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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yet Chantilly, Westfield, and apparently now Oakton are still in or on the brink of capacity issues. Sure, it looks like we've got a little covid dip in the numbers coming up in elementary schools, but banking on a once-a-century pandemic to keep the numbers down long term doesn't seem like sound planning advice.

Yet Herndon has hundreds of vacant seats and enrollments are coming down (over 4000 down this year) and expected to continue to decline for reasons beyond Covid.

And what happens to the planned Centreville expansion now? Is it cancelled? Why isn't that part of the discussion?

I really think the board should consider sending Cortes kids to HHS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hello FCPS Families,

As our school community continues to change and adapt to 21st century challenges and opportunities, so too do the schools where we gather, learn, and grow. Many of you have heard about the new FCPS high school we acquired this summer in western Fairfax County. As families located in that area, we want to provide additional details that may be relevant to you and your community.

First, I want to invite you to an open house at the new western high school. This will be an opportunity to learn more about our ongoing assessment of the site and see first-hand the potential this new school provides our division.

The open house will be on Saturday, October 25, from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. The new western high school is located at 2949 Education Drive, Herndon, VA 20171. There will also be two community meetings about the new western high school’s name on Monday, October 27. The first meeting will be online during the day, and the second will be in the evening at Carson Middle School. More details on these meetings will be shared soon.

Second, the school – formerly the King Abdullah Academy – provides us with a unique opportunity to respond to the expanding needs of the students and families in the western part of the county. The nearly 33-acre site has 355,000 square feet of modern educational spaces, large multi-purpose halls, libraries and study rooms, fine arts facilities, and athletic space. With current estimates for FCPS to buy land and build a new school in that area exceeding $430 million, we estimate that the savings realized by purchasing this property are approximately $280 million. And it means we have a new facility we are able to use sooner.

This is also a significant opportunity for our students to experience 22nd century learning and prepare for a rapidly changing global society with careers yet to be imagined. We will work on new course offerings at the western high school, which gives us an opportunity to combine this with ongoing efforts to enhance and expand course offerings across the entire school division.

Third, our current plan is to open the new high school for the 2026-27 school year. As families located in the western part of the county, we understand that you are very interested in what this new school experience will be like and what the possibilities will be for students.

We are committed to engaging the western county communities in this effort, as governed by Policy and Regulation 8170. The School Board held a work session on October 7 to discuss programming and naming and the formal naming process, including community meetings, which will begin soon. The new high school will be on the agenda as New Business at the board meeting on Thursday, October 23. The board will vote on programming at the November 13 meeting. The new school name will be selected at the January 8, 2026 meeting.

As I’ve shared with parents from the western part of the county during my recent community conversation, many of the details are still being discussed and no final decisions have been made. Along with the open house later this month, I have asked our staff to be prepared to share additional updates with all of you as they become available.

Thank you for your time and engagement with this exciting new addition to FCPS that will benefit students now and many years into the future. Together, all things are possible!

Warmest regards,



Dr. Michelle C. Reid
Superintendent
Fairfax County Public Schools

Why wasn't this estimate updated to reflect the additional costs they now know they will incur to get this school ready for FCPS students? I guess the philosophy is that if you repeat a lie frequently enough people will start to believe it.

They will never realize "approximately $280 million" in total savings, and they refuse to identify the other projects that will delayed, even as they ask taxpayers to approve more school bonds.

[Anonymous]

Purchasing KAA was the right decision, probably the only decision for which I’d give the FCPS school board credit.

Sure, the renovation may cost $50 million or so, but it’s still far cheaper than building a new school and saves time. The timing can’t be better as we are in the middle of boundary change discussion.

I don’t understand why people focus solely on overcapacity or undercapacity as if that’s the only criterion.

If a school’s capacity is 3,000 and it’s undercapacity at 2,900, is that really ideal? I think any high school enrollment above 2,000 is not ideal. Providing relief to large high schools (2,500+ students) is still meaningful in my opinion, whether they’re overcapacity or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yet Chantilly, Westfield, and apparently now Oakton are still in or on the brink of capacity issues. Sure, it looks like we've got a little covid dip in the numbers coming up in elementary schools, but banking on a once-a-century pandemic to keep the numbers down long term doesn't seem like sound planning advice.

