Boundary Review Meetings

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I work at a MS and many 8th graders were hyped up after the "new western HS" presentation today, I expect will be asking their parents to opt in. Weird that the boundaries/bussing won't be known for awhile yet.

The point of the presentation is to hype kids up. Reid wants excitement for her opt-in school. The question is whether the enthusiasm wears off when families realize the lack of sports and the unclear boundaries.

If you attended the presentation on Friday you would know that the question about sports was asked a lot and answered a lot. The parents are very well aware of the sports situation. There was a 10 minute presentation and 50 minutes of questions. Lots and lots of questions. Which was good.

And I fully agree that is ridiculous that the borders have not been set. They should have been the first thing set and then adjust the boundaries for the rest of the county. A fair amount of the movement that was planned was in this area, the Western HS should have been to immediate focus of the redistricting process.

They are not hiding the sports issue. They are not hiding that the borders are not clear.

I think when people see the actual opt-in form, it will weed out a lot of kids/families with some level of interest because it appears it will need to specify that:

* If you opt in, you agree to attend Western HS, space permitting, even if you ultimately do not live within the established boundary, in which case you will be responsible for arranging your own transportation; and

* If Western is over-subscribed, those who live within the established boundary may/will be given priority and you may be required to attend your currently assigned school.

So if you are zoned for Coates, McNair, Floris, or Oak Hill, and are interested in Western, your evaluation is rather different than if you are zoned for Fox Mill or Crossfield (or the Navy island), which may or may not end up within the boundary, or much different than if you are zoned to any other elementary schools that feed into Westfield, Chantilly, South Lakes, Oakton, or Centreville. which have next to no chances of ending up assigned to Western.

For many people, it's just too much uncertainty.

I suspect they will only get kids opting in from those first four schools. I don't think anyone from Fox Mill or Crossfield will want to risk not having transportation, nor will they want to risk younger children not being able to go to the same high school as their older child. I know I wouldn't.

I know families opting in from Fox Mill and it is more than a handful. I know families planning on SLHS. No one who is opting in is worried about the boundaries, there are enough opting in that carpooling will be easy if needed but the Japanese immersion comments made on Friday sure make it seem like Fox Mill will be in boundary.

I wouldn't count on it. SLHS has made a dramatic turnaround in performance and reputation since adding those Fox Mill homes. It would be political suicide for Meren to allow the school to drop back to how it used to be. I think Western will get that bit of Floris that is currently SL, but doubt they'll move all of Fox Mill in the end.

And the families that don't want IB will happily pupil place to Western for the special programs and AP. The same way that a good number of families leave every year for AP at Herndon, Langly, and Oakton. Except now it will be closer, and they are offering Japanese. There is an active push by some Fox Mill families to move to the new school. And as the school moves past the lack of sports, there will be a stronger push.

Somewhere between 130-200 student's pupil place out each year for AP, depending on the year. Parents have been asking for AP at SLHS for the last 25 years. Some parents want AP enough that they send their kids to Herndon, a school that most people on this board think is awful. What do you think is going to happen once the Western School is up and running and has sports and AP?

There are Fox Mill families that are actively working to move to Western. Meren is trying to delay opening Western because she is stuck between people who want to keep Fox Mill at SLHS and a large group that want to move.

You keep attacking Meren, but maybe she just thinks they should really make sure they know what they are doing before they open a new high school.

Keep in mind you’re entrusting the opening of this opt-in, two-grade, no-sports, no-staff (yet), no-boundaries (yet), soon-to-be-construction-zone school to the same people who hired the lamentable, unqualified Thru Consulting and conducted a debacle of a boundary review. Nothing could possibly go wrong, right?

Reid needs to go. The school was a great purchase and needed. But, her desire for something new and glamorous has been troubling. The school was needed for overcrowding and to eliminate long bus rides. If they had incorporated the boundaries into the present study (which has also been a mess), it would make a lot more sense.

It would seem that she is doing everything she can to sabotage having a traditional boundary high school.
They easily could have opened with ninth and tenth grade if they would have figured out the sports issue.

Since they previously had said no construction on a new western HS would begin any earlier than 2034, no one seriously could have attacked the School Board had they been honest about the limited capacity of KAA and the real cost of opening Western in fall 2027 as a 9-11 school with fixed boundaries, AP, and VHSL sports. That still would have been much sooner than the late 2030s.

