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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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 --aprobably 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.

Reid said
AP--not IB and I think you meant to say that.

However, I guarantee you, the community would prefer AP. Reid also acknowledged that IB was more expensive to begin and more expensive to support.
That is the first time I have heard this acknowledged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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 --aprobably 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.

Reid said
AP--not IB and I think you meant to say that.

However, I guarantee you, the community would prefer AP. Reid also acknowledged that IB was more expensive to begin and more expensive to support.
That is the first time I have heard this acknowledged.

Right - she said AP not IB for the reasons then mentioned. Thanks for the correction.

[Anonymous]

It's been super interesting to see the Oakton and Langley families unite to say "oh dear, this just HAS to be a magnet program, there is like SOOOOO much demand for a magnet program here. SOOOOOO much. REEEEAAAAALLLLY."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's been super interesting to see the Oakton and Langley families unite to say "oh dear, this just HAS to be a magnet program, there is like SOOOOO much demand for a magnet program here. SOOOOOO much. REEEEAAAAALLLLY."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Wait, there are people who want this to be an academy school where people from across the county come for an hour or two to take academy classes and go back to their base schools? That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard -- THERE IS A SCHOOL BUS DRIVER SHORTAGE. Imagine how much that would cost!!!

[Anonymous]

So, how many kids would a magnet school have? If they don't put 2000 there, it does not seem to be a good use of funds.

And, using it to reduce overcrowding? Chantilly is close to 3000. They'd have to get 500 into the magnet to make it worthwhile.

Does that seem to be realistic?

People. This would not work and it would not help the overcrowding issue.

[Anonymous]

It needs to be a community school. The community immediately surrounding the school want the school. There are three groups of people who don't want this school or who want it to be a magnet:

1. Parents in the community who don't want their high school aged to change schools (this can easily be mitigated by allowing families to grandfather them or just start this school as a 9th grade only)

3. Langley families concerned that when Coates/Upper McNair move to KAA, they will have to move to Herndon.

2. Oakton families concerned that they are going to be rezoned to South Lakes when Floris kids get rezoned to KAA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It needs to be a community school. The community immediately surrounding the school want the school. There are three groups of people who don't want this school or who want it to be a magnet:

1. Parents in the community who don't want their high school aged to change schools (this can easily be mitigated by allowing families to grandfather them or just start this school as a 9th grade only)

3. Langley families concerned that when Coates/Upper McNair move to KAA, they will have to move to Herndon.

2. Oakton families concerned that they are going to be rezoned to South Lakes when Floris kids get rezoned to KAA.

There are not that many Floris kids at South Lakes to justify sending Crossfield kids there. That makes no sense. That is a rumor a Fox Mill mom who wants her Fox Mill kids to go to KAA started.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's been super interesting to see the Oakton and Langley families unite to say "oh dear, this just HAS to be a magnet program, there is like SOOOOO much demand for a magnet program here. SOOOOOO much. REEEEAAAAALLLLY."

We are an Oakton family and have been fully supportive of the new traditional school the whole time. Oakton is at capacity already. Any new school to relieve overcrowding from the west is welcomed. I think the at-large school board rep (McKay maybe?) even said as much at the last working session when he mentioned relief for Oakton versus the scenario 4 which was trying to send more kids to Oakton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's been super interesting to see the Oakton and Langley families unite to say "oh dear, this just HAS to be a magnet program, there is like SOOOOO much demand for a magnet program here. SOOOOOO much. REEEEAAAAALLLLY."

We are an Oakton family and have been fully supportive of the new traditional school the whole time. Oakton is at capacity already. Any new school to relieve overcrowding from the west is welcomed. I think the at-large school board rep (McKay maybe?) even said as much at the last working session when he mentioned relief for Oakton versus the scenario 4 which was trying to send more kids to Oakton.

This is also what I am hearing. Of course, some want to stay at Oakton. But, that commute is getting worse and worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's been super interesting to see the Oakton and Langley families unite to say "oh dear, this just HAS to be a magnet program, there is like SOOOOO much demand for a magnet program here. SOOOOOO much. REEEEAAAAALLLLY."

we are zoned to langley and i have heard not one person say this. maybe there are a few people on next door. but the majority has not said a single thing about KAA. it does not affect us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It needs to be a community school. The community immediately surrounding the school want the school. There are three groups of people who don't want this school or who want it to be a magnet:

1. Parents in the community who don't want their high school aged to change schools (this can easily be mitigated by allowing families to grandfather them or just start this school as a 9th grade only)

3. Langley families concerned that when Coates/Upper McNair move to KAA, they will have to move to Herndon.

2. Oakton families concerned that they are going to be rezoned to South Lakes when Floris kids get rezoned to KAA.

mcnair and most of coates goes to westfield. they moved more of coates to herndon ES. moving the westfield zoned mcnair and coates doesn’t pull kids from herndon. why would that affect langley? bring back the 300 kids who pupil place out of herndon before you move other kids in. otherwise kids who get moved there will just pupil place out

at a previous community meeting reid said they want to limit pupil placing. so maybe they will be pulled back to base schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's been super interesting to see the Oakton and Langley families unite to say "oh dear, this just HAS to be a magnet program, there is like SOOOOO much demand for a magnet program here. SOOOOOO much. REEEEAAAAALLLLY."

We are an Oakton family and have been fully supportive of the new traditional school the whole time. Oakton is at capacity already. Any new school to relieve overcrowding from the west is welcomed. I think the at-large school board rep (McKay maybe?) even said as much at the last working session when he mentioned relief for Oakton versus the scenario 4 which was trying to send more kids to Oakton.

We are a future Oakton family (zoned for there but kids aren't quite old enough yet) and I support the new HS too. But man I feel outnumbered by my neighbors. They do NOT want to be rezoned and will use any argument they can to prevent it. I'm kind of afraid to admit in real life that I would be ok with my kids going to the new school!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's been super interesting to see the Oakton and Langley families unite to say "oh dear, this just HAS to be a magnet program, there is like SOOOOO much demand for a magnet program here. SOOOOOO much. REEEEAAAAALLLLY."

we are zoned to langley and i have heard not one person say this. maybe there are a few people on next door. but the majority has not said a single thing about KAA. it does not affect us.

You haven't heard of FairFacts? Great Falls Citizens?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It needs to be a community school. The community immediately surrounding the school want the school. There are three groups of people who don't want this school or who want it to be a magnet:

1. Parents in the community who don't want their high school aged to change schools (this can easily be mitigated by allowing families to grandfather them or just start this school as a 9th grade only)

3. Langley families concerned that when Coates/Upper McNair move to KAA, they will have to move to Herndon.

2. Oakton families concerned that they are going to be rezoned to South Lakes when Floris kids get rezoned to KAA.

mcnair and most of coates goes to westfield. they moved more of coates to herndon ES. moving the westfield zoned mcnair and coates doesn’t pull kids from herndon. why would that affect langley? bring back the 300 kids who pupil place out of herndon before you move other kids in. otherwise kids who get moved there will just pupil place out

at a previous community meeting reid said they want to limit pupil placing. so maybe they will be pulled back to base schools

I heard Reid say they might have to limit transportation but not pupil placing. Did she really say that? If they push through some of these boundary changes they are going to have even more pupil placements.

If they really want to limit pupil placements get rid of IB first.