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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let’s say the new school is a magnet in disguise. Why are people mad about it? If it pulls from all traditional overcrowded schools (albeit potentially unevenly) how does the opt in bother people more than the slight carve outs to their neighborhoods? People seem to be really insistent that “we need a new traditional” school but when pressed it’s due to overpopulation at other schools so if we reduce that and are a magnet school why does anyone care? Can anyone explain this other than jealousy of their kids are not interested in the pathways? I can’t. 50% of white collar jobs are predicted to be gone in 10 years. Is it time for a new school with a new perspective? I’d say it is.

You could start by focusing on which schools are actually overcrowded and which pyramids will send any significant numbers of kids to the new school under an opt-in system. That alone ought to answer some of your rhetorical questions.

And if you really think FCPS isn’t teaching kids the right skills for the future, some specialized courses at a single HS can’t be the right answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let’s say the new school is a magnet in disguise. Why are people mad about it? If it pulls from all traditional overcrowded schools (albeit potentially unevenly) how does the opt in bother people more than the slight carve outs to their neighborhoods? People seem to be really insistent that “we need a new traditional” school but when pressed it’s due to overpopulation at other schools so if we reduce that and are a magnet school why does anyone care? Can anyone explain this other than jealousy of their kids are not interested in the pathways? I can’t. 50% of white collar jobs are predicted to be gone in 10 years. Is it time for a new school with a new perspective? I’d say it is.

The opt in was for one year and only occurred because the School Board wouldn’t set the boundaries to tell people that their kids were assigned to the school. They didn’t want to leave the school unused for a second year so they decided to let kids opt-in to the school. It was limited to the 5 pyramids that might have kids attend and was supposed to be set up so that the kids who were listed in the 4 maps had priority if more then 500 kids opted in.

All we know now is that they did not reach the 1,000 kids they wanted but have not seen numbers for the 9th grade and 10th grade classes. I would guess that 9th grade is close to 500 and 10th grade is not. I would guess that we will have a better idea after the February meeting for students and parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s say the new school is a magnet in disguise. Why are people mad about it? If it pulls from all traditional overcrowded schools (albeit potentially unevenly) how does the opt in bother people more than the slight carve outs to their neighborhoods? People seem to be really insistent that “we need a new traditional” school but when pressed it’s due to overpopulation at other schools so if we reduce that and are a magnet school why does anyone care? Can anyone explain this other than jealousy of their kids are not interested in the pathways? I can’t. 50% of white collar jobs are predicted to be gone in 10 years. Is it time for a new school with a new perspective? I’d say it is.

You could start by focusing on which schools are actually overcrowded and which pyramids will send any significant numbers of kids to the new school under an opt-in system. That alone ought to answer some of your rhetorical questions.

And if you really think FCPS isn’t teaching kids the right skills for the future, some specialized courses at a single HS can’t be the right answer.

Specialized courses at high schools should not be the answer yet that is the path FCPS has taken. The acadamies are essentially specialized courses at specific schools. Kids don’t transfer schools to attend the academies, which would make sense, but are bussed for individual classes. I would love to see the breakdown of kids at each academy, I would guess that most of the participants are from the school that houses the academy. You have specialized pathways at schools like Chantilly. You have the leadership program at Lewis. Western is not the first school with a specialization and it probably won’t be the last.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s say the new school is a magnet in disguise. Why are people mad about it? If it pulls from all traditional overcrowded schools (albeit potentially unevenly) how does the opt in bother people more than the slight carve outs to their neighborhoods? People seem to be really insistent that “we need a new traditional” school but when pressed it’s due to overpopulation at other schools so if we reduce that and are a magnet school why does anyone care? Can anyone explain this other than jealousy of their kids are not interested in the pathways? I can’t. 50% of white collar jobs are predicted to be gone in 10 years. Is it time for a new school with a new perspective? I’d say it is.

The opt in was for one year and only occurred because the School Board wouldn’t set the boundaries to tell people that their kids were assigned to the school. They didn’t want to leave the school unused for a second year so they decided to let kids opt-in to the school. It was limited to the 5 pyramids that might have kids attend and was supposed to be set up so that the kids who were listed in the 4 maps had priority if more then 500 kids opted in.

