It's Skyview High.

[Anonymous]

FYI, this is a Google search-
Land in the affluent Oak Hill/Herndon area of Fairfax County, VA, is extremely high-priced due to its prime suburban location and scarcity. While specific, large, vacant residential plots are rare, land values frequently exceed $1,000,000 per acre for buildable, residential-zoned lots, often driven by the high value of custom homes constructed in this area!

[Anonymous]

FYI, FCPS Oakton HS in Vienna VA completed a renovation in 2023, the prices will continue to go up each year!

The total funded cost for the Oakton High School renovation project in Vienna, VA, was $107,511,092. The project, completed in 2023, included a significant renovation and capacity enhancement for the school. The renovation was part of the Fairfax County Public Schools capital improvement plan to address overcrowding and modernize facilities.

[Anonymous]

FYI this is the "estimate" to renovate FCPS Centreville HS, the longer they wait to start this renovation the more the final price tag will go up-

The renovation of Centreville High School in Fairfax County is estimated to cost approximately $295.6 million. This partially funded project, listed in the FY 2026 Capital Improvement Program, aims to expand the school to about 410,000 square feet, with completion expected in FY 2029.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Forget the name. I think it will be a magnet. The sad truth is that our population is declining in terms of children. It peaked with the 2025 class and it's going to now wither away on the vine based on enrollments in earlier grades- 10-20%, difficult to say but people are not having their 2.3 population replacement kids and FCPS will solve its over-enrollment organically by people refusing to have 3+ kids.

Regardless of if this is true nationally, it is not true for all parts of the county. The schools in the western part of Fairfax County are gaining students, as are the ones around Tysons. Capacity relief is needed and will continue to be needed in the future. That is why we overwhelmingly rejected the magnet idea and the board voted it down. You need to give it up, you lost that battle already.

Have you actually looked at the published CIP data that shows future utilization forecasts by school and by pyramid? There are a few projected increases, but many, many more schools where enrollment is dropping off significantly.

Space in one part of FCPS does not necessarily translate to space in the Western part. The Western part is increasing.

The enrollments at Centreville, Herndon, and South Lakes are down more than the enrollments at Oakton and Westfield are up. Even Chantilly is down some from its peak in 2023-24. Plenty of capacity now and they still plan to expand Centreville.

Skyview was just a shiny toy they couldn't pass up. And the amount they'll end up spending on it will be similar or greater to what MCPS is spending to build Crown HS (likely the new Wootton HS building). They inflated how much a new HS would cost to build when they didn't intend to build one, so the claims of big savings are another FCPS lie.

I have heard about the Wootton/Crown debacle but have not exactly been following it.

The western debacle, being more local, has been easier for me to follow.

With that in mind, can a Wootton/Crown follower please explain this connection/reference.

Wootton is a successful, but dilapidated HS, in Rockville with a large Asian population.

MCPS just built a new HS further north in the Crown area of Gaithersburg for about $230 million.

The original plan was to open Crown as an additional HS without closing any current HS in MCPS. However, with declining enrollment on the horizon, MCPS leadership has proposed to relocate Wootton to the new building. There would be some boundary adjustments but most of the current Wootton feeders would move to Crown and it would retain the Wootton name.

It’s relevant to Skyview insofar as the actual cost of building Crown was about 50% of what FCPS was projecting a new western HS would cost if built from scratch. That suggests that FCPS was inflating the potential cost at a time when it didn’t really intend to build a new HS so it could say it was cost-prohibitive.

It is also relevant insofar as MCPS (like PWCPS) is acknowledging that enrollments are likely to decline in the coming years, whereas FCPS is adding a ton of capacity in western Fairfax between the recent Herndon expansion, the acquisition and planned modifications to KAA/Skyview, and the planned Centreville expansion. All that money for additional seats in western Fairfax, along with the unnecessary new Dunn Loring ES in Vienna, will delay renovations to other schools throughout the county, but Reid and the School Board are either unable or unwilling to manage the FCPS capital budget more effectively. They neither expect nor receive scrutiny because they are instruments of a county under one-party rule, where those who challenge their spending decisions are treated like traitors.

