I am reasonably certain that is why Westfield is going to end up losing so many students with limited backfill. The Centreville and Chantilly families have been very vocal about not wanting to move and Westfield has been quiet. The people who have made the most noise got what they wanted. Crossfield is unhappy because it got what it wanted just not in a way that they wanted it. |
They need to get SLHS and Westfield up to 85% in that case. |
Well, the families who aren't being zoned out of Westfield can't really advocate for...other neighborhoods to be moved in? How would that work exactly, without sounding totally racist and classist? It's FCPS's responsibility---that they are abdicating completely--to make fair decisions on behalf of all the schools. |
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I don't know how Westfield families would organize to tell the SB and FCPS to do their jobs with a modicum of intelligence and morality.
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Get rid of IB. People have been screaming this for over 20 years.
There used to be information on the cost difference to FCPS and it was significant. However, I cannot seem to find it now. |
It is up to Westfield families to be demanding backfill and not ot be allowed to drop towhatever percentage they are at. What percentage is SLHS going to be? I don't think they are losing that many kids, the Floris and Fox Mill groups are pretty small. I know the SLHS PTA didn't seem to think that the 45 or so 9th graders that opted in to Skyview was that big a deal, it was like 4% of the overall student body. |
They are not moving out half of Westfield’s students. It will end up with an enrollment that’s still larger than many high schools in the county. I wonder how much of the angst is concern that it’s less likely to win state titles in football or basketball when it’s not one of the largest high schools in the state. The School Board already decided that allowing more kids to attend a high school closer to their homes outweighed Westfield’s possibly getting to hang another state championship banner in the gym. Skyview is located within the current Westfield boundary so of course it will have the most impact on WHS’s boundaries. |
I don't think there is any way to do that--organize to tell FCPS to move other people into your school? |
Sure they can. South Lakes and Langley groups have been very vocal in the past about which areas they did and did not want rezoned to their schools, and they got their way in 2008 and 2021. |
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SLHS is losing a lot of kids, though not as many as Westfield.
They are losing 300-400. going from 99% full to 83% full. Westfield is losing @700-800 and going down to 74%. |
Maybe the middle class Westfield parents are not as big of obnoxious a-holes as those other groups were. |
Or do what Loudon and Arlington do and make IB opt in. They house the program at specific schools and the kids who are interested in IB apply for the program. In applying, they are agreeing to pursue the IB Diploma. They are provided transportation to the school closest to them that provides IB. Set one IB school for the North, South, East, and West of FCPS and kids can opt into that program. Have a full AP program for all of the other students in the school. Kids who want IB can make the choice to attend an IB school, parents don't have to worry about transportation, everyone else can do AP. The parents who want a school within a school or really value IB can send their kids to those schools. Everyone else has AP. |
83% full is fine, especially with the construction in the area. Westfield is being hammered. |
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I'm not a Westfield parent but I agree that FCPS needs to put some kind of high level academic programming into the building to get kids wanting to attend. Adding academy classes doesn't help the Westfield community b/c those kids just come in for one class.
Also, its refreshing that they aren't out whining like all these other groups had/were/did. Makes me much more sympathetic to how they are getting d!cked over here by FCPS. |
OR.. pay the walker premium like I did. Never had to worry about changes to any of my boundaries throughout all of this. Maybe you don't have to worry about your kid changing schools, but you still need to worry about boundary shifts turning your schools into split feeders, potentially cutting off your kid from their friends and/or the majority of their school. Your premium is only worth so much. |