Future Western High School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason Langley was ever part of the new western school discussion was due to overcrowding at McLean. The thought process was that the McLean overflow would move to Langley. This in turn would overwhelm Langley and necessitate moving some Langley kids to Herndon.

Population increases due to developments in Tysons and around metro is expected to further burden schools in that area including McLean. The thought of a new Western HS scares the panties off some GF families zoned for Langley because it could create extra capacity at Herndon...

Even without the mythical Western HS, the western edge of the Langley pyramid COULD be impacted.

FCPS knows it’s not ideal to be busing kids 10-14 miles to Langley from western Great Falls.

They haven’t had an alternative because Herndon has been full and Langley has been losing kids for the better part of a decade (lots of families sending their kids to privates and neighborhoods full of older people). ...

For example, a developer building a new subdivision in Herndon south of Route 7 tried to get FCPS to make an administrative boundary change a few years ago to reassign the area from Herndon to Langley, FCPS declined and said in correspondence with the developer that it would be premature to revisit the boundaries in that area until a new school was built, at which time all the boundaries in western Fairfax would be reconsidered. Janie Strauss conveyed a similar message to Langley families, as she publicly acknowledged at a School Board work session in early 2019.

When word of this got out to more people in Great Falls, they went bat-shit crazy. They organized a meeting at Forestville ES in June 2019!and screamed at Strauss for over two hours. The next month they disrupted a School Board work session complaining about boundary changes that were not even yet on the table.

They obviously feel they have the upper hand now that Strauss is gone and has been replaced by Elaine Tholen, who lacks integrity and shamelessly caters to Great Falls...

What catering to Great Falls? Look at elementary school boundaries.

Those Herndon PO addresses, not town of Herndon, + Holly Knoll + some developments with Vienna [not town] addresses + maybe even Reston addresses have nothing to do with Tholen. There have been developments that for decades have been in the Langley pyramid. Some are Hunter Mill Magisterial District. Some Dranesville. All dedicated to avoiding South Lakes and Herndon. Fairfax County Federation of Citizens Associations activity level?

For example look up a street called Delta Glen-it's in Colvin Glen [Colvin Run-Cooper-Langley], Hunter Mill District. A new development [Forest Edge-Hughes-South Lakes]went in years ago and I think Dunn Meadow Rd was blocked with concrete barriers. They got moved for the snow plow and did they go back? Interesting where the Gulick Group stuff in north Reston or Vienna po box ended up. One, Hunters End, was marketed as Langley and FCPS under Domenech flipped it.

FCPS is making the same mistake with Oakton as it did with Langley- expanding capacity for students who should be assigned to other schools. Oakton is near Madison and Langley near Mclean.

During the recent Mclean to Langley boundary change there was at least 1 person who wanted a flip to Langley from Herndon. Surrounded by the developments that have Herndon addresses that were sent to Langley. FCPS should administratively change the lot of them to Herndon and frankly no one in Great Falls would blink. Summer House Landing http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2021/feb/03/mclean-high-boundary-change-down-wire/

If I remember it correctly she said she represented the summerhouse community.
She did have a point about surrounding neighborhoods going to Langley and thus, the buses were already going past those houses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

FCPS is making the same mistake with Oakton as it did with Langley- expanding capacity for students who should be assigned to other schools. Oakton is near Madison and Langley near Mclean.

Are you the same person who said that Great Falls was the most far west part of Fairfax County? I'll grant that Oakton is near Madison--but it is nowhere near Langley.

Not PP, but can you please take a second to read before you post?

PP is saying Oakton is near Madison (it is) and Langley is near McLean (it is), and that they need to stop building big additions at schools that already have kids who live closer to other schools traveling long distances to attend (as is the case at both Oakton and Langley).

You can agree or disagree with the comment, but PP was not saying Oakton is near Langley.

Apologize. You're right. I didn't read carefully.

But, it is also true that there are many, many schools in this situation. Franklin Middle and Rachel Carson are just over one mile apart. I guess property is just not always available. Ironic that Chantilly has one of the most compact boundaries, and it is the most overcrowded. And, I think that is one reason that the overcrowding is tolerated--people don't want to leave because there is a community feel--and is quite diverse.

