Western High School Boundary Map options (A/B/C/D)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s amazing how quickly the Western HS went from being coveted to something that generates so many questions and that so many, especially those now at Oakton, want to avoid. Not a great roll-out, to put it mildly.

There are a good number of people who are excited. I don’t doubt that they will get 500 9th graders, I am skeptical that they will get 500 10th graders but who knows.

[Anonymous]

I think there are people really excited out of SLHS and Westfield. I think the Chantilly families understand it but are less excited. I don’t know who is being moved from Centerville to the school. Obviously there are people very unhappy with the idea from Oakton.

But there are people less excited at SLHS, there are folks very tied to the school. I don’t think any school is 100% or even 75% supportive. People are hesitant to leave what they know. I don’t think I have seen or heard anything from Coates or McNair familes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think most in the area are excited about having a school. I also think a lot of Crossfield people would like to go there, but you have people like the speakers the other night that make it about their own opinions. Using the pandemic as an excuse and construction at Crossfield as a reason to stay at Oakton? When the distance to Oakton is at least twice as long and very, very difficult. 66 or windy roads.

Hard to say. It also feels like a lot of people at Floris, McNair and Fox Mill don't want to go to Westfield and/or South Lakes, so they want to attend a different school and, of course, have an incentive to make it sound like it's going to be a great school. But PP is spot on when they note that so far it's been too much frosting and not enough cake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think there are people really excited out of SLHS and Westfield. I think the Chantilly families understand it but are less excited. I don’t know who is being moved from Centerville to the school. Obviously there are people very unhappy with the idea from Oakton.

But there are people less excited at SLHS, there are folks very tied to the school. I don’t think any school is 100% or even 75% supportive. People are hesitant to leave what they know. I don’t think I have seen or heard anything from Coates or McNair familes.

None of the initial boundary options move anyone from Centreville to Western. Each of the options moves Centreville kids to Westfield.

Centreville kids can opt in to attend Western, but they'd presumably do so knowing that they likely won't get transportation when the boundaries are set next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most in the area are excited about having a school. I also think a lot of Crossfield people would like to go there, but you have people like the speakers the other night that make it about their own opinions. Using the pandemic as an excuse and construction at Crossfield as a reason to stay at Oakton? When the distance to Oakton is at least twice as long and very, very difficult. 66 or windy roads.

Hard to say. It also feels like a lot of people at Floris, McNair and Fox Mill don't want to go to Westfield and/or South Lakes, so they want to attend a different school and, of course, have an incentive to make it sound like it's going to be a great school. But PP is spot on when they note that so far it's been too much frosting and not enough cake.

Fox Mill is split. I know people opting in, I think it will be surprising to people how many make the move. I have seen people posting that no one is moving when I know a good number moving. Most of us know our kids will do well regardless of school because the schools will both be good schools.

I think Crossfield is in the same boat but the people who love Oakton are louder then the people who want to stay at SLHS or Westfield.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most in the area are excited about having a school. I also think a lot of Crossfield people would like to go there, but you have people like the speakers the other night that make it about their own opinions. Using the pandemic as an excuse and construction at Crossfield as a reason to stay at Oakton? When the distance to Oakton is at least twice as long and very, very difficult. 66 or windy roads.

Hard to say. It also feels like a lot of people at Floris, McNair and Fox Mill don't want to go to Westfield and/or South Lakes, so they want to attend a different school and, of course, have an incentive to make it sound like it's going to be a great school. But PP is spot on when they note that so far it's been too much frosting and not enough cake.

Fox Mill is split. I know people opting in, I think it will be surprising to people how many make the move. I have seen people posting that no one is moving when I know a good number moving. Most of us know our kids will do well regardless of school because the schools will both be good schools.

I think Crossfield is in the same boat but the people who love Oakton are louder then the people who want to stay at SLHS or Westfield.

After hearing the speakers at the SB meeting who want to stay at Oakton, I would jump to move to the new school. Talk about clueless. The gentleman who wanted to name the school --but did not want his kids to go there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most in the area are excited about having a school. I also think a lot of Crossfield people would like to go there, but you have people like the speakers the other night that make it about their own opinions. Using the pandemic as an excuse and construction at Crossfield as a reason to stay at Oakton? When the distance to Oakton is at least twice as long and very, very difficult. 66 or windy roads.

Hard to say. It also feels like a lot of people at Floris, McNair and Fox Mill don't want to go to Westfield and/or South Lakes, so they want to attend a different school and, of course, have an incentive to make it sound like it's going to be a great school. But PP is spot on when they note that so far it's been too much frosting and not enough cake.

