Anonymous wrote:We voted these clowns in. The very clowns who decided to jam us with an unnecessary comprehensive boundary study resulting in thousands of our kids suffering mental health trauma being forced to move schools, with the only justification that we hadn’t done it in 40 years (which is misleading in and of itself).
We all need to remember how they gave little thought to how to implement these changes and have really set the county back and wasted so much of FCPS employee time and resources on an unnecessary course with only negative outcomes. They could have actually tried to improve the school experience, but instead just wasted their time for years at this point shuffling our kids around like pawns.
Screw them.
The kids are moving with all of their classmates from ES, they know kids at the new school through that grouping. They probably know other kids at the new school through activities. They will be fine. Kids move every year for family reasons, jobs, changing houses, and the like. The vast majority are just fine. Moving with a hundred or so kids that you know from ES is not traumatic. And kids in their HSs right now won’t have to move.
I suspect that the kids who will struggle are the kids of parents who are flipping out. Or that the kids who are moved and have a normal teenage hiccup will lead to parents blaming redistricting.
I agree with the underlined part.
An interesting side note, every year, including this one, there are multiple discussions on our town Facebook page over whether AAP kids should attend the center middle school at the bext school over (very similar except it is a 7th-12th secondary school) or remain at the Local Level 4 middle school and continue to our neighborhood high school.
There are always dozens and dozens of parents posting how it is soooo easy socially to transition between the secondary AAP program and the stand alone middle school/high school, because the kids all know lots of kids at both schools (true even for non AAP kids at both schools) and because there is so much overlap between all 3 schools through community events, sports, scouts, performing arts, etc.
The same statements are made every year when this topic comes up. I completely agree that the school communities do overlap quite a bit, especially through sports and activities. The kids at the middle school, secondary and high school all know mamy kids from each pyramid.
But the neighborhood that is getting rezoned to that secondary school is flipping out and claiming the opposite is true, as the main argument against their split feeder being eliminated.
It is kind of interesting to see those completely opposite arguments playing out online simultaneously.
Sounds like you’re fine with other kids getting moved from West Springfield to Lake Braddock, so long as they aren’t your kids. This is the consistent theme - other kids can cope, but leave mine alone.
Every year the AAP question comes up. And every year, the overwhelming response is that either option is great because the kids have tons of friends at each of the 3 schools, and there is so much social and community overlap between the schools.
These discussions have been going on with the exact same comments since AAP was added to Irving over 10 years ago. The discussion is always the same each year, that the schools are very close socially so attending either school or both schools is really easy socially.
It is just interesting to see that annual Irving/WSHS/LBSS discussion occur under the context of the rezoning fight, when the main arguments against rezoning to Lake Braddock with most of their classmates and friends, are the complete opposite to the common knowledge and experiences expressed each year in the community at large and the annual online middle school AAP discussions.
Even if you are completely against rezoning, it is impossible not to see rhe irony of these two very contradictory positions, occuring simultaneously under the shadow of rezoning.
It's a different calculus when you're talking about effectively forcing some kids already in high school to switch schools. Do you really not see that? Or are they useful sacrificial lambs across the county, as long as you're not redistricted to Lewis?
Non of the kids already in high school are switching schools.
You are either misinformed or intentionally lying. Go listen to Ricardy Anderson's comments at the School Board meeting last night.
Rising Juniors and Seniors are being allowed to stay at their HS with transportation. You put your rising Sophomore on the same bus as the Juniors and Seniors, look they have transportation. In 2 years, they have their license and can drive to school. Problem solved.
They've spent money implementing readers on buses so shortly your child will have to scan their id and the bus driver will be alerted whether or not they are assigned the route. Of course if they provide busing for Juniors and Seniors there is no reason they can't do for Freshmen and Sophomores in the same neighborhood. It makes sense to probably not include busing for rising 7th and 9th graders as they are already going to be switching schools and to limit the financial impact to three years. I suppose rising 9th graders could take the bus for three years but those families would know that bus transportation would not be provided their senior year.
They aren't providing busing for juniors and seniors. They aren't providing bussing for ANYONE who stays at their old school. They will vote on it at the next meeting.
The vote to deny transportation will be the logical conclusion of a bunch of really stupid people doing really stupid things for a couple of years, and then putting on their sad faces and pretending - not that long after they decided to waste $200 million on a new high school that is by no means necessary - that "the budget is tight" and "tough decisions had to be made."
What a bunch of dopes.
It's amazing that after all this time there are still people out there who don't understand the difference between capital budget and operating budget - or that the money comes from completely different sources and legally cannot be mixed.
Aren’t you pedantic? The point is that this School Board is both selectively thrifty and selectively profligate. It’s hard to take anything they say with a straight face any more. They alternate their exuberant faces with their somber faces, but it’s still a circus act.
I'd say the PP is just "basically informed" vs. "pedantic", and that your prior post displayed complete ignorance on this topic. You may have a valid point to make, but you're making it in the least convincing way possible by conflating unrelated things.
It’s easy to spot the types who are more than prepared to ignore how this School Board is ready to screw many families by denying them transportation to their current schools all because they are simultaneously ready to spend so much money on Western HS. You certainly weren’t cheap to buy off, but your indifference serves their agenda.
One has nothing to do with the other.
If anything, the new school will save on transportation unless some of the loudest voices win. And, if they went ahead and determined traditional boundaries, then planning could be accomplished in a timely manner.
You still seem to not understand the difference between capital expenses and operating expenses.
Building/renovations are capital expenses.
Transportation is an operating expense. And, those funds are NOT "fungible" between each other.
The money may not be fungible for FCPS. It’s fungible to those footing the bill because it comes out of the same pockets even if it goes into different coffers.
We also see the contrast between FCPS going out of its way to favor one area because it wanted to buy a shiny new school (although one that is turning out to be a long-term project and anything but a “turnkey” high school for 2000 kids) and its willingness to screw families elsewhere in the county by denying transportation to redistricted kids.
Jealous much? Two of the HS in Western Fairfax are overcrowded. Three are at capacity and close to being overcrowded. One is at 90% capacity and has a few seats left. The area has been acknowledged as needing a new HS for 25 years. Three schools have been expanded so they are just at capacity instead of being overcrowded. A fourth was scheduled for expansion but cannot be expanded.
Complain all that you want but the solution in this part of the county is a new HS and KAA was that answer. There are plenty of families that are unhappy that they are being moved to the new school. The only reason that is not a forced situation is because it is a new school and it will take a few years for the school to have built the programs, specifically sports and the like, that are important to many people. In 3 years, there will not be an option and there will not be bussing for students who want to pupil place to their old school.
Other parts of the country with over crowding have schools that have capacity near them. The over crowding can be addressed by redistricting. I understand that the families moving don’t want to move but that is the less expensive solution to the problem. Grandfathering every HS into their currently overcrowded school does nothing to address the problem of overcrowding. So the county shouldn’t be paying for busses, which are expensive, when they are trying to deal with over crowding.
The county does not to address the renovations list and reprioritize it based on current condition of the building. This should address the buildings that are in dire need of repair but that is a separate issue then the boundary adjustments.
Didn't FCPS just reach an agreement with the county that will allow the Centreville renovation/expansion to proceed?
Between the hundreds of additional seats vacant at Herndon and the capacity that may yet be added at CVHS, there is no need for Western HS. It's a shiny toy they couldn't pass up, so they bought it with no real understanding of how many kids it could initially accommodate or what programs it could offer.
That's why they are moving ahead with just two grades, no VHSL sports, and this convoluted opt-in/opt-out scheme, where it appears some may opt in only to find out later they aren't within the final boundaries and have to provide their own transportation. That's nothing to be jealous about, but if you think this School Board isn't inconsistent when it comes to spending money and then turning around and saying money is tight (and others have to bear the brunt of their poor fiscal management), your own sense of entitlement has really taken over.
No. That is the result of the poor planning that we see across FCPS by our leadership.
The school is needed. No matter how many times you claim it is not.
Chantilly is over 2900 with trailers and modulars galore.
Westfield is over 2750.
There is a lot of new construction in both areas. Lots.
Oakton is over capacity.
South Lakes is close to capacity.
Centreville is over capacity. Do you think the expansion will be complete any time soon?
There is nowhere to shift.
Agree the roll out of the new school is problematic. They should have stopped the other boundary process and done this first. I think Reid has stars in her eyes for a 22nd Century program (her words). But, the need is a school to serve the community and the students--not her resume.
And, there are no seats nearby.
They own the school now and they should make the best of it but you are lying when you claim there is nowhere to shift because they are sitting on hundreds of empty seats at Herndon and the boundaries could have been adjusted to move Chantilly kids into Westfield and Westfield kids into Herndon.
Had this "opportunity" not arisen, that's what they could and likely would have ended up doing. There was no particular urgency to a new 2000-seat western HS, as evidenced by the multiple delays and a CIP that didn't even contemplate construction for another decade. And, if you'd ever listened to prior Facilities presentations to the School Board, you'd know that their attitude was that anything in the CIP past five years out was highly uncertain and subject to cancellation or further deferral.
At least be honest.
200 kids does not move the needle on the problem and you know that.
I see you and honesty continue to fight it out. Herndon HS currently has 700 extra seats, not 200.
It's the epitome of greed to demand and receive large additions to schools in western Fairfax and then demand a new school on top of it because the schools are "too big."
Why do you begrudge people to have a school in their own community rather than long bus rides?
You do realize those long, long bus rides cost lots of money. I would suggest that there are other neighborhoods that could easily fill those empty seats you are so anxious to fill. Some neighborhoods that are 2 miles from Herndon.
Anonymous wrote:We voted these clowns in. The very clowns who decided to jam us with an unnecessary comprehensive boundary study resulting in thousands of our kids suffering mental health trauma being forced to move schools, with the only justification that we hadn’t done it in 40 years (which is misleading in and of itself).
We all need to remember how they gave little thought to how to implement these changes and have really set the county back and wasted so much of FCPS employee time and resources on an unnecessary course with only negative outcomes. They could have actually tried to improve the school experience, but instead just wasted their time for years at this point shuffling our kids around like pawns.
Screw them.
