averages about 60,000
> applicants for 1000 job openings.
>
> We find that the school system’s claims of
> academic excellence are not well-founded, and that
> the Supervisors need to keep public-sector
> salaries and benefits in line with private-sector
> salaries and benefits.

Right on target

SBFAILS Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> FCPSFAILS -
> It is the School Board that is failing. This RD
> showed that the school board members are only
> looking after their political future. In this RD
> millions were wasted in the Westfield additions by
> not using those facilities, and millions will be
> again wasted for addressing Langley and Madison
> overcrowding by building new additions there. IB
> costs more than double than AP per student, the
> general population wants AP, but school board
> memebers passed a 5 year freeze on IB at south
> lakes.
>
> The school board members are using FCPS funds to
> further their political and personal objectives.
> What you stated are the symptoms and results of
> these school board members.
>
>
> FCPSFAILS Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Not much has changed in the FCPS system since
> > 2006.
> >
> > Read below.
> >
> >

FCPS and the School Board do not want you to know these results

Thirty-three percent of Fairfax County Public Schools seniors ready for college
-- Why pay high taxes for low achievement?

According to the ACT college admissions test, only 33 percent of Fairfax County Public Schools seniors are ready for college. See excerpts from the ACT college admissions test 2007 profile (pdf file) for Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS).

This report was obtained from FCPS. However, FCPS does not post it on the school website and does not mention it in its annual budget statement about student achievement.

According to the ACT profile, of the 2,144 FCPS seniors taking the ACT in 2007:

80 percent were prepared for college English composition
64 percent were prepared for college social science
59 percent were prepared for college algebra
39 percent were prepared for college biology.

Overall, 33 percent of FCPS seniors were prepared for college-level study in all four categories.

Statewide and nationwide, 23 percent of Virginia and United States high school seniors were prepared for college-level work in all four categories.

The better-known SAT college admissions test does not identify benchmark scores indicating college readiness.

SBFAILS Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> FCPS and the School Board do not want you to know
> these results
>
> Thirty-three percent of Fairfax County Public
> Schools seniors ready for college
> -- Why pay high taxes for low achievement?
>
> According to the ACT college admissions test, only
> 33 percent of Fairfax County Public Schools
> seniors are ready for college. See excerpts from
> the ACT college admissions test 2007 profile (pdf
> file) for Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS).
>
> This report was obtained from FCPS. However, FCPS
> does not post it on the school website and does
> not mention it in its annual budget statement
> about student achievement.
>
> According to the ACT profile, of the 2,144 FCPS
> seniors taking the ACT in 2007:
>
> 80 percent were prepared for college English
> composition
> 64 percent were prepared for college social
> science
> 59 percent were prepared for college algebra
> 39 percent were prepared for college biology.
>
> Overall, 33 percent of FCPS seniors were prepared
> for college-level study in all four categories.
>
> Statewide and nationwide, 23 percent of Virginia
> and United States high school seniors were
> prepared for college-level work in all four
> categories.
>
> The better-known SAT college admissions test does
> not identify benchmark scores indicating college
> readiness.

could you either explain how to get this report or post a copy on FairfaxCAPS?

GO TO www.fcta.org for report and more.


SBFAILS Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> FCPS and the School Board do not want you to know
> these results
>
> Thirty-three percent of Fairfax County Public
> Schools seniors ready for college
> -- Why pay high taxes for low achievement?
>
> According to the ACT college admissions test, only
> 33 percent of Fairfax County Public Schools
> seniors are ready for college. See excerpts from
> the ACT college admissions test 2007 profile (pdf
> file) for Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS).
>
> This report was obtained from FCPS. However, FCPS
> does not post it on the school website and does
> not mention it in its annual budget statement
> about student achievement.
>
> According to the ACT profile, of the 2,144 FCPS
> seniors taking the ACT in 2007:
>
> 80 percent were prepared for college English
> composition
> 64 percent were prepared for college social
> science
> 59 percent were prepared for college algebra
> 39 percent were prepared for college biology.
>
> Overall, 33 percent of FCPS seniors were prepared
> for college-level study in all four categories.
>
> Statewide and nationwide, 23 percent of Virginia
> and United States high school seniors were
> prepared for college-level work in all four
> categories.
>
> The better-known SAT college admissions test does
> not identify benchmark scores indicating college
> readiness.

Let's not forget that transportation costs will increase at least double if not more due to the higer cost of gasoline and double bussing to neighborhoods affected. BTW...........did you know that all the hype about adding more classes to SL was one of the reasons for RD.............as of today, only 3 classes have been added to the school. That's it. Way to go SB.

