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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Letting people opt in/out is a ridiculous idea and makes it impossible to plan resources for teaching, transportation, and capacity. That's why they put explicit wording eliminating the "phasing" option when a school is opened or closed in the new 1830 policy. Hopefully the school board puts their foot down and ignores Reid's pandering to the crowd on this.

DP, and agree 100%. Policy 8130 contemplates less phasing-in when a new school opens, not more, because the assumption is that you want to get a new high school up and running with at least two or three grades.

The menu of special accommodations for those in the areas to be assigned to the new Western HS just keeps growing, and it is absolutely pathetic. It also largely undercuts the rationale for buying KAA in the first place.

The only reason they keep adding "accommodations" is they're insisting on opening the school 10 months from now when it's simply not going to be ready. Open it in 2027 when they've completed the major rebuild/reconfiguration and can handle 9-11.

No one would want to start as a junior at the new school. How do you not get that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Letting people opt in/out is a ridiculous idea and makes it impossible to plan resources for teaching, transportation, and capacity. That's why they put explicit wording eliminating the "phasing" option when a school is opened or closed in the new 1830 policy. Hopefully the school board puts their foot down and ignores Reid's pandering to the crowd on this.

DP, and agree 100%. Policy 8130 contemplates less phasing-in when a new school opens, not more, because the assumption is that you want to get a new high school up and running with at least two or three grades.

The menu of special accommodations for those in the areas to be assigned to the new Western HS just keeps growing, and it is absolutely pathetic. It also largely undercuts the rationale for buying KAA in the first place.

The only reason they keep adding "accommodations" is they're insisting on opening the school 10 months from now when it's simply not going to be ready. Open it in 2027 when they've completed the major rebuild/reconfiguration and can handle 9-11.

No one would want to start as a junior at the new school. How do you not get that?

I know SLHS kids who want to transfer as Juniors and Seniors because they will know kids there and because it is AP not IB. Herndon is unattractive because they don’t know kids there while they know kids who would go if the school opened with older grades. There are kids who would be fine moving. Not many, I am not saying that many would move, but some.

[Anonymous]

The issue is the politicians have said the school will open next school year so Reid and the school personnel are trying to make that happen while knowing the school has no chance of having all the things other schools have that quickly. Therefore, they’ve begun to allow all kinds of opt in/opt out options because they know people will be upset if the new school does not have certain things that a typical high school would have. All of this could be avoided if they simply wait one more year. There have been people saying that on this site since KAA was purchased. Those people appear to be much smarter than the rest of us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The issue is the politicians have said the school will open next school year so Reid and the school personnel are trying to make that happen while knowing the school has no chance of having all the things other schools have that quickly. Therefore, they’ve begun to allow all kinds of opt in/opt out options because they know people will be upset if the new school does not have certain things that a typical high school would have. All of this could be avoided if they simply wait one more year. There have been people saying that on this site since KAA was purchased. Those people appear to be much smarter than the rest of us.

I think I they are afraid of taxpayers complaining if the schools sits empty for a year. They really can’t win either way.

Speaking of the opt in thing: can someone who was there recap how Reid explained it? Would students currently in 6th (7th next year) get to opt in or out, or would they be the first class who has to go there if zoned for it? She said something about the first year of it being 9-12 would be the mandatory year. I guess the timing of that depends on how many grades they open with next year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The issue is the politicians have said the school will open next school year so Reid and the school personnel are trying to make that happen while knowing the school has no chance of having all the things other schools have that quickly. Therefore, they’ve begun to allow all kinds of opt in/opt out options because they know people will be upset if the new school does not have certain things that a typical high school would have. All of this could be avoided if they simply wait one more year. There have been people saying that on this site since KAA was purchased. Those people appear to be much smarter than the rest of us.

Doing a "soft launch" with only a partial grade for several years as she suggested is a surefire way to make sure it takes EXTRA time to get the full assortment of clubs and sports up and running.

