FCPS is turning the new high school purchased to fix crowding into an Aviation magnet school instead of a high school??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So Reid's recognition is a hybrid school with a magnet program that would be restricted to kids otherwise zoned to a handful of western high schools?

How the hell does that square with "equitable access to programming" that is a priority in Policy 8130? Would it survive a legal challenge to deny access to kids in eastern Fairfax?

And she wants to use the two extra buildings for classrooms and labs when they making kids go through security checks to get into the main buildings now?

This woman is so full of shit. Just split the county into two of three parts and let Reid and these other idiots like Robyn Lady preside over western Fairfax.

So much for One Fairfax

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.

Thank you for the summary.

[Anonymous]

Was there any discussion about long bus rides, or is the school board just going to screw Xfield families yet again?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Was there any discussion about long bus rides, or is the school board just going to screw Xfield families yet again?

Others may recall something different; the only thing I recall hearing relevant to that was Karl Frisch saying he thought KAA needed to be a neighborhood high school first and foremost and mentioning that some people have very long commutes to Oakton.

[Anonymous]

At no point in the lengthy work session did I hear Reid or anyone else address what the capacity of KAA would be, with or without additional modifications. Either they don't know or they don't want to say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At no point in the lengthy work session did I hear Reid or anyone else address what the capacity of KAA would be, with or without additional modifications. Either they don't know or they don't want to say.

I think people here have thought about important variables and considerations a lot more than our superintendent and some of our board members have. Which is sad. Maybe they could read this forum and get some ideas about how to prioritize their discussions. These people seem lost and going around in circles. Where is the true leader to step up and cut through the BS and come up with concrete information and action items?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At no point in the lengthy work session did I hear Reid or anyone else address what the capacity of KAA would be, with or without additional modifications. Either they don't know or they don't want to say.

I think people here have thought about important variables and considerations a lot more than our superintendent and some of our board members have. Which is sad. Maybe they could read this forum and get some ideas about how to prioritize their discussions. These people seem lost and going around in circles. Where is the true leader to step up and cut through the BS and come up with concrete information and action items?

Yes, it seemed like 3 hours of talking in circles. How often are they doing these discussions? At that pace, I just don't see this school opening in less than a year. There's so many things to take into consideration and make a decision on in just a few months of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Was there any discussion about long bus rides, or is the school board just going to screw Xfield families yet again?

None! No where near discussing which schools/neighborhoods --just whether a traditional school with defined boundaries or something "special."
Dumbest idea was Reid's: a magnet restricted to Western High schools so they would have relief. Really unrealistic and stupid idea. No one asked if that would mean we would not need to kick kids out of Chantilly or Westfield or Centreville.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At no point in the lengthy work session did I hear Reid or anyone else address what the capacity of KAA would be, with or without additional modifications. Either they don't know or they don't want to say.

I think people here have thought about important variables and considerations a lot more than our superintendent and some of our board members have. Which is sad. Maybe they could read this forum and get some ideas about how to prioritize their discussions. These people seem lost and going around in circles. Where is the true leader to step up and cut through the BS and come up with concrete information and action items?

They definitely seem to function in a leadership vacuum, both at the superintendent level and at the School Board level. The challenge is always figuring out who is responsible for making recommendations, who is responsible for making decisions, and what data is needed before those responsible for making decisions (typically the School Board) can make those decisions.

In the past, work sessions used to result in a series of "next steps" that FCPS staff was supposed to address before the next discussion or any Board decisions. Any School Board member could make a request for additional information; that request would be memorialized; and staff would be expected to provide a response.

That created a lot of work for staff, so they switched to a system where after a meeting a Board member could make a request for more information on an Excel spreadsheet, and FCPS staff would only be expected to respond if a majority of the Board supported the request. Apparently Board members have through September 2nd to file their "next steps" requests relating to today's discussion of both the boundary review and the western HS and through September 5th to vote on whether they support those requests. In the past, the staff responses used to be made public on Board Docs, but that doesn't appear to be the case any longer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was there any discussion about long bus rides, or is the school board just going to screw Xfield families yet again?

