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Excuse the rant = not.
Injustice pisses me off.
Nine people who chuck $30k at a race to earn $20k and control nearly $3.5 billion in Country appropriated funds and federal subsidies just mowed over the will of a huge segment of Fairfax County, shuttered a school to solve an overcrowding problem and have done a huge shell game to support their claims that water is bad (not), enrollment is declining (not) and that it costs less to build a brand new school than renovate a school with 98%+ enrollment (again, process began because they cried ^OVERCROWDING^.
Fraud, waste, abuse, malfeasance, neligence, dereliction of duty, self-aggrandizement - seven deadly sins of an elected official. And the FCPS School Board = the Dirty baker's half-dozen = has committed them all.
If a rant, then it's much-needed. Want to join the team?
No thanks - red's probably not my best color.
However, as I've spent a bit of time reading up on this issue (about which I wasn't very familiar when the decision to close the school was announced), I find myself in increasing sympathy with the Clifton residents. It really does seem to me that there was an extraordinary outpouring of support in that community - beyond what you'd likely find in other parts of the county where there are more schools and the local school isn't the de facto center of the community - to keep that school open; that FCPS Staff approached the issue with a "one size fits all" mentality; and that the School Board acted prematurely and unwisely. I don't doubt that they have a difficult task, nor do I care how much individual members spent during their election campaigns. I just think they made a bone-headed decision.
Unique topographical challenges?
Love that - you mean...it's on a hill? Oh my, no, no, no... not A HILL!!!"
"We know how to build schools where asbestos is identified," said school board member
Elizabeth Bradsher. "That is nothing new to our planning and construction department."
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Asbestos-threat-casts-shadow-over-proposed-new-Clifton-Elementary-site-97347199.html (broken link)
OK - you can build on asbestos...but not a hill?
What a crock of...
Enrollment projected to decline? Since when? Fiction...
"Nancy Drew and the Case of the Disappearing Students"
July 2009 -> FCPS Feasibility Study
Clifton ES capacity = 374 students
September 2008 enrollment = 377 students actual +3
Projected enrollment for SY13-14 = 396 students
January 2010 -> Clifton ES enrollment: (98.93% capacity)
March 2010 -> FCPS Clifton Phase II Presentation
Student Population SY09/10 349 SY14/15 325
[The mystery begins...there are 370 students in the school in March 2010...so WHY does the Phase II Report say 349? Where did those 21 children go?]
May 3, 2010 -> Final Staff Report
Clifton ES 2015/16 Enrollment Projection: 298 students
[The mystery now is terrifying - 98 children have gone missing!!!... from FCPS' own projections]
If FCPS can't even headcount children ACTUALLY enrolled in the school...how can they project anything?!
"System-wide, one-year projections are evidently typically within +/-2% of actual enrollments.
When looking at individual schools out 5 years, however, the range becomes about +/- 15%" http://www.fcps.edu/news/documents/S...teeReports.pdf
Next in the Series?
"Nancy Drew and the Case of the Puzzling Case of School Closure to Solve Overcrowding"
"Nancy Drew and the Case of Building on Asbestos...and Mysteriously Finding None"
"We have done construction on that site before. When we built Liberty, we did not find asbestos,
even though we monitored for it," he said. (Tistadt)
http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/articleprint.asp?article=342136&paper=62&cat=104 (broken link)
"Nancy Drew and the Case of Federal Grants and Assistance Make Buildings Too Expensive"
"Nancy Drew and the Case of the Well Water that Was Bad...that Wasn't"
"Nancy Drew and the Case of the Disappearing $130M...Gatehouse Gate"
"Nancy Drew and the Case of the Missing Plan for Where to Educate 400 School less Children"
and the best...
"funds...can be reassigned by the School Board to other capital projects such as renovations and capacity enhancements (new schools*, building additions, and modulars)"
Translation for non-FCPS Staff or School Board Members:
We can do renovations everyplace BUT Clifton
"renovation of Clifton Elementary School has been planned for completion in 2013-14" http://www.fcps.edu/news/documents/Finalstaffreport.pdf
We may/may not may/may not may/may not build at Liberty
"the Liberty property is not located in the area where the worst school overcrowding
is taking place, so the school system will try to address the overcrowding problem in other ways.
"The Liberty site is not ideally located to solve the problem," said Tistadt. "Perhaps
we rushed a little bit with the initial recommendation."
http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/articleprint.asp?article=342136&paper=62&cat=104 (broken link)
Building additions...for overcrowded schools. Novel concept. Let's spend a year studying it, form committees, sub-committees, ad hoc committees, hold community engagement meetings, public hearings and decide next July. Deja-vu. Wait...you already have that planned? The Boundary Study, of course.
The very, very best for last - "modulars" - get ready for trailers, kiddies - coming to a school near you. [SCREAM HERE!]
(oh, can't help but wondering...what's that gonna cost?)
Last edited by Tax Smart, Not More; 07-21-2010 at 11:06 PM..
Reason: font
SOME MORON spent $100G for a $20K JOB???
