Mythical Western HS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They aren’t going to build it.

Then every reference to the new HS should be removed from the 2024-28 CIP before it is finalized in early February.

DP. Then contact them to make sure they do that. No one here can help you.

Said like someone who already got what they want and thinks everyone else should just eat cake.

If they were responsive to questions or comments the status of the western HS wouldn’t be so unclear.

I haven't "gotten what I wanted" (how on earth would you know what that even looks like?). I simply have common sense and have realized that after YEARS of talking about this hypothetical HS, but no action, it is not going to happen. Why do you keep tilting at windmills?

I’d like to hear what, if any, specific steps the School Board commits to when the draft CIP is discussed at the work session later this month and at the Board meeting in February.

There are many things that take longer than they should, but it does not necessarily mean they never come to fruition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They aren’t going to build it.

Then every reference to the new HS should be removed from the 2024-28 CIP before it is finalized in early February.

DP. Then contact them to make sure they do that. No one here can help you.

Said like someone who already got what they want and thinks everyone else should just eat cake.

If they were responsive to questions or comments the status of the western HS wouldn’t be so unclear.

I haven't "gotten what I wanted" (how on earth would you know what that even looks like?). I simply have common sense and have realized that after YEARS of talking about this hypothetical HS, but no action, it is not going to happen. Why do you keep tilting at windmills?

I’d like to hear what, if any, specific steps the School Board commits to when the draft CIP is discussed at the work session later this month and at the Board meeting in February.

There are many things that take longer than they should, but it does not necessarily mean they never come to fruition.

Ok. Good luck with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There was a period when Prince William had two high schools in the western part of the county - Battlefield and Patriot - that had gotten huge.

But Prince William opened Gainesville HS last year, and now the enrollments at Battlefield and Patriot are coming down. Patriot is just over 2100, Battlefield is just over 2300, and Gainesville just over 2000.

Fairfax on the other hand twiddles its thumbs while School Board members change school names, fight with each other over their commitment to "social justice" and "equity," and hold out the promise of a mythical Western HS that few expect to get built within the next decade.

It's what we've come to expect from a school system in decline. They claim it's still in the pipeline and no one believes them because they have so little credibility.

Gainesville opened about 6 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a period when Prince William had two high schools in the western part of the county - Battlefield and Patriot - that had gotten huge.

But Prince William opened Gainesville HS last year, and now the enrollments at Battlefield and Patriot are coming down. Patriot is just over 2100, Battlefield is just over 2300, and Gainesville just over 2000.

Fairfax on the other hand twiddles its thumbs while School Board members change school names, fight with each other over their commitment to "social justice" and "equity," and hold out the promise of a mythical Western HS that few expect to get built within the next decade.

It's what we've come to expect from a school system in decline. They claim it's still in the pipeline and no one believes them because they have so little credibility.

Gainesville opened about 6 years ago.

Wrong. It opened in August 2021.

[Anonymous]

The lack of transparency by the current School Board when it comes to the western HS is one more reason to vote them all out next year. They’ve had years to either insist on some real progress or pull it out of the CIP entirely and they’ve done neither. It’s another indication of their lack of attention to the basics. Loudoun and Montgomery move ahead with new high schools while Fairfax just falls further behind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a period when Prince William had two high schools in the western part of the county - Battlefield and Patriot - that had gotten huge.

But Prince William opened Gainesville HS last year, and now the enrollments at Battlefield and Patriot are coming down. Patriot is just over 2100, Battlefield is just over 2300, and Gainesville just over 2000.

Fairfax on the other hand twiddles its thumbs while School Board members change school names, fight with each other over their commitment to "social justice" and "equity," and hold out the promise of a mythical Western HS that few expect to get built within the next decade.

It's what we've come to expect from a school system in decline. They claim it's still in the pipeline and no one believes them because they have so little credibility.

Gainesville opened about 6 years ago.

You're probably confusing this with some school in another state.

Gainesville HS in Prince William opened in August 2021.

https://www.princewilliamtimes.com/news/gainesville-high-opens-as-students-return-to-in-person-learning/article_7858a4be-0c22-11ec-8d69-6fb6f9a45871.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d go for sitting FCPS into smaller districts. I am not a fan of Rezoning and I’m just in a middle of the road pyramid. People buy their houses to go to a certain school. That’s a fact. Those of us who did will fight like heck getting rezoned elsewhere.

So then what is fair? FCPS will not break up into smaller districts. No one likes rezoning but it needs to happen. No where does it state that when you buy a house, you are guaranteed to stay with the same schools. And if you (general you) are rezoned, so are all of your close neighbors.