Since you are leaving out the cost of purchasing the land the HS was built on, the overall cost of purchasing and renovating Skyview will be about the same as building the new school on donated land. Excellent information to have. FCPS paid a fair price for an existing school with furniture and technology included. Plus two out buildings that can be used for other purposes if needed. Sounds like FCPS got an excellent deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Forget the name. I think it will be a magnet. The sad truth is that our population is declining in terms of children. It peaked with the 2025 class and it's going to now wither away on the vine based on enrollments in earlier grades- 10-20%, difficult to say but people are not having their 2.3 population replacement kids and FCPS will solve its over-enrollment organically by people refusing to have 3+ kids.

Regardless of if this is true nationally, it is not true for all parts of the county. The schools in the western part of Fairfax County are gaining students, as are the ones around Tysons. Capacity relief is needed and will continue to be needed in the future. That is why we overwhelmingly rejected the magnet idea and the board voted it down. You need to give it up, you lost that battle already.

Have you actually looked at the published CIP data that shows future utilization forecasts by school and by pyramid? There are a few projected increases, but many, many more schools where enrollment is dropping off significantly.

Space in one part of FCPS does not necessarily translate to space in the Western part. The Western part is increasing.

The enrollments at Centreville, Herndon, and South Lakes are down more than the enrollments at Oakton and Westfield are up. Even Chantilly is down some from its peak in 2023-24. Plenty of capacity now and they still plan to expand Centreville.

Skyview was just a shiny toy they couldn't pass up. And the amount they'll end up spending on it will be similar or greater to what MCPS is spending to build Crown HS (likely the new Wootton HS building). They inflated how much a new HS would cost to build when they didn't intend to build one, so the claims of big savings are another FCPS lie.

I have heard about the Wootton/Crown debacle but have not exactly been following it.

The western debacle, being more local, has been easier for me to follow.

With that in mind, can a Wootton/Crown follower please explain this connection/reference.

Wootton is a successful, but dilapidated HS, in Rockville with a large Asian population.

MCPS just built a new HS further north in the Crown area of Gaithersburg for about $230 million.

The original plan was to open Crown as an additional HS without closing any current HS in MCPS. However, with declining enrollment on the horizon, MCPS leadership has proposed to relocate Wootton to the new building. There would be some boundary adjustments but most of the current Wootton feeders would move to Crown and it would retain the Wootton name.

It’s relevant to Skyview insofar as the actual cost of building Crown was about 50% of what FCPS was projecting a new western HS would cost if built from scratch. That suggests that FCPS was inflating the potential cost at a time when it didn’t really intend to build a new HS so it could say it was cost-prohibitive.

It is also relevant insofar as MCPS (like PWCPS) is acknowledging that enrollments are likely to decline in the coming years, whereas FCPS is adding a ton of capacity in western Fairfax between the recent Herndon expansion, the acquisition and planned modifications to KAA/Skyview, and the planned Centreville expansion. All that money for additional seats in western Fairfax, along with the unnecessary new Dunn Loring ES in Vienna, will delay renovations to other schools throughout the county, but Reid and the School Board are either unable or unwilling to manage the FCPS capital budget more effectively. They neither expect nor receive scrutiny because they are instruments of a county under one-party rule, where those who challenge their spending decisions are treated like traitors.

Since you are leaving out the cost of purchasing the land the HS was built on, the overall cost of purchasing and renovating Skyview will be about the same as building the new school on donated land. Excellent information to have. FCPS paid a fair price for an existing school with furniture and technology included. Plus two out buildings that can be used for other purposes if needed. Sounds like FCPS got an excellent deal.

The jury is still out on whether this purchase was a good deal. The fact that they couldn’t quickly establish a clear date for when Skyview would open as a traditional school or set boundaries suggests they made a financial commitment without fully understanding what they were buying.

And, as noted, they had been inflating the cost of building a new school from scratch because they didn’t really want to build a school given the cost and all the capacity they had been adding elsewhere. They all went out the window when KAA became available and they got googly eyes.