Give your Hutchison plan a rest. It is three miles from Herndon High School. Once more, this is not about getting Great Falls into Herndon. It is about giving relief to Chantilly and Centreville.

No one posting on this thread came up with the “Hutchison plan.” That seems to be the plan of the county and FCPS.

If the only concern was relief for Chantilly and Centreville, I don’t know why they wouldn’t just turn Carson, which is closer to those schools and has more acreage than quite a few high schools, into a secondary school. But they aren’t, and it seems like maybe they are thinking about the anticipated growth along the Silver Line if they build there. And, if they do, there will be some significant boundary changes, which is what Strauss was telling Langley and got them so riled up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason Langley was ever part of the new western school discussion was due to overcrowding at McLean. The thought process was that the McLean overflow would move to Langley. This in turn would overwhelm Langley and necessitate moving some Langley kids to Herndon.

Population increases due to developments in Tysons and around metro is expected to further burden schools in that area including McLean. The thought of a new Western HS scares the panties off some GF families zoned for Langley because it could create extra capacity at Herndon, especially if the school is built on the proposed Hutchison site. Meaning that the fate of those GF kids closer to Herndon and others on the western edge of the Langley pyramid could land up in Herndon. (The horror!)

If McLean HS doesn’t become overcrowded (again??), then GF families on the edge are “safe” from having to switch schools. They will want to prevent high density housing in the McLean and Langley pyramids that would push them out of Langley and into Herndon.

Even without the mythical Western HS, the western edge of the Langley pyramid COULD be impacted.

FCPS knows it’s not ideal to be busing kids 10-14 miles to Langley from western Great Falls.

They haven’t had an alternative because Herndon has been full and Langley has been losing kids for the better part of a decade (lots of families sending their kids to privates and neighborhoods full of older people). But between the growth closer to Langley in Tysons and the additional space that might open up at Herndon if a new school were built to address GE overcrowding at Chantilly and Centreville, they’ve been telling people for years that they will take another look at the Langley boundaries when a new high school gets built.

For example, a developer building a new subdivision in Herndon south of Route 7 tried to get FCPS to make an administrative boundary change a few years ago to reassign the area from Herndon to Langley, FCPS declined and said in correspondence with the developer that it would be premature to revisit the boundaries in that area until a new school was built, at which time all the boundaries in western Fairfax would be reconsidered. Janie Strauss conveyed a similar message to Langley families, as she publicly acknowledged at a School Board work session in early 2019.

When word of this got out to more people in Great Falls, they went bat-shit crazy. They organized a meeting at Forestville ES in June 2019!and screamed at Strauss for over two hours. The next month they disrupted a School Board work session complaining about boundary changes that were not even yet on the table.

They obviously feel they have the upper hand now that Strauss is gone and has been replaced by Elaine Tholen, who lacks integrity and shamelessly caters to Great Falls. But Tholen is deeply unpopular and will be gone by 2023, and the fact remains that FCPS’s long-term goals include both building another high-school in western Fairfax and revisiting the boundaries of multiple schools that serve students in western Fairfax, including Langley. The recent challenges at Langley - which has had more bus route delays than any other high school and where there is increasing friction between parents picking up their kids and nearby community residents - suggest those goals continue to make a lot of sense.

Funny. There are past posts on this board saying that Strauss "protected" Great Falls for years.

One in the past few years crowed about Strauss being out and that no one was going to protect/cater to Great Falls/Langley anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not nearly as much as the giant hissy fit that the Langley parents threw in 2019 after Janie Strauss stated publicly that "I've warned Langley, sorry, a big chunk is going to get reboundaried [when the new HS is built]."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM4AfGQqTWE

It's very clear if you watch the actual work sessions that the school board was talking about changing boundaries for race/class reasons. They weren't discussing the new high school. Jane Strauss mentioned Langley specifically so parents from that pyramid had every right to inform the school board that they disagreed with changing schools because the board saw fit to rearrange schools by class and race.

