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Redistricting Fever: They Found a Phone!
2008-03-31 21:55:00 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...
Redistricting Fever: Injunction Junction, What's Your Function?
2008-03-13 17:17:00 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...
Redistricting Fever: The real truth about Bratz (OMG A Restonian World Excl
2008-03-11 02:37:00 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 accessoriesnear fox mill shopping centerThat's right. Ladies and gentlemen, the Smo...
Your Redistricting Fever Box Score: 10-2
2008-02-29 14:07:00 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...
Redistricting Fever: Hey, who told the Washington Post people were upset ab
2008-02-28 15:34:00 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...
Redistricting Fever: In That Amount of Time, We Could Have Read 'War and Pe
2008-02-22 18:15:00 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 ...
School Redistricting Meeting Last Night
2008-02-20 03:52:00 Crofton-area school re-districting was the topic of a briefing held last night at Four Seasons Elementary School, as the School Board reported on proposals impacting Crofton Elementary, Crofton Middle, Piney Orchard Elementary, Four Seasons Elementary, Odenton Elementary, Arundel High, and Waugh Chapel Elementary School. As I’ve mentioned before, the quality of schools can greatly impact the ...
By: Focus On Crofton
Redistricting Fever: Because This Hasn't Been Too Confusing Already
2008-02-14 19:25:00 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 wer...
Kaine pushes for Virginia bipartisan redistricting
2008-01-10 11:31:00 Virginia Governor Tim Kaine advocated for a new bipartisan redistricting process for legislative boundaries in his yearly "State of the Commonwealth" address. With the Virginia legislature now evenly divided between a Democratic controlled Senate and a Republican controlled House, this year's session would seem the best chance to reach an agreement for a redistricting commission based on the Iowa nonpartisan model.Since the Democrats now control the state Senate, any lines drawn up based on the 2010 census would fail to be biased in favor of the Republicans anyway. Legislators would foresight should take advantage of the opportunity to set up a system that would allow voters' a much clearer voice in determining their representatives.For that matter, my own state of Maryland should also adopt nonpartisan redistricting but under one-party Democratic control across the board, the likelihood of that particular development would seem nill. Even as a Democrat myself, that is a painful t...
By: DCABloob
Roger Noe (D) to Push Harlan County Redistricting Plan in Special Election,
2007-12-10 05:05:00 Former state Rep. Roger Noe (D) Harlan will campaign on the need to return Harlan County to a single House District if elected to the State Senate. Of course no legislation on redistricting can be submitted until the 2010 census, redistricting will commence that next year. Harlan was split into 4 Representative districts following the 2000 census and has been a sore point ever since. Many feel that Harlan County's interests and needs are not being served, even though most that reside within Rep. Rick Nelson's (D) section of the county are pleased with his performance and Nelson loves serving the county in which he was born. Noe feels the county should return to a single district and will make that his legislative agenda in the 2010-11 legislative sessions. Noe is currently the front runner to be selected to represent the Democratic Party in the upcoming Senate District 30 special election. Lieutenant Governor Elect Daniel Mongiardo (D) will resign shortly after being sworn in. T...
Redistricting 2: Electric Boogaloo
2007-11-30 16:39:00 If you liked the awesome, fair and balanced redistricting hearing earlier this month, you're gonna love the second meeting on Monday evening at Westfield High School!There, folks will discuss the four options on the table. Here's a brief synopsis posted online by someone whose CAPS LOCK key is apparently broken:option 1: mcnair and part of floris split between herndon and south lakes; oak hill to westfieldoption 2: mcnair split between herndon and south lakes madison island to south lakes; fox mill to south lakes; oak hill to oaktonoption 3: same as option 2 except navy to oakton instead of oak hilloption 4: aldrin & armstong to south lakes; part of mcnair and floris to herndon; madison island to south lakes; oak hill to westfieldFunny, again, how Langley's ridiculous, brazenly income-based boundaries aren't on the table at all. But this isn't about diversity at all! Which is why Herndon High School, which arguably has the least political and economic clout of any of the potent...
The first victims of redistricting? Fire hydrants
2007-11-14 04:21:00 So, how did the first awesome hearing involving redistricting kids from a whole slew of Fairfax County high schools into South Lakes High School go? Let's go to the videotape!Parents parked on medians and in fire lanes in Chantilly High School's overflowing parking lot Monday night for the first of three town hall meetings to gather public input on a west county boundary study by Fairfax County Public Schools.By county staff's estimates, more than 2,000 people showed up to hear an explanation of the boundary study process and the problems the county hopes to solve with redistricting. Six high schools are in the study: Herndon, Oakton, Chantilly, Westfield, South Lakes and Madison.Call us cynics, but we're guessing that law-abiding Fairfax County soccer moms didn't block in fire hydrants with their minivans and Lexus SUVs because they really, really want their kids in South Lakes' IB program. Right?Groups from nearly every high school in the study, except South Lakes, have form...
