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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Puzzling to watch the meeting last night and that the leadership does not have a better handle on this school. The process started in the winter.

What has Reid been doing?

How in the world would it work to think that a specialized school would relieve overcrowding.

Overcrowding is a function of the number of students in a building at any given point in time.

If a fraction of students whose base school is Chantilly, Westfield, South Lakes and/or Oakton are taking specialized classes at an academy program in KAA, there are fewer kids in those buildings.

Of course, if the academy program was open to kids across the entire county, then the impact on any of those four schools probably wouldn't be very significant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Puzzling to watch the meeting last night and that the leadership does not have a better handle on this school. The process started in the winter.

What has Reid been doing?

How in the world would it work to think that a specialized school would relieve overcrowding.

Overcrowding is a function of the number of students in a building at any given point in time.

If a fraction of students whose base school is Chantilly, Westfield, South Lakes and/or Oakton are taking specialized classes at an academy program in KAA, there are fewer kids in those buildings.

Of course, if the academy program was open to kids across the entire county, then the impact on any of those four schools probably wouldn't be very significant.

Isn't it kind of a gamble to think that those kids will choose the magnet?

Isn't that a big assumption?

What if Chantilly and Westfield kids prefer to go to a traditional high school?

There is no way to plan this properly. Anyone with a brain could see that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there any information about when the Western High School open house is? Like what time? I don't see anything anywhere other than in the board meeting presentation.

If you didn't get the information, then you are not impacted by this.

Love the gatekeeping.

“My school, your money.”

DP, but it would be nice if people who want to go to the open house just because they are nosy or don’t want their taxes going to anything that doesn’t benefit them personally would just stay away from the open house. If you’ve never been to the school, parking is challenging when there are a lot of people there. It’s going to be a zoo tomorrow.

It's going to be a ton of retired old people from Forestville there doing everything they can to complain about the school. They'd do anything to prevent it from opening to protect their property value from any chance of a future redistrict to Herndon. Just look around and see how many people there are way past the age of having kids in the school system. Those of us with kids will get in and out quickly because we have soccer/football/baseball/lacrosse/whatever games to get them to on Saturday.

Well, I just looked at my Nextdoor feed. Guess what? Our Nextdoor Great Falls screamer just posted about the Open House and told everyone to go. I guess she plans to go. I live down the street and have no kids in school right now. I did not get the email.
I don't even know why I get Great Falls feeds on my Nextdoor App, but it sure has been interesting these last few months.
Why did Langley people get the email? Did Lady send it to all of them?

[Anonymous]

I'm curious now. Did Chantilly people get the email? Can someone confirm?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's odd that they are sharing boundary maps before they've decided what type of program will be offered at KAA.

Robyn Lady was still talking last night about KAA serving as a Loudoun-type academy where students come from their base schools every other day to take certain courses.

The argument was this would reduce overcrowding while kids are out of their base schools, but avoid the higher costs associated with treating KAA as a shell with much of the current interior replaced with standard classrooms. She seems convinced that the current interior is nothing like a standard high school.

Will be interesting to see how other people react after the tour tomorrow.

Why is it odd? People needs to see how the new school would alleviate the overcrowding before deciding the programming.

Remember that Robyn Lady represents the Dranesville District, which includes Great Falls. Some Great Falls residents are strongly opposed to a traditional high school for the KAA.

Other board members appear to favor a traditional high school with a specialized program. Even Reid has shifted her stance and now recommends a traditional high school with a specialized program.

No, people don't needs to see boundary maps before deciding the programming. Depending on the programming there wouldn't even be boundary maps, as Dr. Reid said last night.

Other new schools have opened with some limited work remaining to be done, but this school will be under renovation from day one. Maybe they name it "Unfinished HS."

I don’t find it odd at all. The magnet school option is largely off the table. The county is conducting a countywide boundary study, so they need to establish the boundary for the western school.

[Anonymous]

From FCPS website:

Focus on Western Pyramids: The new school will help alleviate overcrowding in the Centreville, Chantilly, and Westfield Pyramids. The Herndon, Oakton, and South Lakes high school communities are also included, because there are families in these schools that live in the western part of the county.

...