I’ve been thinking a bit about the districts. Within our HS pyramid the kids move from one ES to another and the overall number of kids in the pyramid hardly changes. Maybe what FCPS needs to foster is a similar fluidity within the districts at the HS level. So if one is over capacity the overflow shifts to another in the district. This is a high level concept but I’ve seen something similar work in another state. Heck, they went as far as literal lottery drawing to determine which of the 3 schools a family went to. Sometimes, siblings choose to go to different schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d go for sitting FCPS into smaller districts. I am not a fan of Rezoning and I’m just in a middle of the road pyramid. People buy their houses to go to a certain school. That’s a fact. Those of us who did will fight like heck getting rezoned elsewhere.

So then what is fair? FCPS will not break up into smaller districts. No one likes rezoning but it needs to happen. No where does it state that when you buy a house, you are guaranteed to stay with the same schools. And if you (general you) are rezoned, so are all of your close neighbors.

I’ve been thinking a bit about the districts. Within our HS pyramid the kids move from one ES to another and the overall number of kids in the pyramid hardly changes. Maybe what FCPS needs to foster is a similar fluidity within the districts at the HS level. So if one is over capacity the overflow shifts to another in the district. This is a high level concept but I’ve seen something similar work in another state. Heck, they went as far as literal lottery drawing to determine which of the 3 schools a family went to. Sometimes, siblings choose to go to different schools.

That would only work if FCPS were facing a degree of financial hardship that it is not currently facing. When they've been expanding schools for years, including in some cases outside the renovation queue, people won't readily accept the idea that they can be reassigned to a different school because FCPS decided to shortchange their school and leave it overcrowded. I know what you're describing or something similar is done in some school districts (Louisville/Jefferson County), but few if any elected School Board or Board of Supervisors members here would support it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d go for sitting FCPS into smaller districts. I am not a fan of Rezoning and I’m just in a middle of the road pyramid. People buy their houses to go to a certain school. That’s a fact. Those of us who did will fight like heck getting rezoned elsewhere.

So then what is fair? FCPS will not break up into smaller districts. No one likes rezoning but it needs to happen. No where does it state that when you buy a house, you are guaranteed to stay with the same schools. And if you (general you) are rezoned, so are all of your close neighbors.

I’ve been thinking a bit about the districts. Within our HS pyramid the kids move from one ES to another and the overall number of kids in the pyramid hardly changes. Maybe what FCPS needs to foster is a similar fluidity within the districts at the HS level. So if one is over capacity the overflow shifts to another in the district. This is a high level concept but I’ve seen something similar work in another state. Heck, they went as far as literal lottery drawing to determine which of the 3 schools a family went to. Sometimes, siblings choose to go to different schools.

That would only work if FCPS were facing a degree of financial hardship that it is not currently facing. When they've been expanding schools for years, including in some cases outside the renovation queue, people won't readily accept the idea that they can be reassigned to a different school because FCPS decided to shortchange their school and leave it overcrowded. I know what you're describing or something similar is done in some school districts (Louisville/Jefferson County), but few if any elected School Board or Board of Supervisors members here would support it.

Well, somethings got to change. FWIW our district did this bc of an explosion of kids in the community. They also had to go to a track system with year round school. They also built schools keeping in mind possible future uses for when there would be fewer kids. That was over 40 years ago and they continue to have increasing numbers of kids (maybe it’s leveled off in the past 5-10). It’s a fairly well of community in the state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d go for sitting FCPS into smaller districts. I am not a fan of Rezoning and I’m just in a middle of the road pyramid. People buy their houses to go to a certain school. That’s a fact. Those of us who did will fight like heck getting rezoned elsewhere.

So then what is fair? FCPS will not break up into smaller districts. No one likes rezoning but it needs to happen. No where does it state that when you buy a house, you are guaranteed to stay with the same schools. And if you (general you) are rezoned, so are all of your close neighbors.

I’ve been thinking a bit about the districts. Within our HS pyramid the kids move from one ES to another and the overall number of kids in the pyramid hardly changes. Maybe what FCPS needs to foster is a similar fluidity within the districts at the HS level. So if one is over capacity the overflow shifts to another in the district. This is a high level concept but I’ve seen something similar work in another state. Heck, they went as far as literal lottery drawing to determine which of the 3 schools a family went to. Sometimes, siblings choose to go to different schools.

That would only work if FCPS were facing a degree of financial hardship that it is not currently facing. When they've been expanding schools for years, including in some cases outside the renovation queue, people won't readily accept the idea that they can be reassigned to a different school because FCPS decided to shortchange their school and leave it overcrowded. I know what you're describing or something similar is done in some school districts (Louisville/Jefferson County), but few if any elected School Board or Board of Supervisors members here would support it.

Well, somethings got to change. FWIW our district did this bc of an explosion of kids in the community. They also had to go to a track system with year round school. They also built schools keeping in mind possible future uses for when there would be fewer kids. That was over 40 years ago and they continue to have increasing numbers of kids (maybe it’s leveled off in the past 5-10). It’s a fairly well of community in the state.