SBFAILS Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> FCPSFAILS -
> It is the School Board that is failing. This RD
> showed that the school board members are only
> looking after their political future. In this RD
> millions were wasted in the Westfield additions by
> not using those facilities, and millions will be
> again wasted for addressing Langley and Madison
> overcrowding by building new additions there. IB
> costs more than double than AP per student, the
> general population wants AP, but school board
> memebers passed a 5 year freeze on IB at south
> lakes.
>
>

obviously the success or failure of added classes cannot be assesed until 2012 when all grades have added students.

transportation sosts Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Let's not forget that transportation costs will
> increase at least double if not more due to the
> higer cost of gasoline and double bussing to
> neighborhoods affected. BTW...........did you
> know that all the hype about adding more classes
> to SL was one of the reasons for RD.............as
> of today, only 3 classes have been added to the
> school. That's it. Way to go SB.
>
> SBFAILS Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > FCPSFAILS -
> > It is the School Board that is failing. This RD
> > showed that the school board members are only
> > looking after their political future. In this
> RD
> > millions were wasted in the Westfield additions
> by
> > not using those facilities, and millions will
> be
> > again wasted for addressing Langley and Madison
> > overcrowding by building new additions there.
> IB
> > costs more than double than AP per student, the
> > general population wants AP, but school board
> > memebers passed a 5 year freeze on IB at south
> > lakes.
> >
> >


It's a four-year plus project to add students and classes, moron.

transportation sosts Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Let's not forget that transportation costs will
> increase at least double if not more due to the
> higer cost of gasoline and double bussing to
> neighborhoods affected. BTW...........did you
> know that all the hype about adding more classes
> to SL was one of the reasons for RD.............as
> of today, only 3 classes have been added to the
> school. That's it. Way to go SB.
>
> SBFAILS Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > FCPSFAILS -
> > It is the School Board that is failing. This RD
> > showed that the school board members are only
> > looking after their political future. In this
> RD
> > millions were wasted in the Westfield additions
> by
> > not using those facilities, and millions will
> be
> > again wasted for addressing Langley and Madison
> > overcrowding by building new additions there.
> IB
> > costs more than double than AP per student, the
> > general population wants AP, but school board
> > memebers passed a 5 year freeze on IB at south
> > lakes.
> >
> >

I would not use the transportation arguement, think of all the money they will sae in three years busing kids 3 miles instead of ten.The school board could have said the RD is for all current students at Oakton instead of grandfathering them.

huh? Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> mr e Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > the whole race thing is wrong, just the school
> > board is racist otherwise they would not have
> let
> > sl become a low performing school. dont you all
> > get it, this is why everyone bought homes not
> in
> > reston, or not in south lakes attendance
> areasSo
> > if the school board would have fixed and make a
> > good attempt for fix the low performance
> problems
> > of south lakes then we would not have this
> thread
> > right now. the ap vs ib thing might not be so
> > serious if south lakes wasnt low performing,
> that
> > doesnt give parents a good impression of ib.
>
> Are you yet another victim of whole language and
> IB? You are not yet literate in English. Please
> learn to use punctuation if you want anyone to
> be able to read your posts.



Good comeback,if we have to listen to you, respect others without being a b!@#$.

"It's a four-year plus project to add students and classes, moron."

Fair enough. Does anyone know what the three new classes are? And since apparently this is a multi-year project, what would some pro-RD folks think is a reasonable number of new classes in four years? What classes did SL need that it didn't already have? I looked at a SL course catalog, and one thing that I noticed is that IB forces the school to offer more sections of things, or maybe better to say it has more versions. For example, there is Spanish 1,2, 3 and 4, then there is IB Spanish I SL and IB Spanish 1 HL, there is IB Spanish SL II, IB Spanish SL II, and finally two classes for fluent speakers. Altogether there are 10 Spanish classes at South Lakes. Oakton only has 7 Spanish classes, and that includes two AP classes, and students could get credit for both.

On the other hand, Oakton has 10 Japanese classes, whereas South Lakes has 3. Students who did immersion at Fox Mill or Floris will have reduced options at South Lakes. Maybe a wider variety of Japanese courses should be the first priority to serve the kids who got RD'd.

HL and SL classes are usually taught during the same class. There isn’t two separate classes for SL and HL kids.

Math Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> It's a four-year plus project to add students and
> classes, moron.


What good will that be. Without AP, even after 4 years, SL acadamics will not be comparable to any of the high performing adjoining schools.

All the arguments for IB are hollow. Look at the stats at fcps.edu IB school consistently underperform the AP school. AP is college level course, IB is college prep. IB school can never be as good in academics as AP school. These IB schools are doomed to be perpetual underperformers when compared to their AP counterparts. No RD can solve the IB problem

no ap even after 4 years Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Math Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >
> > It's a four-year plus project to add students
> and
> > classes, moron.
>
>
> What good will that be. Without AP, even after 4
> years, SL acadamics will not be comparable to any
> of the high performing adjoining schools.

Madison Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> HL and SL classes are usually taught during the
> same class. There isn’t two separate classes for
> SL and HL kids.


Is that done on purpose or is it because there aren't enough IB students to offer two different sections? I remember reading that there weren't enough students to offer IB Physics HL. Now personally I think that for physics the HL version should be different enough that it shouldn't be lumped together with SL.

People have asked what courses should South Lakes offer that it doesn't already offer. Obviously there will be a variety of opinions, but is there any consensus on some of the essential courses? South Lakes people (or at least some vocal ones) have stated repeatedly that it isn't fair that their school "can't" offer the same things that surrounding schools offer. I don't know if that is true in any substantial sense. Also, considering that high school students can only take a pretty limited number of electives anyway, does it really matter that much if South Lakes has fewer electives? From what I can see in comparing the two course listings, it's like comparing apples to oranges anyway.