I wish you hadn't told me I was wrong --- not that I mind being wrong --- just, just - ugh --- that is SO WRONG.
And Stuey Gibson has been on for, WHAT?, 15+ years. He must be one power crazed maniac.
And Kathy - Queen Supreme of them All.
Both Stu Gibson and Janie Straus have been on the school board for 15 years. Janie's running again next year. Stu says he's not but I don't believe him for a minute. He LOVES being on the school board. If he could move up in politics, he might do that, but there's no place for him to go. So we're all stuck with him on the school board for a grand total of 20 years, and counting.
Liz Bradsher is certifiable. The woman has lost her last marble, but it's nice of her to admit what we all knew, she works for Fairfax county schools, and not the people who voted her into office or their children! “I Work for FCPS!”–Liz Bradsher – Red NoVA (http://rednova8.com/wordpress/?p=2586 - broken link)
Unique topographical challenges?
Love that - you mean...it's on a hill? Oh my, no, no, no... not A HILL!!!"
"We know how to build schools where asbestos is identified," said school board member
Elizabeth Bradsher. "That is nothing new to our planning and construction department."
Asbestos threat casts shadow over proposed new Clifton Elementary site | Washington Examiner (http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Asbestos-threat-casts-shadow-over-proposed-new-Clifton-Elementary-site-97347199.html - broken link)
OK - you can build on asbestos...but not a hill?
What a crock of...
Enrollment projected to decline? Since when? Fiction...
"Nancy Drew and the Case of the Disappearing Students"
July 2009 -> FCPS Feasibility Study
Clifton ES capacity = 374 students
September 2008 enrollment = 377 students actual +3
Projected enrollment for SY13-14 = 396 students
January 2010 -> Clifton ES enrollment: (98.93% capacity)
March 2010 -> FCPS Clifton Phase II Presentation
Student Population SY09/10 349 SY14/15 325
[The mystery begins...there are 370 students in the school in March 2010...so WHY does the Phase II Report say 349? Where did those 21 children go?]
May 3, 2010 -> Final Staff Report
Clifton ES 2015/16 Enrollment Projection: 298 students
[The mystery now is terrifying - 98 children have gone missing!!!... from FCPS' own projections]
If FCPS can't even headcount children ACTUALLY enrolled in the school...how can they project anything?!
"System-wide, one-year projections are evidently typically within +/-2% of actual enrollments.
When looking at individual schools out 5 years, however, the range becomes about +/- 15%" http://www.fcps.edu/news/documents/S...teeReports.pdf
Next in the Series?
"Nancy Drew and the Case of the Puzzling Case of School Closure to Solve Overcrowding"
"Nancy Drew and the Case of Building on Asbestos...and Mysteriously Finding None"
"We have done construction on that site before. When we built Liberty, we did not find asbestos,
even though we monitored for it," he said. (Tistadt)
Centre View South - The Connection Newspapers (http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/articleprint.asp?article=342136&paper=62&cat=104 - broken link)
"Nancy Drew and the Case of Federal Grants and Assistance Make Buildings Too Expensive"
"Nancy Drew and the Case of the Well Water that Was Bad...that Wasn't"
"Nancy Drew and the Case of the Disappearing $130M...Gatehouse Gate"
"Nancy Drew and the Case of the Missing Plan for Where to Educate 400 School less Children"
and the best...
"funds...can be reassigned by the School Board to other capital projects such as renovations and capacity enhancements (new schools*, building additions, and modulars)"
Translation for non-FCPS Staff or School Board Members:
We can do renovations everyplace BUT Clifton
"renovation of Clifton Elementary School has been planned for completion in 2013-14" http://www.fcps.edu/news/documents/Finalstaffreport.pdf
We may/may not may/may not may/may not build at Liberty
"the Liberty property is not located in the area where the worst school overcrowding
is taking place, so the school system will try to address the overcrowding problem in other ways.
"The Liberty site is not ideally located to solve the problem," said Tistadt. "Perhaps
we rushed a little bit with the initial recommendation."
Centre View South - The Connection Newspapers (http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/articleprint.asp?article=342136&paper=62&cat=104 - broken link)
Building additions...for overcrowded schools. Novel concept. Let's spend a year studying it, form committees, sub-committees, ad hoc committees, hold community engagement meetings, public hearings and decide next July. Deja-vu. Wait...you already have that planned? The Boundary Study, of course.
The very, very best for last - "modulars" - get ready for trailers, kiddies - coming to a school near you. [SCREAM HERE!]
(oh, can't help but wondering...what's that gonna cost?)
How about we swap out the administrative staff (AKA the gang that couldn't shoot straight) for teachers? Let's put more teachers in the classroom and get rid of the thousands of idiots in the central administration and those 8 cluster offices. If all 8 of those offices disappeared tomorrow NO ONE in the county would notice, and think of all the teachers who could be put into classrooms! Thousands of teachers!