Families in the Centreville, Chantilly, Herndon, Langley, Oakton, South Lakes, and Westfield pyramids will have opportunities to provide their feedback. Langley, Oakton, and South Lakes high school communities are included, because there are students in each of these schools who live in the western part of the county.

I wonder what input the Langley parents will provide.

[Anonymous]

I don't know if I heard all the conversation about the Western High School last night, but Ricardy Anderson seems to have the best take on it. She seems to understand that the main thing is the main thing and that the school is needed to relieve overcrowding.

As for whether it starts with 9/10 or just 9, they need to have a plan to generate enthusiasm and pride in the new school and to make the kids think they are special as they get to pick the traditions for the future students, as well.

I went to a school that added one grade a year. That is what the administration did. There was pride in being among the first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there any information about when the Western High School open house is? Like what time? I don't see anything anywhere other than in the board meeting presentation.

If you didn't get the information, then you are not impacted by this.

Love the gatekeeping.

“My school, your money.”

DP, but it would be nice if people who want to go to the open house just because they are nosy or don’t want their taxes going to anything that doesn’t benefit them personally would just stay away from the open house. If you’ve never been to the school, parking is challenging when there are a lot of people there. It’s going to be a zoo tomorrow.

It's going to be a ton of retired old people from Forestville there doing everything they can to complain about the school. They'd do anything to prevent it from opening to protect their property value from any chance of a future redistrict to Herndon. Just look around and see how many people there are way past the age of having kids in the school system. Those of us with kids will get in and out quickly because we have soccer/football/baseball/lacrosse/whatever games to get them to on Saturday.

Well, I just looked at my Nextdoor feed. Guess what? Our Nextdoor Great Falls screamer just posted about the Open House and told everyone to go. I guess she plans to go. I live down the street and have no kids in school right now. I did not get the email.
I don't even know why I get Great Falls feeds on my Nextdoor App, but it sure has been interesting these last few months.
Why did Langley people get the email? Did Lady send it to all of them?

If you don't like your Next Door settings, you can change them to receive fewer posts by filtering for "Nearby" and/or unchecking the "Popular Posts Everywhere." You can also mute individual posters you find annoying so you don't see their posts. Right now I've seen about seven Next Door threads in five days started by people zoned for Westbriar-Kilmer-Madison who don't want to move to Marshall. You should be happy your "Next Door Great Falls screamer" only started one thread about the KAA open house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there any information about when the Western High School open house is? Like what time? I don't see anything anywhere other than in the board meeting presentation.

If you didn't get the information, then you are not impacted by this.

Love the gatekeeping.

“My school, your money.”

DP, but it would be nice if people who want to go to the open house just because they are nosy or don’t want their taxes going to anything that doesn’t benefit them personally would just stay away from the open house. If you’ve never been to the school, parking is challenging when there are a lot of people there. It’s going to be a zoo tomorrow.

It's going to be a ton of retired old people from Forestville there doing everything they can to complain about the school. They'd do anything to prevent it from opening to protect their property value from any chance of a future redistrict to Herndon. Just look around and see how many people there are way past the age of having kids in the school system. Those of us with kids will get in and out quickly because we have soccer/football/baseball/lacrosse/whatever games to get them to on Saturday.

Well, I just looked at my Nextdoor feed. Guess what? Our Nextdoor Great Falls screamer just posted about the Open House and told everyone to go. I guess she plans to go. I live down the street and have no kids in school right now. I did not get the email.
I don't even know why I get Great Falls feeds on my Nextdoor App, but it sure has been interesting these last few months.
Why did Langley people get the email? Did Lady send it to all of them?

no Lady did not. fcps did to the langley and mclean pyramid. and south lakes, madison, oakton, chantilly, westfield, centreville. they sent to everyone they consider western fairfax

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know if I heard all the conversation about the Western High School last night, but Ricardy Anderson seems to have the best take on it. She seems to understand that the main thing is the main thing and that the school is needed to relieve overcrowding.

As for whether it starts with 9/10 or just 9, they need to have a plan to generate enthusiasm and pride in the new school and to make the kids think they are special as they get to pick the traditions for the future students, as well.

I went to a school that added one grade a year. That is what the administration did. There was pride in being among the first.

