Redistricting Fever: You pick the headline -- a) Funnier than a Dickens novel, or b) You mean it really wasn't about the band programs?

So after months of wailing, gnashing of teeth, feigned concern about band programs, IB and Bratz, not to mention quality Indian takeout, it comes to this: The awesome lawsuit against Fairfax County Schools and its evil plan to redistrict South Lakes High School, whose backers said was never about socioeconomics, is really all about socioeconomics.

[Plaintiff attorney Steven] Stone fired back, saying, “Those coming from poverty require greater economic needs? Who says? There is no proof of that. That's the social engineering of the board and it's insulting. There are great examples in this country of those coming from poverty who achieve great things. They never got any special treatment.”

Wow. He sounds like the stock character in every Dickens novel who, after being visited by ghosts/urchins/crazy women who live in attics unexpectedly learns the Error of His Ways. Except that in IB, they probably make people read Das Kapital instead of right-thinking literature like Dickens.

Anyhoo. Now that they've had their day in court, we weren't really expecting the plaintiff's attorney, who apparently cares about this case so very deeply that he was ready to drop it like a hot potato unless the awesome, not-concerned-about-socioeconomics booster club FairfaxCAPS coughed up an extra $15,000, to play the race/poverty card so quickly. But what of the hapless defense attorney? Did he just give up and promise to send every kid in the county to Langley?

[Tom] Cawley questioned the standing, or legitimacy of the suit, saying that Virginia code defines the power of a local school board and that not everything a school board does can be taken to Circuit Court. “No Virginia law says someone has a personal right to go to a particular school,” he said.

Just don't tell the Saxons that.

Actually, after what amounts to nearly a year of this nonsense, the person we really feel for at the moment is the judge -- and not just because his first name is "Gaylord."

“This is a very important case, not only for those in the courtroom but also for many not here,” concluded Judge [Gaylord L.] Finch Jr., who said he will take the case under advisement and asked for additional briefs from each side to be provided by July 22. The judge expects to issue a written decision in the case by July 28.

Yeah. Good luck with that.

Redistricting Fever: July 3 Will Still Be Their Independence Day

Do you like celebrating the nation's birthday with hotdogs, fireworks, and a nuisance lawsuit trying to force Fairfax County Schools to redistrict a boundary change so no one ever has to go to South Lakes, or any county school with the initials "S" and "L" in its name ever again? Well, then, great news! The lawsuit's still on!

Fairfax Coalition of Advocates for Public Schools, a group of parents who oppose redistricting plans in the western part of Fairfax County, struggled to raise the last few thousand dollars needed to go forward with a lawsuit against the Fairfax County School Board, but the group received the remaining $15,000 that it needed for legal fees last week.

FairfaxCAPS Director Scott Chronister said, “Everyone that we’ve talked to is amazed at the public response.” Chronister said that last week the group raised about $1,000 each day, which was “absolutely tremendous.” FairfaxCAPS and the Fairfax County School Board are scheduled to meet in court on July 3.

Wow. It's moments like this that make us proud to be Americans.

Redistricting Fever: Like It's a Wonderful Life, only with IB classes and Bratz

Hey, remember that time the awesome pro-school group FairfaxCAPS was suing the Fairfax County School Board to make it redistrict South Lakes High School again so its boundaries extended no further than the school's own parking lot, but then they started running out of money to pay the lawyers dedicated public servants who'd copied-and-pasted some legal terms like "carthengia delendo est" and "nolo contendre band programs" into an impressive legal document, so they asked for another $15,000 from people who could have otherwise used that money to send their kids to the Landon School for upwards of 25 minutes before being shown the door by tazer-weilding security guards?

Yeah, that was awesome. Anyhoo, today's apparently the deadline for that extra cash, and as of a few days ago, they were just about halfway there.

One week ago we sent out the following email requesting $15,000 in contributions. We are happy to announce that we have received $8,000 dollars, approximately $1,000 dollars a day. However, we still need to collect the remaining $7,000 within the next 3 days in order to achieve our goal and continue to assure FCPS fairness, transparency and accountability.

