Future Western High School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP, but as long as the Langley posters keep arrogantly insisting that in no way, shape, or form can they possibly be affected by a new western high school, when kids living next door to Loudoun are getting bussed 12 miles or so to a school near Arlington, the more others will keep reminding them they live in the same county as the rest of us.

And the whole “look at the map” shtick is getting old when the map highlights how far we’ve been bussing rich kids to their rich-kid school.

This thread is starting to go in circles, but posts like this one keep ignoring that bussing Great Falls kids to Langley is the right thing to do from a capacity management standpoint -- Langley is well under capacity (i.e. needs students) and Great Falls parents want their kids to go there. There is literally no incentive for the School Board -- irrespective of who is on the School Board -- to change that. The comments on this thread largely reinforce the point. There don't appear to be any Langley parents from outside Great Falls saying "get those snotty kids out of our school." There also don't appear to be any parents looking to get redistricted into Langley.

Yes, there are parts of Great Falls that are closer to Herndon. But there are also plenty of high schools in the western part of the county that need capacity relief. If the new school gets built, that will be the target for redistricting. It would be huge stretch to lump Langley -- on the other side of the county -- into that discussion. And, like it or not, there is no logical reason to move kids out of a school that is below capacity even if another school is more convenient.

(Although worth noting is that the parts of Great Falls that are closest to Herndon are also the most lightly populated. So you aren't talking about a lot of students.)

Even Tysons growth likely doesn't change that analysis. The only way that Great Falls kids are getting moved is through an across-the-board redistricting . . . and that would likely be political suicide for the School Board.

The above post is just bogus. The low density areas that feed to Langley are western Mclean - outside the special tax district which go to Spring Hill ES, most of the Great Falls ES attendance area, a portion of the Colvin Run attendance area that used to go to Great Falls ES, small portion of what remained at Forestville.

Exactly what parts of Great Falls have Herndon, Reston, or Vienna addresses? " Parts of Great Falls closest to Herndon HS" is so wrong because those residences are not in Great Falls except for Holly Knoll which is not low density and neither are those Herndon addresses.

Pull up boundary maps- easy to find. Here's who got sent to Colvin Run from Forestville [on green spot on the left called Nike Park], Great Falls [near green spot called Great Falls Grange], and Spring Hill. Across Route 7 from Colvin Run is the Toll Bros development. No administrative boundary change from Spring Hill. Find the logic. I cannot unless FCPS is waiting for something big.

Safa Court, Herndon-Forestville, Cooper, Langley. 2.6 miles to Herndon HS. 14.2 to 17 miles to Langley depending on the route.

Dog with bone. JFC.
DP

DP - this is like a drinking game to you. Even when neutral comments about your pet area are made you act like the sky is falling. Give it a rest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Looking at the map it seems possible that the county could take (what appers on paper) to be open space and build a road connecting Parcher to Herndon Parkway, but I have no idea if that's financially feasible.


That belongs to the adjacent (town)homeowners association. Optics of taking that would be very bad.

Not to mention that the areas that would be affected will all need to go in the opposite direction. I suspect that PP is not familiar with the area. This will end up being like Langley--at the far edge of the boundary. Why would you want to repeat that? FWIW, Herndon High is very close to Herndon Parkway.


I think the ES would remain.

Doesn't look like there are many good solutions I guess.

We'll just have to see what they do.

I also wonder where they will put the elementary school that replaces Hutchison?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Looking at the map it seems possible that the county could take (what appers on paper) to be open space and build a road connecting Parcher to Herndon Parkway, but I have no idea if that's financially feasible.


That belongs to the adjacent (town)homeowners association. Optics of taking that would be very bad.

Not to mention that the areas that would be affected will all need to go in the opposite direction. I suspect that PP is not familiar with the area. This will end up being like Langley--at the far edge of the boundary. Why would you want to repeat that? FWIW, Herndon High is very close to Herndon Parkway.


I think the ES would remain.

Doesn't look like there are many good solutions I guess.

We'll just have to see what they do.

I also wonder where they will put the elementary school that replaces Hutchison?

