Why is the McLean high pyramid over crowded with crappy buildings and teachers but pays high tax

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apparently the new FCHS won’t be as nice as they are having to cut back the scale because of rising costs. I really hope they can find a way to stick to the original plan since the facilities have been sub-par for so long.

Oh no, I hope that's not true! I knew there were some cost concerns due to inflation but hadn't heard they were being forced to cut back. Was there recently for an event and couldn't believe how awful the facilities were.

You can read about some of the revisions here (kee0 in mind that Ellie Ashford, who runs this blog, is very tight with Ricardy Anderson and everything is always written to suggest the schools in Mason District are getting the short end of the stick):

https://annandaletoday.com/falls-church-hs-expansion-cut-back-and-delayed-due-to-soaring-costs/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It won’t happen, but this would be a good reason for McLean residents to lobby their General Assembly reps to let McLean incorporate as a Class-2 city within Fairfax County. Falls Church City has its own schools as a Class-2 city in Arlington County. Fairfax City could do so, but chooses to contract with FCPS for schools.

Falls Church City is not in Arlington County. Arlington is former Virginia portion of the District of Columbia. Looking at a map you can see DC and Arlington together form the district’s original diamond shape. Falls Church falls outside the diamond and Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

If McLean is sooooo decrepit, maybe it should be knocked down entirely and rebuilt while it’s feeder students are temporarily accommodated elsewhere. Or … While a new site can sought elsewhere to put a little more separation from Langley (they are very close). Maybe it could go in the heart of Tysons.

You’re half right. They should tear it down, build a new high school in western McLean or Great Falls, and change the McLean boundaries (maybe even rename both to avoid confusion). Kids in the far western edge of the county are now being bussed in to Langley. A new HS outside the beltway would allow the students living out there to go to school near their homes. The students in the closer in portions of McLean would then be districted to the current Langley building.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If McLean is sooooo decrepit, maybe it should be knocked down entirely and rebuilt while it’s feeder students are temporarily accommodated elsewhere. Or … While a new site can sought elsewhere to put a little more separation from Langley (they are very close). Maybe it could go in the heart of Tysons.

You’re half right. They should tear it down, build a new high school in western McLean or Great Falls, and change the McLean boundaries (maybe even rename both to avoid confusion). Kids in the far western edge of the county are now being bussed in to Langley. A new HS outside the beltway would allow the students living out there to go to school near their homes. The students in the closer in portions of McLean would then be districted to the current Langley building.

Langley is in a crappy location for an FCPS high school, but you don’t fix that by tearing down another school in a better location and spending more money to build a new school than you’d have to spend to expand and/or renovate McLean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If McLean is sooooo decrepit, maybe it should be knocked down entirely and rebuilt while it’s feeder students are temporarily accommodated elsewhere. Or … While a new site can sought elsewhere to put a little more separation from Langley (they are very close). Maybe it could go in the heart of Tysons.

You’re half right. They should tear it down, build a new high school in western McLean or Great Falls, and change the McLean boundaries (maybe even rename both to avoid confusion). Kids in the far western edge of the county are now being bussed in to Langley. A new HS outside the beltway would allow the students living out there to go to school near their homes. The students in the closer in portions of McLean would then be districted to the current Langley building.

Langley is in a crappy location for an FCPS high school, but you don’t fix that by tearing down another school in a better location and spending more money to build a new school than you’d have to spend to expand and/or renovate McLean.

There is nothing wrong with Langley’s location. The problems are:
1) McLean HS needs major repair or replacement
2) McLean HS are 3 miles from each other, in the north eastern corner of the county.
3) Most of the current Langley district is outside the beltway (all the way to the Loudoun County line), so students are being bussed literally from one edge of the county to the other.