Yet Herndon has hundreds of vacant seats and enrollments are coming down (over 4000 down this year) and expected to continue to decline for reasons beyond Covid.

And what happens to the planned Centreville expansion now? Is it cancelled? Why isn't that part of the discussion?

The crowded schools and under capacity schools are the ones that should be targeted for boundary change. The problem is everyone is fighting to not be moved to the under-capacity schools. Suggest that people be moved to Herndon, Lewis, or Mt Vernon and watch people flip out.

People are fighting to not be moved while arguing other people should be moved because of open spaces and to relieve crowding, just not them. That is the cycle we are in.

KAA can reduce the overcrowding and should be used as the reason for shifting multiple groups of kids at the same time. It sucks for the kids who are moved but it is happening to everyone at the same time for the same reason. Kids should be moved to Herndon to use those spots. The spiffy new program should be put at Herndon to encourage kids to attend Herndon.

Centerville should not be expanded because there are spaces in the area that can be filled. Everyone is fine with that idea as long as their kid isn't moved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yet Chantilly, Westfield, and apparently now Oakton are still in or on the brink of capacity issues. Sure, it looks like we've got a little covid dip in the numbers coming up in elementary schools, but banking on a once-a-century pandemic to keep the numbers down long term doesn't seem like sound planning advice.

Yet Herndon has hundreds of vacant seats and enrollments are coming down (over 4000 down this year) and expected to continue to decline for reasons beyond Covid.

And what happens to the planned Centreville expansion now? Is it cancelled? Why isn't that part of the discussion?

I really think the board should consider sending Cortes kids to HHS.

They can send Coates to Herndon if they are willing to increase the FARMS rate at Herndon even further, but they are still going to have to backfill Westfield with Centreville kids if they move Coates, McNair and Floris out of Westfield.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Purchasing KAA was the right decision, probably the only decision for which I’d give the FCPS school board credit.

Sure, the renovation may cost $50 million or so, but it’s still far cheaper than building a new school and saves time. The timing can’t be better as we are in the middle of boundary change discussion.

I don’t understand why people focus solely on overcapacity or undercapacity as if that’s the only criterion.

If a school’s capacity is 3,000 and it’s undercapacity at 2,900, is that really ideal? I think any high school enrollment above 2,000 is not ideal. Providing relief to large high schools (2,500+ students) is still meaningful in my opinion, whether they’re overcapacity or not.

It's beyond absurd to ask taxpayers to repeatedly expand schools in western Fairfax to 2500 to 3000 seats and then declare we need another high school in the area because anything above 2,000 is a problem. Those expansions cost real money we'll never get back.

If some of those high schools that are already big are overcrowded, that's a different issue, but Herndon is sitting on hundreds of empty seats.

[Anonymous]

Let Westfield shrink to 1500-1700 students and allow them to have open enrollment students until the growth in the area catches back up. No need change school boundaries now and then undue them in 5-7 years once all the development in the area leads to more students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yet Chantilly, Westfield, and apparently now Oakton are still in or on the brink of capacity issues. Sure, it looks like we've got a little covid dip in the numbers coming up in elementary schools, but banking on a once-a-century pandemic to keep the numbers down long term doesn't seem like sound planning advice.

Yet Herndon has hundreds of vacant seats and enrollments are coming down (over 4000 down this year) and expected to continue to decline for reasons beyond Covid.

And what happens to the planned Centreville expansion now? Is it cancelled? Why isn't that part of the discussion?

The crowded schools and under capacity schools are the ones that should be targeted for boundary change. The problem is everyone is fighting to not be moved to the under-capacity schools. Suggest that people be moved to Herndon, Lewis, or Mt Vernon and watch people flip out.

People are fighting to not be moved while arguing other people should be moved because of open spaces and to relieve crowding, just not them. That is the cycle we are in.

KAA can reduce the overcrowding and should be used as the reason for shifting multiple groups of kids at the same time. It sucks for the kids who are moved but it is happening to everyone at the same time for the same reason. Kids should be moved to Herndon to use those spots. The spiffy new program should be put at Herndon to encourage kids to attend Herndon.

Centerville should not be expanded because there are spaces in the area that can be filled. Everyone is fine with that idea as long as their kid isn't moved.

I don't know what to make of most of your post, other than that you're fine with a lot of boundary changes that would inconvenience other people so long as the Carson folks get what they want, but the bolded part makes sense.