Here's some examples: South Lakes offers 3 on-site dance courses. Oakton has none, although Oakton and South Lakes students can attend dance courses at Fairfax Academy.

South Lakes as 14 on-site music classes. Oakton has 19, 3 of which are the apparently much-desired guitar classes.

Oakton has 6 theatre classes. South Lakes has 8.

Any way you slice it, any student can only take a small portion of these classes.

What the school board has created is a 2 tier structure. There are good schools with high level AP courses for the most of the less diverse ( read white ) and affluent families. Then they put in these second tier IB schools for areas with higher non white population and with students on FRL ( real poorer families ).
What is not clear, what motivates them to do this - are they purely racists or do they get financial gain from IBO who the taxpayers pay big bucks for a underperforming program.

ibapreality Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What the school board has created is a 2 tier
> structure. There are good schools with high level
> AP courses for the most of the less diverse ( read
> white ) and affluent families. Then they put in
> these second tier IB schools for areas with higher
> non white population and with students on FRL (
> real poorer families ).
> What is not clear, what motivates them to do this
> - are they purely racists or do they get financial
> gain from IBO who the taxpayers pay big bucks for
> a underperforming program.

The 3 new courses at South Lakes. What are they for the 2008-09 school year? If they are classes for upper year students then the redistricted children [freshman] WILL NOT benefit. They WILL have yielded more staff. SL's will have more staff due to more students but those students are concentrated in one grade.

SL's already has a grand number of classes in electives. freshman still have PE.
SL's has dance?

Does South Lakes have an Assessment Coach and a testing Coordinator plus the extra iB position? If so, that's 2 more than an AP school.

The following 3 classes were added:

IB Business class
Design and Engineering
Technical Drawing

Which grade are they for?



taxpayer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ibapreality Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > What the school board has created is a 2 tier
> > structure. There are good schools with high
> level
> > AP courses for the most of the less diverse (
> read
> > white ) and affluent families. Then they put in
> > these second tier IB schools for areas with
> higher
> > non white population and with students on FRL (
> > real poorer families ).
> > What is not clear, what motivates them to do
> this
> > - are they purely racists or do they get
> financial
> > gain from IBO who the taxpayers pay big bucks
> for
> > a underperforming program.
>
> The 3 new courses at South Lakes. What are they
> for the 2008-09 school year? If they are classes
> for upper year students then the redistricted
> children WILL NOT benefit. They WILL have
> yielded more staff. SL's will have more staff due
> to more students but those students are
> concentrated in one grade.
>
> SL's already has a grand number of classes in
> electives. freshman still have PE.
> SL's has dance?
>
> Does South Lakes have an Assessment Coach and a
> testing Coordinator plus the extra iB position?
> If so, that's 2 more than an AP school.

Yes, I am curious too about what grades are available for these three new classes at SL. I read an article about the RD lawsuit from the Herndon Observer and in the article, it mentioned about Butler saying 5 more new classes will be added to next year, but that the number has not been finalized yet. There's been a debate somewhere from this thread about the SL curriculum and comparing to other high schools curriculums. SL already has an attractive curriculum and with this RD and the budget challenges, it only costs more for adding new courses, staff and the list goes on.

Thomas More - I don't practice local law, but did bother to read the relevant law here. And I know you have already related this, but it strikes me that the reason that the lawsuit will fail is simply because the legal standard is so high - a significant amount of discretion is accorded to Virginia government officials, and no matter what hue and cry is raised about the School Board's tortured process, the fact is that they have considerable discretion to apportion districts, and have merely exercised that discretion here.

You likely far better than I ever could describe the immense limitations of making political arguments before a Virginia court, and yet that is exactly what these plaintiffs have done. And the Fairfax CAPS parents ought to look at history - does anyone believe that the school desegregation cases over the years have really improved the education of any students? Yes, they were absolutely the right thing to do in term of social justice - but did they raise the level of education for students? That is doubtful. And what about this suit will help the education of students? I don't see much of that happening here. And that, irrespective of the high legal standard which compels dim odds of success, should be the driver of all efforts. I have a saying with respect to legal practice - "If it feels good, don't do it" - meaning that emotional gratification is almost always a poor reason to take an action or adopt a legal strategy. This seems to apply here.