It’s sad we have a school system that acts on impulse and otherwise can’t plan its way out of a paper bag.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Forget the name. I think it will be a magnet. The sad truth is that our population is declining in terms of children. It peaked with the 2025 class and it's going to now wither away on the vine based on enrollments in earlier grades- 10-20%, difficult to say but people are not having their 2.3 population replacement kids and FCPS will solve its over-enrollment organically by people refusing to have 3+ kids.

Regardless of if this is true nationally, it is not true for all parts of the county. The schools in the western part of Fairfax County are gaining students, as are the ones around Tysons. Capacity relief is needed and will continue to be needed in the future. That is why we overwhelmingly rejected the magnet idea and the board voted it down. You need to give it up, you lost that battle already.

Have you actually looked at the published CIP data that shows future utilization forecasts by school and by pyramid? There are a few projected increases, but many, many more schools where enrollment is dropping off significantly.

Space in one part of FCPS does not necessarily translate to space in the Western part. The Western part is increasing.

The enrollments at Centreville, Herndon, and South Lakes are down more than the enrollments at Oakton and Westfield are up. Even Chantilly is down some from its peak in 2023-24. Plenty of capacity now and they still plan to expand Centreville.

Skyview was just a shiny toy they couldn't pass up. And the amount they'll end up spending on it will be similar or greater to what MCPS is spending to build Crown HS (likely the new Wootton HS building). They inflated how much a new HS would cost to build when they didn't intend to build one, so the claims of big savings are another FCPS lie.

I have heard about the Wootton/Crown debacle but have not exactly been following it.

The western debacle, being more local, has been easier for me to follow.

With that in mind, can a Wootton/Crown follower please explain this connection/reference.

Wootton is a successful, but dilapidated HS, in Rockville with a large Asian population.

MCPS just built a new HS further north in the Crown area of Gaithersburg for about $230 million.

The original plan was to open Crown as an additional HS without closing any current HS in MCPS. However, with declining enrollment on the horizon, MCPS leadership has proposed to relocate Wootton to the new building. There would be some boundary adjustments but most of the current Wootton feeders would move to Crown and it would retain the Wootton name.

It’s relevant to Skyview insofar as the actual cost of building Crown was about 50% of what FCPS was projecting a new western HS would cost if built from scratch. That suggests that FCPS was inflating the potential cost at a time when it didn’t really intend to build a new HS so it could say it was cost-prohibitive.

It is also relevant insofar as MCPS (like PWCPS) is acknowledging that enrollments are likely to decline in the coming years, whereas FCPS is adding a ton of capacity in western Fairfax between the recent Herndon expansion, the acquisition and planned modifications to KAA/Skyview, and the planned Centreville expansion. All that money for additional seats in western Fairfax, along with the unnecessary new Dunn Loring ES in Vienna, will delay renovations to other schools throughout the county, but Reid and the School Board are either unable or unwilling to manage the FCPS capital budget more effectively. They neither expect nor receive scrutiny because they are instruments of a county under one-party rule, where those who challenge their spending decisions are treated like traitors.

Since you are leaving out the cost of purchasing the land the HS was built on, the overall cost of purchasing and renovating Skyview will be about the same as building the new school on donated land. Excellent information to have. FCPS paid a fair price for an existing school with furniture and technology included. Plus two out buildings that can be used for other purposes if needed. Sounds like FCPS got an excellent deal.

The jury is still out on whether this purchase was a good deal. The fact that they couldn’t quickly establish a clear date for when Skyview would open as a traditional school or set boundaries suggests they made a financial commitment without fully understanding what they were buying.

And, as noted, they had been inflating the cost of building a new school from scratch because they didn’t really want to build a school given the cost and all the capacity they had been adding elsewhere. They all went out the window when KAA became available and they got googly eyes.

It’s sad we have a school system that acts on impulse and otherwise can’t plan its way out of a paper bag.