What needs to change is the School Board and the senior leadership of FCPS Facilities. Facilities is greatly lacking in planning skills and the School Board is too consumed with their pet priorities to exercise any meaningful oversight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d go for sitting FCPS into smaller districts. I am not a fan of Rezoning and I’m just in a middle of the road pyramid. People buy their houses to go to a certain school. That’s a fact. Those of us who did will fight like heck getting rezoned elsewhere.

So then what is fair? FCPS will not break up into smaller districts. No one likes rezoning but it needs to happen. No where does it state that when you buy a house, you are guaranteed to stay with the same schools. And if you (general you) are rezoned, so are all of your close neighbors.

I’ve been thinking a bit about the districts. Within our HS pyramid the kids move from one ES to another and the overall number of kids in the pyramid hardly changes. Maybe what FCPS needs to foster is a similar fluidity within the districts at the HS level. So if one is over capacity the overflow shifts to another in the district. This is a high level concept but I’ve seen something similar work in another state. Heck, they went as far as literal lottery drawing to determine which of the 3 schools a family went to. Sometimes, siblings choose to go to different schools.

That would only work if FCPS were facing a degree of financial hardship that it is not currently facing. When they've been expanding schools for years, including in some cases outside the renovation queue, people won't readily accept the idea that they can be reassigned to a different school because FCPS decided to shortchange their school and leave it overcrowded. I know what you're describing or something similar is done in some school districts (Louisville/Jefferson County), but few if any elected School Board or Board of Supervisors members here would support it.

Well, somethings got to change. FWIW our district did this bc of an explosion of kids in the community. They also had to go to a track system with year round school. They also built schools keeping in mind possible future uses for when there would be fewer kids. That was over 40 years ago and they continue to have increasing numbers of kids (maybe it’s leveled off in the past 5-10). It’s a fairly well of community in the state.

What needs to change is the School Board and the senior leadership of FCPS Facilities. Facilities is greatly lacking in planning skills and the School Board is too consumed with their pet priorities to exercise any meaningful oversight.

Then why are people only going after SB changes? How do we help make organizational changes within Facilities since they are not elected?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d go for sitting FCPS into smaller districts. I am not a fan of Rezoning and I’m just in a middle of the road pyramid. People buy their houses to go to a certain school. That’s a fact. Those of us who did will fight like heck getting rezoned elsewhere.

So then what is fair? FCPS will not break up into smaller districts. No one likes rezoning but it needs to happen. No where does it state that when you buy a house, you are guaranteed to stay with the same schools. And if you (general you) are rezoned, so are all of your close neighbors.

I’ve been thinking a bit about the districts. Within our HS pyramid the kids move from one ES to another and the overall number of kids in the pyramid hardly changes. Maybe what FCPS needs to foster is a similar fluidity within the districts at the HS level. So if one is over capacity the overflow shifts to another in the district. This is a high level concept but I’ve seen something similar work in another state. Heck, they went as far as literal lottery drawing to determine which of the 3 schools a family went to. Sometimes, siblings choose to go to different schools.

That would only work if FCPS were facing a degree of financial hardship that it is not currently facing. When they've been expanding schools for years, including in some cases outside the renovation queue, people won't readily accept the idea that they can be reassigned to a different school because FCPS decided to shortchange their school and leave it overcrowded. I know what you're describing or something similar is done in some school districts (Louisville/Jefferson County), but few if any elected School Board or Board of Supervisors members here would support it.

Well, somethings got to change. FWIW our district did this bc of an explosion of kids in the community. They also had to go to a track system with year round school. They also built schools keeping in mind possible future uses for when there would be fewer kids. That was over 40 years ago and they continue to have increasing numbers of kids (maybe it’s leveled off in the past 5-10). It’s a fairly well of community in the state.

What needs to change is the School Board and the senior leadership of FCPS Facilities. Facilities is greatly lacking in planning skills and the School Board is too consumed with their pet priorities to exercise any meaningful oversight.

Then why are people only going after SB changes? How do we help make organizational changes within Facilities since they are not elected?

Because we need School Board members who care enough about facilities to make sure the right people have been hired. That has not been the case for many years and FCPS is weaker as a result.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d go for sitting FCPS into smaller districts. I am not a fan of Rezoning and I’m just in a middle of the road pyramid. People buy their houses to go to a certain school. That’s a fact. Those of us who did will fight like heck getting rezoned elsewhere.

So then what is fair? FCPS will not break up into smaller districts. No one likes rezoning but it needs to happen. No where does it state that when you buy a house, you are guaranteed to stay with the same schools. And if you (general you) are rezoned, so are all of your close neighbors.