You dont think count II for dillons rule will hold? Can SB use race and class in its decision?

quantum Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thomas More - I don't practice local law, but did
> bother to read the relevant law here. And I know
> you have already related this, but it strikes me
> that the reason that the lawsuit will fail is
> simply because the legal standard is so high - a
> significant amount of discretion is accorded to
> Virginia government officials, and no matter what
> hue and cry is raised about the School Board's
> tortured process, the fact is that they have
> considerable discretion to apportion districts,
> and have merely exercised that discretion here.
>
> You likely far better than I ever could describe
> the immense limitations of making political
> arguments before a Virginia court, and yet that is
> exactly what these plaintiffs have done. And the
> Fairfax CAPS parents ought to look at history -
> does anyone believe that the school desegregation
> cases over the years have really improved the
> education of any students? Yes, they were
> absolutely the right thing to do in term of social
> justice - but did they raise the level of
> education for students? That is doubtful. And
> what about this suit will help the education of
> students? I don't see much of that happening
> here. And that, irrespective of the high legal
> standard which compels dim odds of success, should
> be the driver of all efforts. I have a saying
> with respect to legal practice - "If it feels
> good, don't do it" - meaning that emotional
> gratification is almost always a poor reason to
> take an action or adopt a legal strategy. This
> seems to apply here.

quantum Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>> Thomas More - I don't practice local law, but did bother to read the relevant law here. And I know you have already related this, but it strikes me that the reason that the lawsuit will fail is simply because the legal standard is so high - a significant amount of discretion is accorded to Virginia government officials, and no matter what hue and cry is raised about the School Board's tortured process, the fact is that they have considerable discretion to apportion districts, and have merely exercised that discretion here.<<

We agree on the analysis of the case.

>> You likely far better than I ever could describe the immense limitations of making political arguments before a Virginia court, and yet that is exactly what these plaintiffs have done. And the Fairfax CAPS parents ought to look at history - does anyone believe that the school desegregation cases over the years have really improved the education of any students? Yes, they were absolutely the right thing to do in term of social justice - but did they raise the level of education for students? That is doubtful. And what about this suit will help the education of students? I don't see much of that happening here. And that, irrespective of the high legal standard which compels dim odds of success, should be the driver of all efforts. I have a saying with respect to legal practice - "If it feels good, don't do it" - meaning that emotional gratification is almost always a poor reason to take an action or adopt a legal strategy. This seems to apply here.<<

The analogy is absolutely inapposite.

The Black children of Fairfax were not better off riding a bus from Mount Gilead in Centerville at who knows what hour into the District of Columbia in order to get a high school education until 1955. Nor did things get better after 1955 when they had to ride to Luther Jackson from Mount Vernon.

For all of FCPS' faults, and they are legion, no fair minded person can honestly say that the education received before "massive" resistance" was better for the victims of that system, black and white, than what our children receive today.

Horace Mann was as interested in socialization of the Irish into the Massachusetts polity as he was of their intellectual stimulation when he advocated for the first state wide public school system in America. He was equally interested that their Yankee classmates see the Irish as their social and political equals and value their potential in that Commonwealth. It took more than 150 years but it's fair to say his objectives have been achieved concerning the Irish. Even though some kids from Charlestown and Southie, like Whity Bulger, still struggle in this economy.

Would that we could come back in 2200 and see how well Brown v. School Board turned out. Condi, Colin and Barack give me hope it will succeed despite the continued challenges and failures.

dillons rule Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>> You dont think count II for dillons rule will hold? Can SB use race and class in its decision?<<

What part of the State Code has the SB violated?

quantum Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thomas More - I don't practice local law, but did
> bother to read the relevant law here. And I know
> you have already related this, but it strikes me
> that the reason that the lawsuit will fail is
> simply because the legal standard is so high - a
> significant amount of discretion is accorded to
> Virginia government officials, and no matter what
> hue and cry is raised about the School Board's
> tortured process, the fact is that they have
> considerable discretion to apportion districts,
> and have merely exercised that discretion here.
>
> You likely far better than I ever could describe
> the immense limitations of making political
> arguments before a Virginia court, and yet that is
> exactly what these plaintiffs have done. And the
> Fairfax CAPS parents ought to look at history -
> does anyone believe that the school desegregation
> cases over the years have really improved the
> education of any students? Yes, they were
> absolutely the right thing to do in term of social
> justice - but did they raise the level of
> education for students? That is doubtful. And
> what about this suit will help the education of
> students? I don't see much of that happening
> here. And that, irrespective of the high legal
> standard which compels dim odds of success, should
> be the driver of all efforts. I have a saying
> with respect to legal practice - "If it feels
> good, don't do it" - meaning that emotional
> gratification is almost always a poor reason to
> take an action or adopt a legal strategy. This
> seems to apply here.

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+22.1-79

Under the code of virginia a school board is supposed to "4. Provide for the consolidation of schools or redistricting of school boundaries or adopt pupil assignment plans whenever such procedure will contribute to the efficiency of the school division; "

It's the overall division and the word is "whenever" so it seems that FCPS should be making boundary changes. The federal law does address the issue of school closest to residence and demographics - that should be the one attended especially if the deliberate plans to bus further increase segration [color, race, country of origin].

8. the public hearing requirement prior to a transfer of the instructional services function for any classroom. IB provides that component of the instructionl service function while FCPS does human resources function?

I am hearing that Madison Island folks are getting rejects on requests for pupil placement out of Sunrise Valley.

The goal was to fill South Lakes-I don't know why they can't let these kids finish in their elementary school. It seems so mean spirited.

On another note, not that I care, but is Jack Dale gay?

Contribute to the CAPs lawsuit...

