Why does Fairfax County not seem to build new schools, especially high schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax is not growing in areas where there is room to build a school. There is however population growth in the older suburbs like Seven Corners and Baileys X Roads where many new apartments are coming on line. Parts of Western Fairfax county is growing, but the growth will be accommodated by recently finished or upcoming school expansions.

Re new construction, FCPS prefers to renovate with phased construction over a few years vs tear down rebuild, even if renovation comes out a little more in terms of cost. (The exception is the historic Dunn Loring School which will be demolished.)

MCPS is currently building multiple new middle and high schools for its growing population.

Locally, MCPS and APS prefer to tear down and rebuild their secondary schools (unless they are historic or part of a historic district).

DCPS renovates all of its historic school buildings (for obvious reasons).

The main areas anticipated for future residential growth in Fairfax County and the immediately affected pyramids are, in descending order:

1. Tysons (Marshall/McLean)

2. New Silver Line stations in Herndon (Westfield)

3. Reston (South Lakes)

4. Route 1/Embark (Edison)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax is not growing in areas where there is room to build a school. There is however population growth in the older suburbs like Seven Corners and Baileys X Roads where many new apartments are coming on line. Parts of Western Fairfax county is growing, but the growth will be accommodated by recently finished or upcoming school expansions.

Re new construction, FCPS prefers to renovate with phased construction over a few years vs tear down rebuild, even if renovation comes out a little more in terms of cost. (The exception is the historic Dunn Loring School which will be demolished.)

MCPS is currently building multiple new middle and high schools for its growing population.

Locally, MCPS and APS prefer to tear down and rebuild their secondary schools (unless they are historic or part of a historic district).

DCPS renovates all of its historic school buildings (for obvious reasons).

NP. I honestly can’t believe FCPS will be demolishing Dunn Loring. It’s a charming building and SO much prettier than all the new schools. What a complete waste.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax is not growing in areas where there is room to build a school. There is however population growth in the older suburbs like Seven Corners and Baileys X Roads where many new apartments are coming on line. Parts of Western Fairfax county is growing, but the growth will be accommodated by recently finished or upcoming school expansions.

Re new construction, FCPS prefers to renovate with phased construction over a few years vs tear down rebuild, even if renovation comes out a little more in terms of cost. (The exception is the historic Dunn Loring School which will be demolished.)

MCPS is currently building multiple new middle and high schools for its growing population.

Locally, MCPS and APS prefer to tear down and rebuild their secondary schools (unless they are historic or part of a historic district).

DCPS renovates all of its historic school buildings (for obvious reasons).

NP. I honestly can’t believe FCPS will be demolishing Dunn Loring. It’s a charming building and SO much prettier than all the new schools. What a complete waste.

They sucked some people in by suggesting they would be renovating an attractive old building. It didn't take them too long, though, to declare it would be completely demolished.

I don't think they've done much yet besides coming up with the new plans. If they had any sense, they'd put them on hold indefinitely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax is not growing in areas where there is room to build a school. There is however population growth in the older suburbs like Seven Corners and Baileys X Roads where many new apartments are coming on line. Parts of Western Fairfax county is growing, but the growth will be accommodated by recently finished or upcoming school expansions.

Re new construction, FCPS prefers to renovate with phased construction over a few years vs tear down rebuild, even if renovation comes out a little more in terms of cost. (The exception is the historic Dunn Loring School which will be demolished.)

MCPS is currently building multiple new middle and high schools for its growing population.

Locally, MCPS and APS prefer to tear down and rebuild their secondary schools (unless they are historic or part of a historic district).

DCPS renovates all of its historic school buildings (for obvious reasons).

What about PWCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax is not growing in areas where there is room to build a school. There is however population growth in the older suburbs like Seven Corners and Baileys X Roads where many new apartments are coming on line. Parts of Western Fairfax county is growing, but the growth will be accommodated by recently finished or upcoming school expansions.

Re new construction, FCPS prefers to renovate with phased construction over a few years vs tear down rebuild, even if renovation comes out a little more in terms of cost. (The exception is the historic Dunn Loring School which will be demolished.)

MCPS is currently building multiple new middle and high schools for its growing population.

Locally, MCPS and APS prefer to tear down and rebuild their secondary schools (unless they are historic or part of a historic district).

