Went to the South Lakes PTA meeting last night. Straight from Bruce Butler--43 students placed into SL this year, 16 placed out.

Also discussed was the reasons for declining enrollment--one is that a lot of retirees have chosen to stay in Reston, not allowing turnover. Also, much of the development in Reston is of the condo variety--not bought by people with kids. Another theory is the difficulty imposed by RA on renovating homes. So, there are lots of reasons.

Gibson was asked about the Langley boundary and why Langley is not included in the study. His answer was blather, so not worth repeating, even if I could remember it.

Sounds like AP ,may be on the table.

Taxpayer,
You're posts are spot on, lots of good information.

I'm sure you know that the tax rate will be raised next year to make up for our lower assessments. Connelly would have loved to do it this year, but with the whole board up for re election, he couldn't do it. Once Connelly is re elected, he and the democrat board will be VERY happy to raise the tax rate, ASAP.

I heard this at a meeting between the school superintendent and the county executive, a year ago. People in the education community wanted the tax rate raised this year, 2008, but the county executive explained that couldn't happen until after the election. School officials were bummed. Being good democrats, they never met a tax that couldn't be increased. They can't wait to take more money out of our pockets to pay for those low performing schools that they lack the will(not money) to fix.

Yes, South Lakes will try to claim that they have an AP program, to prevent parents from using that as an avenue out.

Did Bruce Butler say that 43 students voluntarily placed into South Lakes last year? Or were sent there when they were expelled from other high schools? Or the school population simply increased by 43? Or some of them came there for one language class? I find it VERY hard to believe that 43 students want the IB program over AP. If that were true, why bother with an AP program? If that were true, all schools with IB would be increasing in population and schools with AP would be decreasing. That has never happened.

Yes, Reston has lots of problems attracting families with children, for a whole variety of reasons. That's what the people of Reston have chosen. They want more high rises, more condos, more of an urban landscape, with no new single family homes or additions on existing homes. Great! Their CHOICE. I fully support communities deciding how they want their community to be. But they should not ask others, outside of Reston, to pay for those choices. Children whose families never wanted to live in urban Reston shouldn't be forced to attend schools in Reston simply because the decisions of Reston residents result in fewer students to attend their schools. Don't make people outside of Reston pay for YOUR choices. Let them also choose their community, and their community schools.

South Lakes Pyramid parent Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Went to the South Lakes PTA meeting last night.
> Straight from Bruce Butler--43 students placed
> into SL this year, 16 placed out.
>
> Also discussed was the reasons for declining
> enrollment--one is that a lot of retirees have
> chosen to stay in Reston, not allowing turnover.
> Also, much of the development in Reston is of the
> condo variety--not bought by people with kids.
> Another theory is the difficulty imposed by RA on
> renovating homes. So, there are lots of reasons.
>
> Gibson was asked about the Langley boundary and
> why Langley is not included in the study. His
> answer was blather, so not worth repeating, even
> if I could remember it.
>
> Sounds like AP ,may be on the table.


Thanks for the update. I hope some of the positive info regarding SL gets out. Any more specifics on AP?

Stu Gibson and Kathy Smith and Janie Strauss have made it quite clear that Langley high school boundaries will not be involved in any redistricting. Off the table. Period. When they are re elected, Stu will decide who goes to South Lakes, and it will be NO Langley high school students. Period. Done.

When Armstrong and Aldrin are sent to South Lakes (Stu's number ONE priority), Herndon high school goes right down the drain. Adios!

Not to say that Stu cares about Herndon. He obviously doesn't, it's not his district., Apparently Janie Strauss doesn't care either since she's agreed to this plan. A deal has been made, Stu can devastate Herndon high school, as long as he doesn't touch any part of Langley district. Nice, huh? And not a darn thing that anyone can do to stop it, other than vote against the bums who have made the deal. If they're re elected, they'll get exactly what they want. They always do.

Yes, Neen, VOLUNTARILY placed in because they WANT to be there. You really are very rude, especially when FACTS get in the way of your silly arguments.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/2007 03:40PM by South Lakes Pyramid parent.

South Lakes Pyramid parent Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes, Neen, VOLUNTARILY placed in because they WANT
> to be there. You really are very rude, especially
> when FACTS get in the way of your silly arguments.

