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Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)
When will school board focus on Western High School build?
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Anonymous
| Any news on site locations? Shouldn’t they start planning and identifying options even if they are subpar to just get going on things? It won’t get better so just do it…Also will it be AP or IB? Shouldn’t they start a stakeholder community engagement plan and ask families and residents in this area what they prefer? It astounds me how little movement is happening. |
Anonymous
They gave the planned site to the Saudis. And, no, a sub par site is not a good idea. By the time a new school will be built, Chantilly and Centreville will no longer need it. The communities will have aged out. |
Anonymous
Saudis?? |
Anonymous
|
Yes, There is a Saudi Arabian high school there. No idea why they allowed this. This school board is bad but the ones before it were also terrible. Why would you give away a large school site like that? It's been on the books forever. They also had a police academy built I think on a site in Fair Oaks they could have used for another high school.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Saudi_Academy |
Anonymous
| They must have sold the site in 2015? |
Anonymous
PP is referring to a large plot of land in Herndon/20171 near Carson MS transferred to a group of Saudis years ago (current site of the King Abdullah Academy). Many feel the county should have retained ownership of that property so an FCPS school could have been built there instead. Now we regularly hear there isn’t a good site available for FCPS to build a new western HS. |
Anonymous
| Was there pressure from the federal government on the county to sell the land to the Saudis for their school? |
Anonymous
|
Never.
They are too afraid that the Great Falls families are going to throw a fit over potential rezoning to Herndon. |
Anonymous
This is how I recall: King Abdullah Academy was supposed to be built elsewhere. Burke, maybe? Mount Vernon area? I'm not sure, but the community objected vehemently. I suspect this was embarrassing to the governments--probably Fed and Local. FCPS owned the site by Carson, I suspect that great pressure was put on them by the BOS to sell it. Unlike the original site for KAA, the community around Carson was given NO advance notice. It was a "done deal" when it went public. I live in a nearby community and it was absolutely a surprise. It was clearly a stealth deal. The "excuse" given was that there was not enough property for a high school. I doubt the veracity of that excuse. It is adjacent to Carson and fields, etc. could have been shared. There is far more acreage than at Chantilly High School and the location would have been ideal to alleviate the overcrowding at Chantilly, Centreville, Oakton, and Westfield which is acquiring new developments. I took a look at the KAA website--it is quite luxurious, indoor swimming pool, etc. The SB should have objected, but, in this case, I don't doubt they had great pressure. This is likely on the BOS. |
Anonymous
A new Western High School has nothing to do with Great Falls or Herndon. It is to alleviate overcrowding at Chantilly and Centreville. Next, would likely be Westfield and Oakton or South Lakes. Look at the stats. |
Anonymous
You’re conflating where there is the most overcrowding with where land in western Fairfax might be or was available. |
Anonymous
Agreed but the school board would have also had to agree to it. Who was on the BOS and School board during that time? One of the worst decisions they've made IMO. |
Anonymous
| Isn't there also an elementary school that is off the charts huge? McNair? It makes no sense to sell it when you have an elementary and a high school problem there. |
Anonymous
| Does KAA at least rent out their fields and swimming pool? |
Anonymous
I doubt it. I live nearby, and have heard nothing like that. |