Is Western high school going to be sought after?

[Anonymous]

We attended the 2PM session. The principal is very charismatic and engaging. Really, all the speakers were energetic and had a visionary vibe. The facility feels more like a college - lots of windows, adaptive and indoor/outdoor spaces. The pods are set up to be integrated disciplinary spaces-not typical FCPS. The robotics, maker and science labs are way beyond what is standard. The pool is great, my kid is a swimmer so really nice. They said they are doing three pathways: Aeronautical Engineering and Aerospace, AI and Robotics. The school/facilities are set up to be a magnet school and while the admin is very committed to a traditional HS experience (they played sports and did band etc), its clear this will not be like other schools. I loved it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We attended the 2PM session. The principal is very charismatic and engaging. Really, all the speakers were energetic and had a visionary vibe. The facility feels more like a college - lots of windows, adaptive and indoor/outdoor spaces. The pods are set up to be integrated disciplinary spaces-not typical FCPS. The robotics, maker and science labs are way beyond what is standard. The pool is great, my kid is a swimmer so really nice. They said they are doing three pathways: Aeronautical Engineering and Aerospace, AI and Robotics. The school/facilities are set up to be a magnet school and while the admin is very committed to a traditional HS experience (they played sports and did band etc), its clear this will not be like other schools. I loved it.

Okay, so they still want a magnet school?!

Wow!

Anyway, what did they say about the modifications that will take place inside that building.

It is too open as a typical high school is, as they tend to be more occlusive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We attended the 2PM session. The principal is very charismatic and engaging. Really, all the speakers were energetic and had a visionary vibe. The facility feels more like a college - lots of windows, adaptive and indoor/outdoor spaces. The pods are set up to be integrated disciplinary spaces-not typical FCPS. The robotics, maker and science labs are way beyond what is standard. The pool is great, my kid is a swimmer so really nice. They said they are doing three pathways: Aeronautical Engineering and Aerospace, AI and Robotics. The school/facilities are set up to be a magnet school and while the admin is very committed to a traditional HS experience (they played sports and did band etc), its clear this will not be like other schools. I loved it.

This is false. The building was designed to be a private school with many facilities segregated by sex.

People said the same "this will not be like other schools" when some of the schools with "open learning" spaces were built. It didn't prove very practical for a public school environment and those schools then were retrofitted to add more traditional classrooms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone go to the open house this weekend? Anything new?

Nothing new that I could see. They had people on hand to discuss sports, clubs, transportation, and academics. There were a good number of folks to have the conversation so people were able to ask their questions. And then it was just walking around the school to see what it looked like.

They said that they had three sessions that needed to end on time to clear out the parking for the next session. It sounded like there were about 1,800 people registered to attend, they expected full parking lots and there are 600 parking spaces.

Overall, the people who were there were positive and looking to answer as many questions and take suggestions.

I didn't know about this. Bummer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We attended the 2PM session. The principal is very charismatic and engaging. Really, all the speakers were energetic and had a visionary vibe. The facility feels more like a college - lots of windows, adaptive and indoor/outdoor spaces. The pods are set up to be integrated disciplinary spaces-not typical FCPS. The robotics, maker and science labs are way beyond what is standard. The pool is great, my kid is a swimmer so really nice. They said they are doing three pathways: Aeronautical Engineering and Aerospace, AI and Robotics. The school/facilities are set up to be a magnet school and while the admin is very committed to a traditional HS experience (they played sports and did band etc), its clear this will not be like other schools. I loved it.

This is the same person that has been going on and on about this being a magnet school. I would not believe a word they say.

[Anonymous]

I have doubts that they are going to lie to the entire inaugural population of the school. They said the model will be interdisciplinary learning with integration of traditional subjects and special pathways and had a sample pod set up to show what they meant. They are adapting to the space - they aren't going to gut the entire school to make a rows and rows of square classrooms, they are going to adapt the model to the facilities. I honestly saw very little that will need to be renovated. I think they will size classes to fit the spaces. Based on the turnout - I think they are going to have plenty of opts in and no one will be disrupted who doesn't want to be. The only ones they may lose are the sports-centric kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We attended the 2PM session. The principal is very charismatic and engaging. Really, all the speakers were energetic and had a visionary vibe. The facility feels more like a college - lots of windows, adaptive and indoor/outdoor spaces. The pods are set up to be integrated disciplinary spaces-not typical FCPS. The robotics, maker and science labs are way beyond what is standard. The pool is great, my kid is a swimmer so really nice. They said they are doing three pathways: Aeronautical Engineering and Aerospace, AI and Robotics. The school/facilities are set up to be a magnet school and while the admin is very committed to a traditional HS experience (they played sports and did band etc), its clear this will not be like other schools. I loved it.