KAA is apparently going to be small, just 2000 kids. Why should any seats there, whether it's 90 seats or 150 seats, potentially be set aside for out of boundary kids to attend a "pathways" program at KAA if they could put it at Herndon, with its surplus capacity, instead?

They have a significant number of Willow Springs families who'd like to be at Centreville rather than Fairfax. They need to be taking that into account when deciding what to do with Centreville. Maybe it's a wash if part of Centreville moves to Westfield, but the pieces are connected and they don't seem to be thinking ahead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let Westfield shrink to 1500-1700 students and allow them to have open enrollment students until the growth in the area catches back up. No need change school boundaries now and then undue them in 5-7 years once all the development in the area leads to more students.

OMG. Yeah, sure, let's create Lewis West, except in a bigger building. It's worked out so well for the other Lewis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yet Chantilly, Westfield, and apparently now Oakton are still in or on the brink of capacity issues. Sure, it looks like we've got a little covid dip in the numbers coming up in elementary schools, but banking on a once-a-century pandemic to keep the numbers down long term doesn't seem like sound planning advice.

Yet Herndon has hundreds of vacant seats and enrollments are coming down (over 4000 down this year) and expected to continue to decline for reasons beyond Covid.

And what happens to the planned Centreville expansion now? Is it cancelled? Why isn't that part of the discussion?

The crowded schools and under capacity schools are the ones that should be targeted for boundary change. The problem is everyone is fighting to not be moved to the under-capacity schools. Suggest that people be moved to Herndon, Lewis, or Mt Vernon and watch people flip out.

People are fighting to not be moved while arguing other people should be moved because of open spaces and to relieve crowding, just not them. That is the cycle we are in.

KAA can reduce the overcrowding and should be used as the reason for shifting multiple groups of kids at the same time. It sucks for the kids who are moved but it is happening to everyone at the same time for the same reason. Kids should be moved to Herndon to use those spots. The spiffy new program should be put at Herndon to encourage kids to attend Herndon.

Centerville should not be expanded because there are spaces in the area that can be filled. Everyone is fine with that idea as long as their kid isn't moved.

I don't know what to make of most of your post, other than that you're fine with a lot of boundary changes that would inconvenience other people so long as the Carson folks get what they want, but the bolded part makes sense.

KAA is apparently going to be small, just 2000 kids. Why should any seats there, whether it's 90 seats or 150 seats, potentially be set aside for out of boundary kids to attend a "pathways" program at KAA if they could put it at Herndon, with its surplus capacity, instead?

They have a significant number of Willow Springs families who'd like to be at Centreville rather than Fairfax. They need to be taking that into account when deciding what to do with Centreville. Maybe it's a wash if part of Centreville moves to Westfield, but the pieces are connected and they don't seem to be thinking ahead.

My desire is not likely to happen. Fox Mill is highly unlikely to move to KAA and SLHS is not going to drop IB. We will probably need to pupil place for AP classes. I am fine with the boundaries in our area shifting to deal with the over-crowding and balancing schools better and think it is worth it to not expand Centerville. I don't think that the expansions in the area made a lot of sense. I do think that McLean needs a major renovation.

[Anonymous]

Bull Run will all attend Westfield. Willow will move to Centreville. Colin Powell will all move to Fairfax or Centreville.

[Anonymous]

Did anyone else receive an email from Dr. Reid about an open house at the KAA site later this month? The email stated, "As families located in that area, we want to provide additional details that may be relevant to you and your community."

I'm curious if everyone received this email or just certain schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone else receive an email from Dr. Reid about an open house at the KAA site later this month? The email stated, "As families located in that area, we want to provide additional details that may be relevant to you and your community."

I'm curious if everyone received this email or just certain schools.

Langley and McLean pyramids also received it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone else receive an email from Dr. Reid about an open house at the KAA site later this month? The email stated, "As families located in that area, we want to provide additional details that may be relevant to you and your community."

I'm curious if everyone received this email or just certain schools.

Langley and McLean pyramids also received it.

Did they receive the one posted here or the one posted on the website. That one does not include the information about the Open House.

[Anonymous]

We are in the South Lakes pyramid and received it, but I assumed it was because we are closer in proximity to the KAA site. I am not sure why schools no where near KAA would be invited to an open house there, but it sounds like Langley and Mclean were as well...