You do realize that was the initial driver for the purchase of this school? Overcrowding in western high schools--especially Chantilly (at 3000) |
Of course. But you may not realize how frequently she talks about Chantilly and its needs in all sorts of Board discussions. Those of us in her district notice that she’s always talking about Chantilly (no matter what the agenda items) and rarely talking about Dranesville schools. |
At least today, Ricardy Anderson and Melanie Meren were the two members who asked the right questions, drove the discussion in the right direction, and tried to hold Reid accountable.
I'm not saying they always are heads and shoulders above the other members, but today they were. In the midst of mediocrity, they stood out. |
I understand. But, today was about a specific issue. And, Chantilly is part of that. |
As an addendum, Dunne was pretty much on point today as well. |
I cannot believe they gave Reid a raise. |
Other DC area public school districts have open campus and also classrooms in separate buildings. So there is precedent. If the KAA campus becomes a specialized high school with a magnet program targeted to the Western portion of the county, then perhaps it could also have an open campus where students could come and go throughout the day, to the nearby airfields for example. |
The only thing I've ever heard Reid suggest that makes sense is to suggest dropping that net zero crap, much to the dismay of Mr. Frisch, who kindly reminded everyone that YEARS! of planning went into that. |
So much for One Fairfax |
And, electric school buses cost four times as much as diesel. Whoever thought that was a good idea? |
I didn’t know she was that imcompetent. I was really surprised by her proposed timeline. We cannot afford to waste time discussing the name of the new school for the next two months. |
Lady is always happy to drop an occasional reference to McLean falling apart, but never committed to doing anything about it. So basically she just keeps spreading the message that it's becoming a school to avoid and that people should prefer renovated schools like Herndon. Her position on KAA is she's toured the building and it's not really suited to being a traditional high school, but Reid didn't seem to share that view and Lady seemed to back off other than to say others ought to tour the building before weighing in on its best future use. |
Reid has succeeded in the impossible: she makes the School Board look smart. |
It was a work session with no clear consensus, but the message that seemed to emerge was open KAA as a traditional high school; consider specialized programs in various areas like AI, aviation, and robotics; and introduce them a few years after the school has reopened at KAA with a view of ensuring similar programs are shortly thereafter available at schools in other parts of the county. I *think* they realize that having specialized programming available only at KAA and restricting access to students otherwise zoned for a few western high schools would infuriate people elsewhere in the county. Reid just approached this as if it would be really cool to have some cutting-edge program that a private corporation might be willing to underwrite at any school in FCPS. It seemed like a resume-building exercise for her, advanced with no appreciation of the optics or how it would be received more broadly. |
I watched the whole thing. You summarize it pretty well. That last paragraph is a perfect synopsis. I do think some of them may be in love with the idea of a "futuristic" school. McElveen was one of those. But, then he went into the "humanities." Honestly, I thought McDaniel had the best statement--basically that this needs to be a traditional high school to relieve the western schools. But, why in the world did she ever think kicking the discussion off with naming the school was a good idea? And, staff knew few answers. Really, really poor presentation of the "possibilities" when the real key is traditional vs specialized. And, that should not have even been part of the discussion. Some of those ideas might work in one of the underserved schools. But, not where you need relief for overcrowding. |