It was a quick purchase that was not planned for and disrupted the boundary review that had already started, we all know that. The area it is in needs relief, the building was available for less then half the projected price of buying the land and building a new building. I know that some people are upset but those of us who live in this part of the County know that it is needed. We also know that they have bungled setting the school up but there is not much anyone can do about that.

I am focused on getting my kids classes sorted out and helping him figure out what types of clubs he wants to be a part of so that he can help to build a school that he is happy with. It's done. Maybe we would be better off if we stopped complaining that it happened and lean into building it's future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Forget the name. I think it will be a magnet. The sad truth is that our population is declining in terms of children. It peaked with the 2025 class and it's going to now wither away on the vine based on enrollments in earlier grades- 10-20%, difficult to say but people are not having their 2.3 population replacement kids and FCPS will solve its over-enrollment organically by people refusing to have 3+ kids.

Regardless of if this is true nationally, it is not true for all parts of the county. The schools in the western part of Fairfax County are gaining students, as are the ones around Tysons. Capacity relief is needed and will continue to be needed in the future. That is why we overwhelmingly rejected the magnet idea and the board voted it down. You need to give it up, you lost that battle already.

Have you actually looked at the published CIP data that shows future utilization forecasts by school and by pyramid? There are a few projected increases, but many, many more schools where enrollment is dropping off significantly.

Space in one part of FCPS does not necessarily translate to space in the Western part. The Western part is increasing.

The enrollments at Centreville, Herndon, and South Lakes are down more than the enrollments at Oakton and Westfield are up. Even Chantilly is down some from its peak in 2023-24. Plenty of capacity now and they still plan to expand Centreville.

Skyview was just a shiny toy they couldn't pass up. And the amount they'll end up spending on it will be similar or greater to what MCPS is spending to build Crown HS (likely the new Wootton HS building). They inflated how much a new HS would cost to build when they didn't intend to build one, so the claims of big savings are another FCPS lie.

I have heard about the Wootton/Crown debacle but have not exactly been following it.

The western debacle, being more local, has been easier for me to follow.

With that in mind, can a Wootton/Crown follower please explain this connection/reference.

Wootton is a successful, but dilapidated HS, in Rockville with a large Asian population.

MCPS just built a new HS further north in the Crown area of Gaithersburg for about $230 million.

The original plan was to open Crown as an additional HS without closing any current HS in MCPS. However, with declining enrollment on the horizon, MCPS leadership has proposed to relocate Wootton to the new building. There would be some boundary adjustments but most of the current Wootton feeders would move to Crown and it would retain the Wootton name.

It’s relevant to Skyview insofar as the actual cost of building Crown was about 50% of what FCPS was projecting a new western HS would cost if built from scratch. That suggests that FCPS was inflating the potential cost at a time when it didn’t really intend to build a new HS so it could say it was cost-prohibitive.

It is also relevant insofar as MCPS (like PWCPS) is acknowledging that enrollments are likely to decline in the coming years, whereas FCPS is adding a ton of capacity in western Fairfax between the recent Herndon expansion, the acquisition and planned modifications to KAA/Skyview, and the planned Centreville expansion. All that money for additional seats in western Fairfax, along with the unnecessary new Dunn Loring ES in Vienna, will delay renovations to other schools throughout the county, but Reid and the School Board are either unable or unwilling to manage the FCPS capital budget more effectively. They neither expect nor receive scrutiny because they are instruments of a county under one-party rule, where those who challenge their spending decisions are treated like traitors.

Since you are leaving out the cost of purchasing the land the HS was built on, the overall cost of purchasing and renovating Skyview will be about the same as building the new school on donated land. Excellent information to have. FCPS paid a fair price for an existing school with furniture and technology included. Plus two out buildings that can be used for other purposes if needed. Sounds like FCPS got an excellent deal.

The jury is still out on whether this purchase was a good deal. The fact that they couldn’t quickly establish a clear date for when Skyview would open as a traditional school or set boundaries suggests they made a financial commitment without fully understanding what they were buying.

And, as noted, they had been inflating the cost of building a new school from scratch because they didn’t really want to build a school given the cost and all the capacity they had been adding elsewhere. They all went out the window when KAA became available and they got googly eyes.