They are pushing through a fall 2026 opening because they know there will be less attention to the total cost if many of those expenses are incurred after the school opens, and because Reid wants the opening of a new school with a “pathways” program on her resume before she moves in. It’s obvious that she’s not qualified to lead FCPS, but she’ll get to leave with “opened new school with 22nd Century programming” on her CV.

[Anonymous]

I fully supported buying the school.

I think the best thing to do is to push the opening back a year, do the renovation work needed to make it a functioning neighborhood high school, and open with grades 9-11, VHSL sports, etc. 9th-10th are mandatory boundaries, 11th could be optional with no transportation provided.

Opening next year and having kids go to school around construction, with no sports, and some half-assed boundary situation, is just a recipe for disaster. Take the time needed to set the boundaries and get the school ready to open as a real school.

[Anonymous]

No one is going to send their 11th grader to a new high school in this day and age if they have plans to go to college. It is the most important year before applications go out. I think any plan to open the school 9-11 was a non-starter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one is going to send their 11th grader to a new high school in this day and age if they have plans to go to college. It is the most important year before applications go out. I think any plan to open the school 9-11 was a non-starter.

That’s totally ridiculous. They should have made opened with attendance mandatory for 9th and 10th graders and optional for 11th graders. They’d have a smaller 11th grade class but some would welcome the opportunities for leadership positions and a new start, and they also could have had VHSL sports from the inception.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one is going to send their 11th grader to a new high school in this day and age if they have plans to go to college. It is the most important year before applications go out. I think any plan to open the school 9-11 was a non-starter.

Pretty sure that Westfield and South County were opened with 9-11.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one is going to send their 11th grader to a new high school in this day and age if they have plans to go to college. It is the most important year before applications go out. I think any plan to open the school 9-11 was a non-starter.

Pretty sure that Westfield and South County were opened with 9-11.

That was 20+ years ago. If you don't know the difference in competitiveness getting into a college today versus then, then I highly doubt you have kids in school and you're just one of those boomers posting here as a hobby. No one is going to give up positions in clubs and teams to go to a new school right when they are about to apply for college today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one is going to send their 11th grader to a new high school in this day and age if they have plans to go to college. It is the most important year before applications go out. I think any plan to open the school 9-11 was a non-starter.

That’s totally ridiculous. They should have made opened with attendance mandatory for 9th and 10th graders and optional for 11th graders. They’d have a smaller 11th grade class but some would welcome the opportunities for leadership positions and a new start, and they also could have had VHSL sports from the inception.

You think it's ridiculous, but you're wrong. I understand there is no way to force you to see that, but nonetheless you are wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one is going to send their 11th grader to a new high school in this day and age if they have plans to go to college. It is the most important year before applications go out. I think any plan to open the school 9-11 was a non-starter.

Pretty sure that Westfield and South County were opened with 9-11.

That was 20+ years ago. If you don't know the difference in competitiveness getting into a college today versus then, then I highly doubt you have kids in school and you're just one of those boomers posting here as a hobby. No one is going to give up positions in clubs and teams to go to a new school right when they are about to apply for college today.

DP, but you're missing the point, which is that they can and should have waited until Western could open as a 9-11 school with both clubs and teams, rather than open as an opt-in 9-10 school with limited clubs and no teams that Reid wants for her resume sooner rather than later and that will mainly attract those seeking to avoid Westfield and South Lakes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one is going to send their 11th grader to a new high school in this day and age if they have plans to go to college. It is the most important year before applications go out. I think any plan to open the school 9-11 was a non-starter.

That’s totally ridiculous. They should have made opened with attendance mandatory for 9th and 10th graders and optional for 11th graders. They’d have a smaller 11th grade class but some would welcome the opportunities for leadership positions and a new start, and they also could have had VHSL sports from the inception.

You think it's ridiculous, but you're wrong. I understand there is no way to force you to see that, but nonetheless you are wrong.

You're the one in the wrong.

Independence HS opened in Loudoun in the fall of 2019 with 435 freshmen, 373 sophomores, and 255 juniors. Juniors were given the option to attend, but freshmen and sophomores were expected to attend based on the new boundaries.

That was six years ago, not 20+ years ago.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Been Mar got last minute screwed in the Annandale boundary change and now will get last minute screwed for Lewis. At least FCPS is consistent in its screwing of poor kids.

What do you want them to do in that area of the county, exactly? The demographics are what they are. It looks like they’re going to boost enrollment at Lewis and make a move out of Edison to prepare for the new development there. It is a move that makes sense.

If any move is made at this late stage to Bren Mar, it should be to send it back to Annandale.

