Why is the McLean high pyramid over crowded with crappy buildings and teachers but pays high tax

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:20% of Langley kids are actually closer to Herndon high. Send those kids to Herndon and send kids on the western side of McLean and those off of Dolly Madison to Langley.

Move all Herndon kids (even “Oak Hill” and “Franklin Farms” which are actually Herndon addresses) to Herndon and move all the Reston kids that go to Herndon to South Lakes.

Problem solved.

This is the obvious answer. But Langley and great falls parents are too powerful.

Absurd that families on the west side of 286 are getting their way by claiming they belong Langley's community more than Herndon's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:20% of Langley kids are actually closer to Herndon high. Send those kids to Herndon and send kids on the western side of McLean and those off of Dolly Madison to Langley.

Move all Herndon kids (even “Oak Hill” and “Franklin Farms” which are actually Herndon addresses) to Herndon and move all the Reston kids that go to Herndon to South Lakes.

Problem solved.

This is the obvious answer. But Langley and great falls parents are too powerful.

Absurd that families on the west side of 286 are getting their way by claiming they belong Langley's community more than Herndon's.

I don’t think that has much to do with McLean’s needing an addition/renovation.

Maybe if you get Robyn Lady, who lives in Herndon, elected to replace Tholen, you can get her to reassign those areas on the other side of Route 7 and/or west of 286 from Forestville/Cooper/Langley to the Herndon pyramid. It seems Herndon HS has space now after its renovation and maybe it would allow some closer-in parts of Tysons now zoned to Kilmer/Marshall and/or Longfellow/McLean to move to Cooper/Langley.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it that the one of the most highly taxed school pyramids has such a dumpy middle and high school building. not to mention overcrowded elementary schools?

Should this be the priority over all else? I mean cooper and langley are / have gotten major renovations and expansions ?

Mclean high looks like a 3rd work slum school

OP has asked a simple question: “why?”

Eleven pages of discussion in response to OP's question, and virtually no one will answer the question, "why?"

The McLean pyramid has crappy buildings because the FCPS school board is dominated by extreme-progressives who look down on the McLean pyramid as benefitting from "white privilege" or "Asian privilege." Therefore, they consciously deprive McLean of resources and keep pushing it down the renovation queue, since they believe over-privileged Mclean does not deserve to be renovated.

The county superintendent is in ideological lock-step with the school board's extreme progressive view.

And everyone at Gatehouse views McLean the same way: rich and privileged Asian and white McLean does not deserve any resources, nor the renovation it desperately needs.

This is what the SB, Reid, and Gatehouse mean when they repeatedly say: “we put equity first and above all else.” Their interpretation of equity means McLean comes last in all things they control.

Now you know “why.”

You are voting against your own interests if you live in the McLean pyramid and vote for a democrat for school board this November.

You keep repeating this about an attack on privileged McLean, but the examples of beautifully renovated and expanded Langley, West Springfield, Oakton, and Madison facilities completely refute your argument. There is obviously no attack on privileged White/Asian families when 40% of the top 10 wealthiest and best pyramids of FCPS have been given extravagant and cutting-edge facilities. Please.

DP. Weren't those schools all in line for renovations?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it that the one of the most highly taxed school pyramids has such a dumpy middle and high school building. not to mention overcrowded elementary schools?

Should this be the priority over all else? I mean cooper and langley are / have gotten major renovations and expansions ?

Mclean high looks like a 3rd work slum school

OP has asked a simple question: “why?”

Eleven pages of discussion in response to OP's question, and virtually no one will answer the question, "why?"

The McLean pyramid has crappy buildings because the FCPS school board is dominated by extreme-progressives who look down on the McLean pyramid as benefitting from "white privilege" or "Asian privilege." Therefore, they consciously deprive McLean of resources and keep pushing it down the renovation queue, since they believe over-privileged Mclean does not deserve to be renovated.

The county superintendent is in ideological lock-step with the school board's extreme progressive view.

And everyone at Gatehouse views McLean the same way: rich and privileged Asian and white McLean does not deserve any resources, nor the renovation it desperately needs.

This is what the SB, Reid, and Gatehouse mean when they repeatedly say: “we put equity first and above all else.” Their interpretation of equity means McLean comes last in all things they control.

Now you know “why.”

You are voting against your own interests if you live in the McLean pyramid and vote for a democrat for school board this November.