It was too close to an election to press forward with their plans to redo boundary policy to prioritize class/racial makeup of the schools, as Langley pyramid parents weren't the only ones who realized that their kids could be sent to different schools based on their race and class.

Instead of standing up and telling the community that it would be great to rearrange kids based on their immutable characteristics and their parents bank account, and they believed in this and were going to pass the policy anyway, they backed down. They amended the CIP at the last minute to send children from overcrowded Mclean to Langley, which had space. They had to do that to demonstrate that they were not holding Mclean, 2 miles away (ish) overcrowded because Langley had space because they wanted to spread those kids around to other schools based on race and class. Anyone who actually watched the work sessions knows that that is exactly what they are doing, as a new boundary could have easily been timed to coincide with the conclusion of Langley's renovation in 2018.


As to the Western High School which looks like it will finally be built in the next few years, new schools obviously mean new boundaries. It's perfectly reasonable to expect that the Langley boundary might be impacted. It will be interesting to see which areas would be proposed to replace those removed, but we will have to wait and see.
So they stopped working on policy, placated parents, and got their desired result: Dem-endorsed incumbents kept their seats and the last two Rep-endorsed candidates lost theirs to Dems.

Whoops.

Let me rearrange that a bit.
-----
It's very clear if you watch the actual work sessions that the school board was talking about changing boundaries for race/class reasons. They weren't discussing the planned new high school. Jane Strauss mentioned Langley specifically so parents from that pyramid had every right to inform the school board that they disagreed with changing schools because the board saw fit to rearrange schools by class and race.

It was too close to an election to press forward with their plans to redo boundary policy to prioritize class/racial makeup of the schools, as Langley pyramid parents weren't the only ones who realized that their kids could be sent to different schools based on their race and class.

Instead of standing up and telling the community that it would be great to rearrange kids based on their immutable characteristics and their parents' bank accounts, and they believed in this and were going to pass the policy anyway, they backed down. They amended the CIP at the last minute to send children from overcrowded Mclean to Langley, which had space. They had to do that to demonstrate that they were not holding Mclean, 2 miles away (ish) overcrowded because Langley had space because they wanted to spread those kids around to other schools based on race and class. Anyone who actually watched the work sessions knows that that is exactly what they are doing, as a new boundary could have easily been timed to coincide with the conclusion of Langley's renovation in 2018.

So the school board stopped working on policy, placated parents, and got their desired result: Dem-endorsed incumbents kept their seats and the last two Rep-endorsed candidates lost theirs to Dems.


As to the Western High School which looks like it will finally be built in the next few years, new schools obviously mean new boundaries. It's perfectly reasonable to expect that the Langley boundary might be impacted. It will be interesting to see which areas would be proposed to replace those removed, but we will have to wait and see.

Strauss was the last person who ever would have gone out to Great Falls and told them to expect boundary changes simply to effect some type of equity-based balancing. She was quite moderate, and only mentioned boundary changes so they’d understand Langley’s western boundaries would be revisited if and when the new high school was built.

Of course, when Forestville and Great Falls pitched a fit, she made clear she wasn’t supporting an immediate boundary change. And Tholen is a complete coward who hasn’t mentioned the new high school once and then only made a slight adjustment to the Langley/McLean boundaries that was acceptable to the Great Falls Civic Association because it effectively capped the number of kids who’d move to Langley (whereas the staff’s recommendation would have required Langley to share in the ongoing Tysons growth along with Marshall and McLean, which had been part of the original rationale for expanding chronically under-enrolled Langley to 2370 seats during its renovation).

It’s been a total shit-show, like so much of FCPS in recent years, and it just illustrates the headwinds FCPS and the lack of trust that exists when they simultaneously keep referring to a new high school in planning and bond documents, yet studiously avoid actually discussing the school with the communities that would be affected by the opening of a new school,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason Langley was ever part of the new western school discussion was due to overcrowding at McLean. The thought process was that the McLean overflow would move to Langley. This in turn would overwhelm Langley and necessitate moving some Langley kids to Herndon.