All we know now is that they did not reach the 1,000 kids they wanted but have not seen numbers for the 9th grade and 10th grade classes. I would guess that 9th grade is close to 500 and 10th grade is not. I would guess that we will have a better idea after the February meeting for students and parents.

]]This is not true. Kids were told if they opt in, they have to stay for all of HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s say the new school is a magnet in disguise. Why are people mad about it? If it pulls from all traditional overcrowded schools (albeit potentially unevenly) how does the opt in bother people more than the slight carve outs to their neighborhoods? People seem to be really insistent that “we need a new traditional” school but when pressed it’s due to overpopulation at other schools so if we reduce that and are a magnet school why does anyone care? Can anyone explain this other than jealousy of their kids are not interested in the pathways? I can’t. 50% of white collar jobs are predicted to be gone in 10 years. Is it time for a new school with a new perspective? I’d say it is.

The opt in was for one year and only occurred because the School Board wouldn’t set the boundaries to tell people that their kids were assigned to the school. They didn’t want to leave the school unused for a second year so they decided to let kids opt-in to the school. It was limited to the 5 pyramids that might have kids attend and was supposed to be set up so that the kids who were listed in the 4 maps had priority if more then 500 kids opted in.

All we know now is that they did not reach the 1,000 kids they wanted but have not seen numbers for the 9th grade and 10th grade classes. I would guess that 9th grade is close to 500 and 10th grade is not. I would guess that we will have a better idea after the February meeting for students and parents.

]]This is not true. Kids were told if they opt in, they have to stay for all of HS.

Yes, that is true. Kids who opted in agreed to attend all 4 years.

By the opt in being for this first year I meant it is the only year that kids can choose to attend Western and that is only because the boundaries have not been set. Next year there will be boundaries and those are the kids who will attend, kids from outside the boundaries will not be given the option.

Next year anyone who is from outside the boundary area will have to look at pupil placing, which will require that they have a reason for changing schools, have Western as the closest school available, and pay the $100 fee to process the application. SLHS kids looking for AP might be able to pupil place at Western because it will be the closest AP school for some of the kids. I don’t know if they will let kids pupil place for the pathways. We have no idea if Western will be open for pupil placement or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s say the new school is a magnet in disguise. Why are people mad about it? If it pulls from all traditional overcrowded schools (albeit potentially unevenly) how does the opt in bother people more than the slight carve outs to their neighborhoods? People seem to be really insistent that “we need a new traditional” school but when pressed it’s due to overpopulation at other schools so if we reduce that and are a magnet school why does anyone care? Can anyone explain this other than jealousy of their kids are not interested in the pathways? I can’t. 50% of white collar jobs are predicted to be gone in 10 years. Is it time for a new school with a new perspective? I’d say it is.

The opt in was for one year and only occurred because the School Board wouldn’t set the boundaries to tell people that their kids were assigned to the school. They didn’t want to leave the school unused for a second year so they decided to let kids opt-in to the school. It was limited to the 5 pyramids that might have kids attend and was supposed to be set up so that the kids who were listed in the 4 maps had priority if more then 500 kids opted in.

All we know now is that they did not reach the 1,000 kids they wanted but have not seen numbers for the 9th grade and 10th grade classes. I would guess that 9th grade is close to 500 and 10th grade is not. I would guess that we will have a better idea after the February meeting for students and parents.

]]This is not true. Kids were told if they opt in, they have to stay for all of HS.

Yes, that is true. Kids who opted in agreed to attend all 4 years.

By the opt in being for this first year I meant it is the only year that kids can choose to attend Western and that is only because the boundaries have not been set. Next year there will be boundaries and those are the kids who will attend, kids from outside the boundaries will not be given the option.

Next year anyone who is from outside the boundary area will have to look at pupil placing, which will require that they have a reason for changing schools, have Western as the closest school available, and pay the $100 fee to process the application. SLHS kids looking for AP might be able to pupil place at Western because it will be the closest AP school for some of the kids. I don’t know if they will let kids pupil place for the pathways. We have no idea if Western will be open for pupil placement or not.

You really need to stop posting as if you know how this is all going to play out.

