Is Western high school going to be sought after?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Pathways”. My point is that there will likely never be a traditional boundary. They will get 500 this year and once people see that this group survived and thrived, next year’s waiting list will be 750. And year 3 they will be asking for scores. It’s so blatantly obvious this is happening. The new school has almost as many robotic and science labs as classrooms and no one is dismantling it them. Meaning Oakton moms are wringing their hands that they might be compelled to go the engineering school instead of the mid tier basketball one should rest easy. I think it will work out for everyone.

The School Board has directed Reid to open a traditional high school, and you can’t have a traditional high school without traditional boundaries. I think you’re indulging in a fantasy about Western’s future that aligns with your vision for where you think nerdy kids will thrive. But it’s not going to be TJ West.

I think there will be a lot of interest in pupil placing and people will use the pathways as their justification. Herndon sends around 200 kids to SLHS for IB or Japanese, I can easily see families who want to leave Herndon will turn to Western for the AP and pathways instead of IB at SLHS. The number of transfers to SLHS are not reflected in the number of people who complete the IB Diploma, you only need to take a certain number of IB classes and there are anecdotal stories that some kids transfer and don't take any IB classes but it is not an issue because there is room at the school. I can fully see kids from SLHS pupil placing into Western for the pathways. It is an AP school that is close by and will have better test scores then Herndon. It is not the drive to Langley and Oakton, that a good number of SLHS students already make.

The question is more if Western will allow pupil placement and then how will that change the FARMs rate. I don't think they are going to have a problem getting 1,000 students for next year and I expect a decent percentage are going to be from schools that are not potentially going to attend Western. And I think that demand is going to stay.

There is enough interest that they could have created a magnet school but a traditional school is needed. It should be a traditional school because that is needed in the area. But I am going to guess that there will be a high demand for pupil placing.

I suspect that most of those are in the AAP program at Hughes. 118 from Herndon transferred to Hughes last year. That could easily equate to 200 at South Lakes.

Should Herndon have more?

I wonder that because with the town redeveloping to add housing, dense populations near Hutchison and Worldgate, and students near Reston.

Like what is the transfer rate from Herndon to other schools, and what would that number look factored into Herndon.

I remember when it used to have 2300 students.

And if it is so under enrolled, what is so problematic in moving Forestville and Great Falls kids back to Herndon where they once were other than the elitist loudmouths who would prefer to have their kids drive 17 miles out to Langley?

[Anonymous]

Herndon’s population might be down because of concerns over immigration arrests and parents not enrolling kids. It had been higher in recent years. It did also get an expansion when it was renovated so it has more seats. It is unclear to me if some of the capacity gap is caused by specialized classes for ESOL students which are smaller then regular classes, I know this is brought up with some of the schools with specialized Autism or troubled kids programs. The class sizes are smaller so it looks like there is capacity because the raw numbers don’t take into consideration specialized programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Herndon’s population might be down because of concerns over immigration arrests and parents not enrolling kids. It had been higher in recent years. It did also get an expansion when it was renovated so it has more seats. It is unclear to me if some of the capacity gap is caused by specialized classes for ESOL students which are smaller then regular classes, I know this is brought up with some of the schools with specialized Autism or troubled kids programs. The class sizes are smaller so it looks like there is capacity because the raw numbers don’t take into consideration specialized programs.

Ahh, that clears it up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Herndon’s population might be down because of concerns over immigration arrests and parents not enrolling kids. It had been higher in recent years. It did also get an expansion when it was renovated so it has more seats. It is unclear to me if some of the capacity gap is caused by specialized classes for ESOL students which are smaller then regular classes, I know this is brought up with some of the schools with specialized Autism or troubled kids programs. The class sizes are smaller so it looks like there is capacity because the raw numbers don’t take into consideration specialized programs.

Ahh, that clears it up.