Population increases due to developments in Tysons and around metro is expected to further burden schools in that area including McLean. The thought of a new Western HS scares the panties off some GF families zoned for Langley because it could create extra capacity at Herndon, especially if the school is built on the proposed Hutchison site. Meaning that the fate of those GF kids closer to Herndon and others on the western edge of the Langley pyramid could land up in Herndon. (The horror!)

If McLean HS doesn’t become overcrowded (again??), then GF families on the edge are “safe” from having to switch schools. They will want to prevent high density housing in the McLean and Langley pyramids that would push them out of Langley and into Herndon.

Even without the mythical Western HS, the western edge of the Langley pyramid COULD be impacted.

FCPS knows it’s not ideal to be busing kids 10-14 miles to Langley from western Great Falls.

They haven’t had an alternative because Herndon has been full and Langley has been losing kids for the better part of a decade (lots of families sending their kids to privates and neighborhoods full of older people). But between the growth closer to Langley in Tysons and the additional space that might open up at Herndon if a new school were built to address GE overcrowding at Chantilly and Centreville, they’ve been telling people for years that they will take another look at the Langley boundaries when a new high school gets built.

For example, a developer building a new subdivision in Herndon south of Route 7 tried to get FCPS to make an administrative boundary change a few years ago to reassign the area from Herndon to Langley, FCPS declined and said in correspondence with the developer that it would be premature to revisit the boundaries in that area until a new school was built, at which time all the boundaries in western Fairfax would be reconsidered. Janie Strauss conveyed a similar message to Langley families, as she publicly acknowledged at a School Board work session in early 2019.

When word of this got out to more people in Great Falls, they went bat-shit crazy. They organized a meeting at Forestville ES in June 2019!and screamed at Strauss for over two hours. The next month they disrupted a School Board work session complaining about boundary changes that were not even yet on the table.

They obviously feel they have the upper hand now that Strauss is gone and has been replaced by Elaine Tholen, who lacks integrity and shamelessly caters to Great Falls. But Tholen is deeply unpopular and will be gone by 2023, and the fact remains that FCPS’s long-term goals include both building another high-school in western Fairfax and revisiting the boundaries of multiple schools that serve students in western Fairfax, including Langley. The recent challenges at Langley - which has had more bus route delays than any other high school and where there is increasing friction between parents picking up their kids and nearby community residents - suggest those goals continue to make a lot of sense.

Funny. There are past posts on this board saying that Strauss "protected" Great Falls for years.

One in the past few years crowed about Strauss being out and that no one was going to protect/cater to Great Falls/Langley anymore.

Strauss did go to Great Falls when she was running for re-election in 2011 and brag about how she’d kept Langley completely out of the 2008 South Lakes boundary change. In her last term, which ran from 2015-19, she told people that Langley’s western boundaries would be revisited if the planned new high school were built. That’s what she was referring to in her comments at the work session two years ago. Perhaps the greater candor was a function of her knowing it was her last ride at the rodeo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason Langley was ever part of the new western school discussion was due to overcrowding at McLean. The thought process was that the McLean overflow would move to Langley. This in turn would overwhelm Langley and necessitate moving some Langley kids to Herndon.

Population increases due to developments in Tysons and around metro is expected to further burden schools in that area including McLean. The thought of a new Western HS scares the panties off some GF families zoned for Langley because it could create extra capacity at Herndon, especially if the school is built on the proposed Hutchison site. Meaning that the fate of those GF kids closer to Herndon and others on the western edge of the Langley pyramid could land up in Herndon. (The horror!)

If McLean HS doesn’t become overcrowded (again??), then GF families on the edge are “safe” from having to switch schools. They will want to prevent high density housing in the McLean and Langley pyramids that would push them out of Langley and into Herndon.

Even without the mythical Western HS, the western edge of the Langley pyramid COULD be impacted.

FCPS knows it’s not ideal to be busing kids 10-14 miles to Langley from western Great Falls.

