Why is Langley Enrollment Going Down?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The appeal if living far away on large plots of land ended.

This. And even if that subset of buyers doesn't want to live in DC, they'd probably much prefer Arlington, McLean, or Alexandria over Great Falls.

When we were looking, our realtor tried to show us several houses in Great Falls, and I shut that down very quickly. People want walkability and transit, and Great Falls offers zero of that.

Major generalization. Perhaps you do, but those of us who actually live in Great Falls chose it precisely because of its large lots, privacy, huge green spaces, and no metro/urban center. Great Falls attracts people who enjoy a more rural feel and don't want to be living on top of one another in a more urban area. You couldn't pay me to live any closer to DC, and especially not Arlington or Alexandria.

Do you have neighbors with younger children committed to the public schools, PP? I am hoping these neighborhoods will turn over soon and that FCPS will decide it does not have to cannibalize all the surrounding school districts just to fill up schools like Great Falls ES and Langley HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The appeal if living far away on large plots of land ended.

This. And even if that subset of buyers doesn't want to live in DC, they'd probably much prefer Arlington, McLean, or Alexandria over Great Falls.

When we were looking, our realtor tried to show us several houses in Great Falls, and I shut that down very quickly. People want walkability and transit, and Great Falls offers zero of that.

Major generalization. Perhaps you do, but those of us who actually live in Great Falls chose it precisely because of its large lots, privacy, huge green spaces, and no metro/urban center. Great Falls attracts people who enjoy a more rural feel and don't want to be living on top of one another in a more urban area. You couldn't pay me to live any closer to DC, and especially not Arlington or Alexandria.

Do you have neighbors with younger children committed to the public schools, PP? I am hoping these neighborhoods will turn over soon and that FCPS will decide it does not have to cannibalize all the surrounding school districts just to fill up schools like Great Falls ES and Langley HS.

It is a simple tweak to the boundary around Tyson's and McLean, they are closer than most of Great Falls anyway. Move the boundary for Franklin Sherman students to go to Cooper/Langely to be north of Old Dominion and move the boundary in Tyson's to be the students north of Rt 123.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The appeal if living far away on large plots of land ended.

This. And even if that subset of buyers doesn't want to live in DC, they'd probably much prefer Arlington, McLean, or Alexandria over Great Falls.

When we were looking, our realtor tried to show us several houses in Great Falls, and I shut that down very quickly. People want walkability and transit, and Great Falls offers zero of that.

Major generalization. Perhaps you do, but those of us who actually live in Great Falls chose it precisely because of its large lots, privacy, huge green spaces, and no metro/urban center. Great Falls attracts people who enjoy a more rural feel and don't want to be living on top of one another in a more urban area. You couldn't pay me to live any closer to DC, and especially not Arlington or Alexandria.

Might as well live in West Virginia

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The appeal if living far away on large plots of land ended.

This. And even if that subset of buyers doesn't want to live in DC, they'd probably much prefer Arlington, McLean, or Alexandria over Great Falls.

When we were looking, our realtor tried to show us several houses in Great Falls, and I shut that down very quickly. People want walkability and transit, and Great Falls offers zero of that.

Major generalization. Perhaps you do, but those of us who actually live in Great Falls chose it precisely because of its large lots, privacy, huge green spaces, and no metro/urban center. Great Falls attracts people who enjoy a more rural feel and don't want to be living on top of one another in a more urban area. You couldn't pay me to live any closer to DC, and especially not Arlington or Alexandria.

Might as well live in West Virginia

Seriously. The whole "urban centers and metro stops are for the poors" is a last century ideal, dear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The appeal if living far away on large plots of land ended.

This. And even if that subset of buyers doesn't want to live in DC, they'd probably much prefer Arlington, McLean, or Alexandria over Great Falls.

When we were looking, our realtor tried to show us several houses in Great Falls, and I shut that down very quickly. People want walkability and transit, and Great Falls offers zero of that.

Major generalization. Perhaps you do, but those of us who actually live in Great Falls chose it precisely because of its large lots, privacy, huge green spaces, and no metro/urban center. Great Falls attracts people who enjoy a more rural feel and don't want to be living on top of one another in a more urban area. You couldn't pay me to live any closer to DC, and especially not Arlington or Alexandria.