Just maybe, the net transfer out to other schools of 291 might have something to do with it.
Stop the pupil placement and that eliminates a lot of empty seats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Herndon’s population might be down because of concerns over immigration arrests and parents not enrolling kids. It had been higher in recent years. It did also get an expansion when it was renovated so it has more seats. It is unclear to me if some of the capacity gap is caused by specialized classes for ESOL students which are smaller then regular classes, I know this is brought up with some of the schools with specialized Autism or troubled kids programs. The class sizes are smaller so it looks like there is capacity because the raw numbers don’t take into consideration specialized programs.

Ahh, that clears it up.

Just maybe, the net transfer out to other schools of 291 might have something to do with it.
Stop the pupil placement and that eliminates a lot of empty seats.

It doesn't eliminate empty seats. It would just mean Herndon has fewer empty seats and South Lakes has more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Herndon’s population might be down because of concerns over immigration arrests and parents not enrolling kids. It had been higher in recent years. It did also get an expansion when it was renovated so it has more seats. It is unclear to me if some of the capacity gap is caused by specialized classes for ESOL students which are smaller then regular classes, I know this is brought up with some of the schools with specialized Autism or troubled kids programs. The class sizes are smaller so it looks like there is capacity because the raw numbers don’t take into consideration specialized programs.

Ahh, that clears it up.

Just maybe, the net transfer out to other schools of 291 might have something to do with it.
Stop the pupil placement and that eliminates a lot of empty seats.

It doesn't eliminate empty seats. It would just mean Herndon has fewer empty seats and South Lakes has more.

Get rid of pupil placements OUT of South Lakes, as well. Herndon and South Lakes will both be fine and over 2300.
100% capacity should not be the goal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only students eligible for opt in for pathway are: Centreville, Chantilly, Oakton, South Lakes, or Westfield

Not Herndon. Not overcrowded.

Centreville is only slightly overcrowded.

It’s renovation overdramatises the situation at the school.

Also Centerville is really far away from Western - 10 miles. That can be quite a bit with morning commute traffic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Herndon’s population might be down because of concerns over immigration arrests and parents not enrolling kids. It had been higher in recent years. It did also get an expansion when it was renovated so it has more seats. It is unclear to me if some of the capacity gap is caused by specialized classes for ESOL students which are smaller then regular classes, I know this is brought up with some of the schools with specialized Autism or troubled kids programs. The class sizes are smaller so it looks like there is capacity because the raw numbers don’t take into consideration specialized programs.

Ahh, that clears it up.

Just maybe, the net transfer out to other schools of 291 might have something to do with it.
Stop the pupil placement and that eliminates a lot of empty seats.

It doesn't eliminate empty seats. It would just mean Herndon has fewer empty seats and South Lakes has more.

Get rid of pupil placements OUT of South Lakes, as well. Herndon and South Lakes will both be fine and over 2300.
100% capacity should not be the goal.

Maybe at Herndon, but not South Lakes. If non-TJ pupil placements were no longer available at South Lakes (and that would be draconian, since you'd be forcing kids into IB), and part of South Lakes goes to Western, the South Lakes enrollment would be closer to 2100-2150 than 2300.

Using available capacity at schools should be a goal; otherwise, we're spending too much on facilities and/or misallocating capital resources.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Herndon’s population might be down because of concerns over immigration arrests and parents not enrolling kids. It had been higher in recent years. It did also get an expansion when it was renovated so it has more seats. It is unclear to me if some of the capacity gap is caused by specialized classes for ESOL students which are smaller then regular classes, I know this is brought up with some of the schools with specialized Autism or troubled kids programs. The class sizes are smaller so it looks like there is capacity because the raw numbers don’t take into consideration specialized programs.

Ahh, that clears it up.

Just maybe, the net transfer out to other schools of 291 might have something to do with it.
Stop the pupil placement and that eliminates a lot of empty seats.

It doesn't eliminate empty seats. It would just mean Herndon has fewer empty seats and South Lakes has more.