Lee Parent Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am hearing that Madison Island folks are getting
> rejects on requests for pupil placement out of
> Sunrise Valley.
>
> The goal was to fill South Lakes-I don't know why
> they can't let these kids finish in their
> elementary school. It seems so mean spirited.
>
> On another note, not that I care, but is Jack Dale
> gay?

Goal was to harass parents who did not agree or vote for Stu Gibson.

Lee Parent Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am hearing that Madison Island folks are getting
> rejects on requests for pupil placement out of
> Sunrise Valley.
>
> The goal was to fill South Lakes-I don't know why
> they can't let these kids finish in their
> elementary school. It seems so mean spirited.
>
> On another note, not that I care, but is Jack Dale
> gay?

taxpayer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > The federal law does address the issue of school closest to residence and demographics - that should be the one attended especially if the deliberate plans to bus further increase segragation.< <


Stone didn't plead a violation of the Federal statute. Probably because there is no evidence to support such a claim.

to mi parents Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Contribute to the CAPs lawsuit...

Read the lawsuit before you waste your money. As for Stu Gibson, he is just being attacked by somebody with a personal vendata; possibly some high school kid.

Lee Parent Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> On another note, not that I care, but is Jack Dale
> gay?

Not that it matters, but he's married -- his wife's name is Val.

That doesn't mean he's not gay.

Stone didnt plead a violation of the federal statute because he would have had to file in the federal court of the Eastern District. There certainly is enough to have supported such a claim but it would have caused this case to be pursued in multiple venues. Ultimately it would have been combined. At any rate there are quite a few cases since July 07's supreme court ruling on affirmitive action, that seek to define 'socio economic'. Many feel the term is a euphemism for race.
We all now know that race may not be used as a factor in these types of decisions. Unfortunately the SB and the FCPS staff hatched this plan prior to the Supreme Court ruling. There in lies their problem.

If FCPS claims their goal in the redistricting was socioeconomic rebalancing, they have an uphill fight given how "White" Langley, Oakton, Madison and McLean are. I also wonder how concerned they were about racial balance when deciding on the SOCO/Mt Vernon boundary. There are so many areas where they are inconsistent.

I fully support CAPS in their efforts to take on this Stalinist School Board but before I start donating money to the cause, I would have to be assured that they intend to stick around long after the lawsuit and serve as some sort of parent advocacy group on other issues. We really don't have anything like that and it is desperately needed.

Lee Parent Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ...
> I fully support CAPS in their efforts to take on
> this Stalinist School Board but before I start
> donating money to the cause, I would have to be
> assured that they intend to stick around long
> after the lawsuit and serve as some sort of parent
> advocacy group on other issues. We really don't
> have anything like that and it is desperately
> needed.


That is exactly what they plan to do.

Thomas More - don't get me wrong - desegregation was and is absolutely wrong - and needed to be corrected - both judicially and otherwise. And of course it was wrong to have black students suffer by traveling long distances (or experience other hardships and humiliations) to go to school. But really, after five decades, are we really going to stand behind the notion that moving students around fixes problems? (And why would it ever really fix the problems here?) Mind you, the racial learning gap has become worse, not better in the last two decades - experiencing some jumps right after civil rights advances but sliding slowly and dismally thereafter - some might fault the post Great Society entitlement culture that has booted fathers out of the picture - and they are likely right - but really - how has moving students around ever provided for a better education, at least in non-transitory terms? Those students bused from Centreville should have experienced tremendous educational gains, and cause that to be passed on to the next generation. That sure hasn't happened (although kudos to the likely lucky few who truly took advantage of it). Look at Pinellas County, Florida today - they bus all over kingdom come and most all but a handful of their schools are failing - and the handful that are passing are fundamentals school, which selects students not by race or scores but by their own volitional commitment to discipline - schools which cannot attract nearly enough black or hispanic students because of grossly insufficient parental interest, and because of this the "choice" plan - aka busing plan - shuts out Asian and white students to be put on a waiting list years long. (And more fundamental schools cannot be added, because, bingo - they would not have the right racial balance). We have a cultural problem at hand - not a moving students around problem - and in most cases - given what we spend per capita on students (especially in this area) - not a money problem either - although it needs to be spent more wisely than it is. And I raise this issue - in the same spirit as Levitt does with his Freakanomics (with nowhere near the eloquence), because it is tantamount to stomping on the sacred to dispute the wisdom (from a policy, and not a moral perspective) of the school desegregation cases. OK, it stomping on the sacred, and it is admittedly said a bit to inflame, but we have a national catastrophe looming with the incredibly poor academic performance of certain racial groups, and it is eminently fair to look to the history of our moving students around to see that it does very little or no good. And if moving students around did ultimately little good in terms of improving the quality of education when there was a principled moral imperative to cease state sponsored discrimination, just what good will this lawsuit accomplish, when it really more or less is about expressing frustrations with a "progressive" bureaucracy that values massaging numbers and perceptions over real performance - a phenomena that applies to a great number of actors in public education today. The posters on this board pleading with the SB to improve performance have things right - that is the crux of the problem - and drawing lines on a map and sending buses to different places will only paper it over - ditto for the lawsuits.

quantum Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > Thomas More - don't get me wrong - desegregation was and is absolutely wrong - and needed to be corrected - both judicially and otherwise.< <

Surely you meant to write that segregation was wrong?

