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:

Anonymous wrote:When they moved part of Chantilly to Oakton - the move that led to the Chantilly parent assaulting Kathy Smith years later - Herndon did not have hundreds of empty seats.

Move that Oakton area back to Chantilly, part of Chantilly to Westfield, and part of Westfield north of 50 to Herndon. Then they can turn KAA into an aviation academy, or a culinary/hospitality academy, or whatever else they decide given the building’s likely capacity constraints.

Or.. hear me out… we could just make it a regular high school and stop wasting everyone’s time and money. There is not some magical pot of money. The budget is strained. Do the cost effective thing that has the most benefits to everyone.

I know. Unheard of for FCPS. But we could at least try just this once?

We don't know yet what would save or waste everyone's time and money. KAA was built to accommodate 1250 kids as a private school. It never actually had that many kids, apparently. Maybe FCPS would put more kids in classrooms, but it could still be the smallest HS in the county in terms of its design and program capacity. Would the community accept this, or would they be asking FCPS to spend tens if not hundreds millions more on top of the $150 million that the School Board dropped to aquire the building in order to customize and expand KAA so it can have as many kids as Oakton or Chantilly? Or, conversely, could a smaller academy program make more sense given the potential capacity constraints?

Again, these are open questions because there's been no transparency and the communications from FCPS have sucked. But the one thing we do know is that those who think they are entitled to this new school are likely to keep insisting they are "owed" whatever they decide they want, regardless of the price tag.

We don’t need to know exactly how many kids they intend to fit in a classroom to know that it’s cheaper to operate as a regular high school than to spend a bunch of money on specialty tech and curriculum and then bus kids from all over the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The superintendent is likely inspired by the wildly successful aviation magnet high school in Tukwila south of Seattle. I imagine that for FCPS, a successful aviation magnet program would help fill the school, especially as proximity to nearby high schools may make it hard to fill and draw boundaries.

That school (Raisbeck Aviation High School) is tiny though, ~400 kids. That's completely unrealistic.

That is the plan, a 400 avoation vocational academy ubside a 1600 student high school. Just like Chantilly academy inside Chantilly high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When they moved part of Chantilly to Oakton - the move that led to the Chantilly parent assaulting Kathy Smith years later - Herndon did not have hundreds of empty seats.

Move that Oakton area back to Chantilly, part of Chantilly to Westfield, and part of Westfield north of 50 to Herndon. Then they can turn KAA into an aviation academy, or a culinary/hospitality academy, or whatever else they decide given the building’s likely capacity constraints.

Or.. hear me out… we could just make it a regular high school and stop wasting everyone’s time and money. There is not some magical pot of money. The budget is strained. Do the cost effective thing that has the most benefits to everyone.

I know. Unheard of for FCPS. But we could at least try just this once?

We don't know yet what would save or waste everyone's time and money. KAA was built to accommodate 1250 kids as a private school. It never actually had that many kids, apparently. Maybe FCPS would put more kids in classrooms, but it could still be the smallest HS in the county in terms of its design and program capacity. Would the community accept this, or would they be asking FCPS to spend tens if not hundreds millions more on top of the $150 million that the School Board dropped to aquire the building in order to customize and expand KAA so it can have as many kids as Oakton or Chantilly? Or, conversely, could a smaller academy program make more sense given the potential capacity constraints?

Again, these are open questions because there's been no transparency and the communications from FCPS have sucked. But the one thing we do know is that those who think they are entitled to this new school are likely to keep insisting they are "owed" whatever they decide they want, regardless of the price tag.

We don’t need to know exactly how many kids they intend to fit in a classroom to know that it’s cheaper to operate as a regular high school than to spend a bunch of money on specialty tech and curriculum and then bus kids from all over the county.

Depends on how much those near the school would demand they spend on the school to make it meet their expectations for a neighborhood school. They aren't exactly a low-maintenance bunch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are more schools int he area that would want to move then there is space, the idea of using this as a magnate school is ridiculous.

I know parents at Oakhill, Navy, Crossfield, and Fox Mill who would love to be at KAA. I don't know parents at McNair or Coates so I won't speak for them. The "space" for an academy would only be there because they will be adding classes as the kids move into the building. They could easily fill the capacity by the time all four grades are in to school.

The academy feels like a project to make one school board member happy, and I guess that happened at Lewis with the leadership academy so why not an aviation academy? It also strikes me as a way to try and tell parents that there is no space for their kid to move from SLHS or Westfields to the new academy, knowing that there are parents who would be happy to have their kids moved from SLHS or Westfield. It is an excuse to keep MC and UMC at moderatly high FARMS schools to keep test scores in an ok place at those schools.

