Music Cuts

[Anonymous]

This was the email sent after the swatting incident. What more details do parents want?

“Dear Westfield Families,

A short time ago, our building was briefly in a Secure the Building status after Fairfax County Police came to the school after receiving a threatening phone call. Secure the Building means that outside activities are canceled, and all exterior doors are locked, while students and staff are able to move around the inside of the building. I kept students informed of the situation over our loudspeaker.

Fairfax County Police quickly determined that the phone call was made from a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) number and appeared to be a “swatting” incident. “Swatting” is a form of harassment involving false 911 calls that are intended to draw a heavy law enforcement response. We were able to lift the security status after 20 minutes.


This situation was treated with urgency by our school staff, our Office of Safety and Security, and the Fairfax County Police Department. We will always respond with utmost caution and a full investigation every time there is a safety concern in our community. ….”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My friend was complaining that her Westfield child's journalism class was cut for next year-literally no journalism classes will be offered at all, and no school paper. Seems like the school is poorly run. It is one of the largest HS and should offer at least basic programs like choir and a school paper.

Westfield used to be considered superior to Chantilly. Administration issues?

The admin at Westfield is the worst.

Administration makes a big difference. I know nothing about it at Westfield.

He mishandled multiple crises last year. He's not good.

What happened last year? This year has been uneventful

They had three lockdowns in two weeks this fall including a disturbed man outside with a rifle and a swatting and the parents were given no details

Last year:
The student who was murdered, terrible tragic situation handled absolutely terribly by the principal and fcps

The fire drill that was a real fire where the 2800 kids were trapped in the stadium all day long with no water and their cells and belongings were in their classrooms-parents were not notified, students were not allowed to leave, admin was not even there.

Is this one of the incidents you were talking about?

“Dear Families,
I wanted to make you aware of a situation that happened this morning, which was quickly resolved but impacted your student’s class. This morning, we were alerted to an incident occurring in the community that did not directly affect Westfield High School nor its students. However, out of an abundance of caution, as soon as we were notified, we decided to pull students into the building from their trailer classrooms and physical education classes occurring outside. At the time, your student was enrolled in one of these classes. The incident was resolved in under 5 minutes and we were able to return to our regular routines for the school day. ”

[Anonymous]

I'm shocked that something like choir was a class to begin with, and more shocked that an actual class was held outside of school hours. It's not just inequitable, it's absurd. Things like that are extra curricular at almost every school district in the country. It's bizarre that Westfield was giving academic credit for it. It's like if being on the football team was a class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm shocked that something like choir was a class to begin with, and more shocked that an actual class was held outside of school hours. It's not just inequitable, it's absurd. Things like that are extra curricular at almost every school district in the country. It's bizarre that Westfield was giving academic credit for it. It's like if being on the football team was a class.

What are you talking about? Choir is a class during the day at every single school in the county

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My friend was complaining that her Westfield child's journalism class was cut for next year-literally no journalism classes will be offered at all, and no school paper. Seems like the school is poorly run. It is one of the largest HS and should offer at least basic programs like choir and a school paper.

Westfield used to be considered superior to Chantilly. Administration issues?

The admin at Westfield is the worst.

Administration makes a big difference. I know nothing about it at Westfield.

He mishandled multiple crises last year. He's not good.

What happened last year? This year has been uneventful

They had three lockdowns in two weeks this fall including a disturbed man outside with a rifle and a swatting and the parents were given no details

Last year:
The student who was murdered, terrible tragic situation handled absolutely terribly by the principal and fcps

The fire drill that was a real fire where the 2800 kids were trapped in the stadium all day long with no water and their cells and belongings were in their classrooms-parents were not notified, students were not allowed to leave, admin was not even there.

This is the kind of thing that scares me about them taking cell phones. They can't be trusted to take care of our kids or even tell us when something is wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm shocked that something like choir was a class to begin with, and more shocked that an actual class was held outside of school hours. It's not just inequitable, it's absurd. Things like that are extra curricular at almost every school district in the country. It's bizarre that Westfield was giving academic credit for it. It's like if being on the football team was a class.

What are you talking about? Choir is a class during the day at every single school in the county

I said country. Not county. Choir is probably a high school elective in the county. During the day. In most places choir is competitive and not a class at all, but an extra curricular. If it's not during the day, it's extra curricular, period. No one should be getting credit and a GPA boost for being in an extra curricular.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm shocked that something like choir was a class to begin with, and more shocked that an actual class was held outside of school hours. It's not just inequitable, it's absurd. Things like that are extra curricular at almost every school district in the country. It's bizarre that Westfield was giving academic credit for it. It's like if being on the football team was a class.

What are you talking about? Choir is a class during the day at every single school in the county

I said country. Not county. Choir is probably a high school elective in the county. During the day. In most places choir is competitive and not a class at all, but an extra curricular. If it's not during the day, it's extra curricular, period. No one should be getting credit and a GPA boost for being in an extra curricular.