Fox Mill is split. I know people opting in, I think it will be surprising to people how many make the move. I have seen people posting that no one is moving when I know a good number moving. Most of us know our kids will do well regardless of school because the schools will both be good schools.

I think Crossfield is in the same boat but the people who love Oakton are louder then the people who want to stay at SLHS or Westfield.

No one from Crossfield feeds into Westfield.

[Anonymous]

Each of the initial boundary options pulls 362 kids out of Centreville to back-fill Westfield.

Centreville had an enrollment of 2164 last month. The 362 number was based on 2024-25 enrollment, but if you pull 350 kids out of Centreville that takes it down to just over 1800, around the time that they might finally make some progress towards resolving the issues that were an impediment to Centreville's renovation and potential expansion.

It's not clear at all that they now have a good plan for maintaining CVHS as a strong school. Would they expand CVHS and then finally move Willow Springs out of Fairfax into closer Centreville? No one really seems to know what they're thinking. They wanted the Western HS, and if other schools end up shrinking and suffering as a result they don't seem to care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most in the area are excited about having a school. I also think a lot of Crossfield people would like to go there, but you have people like the speakers the other night that make it about their own opinions. Using the pandemic as an excuse and construction at Crossfield as a reason to stay at Oakton? When the distance to Oakton is at least twice as long and very, very difficult. 66 or windy roads.

Hard to say. It also feels like a lot of people at Floris, McNair and Fox Mill don't want to go to Westfield and/or South Lakes, so they want to attend a different school and, of course, have an incentive to make it sound like it's going to be a great school. But PP is spot on when they note that so far it's been too much frosting and not enough cake.

Fox Mill is split. I know people opting in, I think it will be surprising to people how many make the move. I have seen people posting that no one is moving when I know a good number moving. Most of us know our kids will do well regardless of school because the schools will both be good schools.

I think Crossfield is in the same boat but the people who love Oakton are louder then the people who want to stay at SLHS or Westfield.

No one from Crossfield feeds into Westfield.

No one said that Crossfield feeds to Westfield. The statement was that the anti-western HS voices out of Crossfield are louder tha the anti-Western voices out of SLHS and Westfield.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most in the area are excited about having a school. I also think a lot of Crossfield people would like to go there, but you have people like the speakers the other night that make it about their own opinions. Using the pandemic as an excuse and construction at Crossfield as a reason to stay at Oakton? When the distance to Oakton is at least twice as long and very, very difficult. 66 or windy roads.

Hard to say. It also feels like a lot of people at Floris, McNair and Fox Mill don't want to go to Westfield and/or South Lakes, so they want to attend a different school and, of course, have an incentive to make it sound like it's going to be a great school. But PP is spot on when they note that so far it's been too much frosting and not enough cake.

Fox Mill is split. I know people opting in, I think it will be surprising to people how many make the move. I have seen people posting that no one is moving when I know a good number moving. Most of us know our kids will do well regardless of school because the schools will both be good schools.

I think Crossfield is in the same boat but the people who love Oakton are louder then the people who want to stay at SLHS or Westfield.

No one from Crossfield feeds into Westfield.

No one said that Crossfield feeds to Westfield. The statement was that the anti-western HS voices out of Crossfield are louder tha the anti-Western voices out of SLHS and Westfield.

It wasn't a clear statement since Crossfield does feed to both Oakton and South Lakes (as well as to Chantilly, but not Westfield), but OK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most in the area are excited about having a school. I also think a lot of Crossfield people would like to go there, but you have people like the speakers the other night that make it about their own opinions. Using the pandemic as an excuse and construction at Crossfield as a reason to stay at Oakton? When the distance to Oakton is at least twice as long and very, very difficult. 66 or windy roads.

Hard to say. It also feels like a lot of people at Floris, McNair and Fox Mill don't want to go to Westfield and/or South Lakes, so they want to attend a different school and, of course, have an incentive to make it sound like it's going to be a great school. But PP is spot on when they note that so far it's been too much frosting and not enough cake.

Fox Mill is split. I know people opting in, I think it will be surprising to people how many make the move. I have seen people posting that no one is moving when I know a good number moving. Most of us know our kids will do well regardless of school because the schools will both be good schools.

I think Crossfield is in the same boat but the people who love Oakton are louder then the people who want to stay at SLHS or Westfield.

No one from Crossfield feeds into Westfield.

No one said that Crossfield feeds to Westfield. The statement was that the anti-western HS voices out of Crossfield are louder tha the anti-Western voices out of SLHS and Westfield.

It wasn't a clear statement since Crossfield does feed to both Oakton and South Lakes (as well as to Chantilly, but not Westfield), but OK.