I don't dislike South Lakes - I loathe the School Board members who created this situation. Why would anyone vote for Gibson? Stu/Strauss/Zone/mendellsohn did this to South Lakes. Stu's had 12 years and now is trying to redecorate a bath while not installing a tub. What do they think people are? Stupid...

Anybody can see where people live on the boundary maps -- Sugarland to Langley? Gag me.

Neen,

You also seem to forget that Armstrong and Aldrin are part of Reston - I would be fine with all Reston schools going to South Lakes. The only time you mention it is when you refer to the impact of the loss of those schools on Herndon. These schools are part of the Reston community you so like to put down.

You would be better off sticking to why your specific neighborhood should not be changed then constantly blasting SL and Reston.

taxpayer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This whole process would be a lot easier if they
> did not ignore the elephant in the room -langley
> and the Forestville Elementary attendance area.
>
> Plus the Colvin Run neighborhood that accesses
> Hunter Mill between the Madison Island and SL's
> areas.
>
> Forestville/Langley does border Forest Edge/South
> Lakes for a wide stretch along Route 7.

Thanks for the correction on the Forest Edge/Forestville common boundary. Happy add to Colvin Run to the discussion, especially if Madison needs it to make up for losing the Wolf Trap Island.

More Later

> Gibson was asked about the Langley boundary and
> why Langley is not included in the study. His
> answer was blather, so not worth repeating,
> even if I could remember it.

Lets get both Hunter Mill and all of the at large candidates pinned down on this. If there is a difference, vote the difference. Simply put: Mr./Ms. candidate will you vote to expand the boundary study area to include Forestville, Great Falls and Colvin Run? Yes or No.

It is the single burning issue in the school system this year it should be hard to dodge.

I know at least one of the 43 placed into SLHS las year was an expellee from another school

I am an Oakton student and I come from Herndon. I like South Lakes fine. I have many friends who have gone there and come out better people for it. I just don't want to be taken out of a school where I have found my niche. It's not about White Suburbia, It's not about the upper-middle class. Considering I live in a relatively poor neighboorhood for Northern Virginia. For me it's about who I've grown up with and what team I've grown up rooting for. Go Cougars.

Neen Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes, South Lakes will try to claim that they have
> an AP program, to prevent parents from using that
> as an avenue out.
>
> Yes, Reston has lots of problems attracting
> families with children, for a whole variety of
> reasons. That's what the people of Reston have
> chosen. They want more high rises, more condos,
> more of an urban landscape, with no new single
> family homes or additions on existing homes.
> Great! Their CHOICE. I fully support communities
> deciding how they want their community to be. But
> they should not ask others, outside of Reston, to
> pay for those choices. Children whose families
> never wanted to live in urban Reston shouldn't be
> forced to attend schools in Reston simply because
> the decisions of Reston residents result in fewer
> students to attend their schools. Don't make
> people outside of Reston pay for YOUR choices.
> Let them also choose their community, and their
> community schools.

I'm opposed to IB too. But if more people are attracted to it than seek AP elsewhere, it means fewer kids have to have their boundary changed.

We also know that several of the out placed former SL students who claimed they were moving for AP were really trying to get away from the miserable coaching staff of too many South Lakes teams, baseball being the largest number. People do this all the time. Many of us remember Kara Lawson's odyssey around Fairfax in search of a pliable coach before she went off to Pat Summit and ESPN.

Even if one accounts for all the families who moved out of Reston to escape Railly Rodreguiz (South Lakes' former disaster of a prinicpal), it doesn’t explain the 700 child shortfall in enrollment at South Lakes. My 25 year old neighborhood gives the good explanation for this shortfall. When we moved here in 1984 there were over 24 kids in these 32 houses. Now there are three. Many of the long present homeowners are empty nesters who stayed in the neighborhood after their children left for college because They Like Reston. The other houses that were formerly occupied by families with children are now occupied by single people with roomates helping to pay the mortgage or young couple with no kids. The principal reason is that these circa 1980 “starter” homes have increase in value by 320% since we moved in and 700% since they were first built. Most of that appreciation happened during the final years of Railly's reign of terror! Families with kids get a bigger house and lot at a lower price per square foot buying a house in Winchester, Martinsburg, WV or Harrisburg, PA and that's where they are moving to. There haven’t been a significant number of new single family detached houses or townhouses built in the South Lakes or Herndon attendance areas in 15 years and there won't be either. It's a natural evolution seen in every community across the County and across the nation that started construction in 1965.