They wanted to open with 1000 kids opting in from five pyramids. Anecdotally, it sounds like they didn't get that much interest. Time will tell whether open up admission to others.

They ask students to make a four-year commitment, but the boundaries haven't been set and there's no commitment to providing transportation. If a student opts in but is then later denied transportation to Skyline, they could end up letting the student attend their base school.

They say they will have an opt-out model for 2027-28, but if enough rising 9th graders opt out and enrollment remains low, they may end up opening admission to others not within the attendance zone.

What they envision and what will actually happen could be very different. They've approached this in a really bone-headed manner and put all the risks on families. That is already starting to backfire, if the reports of not hitting their targets for 2026-27 are correct.

We get there's a cohort of kids from Westfield and South Lakes at Carson opting into Western to stay together, but it may not be a sizable number of kids. That also does nothing for Chantilly, the only school that remains seriously overcrowded in the area. If you really think the overcrowding at Chantilly is serious, you don't wait three years to attack it meaningfully.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s say the new school is a magnet in disguise. Why are people mad about it? If it pulls from all traditional overcrowded schools (albeit potentially unevenly) how does the opt in bother people more than the slight carve outs to their neighborhoods? People seem to be really insistent that “we need a new traditional” school but when pressed it’s due to overpopulation at other schools so if we reduce that and are a magnet school why does anyone care? Can anyone explain this other than jealousy of their kids are not interested in the pathways? I can’t. 50% of white collar jobs are predicted to be gone in 10 years. Is it time for a new school with a new perspective? I’d say it is.

The opt in was for one year and only occurred because the School Board wouldn’t set the boundaries to tell people that their kids were assigned to the school. They didn’t want to leave the school unused for a second year so they decided to let kids opt-in to the school. It was limited to the 5 pyramids that might have kids attend and was supposed to be set up so that the kids who were listed in the 4 maps had priority if more then 500 kids opted in.

All we know now is that they did not reach the 1,000 kids they wanted but have not seen numbers for the 9th grade and 10th grade classes. I would guess that 9th grade is close to 500 and 10th grade is not. I would guess that we will have a better idea after the February meeting for students and parents.

]]This is not true. Kids were told if they opt in, they have to stay for all of HS.

Yes, that is true. Kids who opted in agreed to attend all 4 years.

By the opt in being for this first year I meant it is the only year that kids can choose to attend Western and that is only because the boundaries have not been set. Next year there will be boundaries and those are the kids who will attend, kids from outside the boundaries will not be given the option.

Next year anyone who is from outside the boundary area will have to look at pupil placing, which will require that they have a reason for changing schools, have Western as the closest school available, and pay the $100 fee to process the application. SLHS kids looking for AP might be able to pupil place at Western because it will be the closest AP school for some of the kids. I don’t know if they will let kids pupil place for the pathways. We have no idea if Western will be open for pupil placement or not.

You really need to stop posting as if you know how this is all going to play out.

They wanted to open with 1000 kids opting in from five pyramids. Anecdotally, it sounds like they didn't get that much interest. Time will tell whether open up admission to others.

They ask students to make a four-year commitment, but the boundaries haven't been set and there's no commitment to providing transportation. If a student opts in but is then later denied transportation to Skyline, they could end up letting the student attend their base school.

They say they will have an opt-out model for 2027-28, but if enough rising 9th graders opt out and enrollment remains low, they may end up opening admission to others not within the attendance zone.

What they envision and what will actually happen could be very different. They've approached this in a really bone-headed manner and put all the risks on families. That is already starting to backfire, if the reports of not hitting their targets for 2026-27 are correct.

We get there's a cohort of kids from Westfield and South Lakes at Carson opting into Western to stay together, but it may not be a sizable number of kids. That also does nothing for Chantilly, the only school that remains seriously overcrowded in the area. If you really think the overcrowding at Chantilly is serious, you don't wait three years to attack it meaningfully.

And, the boundary study has ADDED kids to Chantilly. Next year should be fun......

[Anonymous]

If I had a say, the boundaries would have been set in January and the only option would have been to opt out, but I am not. I can only speculate based on what the info that has been put out.

My only point in the opting in was that it is only meant to be this year because of how they screwed up the process. People ar eposting as if the opt in option from this year means the school will be a magnate (sp) school. It doesn’t. It is a unique option for this year.