Will they get the last seven grand to their attorneys just in the nick of time, as people stand around a Christmas tree singing "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing" and telling each other that every time a bell rings, a Bratz doll gets its wings? We sure hope so! Otherwise, we'll have nothing to do on July 3 but sit around and watch certain patriotic, anti-IB movies.

Redistricting Fever: Of Bratz and Legal Billz

FairfaxCAPS, the awesome group that's suing the Fairfax County School Board to re-re-re-redistrict South Lakes High School so no one ever has to go there again, except maybe for people who can't afford the modest, entry-level $750,000 homes in their own neighborhoods, has reached something of a crossroads. And by "crossroads," we mean "running out of money."

The legal action resulting from the School Board’s decision on the West County Boundary Study has come a long way. We submitted a petition to Fairfax County Circuit Court on behalf of the petitioners. The School Board’s attorneys responded, denying nearly everything and stating that the petitioners do not have standing and the court has no authority to make a ruling on the redistricting. The petitioners’ brief was recently submitted and the School Board’s attorneys will respond shortly. The final activities by the petitioners’ attorney includes reviewing the School Board’s brief, preparing for the hearing, and lastly, appearing at the hearing.

In addition, more than $100,000 has been raised for legal fees. We need to raise an additional $15,000 by June 20th to cover the remaining costs. If we do not receive the funding, we will not be able to go to court and the School Board will win by default — just the way they wanted.

Guess that awesome Stu Gibson dunking booth and delicious Indian takeout weren't enough to pay the bills. We still think they should have taken our advice and raffled off a guaranteed pupil-placement at Langley High School, but bygones are bygones. Ask not what your nuisance lawsuit can do for you, ask what you can do for your nuisance lawsuit:

I am confident that you will make a contribution of $500 or an amount that you feel represents your financial means and your commitment to ensure fairness, transparency, and accountability in the Fairfax County School Board.

Wow. Five Benjamins will buy a lot of Bratz.

Meanwhile, at South Lakes High School, the Ground Zero of Bratzgate, they had the gall to actually celebrate the elaborate disinformation campaign students and parents used to bamboozle the school board into allowing the boundary change--obvious lies involving silly, IB-influenced concepts like "school pride" and "dignity." The nerve!

Members of the South Lakes High School Community gathered in the school’s gym on Tuesday, May 20th to celebrate the hard work of the parents, students and faculty who supported South Lakes during the boundary process.

The South Lakes leadership class was also honored for their involvement. Leadership teacher and South Lakes graduate, Lindsay Trout, said of her students at the hearings, “they displayed the most class and dignity of any group involved.” Speaking about the hearings themselves, Trout continued, “I was shocked with the intensity of the negativity and the falsities; the perceptions people had, based on zero truth, of some of the parties involved.”

Senior Leadership student Sierra Little felt it was important to attend the meetings and have the students’ voices heard. “I came here my sophomore year and when I first came here I called this my family. I live in Loudoun County and pay to go here, the opportunities and the classes and the people; I wouldn’t want to go anywhere else. It’s just like someone bad mouthing my mother,” said Little.

The students were shocked at what they witnessed at the meetings. “We’d expect for adults to be more mature, they were attacking us,” said Senior Leadership member Fatima Ellitinay. “It was like a big jungle, there were parents stomping, shouting; they knew we were there and they were still acting that way,” said Junior Leadership student Roya Zaka.

That just couldn't be true!

Of the experience Principal Bruce Butler said, “It helped pull the greater school community together, when kids go to bat for their school like that, it’s really special.” Speaking about the hearings Butler continued, “Change is always difficult especially when it relates to our kids, I never saw it as sides, it’s a process.”

It's a process, all right. A legal process which, at this point, will only serve to better the attorneys whose own kids go to Langley or a private school.

Redistricting Fever: July 3 Will Be Their Independence Day, Assuming Bill Pullman Is Available

Hey, remember that time when that awesome, pro-public school group FairfaxCAPS decided that the best way to educate troubled students from such impoverished neighborhoods as Oakton Heights, where some houses have slipped below the $750,000 poverty-line threshold, was to sue Fairfax County Schools to keep those students from being subjected to such indignities as a bus ride up and down the rolling hills of their marginal neighborhoods to South Lakes High School, where they would have the flag pins yanked from their lapels and be forced to play with Bratz dolls and drink fluoridated water and whatnot?