It’s sad we have a school system that acts on impulse and otherwise can’t plan its way out of a paper bag.

It was a quick purchase that was not planned for and disrupted the boundary review that had already started, we all know that. The area it is in needs relief, the building was available for less then half the projected price of buying the land and building a new building. I know that some people are upset but those of us who live in this part of the County know that it is needed. We also know that they have bungled setting the school up but there is not much anyone can do about that.

I am focused on getting my kids classes sorted out and helping him figure out what types of clubs he wants to be a part of so that he can help to build a school that he is happy with. It's done. Maybe we would be better off if we stopped complaining that it happened and lean into building it's future.

Enrollments in FCPS are declining and the need was questionable, especially if they are still also planning to expand Centreville to 3000.

And the cost estimates for building a new school that had been included in prior CIPs were made-up, inflated numbers included to justify why a new school was cost-prohibitive and wouldn’t be built.

You don’t mind the substantial surplus capacity that will soon exist in one part of the county. In your mind it’s a small price to pay if you get a new school closer to your house. But it doesn’t change the fact that throwing money at Skyview and Centreville will delay renovations to other schools in need, and the School Board members who pretend otherwise will face some tough questions next year.

[Anonymous]

You don’t mind the substantial surplus capacity that will soon exist in one part of the county. In your mind it’s a small price to pay if you get a new school closer to your house. But it doesn’t change the fact that throwing money at Skyview and Centreville will delay renovations to other schools in need, and the School Board members who pretend otherwise will face some tough questions next year.

Sorry, but space in other parts of FCPS do not translate to relief for Chantilly and Westfield. So, we should let Chantilly and Westfield exceed 3000 because schools in other parts of the county have space?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Forget the name. I think it will be a magnet. The sad truth is that our population is declining in terms of children. It peaked with the 2025 class and it's going to now wither away on the vine based on enrollments in earlier grades- 10-20%, difficult to say but people are not having their 2.3 population replacement kids and FCPS will solve its over-enrollment organically by people refusing to have 3+ kids.

Regardless of if this is true nationally, it is not true for all parts of the county. The schools in the western part of Fairfax County are gaining students, as are the ones around Tysons. Capacity relief is needed and will continue to be needed in the future. That is why we overwhelmingly rejected the magnet idea and the board voted it down. You need to give it up, you lost that battle already.

Have you actually looked at the published CIP data that shows future utilization forecasts by school and by pyramid? There are a few projected increases, but many, many more schools where enrollment is dropping off significantly.

Space in one part of FCPS does not necessarily translate to space in the Western part. The Western part is increasing.

The enrollments at Centreville, Herndon, and South Lakes are down more than the enrollments at Oakton and Westfield are up. Even Chantilly is down some from its peak in 2023-24. Plenty of capacity now and they still plan to expand Centreville.

Skyview was just a shiny toy they couldn't pass up. And the amount they'll end up spending on it will be similar or greater to what MCPS is spending to build Crown HS (likely the new Wootton HS building). They inflated how much a new HS would cost to build when they didn't intend to build one, so the claims of big savings are another FCPS lie.

I have heard about the Wootton/Crown debacle but have not exactly been following it.

The western debacle, being more local, has been easier for me to follow.

With that in mind, can a Wootton/Crown follower please explain this connection/reference.

Wootton is a successful, but dilapidated HS, in Rockville with a large Asian population.

MCPS just built a new HS further north in the Crown area of Gaithersburg for about $230 million.

The original plan was to open Crown as an additional HS without closing any current HS in MCPS. However, with declining enrollment on the horizon, MCPS leadership has proposed to relocate Wootton to the new building. There would be some boundary adjustments but most of the current Wootton feeders would move to Crown and it would retain the Wootton name.

It’s relevant to Skyview insofar as the actual cost of building Crown was about 50% of what FCPS was projecting a new western HS would cost if built from scratch. That suggests that FCPS was inflating the potential cost at a time when it didn’t really intend to build a new HS so it could say it was cost-prohibitive.