Have you done research on this and do you have facts to back it up? I am from a completely different part of the country and choir was during the day there as well, but I don't claim to know what it's like every single place either

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm shocked that something like choir was a class to begin with, and more shocked that an actual class was held outside of school hours. It's not just inequitable, it's absurd. Things like that are extra curricular at almost every school district in the country. It's bizarre that Westfield was giving academic credit for it. It's like if being on the football team was a class.

What are you talking about? Choir is a class during the day at every single school in the county

I said country. Not county. Choir is probably a high school elective in the county. During the day. In most places choir is competitive and not a class at all, but an extra curricular. If it's not during the day, it's extra curricular, period. No one should be getting credit and a GPA boost for being in an extra curricular.

What are you talking about?

We have lived all over the country.

Choir is a class at every high school in every state i have lived or taught in.
In Virginia, choir, band and orchestra are academic classes in every high school in the state. There is a state assessment and the district has an actual curriculum.

You are not talking with facts.

You don't know what you are talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm shocked that something like choir was a class to begin with, and more shocked that an actual class was held outside of school hours. It's not just inequitable, it's absurd. Things like that are extra curricular at almost every school district in the country. It's bizarre that Westfield was giving academic credit for it. It's like if being on the football team was a class.

You sound ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My friend was complaining that her Westfield child's journalism class was cut for next year-literally no journalism classes will be offered at all, and no school paper. Seems like the school is poorly run. It is one of the largest HS and should offer at least basic programs like choir and a school paper.

Westfield used to be considered superior to Chantilly. Administration issues?

The admin at Westfield is the worst.

Administration makes a big difference. I know nothing about it at Westfield.

He mishandled multiple crises last year. He's not good.

What happened last year? This year has been uneventful

They had three lockdowns in two weeks this fall including a disturbed man outside with a rifle and a swatting and the parents were given no details

Last year:
The student who was murdered, terrible tragic situation handled absolutely terribly by the principal and fcps

The fire drill that was a real fire where the 2800 kids were trapped in the stadium all day long with no water and their cells and belongings were in their classrooms-parents were not notified, students were not allowed to leave, admin was not even there.

Is this one of the incidents you were talking about?

“Dear Families,
I wanted to make you aware of a situation that happened this morning, which was quickly resolved but impacted your student’s class. This morning, we were alerted to an incident occurring in the community that did not directly affect Westfield High School nor its students. However, out of an abundance of caution, as soon as we were notified, we decided to pull students into the building from their trailer classrooms and physical education classes occurring outside. At the time, your student was enrolled in one of these classes. The incident was resolved in under 5 minutes and we were able to return to our regular routines for the school day. ”

Oh look gatehouse is here to defend
It goes a lot deeper it’s the shrug and a lack of care from this admin. They are also not visible-when parents see the principal they look to see if Reid is there too. Westfield needs more care and attention.

[Anonymous]

I used to be a Westfield parent I think the principal Mr. DiBari has done a pretty good job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to be a Westfield parent I think the principal Mr. DiBari has done a pretty good job.

Maybe he did back in your day.

[Anonymous]

Westfield parent here- the tragedy last year with the murdered student was handled very distastefully from start to finish by the school admin and fcps. The students internalized that if something terrible happened to them, their school would try and ignore that they ever existed. Very sad.

The chaos with the day spent in the stadium did not inspire confidence in the event of a true emergency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Westfield parent here- the tragedy last year with the murdered student was handled very distastefully from start to finish by the school admin and fcps. The students internalized that if something terrible happened to them, their school would try and ignore that they ever existed. Very sad.

The chaos with the day spent in the stadium did not inspire confidence in the event of a true emergency.

+1 and many others I've spoken with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Westfield parent here- the tragedy last year with the murdered student was handled very distastefully from start to finish by the school admin and fcps. The students internalized that if something terrible happened to them, their school would try and ignore that they ever existed. Very sad.

The chaos with the day spent in the stadium did not inspire confidence in the event of a true emergency.

My post about the student's death last year got deleted. There was no way to handle it tastefully.

As for the stadium, I'm not sure what you'd have them do differently. Kids had access to their phones. Parents were getting texts and there were tons of videos being posted. The students were somewhere they could be accounted for with seating, bathrooms, and water fountains. The school would never have heard the end of it if they'd let students leave campus or go back in the building before it was cleared.

I do agree the school is too big. No FCPS high school should be pushing 3,000 students. There were a lot of problems last time WHS reached that size. Keeping eyes on that many students is impossible and there are situations that get out of control before they can be addressed.

Finally, most schools especially the large ones would be screwed in the event of a true emergency. We've seen this over and over again. A fire or tornado, maybe. But there's no reliable way to secure a huge school and lock everyone down if there's an active threat inside the building.