Do you have neighbors with younger children committed to the public schools, PP? I am hoping these neighborhoods will turn over soon and that FCPS will decide it does not have to cannibalize all the surrounding school districts just to fill up schools like Great Falls ES and Langley HS.

It is a simple tweak to the boundary around Tyson's and McLean, they are closer than most of Great Falls anyway. Move the boundary for Franklin Sherman students to go to Cooper/Langely to be north of Old Dominion and move the boundary in Tyson's to be the students north of Rt 123.

Not such a simple tweak if the numbers are in flux.

I think FCPS needs to wait until they build the new HS in western Fairfax and then do a county-wide redistricting. There are so many moving parts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The appeal if living far away on large plots of land ended.

This. And even if that subset of buyers doesn't want to live in DC, they'd probably much prefer Arlington, McLean, or Alexandria over Great Falls.

When we were looking, our realtor tried to show us several houses in Great Falls, and I shut that down very quickly. People want walkability and transit, and Great Falls offers zero of that.

Major generalization. Perhaps you do, but those of us who actually live in Great Falls chose it precisely because of its large lots, privacy, huge green spaces, and no metro/urban center. Great Falls attracts people who enjoy a more rural feel and don't want to be living on top of one another in a more urban area. You couldn't pay me to live any closer to DC, and especially not Arlington or Alexandria.

Do you have neighbors with younger children committed to the public schools, PP? I am hoping these neighborhoods will turn over soon and that FCPS will decide it does not have to cannibalize all the surrounding school districts just to fill up schools like Great Falls ES and Langley HS.

It is a simple tweak to the boundary around Tyson's and McLean, they are closer than most of Great Falls anyway. Move the boundary for Franklin Sherman students to go to Cooper/Langely to be north of Old Dominion and move the boundary in Tyson's to be the students north of Rt 123.

Not such a simple tweak if the numbers are in flux.

I think FCPS needs to wait until they build the new HS in western Fairfax and then do a county-wide redistricting. There are so many moving parts.

Ahh, the classic stall. there is no perfect time to do a boundary change. Marshall and McLean are bursting even more (McLean currently has 10 trailers) and Langley is sitting half empty, the tide will change faster than they can get around to building the elusive western county HS. It won't happen until Langley's renovation is done- so you have at least that long. Moving AAP to Cooper will help for a few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The appeal if living far away on large plots of land ended.

This. And even if that subset of buyers doesn't want to live in DC, they'd probably much prefer Arlington, McLean, or Alexandria over Great Falls.

When we were looking, our realtor tried to show us several houses in Great Falls, and I shut that down very quickly. People want walkability and transit, and Great Falls offers zero of that.

Major generalization. Perhaps you do, but those of us who actually live in Great Falls chose it precisely because of its large lots, privacy, huge green spaces, and no metro/urban center. Great Falls attracts people who enjoy a more rural feel and don't want to be living on top of one another in a more urban area. You couldn't pay me to live any closer to DC, and especially not Arlington or Alexandria.

Do you have neighbors with younger children committed to the public schools, PP? I am hoping these neighborhoods will turn over soon and that FCPS will decide it does not have to cannibalize all the surrounding school districts just to fill up schools like Great Falls ES and Langley HS.

It is a simple tweak to the boundary around Tyson's and McLean, they are closer than most of Great Falls anyway. Move the boundary for Franklin Sherman students to go to Cooper/Langely to be north of Old Dominion and move the boundary in Tyson's to be the students north of Rt 123.

Not such a simple tweak if the numbers are in flux.

I think FCPS needs to wait until they build the new HS in western Fairfax and then do a county-wide redistricting. There are so many moving parts.

Ahh, the classic stall. there is no perfect time to do a boundary change. Marshall and McLean are bursting even more (McLean currently has 10 trailers) and Langley is sitting half empty, the tide will change faster than they can get around to building the elusive western county HS. It won't happen until Langley's renovation is done- so you have at least that long. Moving AAP to Cooper will help for a few years.

Ah, the over-the-top hyperbole! Langley isn't half-empty. It currently has 1967 students in a building designed for 1970 students. The issue comes up primarily because FCPS made the ill-advised decision to expand the school's capacity to 2100 students right before they started projecting Langley's enrollment would decline to around 1750 kids. Rather than adjust their plans to add seats elsewhere, where they are actually needed, they just went ahead and started adding space to Langley, even though they already have students traveling 50 minutes each way to get there. They need to step back and make sure they have sensible county-wide boundaries, and stop feeding Langley more single-family neighborhoods every time someone tells the School Board they want to move to Langley or that it might be under-enrolled years from now.