The kids are moving with all of their classmates from ES, they know kids at the new school through that grouping. They probably know other kids at the new school through activities. They will be fine. Kids move every year for family reasons, jobs, changing houses, and the like. The vast majority are just fine. Moving with a hundred or so kids that you know from ES is not traumatic. And kids in their HSs right now won’t have to move.
I suspect that the kids who will struggle are the kids of parents who are flipping out. Or that the kids who are moved and have a normal teenage hiccup will lead to parents blaming redistricting.
I agree with the underlined part.
An interesting side note, every year, including this one, there are multiple discussions on our town Facebook page over whether AAP kids should attend the center middle school at the bext school over (very similar except it is a 7th-12th secondary school) or remain at the Local Level 4 middle school and continue to our neighborhood high school.
There are always dozens and dozens of parents posting how it is soooo easy socially to transition between the secondary AAP program and the stand alone middle school/high school, because the kids all know lots of kids at both schools (true even for non AAP kids at both schools) and because there is so much overlap between all 3 schools through community events, sports, scouts, performing arts, etc.
The same statements are made every year when this topic comes up. I completely agree that the school communities do overlap quite a bit, especially through sports and activities. The kids at the middle school, secondary and high school all know mamy kids from each pyramid.
But the neighborhood that is getting rezoned to that secondary school is flipping out and claiming the opposite is true, as the main argument against their split feeder being eliminated.
It is kind of interesting to see those completely opposite arguments playing out online simultaneously.
Sounds like you’re fine with other kids getting moved from West Springfield to Lake Braddock, so long as they aren’t your kids. This is the consistent theme - other kids can cope, but leave mine alone.
Every year the AAP question comes up. And every year, the overwhelming response is that either option is great because the kids have tons of friends at each of the 3 schools, and there is so much social and community overlap between the schools.
These discussions have been going on with the exact same comments since AAP was added to Irving over 10 years ago. The discussion is always the same each year, that the schools are very close socially so attending either school or both schools is really easy socially.
It is just interesting to see that annual Irving/WSHS/LBSS discussion occur under the context of the rezoning fight, when the main arguments against rezoning to Lake Braddock with most of their classmates and friends, are the complete opposite to the common knowledge and experiences expressed each year in the community at large and the annual online middle school AAP discussions.
Even if you are completely against rezoning, it is impossible not to see rhe irony of these two very contradictory positions, occuring simultaneously under the shadow of rezoning.
It's a different calculus when you're talking about effectively forcing some kids already in high school to switch schools. Do you really not see that? Or are they useful sacrificial lambs across the county, as long as you're not redistricted to Lewis?
Non of the kids already in high school are switching schools.
You are either misinformed or intentionally lying. Go listen to Ricardy Anderson's comments at the School Board meeting last night.
Rising Juniors and Seniors are being allowed to stay at their HS with transportation. You put your rising Sophomore on the same bus as the Juniors and Seniors, look they have transportation. In 2 years, they have their license and can drive to school. Problem solved.
They've spent money implementing readers on buses so shortly your child will have to scan their id and the bus driver will be alerted whether or not they are assigned the route. Of course if they provide busing for Juniors and Seniors there is no reason they can't do for Freshmen and Sophomores in the same neighborhood. It makes sense to probably not include busing for rising 7th and 9th graders as they are already going to be switching schools and to limit the financial impact to three years. I suppose rising 9th graders could take the bus for three years but those families would know that bus transportation would not be provided their senior year.
They aren't providing busing for juniors and seniors. They aren't providing bussing for ANYONE who stays at their old school. They will vote on it at the next meeting.
The vote to deny transportation will be the logical conclusion of a bunch of really stupid people doing really stupid things for a couple of years, and then putting on their sad faces and pretending - not that long after they decided to waste $200 million on a new high school that is by no means necessary - that "the budget is tight" and "tough decisions had to be made."
What a bunch of dopes.
It's amazing that after all this time there are still people out there who don't understand the difference between capital budget and operating budget - or that the money comes from completely different sources and legally cannot be mixed.
Aren’t you pedantic? The point is that this School Board is both selectively thrifty and selectively profligate. It’s hard to take anything they say with a straight face any more. They alternate their exuberant faces with their somber faces, but it’s still a circus act.
I'd say the PP is just "basically informed" vs. "pedantic", and that your prior post displayed complete ignorance on this topic. You may have a valid point to make, but you're making it in the least convincing way possible by conflating unrelated things.
It’s easy to spot the types who are more than prepared to ignore how this School Board is ready to screw many families by denying them transportation to their current schools all because they are simultaneously ready to spend so much money on Western HS. You certainly weren’t cheap to buy off, but your indifference serves their agenda.
One has nothing to do with the other.
If anything, the new school will save on transportation unless some of the loudest voices win. And, if they went ahead and determined traditional boundaries, then planning could be accomplished in a timely manner.
You still seem to not understand the difference between capital expenses and operating expenses.
Building/renovations are capital expenses.
Transportation is an operating expense. And, those funds are NOT "fungible" between each other.
The money may not be fungible for FCPS. It’s fungible to those footing the bill because it comes out of the same pockets even if it goes into different coffers.
We also see the contrast between FCPS going out of its way to favor one area because it wanted to buy a shiny new school (although one that is turning out to be a long-term project and anything but a “turnkey” high school for 2000 kids) and its willingness to screw families elsewhere in the county by denying transportation to redistricted kids.
Jealous much? Two of the HS in Western Fairfax are overcrowded. Three are at capacity and close to being overcrowded. One is at 90% capacity and has a few seats left. The area has been acknowledged as needing a new HS for 25 years. Three schools have been expanded so they are just at capacity instead of being overcrowded. A fourth was scheduled for expansion but cannot be expanded.
Complain all that you want but the solution in this part of the county is a new HS and KAA was that answer. There are plenty of families that are unhappy that they are being moved to the new school. The only reason that is not a forced situation is because it is a new school and it will take a few years for the school to have built the programs, specifically sports and the like, that are important to many people. In 3 years, there will not be an option and there will not be bussing for students who want to pupil place to their old school.
Other parts of the country with over crowding have schools that have capacity near them. The over crowding can be addressed by redistricting. I understand that the families moving don’t want to move but that is the less expensive solution to the problem. Grandfathering every HS into their currently overcrowded school does nothing to address the problem of overcrowding. So the county shouldn’t be paying for busses, which are expensive, when they are trying to deal with over crowding.
The county does not to address the renovations list and reprioritize it based on current condition of the building. This should address the buildings that are in dire need of repair but that is a separate issue then the boundary adjustments.
Didn't FCPS just reach an agreement with the county that will allow the Centreville renovation/expansion to proceed?
Between the hundreds of additional seats vacant at Herndon and the capacity that may yet be added at CVHS, there is no need for Western HS. It's a shiny toy they couldn't pass up, so they bought it with no real understanding of how many kids it could initially accommodate or what programs it could offer.
That's why they are moving ahead with just two grades, no VHSL sports, and this convoluted opt-in/opt-out scheme, where it appears some may opt in only to find out later they aren't within the final boundaries and have to provide their own transportation. That's nothing to be jealous about, but if you think this School Board isn't inconsistent when it comes to spending money and then turning around and saying money is tight (and others have to bear the brunt of their poor fiscal management), your own sense of entitlement has really taken over.
No. That is the result of the poor planning that we see across FCPS by our leadership.
The school is needed. No matter how many times you claim it is not.
Chantilly is over 2900 with trailers and modulars galore.
Westfield is over 2750.
There is a lot of new construction in both areas. Lots.
Oakton is over capacity.
South Lakes is close to capacity.
Centreville is over capacity. Do you think the expansion will be complete any time soon?
There is nowhere to shift.
Agree the roll out of the new school is problematic. They should have stopped the other boundary process and done this first. I think Reid has stars in her eyes for a 22nd Century program (her words). But, the need is a school to serve the community and the students--not her resume.
And, there are no seats nearby.
They own the school now and they should make the best of it but you are lying when you claim there is nowhere to shift because they are sitting on hundreds of empty seats at Herndon and the boundaries could have been adjusted to move Chantilly kids into Westfield and Westfield kids into Herndon.
Had this "opportunity" not arisen, that's what they could and likely would have ended up doing. There was no particular urgency to a new 2000-seat western HS, as evidenced by the multiple delays and a CIP that didn't even contemplate construction for another decade. And, if you'd ever listened to prior Facilities presentations to the School Board, you'd know that their attitude was that anything in the CIP past five years out was highly uncertain and subject to cancellation or further deferral.
At least be honest.
200 kids does not move the needle on the problem and you know that.
I see you and honesty continue to fight it out. Herndon HS currently has 700 extra seats, not 200.
It's the epitome of greed to demand and receive large additions to schools in western Fairfax and then demand a new school on top of it because the schools are "too big."
Why do you begrudge people to have a school in their own community rather than long bus rides?
You do realize those long, long bus rides cost lots of money. I would suggest that there are other neighborhoods that could easily fill those empty seats you are so anxious to fill. Some neighborhoods that are 2 miles from Herndon.
You can't even begin to contend that this School Board is making decisions based on the length of bus rides, as much as you might wish otherwise. In any event, the school those children attend is not overcrowded. Perhaps it should stop accepting pupil placements, however, from your neighborhoods, in which case there would be an even stronger argument for moving Chantilly kids to Westfield and Westfield kids to Herndon rather than spending hundreds of millions on Western.
Anonymous wrote:We voted these clowns in. The very clowns who decided to jam us with an unnecessary comprehensive boundary study resulting in thousands of our kids suffering mental health trauma being forced to move schools, with the only justification that we hadn’t done it in 40 years (which is misleading in and of itself).
We all need to remember how they gave little thought to how to implement these changes and have really set the county back and wasted so much of FCPS employee time and resources on an unnecessary course with only negative outcomes. They could have actually tried to improve the school experience, but instead just wasted their time for years at this point shuffling our kids around like pawns.
Screw them.
Well, the length of bus rides was given as a consideration in the boundary review. At least until one of the SB members met with a certain group.