They haven’t had an alternative because Herndon has been full and Langley has been losing kids for the better part of a decade (lots of families sending their kids to privates and neighborhoods full of older people). But between the growth closer to Langley in Tysons and the additional space that might open up at Herndon if a new school were built to address GE overcrowding at Chantilly and Centreville, they’ve been telling people for years that they will take another look at the Langley boundaries when a new high school gets built.

For example, a developer building a new subdivision in Herndon south of Route 7 tried to get FCPS to make an administrative boundary change a few years ago to reassign the area from Herndon to Langley, FCPS declined and said in correspondence with the developer that it would be premature to revisit the boundaries in that area until a new school was built, at which time all the boundaries in western Fairfax would be reconsidered. Janie Strauss conveyed a similar message to Langley families, as she publicly acknowledged at a School Board work session in early 2019.

When word of this got out to more people in Great Falls, they went bat-shit crazy. They organized a meeting at Forestville ES in June 2019!and screamed at Strauss for over two hours. The next month they disrupted a School Board work session complaining about boundary changes that were not even yet on the table.

They obviously feel they have the upper hand now that Strauss is gone and has been replaced by Elaine Tholen, who lacks integrity and shamelessly caters to Great Falls. But Tholen is deeply unpopular and will be gone by 2023, and the fact remains that FCPS’s long-term goals include both building another high-school in western Fairfax and revisiting the boundaries of multiple schools that serve students in western Fairfax, including Langley. The recent challenges at Langley - which has had more bus route delays than any other high school and where there is increasing friction between parents picking up their kids and nearby community residents - suggest those goals continue to make a lot of sense.

Funny. There are past posts on this board saying that Strauss "protected" Great Falls for years.

One in the past few years crowed about Strauss being out and that no one was going to protect/cater to Great Falls/Langley anymore.

Maybe that was when people expected Alicia Plerhoples to succeed Janie Strauss on the School Board, rather than Elaine Tholen.

[Anonymous]

If the only concern was relief for Chantilly and Centreville, I don’t know why they wouldn’t just turn Carson, which is closer to those schools and has more acreage than quite a few high schools, into a secondary school. But they aren’t, and it seems like maybe they are thinking about the anticipated growth along the Silver Line if they build there. And, if they do, there will be some significant boundary changes, which is what Strauss was telling Langley and got them so riled up.

The BOS was placed in a political dilemma and sold the Carson site--which was the logical site to give relief to Centreville and Chantilly--to the Saudi's. There was not any neighborhood input. It was a done deal. The BOS was put into a bind because the initial location for the Saudi school met great protest from the initial place--I think it was Burke. So, undercover, they gave it to the Saudis and said there wasn't enough space for a new high school--which is not true. There was way more than enough space.

The Hutchison site is only accessible from one artery. It is also close to adjacent to the new Innovation Station metro. It is a terrible site for a new high school. It would not be centrally located at all. All the traffic would be coming from one direction --the current high school boundaries surrounding it are Westfield, Herndon, and South Lakes. It is an illogical location for relief of the overcrowded schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

FCPS is making the same mistake with Oakton as it did with Langley- expanding capacity for students who should be assigned to other schools. Oakton is near Madison and Langley near Mclean.

Are you the same person who said that Great Falls was the most far west part of Fairfax County? I'll grant that Oakton is near Madison--but it is nowhere near Langley.

Not PP, but can you please take a second to read before you post?

PP is saying Oakton is near Madison (it is) and Langley is near McLean (it is), and that they need to stop building big additions at schools that already have kids who live closer to other schools traveling long distances to attend (as is the case at both Oakton and Langley).

You can agree or disagree with the comment, but PP was not saying Oakton is near Langley.

Apologize. You're right. I didn't read carefully.

But, it is also true that there are many, many schools in this situation. Franklin Middle and Rachel Carson are just over one mile apart. I guess property is just not always available. Ironic that Chantilly has one of the most compact boundaries, and it is the most overcrowded. And, I think that is one reason that the overcrowding is tolerated--people don't want to leave because there is a community feel--and is quite diverse.

Give your Hutchison plan a rest. It is three miles from Herndon High School. Once more, this is not about getting Great Falls into Herndon. It is about giving relief to Chantilly and Centreville.