It’s Coates, Floris, McNair, and Oak Hill that have first dibs on KAA, not Fox Mill or Crossfield, much less Navy. I know some have this fantasy of creating Langley 2.0 next door to Carson, but that was never going to happen with or without an aviation program part of the picture.

PP from 09:47, arguing that aviation academy may not be a conspiracy. I live no more than 2 miles from KAA, I am familiar with the local school boundaries.

Currently ES enrollment: see https://www.fcpsboundaryreview.org/
McNair 531
Coats: 983
Floris: 666
Oak Hill: 639

Total ES students above: 2819 for 7 grades.
Estimated HS students: 2819 * 4 grades / 7 grades = 1610.

Compare to HS enrollment from other nearby HSs: Chantilly: 2916, Herndon: 2230, Westfield: 2710. It's reasonable to expect the new HS target student body would be around 2000.

As you can see, the new HS either needs 400-500 students from ES feeders like Fox Mill, Xfield and/or Lee Corners, The problem with getting students from other ES is that that will turn those ES into split feeders, something FCPS is trying to avoid.

OR they can start an academy program to get that 400-500 kids to fill up the space. Note this is not a magnet school, it's academy similar to vocational academy in Chantilly, Marshalls etc. https://www.fcps.edu/academics/high/career-and-technical-education/academies-and-specialized-programs

Not sure about your numbers. Howeve4, Crossfield goes to Oakton which I s a brutal bus ride.

My numbers are from https://www.fcpsboundaryreview.org/ It is official.

Xfld has 529 students, 529 * 4 / 7 = 302 HS students. Even moving Xfled to new HS, it still is less than 400-500 shortage after Coats/OakHill/McNair/Floris.

My theme is, there is space in the new HS for an academy program. You can advocate your school to join the new HS without calling the aviation program a boondoggle. It's close to iAD, my of my neighbors are pilots and mechanics, with so many corporations near 267 corridor, it makes sense.

did you count enrollment at mcnair upper and lower? if not your numbers are off y 600 kids

DP. I tried a different approach.

Take the 3-6th graders (4 classes) this past June at Coates (529), Floris (383), McNair Upper (612), and Oak Hill (408). That comes to 1932 students. Assume 100 go to TJ. That takes you down to 1832, the size of a smaller high school.

Crossfield would add another 312 kids, which almost takes you to the size of a typical FCPS high school. Fox Mill would add 358, but that number would need to be reduced for out-of-boundary Japanese immersion kids.

Much depends on the actual capacity of the KAA building as a public HS, something FCPS has either not yet determined or not yet disclosed.

Also, Coates has a fair number of kids on the other side of the DTR that go to Herndon High School. I think they will eventually be moved to another elementary school. So, that could reduce the number somewhat.
Also, some of Floris currently goes to South Lakes. Not sure if Meren would let them go.

And, over four years, I think you would have more go to TJ than 100. That is just 25 per year.

But, it tells me that the school could easily accommodate if your numbers are correct. And, it could include Crossfield.
This is doable.

And, to those who keep claiming the school is not large enough--there are two auxiliary buildings across the street. And, the street is a dead end. Far better than trailers or modulars.

There is plenty of space.

[Anonymous]

It is stupid that TJ is not centrally located. But they’re not going to move TJ since it was renovated and customized to its curriculum. If FCPS was smart, it would move all HS academies and magnet programs to Lewis - and Annandale, if more space is needed. Buses for all of the academies could then be combined and that way buses coming from all parts of the county would at least have 3 relatively close destinations. Then all other HSs would be “just” neighborhood schools, which is easier for capacity and busing planning. The three academy schools could even have joint teams/extracurriculars to ensure they had a better prospect of having sufficient participants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When they moved part of Chantilly to Oakton - the move that led to the Chantilly parent assaulting Kathy Smith years later - Herndon did not have hundreds of empty seats.

Move that Oakton area back to Chantilly, part of Chantilly to Westfield, and part of Westfield north of 50 to Herndon. Then they can turn KAA into an aviation academy, or a culinary/hospitality academy, or whatever else they decide given the building’s likely capacity constraints.

Or.. hear me out… we could just make it a regular high school and stop wasting everyone’s time and money. There is not some magical pot of money. The budget is strained. Do the cost effective thing that has the most benefits to everyone.

I know. Unheard of for FCPS. But we could at least try just this once?