But given the rest of your post, I wonder.

I am agnostic on the existence of or the reasons for purported continued under performance of minorites when controlling for income and other social factors. I need to read the studies which make that assertion. That is certainly not my anecdotal experience.

How to integrate all individuals into an information based economy is our challenge.

I agree that the fads of the last generation haven't worked for minorities or majorities, for the advantaged or disadvantaged. Though they have certainly worked for the textbook companies and their fellow travellers.

Part of the opposition to redistricting to SL is that SL is an identifiably majority minority and lower income school. The desire to add more "advantaged" kids flows from the mistaken hope of diminishing or losing that identity. Without substantial improvement in instructional and administrative staff, it's eyewash.

Brown and its progeny were intended to eliminate identifiable minority schools in the belief that resources would then be equally available to all of a district's schools when they weren't discernably serving mostly minority. But the decisions of the Burger Court allowed the problem to be transposed from individual schools within districts to entire school districts.

The FCPS chart posted on this forum earlier showed that as long as FRM was above 15%, minority success was unaffected (except at Stuart). Because, even after this tortuous redistricting experience, SL will be well above that 15% threshold, the redistricting alone is unlikely to have a saluatory effect on minority achievement at SL.

Given that 20% of FCPS are minority, it is clear that several FCPS schools will necessarily alsways be above the 15% threshold and the techniques used at Stuart to raise minority achievement must be understood and implemented across the County together with the effective techniques used in Richmond and other majority minority districts that have higher achievement than SL. Understanding those techniques and proselytizing in favor of their adoption at SL is a better use of the Hunter Mill SB members time than railing against NCLB and other ideological crusades.

We agree the CAPS lawsuit is a waste. The Gibson recall will not be.

I just wanted to promote the South Lakes' spring musical, Beauty and the Beast. Opening night is this Thursday! Shows are April 10-12 and 16-18 at 7:00 pm, and everyone is getting really excited about it. This is a great opportunity to check out the school or just enjoy a night of Disney with your family and friends. We've been rehearsing for months, and it's definitely something you should see if you can.

Tickets are $10 pre-sale (online) and $12 at the door. Here's the paypal link:
http://www.sltheatrearts.com/beautyandthebeasttickets.htm

Thanks! Have a great day. :)

Thomas More Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> We agree the CAPS lawsuit is a waste. The Gibson
> recall will not be.

Ok. We can all agree on those two points, but I didn't see any suggestions on your part as how to grow our students into the new "information economy."

Be our guest! Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I just wanted to promote the South Lakes' spring
> musical, Beauty and the Beast. Opening night is
> this Thursday! Shows are April 10-12 and 16-18 at
> 7:00 pm, and everyone is getting really excited
> about it. This is a great opportunity to check
> out the school or just enjoy a night of Disney
> with your family and friends. We've been
> rehearsing for months, and it's definitely
> something you should see if you can.
>
> Tickets are $10 pre-sale (online) and $12 at the
> door. Here's the paypal link:
> http://www.sltheatrearts.com/beautyandthebeasttick
> ets.htm
>
> Thanks! Have a great day. :)

Thanks for posting the information! I always enjoy High School plays. : )

I am genuinely at the disgust level with some of these failing schools. The Lee pyramid in particular has some dreadful elementary schools. Look at Crestwood, Garfield and Lynbrook Elem. We have 60-70 percent failure rates on these SOLs and then these kids are passed on to Key where they inherit the academic deficiencies and try to play catch-up. By the time they get to high school many aren't even thinking advanced classes, college, etc.

I understand that poverty and ESL pose challenges, but come on. In the business world these failure rates are unacceptable. We need to be able to fire ineffective educators and reward those who help these kids succeed. If we have to close some of these schools and bus them across town to a school with good scores then so be it.

We cannot continue to fail these kids year after year.

dont know which post you are talking about Stu attacked, but I can tell you as part of the RDed areas, he did not return back a single call or email during several months. I sent many emails and left many voicemails. Not one reply for anyone who was opposed to RD. During the same time he was having long conversations with SL PTA - he even refused to come to Floris to meet the parents. I think the posts here about him are true. And these emails I sent were not discourteous - I got responses back from a several other board members on the same emails that Gibson ignored. Same feedback from other neighbours. Gibson did not even talk to anyone opposed to RD. He is looking our for only his Reston neighbourhood where he lives.

FFX Dad Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Read the lawsuit before you waste your money. As
> for Stu Gibson, he is just being attacked by
> somebody with a personal vendata; possibly some
> high school kid.