The high rises and condos contemplated near the Metro stations won't generate many kids either.

Aldrin and Armstrong are part of Reston and those kids belong at South Lakes.

If you don't want Fox Mill, McNair or Floris added to Herndon, and I'm not sure why, get Strauss to expand the study to include Forestville, Great Falls or Colvin Run. Ask her and her opponent the question before the election and vote the difference. Write a letter to the Editor of the Observer and demand a straight answer from Strauss.

More later.

Can someone tell me if theyre moving current students aswell?

Cricket Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I know at least one of the 43 placed into SLHS las
> year was an expellee from another school

The 43 were just the number who VOLUNTARILY transferred for academic reasons. The number of in-placements was many more than 43. The "expellee' was counted in another category.

More later

CT Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Can someone tell me if theyre moving current
> students aswell?

Past practice is to start with incoming freshman in September '08. If you're
already at Oakton, you'll stay at Oakton. Just get the Oakton paraphenalia out of the Glory Days at Fox Mill, if they transfer Fox Mill Elementry into SL ;-)

More later

Neen Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> democrat board

The proper adjectival form for the name of that party is "Democratic." This form of supposed clever insult was first uttered by Joe Mccarthy. Do you really mean to be in the loathsome company of a man who accused George C. Marshall (Marshall High School) of being a traitor?

More later

Thomas,
Shouldnt' they be asking the Langley question of Gibson? He is supposed to be representiing us, after all, not the Langley people. Everyone should ask it of Gibson and ask it of the at-large candidates that are running, and pin them down on it, and vote accordingly.

Thank you! Yes, The tradition of our football team at Glory Days will be destroyed. Thomas, I think you are the most helpful person on this board. :)

CT Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thank you! Yes, The tradition of our football team
> at Glory Days will be destroyed. Thomas, I think
> you are the most helpful person on this board. :)

You're most welcome and too kind.

There's a Glory Days at the Pan Am shopping Center at the corner of Nutley and Lee Hwy which is seems to be closer to Oakton High School any way. Perhaps they will be happy to host your post game celebrations. :-)

That Glory Days is in Fairfax HS territory.

Whens am I gonna be gittin' me some of that white Oakton pussy? I keeps hearin' 'bout this redistrictin' thing, but I ain't seein' no new white bitches. I needs to get my black snake in some white lobbyist's "Little Princess."

Rodney Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That Glory Days is in Fairfax HS territory.

Perfect.

FFX was the one team that South Lakes, though only half FFX's size, regularly beat when they were in the same district. FFX rarely beats any one else anyway. Thus, the Pam Am Glory Days should be empty most of the time. Go Cougars. :-)

It's the perpetutal ineptness of FFX High coaches that has their DSA pushing this ridiculous proposal to realign the Districts of the Northern region. FFX is a D-6 school by population and it's DSA should stop trying to rig the system to cover up for the inability to hire coaches who can teach the game.

Yes, it is Stu Gibson who needs to be asked the question. It was under Stu that South Lakes had that horrible principal. It was under Stu that South Lakes got stuck with the IB program that most parents don't want. It was under Stu when scores began to decline. It was under Stu's watch that a $50 million renovation was completed, with no plan for how to fill 800 empty seats. It was under Stu when Reston elementary schools began to decline and continued to decline without him doing anything to help. It is Stu who has agreed to not redistrict anyone out of Langley. The issues are Stu's, not Janie's.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/19/2007 12:50AM by Neen.

Thomas More,
Your comments are very interesting, but with a couple of caveats. What has happened in Reston, is not happening in other parts of the county, like McLean and Vienna. Their high schools are not losing students like South Lakes has. One problem is the Reston Homeowners who won't allow expansion of existing homes or new homes. Young families want homes that are more modern and larger. Single people with roommates don't care. Nor do they care about schools. Families do care. Asian families are moving into McLean and Vienna because the schools are good. Even though they could get a cheaper home in Reston, those families do not want to move to Reston because the schools are not as good. It's not just a natural evolution, if that was true, Madison, Langley, McLean and Oakton would have the same enrollment problems as South Lakes. It's the schools in Reston, and the restrictive home owners association. It's not a family friendly environment.