I’ve been thinking a bit about the districts. Within our HS pyramid the kids move from one ES to another and the overall number of kids in the pyramid hardly changes. Maybe what FCPS needs to foster is a similar fluidity within the districts at the HS level. So if one is over capacity the overflow shifts to another in the district. This is a high level concept but I’ve seen something similar work in another state. Heck, they went as far as literal lottery drawing to determine which of the 3 schools a family went to. Sometimes, siblings choose to go to different schools.

That would only work if FCPS were facing a degree of financial hardship that it is not currently facing. When they've been expanding schools for years, including in some cases outside the renovation queue, people won't readily accept the idea that they can be reassigned to a different school because FCPS decided to shortchange their school and leave it overcrowded. I know what you're describing or something similar is done in some school districts (Louisville/Jefferson County), but few if any elected School Board or Board of Supervisors members here would support it.

Well, somethings got to change. FWIW our district did this bc of an explosion of kids in the community. They also had to go to a track system with year round school. They also built schools keeping in mind possible future uses for when there would be fewer kids. That was over 40 years ago and they continue to have increasing numbers of kids (maybe it’s leveled off in the past 5-10). It’s a fairly well of community in the state.

What needs to change is the School Board and the senior leadership of FCPS Facilities. Facilities is greatly lacking in planning skills and the School Board is too consumed with their pet priorities to exercise any meaningful oversight.

Then why are people only going after SB changes? How do we help make organizational changes within Facilities since they are not elected?

Because we need School Board members who care enough about facilities to make sure the right people have been hired. That has not been the case for many years and FCPS is weaker as a result.

We have a new facilities head. Hopefully better than the last person.

[Anonymous]

From the latest "FCPS this week":

Fairfax County Public Schools outlined <b> plans to build three new elementary schools and to acquire land that will be used for a new high school during the School Board meeting on December 15. </b>

Other projects include three new and/or repurposed school facilities, the renovation of 25 schools, and the relocation of modular buildings. Timelines for capital projects will be posted on Capital Improvement Program (CIP) project webpages, where individuals can follow the progress of each approved project.

The proposed CIP will be discussed at the Tuesday, January 10, School Board work session. A public hearing is scheduled for Thursday, January 12. The School Board is scheduled to take action on Thursday, February 9. Read more in the CIP news release.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d go for sitting FCPS into smaller districts. I am not a fan of Rezoning and I’m just in a middle of the road pyramid. People buy their houses to go to a certain school. That’s a fact. Those of us who did will fight like heck getting rezoned elsewhere.

So then what is fair? FCPS will not break up into smaller districts. No one likes rezoning but it needs to happen. No where does it state that when you buy a house, you are guaranteed to stay with the same schools. And if you (general you) are rezoned, so are all of your close neighbors.

I’ve been thinking a bit about the districts. Within our HS pyramid the kids move from one ES to another and the overall number of kids in the pyramid hardly changes. Maybe what FCPS needs to foster is a similar fluidity within the districts at the HS level. So if one is over capacity the overflow shifts to another in the district. This is a high level concept but I’ve seen something similar work in another state. Heck, they went as far as literal lottery drawing to determine which of the 3 schools a family went to. Sometimes, siblings choose to go to different schools.

That would only work if FCPS were facing a degree of financial hardship that it is not currently facing. When they've been expanding schools for years, including in some cases outside the renovation queue, people won't readily accept the idea that they can be reassigned to a different school because FCPS decided to shortchange their school and leave it overcrowded. I know what you're describing or something similar is done in some school districts (Louisville/Jefferson County), but few if any elected School Board or Board of Supervisors members here would support it.

Well, somethings got to change. FWIW our district did this bc of an explosion of kids in the community. They also had to go to a track system with year round school. They also built schools keeping in mind possible future uses for when there would be fewer kids. That was over 40 years ago and they continue to have increasing numbers of kids (maybe it’s leveled off in the past 5-10). It’s a fairly well of community in the state.

What needs to change is the School Board and the senior leadership of FCPS Facilities. Facilities is greatly lacking in planning skills and the School Board is too consumed with their pet priorities to exercise any meaningful oversight.

Then why are people only going after SB changes? How do we help make organizational changes within Facilities since they are not elected?

Because we need School Board members who care enough about facilities to make sure the right people have been hired. That has not been the case for many years and FCPS is weaker as a result.

We have a new facilities head. Hopefully better than the last person.

There's currently an interim head of Facilities and Transportation Services, who appears to be a caretaker while they find a new FTS head. There's nothing in the draft FY 2024-28 Capital Improvement Program to suggest any fresh thinking or better planning than in the past under Platenberg. When it comes to managing contracts and overseeing construction projects, FTS is reasonably good, and they can collect and regurgitate data in lengthy reports, but they are inept when it comes to medium or long-term planning.