You keep repeating this about an attack on privileged McLean, but the examples of beautifully renovated and expanded Langley, West Springfield, Oakton, and Madison facilities completely refute your argument. There is obviously no attack on privileged White/Asian families when 40% of the top 10 wealthiest and best pyramids of FCPS have been given extravagant and cutting-edge facilities. Please.

DP. Weren't those schools all in line for renovations?

No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it that the one of the most highly taxed school pyramids has such a dumpy middle and high school building. not to mention overcrowded elementary schools?

Should this be the priority over all else? I mean cooper and langley are / have gotten major renovations and expansions ?

Mclean high looks like a 3rd work slum school

OP has asked a simple question: “why?”

Eleven pages of discussion in response to OP's question, and virtually no one will answer the question, "why?"

The McLean pyramid has crappy buildings because the FCPS school board is dominated by extreme-progressives who look down on the McLean pyramid as benefitting from "white privilege" or "Asian privilege." Therefore, they consciously deprive McLean of resources and keep pushing it down the renovation queue, since they believe over-privileged Mclean does not deserve to be renovated.

The county superintendent is in ideological lock-step with the school board's extreme progressive view.

And everyone at Gatehouse views McLean the same way: rich and privileged Asian and white McLean does not deserve any resources, nor the renovation it desperately needs.

This is what the SB, Reid, and Gatehouse mean when they repeatedly say: “we put equity first and above all else.” Their interpretation of equity means McLean comes last in all things they control.

Now you know “why.”

You are voting against your own interests if you live in the McLean pyramid and vote for a democrat for school board this November.

You keep repeating this about an attack on privileged McLean, but the examples of beautifully renovated and expanded Langley, West Springfield, Oakton, and Madison facilities completely refute your argument. There is obviously no attack on privileged White/Asian families when 40% of the top 10 wealthiest and best pyramids of FCPS have been given extravagant and cutting-edge facilities. Please.

DP. Weren't those schools all in line for renovations?

No.

Which ones weren't? Because Langley certainly was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it that the one of the most highly taxed school pyramids has such a dumpy middle and high school building. not to mention overcrowded elementary schools?

Should this be the priority over all else? I mean cooper and langley are / have gotten major renovations and expansions ?

Mclean high looks like a 3rd work slum school

OP has asked a simple question: “why?”

Eleven pages of discussion in response to OP's question, and virtually no one will answer the question, "why?"

The McLean pyramid has crappy buildings because the FCPS school board is dominated by extreme-progressives who look down on the McLean pyramid as benefitting from "white privilege" or "Asian privilege." Therefore, they consciously deprive McLean of resources and keep pushing it down the renovation queue, since they believe over-privileged Mclean does not deserve to be renovated.

The county superintendent is in ideological lock-step with the school board's extreme progressive view.

And everyone at Gatehouse views McLean the same way: rich and privileged Asian and white McLean does not deserve any resources, nor the renovation it desperately needs.

This is what the SB, Reid, and Gatehouse mean when they repeatedly say: “we put equity first and above all else.” Their interpretation of equity means McLean comes last in all things they control.

Now you know “why.”

You are voting against your own interests if you live in the McLean pyramid and vote for a democrat for school board this November.

You keep repeating this about an attack on privileged McLean, but the examples of beautifully renovated and expanded Langley, West Springfield, Oakton, and Madison facilities completely refute your argument. There is obviously no attack on privileged White/Asian families when 40% of the top 10 wealthiest and best pyramids of FCPS have been given extravagant and cutting-edge facilities. Please.

DP. Weren't those schools all in line for renovations?

No.

Which ones weren't? Because Langley certainly was.

Madison got a $20M addition when it was not in the renovation queue and was not as overcrowded as McLean (and in fact was still accepting a large number of pupil placements).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To prove that the learning that goes in inside the building is not dependent upon the outside aesthetics? Maybe it is a good lesson for kids who are used to manicured lawns?

Everyone knows that already. McLean is the top-ranked neighborhood high school in Virginia in 2023 per US News.

Even so, there comes a time when you need to treat schools equitably in terms of capital investment, unless your goal is simply to degrade the system.

No, see the public schools were created to be the great equalizer of our society. Those kids get a top notch education, just the building sucks. Makes sense because they should see how all the other kids actually live to give them any hope of being empathetic and understanding adults. This way, they understand that not everything in life is handed to them and is beautiful, sometimes you shouldn’t judge a book by a cover.