DCPS renovates all of its historic school buildings (for obvious reasons).

What about PWCPS?

PWCPS builds brand new high schools with all the bells and whistles. Like APS (Arlington) the newer high schools have swimming pools. (I believe at least two of the new PWCPS high schools have pools?)

One future new high school is planned to reduce crowding at Woodbridge Senior High in the eastern part of the county.

[Anonymous]

I have also heard a lot of talk about how there should be a high school built in Western Fairfax County and yet nothing happens on that front. Though if they were to built such a school, where would it be built?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have also heard a lot of talk about how there should be a high school built in Western Fairfax County and yet nothing happens on that front. Though if they were to built such a school, where would it be built?

No one knows but now that they are expanding Centreville to 3000 seats (on top of the expansions of so many other schools in western Fairfax like Herndon, South Lakes, and Oakton) it’s clear no new HS is getting built in western Fairfax.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax is not growing in areas where there is room to build a school. There is however population growth in the older suburbs like Seven Corners and Baileys X Roads where many new apartments are coming on line. Parts of Western Fairfax county is growing, but the growth will be accommodated by recently finished or upcoming school expansions.

Re new construction, FCPS prefers to renovate with phased construction over a few years vs tear down rebuild, even if renovation comes out a little more in terms of cost. (The exception is the historic Dunn Loring School which will be demolished.)

MCPS is currently building multiple new middle and high schools for its growing population.

Locally, MCPS and APS prefer to tear down and rebuild their secondary schools (unless they are historic or part of a historic district).

DCPS renovates all of its historic school buildings (for obvious reasons).

The main areas anticipated for future residential growth in Fairfax County and the immediately affected pyramids are, in descending order:

1. Tysons (Marshall/McLean)

2. New Silver Line stations in Herndon (Westfield)

3. Reston (South Lakes)

4. Route 1/Embark (Edison)

Embark will chiefly affect Mount Vernon HS and West Potomac HS as that is where the new housing will be concentrated. WP is already very large so if boundaries are used to alleviate things I could see Hayfield and Edison getting thrown into the mix.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax is not growing in areas where there is room to build a school. There is however population growth in the older suburbs like Seven Corners and Baileys X Roads where many new apartments are coming on line. Parts of Western Fairfax county is growing, but the growth will be accommodated by recently finished or upcoming school expansions.

Re new construction, FCPS prefers to renovate with phased construction over a few years vs tear down rebuild, even if renovation comes out a little more in terms of cost. (The exception is the historic Dunn Loring School which will be demolished.)

MCPS is currently building multiple new middle and high schools for its growing population.

Locally, MCPS and APS prefer to tear down and rebuild their secondary schools (unless they are historic or part of a historic district).

DCPS renovates all of its historic school buildings (for obvious reasons).

The main areas anticipated for future residential growth in Fairfax County and the immediately affected pyramids are, in descending order:

1. Tysons (Marshall/McLean)

2. New Silver Line stations in Herndon (Westfield)

3. Reston (South Lakes)

4. Route 1/Embark (Edison)

Embark will chiefly affect Mount Vernon HS and West Potomac HS as that is where the new housing will be concentrated. WP is already very large so if boundaries are used to alleviate things I could see Hayfield and Edison getting thrown into the mix.

The analysis that FCPS posted from March 2023 indicating potential student growth from new residential housing indicated that Edison could pick up 169 additional students, compared to 62 at West Potomac and 52 at Mount Vernon. The Edison growth included new projects off Route 1 in the Huntington area - maybe that's not considered Embark, but it's still within the Edison district - as well as off Route 241.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in Loudoun County and it feels like new schools are being built every year. There's always referendums in elections asking whether some school building project should be funded and they pretty much always pass. Yet in Fairfax County it seems that new schools, especially high schools, are not being built. This is even stranger when you consider that high schools in Loudoun County are on average smaller by population than high schools in Fairfax County. Does this happen because Fairfax County's population is not growing as fast as Loudoun County's population or is there some other reason?

this. loudouns still being built out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have also heard a lot of talk about how there should be a high school built in Western Fairfax County and yet nothing happens on that front. Though if they were to built such a school, where would it be built?