I was at the 10 Am session. Nothing was said about a magnet school or gave me the impression that they were thinking a magnet school. They are trying to use the existing pods in an interesting way. They discussed having integrated type classes where there would be cross curriculum overlap between science, English, and history subjects. they mentioned having 13 pods and how the pods can handle 120 students. It is unclear if they plan on using the pod design for the rest of the school. They did not even mention the pathways in our session.

There was 0 discussion on the renovations or what they think the school would look like in the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We attended the 2PM session. The principal is very charismatic and engaging. Really, all the speakers were energetic and had a visionary vibe. The facility feels more like a college - lots of windows, adaptive and indoor/outdoor spaces. The pods are set up to be integrated disciplinary spaces-not typical FCPS. The robotics, maker and science labs are way beyond what is standard. The pool is great, my kid is a swimmer so really nice. They said they are doing three pathways: Aeronautical Engineering and Aerospace, AI and Robotics. The school/facilities are set up to be a magnet school and while the admin is very committed to a traditional HS experience (they played sports and did band etc), its clear this will not be like other schools. I loved it.

I was at the 10 Am session. Nothing was said about a magnet school or gave me the impression that they were thinking a magnet school. They are trying to use the existing pods in an interesting way. They discussed having integrated type classes where there would be cross curriculum overlap between science, English, and history subjects. they mentioned having 13 pods and how the pods can handle 120 students. It is unclear if they plan on using the pod design for the rest of the school. They did not even mention the pathways in our session.

There was 0 discussion on the renovations or what they think the school would look like in the future.

Their original statements were that they anticipated spending $30-50 million on renovations, but I can't recall if that included the renovations for the fields.

The draft CIP that came out last week budgets an additional $51.8 million on renovations, including $18.4 million on modifications to the athletic fields. So that's some real money going into modifications to the main building and the two shells.

They also need to take down the misleading statement on FCPS web sites that the Western acquisition would save FCPS $280 million compared to building a new school. That was based on a $430 million estimate to build a new school minus the initial $150 million purchase price for KAA. Even if you assume the $430 million estimate was a good faith estimate, the purported savings are now down to $228 million and will likely continue to decrease over the coming years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone go to the open house this weekend? Anything new?

Nothing new that I could see. They had people on hand to discuss sports, clubs, transportation, and academics. There were a good number of folks to have the conversation so people were able to ask their questions. And then it was just walking around the school to see what it looked like.

They said that they had three sessions that needed to end on time to clear out the parking for the next session. It sounded like there were about 1,800 people registered to attend, they expected full parking lots and there are 600 parking spaces.

Overall, the people who were there were positive and looking to answer as many questions and take suggestions.

That’s a great turnout.

The invitations were sent to only 8th and 9th graders, right?

I think we’ll see more than 500 opt-ins for rising 9th graders, and maybe even for rising 10th graders.

[Anonymous]

I think it was sent to 8th and 9th graders. I have been surprised to hear of a good number of 9th graders planning on moving next year from South Lakes.

I have no doubt that they will have 500 for 9th. The athletics person was saying that if they got 1,000 for next year that they think they can have sports in the schools second year. The folks staffing the event were very positive. It had a great vibe.

[Anonymous]

I think this new high school will be wonderful.

It might have a higher FARMS rate than Chantilly and Oakton, but not as high as South Lakes and Westfield.

I took the FARMS rates of the elementary schools I would take:

Coates- 53.83

Crossfield - 6.45

Floris - 13.75

Fox Mill - 8.98

McNair - 36.54

Oak Hill - 9.23

I added those numbers up and the FARMS rate came out to 21.46%, less than both South Lakes and Westfield, but more than Oakton and Chantilly.

The non FARMS rate would be 78.54.

Therefore, for those worried about FARMS, Western would be I guess, average if not below average for the county.

SAT scores I believe would be good too, and when it gets sports, they will have good performers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think this new high school will be wonderful.

It might have a higher FARMS rate than Chantilly and Oakton, but not as high as South Lakes and Westfield.

