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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyway, I was at the meeting and the Oakton families are going to have their way. Reid will only listen to the people directly in front of her, and most of us were too scared of the repercussions to speak up. If you know who one of the leaders of this group is, you know why.

If you don't speak up, why should anyone believe that there's many of you who feel this way?

Clearly there are several posters on this board that feel as you do, but I don't see how one can blame Reid for hearing only one side when there's mostly only one side speaking up.

We are all sending letters and calling, but no one is willing to speak out publicly and Michelle Reid seems to only focus on the people who speak up in meetings. I hope more people like me reach out to her and the school board. I just don't want to destroy my children's friendships, frankly, and that's what speaking out in public would do. I know I'm not the only one. It's all anybody was talking about last night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyway, I was at the meeting and the Oakton families are going to have their way. Reid will only listen to the people directly in front of her, and most of us were too scared of the repercussions to speak up. If you know who one of the leaders of this group is, you know why.

If you don't speak up, why should anyone believe that there's many of you who feel this way?

Clearly there are several posters on this board that feel as you do, but I don't see how one can blame Reid for hearing only one side when there's mostly only one side speaking up.

This has been explained. Certain parents who are leading the charge have shall we say a dominating personality and put themselves in charge of a lot of things at school and in the community so they can steer things in their own children’s favor. It’s not so easy to publicly go against people like that knowing it could hurt your child and relationships with neighbors. No matter what happens people have to see each other at school and outside of school. Most people want to avoid drama but some will unfortunately create it if you express disagreement with them.

Again:

If you are an Oakton parent, write the SB members. All of them.

Your main argument: distance and transportation
Secondary: community

Pick an option and tell why it is the best for lots of reasons. I personally prefer Option A. I don't think there is any chance that Meren would support an option that moves Floris and Fox Mill. I also don't think it is reasonable to have the closest neighborhood to KAA go to Westfield --as it does in C and D.

McDaniel has brought up the distance.
Frisch has brought up that Oakton will soon be overcrowded.
If your kids play sports currently, it is likely that they play CYA and most will go to Chantilly or KAA.

All of this. We need to talk about community. We're not part of the Oakton community, we're part of the Oak Hill community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't believe they will go with Option B. I just don't see Meren letting them empty out South Lakes. And, it really makes sense to send Crossfield kids to the new school because of the bus ride--and Oakton is going to soon be overcrowded and it may be too late for them to get assigned to the new school.

Ideally, I would suggest getting rid of IB at South Lakes and/or allowing generous pupil placement to the new school for those Fox Mill kids. Historically, they are unlikely to do that.

This person kept saying this without any evidence. Did you ever speak with Meren?

No. But, Meren is the Hunter Mill representative. Her job is to represent Hunter Mill and look out for her schools.
South Lakes is her school--I think I read that her kids go there. I am sure she wants to please her constituents, and, while she may want to make the Fox Mill parents happy that want to be at KAA, she will also want to please her constituents who will still have kids at South Lakes.

Just the same as Robyn Lady (Dranesville) wants to keep her Great Falls people happy. Why do you think she flip flopped on making KAA a traditional school? She was very much in favor of it being a traditional school until she met with FairFacts.

Seema Dixit has kids in the overcrowded Chantilly, Centreville, and Westfield. While she seems intrigued with a special program like AI, she also knows that those schools need relief.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Posting my thoughts from the meeting before reading others thoughts. I moved into the breakout room for questions virtually

1) They have a Principal, it is the man who opened Westfield.
2) It sounds like there are a lot of teachers interested in teaching at the new school.
3) the boundaries will not be decided until June.
4) Some very vocal Oakton parents really do not want to move. There were a lot of “Oakton isn’t at capacity, don’t make us move”
5) The school will be fully opt in for the first two years.
6) Sports will start as not paprt of the Virginia Sports league that all FCPS schools are a part of, students can choose to try out for their old base schools team if they want.
7) There will be sports but they are going to take time to grow and evolve, they know that.
8) Same for theatre and music and the like.
9) They will have all of the normal classes that Freshmen and Sophomores take
10) Oakton families really don’t want to move, at least the ones that were talking at this meeting.

Thank you. The principal who opened Westfield did a great job. He understood the needs. He also opened South County and was a well respected principal at Chantilly prior to opening Westfield.
I'm a little surprised he is willing to do this. Are you sure it is the same one?

They need to set the boundaries before June. Especially, if they continue with the Comprehensive Boundary Review.

and, they need to have coaches for sports when they open-and have freshman/JV at least.

Dale Rumberger?

[Anonymous]

I thought they’d said Dave Jagels was the planning principal for the western HS but maybe heard wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought they’d said Dave Jagels was the planning principal for the western HS but maybe heard wrong.

I looked up Rumberger. It sounds like (from Linkedin that he might be a consultant to FCPS.) But, maybe, he won't be the principal but is in charge of getting them up and running and advising.
That would be a step in the right direction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought they’d said Dave Jagels was the planning principal for the western HS but maybe heard wrong.

That sounds right but they said he opened Westfield. I could have misheard.