Since the Langley building is in good shape, it could be used to house most of the current McLean district and the inside the beltway portion of the Langley district. The rest of the current Langley students could then be districted to the new Western HS. Some students on the southwestern edge of the current McLean district could possibly go to Marshall. Before you say that would overcrowd Marshall, some of the students in the northwest part of the Marshall district could go to the new Western HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If McLean is sooooo decrepit, maybe it should be knocked down entirely and rebuilt while it’s feeder students are temporarily accommodated elsewhere. Or … While a new site can sought elsewhere to put a little more separation from Langley (they are very close). Maybe it could go in the heart of Tysons.

You’re half right. They should tear it down, build a new high school in western McLean or Great Falls, and change the McLean boundaries (maybe even rename both to avoid confusion). Kids in the far western edge of the county are now being bussed in to Langley. A new HS outside the beltway would allow the students living out there to go to school near their homes. The students in the closer in portions of McLean would then be districted to the current Langley building.

Langley is in a crappy location for an FCPS high school, but you don’t fix that by tearing down another school in a better location and spending more money to build a new school than you’d have to spend to expand and/or renovate McLean.

There is nothing wrong with Langley’s location. The problems are:
1) McLean HS needs major repair or replacement
2) McLean HS are 3 miles from each other, in the north eastern corner of the county.
3) Most of the current Langley district is outside the beltway (all the way to the Loudoun County line), so students are being bussed literally from one edge of the county to the other.

Since the Langley building is in good shape, it could be used to house most of the current McLean district and the inside the beltway portion of the Langley district. The rest of the current Langley students could then be districted to the new Western HS. Some students on the southwestern edge of the current McLean district could possibly go to Marshall. Before you say that would overcrowd Marshall, some of the students in the northwest part of the Marshall district could go to the new Western HS.

The new Western HS is to relieve Chantilly and Centreville. It will not impact Marshall or McLean or Langley. Suggest you look at a map.

[Anonymous]

Then build 2 new schools out there. The point is that McLean needs to be rebuilt or renovated significantly. Several people correctly pointed out that new builds are often more efficient than renovations. Rather than trying to rebuild in the current location, let’s think broader and solve more than just 1 problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If McLean is sooooo decrepit, maybe it should be knocked down entirely and rebuilt while it’s feeder students are temporarily accommodated elsewhere. Or … While a new site can sought elsewhere to put a little more separation from Langley (they are very close). Maybe it could go in the heart of Tysons.

You’re half right. They should tear it down, build a new high school in western McLean or Great Falls, and change the McLean boundaries (maybe even rename both to avoid confusion). Kids in the far western edge of the county are now being bussed in to Langley. A new HS outside the beltway would allow the students living out there to go to school near their homes. The students in the closer in portions of McLean would then be districted to the current Langley building.

Langley is in a crappy location for an FCPS high school, but you don’t fix that by tearing down another school in a better location and spending more money to build a new school than you’d have to spend to expand and/or renovate McLean.

There is nothing wrong with Langley’s location. The problems are:
1) McLean HS needs major repair or replacement
2) McLean HS are 3 miles from each other, in the north eastern corner of the county.
3) Most of the current Langley district is outside the beltway (all the way to the Loudoun County line), so students are being bussed literally from one edge of the county to the other.

Since the Langley building is in good shape, it could be used to house most of the current McLean district and the inside the beltway portion of the Langley district. The rest of the current Langley students could then be districted to the new Western HS. Some students on the southwestern edge of the current McLean district could possibly go to Marshall. Before you say that would overcrowd Marshall, some of the students in the northwest part of the Marshall district could go to the new Western HS.

The new Western HS is to relieve Chantilly and Centreville. It will not impact Marshall or McLean or Langley. Suggest you look at a map.

+1
1. Langley and McLean have nothing to do with any "new western HS".
2. The "new western HS" is just a myth. It's not going to actually happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If McLean is sooooo decrepit, maybe it should be knocked down entirely and rebuilt while it’s feeder students are temporarily accommodated elsewhere. Or … While a new site can sought elsewhere to put a little more separation from Langley (they are very close). Maybe it could go in the heart of Tysons.