Lee Parent Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am genuinely at the disgust level with some of
> these failing schools. The Lee pyramid in
> particular has some dreadful elementary schools.
> Look at Crestwood, Garfield and Lynbrook Elem. We
> have 60-70 percent failure rates on these SOLs and
> then these kids are passed on to Key where they
> inherit the academic deficiencies and try to play
> catch-up. By the time they get to high school
> many aren't even thinking advanced classes,
> college, etc.
>
> I understand that poverty and ESL pose challenges,
> but come on. In the business world these failure
> rates are unacceptable. We need to be able to
> fire ineffective educators and reward those who
> help these kids succeed. If we have to close some
> of these schools and bus them across town to a
> school with good scores then so be it.
>
> We cannot continue to fail these kids year after
> year.


ineffective parents and lack of ICE enforcement

another ffx dad Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> dont know which post you are talking about Stu
> attacked, but I can tell you as part of the RDed
> areas, he did not return back a single call or
> email during several months. I sent many emails
> and left many voicemails. Not one reply for anyone
> who was opposed to RD. During the same time he was
> having long conversations with SL PTA - he even
> refused to come to Floris to meet the parents. I
> think the posts here about him are true. And these
> emails I sent were not discourteous - I got
> responses back from a several other board members
> on the same emails that Gibson ignored. Same
> feedback from other neighbours. Gibson did not
> even talk to anyone opposed to RD. He is looking
> our for only his Reston neighbourhood where he
> lives.
>
> FFX Dad Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >
> > Read the lawsuit before you waste your money.
> As
> > for Stu Gibson, he is just being attacked by
> > somebody with a personal vendata; possibly some
> > high school kid.


I wouldn't be surprised if besides Stu having close ties to the SLPTA, he has had ties with the Herndon PTA leaving the two Reston schools to Herndon. So much for the SB murking in other people's districts..these members certainly had the behind the scene deals not to mention not answering thousands of emails or letters about the redistricting. What peeved me off was Storck's comment in a recent newspaper article saying the boundary process was very throughout.

Yes. Gibson's conduct was dubious at the best. Not what should be expected of an elected official.

Baffled Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> another ffx dad Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > dont know which post you are talking about Stu
> > attacked, but I can tell you as part of the
> RDed
> > areas, he did not return back a single call or
> > email during several months. I sent many emails
> > and left many voicemails. Not one reply for
> anyone
> > who was opposed to RD. During the same time he
> was
> > having long conversations with SL PTA - he even
> > refused to come to Floris to meet the parents.
> I
> > think the posts here about him are true. And
> these
> > emails I sent were not discourteous - I got
> > responses back from a several other board
> members
> > on the same emails that Gibson ignored. Same
> > feedback from other neighbours. Gibson did not
> > even talk to anyone opposed to RD. He is
> looking
> > our for only his Reston neighbourhood where he
> > lives.
> >
> > FFX Dad Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > >
> > > Read the lawsuit before you waste your money.
>
> > As
> > > for Stu Gibson, he is just being attacked by
> > > somebody with a personal vendata; possibly
> some
> > > high school kid.
>
>
> I wouldn't be surprised if besides Stu having
> close ties to the SLPTA, he has had ties with the
> Herndon PTA leaving the two Reston schools to
> Herndon. So much for the SB murking in other
> people's districts..these members certainly had
> the behind the scene deals not to mention not
> answering thousands of emails or letters about the
> redistricting. What peeved me off was Storck's
> comment in a recent newspaper article saying the
> boundary process was very throughout.

>>>On another note, not that I care, but is Jack Dale gay?<<<

I have always made that assumption. Dale's constant deep tan (obviously owns a tanning bed), his gold necklaces, flipity-flopity hands, all dead giveaways.

What set off your gaydar?

FairfaxMom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Lee Parent Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > On another note, not that I care, but is Jack
> Dale
> > gay?
>
> Not that it matters, but he's married -- his
> wife's name is Val.

Not that it matters, but Senator Larry Craig is also married, as is the former Governor of New Jersey, Jim McGreevey, he now 'gay American', who was having an affair with his male aide and picking up men at NJ truck stops.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Has Val taken up residence in the Old Dominion with her husband yet? Or does she continue to live in Maryland? Is she as tan as her husband? Has anyone ever seen her? I hope she has better jewelry, his can be rather tacky.

This thread is dying. Is this really the end. A new life can be expected once the court date is set. We should take it to at least 300 pages

I can not believe this School Board. Is everything about race to them? Why is this becoming a factor in virtually every board discussion of late?

Educate our children stop social engineering. This School Board is a humiliation to this county. What the hell is wrong with these people.

Front Page of the Washington Post main section and front page of Metro section.

You think that the Dillon rule count wont hold up? Come on this board is clearly demonstrating their lack of character.

FCPS is Racist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I can not believe this School Board. Is
> everything about race to them? Why is this
> becoming a factor in virtually every board
> discussion of late?
>
> Educate our children stop social engineering.
> This School Board is a humiliation to this county.
> What the hell is wrong with these people.
>
> Front Page of the Washington Post main section and
> front page of Metro section.
>
> You think that the Dillon rule count wont hold up?
> Come on this board is clearly demonstrating their
> lack of character.

All they care about is building the South County schools for the Fairfax Station HOA's. Last time I checked that's public land they are selling off. These people are fools - of course some are racists/classists or they wouldn't have built the Langley addition.

Most definitely spendthrifts. It's a bi-partisan effort.