DP. You are the one who keeps putting GF in the mix. And the Hutchison is the site currently identified in official documents. You are the reason a rational discussion cannot be had.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not nearly as much as the giant hissy fit that the Langley parents threw in 2019 after Janie Strauss stated publicly that "I've warned Langley, sorry, a big chunk is going to get reboundaried [when the new HS is built]."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM4AfGQqTWE

It's very clear if you watch the actual work sessions that the school board was talking about changing boundaries for race/class reasons. They weren't discussing the new high school. Jane Strauss mentioned Langley specifically so parents from that pyramid had every right to inform the school board that they disagreed with changing schools because the board saw fit to rearrange schools by class and race.

It was too close to an election to press forward with their plans to redo boundary policy to prioritize class/racial makeup of the schools, as Langley pyramid parents weren't the only ones who realized that their kids could be sent to different schools based on their race and class.

Instead of standing up and telling the community that it would be great to rearrange kids based on their immutable characteristics and their parents bank account, and they believed in this and were going to pass the policy anyway, they backed down. They amended the CIP at the last minute to send children from overcrowded Mclean to Langley, which had space. They had to do that to demonstrate that they were not holding Mclean, 2 miles away (ish) overcrowded because Langley had space because they wanted to spread those kids around to other schools based on race and class. Anyone who actually watched the work sessions knows that that is exactly what they are doing, as a new boundary could have easily been timed to coincide with the conclusion of Langley's renovation in 2018.


As to the Western High School which looks like it will finally be built in the next few years, new schools obviously mean new boundaries. It's perfectly reasonable to expect that the Langley boundary might be impacted. It will be interesting to see which areas would be proposed to replace those removed, but we will have to wait and see.
So they stopped working on policy, placated parents, and got their desired result: Dem-endorsed incumbents kept their seats and the last two Rep-endorsed candidates lost theirs to Dems.

Whoops.

Let me rearrange that a bit.
-----
It's very clear if you watch the actual work sessions that the school board was talking about changing boundaries for race/class reasons. They weren't discussing the planned new high school. Jane Strauss mentioned Langley specifically so parents from that pyramid had every right to inform the school board that they disagreed with changing schools because the board saw fit to rearrange schools by class and race.

It was too close to an election to press forward with their plans to redo boundary policy to prioritize class/racial makeup of the schools, as Langley pyramid parents weren't the only ones who realized that their kids could be sent to different schools based on their race and class.

Instead of standing up and telling the community that it would be great to rearrange kids based on their immutable characteristics and their parents' bank accounts, and they believed in this and were going to pass the policy anyway, they backed down. They amended the CIP at the last minute to send children from overcrowded Mclean to Langley, which had space. They had to do that to demonstrate that they were not holding Mclean, 2 miles away (ish) overcrowded because Langley had space because they wanted to spread those kids around to other schools based on race and class. Anyone who actually watched the work sessions knows that that is exactly what they are doing, as a new boundary could have easily been timed to coincide with the conclusion of Langley's renovation in 2018.

So the school board stopped working on policy, placated parents, and got their desired result: Dem-endorsed incumbents kept their seats and the last two Rep-endorsed candidates lost theirs to Dems.


As to the Western High School which looks like it will finally be built in the next few years, new schools obviously mean new boundaries. It's perfectly reasonable to expect that the Langley boundary might be impacted. It will be interesting to see which areas would be proposed to replace those removed, but we will have to wait and see.

Don’t forget Langley was one of the identified schools that would be impacted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

If the only concern was relief for Chantilly and Centreville, I don’t know why they wouldn’t just turn Carson, which is closer to those schools and has more acreage than quite a few high schools, into a secondary school. But they aren’t, and it seems like maybe they are thinking about the anticipated growth along the Silver Line if they build there. And, if they do, there will be some significant boundary changes, which is what Strauss was telling Langley and got them so riled up.

