FCPS is turning the new high school purchased to fix crowding into an Aviation magnet school instead of a high school??

[Anonymous]

why MUST there be a football stadium?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just watched the session, and it seems the consensus is leaning toward a traditional school with a possible special program. Reid kept talking about the "possibilities," but even she read the room and didn’t push for the magnet school like last time.

1) They plan to present a boundary for the western high school by the end of October. Aren’t they supposed to provide new scenarios for boundary changes soon? I’m unclear on how and when they’ll combine these two boundary studies.
2) The current draft model for the western high school will only relieve Westfield, Centreville, and Chantilly. Does this mean Crossfield and Fox Mill students won’t go to KAA? What about Oak Hill? McDaniel said relief should also be provided to Oakton and SLHS. Oakton is getting overcrowded, so this will be interesting to watch.
3) The first few years will be rough. They plan to start with 9th and 10th grades. No juniors, no seniors, and no traditions. The county needs to retrofit/renovate the building to increase capacity. Sports teams will likely be weaker and smaller if they field teams in the first year (but easier to get in)

Another poster who watched the work session. Here are my reactions to your points:

1) Dr. Reid doesn't want to slow down the county-wide boundary study, so she wants to stick to the current October community meetings. She hopes they'll have draft boundaries for KAA by the end of October, and that it could be merged with the other boundary proposals by the time the School Board votes on boundary changes next January. If they can pull that off, they may need to have some separate public hearings on KAA boundaries.

2) The slide deck pointed to Westfield, Centreville, and Chantilly as the three overcrowded schools in the region. That doesn't mean that there can't or won't be boundary adjustments affecting other schools. As to the schools that will feed into KAA, they are saying KAA will only accommodate around 2000 when it's been modified in 3-5 years. So it's going to be a small school. The most likely schools to feed into KAA will be Coates, McNair, Floris, and Oak Hill. Anything else would depend on space. Fox Mill probably stays at South Lakes, though the South Lakes part of Floris could move. For sure, they will end up moving some Centreville feeder(s) into Westfield, and it's possible that the rest of Crossfield will be moved into South Lakes to give kids now going to Oakton a shorter commute.

3) The first two or three years will be rough. There will be a contingent of people happy that they have their "own school," and others unhappy that their kids aren't having a typical high school experience for the first few years. Right now, the building only has room for about 1200-1300 kids, which is why they want to start with two grades and around 1000 kids. They will spend another $50-75 million on top of the $150 purchase price to get the school in an eventual position to accommodate 2000 kids. It's going to be one of the smaller HS in the county. Maybe for the first two years they only have JV teams and don't compete at the varsity level. They also probably won't be able to offer the same breadth of courses in the first two years that a school with three or four grades can offer, which will be an issue for some advanced kids.

PP here.

Moving Crossfield students to SLHS is an intriguing idea. This would also make Carson a two-way split feeder instead of a three-way split. But man, Crossfield parents would revolt.

McDaniel seemed to want to reduce the high school commute for Crossfield students, but if I recall correctly, Reid’s initial study focused on providing relief to three western schools: Westfield, Chantilly, and Centreville.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:why MUST there be a football stadium?

Because the strong preference is for a traditional high school.

[Anonymous]

PP here.

Moving Crossfield students to SLHS is an intriguing idea. This would also make Carson a two-way split feeder instead of a three-way split. But man, Crossfield parents would revolt.

McDaniel seemed to want to reduce the high school commute for Crossfield students, but if I recall correctly, Reid’s initial study focused on providing relief to three western schools: Westfield, Chantilly, and Centreville.

Oakton is now pretty full. When McDaniel brought it up at the work session, Reid said other schools would be brought into the mix. I think Meren also addressed it.

Another option would be to send McNair to South Lakes and Crossfield to KAA. That is about the same proximity to South Lakes--actually a little closer.

I don't know what portion of Floris goes to South Lakes, but I think it will all go to KAA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:why MUST there be a football stadium?

Schools make money from ticket sales.