It is also relevant insofar as MCPS (like PWCPS) is acknowledging that enrollments are likely to decline in the coming years, whereas FCPS is adding a ton of capacity in western Fairfax between the recent Herndon expansion, the acquisition and planned modifications to KAA/Skyview, and the planned Centreville expansion. All that money for additional seats in western Fairfax, along with the unnecessary new Dunn Loring ES in Vienna, will delay renovations to other schools throughout the county, but Reid and the School Board are either unable or unwilling to manage the FCPS capital budget more effectively. They neither expect nor receive scrutiny because they are instruments of a county under one-party rule, where those who challenge their spending decisions are treated like traitors.

Since you are leaving out the cost of purchasing the land the HS was built on, the overall cost of purchasing and renovating Skyview will be about the same as building the new school on donated land. Excellent information to have. FCPS paid a fair price for an existing school with furniture and technology included. Plus two out buildings that can be used for other purposes if needed. Sounds like FCPS got an excellent deal.

The jury is still out on whether this purchase was a good deal. The fact that they couldn’t quickly establish a clear date for when Skyview would open as a traditional school or set boundaries suggests they made a financial commitment without fully understanding what they were buying.

And, as noted, they had been inflating the cost of building a new school from scratch because they didn’t really want to build a school given the cost and all the capacity they had been adding elsewhere. They all went out the window when KAA became available and they got googly eyes.

It’s sad we have a school system that acts on impulse and otherwise can’t plan its way out of a paper bag.

It was a quick purchase that was not planned for and disrupted the boundary review that had already started, we all know that. The area it is in needs relief, the building was available for less then half the projected price of buying the land and building a new building. I know that some people are upset but those of us who live in this part of the County know that it is needed. We also know that they have bungled setting the school up but there is not much anyone can do about that.

I am focused on getting my kids classes sorted out and helping him figure out what types of clubs he wants to be a part of so that he can help to build a school that he is happy with. It's done. Maybe we would be better off if we stopped complaining that it happened and lean into building it's future.

Enrollments in FCPS are declining and the need was questionable, especially if they are still also planning to expand Centreville to 3000.

And the cost estimates for building a new school that had been included in prior CIPs were made-up, inflated numbers included to justify why a new school was cost-prohibitive and wouldn’t be built.

You don’t mind the substantial surplus capacity that will soon exist in one part of the county. In your mind it’s a small price to pay if you get a new school closer to your house. But it doesn’t change the fact that throwing money at Skyview and Centreville will delay renovations to other schools in need, and the School Board members who pretend otherwise will face some tough questions next year.

I don't think Centerville should be expanded because we know that there is a trend towards downward enrollment and because we have the new school. I think Centerville should be renovated but not expanded. Save the money on the expansion and use it to start renovating another school that needs the renovation. I am guessing parents at Centerville want it expanded because they don't want to have to change schools, which is the solution at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You don’t mind the substantial surplus capacity that will soon exist in one part of the county. In your mind it’s a small price to pay if you get a new school closer to your house. But it doesn’t change the fact that throwing money at Skyview and Centreville will delay renovations to other schools in need, and the School Board members who pretend otherwise will face some tough questions next year.

Sorry, but space in other parts of FCPS do not translate to relief for Chantilly and Westfield. So, we should let Chantilly and Westfield exceed 3000 because schools in other parts of the county have space?

Enrollments are declining and Herndon has over 500 available seats. If South Lakes got rid of IB and pupil placements from Herndon returned there, South Lakes would have hundreds of available seats. Any overcrowding at Oakton could be addressed by sending kids to Madison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Forget the name. I think it will be a magnet. The sad truth is that our population is declining in terms of children. It peaked with the 2025 class and it's going to now wither away on the vine based on enrollments in earlier grades- 10-20%, difficult to say but people are not having their 2.3 population replacement kids and FCPS will solve its over-enrollment organically by people refusing to have 3+ kids.

Regardless of if this is true nationally, it is not true for all parts of the county. The schools in the western part of Fairfax County are gaining students, as are the ones around Tysons. Capacity relief is needed and will continue to be needed in the future. That is why we overwhelmingly rejected the magnet idea and the board voted it down. You need to give it up, you lost that battle already.