Well, the district's attorneys have responded to the suit, arguing it has -- get this -- no merit! Their kids must go to Langley or something, unlike the selfless public servants representing FairfaxCAPS, who are doing God's work in return for only a mere share of the proceeds from Indian takeout. In any event, they provided a 63-point response to FairfaxCAPS' right-thinking petition (PDF). Apparently the first 61 points were dead on, because only the last two seemed to rankle the group:

* “62 All of the claims alleged in the Petition fail because the court lacks jurisdiction to review the School Board’s decision to adjust school attendance boundaries.”
* “63 All of the claims alleged in the Petition fail because Petitioners lack standing to challenge the School Board’s decision to adjust school attendance boundaries.”

In other words, the school board believes it can do whatever it wants. No checks and balances. No board of appeals. No oversight. They claim unchecked powers — powers not even granted the President of the United States.

Ummm... we're not saying the school board has behaved perfectly during this entire uneventful season, but have these folks picked up a newspaper lately? Oh, wait -- that's the vice president. Never mind.

In any event, the awesome court date is July 3... THEIR INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Redistricting Fever: And hot dogs for the kids!

Now that they've secured the finest legal team that advertises on the back cover of the Yellow Pages, how is FairfaxCAPS, the awesome, pro-school group that's currently suing Fairfax County schools to force it to re-redistrict elementary school students from Oakton, Vienna, Fox Mill and other decent, non-Bratz-intensive places out of South Lakes High School to somewhere where they won't have to sing the Internationale before getting their chocolate ration for the day, going to pay its bills?

Apparently quality Indian cuisine and Christmas ornaments aren't cutting it, because they've come up with some awesome new plans:

We have a booth at Viva Vienna on May 25th & 26th. Our goal is to reach a broader audience and spread the word about our mission.

Awesome! Will they have Stu Gibson in a dunking booth? But wait -- there's more!

Also, FairfaxCAPS is holding a raffle to support FairfaxCAPS advocacy efforts. We are blessed with generous friends who have donated some big ticket items for the raffle. We are asking members of the community to help support FairfaxCAPS by buying and selling tickets. We will sell tickets at Viva Vienna. In total, the prizes are valued at over $4000. Watch for the next email that will be the short list of prizes available. I promised that I would hold the announcement of the GRAND PRIZE. Shhhhhhh!....think sun, sand and water.

What, is it a spot at Langley High School? (Fun fact, by the way: the mascot at Langley, which was never ever ever in danger of being redistricted anywhere, is the Saxons... or should we say, the Anglo-Saxons?)

But we digress. Then there's this assessment of how FairfaxCAPS is doing:

FairfaxCAPS has received great reviews in newspapers and on online blogs for its efforts. We have some awesome goals for the next year.

Awesome? Where on earth would they have gotten that word?

Redistricting Fever: Bratz on Trial!

Hey, remember that time a group of parents formed FairfaxCAPS, a pro-public-school booster club to provide positive input to the not at all controversial redistricting process involving South Lakes High School, Bratz and a bunch of foreign-sounding IB classes that apparently teach kids to not wear American flag lapels? And then remember how they decided the best "input" was a frivolous groundbreaking lawsuit, funded by Christmas ornaments and Indian cuisine?

Yeah, that was awesome. Well, turns out the court date has been set.

Thanks to the support we received from hundreds of friends and neighbors from around the community and across the county, FairfaxCAPS has been empowered to engage attorneys in a landmark case to overturn the Fairfax County School Board's recent decision to redistrict our schools. This case, scheduled to be heard in Circuit Court in early July 2008, will make it clear that the Fairfax County School Board is accountable for its actions and must operate within State law. While winning this battle will not be easy, we are confident in the soundness of our legal claims and the abilities of our legal team.

And here they are -- the legal team that will strike fear into those evil school board attorneys and compel the judge to order that every Fairfax County student (and those from Loudoun County too, just for good measure) be forcibly bused to Langley High School:


Court adjouned!

