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Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)
Skyview is Open for Opt-In from Any Rising 9th and 10th grader in Fairfax County
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Anonymous
This has been the problem with the boundary study from the start. There was a wishy washy goal of saving money on transportation but no hard data or facts driving decisions. Instead the secondary and tertiary impacts of families having to change schools, impacts on property values, etc., took over the agenda. Then the KAA opportunity arose and there was a rush to turn a school designed to be something else into a standard FCPS school overnight. Now that that pipe dream is falling apart more angst is created to fix a self inflicted wound. Awesome job by the administration and school board. Parents are just as bad though, instead of banding together and kicking the incompetent out they go into mama bear mode and fight among themselves. It’s like a dark Hallmark movie. |
Anonymous
| Can't really kick out the incompetent members of the SB if no one competent runs to replace them. The "R" sponsored candidates have been jokes the last few elections. |
Anonymous
| So has enrollment hit 1,000 yet or will it be necessary to expand the opt-in to Prince William and Louden counties? |
Anonymous
1000 was the max possible that could fit. I believe they are at ~800 currently and had some well-attended info sessions recently where more kids were able to sign up. They have enough for a successful first year already. They are likely near the limit for freshman (500) and no one really expected they'd get as many sophomores to switch schools after already starting somewhere else. |
Anonymous
Are you that upset that Skyview is opening? Is it jealousy? Anger because your school isn't getting something that you want? Worried about kids being moved to a school you don't want to? What is it that is bothering you? The kids and admin and staff at Skyview have nothing to do with the giant mess that the County made of this process. Despite that mess, 800 kids opted into the school. I think that is a positive sign and I am hoping that they have an amazing year next year. |
Anonymous
+1. Had they set boundaries, they would not have had to open "opt-in" outside them. More in boundary kids would have applied. Transportation is not guaranteed. And, if you end up not in boundary, then you will not get transportation (or at least, that is the way I understood it.) Not everyone can drive or carpool. Reid and staff made it as uncertain and as confusing as possible. Once boundaries are set (if they don't do something really stupid) it will be fine. |
Anonymous
100% Skyview isn't the right fit for my child right now for many personal reasons. AND, I also wish nothing but the best for every student who chose to go there. There is way too much negativity on here toward individuals making the best choice that they can for their individual families. I hope your kids have an amazing year! |
Anonymous
+2 my rising 10th grader won’t be attending due to reasons but it has nothing to do with any negative perception of Skyview. I hope it will be great (and it probably will be, after all the dust settles) |
Anonymous
DP without a dog in this fight. You guys sound like little petulant children the way you demand fealty to the idea that you were owed this school. |
Anonymous
Gee. Not the pp to whom you are responding. Why can't you be happy for these neighborhoods? This school is going to solve a problem that has existed for years for Chantilly. Westfield, too, is too crowded and the neighborhoods from the Skyview area have a long, traffic filled slog to Westfield. If you don't drive on 28 from Dulles to Willard, you have no idea. Yes, there are going to be some growing pains. But without this school, Westfield would soon be overflowing like Chantilly. |
Anonymous
DP. I would be happier for the neighborhoods getting Skyview if FCPS had a clearer vision for all the schools in the area. It doesn’t appear they paid any attention in advance to what opening Skyview might mean for other schools like Westfield and Centreville. Will those schools lose teachers and electives? And why do their capital plans still call for expanding Centreville to 3000 seats? It seems this would no longer be necessary, but they reiterated their plan to build CVHS out to 3000 in the most recent CIP. It’s easy to assert that other western schools besides Chantilly would be overcrowded in the future but for Skyview, but that’s not clear with the declining student enrollment trends. When MCPS opens new schools it engages in far more detailed analysis and is much more transparent with the public. FCPS just seems to wing it, and the dysfunction is getting more obvious every week. |
Anonymous
| westfield is losing a lot of teachers to skyview. they are being told that they are moving. and now there are less classes/sections for kids staying at westfield to take |
Anonymous
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MCPS and most other school districts normally have a period of time where they buy the land, plan the school, and build the school. During that period of time they can set boundaries and people prepare for the school. Skyview came available for purchase with a short period of time to act. That changes the timeline for preparing the boundaries and the neighborhood.
So yeah, FCPS has done a crap job with this process but it is also not a normal process. The school is needed to relieve several overcrowded schools and several that are close to capacity. |
Anonymous
Westfield will have plenty of electives and teachers. Will they lose some? Possibly. Will Chantilly lose some? Possibly. Teachers? They will be as fully staffed. Why would you think they would not be? It will still have more kids than many FCPS high schools. Right now, there is currently new construction in Oakton. It will soon be overcrowded. If they don't move some out, it is likely to be overcrowded by the end of next year. Lots of new construction CLOSE to Oakton. I don't think schools in Western Fairfax are going to be losing as many kids as some think. Compared to some of the other areas, they have lost few since last September. Chantilly is at same as September. Westfield is down 2 since September. Several FCPS schools are down more than 40. Likely due to dropouts or immigration issues. Time will tell. |
Anonymous
Why would a school that is “close to capacity” need relief when enrollments are declining? Just because some new townhouses get built doesn’t mean enrollments will go up because the number of kids from new housing may be more than offset by declines in the number of kids coming from existing neighborhoods. And, of course, there are hundreds of empty seats at Herndon. If Chantilly kids had moved to Westfield, and Westfield kids to Herndon, we wouldn’t be talking about moving 1000 kids out of Westfield and then needing to backfill it with Centreville kids. Sure, you can say FCPS needed to act fast, but it still should have had the equivalent of a business plan to make the case that opening Skyview was the best available option, and the secondary effects on other schools should have been addressed. FCPS “planning” is an oxymoron. |