Have you actually looked at the published CIP data that shows future utilization forecasts by school and by pyramid? There are a few projected increases, but many, many more schools where enrollment is dropping off significantly.

Space in one part of FCPS does not necessarily translate to space in the Western part. The Western part is increasing.

The enrollments at Centreville, Herndon, and South Lakes are down more than the enrollments at Oakton and Westfield are up. Even Chantilly is down some from its peak in 2023-24. Plenty of capacity now and they still plan to expand Centreville.

Skyview was just a shiny toy they couldn't pass up. And the amount they'll end up spending on it will be similar or greater to what MCPS is spending to build Crown HS (likely the new Wootton HS building). They inflated how much a new HS would cost to build when they didn't intend to build one, so the claims of big savings are another FCPS lie.

I have heard about the Wootton/Crown debacle but have not exactly been following it.

The western debacle, being more local, has been easier for me to follow.

With that in mind, can a Wootton/Crown follower please explain this connection/reference.

Wootton is a successful, but dilapidated HS, in Rockville with a large Asian population.

MCPS just built a new HS further north in the Crown area of Gaithersburg for about $230 million.

The original plan was to open Crown as an additional HS without closing any current HS in MCPS. However, with declining enrollment on the horizon, MCPS leadership has proposed to relocate Wootton to the new building. There would be some boundary adjustments but most of the current Wootton feeders would move to Crown and it would retain the Wootton name.

It’s relevant to Skyview insofar as the actual cost of building Crown was about 50% of what FCPS was projecting a new western HS would cost if built from scratch. That suggests that FCPS was inflating the potential cost at a time when it didn’t really intend to build a new HS so it could say it was cost-prohibitive.

It is also relevant insofar as MCPS (like PWCPS) is acknowledging that enrollments are likely to decline in the coming years, whereas FCPS is adding a ton of capacity in western Fairfax between the recent Herndon expansion, the acquisition and planned modifications to KAA/Skyview, and the planned Centreville expansion. All that money for additional seats in western Fairfax, along with the unnecessary new Dunn Loring ES in Vienna, will delay renovations to other schools throughout the county, but Reid and the School Board are either unable or unwilling to manage the FCPS capital budget more effectively. They neither expect nor receive scrutiny because they are instruments of a county under one-party rule, where those who challenge their spending decisions are treated like traitors.

Since you are leaving out the cost of purchasing the land the HS was built on, the overall cost of purchasing and renovating Skyview will be about the same as building the new school on donated land. Excellent information to have. FCPS paid a fair price for an existing school with furniture and technology included. Plus two out buildings that can be used for other purposes if needed. Sounds like FCPS got an excellent deal.

The jury is still out on whether this purchase was a good deal. The fact that they couldn’t quickly establish a clear date for when Skyview would open as a traditional school or set boundaries suggests they made a financial commitment without fully understanding what they were buying.

And, as noted, they had been inflating the cost of building a new school from scratch because they didn’t really want to build a school given the cost and all the capacity they had been adding elsewhere. They all went out the window when KAA became available and they got googly eyes.

It’s sad we have a school system that acts on impulse and otherwise can’t plan its way out of a paper bag.

It was a quick purchase that was not planned for and disrupted the boundary review that had already started, we all know that. The area it is in needs relief, the building was available for less then half the projected price of buying the land and building a new building. I know that some people are upset but those of us who live in this part of the County know that it is needed. We also know that they have bungled setting the school up but there is not much anyone can do about that.

I am focused on getting my kids classes sorted out and helping him figure out what types of clubs he wants to be a part of so that he can help to build a school that he is happy with. It's done. Maybe we would be better off if we stopped complaining that it happened and lean into building it's future.

Enrollments in FCPS are declining and the need was questionable, especially if they are still also planning to expand Centreville to 3000.

And the cost estimates for building a new school that had been included in prior CIPs were made-up, inflated numbers included to justify why a new school was cost-prohibitive and wouldn’t be built.

