FCPS comprehensive boundary review

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they move both the Tysons island at McLean and the Westbriar island at Marshall to Langley, it starts to get Langley up to an enrollment where it wouldn’t be crazy to move Forestville to Herndon. Don’t feel strongly about it. Even though McLean is above capacity now and Marshall would be but for the modular it’s not obvious to me anyone at those schools wants a boundary change.

Interesting. The Westbriar homes are more expensive than many of the Forestville homes. Probably bringing the FARMs rate down at Langley. Also moving those kids from that pyramid unnecessarily.

Not saying they won’t do it (little the school board does is grounded in logic), but seems like they’d be stirring up yet another hornets nest, for no real benefit.

Westbriar island could either go to Colvin Run, Sunrise Valley, or Wolf Trap (which would keep it at Marshall.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These fcps mega high schools with 3000 students are garbage. Every surrounding locality --prince william, loudoun, etc--seems able to have reasonable sized schools.

Where's that new western high school? The one we were promised for a decade?

I agree. And the facilities for many of our schools are third-world. Beautiful new schools in Loudoun, PWC, Falls Church City, Arlington and our kids schools look like soviet era dungeons.

[Anonymous]

Which high schools are the worst facilities-wise?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which high schools are the worst facilities-wise?

Mclean had to cancel a game in the gym last year because there was an issue with the ceiling/roof

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they move both the Tysons island at McLean and the Westbriar island at Marshall to Langley, it starts to get Langley up to an enrollment where it wouldn’t be crazy to move Forestville to Herndon. Don’t feel strongly about it. Even though McLean is above capacity now and Marshall would be but for the modular it’s not obvious to me anyone at those schools wants a boundary change.

Interesting. The Westbriar homes are more expensive than many of the Forestville homes. Probably bringing the FARMs rate down at Langley. Also moving those kids from that pyramid unnecessarily.

Not saying they won’t do it (little the school board does is grounded in logic), but seems like they’d be stirring up yet another hornets nest, for no real benefit.

Kids in the Westbriar island have been getting bussed past Colvin Run on their way to Westbriar for over 20 years. It's the epitome of the type of attendance island they claim they now want to eliminate.

You are correct it's an affluent area, but the Tysons island that also might get moved into the Langley pyramid does have more FARMS kids (though not a lot).

It comes back to the larger question as to why they need to change boundaries at all with flat/slightly down enrollments, but if they are intent on doing so they are going to look at these two islands. If they wanted, they could bridge the Tysons island to the rest of McLean by moving the small area bounded by 123, 495 and the Toll Road from Marshall to McLean, and then just moving the Timber Lane island from McLean to Falls Church. That would reduce McLean's enrollment and leave it without any attendance islands. Moving some kids out of Marshall would position it to accommodate future growth in Tysons and accept more pupil placements again for IB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These fcps mega high schools with 3000 students are garbage. Every surrounding locality --prince william, loudoun, etc--seems able to have reasonable sized schools.

Where's that new western high school? The one we were promised for a decade?

We've been promised it for closer to 15 years and it's no closer to getting built now than it was 15 years ago. They still don't have a site and the CIP that was just approved kicks planning and design for a new western HS to 2032 (the prior CIP said planning would occur in 2030) while still reflecting an expansion of Centreville HS to 3000 seats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These fcps mega high schools with 3000 students are garbage. Every surrounding locality --prince william, loudoun, etc--seems able to have reasonable sized schools.

Where's that new western high school? The one we were promised for a decade?

They do need a western HS to account for the fact that basically all the school age population growth is happening in that area of the county, but it will not be completed at any point that would affect any student currently in K-12. It’s easily 10 years off and probably more, IF it ever gets built. They had a decent site, but sold it to the Saudi embassy IIRC. Whomp whomp …

Large HS’s aren’t inherently bad IMO. The more students you have, the more flexibility and options you have to offer more classes. A high student population is particularly good for lower or mixed income schools because then you get a critical mass of kids who can take the most difficult classes. A more affluent school can reach that critical mass with less than 2000 students, but higher poverty and high ESOL schools will need more. ACHS has over 4000 students and is pretty high FARMS and ESOL, but can offer just as many AP’s and other tough classes and specialty classes as anywhere due to the large student population. If the county is going to keep concentrating poverty and recent arrivals in certain areas, they should plan for some 4000+ kid HS’s like Alexandria and that way no one will have to transfer out for Calc BC or Latin or what have you, because the school will be big enough to offer any class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which high schools are the worst facilities-wise?

Mclean had to cancel a game in the gym last year because there was an issue with the ceiling/roof

McLean, Annandale and Lewis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which high schools are the worst facilities-wise?