[Anonymous]

So if the ratings for langley high school went down, wouldn't people just move out to sterling, or other further out areas and do private?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The appeal if living far away on large plots of land ended.

This. And even if that subset of buyers doesn't want to live in DC, they'd probably much prefer Arlington, McLean, or Alexandria over Great Falls.

When we were looking, our realtor tried to show us several houses in Great Falls, and I shut that down very quickly. People want walkability and transit, and Great Falls offers zero of that.

Major generalization. Perhaps you do, but those of us who actually live in Great Falls chose it precisely because of its large lots, privacy, huge green spaces, and no metro/urban center. Great Falls attracts people who enjoy a more rural feel and don't want to be living on top of one another in a more urban area. You couldn't pay me to live any closer to DC, and especially not Arlington or Alexandria.

Do you have neighbors with younger children committed to the public schools, PP? I am hoping these neighborhoods will turn over soon and that FCPS will decide it does not have to cannibalize all the surrounding school districts just to fill up schools like Great Falls ES and Langley HS.

It is a simple tweak to the boundary around Tyson's and McLean, they are closer than most of Great Falls anyway. Move the boundary for Franklin Sherman students to go to Cooper/Langely to be north of Old Dominion and move the boundary in Tyson's to be the students north of Rt 123.

Not such a simple tweak if the numbers are in flux.

I think FCPS needs to wait until they build the new HS in western Fairfax and then do a county-wide redistricting. There are so many moving parts.

Ahh, the classic stall. there is no perfect time to do a boundary change. Marshall and McLean are bursting even more (McLean currently has 10 trailers) and Langley is sitting half empty, the tide will change faster than they can get around to building the elusive western county HS. It won't happen until Langley's renovation is done- so you have at least that long. Moving AAP to Cooper will help for a few years.

Ah, the over-the-top hyperbole! Langley isn't half-empty. It currently has 1967 students in a building designed for 1970 students. The issue comes up primarily because FCPS made the ill-advised decision to expand the school's capacity to 2100 students right before they started projecting Langley's enrollment would decline to around 1750 kids. Rather than adjust their plans to add seats elsewhere, where they are actually needed, they just went ahead and started adding space to Langley, even though they already have students traveling 50 minutes each way to get there. They need to step back and make sure they have sensible county-wide boundaries, and stop feeding Langley more single-family neighborhoods every time someone tells the School Board they want to move to Langley or that it might be under-enrolled years from now.

It is not ill advised to increase Langely's capacity considering its proximity to Tyson's. They are planning on 100,000 more people living in Tyson's in the future. ALL high schools in the area will have to increase their capacity. In fact, there may be a time when Great Falls is pealed away and it goes to Herndon so that Langely can add more students from the Tyson's area. Tyson's is MUCH closer to LHS than Great Falls. There are students that live walking distance (if there were sidewalks) to Langley that go to McLean. In the longterm future, Langely's footprint will expand towards Marshall and McLean and retract from the western part of the county. It just makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The appeal if living far away on large plots of land ended.

This. And even if that subset of buyers doesn't want to live in DC, they'd probably much prefer Arlington, McLean, or Alexandria over Great Falls.

When we were looking, our realtor tried to show us several houses in Great Falls, and I shut that down very quickly. People want walkability and transit, and Great Falls offers zero of that.

Major generalization. Perhaps you do, but those of us who actually live in Great Falls chose it precisely because of its large lots, privacy, huge green spaces, and no metro/urban center. Great Falls attracts people who enjoy a more rural feel and don't want to be living on top of one another in a more urban area. You couldn't pay me to live any closer to DC, and especially not Arlington or Alexandria.

Do you have neighbors with younger children committed to the public schools, PP? I am hoping these neighborhoods will turn over soon and that FCPS will decide it does not have to cannibalize all the surrounding school districts just to fill up schools like Great Falls ES and Langley HS.

It is a simple tweak to the boundary around Tyson's and McLean, they are closer than most of Great Falls anyway. Move the boundary for Franklin Sherman students to go to Cooper/Langely to be north of Old Dominion and move the boundary in Tyson's to be the students north of Rt 123.

