King Abdullah Academy Closing: FCPS Buy for HS?
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Anonymous
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The facility is a bargain. Renovations can be quick because the school will not be in use--as in the other schools being renovated.
This is fiscally a very good solution. |
Anonymous
| This school was built from scratch by the Saudis hence the beautiful design! |
Anonymous
It’s serendipity in a way. They took over the beautiful, historic Mount Vernon HS, and when they moved out, built a beautiful new facility with all the bells and whistles. That beautiful campus will now become the Western HS. Only took about 30-plus years for the stars to align. |
Anonymous
| Oh, so they demolished an existing building? I thought they purchased the land and developed…had no idea. |
Anonymous
Well, if it is as you claim it to be, why shroud the whole process in secrecy? |
Anonymous
FCPS vacated the old Mount Vernon HS and ISA/KAA moved in, only to move out a few years ago into their new gleaming campus in western Fairfax. The old Mount Vernon HS is currently being renovated into a state of the arts jobs center for the community along the Route 1 corridor. |
Anonymous
Yes, when you negotiate to purchase a house, I'm sure you put out all the details ahead of time. Remember, it was just a very few months ago that KAA announced its closure. And, speaking of secrecy, suggest you look at how the county gave it to KAA to begin with. It was done before anyone in the community knew about it. Prior to that, it was the site of the Western High school. |
Anonymous
If there was actually any competing bidder for the KAA property/school, surely they would have known FCPS was potentially interested from the time KAA announced it was going out of business. Just look at when this thread started. It's a stretch to say FCPS gained any negotiating advantage by keeping this under wraps. It just didn't want to raise false hopes among area residents or invite questions earlier than it is inviting now as to how this acquisition affects the ongoing boundary review and other capital projects. They have a hell of a lot to try and work out, but now they've put it off until the summer where they can reduce the scrutiny. |
Anonymous
| So FCPS definitely bought the Academy site? I'm so excited. |
Anonymous
No, it hasn't bought the KAA site yet. They would like to close by mid-August. |
Anonymous
The property did not become available until well after the boundary review was underway. And, yes, it should affect the review in a number of areas. Great excuse to drop an unpopular idea. |
Anonymous
| I would love to send my kids to a beautiful, smaller high school. |
Anonymous
FCPS could easily make this a smaller format high school, about the size of Lewis, to avoid costly renovations. The downside is that a smaller population would mean less competitiveness in sports with neighboring sports powerhouses like Westfield, South Lakes, etc. But, this small format Western HS could compete with the smaller Loudoun County high schools that are all smaller than 1,500 students. |
Anonymous
Or they could just put it in the National District, which has smaller and/or less competitive FCPS schools like Justice, Falls Church, Mount Vernon, Lewis, and TJ. |
Anonymous
| I grew up in Franklin Farm and went to Crossfield-Franklin-Oakton. While Oakton was a great school, the commute was brutal and I could barely function for the first two periods based on the start time. The new KAA site is 5 mins from my current house, which would be amazing for my kid. |