That’s not a late change. It’s what Scenario 4 has proposed for months. Moving BMP to Lewis rather than back to Annandale would be the last-minute change.

Annandale has a 14 room modular installed in 2011. Don't know if it was new or relocated. 8 trailers with the same square footage as used for it's neighborhood center. 5 others HS's have modulars and 3 are from 2005 [Chantilly, Robinson, Centreville]. Mclean's was a relocated modular-not new so you can't estimate perhaps a 25 year useful life off the year installed.

Bren Mar to Lewis is logical instead of Annandale based on the modular and it's condition. Then there is the 109% projected utilization for Poe becoming an AAP center. Maybe they'll do K-6 at Bren Mar Park with tweaks to pre K sites and feed it to Lewis pyramid OR change it's boundary.

That 10.4m annual cost for years on transportation plus the 918k on one school, Kent Gardens, make us wonder why FCPS doesn't provide numbers on the cost for MS AAP buses. That Franklin to Carson shuffle plus stuff to Rocky Run have huge numbers and cover wide territory in FCPS. I think the SB had excessive grandfathering on Kent Gardens. That SB voted for the scheme and at large should have pushed the envelope and moved Spring Hill Island. Grandfathering with transportation should be: Elementary final year only, none on MS and move all AAP to base, grades 11 and 12 high school because of the hideous IB. South County opened with grade 11

Key is getting AAP level 4, with no more transfers out of Key for AAP.

I am not sure which center(s) Key feeds into, but adding AAP to Key will fix many of Lewis and Key's issues, especially the hundreds of students who transfer out of Lewis each year.

If FCPS can just grow a brain and ditch IB at Lewis for AP plus dual for the B students, then Lewis might be in a very different and much more positive condition in 2-3 years when the current Key AAP kids start to remain at Lewis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Been Mar got last minute screwed in the Annandale boundary change and now will get last minute screwed for Lewis. At least FCPS is consistent in its screwing of poor kids.

What do you want them to do in that area of the county, exactly? The demographics are what they are. It looks like they’re going to boost enrollment at Lewis and make a move out of Edison to prepare for the new development there. It is a move that makes sense.

If any move is made at this late stage to Bren Mar, it should be to send it back to Annandale.

That’s not a late change. It’s what Scenario 4 has proposed for months. Moving BMP to Lewis rather than back to Annandale would be the last-minute change.

Annandale has a 14 room modular installed in 2011. Don't know if it was new or relocated. 8 trailers with the same square footage as used for it's neighborhood center. 5 others HS's have modulars and 3 are from 2005 [Chantilly, Robinson, Centreville]. Mclean's was a relocated modular-not new so you can't estimate perhaps a 25 year useful life off the year installed.

Bren Mar to Lewis is logical instead of Annandale based on the modular and it's condition. Then there is the 109% projected utilization for Poe becoming an AAP center. Maybe they'll do K-6 at Bren Mar Park with tweaks to pre K sites and feed it to Lewis pyramid OR change it's boundary.

That 10.4m annual cost for years on transportation plus the 918k on one school, Kent Gardens, make us wonder why FCPS doesn't provide numbers on the cost for MS AAP buses. That Franklin to Carson shuffle plus stuff to Rocky Run have huge numbers and cover wide territory in FCPS. I think the SB had excessive grandfathering on Kent Gardens. That SB voted for the scheme and at large should have pushed the envelope and moved Spring Hill Island. Grandfathering with transportation should be: Elementary final year only, none on MS and move all AAP to base, grades 11 and 12 high school because of the hideous IB. South County opened with grade 11

Key is getting AAP level 4, with no more transfers out of Key for AAP.

I am not sure which center(s) Key feeds into, but adding AAP to Key will fix many of Lewis and Key's issues, especially the hundreds of students who transfer out of Lewis each year.

If FCPS can just grow a brain and ditch IB at Lewis for AP plus dual for the B students, then Lewis might be in a very different and much more positive condition in 2-3 years when the current Key AAP kids start to remain at Lewis.

That's great for Key. Any more backdoor approaches on this issue supposed to be discussed/dealt with spring 2026? When Robinson got that modular it was up to about 3000 in grades 9-12. Why is it still there and why the trailers? If needed for instruction that could be due to the dual program IB and AP. FCPS does not tell the public . But Reid as a Supt did state IB is more expensive to implement and run . No public numbers per school ever given!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Been Mar got last minute screwed in the Annandale boundary change and now will get last minute screwed for Lewis. At least FCPS is consistent in its screwing of poor kids.