Not such a simple tweak if the numbers are in flux.

I think FCPS needs to wait until they build the new HS in western Fairfax and then do a county-wide redistricting. There are so many moving parts.

Ahh, the classic stall. there is no perfect time to do a boundary change. Marshall and McLean are bursting even more (McLean currently has 10 trailers) and Langley is sitting half empty, the tide will change faster than they can get around to building the elusive western county HS. It won't happen until Langley's renovation is done- so you have at least that long. Moving AAP to Cooper will help for a few years.

Ah, the over-the-top hyperbole! Langley isn't half-empty. It currently has 1967 students in a building designed for 1970 students. The issue comes up primarily because FCPS made the ill-advised decision to expand the school's capacity to 2100 students right before they started projecting Langley's enrollment would decline to around 1750 kids. Rather than adjust their plans to add seats elsewhere, where they are actually needed, they just went ahead and started adding space to Langley, even though they already have students traveling 50 minutes each way to get there. They need to step back and make sure they have sensible county-wide boundaries, and stop feeding Langley more single-family neighborhoods every time someone tells the School Board they want to move to Langley or that it might be under-enrolled years from now.

It is not ill advised to increase Langely's capacity considering its proximity to Tyson's. They are planning on 100,000 more people living in Tyson's in the future. ALL high schools in the area will have to increase their capacity. In fact, there may be a time when Great Falls is pealed away and it goes to Herndon so that Langely can add more students from the Tyson's area. Tyson's is MUCH closer to LHS than Great Falls. There are students that live walking distance (if there were sidewalks) to Langley that go to McLean. In the longterm future, Langely's footprint will expand towards Marshall and McLean and retract from the western part of the county. It just makes sense.

It would make more sense to expand McLean and Marshall and/or build additional schools within this new urban Tysons that is expected to materialize by 2050. Barring that, new apartment buildings in Tysons should be added to Langley on an as-needed basis. Reassigning single-family neighborhoods in the Marshall (the Westbriar Island area that FCPS suggests it may move to Colvin Run/Cooper/Langley) or McLean (Shouse Village and/or parts of the Franklin Sherman area) to Langley would be a terrible idea.

[Anonymous]

What is the capacity of the renovated Langley? Will it be able to absorb growth in Tysons with expanded boundaries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the capacity of the renovated Langley? Will it be able to absorb growth in Tysons with expanded boundaries.

2100. FCPS should do administrative boundary adjustments to add new apartments in Tysons to Langley, and leave the SFH neighborhoods zoned for McLean and Marshall alone. They already have more multi-family housing (off Lee Highway, for example) than Langley.

[Anonymous]

If they add a strong AAP program at Cooper, you'd also find some families moving into the current Langley boundaries instead of into the Longfellow and Kilmer boundary areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The appeal if living far away on large plots of land ended.

Sorry, don't think so.

Most rich families are now preferring closer in locations.

This. Rich, young families want to be in Kalorama or 14th St . . . Not out in a dated McMansion

Hmm. We're a "rich young family" and definitely don't want to be in Kalorama, 14th St., or anywhere near DC. Give me five acres with horses any day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The appeal if living far away on large plots of land ended.

This. And even if that subset of buyers doesn't want to live in DC, they'd probably much prefer Arlington, McLean, or Alexandria over Great Falls.

When we were looking, our realtor tried to show us several houses in Great Falls, and I shut that down very quickly. People want walkability and transit, and Great Falls offers zero of that.

Major generalization. Perhaps you do, but those of us who actually live in Great Falls chose it precisely because of its large lots, privacy, huge green spaces, and no metro/urban center. Great Falls attracts people who enjoy a more rural feel and don't want to be living on top of one another in a more urban area. You couldn't pay me to live any closer to DC, and especially not Arlington or Alexandria.

Do you have neighbors with younger children committed to the public schools, PP? I am hoping these neighborhoods will turn over soon and that FCPS will decide it does not have to cannibalize all the surrounding school districts just to fill up schools like Great Falls ES and Langley HS.

I'm the PP and yes, our neighborhood is full of families with school-aged kids (elementary through high school) who attend the public schools. There are one or two families whose kids are in privates, but the vast majority send their kids to public school.