How did Herndon/Westfield HS go from top to bottom?
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Anonymous
Not PP, but Langley’s renovation was basically funded and done before the current SB was re-elected. Currently all three of the most overcrowded high schools in the county (Centreville, Chantilly, and McLean) are heavily Asian and they’ve barely lifted a finger to address it. Meanwhile less crowded Justice HS is getting a big addition outside the renovation cycle. Even if it’s not hate, it certainly is neglect and incompetence. |
Anonymous
| There are some awful decisions being made with regard to renovations and additions. I don't have the slightest clue why the recent decisions have been made. |
Anonymous
My point is that if the SB hated rich white and Asians, they wouldn’t have do so. PPs argument makes no sense. |
Anonymous
' Your point makes no sense, either. The fact that a renovation of Langley planned back in 2008 was completed before the current School Board took office in 2019 says nothing about their attitudes towards Centreville, Chantilly, and McLean, all overcrowded schools that have been neglected by the School Board and that are heavily Asian. |
Anonymous
Are they redistrictning new neighborhoods to Justice? That school has a decent campus, hidden as it is from busy Leesburg Pike. Or will the new, extra space allow it to absorb projected student growth w/o trailers. There’s a large development of new homes in Sleepy Hollow Drive which may contribute to substantial growth. Office to apartment conversions in Skyline will also contribute. |
Anonymous
There is no redistricting planned to add kids to Justice. What is “Sleepy Hollow Drive”? Are you referring to the 18 new houses that Gulick is building off Sleepy Hollow Road? Under the FCPS student yield formula that would only add 3-4 kids to Justice. And why should FCPS prioritize an addition at Justice to anticipate future office conversions when other high schools are already more overcrowded NOW. FCPS planning sucks and the School Board members are either too hostile or too lazy to do anything about it. |
Anonymous
What you write makes sense. I’m just trying to understand the FCPS planning rationale behind the large addition. I wonder if it’s an equity thing or due to strong PTA advocacy. Falls Church HS gets its expensive overhaul due to years of PTA pressure from an active parent group. Yet it seems McLean has been crowded for years and years? And the facilities are outdated and look unappealing for such a wealthy area. Justice looks beautiful though. Same with Langley. Etc. |
Anonymous
You’re looking for a rational explanation and there isn’t one. But Elaine Tholen, who lied blatantly to McLean parents, will get her comeuppance next year. Laura Jane Cohen and Stella Pekarsky, who’ve neglected Centreville and Chantilly, may very well also get tossed out. No one will have to prove they “hate” those schools, just they have miserably failed to look out after them. |
Anonymous
Illegal immigrants will do that to a school/ |
Anonymous
You have to consider that adding more additions to Chantilly and large overcrowded schools isn't exactly the answer. Do we want to encourage the creation of super-conglomerate schools that would grow to over 3000 students? Meanwhile some schools are still stuck below 2000. That's a logistical mess. Look at Houston public schools, for example, which has slightly higher enrollment than FCPS and they have their own share of very high-performing high schools, but their enrollment per high school is on the order of 1000 students. FCPS should build a new HS and start thinking of a second new HS. They must do a massive rebalance of boundary enrollment across the county. We have spaces available to address our overcrowding issues but it takes someone with the courage to break the status quo. This isn't about punishing Asians as you think it is. |
Anonymous
| Smaller high schools are so much better for the kids as far as socially, participating in activities, etc. |
Anonymous
McLean needs an expansion. Justice doesn't. That is common sense based on the number of kids at the school. Got it. Not going to disagree. But McLean needs an update for a variety of reasons, least of which is that it looks unappealing for such a wealthy area. It is phrases like that that cause people to roll their eyes and not care. You move from a solid argument (Over Crowded, need room, needs update to bring the building to current code and standards) to sounding entitled (put the area has lots of money so the school should reflect that). Just saying, it is bad PR. Stick to the facts, leave out the aesthetics. And yet, there are other places to live with good schools, more affordable houses, and that are not over crowded but you choose to move to McLean because you have this vision of this totally superior school that it is important your kid to. You choose that knowing the situation and somehow you remain flabbergasted that the situation isn't being rectified. I mean, just looking at the past 10 years, I don't know why anyone would buy a house in McLean and expect that the HS isn't going to stay overcrowded. Maybe you should have looked at different locations with less crowded high schools. At some point in time, all these folks who want a great education for their kids will realize that there are plenty of other schools that provide a great education and that the overall test scores are lower because there is less accumulated wealth in the area. Stop focusing on the slightly higher SAT numbers for the average and realize that many schools have a solid cohort of kids who are invested in their education, which is what you are looking for, and you would find yourself at schools that are not over crowded and with a lower mortage rate. |
Anonymous
That's probably a discussion that should have been held some time ago. However, FCPS has been consistently expanding high schools to 2500 permanent seats or more. Schools with 2500 or more seats include or will soon include Herndon, Madison, Oakton, South Lakes, Falls Church, Justice, West Potomac, Lake Braddock, Robinson, South County, West Springfield, Chantilly, and Westfield. Presumably when they ever get around to announcing Centreville's plans, they will build it out to at least 2500 seats as well. So it's unfair to do nothing to add more permanent seats to overcrowded schools that have less than 2000 permanent seats, on the grounds that somehow it's going to be unnecessary when they get around to doing a "massive rebalance of boundary enrollment." People will invariably point to the fact that there's no compelling need to move kids out of, say, West Springfield or Madison because those schools, with 2500 seats, aren't overcrowded (Madison) or too overcrowded (West Springfield). And FCPS has been talking about building a new high school in western Fairfax, which clearly would require some boundary adjustments, for so long that many doubt it will ever come to pass. I'm not the poster that said FCPS "hates Asians," but the Asian families at schools like Chantilly and McLean need to start demanding more of their representatives. Stella Pekarsky and Elaine Tholen, in particular, have not served their constituents well. |
Anonymous
We don’t live in the McLean zone, but are there a lot for Liberty District sports and activities. I guess I should’ve said “wealthy area in general”. (This isn’t an area of towns or townships that fund their own schools.) All the high schools in the DC area except for a very small handful have been substantially renovated or completely rebuilt. That includes schools in DC and MoCo, not just Arlington, Fairfax County, Falls Church, etc. McLean looks woefully out of place given the context. |
Anonymous
I don't think the poster to whom you responded is a McLean parent, so you might want to allow for that possibility. Anyway, McLean was lied to by both Janie Strauss and Elaine Tholen. Parents do have a right to assume that, when a school has been overcrowded for a decade, that FCPS will come up with a decent plan to add capacity, and not leave it with far fewer permanent seats than other, less crowded schools. Strauss told us that McLean would get an addition before any kids were ever redistricted to Langley. That was a lie. Tholen told us that she would prioritize getting McLean in the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for an eventual permanent addition. That was also a lie. We politely supplied FCPS with facts and figures for years, wrote emails, showed up at CIP hearings and testified politely, etc. When we weren't being lied to, we were ignored. It will make for a very interesting Dranesville race for the School Board next year, especially if Tholen decides to run again. |