I'm sorry that you don't like to be called a democrat. I don't blame you, I'd object to being called that too.

Can we all vote Tyrone the teen off the forum?

>>>Aldrin and Armstrong are part of Reston and those kids belong at South Lakes.<<<

OK. The Madison 'island' is in Vienna so they should stay in Madison, Vienna's high school.

South Lakes needs an additional 700 students. From Aldrin and Armstrong they MIGHT get 100 a grade. From the island they'd be lucky to get 30, total. It hardly seems worth it to upset these communities, particularly when neither Madison or Herndon is over enrolled.

If Stu Gibson is going to force students from other areas into South Lakes, he needs to find larger elementary schools, from over crowded high schools to go there.

Look at this and tell me how it makes ANY sense to remove ANY students from Herndon high school when it will soon be under enrolled by 355 students:

[www.fcps.edu]

A look at the demographics will tell you the same:

[www.fcps.edu]

Remove Aldrin and Armstrong, and Herndon will look just like South Lakes does now, same demographics, same number of under enrolled. It hardly seems fair to shift South Lakes problems to Herndon.

Perhaps the Air Force and Navy recruitment standards were higher than the eligible graduates. I know that the Army has lowered its recruitment standards. Graduation is a rite of passage. It does signify a major accomplishment. Take to heart the commencement messages. The military does offer significant advantages and should be examined as a potential career, or at least for an enlistment. The benefits are invaluable and could send you to college.

Fairfax Citizen Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Perhaps the Air Force and Navy recruitment
> standards were higher than the eligible graduates.
> I know that the Army has lowered its recruitment
> standards. Graduation is a rite of passage. It
> does signify a major accomplishment. Take to
> heart the commencement messages. The military
> does offer significant advantages and should be
> examined as a potential career, or at least for an
> enlistment. The benefits are invaluable and could
> send you to college.

This posting is relevant to the subject of this thread exactly how? Apparently Fairfax Citizen is our local Army recruiter. Thanks for playing, hope you make your quota next month.

More later.

Neen Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> >>>Aldrin and Armstrong are part of Reston and
> those kids belong at South Lakes.<<<
>
> OK. The Madison 'island' is in Vienna so they
> should stay in Madison, Vienna's high school.
>
> South Lakes needs an additional 700 students.
> From Aldrin and Armstrong they MIGHT get 100 a
> grade. From the island they'd be lucky to get 30,
> total. It hardly seems worth it to upset these
> communities, particularly when neither Madison or
> Herndon is over enrolled.
>
> If Stu Gibson is going to force students from
> other areas into South Lakes, he needs to find
> larger elementary schools, from over crowded high
> schools to go there.

The Wolf Trap Elementary ("Madison") Island is not within the boundaries of the Town of Vienna, though it may have a Vienna post office address. The portion of the island west of Hunter Mill is within the 1965 boundaries of Reston

South Lakes could probably do well with just an additional 500 kids.

How about let Herndon keep Armstrong, give Aldrin, Fox Mill and the island west of Hunter Mill to SL and add McNair and Floris to Herndon?

You won't get me to defend Gibson or Butler. Gibson let the Rodreguiz Reign of Terror last for too many years. She chased out the great teachers through retirement and relocation and hired sycophants, martinets, rookies, clock punchers, punks and too many teachers whose command of English was worse than hers, if thats even possible. Instead of cleaning house, Butler has promoted this bunch.

It's still so bad that the first thing every veteran teacher tells a parent within the first minute of any conversation is exactly how many days weeks and months until retirement.

More later

Neen Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Can we all vote Tyrone the teen off the forum?


You must be one of them lobbyists. Where's yo girl's phat ass?

I would vote to get rid of South Lakes Tyrone. Go for it, Neen.

South Lakes Pyramid parent Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I would vote to get rid of South Lakes Tyrone. Go
> for it, Neen.


Yo. Don't redistrict me offa dis site, bro!