Of course, you as an adult who “fought your way” from the streets of the inner city and “pulled yourself by your bootstraps” to the blissful streets of McLean believe YOUR kid needs the best, but maybe they are getting more than you think. You just disagree that the lesson is important because you are blinded by the capitalistic idea that “top of the line and state of the art facility” is the most important thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To prove that the learning that goes in inside the building is not dependent upon the outside aesthetics? Maybe it is a good lesson for kids who are used to manicured lawns?

Everyone knows that already. McLean is the top-ranked neighborhood high school in Virginia in 2023 per US News.

Even so, there comes a time when you need to treat schools equitably in terms of capital investment, unless your goal is simply to degrade the system.

No, see the public schools were created to be the great equalizer of our society. Those kids get a top notch education, just the building sucks. Makes sense because they should see how all the other kids actually live to give them any hope of being empathetic and understanding adults. This way, they understand that not everything in life is handed to them and is beautiful, sometimes you shouldn’t judge a book by a cover.

Of course, you as an adult who “fought your way” from the streets of the inner city and “pulled yourself by your bootstraps” to the blissful streets of McLean believe YOUR kid needs the best, but maybe they are getting more than you think. You just disagree that the lesson is important because you are blinded by the capitalistic idea that “top of the line and state of the art facility” is the most important thing.

I hope you got Chat GPT to generate this nonsense.

McLean parents haven’t asked for their school to be “top of the line.” We know we’d never get that from FCPS. We’ve asked for an addition that would bring our permanent seats in line with the county average. Not a lot to ask since the enrollment is above-average and the school is among the top two (out of 25 high schools) projected to see the most future growth in residential development (and almost entirely from multi-family housing). And, then, eventually for a renovation - since the renovation the school got in the early 00s was cut-rate compared to more recent school renovations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To prove that the learning that goes in inside the building is not dependent upon the outside aesthetics? Maybe it is a good lesson for kids who are used to manicured lawns?

Everyone knows that already. McLean is the top-ranked neighborhood high school in Virginia in 2023 per US News.

Even so, there comes a time when you need to treat schools equitably in terms of capital investment, unless your goal is simply to degrade the system.

No, see the public schools were created to be the great equalizer of our society. Those kids get a top notch education, just the building sucks. Makes sense because they should see how all the other kids actually live to give them any hope of being empathetic and understanding adults. This way, they understand that not everything in life is handed to them and is beautiful, sometimes you shouldn’t judge a book by a cover.

Of course, you as an adult who “fought your way” from the streets of the inner city and “pulled yourself by your bootstraps” to the blissful streets of McLean believe YOUR kid needs the best, but maybe they are getting more than you think. You just disagree that the lesson is important because you are blinded by the capitalistic idea that “top of the line and state of the art facility” is the most important thing.

I hear Highland Park near Chicago has a poverty simulator to give people a look at what it’s like to be poor. Maybe FCPS can borrow it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To prove that the learning that goes in inside the building is not dependent upon the outside aesthetics? Maybe it is a good lesson for kids who are used to manicured lawns?

Everyone knows that already. McLean is the top-ranked neighborhood high school in Virginia in 2023 per US News.

Even so, there comes a time when you need to treat schools equitably in terms of capital investment, unless your goal is simply to degrade the system.

No, see the public schools were created to be the great equalizer of our society. Those kids get a top notch education, just the building sucks. Makes sense because they should see how all the other kids actually live to give them any hope of being empathetic and understanding adults. This way, they understand that not everything in life is handed to them and is beautiful, sometimes you shouldn’t judge a book by a cover.

Of course, you as an adult who “fought your way” from the streets of the inner city and “pulled yourself by your bootstraps” to the blissful streets of McLean believe YOUR kid needs the best, but maybe they are getting more than you think. You just disagree that the lesson is important because you are blinded by the capitalistic idea that “top of the line and state of the art facility” is the most important thing.

I hope you got Chat GPT to generate this nonsense.

McLean parents haven’t asked for their school to be “top of the line.” We know we’d never get that from FCPS. We’ve asked for an addition that would bring our permanent seats in line with the county average. Not a lot to ask since the enrollment is above-average and the school is among the top two (out of 25 high schools) projected to see the most future growth in residential development (and almost entirely from multi-family housing). And, then, eventually for a renovation - since the renovation the school got in the early 00s was cut-rate compared to more recent school renovations.