I think the ES would stay

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The situation with kids who live Centreville and Clifton going to Fairfax is a result of weird boundaries due to all Fairfax City kids attending Fairfax, even though some are closer to Oakton and Woodson, and Madison/Oakton/Fairfax/Woodson being so close to one another. It's also not ideal, as there are families at Fairfax who'd like to send their kids to Centreville, which is closer.

This comment makes no sense at all. Yes, all Fairfax City kids go to Fairfax. But, the reason those kids out near Clifton/Centreville go there is because of the overcrowding at Centreville. Period. Some of them live a mile from Centreville. The next closest school to them is Chantilly, which is also overcrowded. It has nothing to do with Woodson or Oakton.

Herndon is being expanded to 2500 seats, so between those additional seats and another 2500 or seats that might be added with a new high school, it is certainly possible that Herndon HS could have space to take on students from Langley, and Langley in turn might be able to accommodate more students who live closer to the school than the western parts of Great Falls.

When and if there is space at Herndon, that could be considered. Right now--or, at least, last year--Herndon has many more kids than Langley.

Of course, that all remains to be determined. What is unfortunate, however, is the prospect that people will actively work behind the scenes to kill the construction of a new school simply because they don't want Langley's boundaries even potentially to be revisited, or the idea that nothing can move forward unless Langley, alone among the high schools attended by students living in the western part of the county, receives some sort of iron-clad guarantee ahead of time that it will be scoped out of any future adjustments. No single school community should be allowed to exert such an outsized influence on FCPS decisions.

I have no idea what the future holds iwth capacity and projections. There are schools that are bursting at the seams--and they are not Langley. My objection to the Hutchison site is traffic mitigation. It would be a horrible place for a high school. I doubt seriously that anyone plans to put a bridge across the toll road to help the traffic pattern and there is nowhere else to go but Elden St which can hardly handle the traffic there at present during commuter hours. With Metro coming, commuter traffic will be worse.

Looking at the map it seems possible that the county could take (what appers on paper) to be open space and build a road connecting Parcher to Herndon Parkway, but I have no idea if that's financially feasible.

That belongs to the adjacent (town)homeowners association. Optics of taking that would be very bad.

I have to laugh (OK, cry) at the suggestion that optics as opposed to power politics and making one’s friends happy drive School Board decisions.

The optics of Frisch screwing Shrevewood for years so he could save a dog park in Oakton are awful.

The optics of Tholen shoving aside a staff recommendation so she could make sure no apartments were reassigned to Langley are awful.

The optics of Corbett Sanders supporting a $40-45 million addition to West Potomac when Mount Vernon is 20% below capacity are awful.

They really don’t care about optics because they live in an echo chamber and can find a way to justify anything they want to do. And they have scores of enablers in the leadership ranks of the Fairfax Democrats who’ll back them up because it’s assumed the Koch Brothers must be behind any criticism of the School Board.

[Anonymous]

I have to laugh (OK, cry) at the suggestion that optics as opposed to power politics and making one’s friends happy drive School Board decisions.

The optics of Frisch screwing Shrevewood for years so he could save a dog park in Oakton are awful.

The optics of Tholen shoving aside a staff recommendation so she could make sure no apartments were reassigned to Langley are awful.

The optics of Corbett Sanders supporting a $40-45 million addition to West Potomac when Mount Vernon is 20% below capacity are awful.

They really don’t care about optics because they live in an echo chamber and can find a way to justify anything they want to do. And they have scores of enablers in the leadership ranks of the Fairfax Democrats who’ll back them up because it’s assumed the Koch Brothers must be behind any criticism of the School Board.

None hold a candle to Kathy Smith.
Way back when only schools with a certain percentage of FARMS had all day K, she sent a poor neighborhood to her own affluent neighborhood school so they could get all day K. Then, when All Day K was approved for every school, she redistricted them out.

And, now, this very good Dem sits on the Board of Supervisors.

[Anonymous]

Yes, taking a private park from a poor neighborhood in Her do. is exactly what FCPS should do. That’ll help everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are massive disparities in school quality in FCPS and those in schools they view as high quality or better than local alternatives will support the status quo rather than risk redistricting pushing them into a worse district

There are not disparities in school quality. There are disparities in student quality, and moving kids around will not do a thing to solve that problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are massive disparities in school quality in FCPS and those in schools they view as high quality or better than local alternatives will support the status quo rather than risk redistricting pushing them into a worse district

There are not disparities in school quality. There are disparities in student quality, and moving kids around will not do a thing to solve that problem.