No, because the students leaving SLHS would have to stay. SLHS has about 130 students transferring out that are not going to TJ. It is not noticed as much because so many kids transfer in from Herndon. Kids transfer in for IB from other schools as well but Herndon is the bulk of the number.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Herndon’s population might be down because of concerns over immigration arrests and parents not enrolling kids. It had been higher in recent years. It did also get an expansion when it was renovated so it has more seats. It is unclear to me if some of the capacity gap is caused by specialized classes for ESOL students which are smaller then regular classes, I know this is brought up with some of the schools with specialized Autism or troubled kids programs. The class sizes are smaller so it looks like there is capacity because the raw numbers don’t take into consideration specialized programs.

Ahh, that clears it up.

Just maybe, the net transfer out to other schools of 291 might have something to do with it.
Stop the pupil placement and that eliminates a lot of empty seats.

It doesn't eliminate empty seats. It would just mean Herndon has fewer empty seats and South Lakes has more.

No, because the students leaving SLHS would have to stay. SLHS has about 130 students transferring out that are not going to TJ. It is not noticed as much because so many kids transfer in from Herndon. Kids transfer in for IB from other schools as well but Herndon is the bulk of the number.

You’re responding to posts that were only talking about the transfers out of Herndon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Herndon’s population might be down because of concerns over immigration arrests and parents not enrolling kids. It had been higher in recent years. It did also get an expansion when it was renovated so it has more seats. It is unclear to me if some of the capacity gap is caused by specialized classes for ESOL students which are smaller then regular classes, I know this is brought up with some of the schools with specialized Autism or troubled kids programs. The class sizes are smaller so it looks like there is capacity because the raw numbers don’t take into consideration specialized programs.

Ahh, that clears it up.

Just maybe, the net transfer out to other schools of 291 might have something to do with it.
Stop the pupil placement and that eliminates a lot of empty seats.

It doesn't eliminate empty seats. It would just mean Herndon has fewer empty seats and South Lakes has more.

No, because the students leaving SLHS would have to stay. SLHS has about 130 students transferring out that are not going to TJ. It is not noticed as much because so many kids transfer in from Herndon. Kids transfer in for IB from other schools as well but Herndon is the bulk of the number.

You’re responding to posts that were only talking about the transfers out of Herndon.

DP. The poster before PP brought up South Lakes.

Get rid of IB in FCPS. Period.

[Anonymous]

The Oakton moms are so short sighted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Herndon’s population might be down because of concerns over immigration arrests and parents not enrolling kids. It had been higher in recent years. It did also get an expansion when it was renovated so it has more seats. It is unclear to me if some of the capacity gap is caused by specialized classes for ESOL students which are smaller then regular classes, I know this is brought up with some of the schools with specialized Autism or troubled kids programs. The class sizes are smaller so it looks like there is capacity because the raw numbers don’t take into consideration specialized programs.

Ahh, that clears it up.

Just maybe, the net transfer out to other schools of 291 might have something to do with it.
Stop the pupil placement and that eliminates a lot of empty seats.

It doesn't eliminate empty seats. It would just mean Herndon has fewer empty seats and South Lakes has more.

Get rid of pupil placements OUT of South Lakes, as well. Herndon and South Lakes will both be fine and over 2300.
100% capacity should not be the goal.

Maybe at Herndon, but not South Lakes. If non-TJ pupil placements were no longer available at South Lakes (and that would be draconian, since you'd be forcing kids into IB), and part of South Lakes goes to Western, the South Lakes enrollment would be closer to 2100-2150 than 2300.

Using available capacity at schools should be a goal; otherwise, we're spending too much on facilities and/or misallocating capital resources.

South Lakes has new developments underway, and can be used to absorb some growth from Tysons. In the next boundary review, whatever available capacity remains at SL could help relieve new growth.

It would not be a misallocation of resources to let SL sit undercapacity for the next five years while a longer term plan for that area is determined.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Pathways”. My point is that there will likely never be a traditional boundary. They will get 500 this year and once people see that this group survived and thrived, next year’s waiting list will be 750. And year 3 they will be asking for scores. It’s so blatantly obvious this is happening. The new school has almost as many robotic and science labs as classrooms and no one is dismantling it them. Meaning Oakton moms are wringing their hands that they might be compelled to go the engineering school instead of the mid tier basketball one should rest easy. I think it will work out for everyone.