Dr. James Raney, School Board Member At Large, asked that exact question during the meeting on July 8, 2010 after he voted for an amendment to postpone closure to allow the School Board time to a) evaluate water reports released after the meeting began (nice integrity, Ch.of Ops, Dean Tistadt), b) the disproven enrollment projections (see their own projections, which changed nearly 25% downward in under 9 months once they figured out what result they wanted), c) investigate offer by state & federal historic preservation societies to help with the renovation and their support to save the school and more...
The esteemed (NOT) Chairman Kathy Smith's oh-so-professional response to her colleague?
"It's on the internet."
Would be funny if it weren't true.
As Tina Hone said at the meeting, does ANYONE really believe that staff didn't get the reports that the water was fine until 7:40 the night of the meeting? So they had to email it to the school board during the meeting! lol Doesn't staff know how silly they look?!
1. current enrollment: falldash09v2.swf
you need to know the cluster to use this tool. I hunt around, but let me save you the trouble:
Clifton ES, Fairview ES, Oak View ES, Sangster ES - CLUSTER 6
Willow Springs ES, Union Mill ES - CLUSTER 7
2. projected enrollment (NOTE: they used only 1 of the Clifton ES zip codes (the lowest density) for their numbers, so take these numbers with a grain of salt): http://www.fcps.edu/news/documents/Finalstaffreport.pdf (see page 28 - last page)
4. a link to a recent article with current capacity at the surrounding schools:
Barbara Hollingsworth: School closing was neither fair, nor transparent | Washington Examiner (http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/School-closing-was-neither-fair_-nor-transparent-1001700-98768509.html - broken link)
excerpt:
Where will the ~360 Clifton kids get shifted to in 2011? Let's look at the current capacity at the nearby schools:
Fairview: 105
Sangster: 121
Oakview: 37
Willow Springs: 147
Union Mill: 8
Don't forget that there was projected SHORTFALL of seats of approx. 1500 students in the area. Union Mill and Willow Springs are best located to ease some of the Route 29 overcrowding (Colin Powell and Eagle View). So that leaves 3 schools (Fairview, Oakview, Sangster) with ~260 seats available. I guess they plan on putting the other 100 kids into modular units or something. Nice job FCPS - close a top school and put our kids (or yours???) into trailers. Many families, not just Clifton, will be impacted in some way. By the way, all 5 of the nearby schools roll up to different middle and high schools - yes 5 different ones. Right now all the Clifton ES kids go to Robinson. I guess siblings will go to different schools going forward. Parents - pay attention and get involved NOW!
Yes, the enrollment figures are a joke - they used birth rates from 1 zip code (20124) and didn't use 22039 or 22030. I haven't crunched the numbers, but I know the area well and would venture to guess that the 22039 and 22030 might yield higher birth rates. Of course that would not bode well for their argument.
Clifton folks might find this interesting. It's a Staff presentation on the FCPS "priority schools" initiative designed to identify a handful (actually, 30) schools deemed worthy of receiving extra resources and attention based largely on a history of lower performance.
If I'm reading this correctly, Clifton ES was ranked second from the bottom (or the top, depending on how you look at it) under the Staff's methodology. In the context of the study, that's a good thing - it means everything was hunky-dory.
Seems "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" got turned into "If it ain't broke, shut it down" here.
1. current enrollment: falldash09v2.swf
you need to know the cluster to use this tool. I hunt around, but let me save you the trouble:
Clifton ES, Fairview ES, Oak View ES, Sangster ES - CLUSTER 6
Willow Springs ES, Union Mill ES - CLUSTER 7
2. projected enrollment (NOTE: they used only 1 of the Clifton ES zip codes (the lowest density) for their numbers, so take these numbers with a grain of salt): http://www.fcps.edu/news/documents/Finalstaffreport.pdf (see page 28 - last page)
4. a link to a recent article with current capacity at the surrounding schools:
Barbara Hollingsworth: School closing was neither fair, nor transparent | Washington Examiner (http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/School-closing-was-neither-fair_-nor-transparent-1001700-98768509.html - broken link)
excerpt:
Where will the ~360 Clifton kids get shifted to in 2011? Let's look at the current capacity at the nearby schools:
Fairview: 105
Sangster: 121
Oakview: 37
Willow Springs: 147
Union Mill: 8
Don't forget that there was projected SHORTFALL of seats of approx. 1500 students in the area. Union Mill and Willow Springs are best located to ease some of the Route 29 overcrowding (Colin Powell and Eagle View). So that leaves 3 schools (Fairview, Oakview, Sangster) with ~260 seats available. I guess they plan on putting the other 100 kids into modular units or something. Nice job FCPS - close a top school and put our kids (or yours???) into trailers. Many families, not just Clifton, will be impacted in some way. By the way, all 5 of the nearby schools roll up to different middle and high schools - yes 5 different ones. Right now all the Clifton ES kids go to Robinson. I guess siblings will go to different schools going forward. Parents - pay attention and get involved NOW!
Hope this helps!
Mom4Freedom
It might help except that none of your links work. They don't show up so that they are clickable.
I am shocked that the five schools you listed have such low capacity numbers. Perhaps you mean something else?
Clifton kids will have to split among 5 different schools, some many miles away? That's horrible. Then they will have to go to 5 different high schools?! That's even worse!
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