Madison Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> HL and SL classes are usually taught during the
> same class. There isn’t two separate classes for
> SL and HL kids.

There AREN'T two separate classes............

IB students need to learn grammar and writing! Perhaps grammar and writing should be one of new classes while they drop the silly Human Geography course.

FCPS is Racist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I can not believe this School Board. Is
> everything about race to them? Why is this
> becoming a factor in virtually every board
> discussion of late?
>
> Educate our children stop social engineering.
> This School Board is a humiliation to this county.
> What the hell is wrong with these people.
>
> Front Page of the Washington Post main section and
> front page of Metro section.
>
> You think that the Dillon rule count wont hold up?
> Come on this board is clearly demonstrating their
> lack of character.

Race has been THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE, for YEARS, ever since we got stuck with these partisan hacks when we voted to change to elected school boards. They're DEMOCRATS! Of course they are ALL about race. To be honest, ALL about one race, Blacks. Hispanics are a distant second to Blacks. They don't much care what happens to poor Asian kids, and care even less about poor white kids. But they just gotta keep putting in more ineffective programs to help those poor little black kids. Very patronizing. Very disgusting. Very ineffective. Very Wrong.

To Gaydar-

Definitely the hand movements-I didn't notice the jewelry or the tan. It is wierd that if Dale is gay that he continues to look the other way about Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Can't be a coach with them if you are gay-because of course that makes you "immoral". Jeeze, who are these people? I feel like Fairfax County is stuck in a time warp.

Great FCPS bashing articles in the Metro section today about the latest FCPS SB NITWITS. Apparently their "morality survey" is being raked over the coals.

How did we end up with these people? Don't we deserve better?

I really hope they realize that Dale adds ZERO value to this school district-he is a joke.

FCPS is Racist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I can not believe this School Board. Is
> everything about race to them? Why is this
> becoming a factor in virtually every board
> discussion of late?

Can someone point to any written evidence that the SB acted based on socioeconomic status? I was out of town for the third Town Hall meeting, but my memory from the other two (which may be faulty, of course!) is that the handouts listed ESOL percentages, but didn't explicitly cite them as criteria. In fact, ISTR someone asking why the percentages were even listed, and the answer was "We always list them".

If the lawsuit has any hope of success, it seems to me that this is a critical issue: if there's no real evidence that SEO (==race) was an issue, then the Dillon count cannot possibly prevail.

The absence of Langley in the redistricting tells you it was about socio-economic rebalancing. Madison Island with its 35 students was the sacrificial lamb- just to make it look good.

This school system doesn't have a clue what to do with the persistent minority achievement gaps-so they are engaging in a big reshuffle.

All the other school districts have had these plans in place and are chipping away at the gaps-we are a little late to the party.

THANK YOU MR. STEVE HUNT FOR YOUR WONDERFUL LETTER. THE FLORIS/FOX MILL/MI PARENTS COULDN'T AGREE MORE.


FairfaxCAPS published an open letter from Steven Hunt on West County
Redistricting:

http://fairfaxcaps.org/html/stevehunt.html


Open Letter from Steve Hunt
on School Board Decision to approve
Western Fairfax County Redistricting


On February 28, 2008, School Board member Stu Gibson told a story
about a farmer who did not want to loan his plow to his neighbor. The
punch line, after telling his neighbor that he could not loan the plow
because his wife was sick, was that since he did not want to loan the
plow, it did not matter what excuse he used. Mr. Gibson applied this
to his constituents, who had provided logical researched arguments for
why the boundary change was not the best way to address the impacts of
under-enrollment at South Lakes High School, by stating that all of
their inputs were just excuses as to why they did not want to go to
South Lakes.

The irony is that as a result of this boundary process, the community
sees the roles reversed. Since the school system had decided a
boundary change was the only way to address the issue, it did not
matter what their response was to the community. The concern was that
underenrollment at South Lakes robbed students of academic
opportunities found at other FCPS high schools. It did not matter
when the community found that other small schools were able to provide
those same academic opportunities. It did not matter that the
community provided evidence of over 1,800 6th, 5th, 4th, and 3rd grade
students in the South Lakes pyramid that could become South Lakes 9th
through 12th graders if they stayed in the local public schools.

By refusing to research programmatic solutions for this programmatic
problem, the school system gave the community the perception that
their input did not matter. If programmatic solutions had been
included, one area of discussion could have been how the International
Baccalaureate (IB) requirement to provide all IB courses regardless of
the number of students robs the non-IB students of academic
opportunities since teacher levels are set by total students. A
simple solution would have been to increase the number of teachers at
South Lakes to compensate for the impact of the IB program.

After receiving responses that often did not hold water, the community
is losing faith with the school system, just like the communities in
South County, Vienna, and McLean did after boundary changes there.
Just as the farmer who would not loan the plow may be rejected when he
asks his neighbor for something, a community that has lost faith with
a school system may say no when the school system asks for bonds or
bigger budgets. If you cannot trust the system in one area, why would
you trust it in another? And it is the students that will pay the
price.

Steve Hunt
Fairfax Station
Former Fairfax County School Board Member