The kids are moving with all of their classmates from ES, they know kids at the new school through that grouping. They probably know other kids at the new school through activities. They will be fine. Kids move every year for family reasons, jobs, changing houses, and the like. The vast majority are just fine. Moving with a hundred or so kids that you know from ES is not traumatic. And kids in their HSs right now won’t have to move.
I suspect that the kids who will struggle are the kids of parents who are flipping out. Or that the kids who are moved and have a normal teenage hiccup will lead to parents blaming redistricting.
I agree with the underlined part.
An interesting side note, every year, including this one, there are multiple discussions on our town Facebook page over whether AAP kids should attend the center middle school at the bext school over (very similar except it is a 7th-12th secondary school) or remain at the Local Level 4 middle school and continue to our neighborhood high school.
There are always dozens and dozens of parents posting how it is soooo easy socially to transition between the secondary AAP program and the stand alone middle school/high school, because the kids all know lots of kids at both schools (true even for non AAP kids at both schools) and because there is so much overlap between all 3 schools through community events, sports, scouts, performing arts, etc.
The same statements are made every year when this topic comes up. I completely agree that the school communities do overlap quite a bit, especially through sports and activities. The kids at the middle school, secondary and high school all know mamy kids from each pyramid.
But the neighborhood that is getting rezoned to that secondary school is flipping out and claiming the opposite is true, as the main argument against their split feeder being eliminated.
It is kind of interesting to see those completely opposite arguments playing out online simultaneously.
Sounds like you’re fine with other kids getting moved from West Springfield to Lake Braddock, so long as they aren’t your kids. This is the consistent theme - other kids can cope, but leave mine alone.
Every year the AAP question comes up. And every year, the overwhelming response is that either option is great because the kids have tons of friends at each of the 3 schools, and there is so much social and community overlap between the schools.
These discussions have been going on with the exact same comments since AAP was added to Irving over 10 years ago. The discussion is always the same each year, that the schools are very close socially so attending either school or both schools is really easy socially.
It is just interesting to see that annual Irving/WSHS/LBSS discussion occur under the context of the rezoning fight, when the main arguments against rezoning to Lake Braddock with most of their classmates and friends, are the complete opposite to the common knowledge and experiences expressed each year in the community at large and the annual online middle school AAP discussions.
Even if you are completely against rezoning, it is impossible not to see rhe irony of these two very contradictory positions, occuring simultaneously under the shadow of rezoning.
It's a different calculus when you're talking about effectively forcing some kids already in high school to switch schools. Do you really not see that? Or are they useful sacrificial lambs across the county, as long as you're not redistricted to Lewis?
Non of the kids already in high school are switching schools.
You are either misinformed or intentionally lying. Go listen to Ricardy Anderson's comments at the School Board meeting last night.
Rising Juniors and Seniors are being allowed to stay at their HS with transportation. You put your rising Sophomore on the same bus as the Juniors and Seniors, look they have transportation. In 2 years, they have their license and can drive to school. Problem solved.
They've spent money implementing readers on buses so shortly your child will have to scan their id and the bus driver will be alerted whether or not they are assigned the route. Of course if they provide busing for Juniors and Seniors there is no reason they can't do for Freshmen and Sophomores in the same neighborhood. It makes sense to probably not include busing for rising 7th and 9th graders as they are already going to be switching schools and to limit the financial impact to three years. I suppose rising 9th graders could take the bus for three years but those families would know that bus transportation would not be provided their senior year.
They aren't providing busing for juniors and seniors. They aren't providing bussing for ANYONE who stays at their old school. They will vote on it at the next meeting.
The vote to deny transportation will be the logical conclusion of a bunch of really stupid people doing really stupid things for a couple of years, and then putting on their sad faces and pretending - not that long after they decided to waste $200 million on a new high school that is by no means necessary - that "the budget is tight" and "tough decisions had to be made."
What a bunch of dopes.
It's amazing that after all this time there are still people out there who don't understand the difference between capital budget and operating budget - or that the money comes from completely different sources and legally cannot be mixed.
Aren’t you pedantic? The point is that this School Board is both selectively thrifty and selectively profligate. It’s hard to take anything they say with a straight face any more. They alternate their exuberant faces with their somber faces, but it’s still a circus act.
I'd say the PP is just "basically informed" vs. "pedantic", and that your prior post displayed complete ignorance on this topic. You may have a valid point to make, but you're making it in the least convincing way possible by conflating unrelated things.
It’s easy to spot the types who are more than prepared to ignore how this School Board is ready to screw many families by denying them transportation to their current schools all because they are simultaneously ready to spend so much money on Western HS. You certainly weren’t cheap to buy off, but your indifference serves their agenda.
One has nothing to do with the other.
If anything, the new school will save on transportation unless some of the loudest voices win. And, if they went ahead and determined traditional boundaries, then planning could be accomplished in a timely manner.
You still seem to not understand the difference between capital expenses and operating expenses.
Building/renovations are capital expenses.
Transportation is an operating expense. And, those funds are NOT "fungible" between each other.
The money may not be fungible for FCPS. It’s fungible to those footing the bill because it comes out of the same pockets even if it goes into different coffers.
We also see the contrast between FCPS going out of its way to favor one area because it wanted to buy a shiny new school (although one that is turning out to be a long-term project and anything but a “turnkey” high school for 2000 kids) and its willingness to screw families elsewhere in the county by denying transportation to redistricted kids.
Jealous much? Two of the HS in Western Fairfax are overcrowded. Three are at capacity and close to being overcrowded. One is at 90% capacity and has a few seats left. The area has been acknowledged as needing a new HS for 25 years. Three schools have been expanded so they are just at capacity instead of being overcrowded. A fourth was scheduled for expansion but cannot be expanded.
Complain all that you want but the solution in this part of the county is a new HS and KAA was that answer. There are plenty of families that are unhappy that they are being moved to the new school. The only reason that is not a forced situation is because it is a new school and it will take a few years for the school to have built the programs, specifically sports and the like, that are important to many people. In 3 years, there will not be an option and there will not be bussing for students who want to pupil place to their old school.
Other parts of the country with over crowding have schools that have capacity near them. The over crowding can be addressed by redistricting. I understand that the families moving don’t want to move but that is the less expensive solution to the problem. Grandfathering every HS into their currently overcrowded school does nothing to address the problem of overcrowding. So the county shouldn’t be paying for busses, which are expensive, when they are trying to deal with over crowding.
The county does not to address the renovations list and reprioritize it based on current condition of the building. This should address the buildings that are in dire need of repair but that is a separate issue then the boundary adjustments.
Didn't FCPS just reach an agreement with the county that will allow the Centreville renovation/expansion to proceed?
Between the hundreds of additional seats vacant at Herndon and the capacity that may yet be added at CVHS, there is no need for Western HS. It's a shiny toy they couldn't pass up, so they bought it with no real understanding of how many kids it could initially accommodate or what programs it could offer.
That's why they are moving ahead with just two grades, no VHSL sports, and this convoluted opt-in/opt-out scheme, where it appears some may opt in only to find out later they aren't within the final boundaries and have to provide their own transportation. That's nothing to be jealous about, but if you think this School Board isn't inconsistent when it comes to spending money and then turning around and saying money is tight (and others have to bear the brunt of their poor fiscal management), your own sense of entitlement has really taken over.
No. That is the result of the poor planning that we see across FCPS by our leadership.
The school is needed. No matter how many times you claim it is not.
Chantilly is over 2900 with trailers and modulars galore.
Westfield is over 2750.
There is a lot of new construction in both areas. Lots.
Oakton is over capacity.
South Lakes is close to capacity.
Centreville is over capacity. Do you think the expansion will be complete any time soon?
There is nowhere to shift.
Agree the roll out of the new school is problematic. They should have stopped the other boundary process and done this first. I think Reid has stars in her eyes for a 22nd Century program (her words). But, the need is a school to serve the community and the students--not her resume.
And, there are no seats nearby.
They own the school now and they should make the best of it but you are lying when you claim there is nowhere to shift because they are sitting on hundreds of empty seats at Herndon and the boundaries could have been adjusted to move Chantilly kids into Westfield and Westfield kids into Herndon.
Had this "opportunity" not arisen, that's what they could and likely would have ended up doing. There was no particular urgency to a new 2000-seat western HS, as evidenced by the multiple delays and a CIP that didn't even contemplate construction for another decade. And, if you'd ever listened to prior Facilities presentations to the School Board, you'd know that their attitude was that anything in the CIP past five years out was highly uncertain and subject to cancellation or further deferral.
At least be honest.
200 kids does not move the needle on the problem and you know that.
I see you and honesty continue to fight it out. Herndon HS currently has 700 extra seats, not 200.
It's the epitome of greed to demand and receive large additions to schools in western Fairfax and then demand a new school on top of it because the schools are "too big."
Why do you begrudge people to have a school in their own community rather than long bus rides?
You do realize those long, long bus rides cost lots of money. I would suggest that there are other neighborhoods that could easily fill those empty seats you are so anxious to fill. Some neighborhoods that are 2 miles from Herndon.
You can't even begin to contend that this School Board is making decisions based on the length of bus rides, as much as you might wish otherwise. In any event, the school those children attend is not overcrowded. Perhaps it should stop accepting pupil placements, however, from your neighborhoods, in which case there would be an even stronger argument for moving Chantilly kids to Westfield and Westfield kids to Herndon rather than spending hundreds of millions on Western.
Anonymous wrote:We voted these clowns in. The very clowns who decided to jam us with an unnecessary comprehensive boundary study resulting in thousands of our kids suffering mental health trauma being forced to move schools, with the only justification that we hadn’t done it in 40 years (which is misleading in and of itself).
We all need to remember how they gave little thought to how to implement these changes and have really set the county back and wasted so much of FCPS employee time and resources on an unnecessary course with only negative outcomes. They could have actually tried to improve the school experience, but instead just wasted their time for years at this point shuffling our kids around like pawns.
Screw them.
Well, the length of bus rides was given as a consideration in the boundary review. At least until one of the SB members met with a certain group.
The kids are moving with all of their classmates from ES, they know kids at the new school through that grouping. They probably know other kids at the new school through activities. They will be fine. Kids move every year for family reasons, jobs, changing houses, and the like. The vast majority are just fine. Moving with a hundred or so kids that you know from ES is not traumatic. And kids in their HSs right now won’t have to move.