Families at Chantilly that are not happy with the size of the school had the choice to opt in. We don’t know if they did or they did not. The SLHS PTA was told that 40-45 9th graders from SLHS opted in to Western. Those are the only numbers we have heard.

Chantilly will see kids move in 2 years when the boundaries are set.

Do I think things can shift? Yes, they have been shifting this entire time. I wish they would release the numbers, I am curious and I think it would hel with speculation. But that is me. I am guessing that we will find out how many kids opted in at the meeting in a few weeks.

[Anonymous]

They are setting boundaries after opt-in is done probably to find an option with least resistance. After setting boundaries, if some people question the decision, they can say that: it's that way because your area has a high number of opt-in students which indicates that majority of students in the area wants to go to the new high school. Setting boundaries this way creates problems for the following years, although it's a politically "smart" approach.

Anonymous wrote:If I had a say, the boundaries would have been set in January and the only option would have been to opt out, but I am not. I can only speculate based on what the info that has been put out.

My only point in the opting in was that it is only meant to be this year because of how they screwed up the process. People ar eposting as if the opt in option from this year means the school will be a magnate (sp) school. It doesn’t. It is a unique option for this year.

Families at Chantilly that are not happy with the size of the school had the choice to opt in. We don’t know if they did or they did not. The SLHS PTA was told that 40-45 9th graders from SLHS opted in to Western. Those are the only numbers we have heard.

Chantilly will see kids move in 2 years when the boundaries are set.

Do I think things can shift? Yes, they have been shifting this entire time. I wish they would release the numbers, I am curious and I think it would hel with speculation. But that is me. I am guessing that we will find out how many kids opted in at the meeting in a few weeks.

[Anonymous]

Is this insider information, or an educated guess?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are setting boundaries after opt-in is done probably to find an option with least resistance. After setting boundaries, if some people question the decision, they can say that: it's that way because your area has a high number of opt-in students which indicates that majority of students in the area wants to go to the new high school. Setting boundaries this way creates problems for the following years, although it's a politically "smart" approach.

Anonymous wrote:If I had a say, the boundaries would have been set in January and the only option would have been to opt out, but I am not. I can only speculate based on what the info that has been put out.

My only point in the opting in was that it is only meant to be this year because of how they screwed up the process. People ar eposting as if the opt in option from this year means the school will be a magnate (sp) school. It doesn’t. It is a unique option for this year.

Families at Chantilly that are not happy with the size of the school had the choice to opt in. We don’t know if they did or they did not. The SLHS PTA was told that 40-45 9th graders from SLHS opted in to Western. Those are the only numbers we have heard.

Chantilly will see kids move in 2 years when the boundaries are set.

Do I think things can shift? Yes, they have been shifting this entire time. I wish they would release the numbers, I am curious and I think it would hel with speculation. But that is me. I am guessing that we will find out how many kids opted in at the meeting in a few weeks.

It's stupid because it only takes the opinions of people with 7th and 8th graders into account. Families with younger kids may have different opinions. We bought our home specifically BECAUSE it was zoned to South Lakes. We are an international family and see the value of an IB diploma. We will be disappointed if Fox Mill is moved to Skyview. We were under the impression that because it had not been very long since they moved it to South Lakes, it would remain stable for a long time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are setting boundaries after opt-in is done probably to find an option with least resistance. After setting boundaries, if some people question the decision, they can say that: it's that way because your area has a high number of opt-in students which indicates that majority of students in the area wants to go to the new high school. Setting boundaries this way creates problems for the following years, although it's a politically "smart" approach.

Anonymous wrote:If I had a say, the boundaries would have been set in January and the only option would have been to opt out, but I am not. I can only speculate based on what the info that has been put out.

My only point in the opting in was that it is only meant to be this year because of how they screwed up the process. People ar eposting as if the opt in option from this year means the school will be a magnate (sp) school. It doesn’t. It is a unique option for this year.

Families at Chantilly that are not happy with the size of the school had the choice to opt in. We don’t know if they did or they did not. The SLHS PTA was told that 40-45 9th graders from SLHS opted in to Western. Those are the only numbers we have heard.

Chantilly will see kids move in 2 years when the boundaries are set.