I went to a brand new HS for 9th, there were also some 10th. So what that we only had JV sports the first season. We then transitioned to varsity the following year. The team was awful but it wasn't this huge deal...this was in Texas, mind you. We also had enough kids show interest in various clubs right away and it looked great for college to be founder and President of XYZ club. I have no complaints at all 25 years later. I strongly feel the soft launch she proposes is a massive mistake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None of the above... the school doesn't have a full set of fields and interior layout doesn't lend itself to a traditional high school. Instead of spending TENS OF MILLIONS more to make it a traditional high school, house a variety of specialty and choice programs and academies (fine arts, AI and data science, aerospace, early childhood, IB, etc.). Attendance doesn't need to be limited exclusively to Western HS but obviously will be heavily slanted that way (can even reserve a minimum set of seats for other Western HS to ensure their capacity is addressed, though I think self-selection due to travel times will address this sufficiently).

This provides the needed capacity relief to western HS, expands and diversifies FCPS' program offerings, and kids can continue to play sports at their base schools if they want that experience on top of the specialty programming.

Turning this school into a traditional neighborhood school would be squandering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for FCPS.

You want the equivalent of a DC Charter School. Turning it into a school housing a variety of specialty and choice programs and academies (fine arts, AI and data science, aerospace, early childhood, IB, etc.) would be squandering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for FCPS.

By that statement, FCPS should have opened South County as an opt-in site with a variety of special programs. SCSS opened with grades 7-11 for SY2005-06. SY2006-07 had grade 12. SY2023-13 the middle school opened.

This has a middle school, Carson. FCPS should clean up all the AAP MS shuffles and boundaries as part of this endeavor for Liberty, Stone, Rocky Run, Franklin, Carson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Letting people opt in/out is a ridiculous idea and makes it impossible to plan resources for teaching, transportation, and capacity. That's why they put explicit wording eliminating the "phasing" option when a school is opened or closed in the new 1830 policy. Hopefully the school board puts their foot down and ignores Reid's pandering to the crowd on this.

DP, and agree 100%. Policy 8130 contemplates less phasing-in when a new school opens, not more, because the assumption is that you want to get a new high school up and running with at least two or three grades.

The menu of special accommodations for those in the areas to be assigned to the new Western HS just keeps growing, and it is absolutely pathetic. It also largely undercuts the rationale for buying KAA in the first place.

The only reason they keep adding "accommodations" is they're insisting on opening the school 10 months from now when it's simply not going to be ready. Open it in 2027 when they've completed the major rebuild/reconfiguration and can handle 9-11.

No one would want to start as a junior at the new school. How do you not get that?

I know SLHS kids who want to transfer as Juniors and Seniors because they will know kids there and because it is AP not IB. Herndon is unattractive because they don’t know kids there while they know kids who would go if the school opened with older grades. There are kids who would be fine moving. Not many, I am not saying that many would move, but some.

It wouldn’t be enough to make a whole class and it doesn’t look good academically to move schools junior year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The issue is the politicians have said the school will open next school year so Reid and the school personnel are trying to make that happen while knowing the school has no chance of having all the things other schools have that quickly. Therefore, they’ve begun to allow all kinds of opt in/opt out options because they know people will be upset if the new school does not have certain things that a typical high school would have. All of this could be avoided if they simply wait one more year. There have been people saying that on this site since KAA was purchased. Those people appear to be much smarter than the rest of us.

I think I they are afraid of taxpayers complaining if the schools sits empty for a year. They really can’t win either way.

Speaking of the opt in thing: can someone who was there recap how Reid explained it? Would students currently in 6th (7th next year) get to opt in or out, or would they be the first class who has to go there if zoned for it? She said something about the first year of it being 9-12 would be the mandatory year. I guess the timing of that depends on how many grades they open with next year?

She said current 6th grade would not be opt in/out. If they are zoned to the school, that's where they attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The issue is the politicians have said the school will open next school year so Reid and the school personnel are trying to make that happen while knowing the school has no chance of having all the things other schools have that quickly. Therefore, they’ve begun to allow all kinds of opt in/opt out options because they know people will be upset if the new school does not have certain things that a typical high school would have. All of this could be avoided if they simply wait one more year. There have been people saying that on this site since KAA was purchased. Those people appear to be much smarter than the rest of us.

I think I they are afraid of taxpayers complaining if the schools sits empty for a year. They really can’t win either way.