You don’t mind the substantial surplus capacity that will soon exist in one part of the county. In your mind it’s a small price to pay if you get a new school closer to your house. But it doesn’t change the fact that throwing money at Skyview and Centreville will delay renovations to other schools in need, and the School Board members who pretend otherwise will face some tough questions next year.

I don't think Centerville should be expanded because we know that there is a trend towards downward enrollment and because we have the new school. I think Centerville should be renovated but not expanded. Save the money on the expansion and use it to start renovating another school that needs the renovation. I am guessing parents at Centerville want it expanded because they don't want to have to change schools, which is the solution at this point.

From everything I've read, Centreville (not "Centerville") parents would be fine with a scaled-back expansion and don't want a 3000-seat school.

FCPS had a plan to expand Centreville to 3000 before KAA was purchased, and they are too lazy to revisit it, so the just-approved CIP continues to budget for an expansion to 3000. God forbid they actually have someone take a fresh look at the need for that many additional seats and, if necessary, come up with a revised plan.

The same idiocy is on display with Dunn Loring ES. It's surrounded by under-enrolled elementary schools, some of which (like Shrevewood) have continued to lose kids since Dunn Loring was first put on a fast track. They know it's a waste of money but are too lazy and stupid to change course.

[Anonymous]

I’m fiscally conservative and don’t like the crazy spending by FCPS.

But I agree with buying KA, and in my opinion, this is pretty much the only thing the board got right.

They have been saying the enrollment would go down but high schools in Western Fairfax kept growing to unhealthy level.

Overall, I think it’s better to have six schools with 2,000 kids each than five schools with 2,400 kids each.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m fiscally conservative and don’t like the crazy spending by FCPS.

But I agree with buying KA, and in my opinion, this is pretty much the only thing the board got right.

They have been saying the enrollment would go down but high schools in Western Fairfax kept growing to unhealthy level.

Overall, I think it’s better to have six schools with 2,000 kids each than five schools with 2,400 kids each.

They built or expanded multiple schools in Western Fairfax to accommodate more than 2,400 kids each. The schools with smaller capacities are further east. And several of the schools in Western Fairfax (most notably, Centreville and Herndon) have seen declining enrollments in recent years.

So your post just shows how people are ready to toss their principles aside and praise wasteful spending as long as they stand to benefit personally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m fiscally conservative and don’t like the crazy spending by FCPS.

But I agree with buying KA, and in my opinion, this is pretty much the only thing the board got right.

They have been saying the enrollment would go down but high schools in Western Fairfax kept growing to unhealthy level.

Overall, I think it’s better to have six schools with 2,000 kids each than five schools with 2,400 kids each.

They built or expanded multiple schools in Western Fairfax to accommodate more than 2,400 kids each. The schools with smaller capacities are further east. And several of the schools in Western Fairfax (most notably, Centreville and Herndon) have seen declining enrollments in recent years.

So your post just shows how people are ready to toss their principles aside and praise wasteful spending as long as they stand to benefit personally.

There are neighborhoods right next to Centreville that are shipped to Fairfax because there is no room at Centreville.

Chantilly and Westfield both have INCREASING ENROLLMENTS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m fiscally conservative and don’t like the crazy spending by FCPS.

But I agree with buying KA, and in my opinion, this is pretty much the only thing the board got right.

They have been saying the enrollment would go down but high schools in Western Fairfax kept growing to unhealthy level.

Overall, I think it’s better to have six schools with 2,000 kids each than five schools with 2,400 kids each.

They built or expanded multiple schools in Western Fairfax to accommodate more than 2,400 kids each. The schools with smaller capacities are further east. And several of the schools in Western Fairfax (most notably, Centreville and Herndon) have seen declining enrollments in recent years.

So your post just shows how people are ready to toss their principles aside and praise wasteful spending as long as they stand to benefit personally.

Send your kid for one of the pathways and they can enjoy the new school as well. Or keep gripping about it. FCPS bought it, kids will be attending it. Sorry that you are unhappy about it but we are excited.