Everyone Loves Puppies, Pt. 2: Yeah, but do they give away free cars?

Armstrong Elementary School's student-run TV broadcast managed to scoop Oprah and Ellen on the heartwarming story of Cinnamon, an Afghani dog adopted by a U.S. serviceman when his tour of duty there ended. Turns out the first stop on the obligatory book tour for 44 Days Out of Kandahar wasn't those effete cultural snobs at The New York Review of Books or even Entertainment Tonight -- it was Armstrong Elementary.

We've said it before, and we'll say it again: People love puppies.

Redistricting Fever: They Found a Phone!

Exactly a month to the day after the Fairfax County School Board enacted its awesome plan to transform South Lakes High School into a mecca of peace, love and Bratz understanding, the pro-school FairfaxCAPS has demonstrated its proactive approach to improving county schools by filing suit to stop redistricting forever and give every aggrieved parent in Fox Mill and Oakton Heights a pony and generate enough billable hours to move an entire team of lawyers to Great Falls.

On Friday, March 28, a suit was filed on behalf of 11 parents of children affected by the proposed redistricting plan, with the support of The Fairfax Coalition of Advocates for Public Schools (Fairfax CAPS).

The suit states that the School Board's decision was invalid because it was “arbitrary and capricious and undertaken in excess of its authority.”

It further maintains that the school board did not comply with its policy on school boundary adjustments and ignored information demonstrating that the redistricting does not “maintain or improve operating efficiency or instructional effectiveness of the schools impacted,” and that “the school board exceeded its statutory authority by considering the socioeconomic characteristics of the school population” in making its redistricting decision.

Fairfax County Schools declined to comment, most likely because they know they're totally guilty and are feverishly working to re-redistrict again so every elementary school in the county will feed into Langley High School.

Meanwhile, if you want to support this important legal boondoggle work and are hankering for some quality Indian cuisine or a Christmas ornament depicting your Oakton McMansion, you're in luck!

Tandoori Village Restaurant in Manassas has offered to DONATE 20% OF YOUR TOTAL BILL TO STOP REDISTRICTING!!!! A special note from restaurant owner, Abby Wahla:To all supportive guests: please identify yourself (that you want to STOP REDISTRICTING) to my husband, myself, or any staff member, so that we can keep a record for donations!

[snip]

Artist Andie Smarrelli, will DONATE 1/3 OF PRICE OF EVERY CUSTOM ORNAMENT SOLD TO STOP REDISTRICTING!!!! I am a craft artist and hand paint people's homes on hand blown glass ornaments. I have been doing these for years and only need a clear photo of the home with confirmation of the colors (door, shutters, etc) as they can sometimes be misleading in a photo. These make great gifts for yourself, parents, in-laws, Mother's Day, weddings, or for someone who is moving. I also have several interior designers and real estate agents who use them as thank-you gifts for their customers. My price is $75.00 and I am pledging $25 of each one sold through this effort to FairfaxCaps.

Activism meets commerce. Bet they don't teach that kind of all-American entrepreneurism in those fancy IB classes!

Redistricting Fever: Injunction Junction, What's Your Function?

FairfaxCAPS, the positive, pro-school, not-gonna-sue group that thinks all Fairfax County schools are awesome, but that some are more awesome than others, is getting ready to sue.

FairfaxCAPS, Inc. directors are taking steps needed to file, on behalf of interested parties, a lawsuit requesting a court-ordered injunction to stop the redistricting. A local law firm with a special expertise about education law in Virginia is being selected.

Sweet! Guess someone found a phone.


They have, as they say in the movies, a plan:

If the lawsuit is successful, a court-ordered injunction against the redistricting in effect would block the February 28 redistricting decision and restore the previous high school boundaries. Future steps would be up to the School Board, but School Board members have acknowledged many flaws in their process, and would need to pursue other options, including potentially conducting a new boundary study with an improved and transparent and fair process.

Awesome. But we've seen LA Law and Boston Public, so we know that nuisance lawsuits and natty pinstripe suits and Corbin Bernsen's rugged good looks don't come cheap. What's the damage?