Tysons development and projected new students is even more reason not to band aid the current McLean HS. If anything, the projected growth should spawn a completely new HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it that the one of the most highly taxed school pyramids has such a dumpy middle and high school building. not to mention overcrowded elementary schools?

Should this be the priority over all else? I mean cooper and langley are / have gotten major renovations and expansions ?

Mclean high looks like a 3rd work slum school

OP has asked a simple question: “why?”

Eleven pages of discussion in response to OP's question, and virtually no one will answer the question, "why?"

The McLean pyramid has crappy buildings because the FCPS school board is dominated by extreme-progressives who look down on the McLean pyramid as benefitting from "white privilege" or "Asian privilege." Therefore, they consciously deprive McLean of resources and keep pushing it down the renovation queue, since they believe over-privileged Mclean does not deserve to be renovated.

The county superintendent is in ideological lock-step with the school board's extreme progressive view.

And everyone at Gatehouse views McLean the same way: rich and privileged Asian and white McLean does not deserve any resources, nor the renovation it desperately needs.

This is what the SB, Reid, and Gatehouse mean when they repeatedly say: “we put equity first and above all else.” Their interpretation of equity means McLean comes last in all things they control.

Now you know “why.”

You are voting against your own interests if you live in the McLean pyramid and vote for a democrat for school board this November.

You keep repeating this about an attack on privileged McLean, but the examples of beautifully renovated and expanded Langley, West Springfield, Oakton, and Madison facilities completely refute your argument. There is obviously no attack on privileged White/Asian families when 40% of the top 10 wealthiest and best pyramids of FCPS have been given extravagant and cutting-edge facilities. Please.

DP. Weren't those schools all in line for renovations?

No.

Which ones weren't? Because Langley certainly was.

Madison got a $20M addition when it was not in the renovation queue and was not as overcrowded as McLean (and in fact was still accepting a large number of pupil placements).

McLean parents elected a representative who cared about other high schools in her district. They only have so much political capital and she chose to use hers elsewhere. It looks like they are about to do it again. If you want an out of que renovation, you have to vote for someone who will make it their priority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it that the one of the most highly taxed school pyramids has such a dumpy middle and high school building. not to mention overcrowded elementary schools?

Should this be the priority over all else? I mean cooper and langley are / have gotten major renovations and expansions ?

Mclean high looks like a 3rd work slum school

OP has asked a simple question: “why?”

Eleven pages of discussion in response to OP's question, and virtually no one will answer the question, "why?"

The McLean pyramid has crappy buildings because the FCPS school board is dominated by extreme-progressives who look down on the McLean pyramid as benefitting from "white privilege" or "Asian privilege." Therefore, they consciously deprive McLean of resources and keep pushing it down the renovation queue, since they believe over-privileged Mclean does not deserve to be renovated.

The county superintendent is in ideological lock-step with the school board's extreme progressive view.

And everyone at Gatehouse views McLean the same way: rich and privileged Asian and white McLean does not deserve any resources, nor the renovation it desperately needs.

This is what the SB, Reid, and Gatehouse mean when they repeatedly say: “we put equity first and above all else.” Their interpretation of equity means McLean comes last in all things they control.

Now you know “why.”

You are voting against your own interests if you live in the McLean pyramid and vote for a democrat for school board this November.

You keep repeating this about an attack on privileged McLean, but the examples of beautifully renovated and expanded Langley, West Springfield, Oakton, and Madison facilities completely refute your argument. There is obviously no attack on privileged White/Asian families when 40% of the top 10 wealthiest and best pyramids of FCPS have been given extravagant and cutting-edge facilities. Please.

DP. Weren't those schools all in line for renovations?

No.

Which ones weren't? Because Langley certainly was.

Madison got a $20M addition when it was not in the renovation queue and was not as overcrowded as McLean (and in fact was still accepting a large number of pupil placements).

McLean parents elected a representative who cared about other high schools in her district. They only have so much political capital and she chose to use hers elsewhere. It looks like they are about to do it again. If you want an out of que renovation, you have to vote for someone who will make it their priority.

Elaine Tholen was elected in 2019 on the backs of McLean families after telling them (in writing, no less) that getting funding for an addition would be one of her top priorities.