The county had an ideal location picked out right next to Rachel Carson Middle School about 10 years ago. All the rich Great Falls people threw a fit because they new a new HS would mean a boundary change, so their kids would have to start going to high school with "the poors" from Herndon instead of Langley. When they got the plan killed the county sold off the land to Saudi Arabia who built King Abdulla Academy there instead.
Can't blame it 100% on the Great Falls parents. There are a lot of people who bought too close to a boundary line and fight tooth and nail any boundary reviews because they are afraid their property values would go down. That's how we ended up with giant mega-schools where the kids are packed so tight they can't navigate the hallways between classes and you kid has to be a D1 prospect to make the varsity sports teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have also heard a lot of talk about how there should be a high school built in Western Fairfax County and yet nothing happens on that front. Though if they were to built such a school, where would it be built?

The county had an ideal location picked out right next to Rachel Carson Middle School about 10 years ago. All the rich Great Falls people threw a fit because they new a new HS would mean a boundary change, so their kids would have to start going to high school with "the poors" from Herndon instead of Langley. When they got the plan killed the county sold off the land to Saudi Arabia who built King Abdulla Academy there instead.
Can't blame it 100% on the Great Falls parents. There are a lot of people who bought too close to a boundary line and fight tooth and nail any boundary reviews because they are afraid their property values would go down. That's how we ended up with giant mega-schools where the kids are packed so tight they can't navigate the hallways between classes and you kid has to be a D1 prospect to make the varsity sports teams.

What a totally bizarre, unhinged rant. That school site had nothing to do with Great Falls or Langley. Do you just insert them into every post because you have issues?

[Anonymous]

Building a new school would trigger a boundary adjustment for that whole section of the county. It would certainly affect Herndon and all the boundaries that touch it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have also heard a lot of talk about how there should be a high school built in Western Fairfax County and yet nothing happens on that front. Though if they were to built such a school, where would it be built?

The county had an ideal location picked out right next to Rachel Carson Middle School about 10 years ago. All the rich Great Falls people threw a fit because they new a new HS would mean a boundary change, so their kids would have to start going to high school with "the poors" from Herndon instead of Langley. When they got the plan killed the county sold off the land to Saudi Arabia who built King Abdulla Academy there instead.
Can't blame it 100% on the Great Falls parents. There are a lot of people who bought too close to a boundary line and fight tooth and nail any boundary reviews because they are afraid their property values would go down. That's how we ended up with giant mega-schools where the kids are packed so tight they can't navigate the hallways between classes and you kid has to be a D1 prospect to make the varsity sports teams.

I'm a Carson parent and am bummed that didn't happen. Right now Carson feeds into four different high schools, none of which are anywhere near where our students live. Not sure if all four are overcrowded but ours certainly is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have also heard a lot of talk about how there should be a high school built in Western Fairfax County and yet nothing happens on that front. Though if they were to built such a school, where would it be built?

The county had an ideal location picked out right next to Rachel Carson Middle School about 10 years ago. All the rich Great Falls people threw a fit because they new a new HS would mean a boundary change, so their kids would have to start going to high school with "the poors" from Herndon instead of Langley. When they got the plan killed the county sold off the land to Saudi Arabia who built King Abdulla Academy there instead.
Can't blame it 100% on the Great Falls parents. There are a lot of people who bought too close to a boundary line and fight tooth and nail any boundary reviews because they are afraid their property values would go down. That's how we ended up with giant mega-schools where the kids are packed so tight they can't navigate the hallways between classes and you kid has to be a D1 prospect to make the varsity sports teams.

But I don't get it. Rachel Carson MS and South Lakes HS/Oakton HS/Westfields HS are all seen as better than Herndon MS and Herndon HS. I would think that the "demographics" of the first few schools would be a lot more preferable to the Langley parents than the "demographics" of Herndon MS/Herndon HS. Not to mention that when a new school is constructed it is a lot easier for parents to take an outsized role in making sure that the school is truly working in the interest of their children. On the other hand once that school is constructed and has been around for a few years, if educational rot starts to seep in it is a lot harder for good parents to combat that if the school is already set in their ways. Those Langley parents really threw away the opportunity to fully influence a new school.

Not to mention that all the people I know who might complain about the residents in places like Herndon would definitely not like anyone who voluntarily choses to send their kid to a place like King Abdullah Academy. So those parents really played themselves there. I can tell you on my end that if I had to pick between a new public high school versus a new religious school to be built, I would pick the first option every time.