Do I think things can shift? Yes, they have been shifting this entire time. I wish they would release the numbers, I am curious and I think it would hel with speculation. But that is me. I am guessing that we will find out how many kids opted in at the meeting in a few weeks.

It's stupid because it only takes the opinions of people with 7th and 8th graders into account. Families with younger kids may have different opinions. We bought our home specifically BECAUSE it was zoned to South Lakes. We are an international family and see the value of an IB diploma. We will be disappointed if Fox Mill is moved to Skyview. We were under the impression that because it had not been very long since they moved it to South Lakes, it would remain stable for a long time.

since sky view will be AP you can pupil place to South lakes for IB

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are setting boundaries after opt-in is done probably to find an option with least resistance. After setting boundaries, if some people question the decision, they can say that: it's that way because your area has a high number of opt-in students which indicates that majority of students in the area wants to go to the new high school. Setting boundaries this way creates problems for the following years, although it's a politically "smart" approach.

Anonymous wrote:If I had a say, the boundaries would have been set in January and the only option would have been to opt out, but I am not. I can only speculate based on what the info that has been put out.

My only point in the opting in was that it is only meant to be this year because of how they screwed up the process. People ar eposting as if the opt in option from this year means the school will be a magnate (sp) school. It doesn’t. It is a unique option for this year.

Families at Chantilly that are not happy with the size of the school had the choice to opt in. We don’t know if they did or they did not. The SLHS PTA was told that 40-45 9th graders from SLHS opted in to Western. Those are the only numbers we have heard.

Chantilly will see kids move in 2 years when the boundaries are set.

Do I think things can shift? Yes, they have been shifting this entire time. I wish they would release the numbers, I am curious and I think it would hel with speculation. But that is me. I am guessing that we will find out how many kids opted in at the meeting in a few weeks.

It's stupid because it only takes the opinions of people with 7th and 8th graders into account. Families with younger kids may have different opinions. We bought our home specifically BECAUSE it was zoned to South Lakes. We are an international family and see the value of an IB diploma. We will be disappointed if Fox Mill is moved to Skyview. We were under the impression that because it had not been very long since they moved it to South Lakes, it would remain stable for a long time.

I don’t think they should crowdsource Skyview boundaries after the two main justifications for buying KAA were reducing overcrowding at Chantilly and avoiding the long commutes to Oakton. But Fox Mill moved to South Lakes almost two decades ago so it’s not like that was a recent development.

[Anonymous]

The boundary decisions are not being made solely on opt-in numbers. That's DCUM speculation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are setting boundaries after opt-in is done probably to find an option with least resistance. After setting boundaries, if some people question the decision, they can say that: it's that way because your area has a high number of opt-in students which indicates that majority of students in the area wants to go to the new high school. Setting boundaries this way creates problems for the following years, although it's a politically "smart" approach.

Anonymous wrote:If I had a say, the boundaries would have been set in January and the only option would have been to opt out, but I am not. I can only speculate based on what the info that has been put out.

My only point in the opting in was that it is only meant to be this year because of how they screwed up the process. People ar eposting as if the opt in option from this year means the school will be a magnate (sp) school. It doesn’t. It is a unique option for this year.

Families at Chantilly that are not happy with the size of the school had the choice to opt in. We don’t know if they did or they did not. The SLHS PTA was told that 40-45 9th graders from SLHS opted in to Western. Those are the only numbers we have heard.

Chantilly will see kids move in 2 years when the boundaries are set.

Do I think things can shift? Yes, they have been shifting this entire time. I wish they would release the numbers, I am curious and I think it would hel with speculation. But that is me. I am guessing that we will find out how many kids opted in at the meeting in a few weeks.

It's stupid because it only takes the opinions of people with 7th and 8th graders into account. Families with younger kids may have different opinions. We bought our home specifically BECAUSE it was zoned to South Lakes. We are an international family and see the value of an IB diploma. We will be disappointed if Fox Mill is moved to Skyview. We were under the impression that because it had not been very long since they moved it to South Lakes, it would remain stable for a long time.

Pupil Place for IB, there will be plenty of space. It is close by and there are busses that run out of Dogwood, you can even get an exemption to ride the bus from over there.