Everyone wants to know what this legal action will cost. At this time a final cost is not known but it is expected to exceed six-figures. The focus has been on maximizing prospects of cost-effective litigation that is both time-sensitive and cost-sensitive.

Several people have asked how much they should give to this effort. Regrettably, given legal costs these days, FairfaxCAPS is asking for parents, neighbors, and residents to contribute as much as possible. Many Fairfax residents have already contributed in the four- and five-digit ranges per family (between $1,000 – 10,000). This is obviously a personal decision. We appreciate the value of every contribution and believe it is important to get as much support as possible to show that this truly is a community response.

Wow. Ten grand will almost get you into a Bratz-free private school.

Speaking of which, parents in shockingly Bratz-intensive Fox Mill and other neighborhoods now redistricted into the newly refenestrated South Lakes High School are looking for ways to pupil-place their kids in other schools. Folks in Reston who want their kids to take AP classes instead of IB have done this for years. It's really not a big deal, but now it'll have all this fun political frisson added into the mix. We can't wait to see the first application that says "It's all about the band programs."

Redistricting Fever: The real truth about Bratz (OMG A Restonian World Exclusive)

During the respectful public discourse about the recent uneventful West County redistricting decision which no one hardly noticed, one of the many reasons proffered for not wanting to send children to South Lakes High School, aside from IB band programs neighborhood inclusiveness socioeconomics school spirit football real estate values was Bratz dolls. No, really. Seems that some people thought that kids in the South Lakes district supposedly played with Bratz dolls, while the good-hearted children from decent places like Oakton Heights and Fox Mill only played with Barbies -- but of course only the multiethnic Barbies, because no one there sees race! -- and this apparently said something about upbringing, or propensity to take IB, or whatever. So imagine our surprise when we visited Freecycle earlier today:

Offer: Brazt Styling Head

smaller head, you can fix hair, or put on makeup. Just the head, no accessories

near fox mill shopping center

That's right. Ladies and gentlemen, the Smoking Bratz.

'Okay, kids. This is what a subpoena looks like. Can everyone say 'subpoena'?'

Remember how FairfaxCAPS, the awesome pro-school group with lots of friendly pictures of kids of all ethnicities on its Web site, was going to take a positive, proactive approach to helping Fairfax County's school system make sure everyone gets a fair shake, except maybe for a few malcontents in South Reston who take some weird foreign classes? Well, in the wake of last week's redistricting decision that eliminated the Madison Island and maybe Gilligan's Island, and forced kids from affluent neighborhoods to attend the newly fenestrated South Lakes High School, not so much.

In the wake of the decision, the largest of the citizen groups opposed to the boundary changes, Fairfax County Coalition of Advocates for Public Schools, continues to accept pledges of donations through its web site for its legal fund.

The form's disclaimer states that “pledges made here will only be used in the event of a lawsuit against Fairfax County School Board.”

Founder Nick Pesce told The Times on Feb. 25 that the group would have thirty days to file a lawsuit after a decision.

FairfaxCAPS Communications Committee member Scott Chronister would not disclose the amount the group has raised for the legal fund, but said the group is considering options.

“We're looking at what the best way is to try to ensure Fairfax County Public Schools be held accountable for their actions,” he said. “This could include legal action and it will most definitely include non-legal activities.”

FairfaxCAPS are opposing what they called a flawed process, study and decision. Chronister said the group will continue as a watchdog for the School Board.

“They are not working for the educational benefit of the kids in our county,” he said.

Well, it's nice to see they're thinking about all Fairfax County students, even the ones who might play with Bratz dolls, and that there's no vested interests. Right?

Chronister, who lives in a Fox Mill neighborhood that has been redistricted into South Lakes from Oakton, has a “vested interest” with children in 10th grade, sixth grade, second grade and two-year-old twins.

His sixth-grader will be his first child to possibly attend South Lakes, since the boundary changes grandfather current high school students.

At the core of the fight is setting a good example for his kids, Chronister said.

“We teach our kids they should not allow themselves to be bullied on the school yard. I don't think we as parents should be allowed to be bullied by the School Board,” he said.

Right. Because the folks who've been opposed to this have set such a good example all along.

