Mythical Western HS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

A greater demographic balance would improve schools overall. The lower schools would definitely improve and the high performing schools would probably remain about the same. Someone on the board just needs to do what’s best for all kids and not just a select few.

So, you would shift kids in order to balance SES? How would you do that without dividing communities and sending buses here there and yonder?

Given how cautious the 12-0 Democratic School Board has been with respect to boundaries it will never happen. Maybe PP just wanted to extol Fairfax HS as a platonic ideal (although Fairfax only ends up with an “average” 30% FARMS rate because it has an affluent attendance island further west in Willow Springs ES, and a fair number of people there are somewhat miffed they are assigned to Fairfax rather than to schools like Centreville HS closer to their neighborhood).

The SB didn’t have a problem carving up McLean and sending kids to Langley because Langley is wealthier and renovated and they figured most people moved would praise them (although there were some discontents). But they sure have never proposed to move anyone at West Springfield to Lewis, anyone at Woodson to Annandale, anyone at West Potomac to Mount Vernon, or anyone at Chantilly to Herndon, etc. What other than a court order would make them behave differently in the future?

FWIW, Herndon and Chantilly boundaries are not adjacent.

True, but there's an island of homes that attend Oakton, when they should really attend Herndon or south lakes.

Look at the boundary map--there is no island. Oakton boundaries are contiguous. Granted, some are much closer to South Lakes--but not Herndon. Many are much closer to Chantilly--some are pretty much walking distance.

Ok, island was not the correct word. But if you have a Herndon address and live as far west as the parkway/28, you shouldn't be going to oakton.

No, you should be going to Chantilly--and, likely would be--except that Chantilly is overcrowded. That is why those kids go to Oakton. Long, long ago, they went to Chantilly. Chantilly is the closest school to them--not South Lakes and certainly not Herndon.

This is what you run into when you start saying we need to shift boundaries all over the county. People who do not understand the boundaries, the distances, the reasons or the history.

It wouldn't be all over the county. You build a new high school at the bull run location. That would move/shift kids from Centreville, chantilly, Westfields and that tiny oakton stretch.

[Anonymous]

This is what you run into when you start saying we need to shift boundaries all over the county. People who do not understand the boundaries, the distances, the reasons or the history.


It wouldn't be all over the county. You build a new high school at the bull run location. That would move/shift kids from Centreville, chantilly, Westfields and that tiny oakton stretch.

Response was to PP who wants a massive boundary shift in all schools based on demographics.

Of course, a new Western High School is needed to relieve Chantilly and Centreville. But, that 'tiny" Oakton stretch of which you speak is not "tiny." Two elementary schools would be affected. There is a lot of construction in Westfield area,, but I'm not sure it will increase the pouplation of the high school that much. I don't think it includes single family housing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

This is what you run into when you start saying we need to shift boundaries all over the county. People who do not understand the boundaries, the distances, the reasons or the history.


It wouldn't be all over the county. You build a new high school at the bull run location. That would move/shift kids from Centreville, chantilly, Westfields and that tiny oakton stretch.

Response was to PP who wants a massive boundary shift in all schools based on demographics.

Of course, a new Western High School is needed to relieve Chantilly and Centreville. But, that 'tiny" Oakton stretch of which you speak is not "tiny." Two elementary schools would be affected. There is a lot of construction in Westfield area,, but I'm not sure it will increase the pouplation of the high school that much. I don't think it includes single family housing.

The county looks at new development and puts it in three buckets (1) housing that is under construction; (2) housing that has been approved but is not yet under construction; and (3) housing that is the subject of pending applications and also not yet under construction.

FCPS only considers housing that is under construction when it is projecting future school enrollments. It doesn't look at the other two categories and prefers to play catch-up than to plan pro-actively.

For housing under construction it projects the "student yield" based on the types of housing and historical experience. The student yield is higher for detached single-family homes than for townhouses (referred to as "single-family attached" housing), higher for townhouses than for low-rise multi-family housing, and higher for low-rise multi-family than for high-rise multi-family housing. But if you build more multi-family housing, you will get more students.

Based on the latest county analysis, done in December 2022, the number of additional students that various high schools could get from all three development buckets varies widely:

Marshall 797
McLean 665
Westfield 601
South Lakes 591
Edison 223
Falls Church 108
Fairfax 87
Lewis 80
West Potomac 73
Mount Vernon 52
Justice 43
Chantilly 37
Oakton 27
Woodson 25
Hayfield 20
South County 11
Annandale 6
Robinson 4
Langley 4
Herndon 2
Madison 2
Centreville 1
West Springfield 1
Lake Braddock 0

So there are basically four main growth areas: (1) Tysons - affects Marshall and McLean; (2) Silver Line development in Herndon - affects Westfield; (3) Reston - affects South Lakes; and (4) Route 1/Embark - affects Edison.

[Anonymous]

They should coming up with specific plans now to plan for the influx of kids in Tysons and western Fairfax. Instead, we got scum like Elaine Tholen, whose only goal has been to make sure her own school, Langley, wasn't affected by the growth other Democrats were approving.

[Anonymous]

So much for western high school anytime soon I guess...

https://www.ffxnow.com/2025/05/13/pay-raises-staffing-reduced-as-fcps-scrambles-to-balance-budget/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So much for western high school anytime soon I guess...

https://www.ffxnow.com/2025/05/13/pay-raises-staffing-reduced-as-fcps-scrambles-to-balance-budget/

It was already dead when they kept adding seats to South Lakes, then Oakton, then Madison, and then Herndon. Final nail in the coffin was the announced plan to expand Centreville to 3000.