[Anonymous]

) The first two or three years will be rough. There will be a contingent of people happy that they have their "own school," and others unhappy that their kids aren't having a typical high school experience for the first few years. Right now, the building only has room for about 1200-1300 kids, which is why they want to start with two grades and around 1000 kids. They will spend another $50-75 million on top of the $150 purchase price to get the school in an eventual position to accommodate 2000 kids. It's going to be one of the smaller HS in the county. Maybe for the first two years they only have JV teams and don't compete at the varsity level. They also probably won't be able to offer the same breadth of courses in the first two years that a school with three or four grades can offer, which will be an issue for some advanced kids.

Why do you keep exaggerating the price? No one said anything close to $75 million.

FCPS did start other schools with three grades. This is true. However, in many areas they begin with just two years.

People will be glad to have a permanent solution for a high school in the community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

) The first two or three years will be rough. There will be a contingent of people happy that they have their "own school," and others unhappy that their kids aren't having a typical high school experience for the first few years. Right now, the building only has room for about 1200-1300 kids, which is why they want to start with two grades and around 1000 kids. They will spend another $50-75 million on top of the $150 purchase price to get the school in an eventual position to accommodate 2000 kids. It's going to be one of the smaller HS in the county. Maybe for the first two years they only have JV teams and don't compete at the varsity level. They also probably won't be able to offer the same breadth of courses in the first two years that a school with three or four grades can offer, which will be an issue for some advanced kids.

Why do you keep exaggerating the price? No one said anything close to $75 million.

FCPS did start other schools with three grades. This is true. However, in many areas they begin with just two years.

People will be glad to have a permanent solution for a high school in the community.

FCPS won't provide a clear estimate on how much more they expect to have to spend. From what Erik Gordon said, it sounded like it could be $30-50 million on the main building, up to $12 million on the two small building, and an unspecified amount on fields, stadiums, etc. It seems feasible with the typical overruns that it could be close to $75 million, but no one really knows at this point.

It will be what it will be. The main relevance is that they made specific claims about how much they'd save by acquiring the KAA facility, and a lot of the purported savings are going to prove illusory as they incur additional costs over the coming years. Also, the more they end up spending on KAA, the less is available for schools elsewhere in the county, about which you clearly couldn't give a shit.

[Anonymous]

It’s taken the school board several years to do this boundary study and they still don’t have answers yet. I find it laughable that some on here think they will come up with new boundaries for KAA that the community will accept in a couple weeks. That process alone will delay the opening of the building a year. There will be all kinds of politicking and positioning from several different neighborhoods trying to get into the new school or to keep the new boundaries from shifting their neighborhood to a different HS due to KAAs opening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

) The first two or three years will be rough. There will be a contingent of people happy that they have their "own school," and others unhappy that their kids aren't having a typical high school experience for the first few years. Right now, the building only has room for about 1200-1300 kids, which is why they want to start with two grades and around 1000 kids. They will spend another $50-75 million on top of the $150 purchase price to get the school in an eventual position to accommodate 2000 kids. It's going to be one of the smaller HS in the county. Maybe for the first two years they only have JV teams and don't compete at the varsity level. They also probably won't be able to offer the same breadth of courses in the first two years that a school with three or four grades can offer, which will be an issue for some advanced kids.

Why do you keep exaggerating the price? No one said anything close to $75 million.

FCPS did start other schools with three grades. This is true. However, in many areas they begin with just two years.

People will be glad to have a permanent solution for a high school in the community.

FCPS won't provide a clear estimate on how much more they expect to have to spend. From what Erik Gordon said, it sounded like it could be $30-50 million on the main building, up to $12 million on the two small building, and an unspecified amount on fields, stadiums, etc. It seems feasible with the typical overruns that it could be close to $75 million, but no one really knows at this point.

It will be what it will be. The main relevance is that they made specific claims about how much they'd save by acquiring the KAA facility, and a lot of the purported savings are going to prove illusory as they incur additional costs over the coming years. Also, the more they end up spending on KAA, the less is available for schools elsewhere in the county, about which you clearly couldn't give a shit.

Well, you clearly don't care about a much needed solution to an area that has been needing--and promised--a school for years. Got it. Rather than let kids have a high school that does not require long commutes and frequent redistricting and lots of split feeders because the boundaries in this area are a spider web going in all directions.
So, how would you solve the overcrowding problem? Please be specific. Chantilly is over 2900. Westfield and Oakton are over 2700. This is a much, much needed solution.