I can’t decide whether I would’ve liked being the only grade in the high school in ninth grade or not. I was very young for my grade and pretty sheltered so it probably would have been better for me socially and academically. But it would have stunk for sports. I placed third in the state my freshman year (individual event) and that was what really started the conversation with coaches about competing at the college level. I don’t know if I would’ve had the same trajectory just doing the sport outside of school even if there would’ve been a school team in existence by the time I was a senior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know if I heard all the conversation about the Western High School last night, but Ricardy Anderson seems to have the best take on it. She seems to understand that the main thing is the main thing and that the school is needed to relieve overcrowding.

As for whether it starts with 9/10 or just 9, they need to have a plan to generate enthusiasm and pride in the new school and to make the kids think they are special as they get to pick the traditions for the future students, as well.

I went to a school that added one grade a year. That is what the administration did. There was pride in being among the first.

I can’t decide whether I would’ve liked being the only grade in the high school in ninth grade or not. I was very young for my grade and pretty sheltered so it probably would have been better for me socially and academically. But it would have stunk for sports. I placed third in the state my freshman year (individual event) and that was what really started the conversation with coaches about competing at the college level. I don’t know if I would’ve had the same trajectory just doing the sport outside of school even if there would’ve been a school team in existence by the time I was a senior.

I was the poster who went to a new high school.

Oh, there is a down side and sports is one of them. We started with JV. But, later, after I graduated our football team became a state powerhouse.

And, though our football team was not stellar, one of my classmates in this new high school played in D1 college and went on as pro to win two Super Bowl rings as a starter on the team. Nice guy, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Puzzling to watch the meeting last night and that the leadership does not have a better handle on this school. The process started in the winter.

What has Reid been doing?

How in the world would it work to think that a specialized school would relieve overcrowding.

Overcrowding is a function of the number of students in a building at any given point in time.

If a fraction of students whose base school is Chantilly, Westfield, South Lakes and/or Oakton are taking specialized classes at an academy program in KAA, there are fewer kids in those buildings.

Of course, if the academy program was open to kids across the entire county, then the impact on any of those four schools probably wouldn't be very significant.

I'd be pretty confident that the majority of academy students would come from other Western HS even if it was "open to" kids anywhere in the county, and the impact/relief would still be significant. One easy way to ensure this is to limit transportation options for choice programs such as these.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know if I heard all the conversation about the Western High School last night, but Ricardy Anderson seems to have the most shortsighted take on it. She seems to believe that the least-thought-involved thing is the only/best thing and that the school is needed to relieve overcrowding.

FYP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Puzzling to watch the meeting last night and that the leadership does not have a better handle on this school. The process started in the winter.

What has Reid been doing?

How in the world would it work to think that a specialized school would relieve overcrowding.

Overcrowding is a function of the number of students in a building at any given point in time.

If a fraction of students whose base school is Chantilly, Westfield, South Lakes and/or Oakton are taking specialized classes at an academy program in KAA, there are fewer kids in those buildings.

Of course, if the academy program was open to kids across the entire county, then the impact on any of those four schools probably wouldn't be very significant.

I'd be pretty confident that the majority of academy students would come from other Western HS even if it was "open to" kids anywhere in the county, and the impact/relief would still be significant. One easy way to ensure this is to limit transportation options for choice programs such as these.

Well, it's kind of an endless loop.

They seem to think less additional work would be needed at KAA if it functioned as an academy where all the students came from their base schools. No need for sports teams, fields, stadiums, etc.

On the other hand, people say an academy program, to be successful, needs specialized space and equipment, so that's more money, too.

Bottom line is they really went into this with no real idea what the final price tag would be, only the initial purchase price.

[Anonymous]

There was also a weird exchange when Ricardy Anderson queried Reid about whether KAA would have AP or IB if it opened as a traditional high school.

Reid said IB because South Lakes is nearby and has IB, plus IB is "much more expensive" (a statement Reid made several times).

What Reid didn't acknowledge or mention at all is that they probably couldn't open KAA as an IB school in the fall of 2026 because it typically takes years to get approval from the IBO to offer the IB diploma program. I wonder if she or most of the School Board members even know this.