[Anonymous]

These schools are too big. When enough enough? They should be capped at 2000 which already huge. Is FCPS trying to create the largest HSs under one roof? I think the largest now is in Evanston, IL with about 3500.

[Anonymous]

Agree my kids are at a 2800 school-westfield-and it too huge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These schools are too big. When enough enough? They should be capped at 2000 which already huge. Is FCPS trying to create the largest HSs under one roof? I think the largest now is in Evanston, IL with about 3500.

MCPS is a mature jurisdiction like FCPS and they are still opening two new high schools (Woodward and Crown). FCPS is uniquely incompetent when it comes to facilities planning. They neglect schools that need modest additions and invest in giant, unnecessary additions at other schools. No one really wants a high school with 3000 kids. New Trier in IL (Winnetka) may be an exception because it’s a truly excellent school, but West Potomac and Centreville are more like Woodbridge High than New Trier High.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree my kids are at a 2800 school-westfield-and it too huge.

And, yet, Chantilly parents are happy. Is it administration issue?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree my kids are at a 2800 school-westfield-and it too huge.

And, yet, Chantilly parents are happy. Is it administration issue?

Chantilly has a much lower FARMs rate than any of their surrounding schools.

Parents don't want to be moved to a weaker school. Ideally, they want their kids attending a non crowded CHS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This is what you run into when you start saying we need to shift boundaries all over the county. People who do not understand the boundaries, the distances, the reasons or the history.


It wouldn't be all over the county. You build a new high school at the bull run location. That would move/shift kids from Centreville, chantilly, Westfields and that tiny oakton stretch.

Response was to PP who wants a massive boundary shift in all schools based on demographics.

Of course, a new Western High School is needed to relieve Chantilly and Centreville. But, that 'tiny" Oakton stretch of which you speak is not "tiny." Two elementary schools would be affected. There is a lot of construction in Westfield area,, but I'm not sure it will increase the pouplation of the high school that much. I don't think it includes single family housing.

The county looks at new development and puts it in three buckets (1) housing that is under construction; (2) housing that has been approved but is not yet under construction; and (3) housing that is the subject of pending applications and also not yet under construction.

FCPS only considers housing that is under construction when it is projecting future school enrollments. It doesn't look at the other two categories and prefers to play catch-up than to plan pro-actively.

For housing under construction it projects the "student yield" based on the types of housing and historical experience. The student yield is higher for detached single-family homes than for townhouses (referred to as "single-family attached" housing), higher for townhouses than for low-rise multi-family housing, and higher for low-rise multi-family than for high-rise multi-family housing. But if you build more multi-family housing, you will get more students.

Based on the latest county analysis, done in December 2022, the number of additional students that various high schools could get from all three development buckets varies widely:

Marshall 797
McLean 665
Westfield 601
South Lakes 591
Edison 223
Falls Church 108
Fairfax 87
Lewis 80
West Potomac 73
Mount Vernon 52
Justice 43
Chantilly 37
Oakton 27
Woodson 25
Hayfield 20
South County 11
Annandale 6
Robinson 4
Langley 4
Herndon 2
Madison 2
Centreville 1
West Springfield 1
Lake Braddock 0

So there are basically four main growth areas: (1) Tysons - affects Marshall and McLean; (2) Silver Line development in Herndon - affects Westfield; (3) Reston - affects South Lakes; and (4) Route 1/Embark - affects Edison.

Older post, but demonstrates how insane it would be to expand Centreville to 3000 seats while neglecting schools in other parts of the county. FCPS's incompetent approach has been to expand schools simply because they were in an old renovation queue dating back to 2008 without regard to where the projected growth is. That's not planning, it's just wasting taxpayer money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/hard-feelings-over-school-boundaries-prompts-alleged-assault-in-virginia/2015/07/11/a52863be-2801-11e5-b77f-eb13a215f593_story.html

Just a reminder of why SB resists boundary changes. Please remember, this neighborhood was switched to a more affluent school. Almost no one wants their boundaries changed.

To be faie, Kathy Smith was the queen of shady boundary changes.

And i would be LIVID if fcps told me to have two high schoolers in two different schools at the same time. Not Assault Livid, but livid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/hard-feelings-over-school-boundaries-prompts-alleged-assault-in-virginia/2015/07/11/a52863be-2801-11e5-b77f-eb13a215f593_story.html

Just a reminder of why SB resists boundary changes. Please remember, this neighborhood was switched to a more affluent school. Almost no one wants their boundaries changed.

To be faie, Kathy Smith was the queen of shady boundary changes.

And i would be LIVID if fcps told me to have two high schoolers in two different schools at the same time. Not Assault Livid, but livid.

It's longstanding practice that siblings may end up at different schools with a boundary change. You can try and pupil place but the younger sibling can only attend the same school as their older sibling if the school is open to transfers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree my kids are at a 2800 school-westfield-and it too huge.

And, yet, Chantilly parents are happy. Is it administration issue?

Chantilly has a much lower FARMs rate than any of their surrounding schools.

Parents don't want to be moved to a weaker school. Ideally, they want their kids attending a non crowded CHS.

please. What about Oakton?