Western High School Renovations/Construction.

[Anonymous]

Kids go to school during construction all the time. DS was at Fox Mill while it was under construction, it wasn’t a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids go to school during construction all the time. DS was at Fox Mill while it was under construction, it wasn’t a big deal.

True, but they had organized phases and quads provided.

With this project, they will use the two buildings across the street as academic work space possibly, and it shouldn’t be as involved as what Fox Mill underwent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard renovations will take place for the first 2-3 years.

Thats going to be hard for the kids.

When will FCPS begin community presentations detailing what will be done and how it will be done.

I’m scared our kids will be in Trailers and that those will tarnish their first impressions of the new high school.

Heres hoping that stands true PP!

It is not that hard.

They did it with 2500 students present at WSHS.

The construction crews wall off the section they are working on, closing or opening one zone at a time as they start or complete each section.

Other than traffic patterns changing (with plenty of advance notice) it really was not that difficult for students.

This campus is in MUCH better shape than WSHS, with far less extensive updates needed. The process should go very smoothly and quickly, especially if they hire a strong contractor like the one who renovated WSHS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no way logistically the sports thing will work.

Busing kids from Western after school to multiple different high schools and then back again? Here's just one example: the freshman and JV basketball teams leave right after school on a bus to get to away games on time. There is no give in the schedule to wait for a bus from Western to drive over 1 student to the base school to then get on the basketball bus. I can think of a hundred more logistical problems.

The coaches at base schools will just not take "western" kids to avoid the hassle.

HB Woodlawn and Arlington Tech in Arlington don’t have sports teams and the kids can play for Yorktown, W-L, or Wakefield.

That's not relevant to FCPS logistics. In pp's example, freshman basketball games are played at 4:30. They have to be there by 4:00. The game might be 45 minutes away. The bus has to leave the base school at 3:15. There is no time to get 2 randoms from Western to say Oakton or Centreville in time to make that away bus.

And are they transporting back after games and practices? That is a LOT of buses and routes for 1-2 kids. What about sports practices and games that aren't right after school, are they providing transportation for those also?

But Arlington schools also play Fairfax teams, and Herndon is one of the FCPS schools in the same VHSL district as the three Arlington high schools.

So at least in theory an HB Woodlawn kid whose base school is Wakefield could be playing a freshman basketball game in Herndon at 4:30.

ARL Tech and HB Woodlawn are programs not schools. Diplomas are from the geographic in boundary HS. Like if a student gets transport to an academy in FCPS but isn't there full time un like Edison global stem. ARL Tech gets hub transportation and end time is 10-15 minutes earlier than the comprehensive schools so it's 3 bus routes for those interested in VHSL sports, theatre productions-Wakefield, Washington-Liberty, Yorktown.

https://www.arlingtonmagazine.com/arlington-tech-high-school-aps/#:~:text=Arlington%20Tech%20isn't%20a,be%20in%20a%20bigger%20school.%E2%80%9D

[Anonymous]

Yeah I can see them ending Westerns day earlier so they can be bussed. The school is new, the issue is it was for K-12. The elementary area is scaled down (bathrooms etc) so they need to renovate it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah I can see them ending Westerns day earlier so they can be bussed. The school is new, the issue is it was for K-12. The elementary area is scaled down (bathrooms etc) so they need to renovate it.

Can't do that. You have to be in school a minimum number of minutes and FCPS already stretches the definition by including transition time as instructional. They can't start earlier, either, because all the runs are calibrated to line up with middle school start times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah I can see them ending Westerns day earlier so they can be bussed. The school is new, the issue is it was for K-12. The elementary area is scaled down (bathrooms etc) so they need to renovate it.

Can't do that. You have to be in school a minimum number of minutes and FCPS already stretches the definition by including transition time as instructional. They can't start earlier, either, because all the runs are calibrated to line up with middle school start times.

But, that's the beauty of having the neighborhoods close by. They could easily start earlier because they won't have to allow for long bus trips.

For example, Floris kids going to Westfield has to take at minimum 20 minutes. Trip to new school would easily be half that.
Oak Hill to Chantilly is close, but the new school is much, much closer.
Crossfield to Oakton? Probably, they have to allow 40 minutes. To new school? Ten minutes for most, twenty minutes max for some further away.