I suspect that the kids who will struggle are the kids of parents who are flipping out. Or that the kids who are moved and have a normal teenage hiccup will lead to parents blaming redistricting.
I agree with the underlined part.
An interesting side note, every year, including this one, there are multiple discussions on our town Facebook page over whether AAP kids should attend the center middle school at the bext school over (very similar except it is a 7th-12th secondary school) or remain at the Local Level 4 middle school and continue to our neighborhood high school.
There are always dozens and dozens of parents posting how it is soooo easy socially to transition between the secondary AAP program and the stand alone middle school/high school, because the kids all know lots of kids at both schools (true even for non AAP kids at both schools) and because there is so much overlap between all 3 schools through community events, sports, scouts, performing arts, etc.
The same statements are made every year when this topic comes up. I completely agree that the school communities do overlap quite a bit, especially through sports and activities. The kids at the middle school, secondary and high school all know mamy kids from each pyramid.
But the neighborhood that is getting rezoned to that secondary school is flipping out and claiming the opposite is true, as the main argument against their split feeder being eliminated.
It is kind of interesting to see those completely opposite arguments playing out online simultaneously.
Sounds like you’re fine with other kids getting moved from West Springfield to Lake Braddock, so long as they aren’t your kids. This is the consistent theme - other kids can cope, but leave mine alone.
Every year the AAP question comes up. And every year, the overwhelming response is that either option is great because the kids have tons of friends at each of the 3 schools, and there is so much social and community overlap between the schools.
These discussions have been going on with the exact same comments since AAP was added to Irving over 10 years ago. The discussion is always the same each year, that the schools are very close socially so attending either school or both schools is really easy socially.
It is just interesting to see that annual Irving/WSHS/LBSS discussion occur under the context of the rezoning fight, when the main arguments against rezoning to Lake Braddock with most of their classmates and friends, are the complete opposite to the common knowledge and experiences expressed each year in the community at large and the annual online middle school AAP discussions.
Even if you are completely against rezoning, it is impossible not to see rhe irony of these two very contradictory positions, occuring simultaneously under the shadow of rezoning.
It's a different calculus when you're talking about effectively forcing some kids already in high school to switch schools. Do you really not see that? Or are they useful sacrificial lambs across the county, as long as you're not redistricted to Lewis?
Non of the kids already in high school are switching schools.
You are either misinformed or intentionally lying. Go listen to Ricardy Anderson's comments at the School Board meeting last night.
Rising Juniors and Seniors are being allowed to stay at their HS with transportation. You put your rising Sophomore on the same bus as the Juniors and Seniors, look they have transportation. In 2 years, they have their license and can drive to school. Problem solved.
They've spent money implementing readers on buses so shortly your child will have to scan their id and the bus driver will be alerted whether or not they are assigned the route. Of course if they provide busing for Juniors and Seniors there is no reason they can't do for Freshmen and Sophomores in the same neighborhood. It makes sense to probably not include busing for rising 7th and 9th graders as they are already going to be switching schools and to limit the financial impact to three years. I suppose rising 9th graders could take the bus for three years but those families would know that bus transportation would not be provided their senior year.
They aren't providing busing for juniors and seniors. They aren't providing bussing for ANYONE who stays at their old school. They will vote on it at the next meeting.
The vote to deny transportation will be the logical conclusion of a bunch of really stupid people doing really stupid things for a couple of years, and then putting on their sad faces and pretending - not that long after they decided to waste $200 million on a new high school that is by no means necessary - that "the budget is tight" and "tough decisions had to be made."
What a bunch of dopes.
It's amazing that after all this time there are still people out there who don't understand the difference between capital budget and operating budget - or that the money comes from completely different sources and legally cannot be mixed.
Aren’t you pedantic? The point is that this School Board is both selectively thrifty and selectively profligate. It’s hard to take anything they say with a straight face any more. They alternate their exuberant faces with their somber faces, but it’s still a circus act.
I'd say the PP is just "basically informed" vs. "pedantic", and that your prior post displayed complete ignorance on this topic. You may have a valid point to make, but you're making it in the least convincing way possible by conflating unrelated things.
It’s easy to spot the types who are more than prepared to ignore how this School Board is ready to screw many families by denying them transportation to their current schools all because they are simultaneously ready to spend so much money on Western HS. You certainly weren’t cheap to buy off, but your indifference serves their agenda.
One has nothing to do with the other.
If anything, the new school will save on transportation unless some of the loudest voices win. And, if they went ahead and determined traditional boundaries, then planning could be accomplished in a timely manner.
You still seem to not understand the difference between capital expenses and operating expenses.
Building/renovations are capital expenses.
Transportation is an operating expense. And, those funds are NOT "fungible" between each other.
The money may not be fungible for FCPS. It’s fungible to those footing the bill because it comes out of the same pockets even if it goes into different coffers.
We also see the contrast between FCPS going out of its way to favor one area because it wanted to buy a shiny new school (although one that is turning out to be a long-term project and anything but a “turnkey” high school for 2000 kids) and its willingness to screw families elsewhere in the county by denying transportation to redistricted kids.
Jealous much? Two of the HS in Western Fairfax are overcrowded. Three are at capacity and close to being overcrowded. One is at 90% capacity and has a few seats left. The area has been acknowledged as needing a new HS for 25 years. Three schools have been expanded so they are just at capacity instead of being overcrowded. A fourth was scheduled for expansion but cannot be expanded.
Complain all that you want but the solution in this part of the county is a new HS and KAA was that answer. There are plenty of families that are unhappy that they are being moved to the new school. The only reason that is not a forced situation is because it is a new school and it will take a few years for the school to have built the programs, specifically sports and the like, that are important to many people. In 3 years, there will not be an option and there will not be bussing for students who want to pupil place to their old school.
Other parts of the country with over crowding have schools that have capacity near them. The over crowding can be addressed by redistricting. I understand that the families moving don’t want to move but that is the less expensive solution to the problem. Grandfathering every HS into their currently overcrowded school does nothing to address the problem of overcrowding. So the county shouldn’t be paying for busses, which are expensive, when they are trying to deal with over crowding.
The county does not to address the renovations list and reprioritize it based on current condition of the building. This should address the buildings that are in dire need of repair but that is a separate issue then the boundary adjustments.
Didn't FCPS just reach an agreement with the county that will allow the Centreville renovation/expansion to proceed?
Between the hundreds of additional seats vacant at Herndon and the capacity that may yet be added at CVHS, there is no need for Western HS. It's a shiny toy they couldn't pass up, so they bought it with no real understanding of how many kids it could initially accommodate or what programs it could offer.
That's why they are moving ahead with just two grades, no VHSL sports, and this convoluted opt-in/opt-out scheme, where it appears some may opt in only to find out later they aren't within the final boundaries and have to provide their own transportation. That's nothing to be jealous about, but if you think this School Board isn't inconsistent when it comes to spending money and then turning around and saying money is tight (and others have to bear the brunt of their poor fiscal management), your own sense of entitlement has really taken over.
No. That is the result of the poor planning that we see across FCPS by our leadership.
The school is needed. No matter how many times you claim it is not.
Chantilly is over 2900 with trailers and modulars galore.
Westfield is over 2750.
There is a lot of new construction in both areas. Lots.
Oakton is over capacity.
South Lakes is close to capacity.
Centreville is over capacity. Do you think the expansion will be complete any time soon?
There is nowhere to shift.
Agree the roll out of the new school is problematic. They should have stopped the other boundary process and done this first. I think Reid has stars in her eyes for a 22nd Century program (her words). But, the need is a school to serve the community and the students--not her resume.
And, there are no seats nearby.
They own the school now and they should make the best of it but you are lying when you claim there is nowhere to shift because they are sitting on hundreds of empty seats at Herndon and the boundaries could have been adjusted to move Chantilly kids into Westfield and Westfield kids into Herndon.
Had this "opportunity" not arisen, that's what they could and likely would have ended up doing. There was no particular urgency to a new 2000-seat western HS, as evidenced by the multiple delays and a CIP that didn't even contemplate construction for another decade. And, if you'd ever listened to prior Facilities presentations to the School Board, you'd know that their attitude was that anything in the CIP past five years out was highly uncertain and subject to cancellation or further deferral.
At least be honest.
200 kids does not move the needle on the problem and you know that.
I see you and honesty continue to fight it out. Herndon HS currently has 700 extra seats, not 200.
It's the epitome of greed to demand and receive large additions to schools in western Fairfax and then demand a new school on top of it because the schools are "too big."
Why do you begrudge people to have a school in their own community rather than long bus rides?
You do realize those long, long bus rides cost lots of money. I would suggest that there are other neighborhoods that could easily fill those empty seats you are so anxious to fill. Some neighborhoods that are 2 miles from Herndon.
You can't even begin to contend that this School Board is making decisions based on the length of bus rides, as much as you might wish otherwise. In any event, the school those children attend is not overcrowded. Perhaps it should stop accepting pupil placements, however, from your neighborhoods, in which case there would be an even stronger argument for moving Chantilly kids to Westfield and Westfield kids to Herndon rather than spending hundreds of millions on Western.
If you are going to complain about funds spent on a needed school for students near it, then I don't think you can justify the funds spent on long bus rides. Especially, when the community has publicly stated that they will not support any more kids to be districted into their current school--which is now going to be slightly over capacity. So, you think a school that is slightly over capacity at around 2200 is fine--but, meanwhile, you want others to go to crowded schools at upwards of 2700. Got it.
Anonymous wrote:We voted these clowns in. The very clowns who decided to jam us with an unnecessary comprehensive boundary study resulting in thousands of our kids suffering mental health trauma being forced to move schools, with the only justification that we hadn’t done it in 40 years (which is misleading in and of itself).
We all need to remember how they gave little thought to how to implement these changes and have really set the county back and wasted so much of FCPS employee time and resources on an unnecessary course with only negative outcomes. They could have actually tried to improve the school experience, but instead just wasted their time for years at this point shuffling our kids around like pawns.
Screw them.