You’re half right. They should tear it down, build a new high school in western McLean or Great Falls, and change the McLean boundaries (maybe even rename both to avoid confusion). Kids in the far western edge of the county are now being bussed in to Langley. A new HS outside the beltway would allow the students living out there to go to school near their homes. The students in the closer in portions of McLean would then be districted to the current Langley building.

Langley is in a crappy location for an FCPS high school, but you don’t fix that by tearing down another school in a better location and spending more money to build a new school than you’d have to spend to expand and/or renovate McLean.

There is nothing wrong with Langley’s location. The problems are:
1) McLean HS needs major repair or replacement
2) McLean HS are 3 miles from each other, in the north eastern corner of the county.
3) Most of the current Langley district is outside the beltway (all the way to the Loudoun County line), so students are being bussed literally from one edge of the county to the other.

Since the Langley building is in good shape, it could be used to house most of the current McLean district and the inside the beltway portion of the Langley district. The rest of the current Langley students could then be districted to the new Western HS. Some students on the southwestern edge of the current McLean district could possibly go to Marshall. Before you say that would overcrowd Marshall, some of the students in the northwest part of the Marshall district could go to the new Western HS.

Langley has a nice building near some nice, expensive neighborhoods. But the location is sub-par - it’s in a corner of the county off a narrow two-lane road. You can’t exactly redistrict nearby kids from Yorktown in Arlington there, so the boundaries have to stretch far to the west.

McLean has an older building, near some nice, less expensive neighborhoods, but it’s a better location for a high school as it’s closer to more kids from McLean and Falls Church and there are three different access roads.

Sure, in hindsight, it would be better if Langley had been built in western McLean or Great Falls, but it wasn’t, and FCPS has sunk a lot of money into the building.

There’s no sign a new western HS will be built any time soon, especially with the plan to expand Centreville to 3000 seats, but if it were it wouldn’t be in some part of Great Falls where most people don’t even have public sewers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Then build 2 new schools out there. The point is that McLean needs to be rebuilt or renovated significantly. Several people correctly pointed out that new builds are often more efficient than renovations. Rather than trying to rebuild in the current location, let’s think broader and solve more than just 1 problem.

LOL. If the nasty shrews on the School Board can’t find $20M to fund an addition to McLean they sure as hell aren’t going to find $200M for a new HS in Great Falls.

[Anonymous]

Looking at the title I would say yes to crappy facility, but not to teachers. There have been quite a few good ones at both McLean and Longfellow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your argument would have a point if McLean was the only one being ostracized. There are plenty of other pyramids that haven't had a renovation recently and are arguably in a worse state overall accounting for other factors like Lewis, Annandale, Westfield, Mt. Vernon. They would like to receive consideration too. Is it the kids' fault they're poor and their parents don't pay as much tax?
This isn't really about the wealthy being punished. Oakton, West Springfield, and Langley have been given the luxury treatment despite their high SES. It's bias by the school board that allows this to happen.

You’ll have to elaborate on what you mean by “worse shape overall accounting for other factors.” Chantilly and McLean are clearly the two most overcrowded schools for which FCPS has not developed any good facilities plan, and Justice and Madison both got additions outside the queue in recent years even though both are newer than McLean and less crowded than both Chantilly and McLean.

Are you suggesting FCPS should not address the facilities needs of certain schools unless their test scores are among the lowest in the county? If so, that’s a guaranteed race to the bottom.

So, you’re ok moving kids from McLean to Justice then? Didn’t think so. My guess is SB added onto Justice because it was overcrowded and they knew it would unpopular to move Justice kids elsewhere, just like it would go over like a lead balloon to move McLean kids to Justice.

Wait, so you’re saying they expanded Justice to contain the students there, like it’s some kind of penal colony?

The excuses for poor planning and disparate treatment in FCPS just keep getting weirder.

Whoa. This is a good question.

If McLean is sooooo decrepit, maybe it should be knocked down entirely and rebuilt while it’s feeder students are temporarily accommodated elsewhere. Or … While a new site can sought elsewhere to put a little more separation from Langley (they are very close). Maybe it could go in the heart of Tysons.