Then please don't waste people's time with dumb, obscene comments. We are here to discuss issues of real importance to our kids and communities.

Does anyone know anything about Coppermine ES, the one that begin built in the McNair area to relieve overcrowding in McNair and Floris? That might come into play here, but no one is talking about it, and I can't find anything online about it, not even where it is located. It's supposed to be built for 2009.

Thomas More Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Neen Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > >>>Aldrin and Armstrong are part of Reston and
> > those kids belong at South Lakes.<<<

Armstrong has a lot of core herndon kids. Aldrin could undergo boundary chnages wth lake Anne and Forest Edge and clearly belongs at South Lakes. Forestville should go to Herndon and there should be a boundary change from Great Falls to Forestville of Seneca Rd while moving others out of Forestville into a combo of Dranesville/Armstrong/Aldrin/Forest Edge. Madison island and Colvin Glen should go to South Lakes along with FoxMill,

The Hughes GTC should be disbanded and the above movement wuld fill Hughes base school. The whole kit and caboodle should share busses for middle and high school since Hughes and South lakes are on the same campus despite FCPS erroneously having dricing direction maps showing them as over 1 mile apart when the reality is they are about 2 blocks apart walking/driving - both accessible via either street entrance. No grandfathering and there might be enough current transporation resources to slide the middle and high school start times for both the Herndon Pyramid and the South Lakes Pyramid. Scrap the IB.

That section of the county has to be handled differently than stuff like Madison or Oakton which do not border other school divisions that do not have bsiness relationships with FCPS [aka city of Fairfax].

As for other schools, they need to use Falls Church HS and domino into that. I heard Connelly's base school is mantua - move him out of the Woodson pyramid into falls Church.

> >
> > OK. The Madison 'island' is in Vienna so they
> > should stay in Madison, Vienna's high school.
> >
> > South Lakes needs an additional 700 students.
> > From Aldrin and Armstrong they MIGHT get 100 a
> > grade. From the island they'd be lucky to get
> 30,
> > total. It hardly seems worth it to upset these
> > communities, particularly when neither Madison
> or
> > Herndon is over enrolled.
> >
> > If Stu Gibson is going to force students from
> > other areas into South Lakes, he needs to find
> > larger elementary schools, from over crowded
> high
> > schools to go there.
>
> The Wolf Trap Elementary ("Madison") Island is not
> within the boundaries of the Town of Vienna,
> though it may have a Vienna post office address.
> The portion of the island west of Hunter Mill is
> within the 1965 boundaries of Reston
>
> South Lakes could probably do well with just an
> additional 500 kids.
>
> How about let Herndon keep Armstrong, give Aldrin,
> Fox Mill and the island west of Hunter Mill to SL
> and add McNair and Floris to Herndon?
>
> You won't get me to defend Gibson or Butler.
> Gibson let the Rodreguiz Reign of Terror last for
> too many years. She chased out the great teachers
> through retirement and relocation and hired
> sycophants, martinets, rookies, clock punchers,
> punks and too many teachers whose command of
> English was worse than hers, if thats even
> possible. Instead of cleaning house, Butler has
> promoted this bunch.
>
> It's still so bad that the first thing every
> veteran teacher tells a parent within the first
> minute of any conversation is exactly how many
> days weeks and months until retirement.
>
> More later

I'm not sure SL needs as many as 700 kids. We should leave some room for growth, with all the development being discussed for Reston. Also, I can't believe there won't be more turnover of houses to younger families soon. Gibson says they do not look at possible future growth estimates unless the developers already have permits. This probably explains why the school board's projections are often grossly wrong.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/19/2007 10:47AM by South Lakes Pyramid parent.

South Lakes doesn't need 700 kids - or 500 kids - what it needs, as Gibson has publicly stated, is an influx of the right kind of kids to get test scores up, and make the school more viable than it is in the future. This of course means that South Lakes needs more white and asian kids, and is in a competition to grab them, a competition sponsored if not driven by elements of the school board that find (as so many school systems do) racial balancing a key factor in solving problems. Don't get me wrong - some of the demographic factors about declining number of children in the district are likely accurate and have and will contribute to South Lakes decline in population, but these demographic factors are not the elephant in the room - the need to have an influx of the right kind of students is what is driving the process.