It turned out she was a fraud. She barely survived a recall petition started by the #OpenFCPS group, and McLean families should have followed up with a second petition to remove her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To prove that the learning that goes in inside the building is not dependent upon the outside aesthetics? Maybe it is a good lesson for kids who are used to manicured lawns?

Everyone knows that already. McLean is the top-ranked neighborhood high school in Virginia in 2023 per US News.

Even so, there comes a time when you need to treat schools equitably in terms of capital investment, unless your goal is simply to degrade the system.

No, see the public schools were created to be the great equalizer of our society. Those kids get a top notch education, just the building sucks. Makes sense because they should see how all the other kids actually live to give them any hope of being empathetic and understanding adults. This way, they understand that not everything in life is handed to them and is beautiful, sometimes you shouldn’t judge a book by a cover.

Of course, you as an adult who “fought your way” from the streets of the inner city and “pulled yourself by your bootstraps” to the blissful streets of McLean believe YOUR kid needs the best, but maybe they are getting more than you think. You just disagree that the lesson is important because you are blinded by the capitalistic idea that “top of the line and state of the art facility” is the most important thing.

I hope you got Chat GPT to generate this nonsense.

McLean parents haven’t asked for their school to be “top of the line.” We know we’d never get that from FCPS. We’ve asked for an addition that would bring our permanent seats in line with the county average. Not a lot to ask since the enrollment is above-average and the school is among the top two (out of 25 high schools) projected to see the most future growth in residential development (and almost entirely from multi-family housing). And, then, eventually for a renovation - since the renovation the school got in the early 00s was cut-rate compared to more recent school renovations.

Tysons development and projected new students is even more reason not to band aid the current McLean HS. If anything, the projected growth should spawn a completely new HS.

Where?

Tysons has space for an elementary school. No consensus will ever form that a vertical HS without typical HS amenities should be built in Tysons - APS considered something like that and got nowhere.

And even if one were built, Tysons alone wouldn’t have enough kids to support a stand-alone high school, so you’d have to include Langley neighborhoods like McLean Hamlet and McLean neighborhoods like Seneca Ridge that would put up a fuss.

If you’re suggesting a new HS in western Fairfax should be built, that’s been an item for decades, yet is apparently becoming less, not more, likely with the expansions of Oakton, Herndon, and now Centreville.

I guess you could tear down existing McLean HS and build a new school there, since the land exists and the location is good. But then you’re talking about serious overcrowding and/or split shifts at Langley, Marshall and/or Falls Church to handle the 2400 displaced McLean kids for 3-4 years.

This is why an addition to McLean followed by a renovation in due course will continue to be the most practical option - if only we had a School Board that paid attention to such matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To prove that the learning that goes in inside the building is not dependent upon the outside aesthetics? Maybe it is a good lesson for kids who are used to manicured lawns?

Everyone knows that already. McLean is the top-ranked neighborhood high school in Virginia in 2023 per US News.

Even so, there comes a time when you need to treat schools equitably in terms of capital investment, unless your goal is simply to degrade the system.

No, see the public schools were created to be the great equalizer of our society. Those kids get a top notch education, just the building sucks. Makes sense because they should see how all the other kids actually live to give them any hope of being empathetic and understanding adults. This way, they understand that not everything in life is handed to them and is beautiful, sometimes you shouldn’t judge a book by a cover.

Of course, you as an adult who “fought your way” from the streets of the inner city and “pulled yourself by your bootstraps” to the blissful streets of McLean believe YOUR kid needs the best, but maybe they are getting more than you think. You just disagree that the lesson is important because you are blinded by the capitalistic idea that “top of the line and state of the art facility” is the most important thing.

I hope you got Chat GPT to generate this nonsense.

McLean parents haven’t asked for their school to be “top of the line.” We know we’d never get that from FCPS. We’ve asked for an addition that would bring our permanent seats in line with the county average. Not a lot to ask since the enrollment is above-average and the school is among the top two (out of 25 high schools) projected to see the most future growth in residential development (and almost entirely from multi-family housing). And, then, eventually for a renovation - since the renovation the school got in the early 00s was cut-rate compared to more recent school renovations.

Tysons development and projected new students is even more reason not to band aid the current McLean HS. If anything, the projected growth should spawn a completely new HS.

Where?