Your Redistricting Fever Box Score: 10-2

As expected, the Fairfax County School Board voted 10-2 to approve the awesome redistricting plan for South Lakes High School, ensuring that socioeconomically privileged brats and Bratz alike will learn together in perfect harmony.

Board member Stuart D. Gibson (Hunter Mill), a proponent of the plan, said it is "about making sure that all children we serve have the same access to the services we expect for all our children."

Two board members supported by anti-redistricting proponents voted against the plan.

Newly elected board members Martina A. Hone (At Large) and James L. Raney (At Large) urged the board to halt the process and rethink the school system's approach toward drawing boundaries.

Hone proposed a countywide moratorium on boundary changes, with exceptions for new schools, to allow a review of all attendance zones.

"I believe that this is the healthiest thing for our community to do," she said, "especially after this very difficult exercise: to stop, assess, plan and make the difficult decisions that we have to do countywide."

Her proposal drew an ovation from parents who oppose new boundaries but failed 10 to 2. Several board members said changes in western Fairfax are needed now. A moratorium "does not address the immediate problem," said member Tessie Wilson (Braddock).

The same majority held in the final roll call for the boundary plan, which concluded shortly before 11 p.m., with Hone and Raney dissenting.

Well, glad that's over. Now everyone can pick up the pieces from this contentious, often hurtful debate that literally split neighborhoods apart and work for what's best for the kids, right?

Some vowed to fight the plan in court if it was approved. Others said they would rather pay for private school or seek permission to place their children in another public school instead of South Lakes.

Oh. Well then. Turns out there was another awesome, less discussed redistricting plan in the works, too.

Last night the board also approved plans to move some students from Wolftrap Elementary School in Vienna to Sunrise Valley Elementary in Reston and from Thoreau Middle School in Vienna to Hughes Middle in Reston.

Here we go again!

Redistricting Fever: Hey, who told the Washington Post people were upset about this?

In anticipation of tonight's awesome meeting at which the Fairfax County School Board will decide whether to redistrict South Lakes High School into what folks in transitional neighborhoods like the ghetto-like, $758,000-a-home Oakton Heights might call a magnet reeducation center for affluent children, kind of like the classic 1980s movie Richie Rich, only a) without MacCauley Culkin and b) with slightly more focus on IB, the Washington Post ran a front-page story about this whole sordid mess. Guess what they figured out? People are upset!

At least they clued into how damaging all these months' of back-and-forth about band programs, Bratz dolls, and vaguely racist anonymous message board comments have been, using the Fox Mill neighborhood as an example:

For months, Fox Mill parents have managed an uneasy peace, smiling across driveways, agreeing to disagree. But lately, tempers have flared. About two weeks ago, board member Kathy L. Smith (Sully) proposed an alternative -- to split the Fox Mill area in two, keeping half of the residents at Oakton.

Rona Ackerman, president of the Fox Mill Elementary PTA, dashed off a survey before the plan was publicly announced to gauge parents' opinions. A few days later, she sent a PTA letter home with students, urging parents to contact the School Board about the proposal.

Her actions touched off a furor. She supports the school system's plan for new boundaries. Some neighbors accused her of seeking to kill Smith's proposal since it would not move all Fox Mill students to South Lakes High. Disgruntled parents circulated e-mails urging a boycott of the elementary school's biggest fundraiser, the PTA-sponsored Family Fun Night.

Ackerman said she wanted only to keep the school community together, a goal she thought neighbors supported. But fallout from Smith's proposal to split Fox Mill showed she might have been wrong.

"Once they drew that line, it became us against them," she said.

Meanwhile, the awesome, positive pro-school group FairfaxCAPS, after basically saying they wouldn't even think about suing the School Board if they failed to meet its demands by promising to end all redistricting forever and build a giant fence around South Reston and give everyone ponies is now... wait for it... talking about suing the school board.

Fairfax CAPS will continue as a watchdog after the vote, Pesce said, but the organization also has plans to bring legal action should the School Board vote to approve the redistricting.

Storck said the School Board has not been sued in recent years, but it isn't concerned about potential lawsuits.

“The legal record is clear, we will be successful,” he said.