South Lakes Pyramid parent Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm not sure SL needs as many as 700 kids. We
> should leave some room for growth, with all the
> development being discussed for Reston. Also, I
> can't believe there won't be more turnover of
> houses to younger families soon. Gibson says they
> do not look at possible future growth estimates
> unless the developers already have permits. This
> probably explains why the school board's
> projections are often grossly wrong.

Over the last ten years, the schools staff's projections of the number of students to expect from new subdivision have marginally, but consistently, overstated the number of kids that actually show up. This trend is consistent with trends across the country where Americans as a whole, with some notable exceptions, continue the trend of having ever smaller numbers of children, even compared to numbers seen in the 1990's. Because as a nation, our fertility rate has fallen below the 2.1 replacement rate, without immigration, by mid-century America's population will actually start to decline as has already started to happened in several European countries. This trend is exacerbated in an up-scale community like Reston and is even more pronounced in the low density sprawl around Reston.

The new development projected for the metro stations is 5-10 years off at the soonest. It won't add 20% to Reston's current population of 65,000. Because it will be mostly high rise, there will be extremely small numbers of kids generated by those buildings.

Thus new development will not generate 500-700 new kids for South Lakes.

More Later

South Lakes Pyramid parent Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Then please don't waste people's time with dumb,
> obscene comments. We are here to discuss issues
> of real importance to our kids and communities.


Then ignore my posts!

Quantum,
I really don't think you are looking at all of the factors at play. It's not all about test scores--if Gibson was so concerned about those, he would have done more in the last 12 years, like get rid of SL previous principal, and certainly would not have created McNair. And he could have done much more even with McNair and Dogwood to get their scores up, which many other Title 1 schools in the county have shown is possible.

For some reason, Gibson was going on about Westfield being overcrowded because they (the school board?) did a study and decided that 2000 kids is the optimal size for a high school. So he wants to bring enrollments down in schools with many more than 2000. Even though Westfield and Chantilly has the capacity, he thinks it is not optimal.

> Armstrong has a lot of core herndon kids.

What does "core herndon kids" mean. No part of Armstrong is within the boundaries of the Town of Herndon and yet large parts of Armstrong are within the boundaries of Reston.

So does "core herndon kids" refer to a SGA president, the starting quarterback or the first chair violinist? they would be moving because the changes would be implemented with incoming freshman in the fall of '08, also know as the Class of 2012.

> Forestville should go to Herndon and there should
> be a boundary change from Great Falls to
> Forestville of Seneca Rd while moving others out
> of Forestville into a combo of
> Dranesville/Armstrong/Aldrin/Forest Edge.

I just got forwarded an e-mail from Gibson to another SL parent in which Gibson says School regulations preclude the addition of Langley to the boundary study. Too bad he lacked the intestinal fortitude to say that in front of the PTA members the other night. Apparently someone wired that result.

> Scrap the IB.

Second that motion.

More later

Please forgive my typo on the last post It should have read "they won't be moving".

Your error prone servant

Thomas,
What does that mean "school regulation". Who makes this stuff up? Doesn't the school board create the regulations? Can you give us more information so that we can email Gibson about this?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/19/2007 12:50PM by South Lakes Pyramid parent.

quantum Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> the elephant in the
> room - the need to have an influx of the right
> kind of students is what is driving the process.

Sadly, Quantum, you have it precisely right. It's about demographic balancing so the instructional staff doesn't have to actually work hard to get the unfortunately disadvantage kids up to grade level and pass the SOLs. It appears to be all about protecting a seriously disfunctional instructional staff left to us by Railly's Reign of Terror.

But with all of the protests from Fox Mill and Crossfields, I expect our craven Hunter Mill school board member will knuckle under and leap frog McNair into South Lakes so he can get back to his preferred source of entertainment: taking on the "vast right wing conspiracy" to which he dedvotes so much of his energy. (Memo to Stu; Mychelle Brickner's nut case philosophy got her voted out of office sometime ago. You can relax now and get back to making up for all the damage your dear protege, Railly, inflict on Reston's kids for all those years. We still have the scars.)