Tysons has space for an elementary school. No consensus will ever form that a vertical HS without typical HS amenities should be built in Tysons - APS considered something like that and got nowhere.

And even if one were built, Tysons alone wouldn’t have enough kids to support a stand-alone high school, so you’d have to include Langley neighborhoods like McLean Hamlet and McLean neighborhoods like Seneca Ridge that would put up a fuss.

If you’re suggesting a new HS in western Fairfax should be built, that’s been an item for decades, yet is apparently becoming less, not more, likely with the expansions of Oakton, Herndon, and now Centreville.

I guess you could tear down existing McLean HS and build a new school there, since the land exists and the location is good. But then you’re talking about serious overcrowding and/or split shifts at Langley, Marshall and/or Falls Church to handle the 2400 displaced McLean kids for 3-4 years.

This is why an addition to McLean followed by a renovation in due course will continue to be the most practical option - if only we had a School Board that paid attention to such matters.

FCPS could phase a construction project at McLean for a brand new HS building (cheaper than renovation). Students would use the portions of the building not yet demolished, and the phase 1 portion of the newly constructed school. This is how most other schools districts do rebuilds.

The loss of field space for construction would be temporary. Once construction is complete, then relocated fields can be reconstructed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To prove that the learning that goes in inside the building is not dependent upon the outside aesthetics? Maybe it is a good lesson for kids who are used to manicured lawns?

Everyone knows that already. McLean is the top-ranked neighborhood high school in Virginia in 2023 per US News.

Even so, there comes a time when you need to treat schools equitably in terms of capital investment, unless your goal is simply to degrade the system.

No, see the public schools were created to be the great equalizer of our society. Those kids get a top notch education, just the building sucks. Makes sense because they should see how all the other kids actually live to give them any hope of being empathetic and understanding adults. This way, they understand that not everything in life is handed to them and is beautiful, sometimes you shouldn’t judge a book by a cover.

Of course, you as an adult who “fought your way” from the streets of the inner city and “pulled yourself by your bootstraps” to the blissful streets of McLean believe YOUR kid needs the best, but maybe they are getting more than you think. You just disagree that the lesson is important because you are blinded by the capitalistic idea that “top of the line and state of the art facility” is the most important thing.

I hope you got Chat GPT to generate this nonsense.

McLean parents haven’t asked for their school to be “top of the line.” We know we’d never get that from FCPS. We’ve asked for an addition that would bring our permanent seats in line with the county average. Not a lot to ask since the enrollment is above-average and the school is among the top two (out of 25 high schools) projected to see the most future growth in residential development (and almost entirely from multi-family housing). And, then, eventually for a renovation - since the renovation the school got in the early 00s was cut-rate compared to more recent school renovations.

Tysons development and projected new students is even more reason not to band aid the current McLean HS. If anything, the projected growth should spawn a completely new HS.

Where?

Tysons has space for an elementary school. No consensus will ever form that a vertical HS without typical HS amenities should be built in Tysons - APS considered something like that and got nowhere.

And even if one were built, Tysons alone wouldn’t have enough kids to support a stand-alone high school, so you’d have to include Langley neighborhoods like McLean Hamlet and McLean neighborhoods like Seneca Ridge that would put up a fuss.

If you’re suggesting a new HS in western Fairfax should be built, that’s been an item for decades, yet is apparently becoming less, not more, likely with the expansions of Oakton, Herndon, and now Centreville.

I guess you could tear down existing McLean HS and build a new school there, since the land exists and the location is good. But then you’re talking about serious overcrowding and/or split shifts at Langley, Marshall and/or Falls Church to handle the 2400 displaced McLean kids for 3-4 years.

This is why an addition to McLean followed by a renovation in due course will continue to be the most practical option - if only we had a School Board that paid attention to such matters.

I'm suggesting that a new high school in Tysons should be built to accommodate influx of new students and McLean HS. Or -- temporarily accommodate the students in a facility there while McLean HS is knocked down and rebuilt. Wherever it goes, it should be built further from Langley HS than McLean HS is now. And if there is no space to build a new school there, I still say McLean HS should be torn down rather than taped back together. Put the kids in other nearby schools and adjust the overflows at those schools as needed.

NO EXPANSION OR RENOVATION at McLean HS will satisfy McLean mom or others. At best they'll be OK with it for a couple years, and then start whining about their kids (who are doing fine BTW despite the building collapsing around them).