There are already fields there at KAA. Several nice fields. They will need a football field. Rachel Carson also has fields and they are adjacent to KAA. Bleachers and fences, port a potties, a concession stand, and a fence will not break the bank.

[Anonymous]

If my rising 10th grader gets forced to this new school without varsity sports I will fight to keep my child at his current school. How is that fair?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If my rising 10th grader gets forced to this new school without varsity sports I will fight to keep my child at his current school. How is that fair?

What sport? I'm sure if your child is capable of varsity in tenth grade and is that good, that a coach will help you pupil place.
But, few tenth graders are on varsity teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

) The first two or three years will be rough. There will be a contingent of people happy that they have their "own school," and others unhappy that their kids aren't having a typical high school experience for the first few years. Right now, the building only has room for about 1200-1300 kids, which is why they want to start with two grades and around 1000 kids. They will spend another $50-75 million on top of the $150 purchase price to get the school in an eventual position to accommodate 2000 kids. It's going to be one of the smaller HS in the county. Maybe for the first two years they only have JV teams and don't compete at the varsity level. They also probably won't be able to offer the same breadth of courses in the first two years that a school with three or four grades can offer, which will be an issue for some advanced kids.

Why do you keep exaggerating the price? No one said anything close to $75 million.

FCPS did start other schools with three grades. This is true. However, in many areas they begin with just two years.

People will be glad to have a permanent solution for a high school in the community.

FCPS won't provide a clear estimate on how much more they expect to have to spend. From what Erik Gordon said, it sounded like it could be $30-50 million on the main building, up to $12 million on the two small building, and an unspecified amount on fields, stadiums, etc. It seems feasible with the typical overruns that it could be close to $75 million, but no one really knows at this point.

It will be what it will be. The main relevance is that they made specific claims about how much they'd save by acquiring the KAA facility, and a lot of the purported savings are going to prove illusory as they incur additional costs over the coming years. Also, the more they end up spending on KAA, the less is available for schools elsewhere in the county, about which you clearly couldn't give a shit.

Well, you clearly don't care about a much needed solution to an area that has been needing--and promised--a school for years. Got it. Rather than let kids have a high school that does not require long commutes and frequent redistricting and lots of split feeders because the boundaries in this area are a spider web going in all directions.
So, how would you solve the overcrowding problem? Please be specific. Chantilly is over 2900. Westfield and Oakton are over 2700. This is a much, much needed solution.

There are already fields there at KAA. Several nice fields. They will need a football field. Rachel Carson also has fields and they are adjacent to KAA. Bleachers and fences, port a potties, a concession stand, and a fence will not break the bank.

The three schools they cited as overcrowded in western Fairfax are overcrowded by a total of 600 students. Herndon has about 650 extra seats this year. Obviously they could have adjusted the boundaries to take advantage of that surplus capacity.

Of course now they’ve bought KAA so they should make use of it, but there should also be a candid assessment of the real costs and benefits. You want only the benefits and none of the costs highlighted. All the things that you say won’t break the bank mean other schools in need will be left unrenovated for longer periods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my rising 10th grader gets forced to this new school without varsity sports I will fight to keep my child at his current school. How is that fair?

What sport? I'm sure if your child is capable of varsity in tenth grade and is that good, that a coach will help you pupil place.
But, few tenth graders are on varsity teams.

Why not just wait until KAA can open with three grades and varsity teams? This all seems incredibly rushed and poorly thought out.

[Anonymous]

FCPS/VHSL no longer allows pupil placement with athletic eligibility without a legitimate address change. What you suggest would require a 365 day athletics ban now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my rising 10th grader gets forced to this new school without varsity sports I will fight to keep my child at his current school. How is that fair?

What sport? I'm sure if your child is capable of varsity in tenth grade and is that good, that a coach will help you pupil place.
But, few tenth graders are on varsity teams.

My current 9th grader is a varsity athlete this fall and according to what everyone is suggesting will happen my student will be zoned for a new school that does not have varsity sports next year and would be forced to play JV. There has to be grandfathering until this new HS has the same things as other HSs.