Langley and McLean are not as close to each other as Oakton and Madison. Oakton and Langley have both been expanded and renovated and Madison just got an addition. McLean needed an addition more than Madison did. Jeff Platenberg was just a very poor planner.

They do have a site for an urban elementary school in Tysons. It will be great if that school gets built. They’ve identified no such site for a high or secondary school.

The renovated and expanded Oakton HS is beautiful. It has one of those amphitheater style terraced seating areas for informal learning and socializing that FCPS is constructing in the remodeled high schools. The new main entrance is iconic and welcoming. Same with the new Madison entry and library that has lots of glazing to let light in. I can’t wait to see what Falls Church will look like when completed.

I like the present location of McLean HS since it is highly walkable to the surrounding neighborhood. It would be ideal if FCPS renovates it or completely rebuilds it on its current site. Hopefully we don’t have to wait twenty years. Fingers crossed.

Renovation (ie expansion) would be a huge waste of money. Knock it down (temporarily rehouse students in nearby schools) or build a new building elsewhere.

Complete rebuilds save a lot of money over a complex, phased renovation. But where would the McLean kids all go in the interim? There are no more vacant, abandoned high schools to use. FCPS demolished the decrepit, abandoned Falls Church HS (on cherry street) to sell to a developer of luxury town homes twenty years ago. I suppose they could build a brand new new school on McLean’s football field while classes continue in the old one. The school could then share the field at Langley during construction. Or maybe pay Arlington Parks Dept to use the Greenbrier Stadium adjacent to nearby Yorktown HS.

Doesn’t Tysons have some vacant office buildings? They already use an office building for part of an elementary school in 7 Corners. I would think with cube land office buildings, it would be a fairly easy set up.

Just send your kid to BASIS, it's in an office building with a playground right next to the Dulles toll road.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If McLean is sooooo decrepit, maybe it should be knocked down entirely and rebuilt while it’s feeder students are temporarily accommodated elsewhere. Or … While a new site can sought elsewhere to put a little more separation from Langley (they are very close). Maybe it could go in the heart of Tysons.

You’re half right. They should tear it down, build a new high school in western McLean or Great Falls, and change the McLean boundaries (maybe even rename both to avoid confusion). Kids in the far western edge of the county are now being bussed in to Langley. A new HS outside the beltway would allow the students living out there to go to school near their homes. The students in the closer in portions of McLean would then be districted to the current Langley building.

Langley is in a crappy location for an FCPS high school, but you don’t fix that by tearing down another school in a better location and spending more money to build a new school than you’d have to spend to expand and/or renovate McLean.

On what land are you building this fictional HS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If McLean is sooooo decrepit, maybe it should be knocked down entirely and rebuilt while it’s feeder students are temporarily accommodated elsewhere. Or … While a new site can sought elsewhere to put a little more separation from Langley (they are very close). Maybe it could go in the heart of Tysons.

You’re half right. They should tear it down, build a new high school in western McLean or Great Falls, and change the McLean boundaries (maybe even rename both to avoid confusion). Kids in the far western edge of the county are now being bussed in to Langley. A new HS outside the beltway would allow the students living out there to go to school near their homes. The students in the closer in portions of McLean would then be districted to the current Langley building.

Langley is in a crappy location for an FCPS high school, but you don’t fix that by tearing down another school in a better location and spending more money to build a new school than you’d have to spend to expand and/or renovate McLean.

On what land are you building this fictional HS?

+1
The inanity of these "proposals" just makes me laugh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Then build 2 new schools out there. The point is that McLean needs to be rebuilt or renovated significantly. Several people correctly pointed out that new builds are often more efficient than renovations. Rather than trying to rebuild in the current location, let’s think broader and solve more than just 1 problem.

So, so much this.

If McLean HS is as bad as Whiney McLean Mom claims, then knock the darn thing down. Build a new school elsewhere out west and send McLean kids to neighboring schools, shift other kids as needed.