The kids are moving with all of their classmates from ES, they know kids at the new school through that grouping. They probably know other kids at the new school through activities. They will be fine. Kids move every year for family reasons, jobs, changing houses, and the like. The vast majority are just fine. Moving with a hundred or so kids that you know from ES is not traumatic. And kids in their HSs right now won’t have to move.
I suspect that the kids who will struggle are the kids of parents who are flipping out. Or that the kids who are moved and have a normal teenage hiccup will lead to parents blaming redistricting.
I agree with the underlined part.
An interesting side note, every year, including this one, there are multiple discussions on our town Facebook page over whether AAP kids should attend the center middle school at the bext school over (very similar except it is a 7th-12th secondary school) or remain at the Local Level 4 middle school and continue to our neighborhood high school.
There are always dozens and dozens of parents posting how it is soooo easy socially to transition between the secondary AAP program and the stand alone middle school/high school, because the kids all know lots of kids at both schools (true even for non AAP kids at both schools) and because there is so much overlap between all 3 schools through community events, sports, scouts, performing arts, etc.
The same statements are made every year when this topic comes up. I completely agree that the school communities do overlap quite a bit, especially through sports and activities. The kids at the middle school, secondary and high school all know mamy kids from each pyramid.
But the neighborhood that is getting rezoned to that secondary school is flipping out and claiming the opposite is true, as the main argument against their split feeder being eliminated.
It is kind of interesting to see those completely opposite arguments playing out online simultaneously.
Sounds like you’re fine with other kids getting moved from West Springfield to Lake Braddock, so long as they aren’t your kids. This is the consistent theme - other kids can cope, but leave mine alone.
Every year the AAP question comes up. And every year, the overwhelming response is that either option is great because the kids have tons of friends at each of the 3 schools, and there is so much social and community overlap between the schools.
These discussions have been going on with the exact same comments since AAP was added to Irving over 10 years ago. The discussion is always the same each year, that the schools are very close socially so attending either school or both schools is really easy socially.
It is just interesting to see that annual Irving/WSHS/LBSS discussion occur under the context of the rezoning fight, when the main arguments against rezoning to Lake Braddock with most of their classmates and friends, are the complete opposite to the common knowledge and experiences expressed each year in the community at large and the annual online middle school AAP discussions.
Even if you are completely against rezoning, it is impossible not to see rhe irony of these two very contradictory positions, occuring simultaneously under the shadow of rezoning.
It's a different calculus when you're talking about effectively forcing some kids already in high school to switch schools. Do you really not see that? Or are they useful sacrificial lambs across the county, as long as you're not redistricted to Lewis?
Non of the kids already in high school are switching schools.
You are either misinformed or intentionally lying. Go listen to Ricardy Anderson's comments at the School Board meeting last night.
Rising Juniors and Seniors are being allowed to stay at their HS with transportation. You put your rising Sophomore on the same bus as the Juniors and Seniors, look they have transportation. In 2 years, they have their license and can drive to school. Problem solved.
They've spent money implementing readers on buses so shortly your child will have to scan their id and the bus driver will be alerted whether or not they are assigned the route. Of course if they provide busing for Juniors and Seniors there is no reason they can't do for Freshmen and Sophomores in the same neighborhood. It makes sense to probably not include busing for rising 7th and 9th graders as they are already going to be switching schools and to limit the financial impact to three years. I suppose rising 9th graders could take the bus for three years but those families would know that bus transportation would not be provided their senior year.
They aren't providing busing for juniors and seniors. They aren't providing bussing for ANYONE who stays at their old school. They will vote on it at the next meeting.
The vote to deny transportation will be the logical conclusion of a bunch of really stupid people doing really stupid things for a couple of years, and then putting on their sad faces and pretending - not that long after they decided to waste $200 million on a new high school that is by no means necessary - that "the budget is tight" and "tough decisions had to be made."
What a bunch of dopes.
It's amazing that after all this time there are still people out there who don't understand the difference between capital budget and operating budget - or that the money comes from completely different sources and legally cannot be mixed.
Aren’t you pedantic? The point is that this School Board is both selectively thrifty and selectively profligate. It’s hard to take anything they say with a straight face any more. They alternate their exuberant faces with their somber faces, but it’s still a circus act.
I'd say the PP is just "basically informed" vs. "pedantic", and that your prior post displayed complete ignorance on this topic. You may have a valid point to make, but you're making it in the least convincing way possible by conflating unrelated things.
It’s easy to spot the types who are more than prepared to ignore how this School Board is ready to screw many families by denying them transportation to their current schools all because they are simultaneously ready to spend so much money on Western HS. You certainly weren’t cheap to buy off, but your indifference serves their agenda.
One has nothing to do with the other.
If anything, the new school will save on transportation unless some of the loudest voices win. And, if they went ahead and determined traditional boundaries, then planning could be accomplished in a timely manner.
You still seem to not understand the difference between capital expenses and operating expenses.
Building/renovations are capital expenses.
Transportation is an operating expense. And, those funds are NOT "fungible" between each other.
The money may not be fungible for FCPS. It’s fungible to those footing the bill because it comes out of the same pockets even if it goes into different coffers.
We also see the contrast between FCPS going out of its way to favor one area because it wanted to buy a shiny new school (although one that is turning out to be a long-term project and anything but a “turnkey” high school for 2000 kids) and its willingness to screw families elsewhere in the county by denying transportation to redistricted kids.
Jealous much? Two of the HS in Western Fairfax are overcrowded. Three are at capacity and close to being overcrowded. One is at 90% capacity and has a few seats left. The area has been acknowledged as needing a new HS for 25 years. Three schools have been expanded so they are just at capacity instead of being overcrowded. A fourth was scheduled for expansion but cannot be expanded.
Complain all that you want but the solution in this part of the county is a new HS and KAA was that answer. There are plenty of families that are unhappy that they are being moved to the new school. The only reason that is not a forced situation is because it is a new school and it will take a few years for the school to have built the programs, specifically sports and the like, that are important to many people. In 3 years, there will not be an option and there will not be bussing for students who want to pupil place to their old school.
Other parts of the country with over crowding have schools that have capacity near them. The over crowding can be addressed by redistricting. I understand that the families moving don’t want to move but that is the less expensive solution to the problem. Grandfathering every HS into their currently overcrowded school does nothing to address the problem of overcrowding. So the county shouldn’t be paying for busses, which are expensive, when they are trying to deal with over crowding.
The county does not to address the renovations list and reprioritize it based on current condition of the building. This should address the buildings that are in dire need of repair but that is a separate issue then the boundary adjustments.
Didn't FCPS just reach an agreement with the county that will allow the Centreville renovation/expansion to proceed?
Between the hundreds of additional seats vacant at Herndon and the capacity that may yet be added at CVHS, there is no need for Western HS. It's a shiny toy they couldn't pass up, so they bought it with no real understanding of how many kids it could initially accommodate or what programs it could offer.
That's why they are moving ahead with just two grades, no VHSL sports, and this convoluted opt-in/opt-out scheme, where it appears some may opt in only to find out later they aren't within the final boundaries and have to provide their own transportation. That's nothing to be jealous about, but if you think this School Board isn't inconsistent when it comes to spending money and then turning around and saying money is tight (and others have to bear the brunt of their poor fiscal management), your own sense of entitlement has really taken over.
No. That is the result of the poor planning that we see across FCPS by our leadership.
The school is needed. No matter how many times you claim it is not.
Chantilly is over 2900 with trailers and modulars galore.
Westfield is over 2750.
There is a lot of new construction in both areas. Lots.
Oakton is over capacity.
South Lakes is close to capacity.
Centreville is over capacity. Do you think the expansion will be complete any time soon?
There is nowhere to shift.
Agree the roll out of the new school is problematic. They should have stopped the other boundary process and done this first. I think Reid has stars in her eyes for a 22nd Century program (her words). But, the need is a school to serve the community and the students--not her resume.
And, there are no seats nearby.
They own the school now and they should make the best of it but you are lying when you claim there is nowhere to shift because they are sitting on hundreds of empty seats at Herndon and the boundaries could have been adjusted to move Chantilly kids into Westfield and Westfield kids into Herndon.
Had this "opportunity" not arisen, that's what they could and likely would have ended up doing. There was no particular urgency to a new 2000-seat western HS, as evidenced by the multiple delays and a CIP that didn't even contemplate construction for another decade. And, if you'd ever listened to prior Facilities presentations to the School Board, you'd know that their attitude was that anything in the CIP past five years out was highly uncertain and subject to cancellation or further deferral.
At least be honest.
200 kids does not move the needle on the problem and you know that.
I see you and honesty continue to fight it out. Herndon HS currently has 700 extra seats, not 200.
It's the epitome of greed to demand and receive large additions to schools in western Fairfax and then demand a new school on top of it because the schools are "too big."
You are the first person I have heard say Herndon has 700 seats, I have been hearing 200 for most of the year. Where are you getting the 700 seat number?
Anonymous wrote:We voted these clowns in. The very clowns who decided to jam us with an unnecessary comprehensive boundary study resulting in thousands of our kids suffering mental health trauma being forced to move schools, with the only justification that we hadn’t done it in 40 years (which is misleading in and of itself).
We all need to remember how they gave little thought to how to implement these changes and have really set the county back and wasted so much of FCPS employee time and resources on an unnecessary course with only negative outcomes. They could have actually tried to improve the school experience, but instead just wasted their time for years at this point shuffling our kids around like pawns.
Screw them.
The kids are moving with all of their classmates from ES, they know kids at the new school through that grouping. They probably know other kids at the new school through activities. They will be fine. Kids move every year for family reasons, jobs, changing houses, and the like. The vast majority are just fine. Moving with a hundred or so kids that you know from ES is not traumatic. And kids in their HSs right now won’t have to move.
I suspect that the kids who will struggle are the kids of parents who are flipping out. Or that the kids who are moved and have a normal teenage hiccup will lead to parents blaming redistricting.
I agree with the underlined part.
An interesting side note, every year, including this one, there are multiple discussions on our town Facebook page over whether AAP kids should attend the center middle school at the bext school over (very similar except it is a 7th-12th secondary school) or remain at the Local Level 4 middle school and continue to our neighborhood high school.