Amen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Starting to build in 2029?

So if my kids will graduate from Langley in 2032, 2033, 2034, should I worry about redistricting?

Yes, because the Marxists on the school board are pushing hard to update the boundary change policy to allow for socioeconomic balancing. They plan to update the policy, then initiate boundary reviews for all schools where the students are too wealthy, so they can swap them with poorer students. This will bring down test scores at the wealthy schools and raise them up at poorer schools (without actually improving any individal student achievement, mind you) so they can pat themselves on the back and cry "One Fairfax!".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I hear enrollment at Great Falls elementary is up due to so many people with young children moving in the past year, and anecdotally several houses have gone from being owned and occupied by retirees to being bought by families with school- aged children. Maybe the next CIP will show growth, we'll see.

Enrollment numbers are all up in the air right now due to the pandemic, but FCPS has been under-forecasting enrollment at Langley and its feeders for a decade now (meaning, they consistently predict that there will be fewer students than there actually are.) Not sure of the motive for this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, taking a private park from a poor neighborhood in Her do. is exactly what FCPS should do. That’ll help everyone.

As opposed to fields and other recreational facilities at a new school that could be made available for community use?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I hear enrollment at Great Falls elementary is up due to so many people with young children moving in the past year, and anecdotally several houses have gone from being owned and occupied by retirees to being bought by families with school- aged children. Maybe the next CIP will show growth, we'll see.

Enrollment numbers are all up in the air right now due to the pandemic, but FCPS has been under-forecasting enrollment at Langley and its feeders for a decade now (meaning, they consistently predict that there will be fewer students than there actually are.) Not sure of the motive for this.

Maybe they just have an inadequate forecasting model, not a “motive.” Some of the Great Falls residents, on the other hand, do seem to have a motive when they claim that Langley taking on a growing part of Tysons would overcrowd the school (see GFCA statements) yet confidently assert there’d be no possible scenario where it would make sense to move Langley kids to Herndon when a new school opens because Langley will still be below capacity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I hear enrollment at Great Falls elementary is up due to so many people with young children moving in the past year, and anecdotally several houses have gone from being owned and occupied by retirees to being bought by families with school- aged children. Maybe the next CIP will show growth, we'll see.

Enrollment numbers are all up in the air right now due to the pandemic, but FCPS has been under-forecasting enrollment at Langley and its feeders for a decade now (meaning, they consistently predict that there will be fewer students than there actually are.) Not sure of the motive for this.

Maybe they just have an inadequate forecasting model, not a “motive.” Some of the Great Falls residents, on the other hand, do seem to have a motive when they claim that Langley taking on a growing part of Tysons would overcrowd the school (see GFCA statements) yet confidently assert there’d be no possible scenario where it would make sense to move Langley kids to Herndon when a new school opens because Langley will still be below capacity.

I'm the PP who wrote earlier about this thread going around in circles. Good to see that nothing has changed. Also don't see why people are so obsessed with this. No one is saying that there is no possible scenario. Quite a few people are (correctly) saying that it's very unlikely that kids would be moved out of an under-capacity school. They are also (correctly) saying that the schools most in need of capacity relief are on the other side of the county from Langley. That's not going to change if/when a new HS is built, irrespective of whether it opens up capacity at Herndon.

Also, let's be honest: If you redistrict some of Great Falls to Herndon, many of those kids are going to private school. Interpret that however you would like. But that's what would happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, taking a private park from a poor neighborhood in Her do. is exactly what FCPS should do. That’ll help everyone.

As opposed to fields and other recreational facilities at a new school that could be made available for community use?

Better to take from the poors, right?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, taking a private park from a poor neighborhood in Her do. is exactly what FCPS should do. That’ll help everyone.

As opposed to fields and other recreational facilities at a new school that could be made available for community use?

Better to take from the poors, right?!

Also, note the sarcasm.