Opponents of redistricting made it an issue in the fall's school board elections. They backed Christine "If I thought Reston was bad, I wouldn't live here" Arakelian in her failed attempt to unseat Stu Gibson on the board, and now they're pointing fingers at him and others.

Many parents at the public hearings questioned the motives of school board members whose districts were affected and suggested the process was politically motivated by Stu Gibson, who represents Hunter Mill District.

Tom France, a parent of three elementary-age children in the Madison district said the study's overt political motives has disenfranchised many of the parents.

“The fact that this is so politically driven, Stu Gibson is obviously the main driving force behind this. Janie and Kathy also have a dog in the fight, but the others seem to have the appearance that they just want this to go away,” he said.

Storck said that is an unfortunate inevitability of any boundary study, and he himself was the target of similar accusations during the South County study.

But it sounds like they do have at least one dog in their fight.

One school board member who appears to be more sympathetic to parents who oppose the study is newcomer Tina Hone (At-Large), who told The Times on Feb. 8 that she would like to re-examine the entire process and look at a countywide redistricting.

“If Jim Rainey doesn't offer an amendment, I will offer one that says stop, and it will fail. I think we really need to talk about this issue, otherwise next year it will be somebody else,” Hone said.

Somebody else, sure. But it won't be Langley.

Redistricting Fever: In That Amount of Time, We Could Have Read 'War and Peace'

This week's awesome -- and perhaps final -- redistricting public hearing, which was supposed to take into account the two new awesome boundary proposals floated a week or so back to make South Lakes High School a classless utopia where newly redistricted children from affluent neighborhoods will be taught from Das Kapital and forced to hold hands with their less fortunate classmates and sing mid-1970s Coca-Cola commercials, apparently lasted six freaking hours. How many ways can people say "It's all about the band programs" before everyone starts losing interest and wondering if Bratz dolls and IB and whatnot maybe aren't so bad after all?

Well, apparently not.

The School Board had established a rule that if people wanted to speak at the hearing their message must pertain to the two new boundary options, which were made available last week. "Unfortunately that was not what most of the comment was about," said Gibson, who represents Hunters Mill. There were 125 people who spoke and most of the comments were similar to what the board had already heard, he said. "The main focus of this was to give people who were newly affected by the proposals from last week a chance to speak," he said.

FairfaxCAPS, the positive, not-gonna-sue anti-redistricting group was also on the scene.

The group FairfaxCAPS, which opposes the redistricting, held a protest in front of Jackson Middle School prior to the hearing. Jay Frost, a member of the group, said the protest was very similar to their last one, held on Feb. 9, drawing about 100 residents from West Fairfax County.

"It was pretty much the same kind of package in terms of people, the things they were saying and where they were walking," Frost said. The only message the group wanted to emphasize was "no redistricting," he said.

It turns out that if they're not successful, it's because they're being too darned nice about this whole spot of bother.

Frost said FairfaxCAPS wanted to respect the School Board's wishes by being less visible and less vocal at the hearing but he thinks it was a mistake and lessened the group's impact.

"Our cause wasn't well reflected last night," he said. "In the future we won't make that mistake again."

The Fairfax County School Board will supposedly vote on this whole sordid mess Feb. 28, so in the spirit of being positive and proactive, maybe they'll break out paisley T-shirts instead of black ones for that hearing.

Turns out there are worse things than IB....

...like gay penguins. That's what's keeping folks busy in the school system next door, anyway.

Redistricting Fever: Because This Hasn't Been Too Confusing Already

Just when we thought it was a sure thing that the South Lakes High School boundaries would be redistricted in a maniacal social engineering experiment that would swallow whole all surrounding high-income neighborhoods and use the power of eminent domain to force their children to play with Bratz dolls or work in soup kitchens or even take IB, Fairfax County School Board members have put two new options on the table.

Kathy Smith (Sully) and Stuart Gibson (Hunter Mill) have submitted what they are terming "Scenario 2" and "Scenario 3," respectively.

Both would redistrict the Madison High School attendance island to South Lakes High School and include within that the elementary and middle school.