There are always dozens and dozens of parents posting how it is soooo easy socially to transition between the secondary AAP program and the stand alone middle school/high school, because the kids all know lots of kids at both schools (true even for non AAP kids at both schools) and because there is so much overlap between all 3 schools through community events, sports, scouts, performing arts, etc.
The same statements are made every year when this topic comes up. I completely agree that the school communities do overlap quite a bit, especially through sports and activities. The kids at the middle school, secondary and high school all know mamy kids from each pyramid.
But the neighborhood that is getting rezoned to that secondary school is flipping out and claiming the opposite is true, as the main argument against their split feeder being eliminated.
It is kind of interesting to see those completely opposite arguments playing out online simultaneously.
Sounds like you’re fine with other kids getting moved from West Springfield to Lake Braddock, so long as they aren’t your kids. This is the consistent theme - other kids can cope, but leave mine alone.
Every year the AAP question comes up. And every year, the overwhelming response is that either option is great because the kids have tons of friends at each of the 3 schools, and there is so much social and community overlap between the schools.
These discussions have been going on with the exact same comments since AAP was added to Irving over 10 years ago. The discussion is always the same each year, that the schools are very close socially so attending either school or both schools is really easy socially.
It is just interesting to see that annual Irving/WSHS/LBSS discussion occur under the context of the rezoning fight, when the main arguments against rezoning to Lake Braddock with most of their classmates and friends, are the complete opposite to the common knowledge and experiences expressed each year in the community at large and the annual online middle school AAP discussions.
Even if you are completely against rezoning, it is impossible not to see rhe irony of these two very contradictory positions, occuring simultaneously under the shadow of rezoning.
It's a different calculus when you're talking about effectively forcing some kids already in high school to switch schools. Do you really not see that? Or are they useful sacrificial lambs across the county, as long as you're not redistricted to Lewis?
Non of the kids already in high school are switching schools.
You are either misinformed or intentionally lying. Go listen to Ricardy Anderson's comments at the School Board meeting last night.
Rising Juniors and Seniors are being allowed to stay at their HS with transportation. You put your rising Sophomore on the same bus as the Juniors and Seniors, look they have transportation. In 2 years, they have their license and can drive to school. Problem solved.
They've spent money implementing readers on buses so shortly your child will have to scan their id and the bus driver will be alerted whether or not they are assigned the route. Of course if they provide busing for Juniors and Seniors there is no reason they can't do for Freshmen and Sophomores in the same neighborhood. It makes sense to probably not include busing for rising 7th and 9th graders as they are already going to be switching schools and to limit the financial impact to three years. I suppose rising 9th graders could take the bus for three years but those families would know that bus transportation would not be provided their senior year.
They aren't providing busing for juniors and seniors. They aren't providing bussing for ANYONE who stays at their old school. They will vote on it at the next meeting.
The vote to deny transportation will be the logical conclusion of a bunch of really stupid people doing really stupid things for a couple of years, and then putting on their sad faces and pretending - not that long after they decided to waste $200 million on a new high school that is by no means necessary - that "the budget is tight" and "tough decisions had to be made."
What a bunch of dopes.
It's amazing that after all this time there are still people out there who don't understand the difference between capital budget and operating budget - or that the money comes from completely different sources and legally cannot be mixed.
Aren’t you pedantic? The point is that this School Board is both selectively thrifty and selectively profligate. It’s hard to take anything they say with a straight face any more. They alternate their exuberant faces with their somber faces, but it’s still a circus act.
I'd say the PP is just "basically informed" vs. "pedantic", and that your prior post displayed complete ignorance on this topic. You may have a valid point to make, but you're making it in the least convincing way possible by conflating unrelated things.
It’s easy to spot the types who are more than prepared to ignore how this School Board is ready to screw many families by denying them transportation to their current schools all because they are simultaneously ready to spend so much money on Western HS. You certainly weren’t cheap to buy off, but your indifference serves their agenda.
One has nothing to do with the other.
If anything, the new school will save on transportation unless some of the loudest voices win. And, if they went ahead and determined traditional boundaries, then planning could be accomplished in a timely manner.
You still seem to not understand the difference between capital expenses and operating expenses.
Building/renovations are capital expenses.
Transportation is an operating expense. And, those funds are NOT "fungible" between each other.
The money may not be fungible for FCPS. It’s fungible to those footing the bill because it comes out of the same pockets even if it goes into different coffers.
We also see the contrast between FCPS going out of its way to favor one area because it wanted to buy a shiny new school (although one that is turning out to be a long-term project and anything but a “turnkey” high school for 2000 kids) and its willingness to screw families elsewhere in the county by denying transportation to redistricted kids.
Jealous much? Two of the HS in Western Fairfax are overcrowded. Three are at capacity and close to being overcrowded. One is at 90% capacity and has a few seats left. The area has been acknowledged as needing a new HS for 25 years. Three schools have been expanded so they are just at capacity instead of being overcrowded. A fourth was scheduled for expansion but cannot be expanded.
Complain all that you want but the solution in this part of the county is a new HS and KAA was that answer. There are plenty of families that are unhappy that they are being moved to the new school. The only reason that is not a forced situation is because it is a new school and it will take a few years for the school to have built the programs, specifically sports and the like, that are important to many people. In 3 years, there will not be an option and there will not be bussing for students who want to pupil place to their old school.
Other parts of the country with over crowding have schools that have capacity near them. The over crowding can be addressed by redistricting. I understand that the families moving don’t want to move but that is the less expensive solution to the problem. Grandfathering every HS into their currently overcrowded school does nothing to address the problem of overcrowding. So the county shouldn’t be paying for busses, which are expensive, when they are trying to deal with over crowding.
The county does not to address the renovations list and reprioritize it based on current condition of the building. This should address the buildings that are in dire need of repair but that is a separate issue then the boundary adjustments.
Didn't FCPS just reach an agreement with the county that will allow the Centreville renovation/expansion to proceed?
Between the hundreds of additional seats vacant at Herndon and the capacity that may yet be added at CVHS, there is no need for Western HS. It's a shiny toy they couldn't pass up, so they bought it with no real understanding of how many kids it could initially accommodate or what programs it could offer.
That's why they are moving ahead with just two grades, no VHSL sports, and this convoluted opt-in/opt-out scheme, where it appears some may opt in only to find out later they aren't within the final boundaries and have to provide their own transportation. That's nothing to be jealous about, but if you think this School Board isn't inconsistent when it comes to spending money and then turning around and saying money is tight (and others have to bear the brunt of their poor fiscal management), your own sense of entitlement has really taken over.
No. That is the result of the poor planning that we see across FCPS by our leadership.
The school is needed. No matter how many times you claim it is not.
Chantilly is over 2900 with trailers and modulars galore.
Westfield is over 2750.
There is a lot of new construction in both areas. Lots.
Oakton is over capacity.
South Lakes is close to capacity.
Centreville is over capacity. Do you think the expansion will be complete any time soon?
There is nowhere to shift.
Agree the roll out of the new school is problematic. They should have stopped the other boundary process and done this first. I think Reid has stars in her eyes for a 22nd Century program (her words). But, the need is a school to serve the community and the students--not her resume.
And, there are no seats nearby.
They own the school now and they should make the best of it but you are lying when you claim there is nowhere to shift because they are sitting on hundreds of empty seats at Herndon and the boundaries could have been adjusted to move Chantilly kids into Westfield and Westfield kids into Herndon.
Had this "opportunity" not arisen, that's what they could and likely would have ended up doing. There was no particular urgency to a new 2000-seat western HS, as evidenced by the multiple delays and a CIP that didn't even contemplate construction for another decade. And, if you'd ever listened to prior Facilities presentations to the School Board, you'd know that their attitude was that anything in the CIP past five years out was highly uncertain and subject to cancellation or further deferral.
At least be honest.
200 kids does not move the needle on the problem and you know that.
I see you and honesty continue to fight it out. Herndon HS currently has 700 extra seats, not 200.
It's the epitome of greed to demand and receive large additions to schools in western Fairfax and then demand a new school on top of it because the schools are "too big."
You are the first person I have heard say Herndon has 700 seats, I have been hearing 200 for most of the year. Where are you getting the 700 seat number?
Program capacity at Herndon HS is 2749 per the last CIP and November 2025 enrollment is 2049, according to the most recent monthly membership report.
Anonymous wrote:We voted these clowns in. The very clowns who decided to jam us with an unnecessary comprehensive boundary study resulting in thousands of our kids suffering mental health trauma being forced to move schools, with the only justification that we hadn’t done it in 40 years (which is misleading in and of itself).
We all need to remember how they gave little thought to how to implement these changes and have really set the county back and wasted so much of FCPS employee time and resources on an unnecessary course with only negative outcomes. They could have actually tried to improve the school experience, but instead just wasted their time for years at this point shuffling our kids around like pawns.
Screw them.
Well, the length of bus rides was given as a consideration in the boundary review. At least until one of the SB members met with a certain group.
The kids are moving with all of their classmates from ES, they know kids at the new school through that grouping. They probably know other kids at the new school through activities. They will be fine. Kids move every year for family reasons, jobs, changing houses, and the like. The vast majority are just fine. Moving with a hundred or so kids that you know from ES is not traumatic. And kids in their HSs right now won’t have to move.
I suspect that the kids who will struggle are the kids of parents who are flipping out. Or that the kids who are moved and have a normal teenage hiccup will lead to parents blaming redistricting.
I agree with the underlined part.
An interesting side note, every year, including this one, there are multiple discussions on our town Facebook page over whether AAP kids should attend the center middle school at the bext school over (very similar except it is a 7th-12th secondary school) or remain at the Local Level 4 middle school and continue to our neighborhood high school.
There are always dozens and dozens of parents posting how it is soooo easy socially to transition between the secondary AAP program and the stand alone middle school/high school, because the kids all know lots of kids at both schools (true even for non AAP kids at both schools) and because there is so much overlap between all 3 schools through community events, sports, scouts, performing arts, etc.