Redistricting: Let the people speak! Or not.
2007-11-08 16:27:00 The first of three public meetings to discuss redistricting options involving South Lakes High School and Oakton, Herndon, Westfield, Madison and Chantilly will be held next week, Nov. 12 at Chantilly High School, to be followed by a Dec. 3 meeting at Westfield and another on Dec. 19 in Oakton. But no worries -- nothing's set in stone. Right, FCPS official Dean Tistadt?“We have no preconceived, already-developed plans on how to accomplish [redistricting],” he said.Maybe, but South Lakes' ongoing renovations, in progress for longer than most students have actually attended the school, will be finished next fall, putting the school more than 500 students under capacity, and there's no way the system will let that extra space stand empty. So folks at Herndon High School are worried that redistricting would pull kids from Reston's "astronaut schools" -- you know, the so-called "good" schools in North Reston -- out of Herndon and put them at South Lakes. Given that Herndon isn't...
Redistricting: A Tale of Two High Schools
2007-10-18 16:18:00 If it's fall, it's time to broach the ever-touchy subject of school redistricting once more. From our in-depth reporting (flipping through a nearly week-old copy of the Connection we found on the sidewalk), here's the crux of the situation:South Lakes, which is continuing a never-ending renovation, is under capacity. Herndon High School, which is just under capacity, currently takes in the students from Reston's so-called "good schools" -- you know, the ones named after astronauts, in North Reston, and they'd rather take on more students than lose their Restonites. Here's how one Herndon High School parent describes the situation:Areas served by Aldrin and Armstrong account for 750 seats in Advanced Placement (AP) and Honors classes at Herndon. Losing those students could have a tremendous impact on Herndon’s ability to offer AP and Honors classes to its students in the future. And band, too! Meanwhile, South Lakes' PTSA is talking up their school's diversity and its excel...
The ReDistricting Game
2007-08-14 19:38:00 If you’re a political junkie - or even if you’re not - you MUST check out “The ReDistricting Game.” The brainchild of the University of Southern California’s EA gaming lab, this is an interesting way to understand the impact of redistricting and gerrymandering on the political process while having fun playing a video game. And ...
On Activist Judges
2007-08-13 08:49:00 I haven't had the inspiration to write lately.I've been thinking and I've noticed that this lack of writing just happens to coincide with my decision to stop drinking alcohol. Following that train of thought logically (It's common sense! I'm been saying it for years!), it would appear that I published most of this blog while under the influence of alcohol.Most or all of it should probably be ignored.You've been warned.******I think the voters of the Marianas are getting a not so gentle shafting right now. After TinFrica submitted their petition to redraw the districts on Saipan and reduce the number of Representatives in the House, the Supreme Court decided to redraw the districts and increase the number of lawmakers.Paying for the salaries associated with those two seats alone will increase the Marianas budget by half a million dollars.Even worse, the people of the Marianas are paying for this shafting because the Court decided to reimburse TinFrica for their expenses.Now ...
By: The Saipan Blog
Jouez The ReDistricting Game
2007-06-21 18:23:00 La carte lectorale du Qubec ayant fait l’objet ces derniers mois de plusieurs critiques,la Commission de la reprsentation lectorale devrait amorcer d’ici peu ses travaux afin de revoir la dlimitation des 125 circonscriptions lectorales du Qubec et rquilibrer les carts qui sont apparus au cours des deux dernires lections gnrales. Exercice anodin et sans consquences? Dtrompez-vous, ...
The ReDistricting Game
2007-06-11 20:47:00 The Redistricting Game takes place in imaginary states named Jefferson, Madison and Hamilton, but its developers are hoping it will draw enough interest and support to warrant making a version that uses real-world maps and census data.In the last mission of the game, players determine the state of Jefferson's districts without taking political affiliations into account. That level simulates what redistricting would be like if a bill championed by real-world Rep. John Tanner (D-Tenn.) became law. full articleI will say that the game is very well made and does an good job of showing how gerrymandering works and also how it hurts the democratic process. You can try it for yourself here.
By: Dyre Portents
On Redistricting and Collecting Ballots
2007-05-16 20:38:00 This post is long, boring and mostly about local politics. I don't recommend reading it. For pictures of local girls playing volleyball, click HERE.In the last 36 hours I've been asked to sign petitions on open government and runoff elections and I've read Supreme Court No. CV-07-0015-OA, a request for Amicus Curiae briefs and a scheduling order for hearings on redistricting.I can't find the wording of the petitions online, so let me just pretend that I can remember what they said.The first petition seeks to extend the Open Government Act to the Legislature, which exempted itself a few years back. Seems like a good idea to me. The Saipan Blog endorses this petition. Sign the petition and vote YES!(please ring the victory bell)The petition to force runoff elections is a different story. Although at first glance it seems like a good idea, I have a few issues with this petition. It deserves some discussion.This petition is popular because of what happened in the CNMI gubernatorial ...
By: The Saipan Blog
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