One can always come up with an "area" split into multiple high schools. Vienna splits to Madison, Marshall, Oakton, South Lakes, McLean, and Falls Church. Annandale splits to Annandale, Falls Church, Justice, and Woodson. Should we insist on a single high school for each of Vienna and Annandale? Chantilly and Westfield are both projected by FCPS to have surplus capacity in the coming years. It's in the latest CIP. And there is new construction in other parts of the county. Did they do any analysis before deciding this area in particular deserves more seats now? If so, they haven't shared it, and the last CIP didn't call for any significant investment in a new western HS for at least six more years. New construction doesn't necessarily translate into enrollment growth because the additional students from a new development can vary and be negated by declines in enrollment from a school's existing neighborhoods. What you want - and are thrilled the SB is apparently willing to use our money to fund - is a new school that you think will be better than your current school. The schools you want to avoid may decline further if they send kids to KAA, and the families asked to backfill those schools won't be thrilled, either. They will drag this out, and likely refuse to provide details for as long as possible, but when the honeymoon is over it's going to get ugly. |
The current Westfield boundary makes no sense. The area north of 28 is functionally an island, split from the rest by the airport and associated property. Chantilly has so many trailers and modulars, and some are very old and falling apart. KAA will allow them to get rid of the old ones and not spend money replacing them. This area has always been targeted as the next area of need for a new high school. Capacity is just one reason, the distances kids are bussed is another very big one. You can't fix that by expanding all the adjoining schools to 3000+ kids. Most people don't want their children attending 3000+ high schools either. |
FCPS is projecting that Chantilly's enrollment will decline by over 300 students over the next five years. |
A "functional" island? Sorry, but that's a made-up term. It's not considered an attendance island by either FCPS or their consultants. And it's not even accurate. Dulles is to the west and not between the areas zoned to Westfield. Guessing you want Centreville kids reassigned to a school you don't want your kids to attend. |
DP. I think your premise that PP wants to get into a better school is flawed. We are currently zoned for Oakton but live in an area that could get rezoned to KAA if it were to become a regular high school. I am not seeing how KAA would be “better” than Oakton other than being smaller and a nicer building. The schools that would feed into KAA would likely be much more socioeconomically diverse than those that currently feed into Oakton. I think some people will be upset if they get moved from Oakton to KAA. I wouldn’t say KAA is likely to be better than Chantilly either. Maybe better than South Lakes or Westfield but probably not in any measurable way. I really think PP is someone who would just prefer their kids attend a HS closer to home and maybe sees a benefit to a smaller HS. That’s not the same as being moved out of a “bad” school. |
No. You don't get to decide what we want. What my neighborhood wants is a school that is a reasonable distance and will be a community school. We would like to be able to have our kids make friends that don't live miles and miles away. We want them to be able to participate in after school activities without having to depend on a late bus that takes forever. We would like a middle school that is not a 3/4 way split. And, you can say there is NEW construction everywhere, but there is current new construction in this area and all the schools are full. |
there is a process for new schools but there will be ripple affects from the kids who move to the new school. the kids from centreville and possibly chantilly that move into westfield i don’t think count in that process. this should all be looped in main boundary study. its dumb not to |
My vested interest is that I am a taxpayer on the other side of the county who cares about schools, neighborhoods and stability. I will be pissed if my taxpayer dollars go to create another magnet school for a handful of people to fight over, instead of a neighborhood high school for people who live within a reasonable distance, that can possibly streamline the disastrous, disruptive and wasteful middle school feeder patterns in that part of the county, and hopefully provide some long term stability in that part of county to minimize future rezoning that no one wants. I think this purchase is a good use of taxpayer funds, but only if it is not used to create a magnet school but is instead used as a neighborhood high school to stabilize feeder patterns, help with overcrowding, and provides long term stability. |
I agree with this. Students shouldn’t have to travel too far to go to high school. Who would want to waste at least an hour each day on the school bus and/or car? Add to that, more traffic on roads and air pollution, plus wear and tear on roads. However there are some on this thread who happily schlep their high schoolers 10 plus miles, and will fight tooth and nail to avoid sending them to one that is 3-4 miles away, and it seems like they will get their way. So, apparently distance from high schools may not weigh as much when drawing boundary lines. So don’t get your hopes up. Sorry. |
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You are such a transparent, broken record it's comical. DP |
The airport authority owns the land all the way down to 28. Follow the Air and Space Museum Parkway on the map if you don't believe me. The residential area north of 28 that goes to Westfield is in no way connected to the rest of the school attendance area. That's why they'll all be going to the new school. |
Sub 50 for 28 in the post above. Been a long day. |
What part was not true? |
DP. You’re just spewing your hateful opinion, so it is neither true nor false. Your hatred of one particular pyramid, man, that will be studied by psychologists for centuries to come. With all that is going on in our area, it’s absurd that you continue to focus on your pet project so much, and hate so much the schooling decisions that some parents make for their own kids. |