Speaking of the opt in thing: can someone who was there recap how Reid explained it? Would students currently in 6th (7th next year) get to opt in or out, or would they be the first class who has to go there if zoned for it? She said something about the first year of it being 9-12 would be the mandatory year. I guess the timing of that depends on how many grades they open with next year?

She said current 6th grade would not be opt in/out. If they are zoned to the school, that's where they attend.

I heard that rising 7th (or current 6th) can opt-in or out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The issue is the politicians have said the school will open next school year so Reid and the school personnel are trying to make that happen while knowing the school has no chance of having all the things other schools have that quickly. Therefore, they’ve begun to allow all kinds of opt in/opt out options because they know people will be upset if the new school does not have certain things that a typical high school would have. All of this could be avoided if they simply wait one more year. There have been people saying that on this site since KAA was purchased. Those people appear to be much smarter than the rest of us.

I think I they are afraid of taxpayers complaining if the schools sits empty for a year. They really can’t win either way.

Speaking of the opt in thing: can someone who was there recap how Reid explained it? Would students currently in 6th (7th next year) get to opt in or out, or would they be the first class who has to go there if zoned for it? She said something about the first year of it being 9-12 would be the mandatory year. I guess the timing of that depends on how many grades they open with next year?

She said current 6th grade would not be opt in/out. If they are zoned to the school, that's where they attend.

I heard that rising 7th (or current 6th) can opt-in or out.

And what about the volume on scenarios going from Centreville to Westfield? Chantilly to Westfield? Reid suggesting those be delayed also? I see a back handed maneuver to get the new Western HS permanently ensconced as an option /magnet/academy site.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The issue is the politicians have said the school will open next school year so Reid and the school personnel are trying to make that happen while knowing the school has no chance of having all the things other schools have that quickly. Therefore, they’ve begun to allow all kinds of opt in/opt out options because they know people will be upset if the new school does not have certain things that a typical high school would have. All of this could be avoided if they simply wait one more year. There have been people saying that on this site since KAA was purchased. Those people appear to be much smarter than the rest of us.

I think I they are afraid of taxpayers complaining if the schools sits empty for a year. They really can’t win either way.

Speaking of the opt in thing: can someone who was there recap how Reid explained it? Would students currently in 6th (7th next year) get to opt in or out, or would they be the first class who has to go there if zoned for it? She said something about the first year of it being 9-12 would be the mandatory year. I guess the timing of that depends on how many grades they open with next year?

She said current 6th grade would not be opt in/out. If they are zoned to the school, that's where they attend.

I heard that rising 7th (or current 6th) can opt-in or out.

And what about the volume on scenarios going from Centreville to Westfield? Chantilly to Westfield? Reid suggesting those be delayed also? I see a back handed maneuver to get the new Western HS permanently ensconced as an option /magnet/academy site.

No idea. The entire thing sounds like a logistical nightmare (and staffing nightmare).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The issue is the politicians have said the school will open next school year so Reid and the school personnel are trying to make that happen while knowing the school has no chance of having all the things other schools have that quickly. Therefore, they’ve begun to allow all kinds of opt in/opt out options because they know people will be upset if the new school does not have certain things that a typical high school would have. All of this could be avoided if they simply wait one more year. There have been people saying that on this site since KAA was purchased. Those people appear to be much smarter than the rest of us.

Doing a "soft launch" with only a partial grade for several years as she suggested is a surefire way to make sure it takes EXTRA time to get the full assortment of clubs and sports up and running.

I went to a brand new HS for 9th, there were also some 10th. So what that we only had JV sports the first season. We then transitioned to varsity the following year. The team was awful but it wasn't this huge deal...this was in Texas, mind you. We also had enough kids show interest in various clubs right away and it looked great for college to be founder and President of XYZ club. I have no complaints at all 25 years later. I strongly feel the soft launch she proposes is a massive mistake.

+1
That is exactly what happened with me. (I've posted this before.) Only difference, we had "junior high" before that instead of middle. I began as a 10th grader with only 11th grade ahead. (The school system added one grade per year, so the 11th graders had been there as 10th graders.) I was in the second graduating class.