The BOS was placed in a political dilemma and sold the Carson site--which was the logical site to give relief to Centreville and Chantilly--to the Saudi's. There was not any neighborhood input. It was a done deal. The BOS was put into a bind because the initial location for the Saudi school met great protest from the initial place--I think it was Burke. So, undercover, they gave it to the Saudis and said there wasn't enough space for a new high school--which is not true. There was way more than enough space.

The Hutchison site is only accessible from one artery. It is also close to adjacent to the new Innovation Station metro. It is a terrible site for a new high school. It would not be centrally located at all. All the traffic would be coming from one direction --the current high school boundaries surrounding it are Westfield, Herndon, and South Lakes. It is an illogical location for relief of the overcrowded schools.

That's a real shame. And I bet the political figures who pressured the county to give the land to the Saudi school send their own kids to private schools.

Even so, Carson still has a bigger site than many high schools, including Madison. Maybe it's too late to expand there. I do see a lot of reservations about the Hutchison site, but I also think that FCPS has to start building new high schools unless it wants to send a signal to all those businesses and new residents it wants in the county that it's dysfunctional and can't keep up with other area jurisdictions. It's also shitty that they are going in the direction of building some schools out to 2500-3000 kids while leaving others in buildings designed to accommodate fewer than 2000 kids.

I'm glad we'll be leaving the county in a few years. Its school system is so poorly managed. Both the School Board and Gatehouse are horrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

FCPS is making the same mistake with Oakton as it did with Langley- expanding capacity for students who should be assigned to other schools. Oakton is near Madison and Langley near Mclean.

Are you the same person who said that Great Falls was the most far west part of Fairfax County? I'll grant that Oakton is near Madison--but it is nowhere near Langley.

Not PP, but can you please take a second to read before you post?

PP is saying Oakton is near Madison (it is) and Langley is near McLean (it is), and that they need to stop building big additions at schools that already have kids who live closer to other schools traveling long distances to attend (as is the case at both Oakton and Langley).

You can agree or disagree with the comment, but PP was not saying Oakton is near Langley.

Apologize. You're right. I didn't read carefully.

But, it is also true that there are many, many schools in this situation. Franklin Middle and Rachel Carson are just over one mile apart. I guess property is just not always available. Ironic that Chantilly has one of the most compact boundaries, and it is the most overcrowded. And, I think that is one reason that the overcrowding is tolerated--people don't want to leave because there is a community feel--and is quite diverse.

Give your Hutchison plan a rest. It is three miles from Herndon High School. Once more, this is not about getting Great Falls into Herndon. It is about giving relief to Chantilly and Centreville.

DP. You are the one who keeps putting GF in the mix. And the Hutchison is the site currently identified in official documents. You are the reason a rational discussion cannot be had.

+1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not nearly as much as the giant hissy fit that the Langley parents threw in 2019 after Janie Strauss stated publicly that "I've warned Langley, sorry, a big chunk is going to get reboundaried [when the new HS is built]."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM4AfGQqTWE

It's very clear if you watch the actual work sessions that the school board was talking about changing boundaries for race/class reasons. They weren't discussing the new high school. Jane Strauss mentioned Langley specifically so parents from that pyramid had every right to inform the school board that they disagreed with changing schools because the board saw fit to rearrange schools by class and race.

It was too close to an election to press forward with their plans to redo boundary policy to prioritize class/racial makeup of the schools, as Langley pyramid parents weren't the only ones who realized that their kids could be sent to different schools based on their race and class.

Instead of standing up and telling the community that it would be great to rearrange kids based on their immutable characteristics and their parents bank account, and they believed in this and were going to pass the policy anyway, they backed down. They amended the CIP at the last minute to send children from overcrowded Mclean to Langley, which had space. They had to do that to demonstrate that they were not holding Mclean, 2 miles away (ish) overcrowded because Langley had space because they wanted to spread those kids around to other schools based on race and class. Anyone who actually watched the work sessions knows that that is exactly what they are doing, as a new boundary could have easily been timed to coincide with the conclusion of Langley's renovation in 2018.