None! No where near discussing which schools/neighborhoods --just whether a traditional school with defined boundaries or something "special."
Dumbest idea was Reid's: a magnet restricted to Western High schools so they would have relief. Really unrealistic and stupid idea. No one asked if that would mean we would not need to kick kids out of Chantilly or Westfield or Centreville.

May be discussed earlier in this thread or another thread but one thing that came out of the work session is that FCPS staff and county staff have been at an impasse for the last year over whether the county will give FCPS a permit to increase the density at Centreville HS. So that project has stalled completely and it's possible some of the money earmarked for the CVHS expansion could be reallocated.

[Anonymous]

Another fun thing that came out of today's meeting was that Reid had no idea whether Route 1 is in eastern or northern Fairfax. She's supposed to be overseeing a boundary study but apparently still has no idea where some of the major arteries in the county are located.

[Anonymous]

NO one seemed prepared today.

I will say, I looked at the presentation ahead of time and could not figure out where they were going. Once I watched it, I still couldn't figure it out.

It really should have been simple:
We have lots of options. We could have a traditional school, or something special.
They spent a lot of time on discussing the "something special" when they could have just said, we need a traditional school with defined boundaries.

Maybe, Reid thought by having a magnet only available for the crowded schools that it would avoid affecting the boundary study?
There could be some adjustments around the edges, but, in my view, the boundaries are pretty clear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another fun thing that came out of today's meeting was that Reid had no idea whether Route 1 is in eastern or northern Fairfax. She's supposed to be overseeing a boundary study but apparently still has no idea where some of the major arteries in the county are located.

I missed that part, I guess. My focus was on the West.

Lots of people did not do their homework--including staff. (I was not impressed.) But, it is up to leadership to give them direction and it was pretty clear they had none.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was there any discussion about long bus rides, or is the school board just going to screw Xfield families yet again?

None! No where near discussing which schools/neighborhoods --just whether a traditional school with defined boundaries or something "special."
Dumbest idea was Reid's: a magnet restricted to Western High schools so they would have relief. Really unrealistic and stupid idea. No one asked if that would mean we would not need to kick kids out of Chantilly or Westfield or Centreville.

May be discussed earlier in this thread or another thread but one thing that came out of the work session is that FCPS staff and county staff have been at an impasse for the last year over whether the county will give FCPS a permit to increase the density at Centreville HS. So that project has stalled completely and it's possible some of the money earmarked for the CVHS expansion could be reallocated.

Yeah. I thought that whole part was weird. Permitting is the hold up--which usually has a reason. What is the reason?

[Anonymous]

And, one more thing. Praise to Madame Defarge who was knitting something yellow behind Reid's shoulder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was there any discussion about long bus rides, or is the school board just going to screw Xfield families yet again?

None! No where near discussing which schools/neighborhoods --just whether a traditional school with defined boundaries or something "special."
Dumbest idea was Reid's: a magnet restricted to Western High schools so they would have relief. Really unrealistic and stupid idea. No one asked if that would mean we would not need to kick kids out of Chantilly or Westfield or Centreville.

May be discussed earlier in this thread or another thread but one thing that came out of the work session is that FCPS staff and county staff have been at an impasse for the last year over whether the county will give FCPS a permit to increase the density at Centreville HS. So that project has stalled completely and it's possible some of the money earmarked for the CVHS expansion could be reallocated.

Yeah. I thought that whole part was weird. Permitting is the hold up--which usually has a reason. What is the reason?

They have been planning to expand Centreville to 3000 seats and the site is not huge. Even if there was no reason to think CVHS would actually have 3000 kids any time soon (even assuming some kids from Willow Springs moved there once the school was renovated) maybe the county planning folks had to assume all those additional students would be coming into CVHS off Union Mill Road and Braddock Road and balked.