Same for Fox Mill.
Slam dunk this will be more efficient for buses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah I can see them ending Westerns day earlier so they can be bussed. The school is new, the issue is it was for K-12. The elementary area is scaled down (bathrooms etc) so they need to renovate it.

Can't do that. You have to be in school a minimum number of minutes and FCPS already stretches the definition by including transition time as instructional. They can't start earlier, either, because all the runs are calibrated to line up with middle school start times.

But, that's the beauty of having the neighborhoods close by. They could easily start earlier because they won't have to allow for long bus trips.

For example, Floris kids going to Westfield has to take at minimum 20 minutes. Trip to new school would easily be half that.
Oak Hill to Chantilly is close, but the new school is much, much closer.
Crossfield to Oakton? Probably, they have to allow 40 minutes. To new school? Ten minutes for most, twenty minutes max for some further away.

Same for Fox Mill.
Slam dunk this will be more efficient for buses.

Right

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah I can see them ending Westerns day earlier so they can be bussed. The school is new, the issue is it was for K-12. The elementary area is scaled down (bathrooms etc) so they need to renovate it.

Can't do that. You have to be in school a minimum number of minutes and FCPS already stretches the definition by including transition time as instructional. They can't start earlier, either, because all the runs are calibrated to line up with middle school start times.

But, that's the beauty of having the neighborhoods close by. They could easily start earlier because they won't have to allow for long bus trips.

For example, Floris kids going to Westfield has to take at minimum 20 minutes. Trip to new school would easily be half that.
Oak Hill to Chantilly is close, but the new school is much, much closer.
Crossfield to Oakton? Probably, they have to allow 40 minutes. To new school? Ten minutes for most, twenty minutes max for some further away.

Same for Fox Mill.
Slam dunk this will be more efficient for buses.

It will be more efficient use of buses but
the Western HS bell schedule still can't start earlier than the regular HS bell schedule. That would be a transportation logistics nightmare. And they can't let out earlier b/c FCPS counts minutes, not days.

[Anonymous]

TJ starts at 840 vs 800 or 810 elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah I can see them ending Westerns day earlier so they can be bussed. The school is new, the issue is it was for K-12. The elementary area is scaled down (bathrooms etc) so they need to renovate it.

The plumbing is the same size.

It won't take minths and minths to replace a few toilets and stall dividers.

That is probably a 1 week job to update the bathroom fixtures to normal sized fixtures

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah I can see them ending Westerns day earlier so they can be bussed. The school is new, the issue is it was for K-12. The elementary area is scaled down (bathrooms etc) so they need to renovate it.

The plumbing is the same size.

It won't take minths and minths to replace a few toilets and stall dividers.

That is probably a 1 week job to update the bathroom fixtures to normal sized fixtures

A plumber can replace a toilet in less than an hour. No big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah I can see them ending Westerns day earlier so they can be bussed. The school is new, the issue is it was for K-12. The elementary area is scaled down (bathrooms etc) so they need to renovate it.

The plumbing is the same size.

It won't take minths and minths to replace a few toilets and stall dividers.

That is probably a 1 week job to update the bathroom fixtures to normal sized fixtures

A plumber can replace a toilet in less than an hour. No big deal.

Ive seen it in my house where it’s only taken 20-30 minutes, with my Husband.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids go to school during construction all the time. DS was at Fox Mill while it was under construction, it wasn’t a big deal.

Same with Crossfield. RIO mommies trying to make big deal out of our kids being in a school that was under construction but it was less than two years and the trailers were really nice, even the bathrooms were nice. The only thing I heard kids complain about was the playbground which won’t be an issue in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids go to school during construction all the time. DS was at Fox Mill while it was under construction, it wasn’t a big deal.

Same with Crossfield. RIO mommies trying to make big deal out of our kids being in a school that was under construction but it was less than two years and the trailers were really nice, even the bathrooms were nice. The only thing I heard kids complain about was the playbground which won’t be an issue in high school.

What was wrong with the playground?

Like, don’t the new library and new art rooms make them feel good!