And, as PP said, there were clubs, newspapers, yearbooks, and sports. Yes, like PP said, the sports were pretty mediocre but there was heavy participation in them. (And, as for concerns about a future in D1, one of my classmates went on to play D1 football and then on to play professionally. He won two championship Super Bowl rings as a starter.)

While, of course, we didn't have all the "traditions," we did have an excitement for the new school. We had phenomenal teachers, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The issue is the politicians have said the school will open next school year so Reid and the school personnel are trying to make that happen while knowing the school has no chance of having all the things other schools have that quickly. Therefore, they’ve begun to allow all kinds of opt in/opt out options because they know people will be upset if the new school does not have certain things that a typical high school would have. All of this could be avoided if they simply wait one more year. There have been people saying that on this site since KAA was purchased. Those people appear to be much smarter than the rest of us.

Doing a "soft launch" with only a partial grade for several years as she suggested is a surefire way to make sure it takes EXTRA time to get the full assortment of clubs and sports up and running.

I went to a brand new HS for 9th, there were also some 10th. So what that we only had JV sports the first season. We then transitioned to varsity the following year. The team was awful but it wasn't this huge deal...this was in Texas, mind you. We also had enough kids show interest in various clubs right away and it looked great for college to be founder and President of XYZ club. I have no complaints at all 25 years later. I strongly feel the soft launch she proposes is a massive mistake.

+1
That is exactly what happened with me. (I've posted this before.) Only difference, we had "junior high" before that instead of middle. I began as a 10th grader with only 11th grade ahead. (The school system added one grade per year, so the 11th graders had been there as 10th graders.) I was in the second graduating class.

And, as PP said, there were clubs, newspapers, yearbooks, and sports. Yes, like PP said, the sports were pretty mediocre but there was heavy participation in them. (And, as for concerns about a future in D1, one of my classmates went on to play D1 football and then on to play professionally. He won two championship Super Bowl rings as a starter.)

While, of course, we didn't have all the "traditions," we did have an excitement for the new school. We had phenomenal teachers, too.

The folks near Carson got a very expensive carrot, almost a decade ahead of schedule, and now it's time to show them a bit of stick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The issue is the politicians have said the school will open next school year so Reid and the school personnel are trying to make that happen while knowing the school has no chance of having all the things other schools have that quickly. Therefore, they’ve begun to allow all kinds of opt in/opt out options because they know people will be upset if the new school does not have certain things that a typical high school would have. All of this could be avoided if they simply wait one more year. There have been people saying that on this site since KAA was purchased. Those people appear to be much smarter than the rest of us.

I think I they are afraid of taxpayers complaining if the schools sits empty for a year. They really can’t win either way.

Speaking of the opt in thing: can someone who was there recap how Reid explained it? Would students currently in 6th (7th next year) get to opt in or out, or would they be the first class who has to go there if zoned for it? She said something about the first year of it being 9-12 would be the mandatory year. I guess the timing of that depends on how many grades they open with next year?

She said current 6th grade would not be opt in/out. If they are zoned to the school, that's where they attend.

I heard that rising 7th (or current 6th) can opt-in or out.

year 1 opt in
year 2 opt out
year 3 go to your assigned school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The issue is the politicians have said the school will open next school year so Reid and the school personnel are trying to make that happen while knowing the school has no chance of having all the things other schools have that quickly. Therefore, they’ve begun to allow all kinds of opt in/opt out options because they know people will be upset if the new school does not have certain things that a typical high school would have. All of this could be avoided if they simply wait one more year. There have been people saying that on this site since KAA was purchased. Those people appear to be much smarter than the rest of us.

I think I they are afraid of taxpayers complaining if the schools sits empty for a year. They really can’t win either way.

Speaking of the opt in thing: can someone who was there recap how Reid explained it? Would students currently in 6th (7th next year) get to opt in or out, or would they be the first class who has to go there if zoned for it? She said something about the first year of it being 9-12 would be the mandatory year. I guess the timing of that depends on how many grades they open with next year?

She said current 6th grade would not be opt in/out. If they are zoned to the school, that's where they attend.

I heard that rising 7th (or current 6th) can opt-in or out.

year 1 opt in
year 2 opt out
year 3 go to your assigned school

+1
Current 6th (rising 7th) go to assigned school.