Wasn't there already an Option 1 and Option 2? And didn't Option 5 become Option 1? And wouldn't that make these new proposals Options 2 and 3? Or maybe Options 2(a) and 3(a)?

Anyway. Both awesome new plans affect people in neighborhoods who thought they were clear after the earlier options were whittled down following the wonderful input sessions. Folks in the Langley High School district are especially hard hit.

Had you going there for a moment, didn't we? No, they're basically tweaks to more of the same old, same old.

Both propose to assign a portion of the McNair Elementary School attendance area that is north of Fox Mill Road, east of Centreville Road and south of the Dulles Toll Road to Herndon High School from Westfield High School.

Both options also would assign a portion of the Oak Hill Elementary School attendance area known as Chantilly Highlands, with the exception of the Ladybank Lane, area to Westfield from Chantilly High School.

The two representatives differed on two points, and Gibson offered a sixth recommendation, one more than Smith.

Gibson proposed shifting the entirety of the Fox Mill Elementary School attendance area from Oakton High School to South Lakes, while Smith proposed moving only the portion that is northwest of the stream valley that bisects the subdivision.

Smith would reassign the portion of Floris Elementary School's attendance area that is east of Centreville Road and south of Frying Pan Road to South Lakes, with the exception of the Spring Lakes Estates subdivision, which would remain at Westfield.

Gibson would move the portion of Floris' attendance area that is east of Centreville Road, north of West Ox Road and south of Frying Pan Road from Westfield to South Lakes.

Gibson's recommendations further included reassigning to Oakton from Westfield the portion of Floris that is east of Centreville Road and south of West Ox Road with the exception of the Spring Lakes Estates subdivision.

At this point, our heads are spinning. But more information on the two options is here. Another awesome public hearing is scheduled for Feb. 19, but it's already too late to sign up to speak. Of course, it's never too late to build a website or wear black or come up with some arbitrary technicality, so go for it!

We Get Letters

A reader writes in:

After discovering your website, I would love to read your take on the FCPS Budget proposing reducing and then eliminating Focus School programs, K-2 Initiatives, etc.

Schools deeply affected?: Forest Edge Elementary, Lake Anne Elementary, Dogwood - all Title I school, well hell, all of the schools are being affected by this craziness.

Imagine that. Or, for that matter, this. Dollar for dollar, early childhood programs are among the best money spent in public schools, and one of the best indicators of future success. At least full-day kindergarten is continuing to be rolled out, but if these kinds of programs were available everywhere, then six or seven or eleven years down the road, people wouldn't be able to brandish dog-eared copies of the latest "dismal" test scores from Westfield High School, or maybe Oakton or Madison -- or whatever school might be considered the new "troubled" high school feared by parents and Realtors alike at that point.

Imagine the scene. Tempers would flare. Emotions would be high on all sides. Parents from the now-desirable South Lakes district, where property values have skyrocketed because of the awesome new Metro stations and the school's universally acclaimed IB programs, will protest redistricting like hell, saying it's all about the band programs, or the football team, or maybe even come up with some tenuous, half-baked Margaret Mead comments about Bratz dolls. They might start their own friendly website talking about how much they support the schools while quietly threatening to sue them in the same breath. If they get really desperate, they might even start questioning 10-year-old student census numbers and suggest that school officials don't know how to count.

Nah, that's crazy. That would never happen.

Redistricting Fever: In Case You're Keeping Score at Home

After several months of awesome public input sessions, two public hearings, one ejected videographer, and millions of insightful message board comments, let it be known that the real reason parents are up in arms about the boundary study involving South Lakes High School is their concern about the band programs ethnic makeup the IB program socioeconomics school spirit football Bratz dolls real estate values whether Fairfax County School officials know how to count. That is, until someone comes up with yet another carefully crafted, proactive yet non-spiteful reason during tomorrow's final public hearing.

That is all.

Quote of the Week

From a Fairfax County Times article on last week's awesome public hearings on the boundary study involving South Lakes High School and a host of other, less Bratz-intensive area high schools:

Amy Girardi, a senior at South Lakes and SGA president, said the boundary process, which began in earnest in November, has taught her that “adults can be more childish than any high school student."