As to the Western High School which looks like it will finally be built in the next few years, new schools obviously mean new boundaries. It's perfectly reasonable to expect that the Langley boundary might be impacted. It will be interesting to see which areas would be proposed to replace those removed, but we will have to wait and see.
So they stopped working on policy, placated parents, and got their desired result: Dem-endorsed incumbents kept their seats and the last two Rep-endorsed candidates lost theirs to Dems.

Whoops.

Let me rearrange that a bit.
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It's very clear if you watch the actual work sessions that the school board was talking about changing boundaries for race/class reasons. They weren't discussing the planned new high school. Jane Strauss mentioned Langley specifically so parents from that pyramid had every right to inform the school board that they disagreed with changing schools because the board saw fit to rearrange schools by class and race.

It was too close to an election to press forward with their plans to redo boundary policy to prioritize class/racial makeup of the schools, as Langley pyramid parents weren't the only ones who realized that their kids could be sent to different schools based on their race and class.

Instead of standing up and telling the community that it would be great to rearrange kids based on their immutable characteristics and their parents' bank accounts, and they believed in this and were going to pass the policy anyway, they backed down. They amended the CIP at the last minute to send children from overcrowded Mclean to Langley, which had space. They had to do that to demonstrate that they were not holding Mclean, 2 miles away (ish) overcrowded because Langley had space because they wanted to spread those kids around to other schools based on race and class. Anyone who actually watched the work sessions knows that that is exactly what they are doing, as a new boundary could have easily been timed to coincide with the conclusion of Langley's renovation in 2018.

So the school board stopped working on policy, placated parents, and got their desired result: Dem-endorsed incumbents kept their seats and the last two Rep-endorsed candidates lost theirs to Dems.


As to the Western High School which looks like it will finally be built in the next few years, new schools obviously mean new boundaries. It's perfectly reasonable to expect that the Langley boundary might be impacted. It will be interesting to see which areas would be proposed to replace those removed, but we will have to wait and see.

Don’t forget Langley was one of the identified schools that would be impacted.

It depends on which document you look at. Langley isn't mentioned in connection with the new HS in recent CIPs. It has been mentioned in connection with the new high school in other FCPS correspondence and by past School Board members.

Whether it ultimately gets pulled into the boundary changes depends on whether they go ahead and build the school, its location, and who is on the School Board at the time they adjust the boundaries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

If the only concern was relief for Chantilly and Centreville, I don’t know why they wouldn’t just turn Carson, which is closer to those schools and has more acreage than quite a few high schools, into a secondary school. But they aren’t, and it seems like maybe they are thinking about the anticipated growth along the Silver Line if they build there. And, if they do, there will be some significant boundary changes, which is what Strauss was telling Langley and got them so riled up.

The BOS was placed in a political dilemma and sold the Carson site--which was the logical site to give relief to Centreville and Chantilly--to the Saudi's. There was not any neighborhood input. It was a done deal. The BOS was put into a bind because the initial location for the Saudi school met great protest from the initial place--I think it was Burke. So, undercover, they gave it to the Saudis and said there wasn't enough space for a new high school--which is not true. There was way more than enough space.

The Hutchison site is only accessible from one artery. It is also close to adjacent to the new Innovation Station metro. It is a terrible site for a new high school. It would not be centrally located at all. All the traffic would be coming from one direction --the current high school boundaries surrounding it are Westfield, Herndon, and South Lakes. It is an illogical location for relief of the overcrowded schools.

Maybe imminent domain be used to take homes in Chantilly / Centreville and make room for a new HS. Problem solved.

[Anonymous]

The FPAC annual report for 2016-17 included the following recommendation: "FCPS specifically designate the site where Hutchison Elementary School is located as the site for the new western high school in the next CIP, and include the western high school in the 2019
school bond referendum."

Obviously that wasn't acted upon, but land acquisition costs for the new school are on the 2021 bond.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The FPAC annual report for 2016-17 included the following recommendation: "FCPS specifically designate the site where Hutchison Elementary School is located as the site for the new western high school in the next CIP, and include the western high school in the 2019
school bond referendum."

Obviously that wasn't acted upon, but land acquisition costs for the new school are on the 2021 bond.

So imminent domain it is!