Adding McNair to South Lakes will make SL a magnet school all right: for the all econmically disadvatage from across the western half of the County. A 21st century version of 1955 Luther Jackson High School. That should please the pretentious swells from "Oak Hill". (For those of you new to the area, Luther Jackson, over by Gallows and Lee Hwy, is the school that crackers built so that all of Fairfax's "coloreds", from Mount Vernon to Herndon, didn't have to commute to D.C. anymore. They were ever so generous to the underprivilege back then. And all this just a single year after Brown v. School Board too. My, they were so far sighted and enlightened. A heritage to be proud of here in Fairfax. Not!)

That's the idea behind the culinary academy (we all ready have two in the County: one at Marshall, another at Chantilly. So do we really need a third one at South Lakes.) See the average wage for a culinary grad., even with a degree from Johnson and Wales or the Culinary Institute, is $40-60,000. That's with experience. Dad and brother hired these guys for Sodexo. Yes, sir, those kids will be able to pay $400,000 for a townhouse in Reston real soon. But at least they can't be outsource to India.

"Why thank you 'Massa Gibson' ever so much you are so kind to us poor chillun, here in Reston."

BTW, I see in this week's Connection that some folks talk about an arts magnet at South Lakes. When you advocate that idea, remember we already have a performing arts academy at FFX High. So you'd nessarily have to advocate for a studio arts academy. But Stu made clear to the SL PTA, an academy was no alternative to attendance area reassignment. Besides, I know of no academy in the County that has 500-700 kids. If someone else does, please advise.

More later

Stu Gibson lied about the exclusion of Langley because of a reg? They have not had town meetings but last year started them on about Oct 10.

Thomas More Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > Armstrong has a lot of core herndon kids...

By core Herndon I was referring to Herndon PO box - some are Herndon PO box and in Hunter Mill with some Herndon PO Box/Dranesville. That circles the Herndon PO Box stuff that goes to Forestville...

I call it core not town since it is Herndon. A lot of Armstrong kids are in Reston but they are supposed to draw boundaries irregardless of Magisterial District/PO Box, etc. The fact is Aldrin/Armstrong are under capacity - concern is adding both to South Lakes is that if those schools approach capacity the Hughes/South Lakes combo would be overcrowded.

What was Gibson's reg? here's a cut and paste from the actual reg on the timeline and it's not Nov yet--

[www.fcps.edu]

The Approximate Calendar September-October: Facilities Planning Services and appropriate program staffs review enrollment projections, program requirements, and school and program capacities countywide to identify areas in which school closings, attendance area, and/or program realignments should be considered. The names of those schools that could be affected by such changes are reviewed with the affected School Board members. A letter informing parents of the need to change attendance area boundaries, and containing dates of the appropriate town meetings, will be sent from each school involved in a boundary study....

South Lakes Pyramid parent Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thomas,
> What does that mean "school regulation". Who
> makes this stuff up? Doesn't the school board
> create the regulations? Can you give us more
> information so that we can email Gibson about
> this?

see the actual reg and email all the school board members [except Strauss ?]-
also complain about Langley and the administration there allowing about 200 truckloads of dirt to be dumped without permits and the removal being paid for with public money.

link to the page with the policy and the regualtions which carry out the operations of the school board policies:
[www.fcps.edu]

Thomas,
You contradict yourself. First you say Gibson wants the redistricting to bring up SL stats, then you say Gibson will put McNair in SL, which would have the opposite effect. What are you trying to say?

South Lakes Pyramid parent Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thomas,
> What does that mean "school regulation". Who
> makes this stuff up? Doesn't the school board
> create the regulations? Can you give us more
> information so that we can email Gibson about
> this?

Thus sayeth his craveness: "The Board's policy and regulation (8130.5) do not allow for any such modification to be made at this stage of the process."

As if the School Board couldn't vote to amend, modify or suspend their own rules and regulations whenever a majority voted for it. And he expects us to swallow this prevarication. It's a cop out to cover over that fact that Langley was left out to rig the end-result and preclude the unification of Reston into one high school.

An the coward didn't have the intestinal fortitude to tell us that to our faces at the PTA meeting the other night.

He has no respect for any of us. We are just dopes to be manipulated in pursuit of some undisclosed agenda known only to our lovely and kind "Massa Stu".

Unfortunately, More later.