What do you want them to do in that area of the county, exactly? The demographics are what they are. It looks like they’re going to boost enrollment at Lewis and make a move out of Edison to prepare for the new development there. It is a move that makes sense.

If any move is made at this late stage to Bren Mar, it should be to send it back to Annandale.

That’s not a late change. It’s what Scenario 4 has proposed for months. Moving BMP to Lewis rather than back to Annandale would be the last-minute change.

Annandale has a 14 room modular installed in 2011. Don't know if it was new or relocated. 8 trailers with the same square footage as used for it's neighborhood center. 5 others HS's have modulars and 3 are from 2005 [Chantilly, Robinson, Centreville]. Mclean's was a relocated modular-not new so you can't estimate perhaps a 25 year useful life off the year installed.

Bren Mar to Lewis is logical instead of Annandale based on the modular and it's condition. Then there is the 109% projected utilization for Poe becoming an AAP center. Maybe they'll do K-6 at Bren Mar Park with tweaks to pre K sites and feed it to Lewis pyramid OR change it's boundary.

That 10.4m annual cost for years on transportation plus the 918k on one school, Kent Gardens, make us wonder why FCPS doesn't provide numbers on the cost for MS AAP buses. That Franklin to Carson shuffle plus stuff to Rocky Run have huge numbers and cover wide territory in FCPS. I think the SB had excessive grandfathering on Kent Gardens. That SB voted for the scheme and at large should have pushed the envelope and moved Spring Hill Island. Grandfathering with transportation should be: Elementary final year only, none on MS and move all AAP to base, grades 11 and 12 high school because of the hideous IB. South County opened with grade 11

Key is getting AAP level 4, with no more transfers out of Key for AAP.

I am not sure which center(s) Key feeds into, but adding AAP to Key will fix many of Lewis and Key's issues, especially the hundreds of students who transfer out of Lewis each year.

If FCPS can just grow a brain and ditch IB at Lewis for AP plus dual for the B students, then Lewis might be in a very different and much more positive condition in 2-3 years when the current Key AAP kids start to remain at Lewis.

That's great for Key. Any more backdoor approaches on this issue supposed to be discussed/dealt with spring 2026? When Robinson got that modular it was up to about 3000 in grades 9-12. Why is it still there and why the trailers? If needed for instruction that could be due to the dual program IB and AP. FCPS does not tell the public . But Reid as a Supt did state IB is more expensive to implement and run . No public numbers per school ever given!

Can anyone from the Lewis pyramid confirm the Key AAP rumors?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Been Mar got last minute screwed in the Annandale boundary change and now will get last minute screwed for Lewis. At least FCPS is consistent in its screwing of poor kids.

What do you want them to do in that area of the county, exactly? The demographics are what they are. It looks like they’re going to boost enrollment at Lewis and make a move out of Edison to prepare for the new development there. It is a move that makes sense.

If any move is made at this late stage to Bren Mar, it should be to send it back to Annandale.

That’s not a late change. It’s what Scenario 4 has proposed for months. Moving BMP to Lewis rather than back to Annandale would be the last-minute change.

Annandale has a 14 room modular installed in 2011. Don't know if it was new or relocated. 8 trailers with the same square footage as used for it's neighborhood center. 5 others HS's have modulars and 3 are from 2005 [Chantilly, Robinson, Centreville]. Mclean's was a relocated modular-not new so you can't estimate perhaps a 25 year useful life off the year installed.

Bren Mar to Lewis is logical instead of Annandale based on the modular and it's condition. Then there is the 109% projected utilization for Poe becoming an AAP center. Maybe they'll do K-6 at Bren Mar Park with tweaks to pre K sites and feed it to Lewis pyramid OR change it's boundary.

That 10.4m annual cost for years on transportation plus the 918k on one school, Kent Gardens, make us wonder why FCPS doesn't provide numbers on the cost for MS AAP buses. That Franklin to Carson shuffle plus stuff to Rocky Run have huge numbers and cover wide territory in FCPS. I think the SB had excessive grandfathering on Kent Gardens. That SB voted for the scheme and at large should have pushed the envelope and moved Spring Hill Island. Grandfathering with transportation should be: Elementary final year only, none on MS and move all AAP to base, grades 11 and 12 high school because of the hideous IB. South County opened with grade 11

Key is getting AAP level 4, with no more transfers out of Key for AAP.

