|
It has been a busy week for the School Board with a 2/2 Return to School Work Session and a regular meeting last night where we passed the McLean HS boundary adjustment. To share the latest information with you, I am sending out this abbreviated newsletter with my regular newsletter coming out next week.
Thank you and happy weekend,
Elaine
On February 2, the Fairfax County School Board gave unanimous support for an updated timeline that will offer all students the opportunity to return to school buildings two days a week beginning February 16 through March 16. The 2/2 Return to School Work Session recording can be viewed here. The next Return to School update will be 3/16.
Under the updated timeline presented by Dr. Brabrand at the 2/2 School Board Work Session, the first students, including students with disabilities, English Language Learners and younger students, will begin returning to in-person learning on February 16. Learn more about the in-person return to school timeline here.
FCPS has implemented Safety Teams that are monitoring FCPS’ adherence to five health and safety mitigation strategies that the CDC says will help to keep school transmission rates low. FCPS schools currently rate “low” in terms of infection risk.
In addition, vaccinations of FCPS staff began January 16 and are continuing. Ninety percent of FCPS staff have requested or scheduled appointments to receive the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The Fairfax County Health Department is also working closely with Inova Health System and FCPS to ensure that staff will have access to their second dose in the course of the next few weeks.
New Bell Schedule Starts February 16
FCPS will implement a new bell schedule due to social distancing requirements which limit capacity on school buses. The bell schedule change, starting February 16, will apply to both in-person learning and full-time virtual learning students.
McLean High School Boundary Adjustment Passes
 Option B- approved boundary adjustment
- Reassigns students in the Colvin Run ES split feeder area, a portion of the Spring Hill ES split feeder and a small portion of Westbriar ES
- For more information, please go to the McLean Boundary website
A huge thank you to our facilities and planning staff, Region 1 and Region 2 staff, our communications staff, our parents and students for their input and participation in this process. I want to thank my School Board colleagues for their perspectives on the options. Thank you to my Dranesville FPAC member Jay Reddy and his FPAC colleague Cathy Hosek for helping me better understand the general boundary process and to our community advisory group, especially the Langley and McLean HS student representatives, for their community perspectives.
This boundary adjustment is another step to alleviate pressures at McLean HS. Our modular will be open later this month and ready to accept our high schoolers as they return to school in March. Last night, we formalized our boundary adjustment. As we have been doing the past months, we will continue to monitor development in the McLean and Tysons area with the perspective of looking at future capacity impacts for McLean HS, Langley HS and our other area schools to determine necessary capacity improvements.
What factors led to the selection of Option B?
Option B allows for 190 HS students to be moved to Langley HS from McLean HS over the phasing period. This will help alleviate some of the overcrowding at McLean HS. In addition, the Colvin Run split feeder and 10% of the Springhill split feeder will now be alleviated. Unfortunately, we could not alleviate both split feeders due to capacity constraints at Cooper MS. By including all of the neighborhoods to the west of the intersection of Rt. 7 and the Dulles Toll Road, option B does not create an McLean HS attendance island and does increase transportation efficiencies. In addition, neighborhoods in both the Colvin Run area and the Tysons area of the Springhill ES attendance area were kept intact. Community input in the form of public hearing testimony, phone calls, and emails to me and other Board members over the boundary adjustment was generally supportive of Option B. I thank all of you who took the time to reach out to me.
The change with this boundary adjustment will happen slowly as we have grandfathered all current students at Longfellow MS and Mclean HS and are allowing current 8th graders to determine which high school they will attend. This will allow us to monitor capacity changes closely and to make sure the schools can adjust to any changes without hardship.
Phasing/Grandfathering
The phasing approved last night is based on attrition mandating rising 7th graders to move to Cooper MS. Rising 9th graders will be given a choice of attending Langley HS or McLean HS. This choice is binding for all 4 years of high school and will have bus transportation provided all four years.
Approved phasing with rising ninth grade option
- Here is a description of the phasing by grade level:
-
Current 6th grader goes to Cooper MS next year.
-
Current LMS 7th grader stays at LMS for 8th grade and SY 22-23 goes to Langley HS
-
Current LMS 8th grader
-
Current MHS 9th/10th/11th grader stays at McLean HS next year and completes HS at McLean
- No current students attending Longfellow MS or McLean HS will be reassigned.
Registration Contacts
If my family lives in the boundary adjustment, who do I contact for registration at my student’s new school?
-
Langley HS: Langley’s registrar, Mary Gratz. She can be reached at 703-287-2722 or mjgratz@fcps.edu
-
Cooper MS: Cooper’s SIA, Annie Eisman. She can be reached at 703- 442-5812 or adeisman@fcps.edu.
If my family lives in the boundary adjustment and has a rising 9th grader, who do I contact for registration? Note: This must be done by March 19, 2021.
-
If your rising 9th grade student attends Longfellow MS and wishes to attend Langley HS: Langley’s registrar, Mary Gratz. She can be reached at 703-287-2722 or mjgratz@fcps.edu
-
If your rising 9th grade student attends Longfellow MS and wishes to attend McLean HS: McLean's registrar, Mary Bartenfeld. She can be reached at 703-714-5722 or mbartenfeld@fcps.edu
Younger siblings
Will younger siblings be allowed to attend the same high school as older siblings?
- Sibling transfers would have to follow the application process for student transfers. However, it is anticipated that Cooper MS, Longfellow MS, Langley HS, and McLean HS will be closed to transfers with any boundary adjustment to allow the schools to adjust to the change in population for SY 2021-22
Transportation
Will transportation be provided to both schools over the timeframe of phasing in the boundary change?
- Yes, the areas adjusted will have transportation to both schools to allow for the transition.
The views contained within this newsletter reflect the views of the individual school board member who is the publisher of this newsletter and may not reflect the views of the Fairfax County School Board.
© 2020 Fairfax County Public Schools, Fairfax County, Virginia
|