[Anonymous]

Introducing the Western High School enthusiasm meter:

Floris - Super excited, wants to be all in
Oak Hill - Mostly excited, sees the value but some skepticism
Coates & McNair - Doesn’t realize there is a new Western HS, but sure why not?
Fox Mill - Mostly excited, apparently some people like IB
Crossfield - Oh hell nah! The parking lot at Oakton is paved with gold, some silent resistance exists

Did I get that right? 😜

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Introducing the Western High School enthusiasm meter:

Floris - Super excited, wants to be all in
Oak Hill - Mostly excited, sees the value but some skepticism
Coates & McNair - Doesn’t realize there is a new Western HS, but sure why not?
Fox Mill - Mostly excited, apparently some people like IB
Crossfield - Oh hell nah! The parking lot at Oakton is paved with gold, some silent resistance exists

Did I get that right? 😜

Lol. Pretty much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Introducing the Western High School enthusiasm meter:

Floris - Super excited, wants to be all in
Oak Hill - Mostly excited, sees the value but some skepticism
Coates & McNair - Doesn’t realize there is a new Western HS, but sure why not?
Fox Mill - Mostly excited, apparently some people like IB
Crossfield - Oh hell nah! The parking lot at Oakton is paved with gold, some silent resistance exists

Did I get that right? 😜

I think you are judging by DCUM and the community meetings. Both will get the loudest, but not necessarily the largest.

But, I think any Oak Hill skepticism is from the parents of the first kids to go. It's pretty much a done deal for Oak Hill.
Crossfield supporters are afraid to talk.
Fox Mill excitement may be misplaced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Introducing the Western High School enthusiasm meter:

Floris - Super excited, wants to be all in
Oak Hill - Mostly excited, sees the value but some skepticism
Coates & McNair - Doesn’t realize there is a new Western HS, but sure why not?
Fox Mill - Mostly excited, apparently some people like IB
Crossfield - Oh hell nah! The parking lot at Oakton is paved with gold, some silent resistance exists

Did I get that right? 😜

Lol. Pretty much.

Chantilly/Centreville ES’ - Wait, we’re moving to Westfield?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't believe they will go with Option B. I just don't see Meren letting them empty out South Lakes. And, it really makes sense to send Crossfield kids to the new school because of the bus ride--and Oakton is going to soon be overcrowded and it may be too late for them to get assigned to the new school.

Ideally, I would suggest getting rid of IB at South Lakes and/or allowing generous pupil placement to the new school for those Fox Mill kids. Historically, they are unlikely to do that.

This person kept saying this without any evidence. Did you ever speak with Meren?

No. But, Meren is the Hunter Mill representative. Her job is to represent Hunter Mill and look out for her schools.
South Lakes is her school--I think I read that her kids go there. I am sure she wants to please her constituents, and, while she may want to make the Fox Mill parents happy that want to be at KAA, she will also want to please her constituents who will still have kids at South Lakes.

Just the same as Robyn Lady (Dranesville) wants to keep her Great Falls people happy. Why do you think she flip flopped on making KAA a traditional school? She was very much in favor of it being a traditional school until she met with FairFacts.

Seema Dixit has kids in the overcrowded Chantilly, Centreville, and Westfield. While she seems intrigued with a special program like AI, she also knows that those schools need relief.

In other words, you don’t have a clue.

SLHS people are not actively trying to keep Fox Mill kids. If anything, they may be glad to become less crowded. Did you see anyone from Hughes MS boundary say they want to keep Fox Mill kids in SLHS? I haven’t seen any.

This is not like the 2008 realignment. Back then, SLHS had a bad rep and fewer than 1,700 kids, if I remember correctly. SLHS is now 2,500 and well established.

Fox Mill is in Hunter Mill, and Meren will listen to their voice just like other board members listen to their constituents. If Fox Mill people reach out to her to move to the western school, she will be supportive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading about the plans for the new western HS are depressing. All the opt-in, opt-out options and preliminary arrangements sound like something DCPS would do if they opened a new school and didn't know if anyone would want to attend. It's the polar opposite of what FCPS used to do and LCPS still does when opening new schools - open it when it's ready and then operate on the assumption that it's not just acceptable, but a great opportunity, for those assigned to the new school.

The whole thing is just a testament to how FCPS has lost its way. Michelle Reid is now not just up to the task of running FCPS; she's doing affirmative damage to the school system.

I think part of it is that the school just isn't ready to hold 2000 kids as of today. If you did the tour last week you would see that they will need to knock down walls, build out additional buildings, turn one of the 3 gyms into 2 floors of of classrooms, and build out additional cafeteria space since the 2 cafeterias are tiny. There's just no way to get that done before an august start, so they have to ease into it and maybe operate one of either the current boys side or girls side while the opposite side is built out and the other athletic fields are constructed.

I wish they would wait a year to open.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Introducing the Western High School enthusiasm meter:

Floris - Super excited, wants to be all in
Oak Hill - Mostly excited, sees the value but some skepticism
Coates & McNair - Doesn’t realize there is a new Western HS, but sure why not?
Fox Mill - Mostly excited, apparently some people like IB
Crossfield - Oh hell nah! The parking lot at Oakton is paved with gold, some silent resistance exists

Did I get that right? 😜

Yep. Crossfield is filled with a lot of lily white rich parents and they want their Oakton no matter what.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Introducing the Western High School enthusiasm meter:

Floris - Super excited, wants to be all in
Oak Hill - Mostly excited, sees the value but some skepticism
Coates & McNair - Doesn’t realize there is a new Western HS, but sure why not?
Fox Mill - Mostly excited, apparently some people like IB
Crossfield - Oh hell nah! The parking lot at Oakton is paved with gold, some silent resistance exists

Did I get that right? 😜

Yep. Crossfield is filled with a lot of lily white rich parents and they want their Oakton no matter what.

Racist much?