We don't know yet what would save or waste everyone's time and money. KAA was built to accommodate 1250 kids as a private school. It never actually had that many kids, apparently. Maybe FCPS would put more kids in classrooms, but it could still be the smallest HS in the county in terms of its design and program capacity. Would the community accept this, or would they be asking FCPS to spend tens if not hundreds millions more on top of the $150 million that the School Board dropped to aquire the building in order to customize and expand KAA so it can have as many kids as Oakton or Chantilly? Or, conversely, could a smaller academy program make more sense given the potential capacity constraints?

Again, these are open questions because there's been no transparency and the communications from FCPS have sucked. But the one thing we do know is that those who think they are entitled to this new school are likely to keep insisting they are "owed" whatever they decide they want, regardless of the price tag.

We don’t need to know exactly how many kids they intend to fit in a classroom to know that it’s cheaper to operate as a regular high school than to spend a bunch of money on specialty tech and curriculum and then bus kids from all over the county.

Depends on how much those near the school would demand they spend on the school to make it meet their expectations for a neighborhood school. They aren't exactly a low-maintenance bunch.

Wow. You really do not know this community, do you? You do realize that this will not be Langley west? You might want to check out the demographics of a couple of the schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When they moved part of Chantilly to Oakton - the move that led to the Chantilly parent assaulting Kathy Smith years later - Herndon did not have hundreds of empty seats.

Move that Oakton area back to Chantilly, part of Chantilly to Westfield, and part of Westfield north of 50 to Herndon. Then they can turn KAA into an aviation academy, or a culinary/hospitality academy, or whatever else they decide given the building’s likely capacity constraints.

Or.. hear me out… we could just make it a regular high school and stop wasting everyone’s time and money. There is not some magical pot of money. The budget is strained. Do the cost effective thing that has the most benefits to everyone.

I know. Unheard of for FCPS. But we could at least try just this once?

We don't know yet what would save or waste everyone's time and money. KAA was built to accommodate 1250 kids as a private school. It never actually had that many kids, apparently. Maybe FCPS would put more kids in classrooms, but it could still be the smallest HS in the county in terms of its design and program capacity. Would the community accept this, or would they be asking FCPS to spend tens if not hundreds millions more on top of the $150 million that the School Board dropped to aquire the building in order to customize and expand KAA so it can have as many kids as Oakton or Chantilly? Or, conversely, could a smaller academy program make more sense given the potential capacity constraints?

Again, these are open questions because there's been no transparency and the communications from FCPS have sucked. But the one thing we do know is that those who think they are entitled to this new school are likely to keep insisting they are "owed" whatever they decide they want, regardless of the price tag.

We don’t need to know exactly how many kids they intend to fit in a classroom to know that it’s cheaper to operate as a regular high school than to spend a bunch of money on specialty tech and curriculum and then bus kids from all over the county.

Depends on how much those near the school would demand they spend on the school to make it meet their expectations for a neighborhood school. They aren't exactly a low-maintenance bunch.

Wow. You really do not know this community, do you? You do realize that this will not be Langley west? You might want to check out the demographics of a couple of the schools.

DP. You destroy your credibility when you reference Langley like that. Unnecessary and makes people tune you out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When they moved part of Chantilly to Oakton - the move that led to the Chantilly parent assaulting Kathy Smith years later - Herndon did not have hundreds of empty seats.

Move that Oakton area back to Chantilly, part of Chantilly to Westfield, and part of Westfield north of 50 to Herndon. Then they can turn KAA into an aviation academy, or a culinary/hospitality academy, or whatever else they decide given the building’s likely capacity constraints.

Or.. hear me out… we could just make it a regular high school and stop wasting everyone’s time and money. There is not some magical pot of money. The budget is strained. Do the cost effective thing that has the most benefits to everyone.

I know. Unheard of for FCPS. But we could at least try just this once?

We don't know yet what would save or waste everyone's time and money. KAA was built to accommodate 1250 kids as a private school. It never actually had that many kids, apparently. Maybe FCPS would put more kids in classrooms, but it could still be the smallest HS in the county in terms of its design and program capacity. Would the community accept this, or would they be asking FCPS to spend tens if not hundreds millions more on top of the $150 million that the School Board dropped to aquire the building in order to customize and expand KAA so it can have as many kids as Oakton or Chantilly? Or, conversely, could a smaller academy program make more sense given the potential capacity constraints?