I am not sure which center(s) Key feeds into, but adding AAP to Key will fix many of Lewis and Key's issues, especially the hundreds of students who transfer out of Lewis each year.

If FCPS can just grow a brain and ditch IB at Lewis for AP plus dual for the B students, then Lewis might be in a very different and much more positive condition in 2-3 years when the current Key AAP kids start to remain at Lewis.

That's great for Key. Any more backdoor approaches on this issue supposed to be discussed/dealt with spring 2026? When Robinson got that modular it was up to about 3000 in grades 9-12. Why is it still there and why the trailers? If needed for instruction that could be due to the dual program IB and AP. FCPS does not tell the public . But Reid as a Supt did state IB is more expensive to implement and run . No public numbers per school ever given!

Can anyone from the Lewis pyramid confirm the Key AAP rumors?

I’m not in the pyramid but I’ve only heard that they intend to put AAP in every middle school. I’m unclear if that means calling every MS an “AAP Center” or if they will do some kind of center vs. LLIV designation at the middles like they do at the elementaries. It could still give people a way out of some of these middle schools if they can say they are going to the “center” instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Been Mar got last minute screwed in the Annandale boundary change and now will get last minute screwed for Lewis. At least FCPS is consistent in its screwing of poor kids.

What do you want them to do in that area of the county, exactly? The demographics are what they are. It looks like they’re going to boost enrollment at Lewis and make a move out of Edison to prepare for the new development there. It is a move that makes sense.

If any move is made at this late stage to Bren Mar, it should be to send it back to Annandale.

That’s not a late change. It’s what Scenario 4 has proposed for months. Moving BMP to Lewis rather than back to Annandale would be the last-minute change.

Annandale has a 14 room modular installed in 2011. Don't know if it was new or relocated. 8 trailers with the same square footage as used for it's neighborhood center. 5 others HS's have modulars and 3 are from 2005 [Chantilly, Robinson, Centreville]. Mclean's was a relocated modular-not new so you can't estimate perhaps a 25 year useful life off the year installed.

Bren Mar to Lewis is logical instead of Annandale based on the modular and it's condition. Then there is the 109% projected utilization for Poe becoming an AAP center. Maybe they'll do K-6 at Bren Mar Park with tweaks to pre K sites and feed it to Lewis pyramid OR change it's boundary.

That 10.4m annual cost for years on transportation plus the 918k on one school, Kent Gardens, make us wonder why FCPS doesn't provide numbers on the cost for MS AAP buses. That Franklin to Carson shuffle plus stuff to Rocky Run have huge numbers and cover wide territory in FCPS. I think the SB had excessive grandfathering on Kent Gardens. That SB voted for the scheme and at large should have pushed the envelope and moved Spring Hill Island. Grandfathering with transportation should be: Elementary final year only, none on MS and move all AAP to base, grades 11 and 12 high school because of the hideous IB. South County opened with grade 11

Key is getting AAP level 4, with no more transfers out of Key for AAP.

I am not sure which center(s) Key feeds into, but adding AAP to Key will fix many of Lewis and Key's issues, especially the hundreds of students who transfer out of Lewis each year.

If FCPS can just grow a brain and ditch IB at Lewis for AP plus dual for the B students, then Lewis might be in a very different and much more positive condition in 2-3 years when the current Key AAP kids start to remain at Lewis.

That's great for Key. Any more backdoor approaches on this issue supposed to be discussed/dealt with spring 2026? When Robinson got that modular it was up to about 3000 in grades 9-12. Why is it still there and why the trailers? If needed for instruction that could be due to the dual program IB and AP. FCPS does not tell the public . But Reid as a Supt did state IB is more expensive to implement and run . No public numbers per school ever given!

Can anyone from the Lewis pyramid confirm the Key AAP rumors?

I’m not in the pyramid but I’ve only heard that they intend to put AAP in every middle school. I’m unclear if that means calling every MS an “AAP Center” or if they will do some kind of center vs. LLIV designation at the middles like they do at the elementaries. It could still give people a way out of some of these middle schools if they can say they are going to the “center” instead.

I believe many school board members want to make each middle school a stand-alone AAP center that only kids within the base boundaries attend. That’s currently the situation at Cooper, Johnson, Longfellow and perhaps South County. It reduces transportation costs and brings down the enrollments at some large AAP centers like Carson, Glasgow, and Sandburg. The rub is that it will require some boundary changes, so they want to put it off a while. For example, if you pull AAP kids out of Rocky Run, it’s too small and if you move AAP kids into Thoreau then it’s too big.