The Crossfield kids at Chantilly is a pretty tiny number. I guess it is Ashvale? I honestly thought it was only the Lee's Corner kids from there who go to Chantilly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think most in the area are excited about having a school. I also think a lot of Crossfield people would like to go there, but you have people like the speakers the other night that make it about their own opinions. Using the pandemic as an excuse and construction at Crossfield as a reason to stay at Oakton? When the distance to Oakton is at least twice as long and very, very difficult. 66 or windy roads.

Opinions are also being influenced by people who work in the school district, who talk to their neighbors and colleagues and have less than nice things to say about the student bodies at certain schools. I heard someone who works at one of the schools that will probably feed into Western say something extremely disparaging about the students who will likely end up there.

[Anonymous]

Anyone have a link to the video presentation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Western HS Presentation at 9AM today (in order of how I heard things)

1) AP/DE school: all the regular 9th and 10th grade classes will be offered but less clear on electives and foreign languages. They said that they have been hearing from the Japanese and Korean Immersion programs and want to include those languages

Course selection will happen in January, they will have counselors ready to work with the kids. Courses will be offered based on the number of kids opting in. Since there will be fewer kids (1,000 compared to 2,000) there might be fewer electives.

Some discussion about sharing classes between Carson and Western

As more classes join the school, there will be more programs because there will be more kids to participate and take classes.

They expect the have Spanish, French, Japanese, and Korean at the school. (Posted int he questions screen)

They will have the standard 9th and 10th grade courses, including the AP classes. 11th grade DE will be available.

2) Special Paths: They hope to have certifications and working with industry to establish internships and learning opportunities.

Aerospace Science
AI
Advanced Tech and Innovation

3) No VHSL sports in the first year

They cannot offer any VHSL sports and allow students to play with their original HS so there will be no VHSL sports in the first year. They think there might be VHSL sports in the second year but they will be established in the third year.

Programs that are not VHSL will be offered at the school, so bands, chorus, theatre and the like

There will be an activities bus from the new HS to old HS for sports, it will leave a few minutes early to get kids to the other school in time for practice and the like. Transportation home from the sport HS will be provided

4) Only in-boundary students will have transportation

Boundaries will be determined int he spring.

They will have a process for selecting students if there are more then 500 kids opting in. In Boundary kids first, then kids who were considered for in boundary (so Fox Mill, Crossfield using those examples only because they are the two that are discussed a lot here not because of anything said in the meeting)

Bussing provided for kids opting out of the new HS and attending the old school

They discussed exception to ride for kids to be placed on a bus nearby if they are out of boundary.

5) Opting In/Out is a 4 year decision. If you choose Western or your old school, that is your school. Any movement would need to be a pupil placement situation

Where can we find this presentation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Western HS Presentation at 9AM today (in order of how I heard things)

1) AP/DE school: all the regular 9th and 10th grade classes will be offered but less clear on electives and foreign languages. They said that they have been hearing from the Japanese and Korean Immersion programs and want to include those languages

Course selection will happen in January, they will have counselors ready to work with the kids. Courses will be offered based on the number of kids opting in. Since there will be fewer kids (1,000 compared to 2,000) there might be fewer electives.

Some discussion about sharing classes between Carson and Western

As more classes join the school, there will be more programs because there will be more kids to participate and take classes.

They expect the have Spanish, French, Japanese, and Korean at the school. (Posted int he questions screen)

They will have the standard 9th and 10th grade courses, including the AP classes. 11th grade DE will be available.

2) Special Paths: They hope to have certifications and working with industry to establish internships and learning opportunities.

Aerospace Science
AI
Advanced Tech and Innovation

3) No VHSL sports in the first year

They cannot offer any VHSL sports and allow students to play with their original HS so there will be no VHSL sports in the first year. They think there might be VHSL sports in the second year but they will be established in the third year.

Programs that are not VHSL will be offered at the school, so bands, chorus, theatre and the like

There will be an activities bus from the new HS to old HS for sports, it will leave a few minutes early to get kids to the other school in time for practice and the like. Transportation home from the sport HS will be provided

4) Only in-boundary students will have transportation

Boundaries will be determined int he spring.

They will have a process for selecting students if there are more then 500 kids opting in. In Boundary kids first, then kids who were considered for in boundary (so Fox Mill, Crossfield using those examples only because they are the two that are discussed a lot here not because of anything said in the meeting)

Bussing provided for kids opting out of the new HS and attending the old school

They discussed exception to ride for kids to be placed on a bus nearby if they are out of boundary.

5) Opting In/Out is a 4 year decision. If you choose Western or your old school, that is your school. Any movement would need to be a pupil placement situation

Where can we find this presentation?

I believe the PP attended the actual presentation.