I took the FARMS rates of the elementary schools I would take:

Coates- 53.83

Crossfield - 6.45

Floris - 13.75

Fox Mill - 8.98

McNair - 36.54

Oak Hill - 9.23

I added those numbers up and the FARMS rate came out to 21.46%, less than both South Lakes and Westfield, but more than Oakton and Chantilly.

The non FARMS rate would be 78.54.

Therefore, for those worried about FARMS, Western would be I guess, average if not below average for the county.

SAT scores I believe would be good too, and when it gets sports, they will have good performers.

FWIW. a high percentage of the Coates FARMS will not attend the new school. They already are in boundary for Herndon High School.
I expect the FARMS to be close to Carson numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think this new high school will be wonderful.

It might have a higher FARMS rate than Chantilly and Oakton, but not as high as South Lakes and Westfield.

I took the FARMS rates of the elementary schools I would take:

Coates- 53.83

Crossfield - 6.45

Floris - 13.75

Fox Mill - 8.98

McNair - 36.54

Oak Hill - 9.23

I added those numbers up and the FARMS rate came out to 21.46%, less than both South Lakes and Westfield, but more than Oakton and Chantilly.

The non FARMS rate would be 78.54.

Therefore, for those worried about FARMS, Western would be I guess, average if not below average for the county.

SAT scores I believe would be good too, and when it gets sports, they will have good performers.

I don’t think Western can take six full ES feeders given the expected capacity. Subtract Crossfield or Fox Mill, and you get a higher FARMS rate, but does that really matter? It’s like you’re implying they shouldn’t open a new school unless the FARMS rate is below a certain percentage.

Sports will be OK, in part because all the schools they’ll be pulling from will end up with weaker teams. And that’s OK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this new high school will be wonderful.

It might have a higher FARMS rate than Chantilly and Oakton, but not as high as South Lakes and Westfield.

I took the FARMS rates of the elementary schools I would take:

Coates- 53.83

Crossfield - 6.45

Floris - 13.75

Fox Mill - 8.98

McNair - 36.54

Oak Hill - 9.23

I added those numbers up and the FARMS rate came out to 21.46%, less than both South Lakes and Westfield, but more than Oakton and Chantilly.

The non FARMS rate would be 78.54.

Therefore, for those worried about FARMS, Western would be I guess, average if not below average for the county.

SAT scores I believe would be good too, and when it gets sports, they will have good performers.

I don’t think Western can take six full ES feeders given the expected capacity. Subtract Crossfield or Fox Mill, and you get a higher FARMS rate, but does that really matter? It’s like you’re implying they shouldn’t open a new school unless the FARMS rate is below a certain percentage.

Sports will be OK, in part because all the schools they’ll be pulling from will end up with weaker teams. And that’s OK.

It will be like Carson. Agree both Fox Mill and Crossfield will not be there. However, almost 200 of the Coates students will not be included in the new school. And, they are highly likely to be high FARMS. So, should be close to Carson numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this new high school will be wonderful.

It might have a higher FARMS rate than Chantilly and Oakton, but not as high as South Lakes and Westfield.

I took the FARMS rates of the elementary schools I would take:

Coates- 53.83

Crossfield - 6.45

Floris - 13.75

Fox Mill - 8.98

McNair - 36.54

Oak Hill - 9.23

I added those numbers up and the FARMS rate came out to 21.46%, less than both South Lakes and Westfield, but more than Oakton and Chantilly.

The non FARMS rate would be 78.54.

Therefore, for those worried about FARMS, Western would be I guess, average if not below average for the county.

SAT scores I believe would be good too, and when it gets sports, they will have good performers.

I don’t think Western can take six full ES feeders given the expected capacity. Subtract Crossfield or Fox Mill, and you get a higher FARMS rate, but does that really matter? It’s like you’re implying they shouldn’t open a new school unless the FARMS rate is below a certain percentage.

Sports will be OK, in part because all the schools they’ll be pulling from will end up with weaker teams. And that’s OK.

It will be like Carson. Agree both Fox Mill and Crossfield will not be there. However, almost 200 of the Coates students will not be included in the new school. And, they are highly likely to be high FARMS. So, should be close to Carson numbers.

Maybe Carson net of the out of boundary AAP kids from Franklin. And the initial FARMS rate will be lower than the later rate because the opt-in model self-selects kids from higher-income families who care enough to bother to apply.