McLean, Annandale and Lewis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they move both the Tysons island at McLean and the Westbriar island at Marshall to Langley, it starts to get Langley up to an enrollment where it wouldn’t be crazy to move Forestville to Herndon. Don’t feel strongly about it. Even though McLean is above capacity now and Marshall would be but for the modular it’s not obvious to me anyone at those schools wants a boundary change.

So would they wait to move some Forestville kids to Herndon until Langley gets overcrowded, or should the be proactive?

Because they’re being informed by the 2026-30 CIP, which has Cooper at 103% and Langley at 96% in five years, there’s a chance they’d move parts of Forestville to Armstrong to make room for all of Spring Hill. They’d have to run the numbers without Langley transfers, but the Cooper capacity would be the driving factor.

Yikes. Bringing down enrollment at Cooper by overcrowding Herndon Middle is a pretty bad look.

It's squeezing a baloon, isn't it? They could end up in a situation where either Cooper or Herndon MS is going to be overcrowded and just decide that, as between the two, it might as well be Herndon MS if it's even marginally closer to the kids getting redistricted and it helps justify the big Herndon HS expansion.

[Anonymous]

Didn't Mclean just have a renovation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they move both the Tysons island at McLean and the Westbriar island at Marshall to Langley, it starts to get Langley up to an enrollment where it wouldn’t be crazy to move Forestville to Herndon. Don’t feel strongly about it. Even though McLean is above capacity now and Marshall would be but for the modular it’s not obvious to me anyone at those schools wants a boundary change.

So would they wait to move some Forestville kids to Herndon until Langley gets overcrowded, or should the be proactive?

Because they’re being informed by the 2026-30 CIP, which has Cooper at 103% and Langley at 96% in five years, there’s a chance they’d move parts of Forestville to Armstrong to make room for all of Spring Hill. They’d have to run the numbers without Langley transfers, but the Cooper capacity would be the driving factor.

Yikes. Bringing down enrollment at Cooper by overcrowding Herndon Middle is a pretty bad look.

It's squeezing a baloon, isn't it? They could end up in a situation where either Cooper or Herndon MS is going to be overcrowded and just decide that, as between the two, it might as well be Herndon MS if it's even marginally closer to the kids getting redistricted and it helps justify the big Herndon HS expansion.

Overcrowding the poorer performing school? Sure, why not.

Clown show.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which high schools are the worst facilities-wise?

Lewis is pretty rough- all sorts of signs of structural issues (cracking walls, buckled tiles, leaky ceilings), and lots of folks have mysterious coughs/sneezing/irritation that only seems to happen when in the building. I felt sick half the time when I worked there and miraculously have been fine since leaving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they move both the Tysons island at McLean and the Westbriar island at Marshall to Langley, it starts to get Langley up to an enrollment where it wouldn’t be crazy to move Forestville to Herndon. Don’t feel strongly about it. Even though McLean is above capacity now and Marshall would be but for the modular it’s not obvious to me anyone at those schools wants a boundary change.

Interesting. The Westbriar homes are more expensive than many of the Forestville homes. Probably bringing the FARMs rate down at Langley. Also moving those kids from that pyramid unnecessarily.

Not saying they won’t do it (little the school board does is grounded in logic), but seems like they’d be stirring up yet another hornets nest, for no real benefit.

Westbriar island could either go to Colvin Run, Sunrise Valley, or Wolf Trap (which would keep it at Marshall.)

While all are possible, the island is much closer to Colvin Run and moving it to Wolftrap would overcrowd that school. If they propose to move it to Sunrise Valley, they'll get an earful about how the community doesn't consider itself part of Reston and is currently sandwiched between other areas off Route 7 in Vienna zoned to Langley (Colvin Forest to the west and Shouse Village to the east).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Didn't Mclean just have a renovation?

The schools got built in the 1950s (Annandale, McLean, Lewis, Madison, and Justice, in order of construction) last got "renovations" in 2005. Those renovations were cheap compared to the subsequent renovations of schools built in the 1960s and now 1970s, and left them with lingering structural problems that have never been properly addressed.

In 2017, the School Board approved additions to Madison and Justice, but not Annandale, McLean, or Lewis. The Madison addition has been completed, and the Justice addition has either been completed or is very close. Those additions expanded the capacity of each school to 2500 seats. The rest of Madison and Justice wasn't renovated, and Annandale and McLean currently have modulars and permanent capacities closer to 2000 than 2500 seats.

The overcrowding at McLean is more acute than the overcrowding at Annandale, and Lewis isn't overcrowded, so McLean has gotten more "spot money" in recent for minor repairs. One year they will work on the roof, the next year they replaced the bathrooms, and this past summer they put in some new flooring. None of this expands McLean's capacity, or deals with the larger structural issues, which is why, despite the prior work, there was still water dripping on the gym that forced a recent game with Marshall to get moved to Marshall. It's since been fixed, but those types of problems recur.