The same statements are made every year when this topic comes up. I completely agree that the school communities do overlap quite a bit, especially through sports and activities. The kids at the middle school, secondary and high school all know mamy kids from each pyramid.
But the neighborhood that is getting rezoned to that secondary school is flipping out and claiming the opposite is true, as the main argument against their split feeder being eliminated.
It is kind of interesting to see those completely opposite arguments playing out online simultaneously.
Sounds like you’re fine with other kids getting moved from West Springfield to Lake Braddock, so long as they aren’t your kids. This is the consistent theme - other kids can cope, but leave mine alone.
Every year the AAP question comes up. And every year, the overwhelming response is that either option is great because the kids have tons of friends at each of the 3 schools, and there is so much social and community overlap between the schools.
These discussions have been going on with the exact same comments since AAP was added to Irving over 10 years ago. The discussion is always the same each year, that the schools are very close socially so attending either school or both schools is really easy socially.
It is just interesting to see that annual Irving/WSHS/LBSS discussion occur under the context of the rezoning fight, when the main arguments against rezoning to Lake Braddock with most of their classmates and friends, are the complete opposite to the common knowledge and experiences expressed each year in the community at large and the annual online middle school AAP discussions.
Even if you are completely against rezoning, it is impossible not to see rhe irony of these two very contradictory positions, occuring simultaneously under the shadow of rezoning.
It's a different calculus when you're talking about effectively forcing some kids already in high school to switch schools. Do you really not see that? Or are they useful sacrificial lambs across the county, as long as you're not redistricted to Lewis?
Non of the kids already in high school are switching schools.
You are either misinformed or intentionally lying. Go listen to Ricardy Anderson's comments at the School Board meeting last night.
Rising Juniors and Seniors are being allowed to stay at their HS with transportation. You put your rising Sophomore on the same bus as the Juniors and Seniors, look they have transportation. In 2 years, they have their license and can drive to school. Problem solved.
They've spent money implementing readers on buses so shortly your child will have to scan their id and the bus driver will be alerted whether or not they are assigned the route. Of course if they provide busing for Juniors and Seniors there is no reason they can't do for Freshmen and Sophomores in the same neighborhood. It makes sense to probably not include busing for rising 7th and 9th graders as they are already going to be switching schools and to limit the financial impact to three years. I suppose rising 9th graders could take the bus for three years but those families would know that bus transportation would not be provided their senior year.
They aren't providing busing for juniors and seniors. They aren't providing bussing for ANYONE who stays at their old school. They will vote on it at the next meeting.
The vote to deny transportation will be the logical conclusion of a bunch of really stupid people doing really stupid things for a couple of years, and then putting on their sad faces and pretending - not that long after they decided to waste $200 million on a new high school that is by no means necessary - that "the budget is tight" and "tough decisions had to be made."
What a bunch of dopes.
It's amazing that after all this time there are still people out there who don't understand the difference between capital budget and operating budget - or that the money comes from completely different sources and legally cannot be mixed.
Aren’t you pedantic? The point is that this School Board is both selectively thrifty and selectively profligate. It’s hard to take anything they say with a straight face any more. They alternate their exuberant faces with their somber faces, but it’s still a circus act.
I'd say the PP is just "basically informed" vs. "pedantic", and that your prior post displayed complete ignorance on this topic. You may have a valid point to make, but you're making it in the least convincing way possible by conflating unrelated things.
It’s easy to spot the types who are more than prepared to ignore how this School Board is ready to screw many families by denying them transportation to their current schools all because they are simultaneously ready to spend so much money on Western HS. You certainly weren’t cheap to buy off, but your indifference serves their agenda.
One has nothing to do with the other.
If anything, the new school will save on transportation unless some of the loudest voices win. And, if they went ahead and determined traditional boundaries, then planning could be accomplished in a timely manner.
You still seem to not understand the difference between capital expenses and operating expenses.
Building/renovations are capital expenses.
Transportation is an operating expense. And, those funds are NOT "fungible" between each other.
The money may not be fungible for FCPS. It’s fungible to those footing the bill because it comes out of the same pockets even if it goes into different coffers.
We also see the contrast between FCPS going out of its way to favor one area because it wanted to buy a shiny new school (although one that is turning out to be a long-term project and anything but a “turnkey” high school for 2000 kids) and its willingness to screw families elsewhere in the county by denying transportation to redistricted kids.
Jealous much? Two of the HS in Western Fairfax are overcrowded. Three are at capacity and close to being overcrowded. One is at 90% capacity and has a few seats left. The area has been acknowledged as needing a new HS for 25 years. Three schools have been expanded so they are just at capacity instead of being overcrowded. A fourth was scheduled for expansion but cannot be expanded.
Complain all that you want but the solution in this part of the county is a new HS and KAA was that answer. There are plenty of families that are unhappy that they are being moved to the new school. The only reason that is not a forced situation is because it is a new school and it will take a few years for the school to have built the programs, specifically sports and the like, that are important to many people. In 3 years, there will not be an option and there will not be bussing for students who want to pupil place to their old school.
Other parts of the country with over crowding have schools that have capacity near them. The over crowding can be addressed by redistricting. I understand that the families moving don’t want to move but that is the less expensive solution to the problem. Grandfathering every HS into their currently overcrowded school does nothing to address the problem of overcrowding. So the county shouldn’t be paying for busses, which are expensive, when they are trying to deal with over crowding.
The county does not to address the renovations list and reprioritize it based on current condition of the building. This should address the buildings that are in dire need of repair but that is a separate issue then the boundary adjustments.
Didn't FCPS just reach an agreement with the county that will allow the Centreville renovation/expansion to proceed?
Between the hundreds of additional seats vacant at Herndon and the capacity that may yet be added at CVHS, there is no need for Western HS. It's a shiny toy they couldn't pass up, so they bought it with no real understanding of how many kids it could initially accommodate or what programs it could offer.
That's why they are moving ahead with just two grades, no VHSL sports, and this convoluted opt-in/opt-out scheme, where it appears some may opt in only to find out later they aren't within the final boundaries and have to provide their own transportation. That's nothing to be jealous about, but if you think this School Board isn't inconsistent when it comes to spending money and then turning around and saying money is tight (and others have to bear the brunt of their poor fiscal management), your own sense of entitlement has really taken over.
No. That is the result of the poor planning that we see across FCPS by our leadership.
The school is needed. No matter how many times you claim it is not.
Chantilly is over 2900 with trailers and modulars galore.
Westfield is over 2750.
There is a lot of new construction in both areas. Lots.
Oakton is over capacity.
South Lakes is close to capacity.
Centreville is over capacity. Do you think the expansion will be complete any time soon?
There is nowhere to shift.
Agree the roll out of the new school is problematic. They should have stopped the other boundary process and done this first. I think Reid has stars in her eyes for a 22nd Century program (her words). But, the need is a school to serve the community and the students--not her resume.
And, there are no seats nearby.
They own the school now and they should make the best of it but you are lying when you claim there is nowhere to shift because they are sitting on hundreds of empty seats at Herndon and the boundaries could have been adjusted to move Chantilly kids into Westfield and Westfield kids into Herndon.
Had this "opportunity" not arisen, that's what they could and likely would have ended up doing. There was no particular urgency to a new 2000-seat western HS, as evidenced by the multiple delays and a CIP that didn't even contemplate construction for another decade. And, if you'd ever listened to prior Facilities presentations to the School Board, you'd know that their attitude was that anything in the CIP past five years out was highly uncertain and subject to cancellation or further deferral.
At least be honest.
200 kids does not move the needle on the problem and you know that.
I see you and honesty continue to fight it out. Herndon HS currently has 700 extra seats, not 200.
It's the epitome of greed to demand and receive large additions to schools in western Fairfax and then demand a new school on top of it because the schools are "too big."
Why do you begrudge people to have a school in their own community rather than long bus rides?
You do realize those long, long bus rides cost lots of money. I would suggest that there are other neighborhoods that could easily fill those empty seats you are so anxious to fill. Some neighborhoods that are 2 miles from Herndon.
You can't even begin to contend that this School Board is making decisions based on the length of bus rides, as much as you might wish otherwise. In any event, the school those children attend is not overcrowded. Perhaps it should stop accepting pupil placements, however, from your neighborhoods, in which case there would be an even stronger argument for moving Chantilly kids to Westfield and Westfield kids to Herndon rather than spending hundreds of millions on Western.
If you are going to complain about funds spent on a needed school for students near it, then I don't think you can justify the funds spent on long bus rides. Especially, when the community has publicly stated that they will not support any more kids to be districted into their current school--which is now going to be slightly over capacity. So, you think a school that is slightly over capacity at around 2200 is fine--but, meanwhile, you want others to go to crowded schools at upwards of 2700. Got it.
I think you'd have a hard time demonstrating that the costs of what you're deeming "long bus rides" are anywhere similar to the up-front and then recurring costs of a new HS.
Whether some zoned to Langley have said they'd oppose more kids being redistricted into their school isn't really on point. Maybe it underscores the need for an expansion of another school, but Langley isn't currently overcrowded and the statement that it "is now going to be slightly over capacity" is based on the assumption that Langley would continue to accept over 100 pupil placements. It's entirely within Langley's ability to stop accepting those pupil placements in the future. There's no compelling argument right now for moving anyone out of LHS, which both the School Board and Thru Consulting recognized.
On the other hand, they repeatedly talk about the overcrowding at Chantilly, Centreville, and Westfield. The overcrowding at Centreville could be addressed when CVHS is renovated, and Westfield is big by design, but not above its program capacity. They've repeated the lie that Westfield is overcrowded so many times now that they expect people to believe it, but their own numbers tell a different story.
Chantilly, on the other hand, is overcrowded, but that could have been addressed through boundary changes rather than by purchasing a new HS that is going to delay other capital projects for years.
Chantilly, on the other hand, is overcrowded, but that could have been addressed through boundary changes rather than by purchasing a new HS that is going to delay other capital projects for years.
Unlike the new school which has been delayed for more years than the others. Because they could not find property.
Chantilly, on the other hand, is overcrowded, but that could have been addressed through boundary changes rather than by purchasing a new HS that is going to delay other capital projects for years.
Unlike the new school which has been delayed for more years than the others. Because they could not find property.