The School Board has directed Reid to open a traditional high school, and you can’t have a traditional high school without traditional boundaries. I think you’re indulging in a fantasy about Western’s future that aligns with your vision for where you think nerdy kids will thrive. But it’s not going to be TJ West.

I think there will be a lot of interest in pupil placing and people will use the pathways as their justification. Herndon sends around 200 kids to SLHS for IB or Japanese, I can easily see families who want to leave Herndon will turn to Western for the AP and pathways instead of IB at SLHS. The number of transfers to SLHS are not reflected in the number of people who complete the IB Diploma, you only need to take a certain number of IB classes and there are anecdotal stories that some kids transfer and don't take any IB classes but it is not an issue because there is room at the school. I can fully see kids from SLHS pupil placing into Western for the pathways. It is an AP school that is close by and will have better test scores then Herndon. It is not the drive to Langley and Oakton, that a good number of SLHS students already make.

The question is more if Western will allow pupil placement and then how will that change the FARMs rate. I don't think they are going to have a problem getting 1,000 students for next year and I expect a decent percentage are going to be from schools that are not potentially going to attend Western. And I think that demand is going to stay.

There is enough interest that they could have created a magnet school but a traditional school is needed. It should be a traditional school because that is needed in the area. But I am going to guess that there will be a high demand for pupil placing.

I suspect that most of those are in the AAP program at Hughes. 118 from Herndon transferred to Hughes last year. That could easily equate to 200 at South Lakes.

Should Herndon have more?

I wonder that because with the town redeveloping to add housing, dense populations near Hutchison and Worldgate, and students near Reston.

Like what is the transfer rate from Herndon to other schools, and what would that number look factored into Herndon.

I remember when it used to have 2300 students.

And if it is so under enrolled, what is so problematic in moving Forestville and Great Falls kids back to Herndon where they once were other than the elitist loudmouths who would prefer to have their kids drive 17 miles out to Langley?

Jfc, you are off your rocker. I’ve never seen anyone so obsessed with a neighbor’s commute time than you.

You might as well give it a rest for at least the next couple years. You lost when the school board realized that the move wasn’t necessary or desired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Herndon’s population might be down because of concerns over immigration arrests and parents not enrolling kids. It had been higher in recent years. It did also get an expansion when it was renovated so it has more seats. It is unclear to me if some of the capacity gap is caused by specialized classes for ESOL students which are smaller then regular classes, I know this is brought up with some of the schools with specialized Autism or troubled kids programs. The class sizes are smaller so it looks like there is capacity because the raw numbers don’t take into consideration specialized programs.

Ahh, that clears it up.

Just maybe, the net transfer out to other schools of 291 might have something to do with it.
Stop the pupil placement and that eliminates a lot of empty seats.

It doesn't eliminate empty seats. It would just mean Herndon has fewer empty seats and South Lakes has more.

Get rid of pupil placements OUT of South Lakes, as well. Herndon and South Lakes will both be fine and over 2300.
100% capacity should not be the goal.

Maybe at Herndon, but not South Lakes. If non-TJ pupil placements were no longer available at South Lakes (and that would be draconian, since you'd be forcing kids into IB), and part of South Lakes goes to Western, the South Lakes enrollment would be closer to 2100-2150 than 2300.

Using available capacity at schools should be a goal; otherwise, we're spending too much on facilities and/or misallocating capital resources.

South Lakes has new developments underway, and can be used to absorb some growth from Tysons. In the next boundary review, whatever available capacity remains at SL could help relieve new growth.

It would not be a misallocation of resources to let SL sit undercapacity for the next five years while a longer term plan for that area is determined.

South Lakes is nowhere near Tysons. What’s next - suggesting we don’t need Western because Lewis can handle any growth along Route 28 or near the Silver Line?