Again, these are open questions because there's been no transparency and the communications from FCPS have sucked. But the one thing we do know is that those who think they are entitled to this new school are likely to keep insisting they are "owed" whatever they decide they want, regardless of the price tag.

We don’t need to know exactly how many kids they intend to fit in a classroom to know that it’s cheaper to operate as a regular high school than to spend a bunch of money on specialty tech and curriculum and then bus kids from all over the county.

Depends on how much those near the school would demand they spend on the school to make it meet their expectations for a neighborhood school. They aren't exactly a low-maintenance bunch.

Wow. You really do not know this community, do you? You do realize that this will not be Langley west? You might want to check out the demographics of a couple of the schools.

DP. You destroy your credibility when you reference Langley like that. Unnecessary and makes people tune you out.

Just pointing out that the demographics will be quite different from Langley. You do not realize that? The PP said this area was high maintenance. It's not. It's just being jerked around on boundaries and people don't like it. We've been here before.

[Anonymous]

does anyone else see the irony in this previously Saudi funded building being used to educate US aviators?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:does anyone else see the irony in this previously Saudi funded building being used to educate US aviators?

Now that you point it out.......

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:does anyone else see the irony in this previously Saudi funded building being used to educate US aviators?

I'm sure they are having a good laugh over this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:does anyone else see the irony in this previously Saudi funded building being used to educate US aviators?

As long as he can stand to benefit from it, Kyle McDaniel wouldn't have it any other way...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When they moved part of Chantilly to Oakton - the move that led to the Chantilly parent assaulting Kathy Smith years later - Herndon did not have hundreds of empty seats.

Move that Oakton area back to Chantilly, part of Chantilly to Westfield, and part of Westfield north of 50 to Herndon. Then they can turn KAA into an aviation academy, or a culinary/hospitality academy, or whatever else they decide given the building’s likely capacity constraints.

Or.. hear me out… we could just make it a regular high school and stop wasting everyone’s time and money. There is not some magical pot of money. The budget is strained. Do the cost effective thing that has the most benefits to everyone.

I know. Unheard of for FCPS. But we could at least try just this once?

We don't know yet what would save or waste everyone's time and money. KAA was built to accommodate 1250 kids as a private school. It never actually had that many kids, apparently. Maybe FCPS would put more kids in classrooms, but it could still be the smallest HS in the county in terms of its design and program capacity. Would the community accept this, or would they be asking FCPS to spend tens if not hundreds millions more on top of the $150 million that the School Board dropped to aquire the building in order to customize and expand KAA so it can have as many kids as Oakton or Chantilly? Or, conversely, could a smaller academy program make more sense given the potential capacity constraints?

Again, these are open questions because there's been no transparency and the communications from FCPS have sucked. But the one thing we do know is that those who think they are entitled to this new school are likely to keep insisting they are "owed" whatever they decide they want, regardless of the price tag.

We don’t need to know exactly how many kids they intend to fit in a classroom to know that it’s cheaper to operate as a regular high school than to spend a bunch of money on specialty tech and curriculum and then bus kids from all over the county.

Depends on how much those near the school would demand they spend on the school to make it meet their expectations for a neighborhood school. They aren't exactly a low-maintenance bunch.

Silly. The current school board and super intendant truly could not care less about what parents want or demand. They’ll do whatever they please, why would this be the exception?

[Anonymous]

I looked at the Board Docs. Could someone explain them to me? What would this look like? The part about the neighborhood schools sounds very vague.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I emailed the school board and administration. They told me that this will absolutely not be a magnet school. The intent is to alleviate overcrowding at western high schools.

I don’t believe you.

Why would I lie? Why don't you try sending emails yourself and ask the question so you can see that I'm not lying.

I’m not sure why you would lie, but what you are saying is wholly inconsistent with the school board’s materials for tomorrow’s work session. I’m also skeptical of someone who says that they emailed the school board and administration rather than specific board members or specific staff. I would not have accused you of lying if you told me that member X or Y told you that they don’t plan to make it a magnet, but the school board has not come out with a position on this and in fact appears to be considering the exact opposite of what you claim.

In a nutshell, your claim doesn’t pass muster.

You, too, can email the administration and school board and see how they respond. The responses I received said those materials are one of many considerations but they were definitely not advocating for a magnet school.

If the aviation academy is "one of many" options under consideration, then why is that the only plan for the school board public and closed door work sessions tomorrow?

Those were awfully detailed and specific plans, down to chosen corporate sponsors, and the only magnet scheduled to be discussed.

I think your school board rep thinks her constituents are idiots if she tried to sell you that line.