And, in the intervening period, they expanded multiple schools, which in turn reduced any urgency about finding a property. But I guess we're supposed to ignore the many millions allocated to those schools over the years because KAA is shiny and "too good to pass up."
Anonymous wrote:We voted these clowns in. The very clowns who decided to jam us with an unnecessary comprehensive boundary study resulting in thousands of our kids suffering mental health trauma being forced to move schools, with the only justification that we hadn’t done it in 40 years (which is misleading in and of itself).
We all need to remember how they gave little thought to how to implement these changes and have really set the county back and wasted so much of FCPS employee time and resources on an unnecessary course with only negative outcomes. They could have actually tried to improve the school experience, but instead just wasted their time for years at this point shuffling our kids around like pawns.
Screw them.
The kids are moving with all of their classmates from ES, they know kids at the new school through that grouping. They probably know other kids at the new school through activities. They will be fine. Kids move every year for family reasons, jobs, changing houses, and the like. The vast majority are just fine. Moving with a hundred or so kids that you know from ES is not traumatic. And kids in their HSs right now won’t have to move.
I suspect that the kids who will struggle are the kids of parents who are flipping out. Or that the kids who are moved and have a normal teenage hiccup will lead to parents blaming redistricting.
I agree with the underlined part.
An interesting side note, every year, including this one, there are multiple discussions on our town Facebook page over whether AAP kids should attend the center middle school at the bext school over (very similar except it is a 7th-12th secondary school) or remain at the Local Level 4 middle school and continue to our neighborhood high school.
There are always dozens and dozens of parents posting how it is soooo easy socially to transition between the secondary AAP program and the stand alone middle school/high school, because the kids all know lots of kids at both schools (true even for non AAP kids at both schools) and because there is so much overlap between all 3 schools through community events, sports, scouts, performing arts, etc.
The same statements are made every year when this topic comes up. I completely agree that the school communities do overlap quite a bit, especially through sports and activities. The kids at the middle school, secondary and high school all know mamy kids from each pyramid.
But the neighborhood that is getting rezoned to that secondary school is flipping out and claiming the opposite is true, as the main argument against their split feeder being eliminated.
It is kind of interesting to see those completely opposite arguments playing out online simultaneously.
Sounds like you’re fine with other kids getting moved from West Springfield to Lake Braddock, so long as they aren’t your kids. This is the consistent theme - other kids can cope, but leave mine alone.
Every year the AAP question comes up. And every year, the overwhelming response is that either option is great because the kids have tons of friends at each of the 3 schools, and there is so much social and community overlap between the schools.
These discussions have been going on with the exact same comments since AAP was added to Irving over 10 years ago. The discussion is always the same each year, that the schools are very close socially so attending either school or both schools is really easy socially.
It is just interesting to see that annual Irving/WSHS/LBSS discussion occur under the context of the rezoning fight, when the main arguments against rezoning to Lake Braddock with most of their classmates and friends, are the complete opposite to the common knowledge and experiences expressed each year in the community at large and the annual online middle school AAP discussions.
Even if you are completely against rezoning, it is impossible not to see rhe irony of these two very contradictory positions, occuring simultaneously under the shadow of rezoning.
It's a different calculus when you're talking about effectively forcing some kids already in high school to switch schools. Do you really not see that? Or are they useful sacrificial lambs across the county, as long as you're not redistricted to Lewis?
They are not forcing kids to move if they have started HS.
Learn to read. They are effectively forcing kids whose families can't arrange for their transportation (and there are more of these families than they acknowledge) to switch schools starting next fall. Including HS kids.
Most if not all of the kids in that WSHS/LB neighborhood have their own cars or friends with cars, or a parent who can transport them.
It is a fairly affluent area
My son is a ninth grader who may be rezoned. His father and I both work full-time jobs that require us to be in the office 5 days a week. He does not drive, nor do I plan on getting him a car. None of his friends drive because they are in ninth grade and will be taking the bus. He wants to stay at his current school, with his current friends, and stay in his current sports teams. We are a real family who will be impacted by this. Please keep your 'opinions' about who is affluent enough to make this work to yourself.
We are in the same boat. I assume many families are. You can call the WSHS neighborhood “affluent”, but many are two income households who are most likely military, federal govt, teachers, etc.
Almost no seniors ride the busses to WSHS. They either drive, or ride with friends.
Not at WSHS, but I believe this to be true. But, "almost no seniors" is not "no seniors." And, WSHS does not have a large impoverished population and its boundaries are not that large.
The only seniors am aware of who rode the bus at WSHS are the ones whose parents are punishing them by taking away the keys for things like getting a speeding ticket or some other big infraction.
All the others drive, walk, or ride with friends.
And, you know all the seniors?
Of course she doesn’t. Perhaps she doesn’t want to jeopardize grandfathering for her own kids, who’ll apparently have no problem arranging for transportation. Screw those less fortunate.
Agreed (well maybe not on the first part because I don't know that posters situation)
I think the big point here is that the school board and administration should have come to the table with potential solutions for kids...as opposed to saying 'the rich kids will take care of the poor ones'. None of boundary process has been thought out, and none of this has been done in truly fair and equitable way, based on facts.
+1. Neighbors are fighting each other completely unnecessarily. Everyone is trying to protect what they believe is right for their families, and the process from start to finish was filled with misinformation, distorting of facts, a sham community feedback process, and now no solutions for effected children.
They should have looked at the schools that were overcrowded and the capacity around them and redrawn te boundaries only for those schools. The solution is that everyone moves, except for rising Juniors and Seniors in HS. It is painful but it is a large group moving at once and it is done.
The process is made worse by adding in IB schools when families don’t want IB and the counties unwillingness to add AP at every school. If enough kids want IB, they will sign up for the classes. If not, then get rid of the program.
No one wants to move, it will be more problematic for some kids then others. It should not be a problem for any rising Freshman because they don’t have ties to the school and have not started making progress at school. They will be joining a new community with every other 9th grader and will be fine. The ones who are not have parents that are strangely invested in a particular HS.
That doesn't quite work for children at middle schools moving to secondary schools. Your arguments always seem to start out fine until you start making assumptions about actual students.
My assumption is that the vast majority of kids will be fine if they move schools regardless of the grade because kids move on a regular basis and the majority of the ones who move are fine. Yes, it sucks but the vast majority of kids find new friends, get involved in programs that they like, and do well in school. They go on to college or into a trade that they like. They are successful human beings.
Moving with your entire grade at the same time is not trauma inducing except for a small percentage with specific mental/emotional issues. Parents are arguing that moving is going to cause a massive mental health crisis for the kids changing schools when kids move all the time and are fine. You are moving with kids you know, as a group into a school. The schools know the kids are coming and will be prepared to help them adapt.
I get that people don’t like change, very few people do. Humans are resilient. The kids who struggle with this are going to be kids with diagnosable mental health conditions and kids whose parents are making this into some massive awful change.
I sincerely hope that FCPS f’s with your kids at some point, just so I can repost the crap you just wrote and address it to your family
You are a bad person.
My kid is moving. He will be fine.
You hope. But boy, if not, it’ll be just desserts for the person who doesn’t care about other kids.
Chantilly, on the other hand, is overcrowded, but that could have been addressed through boundary changes rather than by purchasing a new HS that is going to delay other capital projects for years.
Unlike the new school which has been delayed for more years than the others. Because they could not find property.
And, in the intervening period, they expanded multiple schools, which in turn reduced any urgency about finding a property. But I guess we're supposed to ignore the many millions allocated to those schools over the years because KAA is shiny and "too good to pass up."
You sure seem upset about this.
Remember, Fox Mill was taken out of Oakton and sent to South Lakes because no school should be over 2000--according to the then School board.
Chantilly, on the other hand, is overcrowded, but that could have been addressed through boundary changes rather than by purchasing a new HS that is going to delay other capital projects for years.
Unlike the new school which has been delayed for more years than the others. Because they could not find property.
And, in the intervening period, they expanded multiple schools, which in turn reduced any urgency about finding a property. But I guess we're supposed to ignore the many millions allocated to those schools over the years because KAA is shiny and "too good to pass up."
You sure seem upset about this.
Remember, Fox Mill was taken out of Oakton and sent to South Lakes because no school should be over 2000--according to the then School board.
If you expected consistency from the various School Boards you've been disillusioned many times by now.
That doesn't change the fact that there was zero urgency about proceeding with a new western HS because so much money was being plowed into expansions. Now we're supposed to pretend that didn't happen. So western Fairfax gets expansions and a new school on top of that, while the rest of the county constantly gets screwed.
That doesn't change the fact that there was zero urgency about proceeding with a new western HS because so much money was being plowed into expansions. Now we're supposed to pretend that didn't happen. So western Fairfax gets expansions and a new school on top of that, while the rest of the county constantly gets screwed.
There is plenty of urgency. You just don't like it. Thru was splitting neighborhoods down to nextdoor neighbors. They were doing all sorts of shifts--and it wasn't solving the problem.
That doesn't change the fact that there was zero urgency about proceeding with a new western HS because so much money was being plowed into expansions. Now we're supposed to pretend that didn't happen. So western Fairfax gets expansions and a new school on top of that, while the rest of the county constantly gets screwed.
There is plenty of urgency. You just don't like it. Thru was splitting neighborhoods down to nextdoor neighbors. They were doing all sorts of shifts--and it wasn't solving the problem.
Get over it.
Now you're just spewing non-sequiturs. Thru's glaring incompetence doesn't justify the failure to explore better options.
But, hey, what's $200 million that wasn't even in the CIP for a decade when it benefits my neighborhood...
That doesn't change the fact that there was zero urgency about proceeding with a new western HS because so much money was being plowed into expansions. Now we're supposed to pretend that didn't happen. So western Fairfax gets expansions and a new school on top of that, while the rest of the county constantly gets screwed.
There is plenty of urgency. You just don't like it. Thru was splitting neighborhoods down to nextdoor neighbors. They were doing all sorts of shifts--and it wasn't solving the problem.
Get over it.
There are always nsxt door neighbor attending different schools, even in districts that never rezone.
Someone has to be the final house on the boundary line.
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