FCPS Boundary Review Updates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure if others are looking at the thread on the acquisition of the King Abdullah Academy property, but FCPS now has at least an agreement in principle with the Saudis to acquire the property for $150 million, with all "furnishings, furniture, and equipment" included, subject to a due diligence review. It's on the agenda as an action item for tonight's School Board meeting.

This would be the long-discussed "western high school," acquired for a cost well below what FCPS would otherwise pay to acquire land and construct a new HS. The building is on the small side for an FCPS high school, but has more instructional space than both Lewis HS and McLean HS. No idea what types of modifications besides the removal of obviously religious symbols would be required to align with FCPS requirements, or how long this might take.

The location is off McLearen Road in Herndon near Carson MS. If a new school opens at that location, it probably means boundary changes for Westfield, Oakton, Chantilly, and/or South Lakes. So the question comes up as to why they should be adjusting any boundaries in these pyramids if a Western HS is going to mean changes in a few years.

Anyone have further insights?

I was looking to see if anyone posted this. If this happens (and I am sure Karl Frisch will find a way to blow it up and say no), then the boundary studies will need to be completely redone. I have a rising 7th grader. What are the chances of us having a new high school by August 2027? Nonexistent, right?

[Anonymous]

I thought there was a budget shortfall. Where is the money for the western high school going to come from?

Also, isn’t there capacity in the schools in that area?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought there was a budget shortfall. Where is the money for the western high school going to come from?

Also, isn’t there capacity in the schools in that area?

The budget shortfall relates to the annual operating budget, which is funded through transfers from the Board of Supervisors and the state.

School facilities, whether it's acquisition or renovation, comes from the capital budget. The capital budget is funded through bonds, not tranfers from the BOS/state.

Some schools in that area like Herndon have excess capacity. Others like Chantilly (and, further south, Centreville) are overcrowded.

At one point, the area around the KDA was redistricted repeatedly (from Oakton to Westfield to South Lakes, etc.). FCPS told Oak Hill/Floris that some day they'd get their own school and the redistricting would stop, but the can always got kicked down the road. CIP after CIP referred to a future western HS but the relevant dates were always pushed out. Meanwhile a host of schools serving kids in western Farifax got expanded (South Lakes, Oakton, Herndon, Madison) and FCPS also proposes expanding Centreville to 3000. Everything pointed in the direction of suggesting that the "new western HS" was a pipe dream.

But, FCPS wasn't anticipating that the Saudis would put the KDA up for sale. Now it sounds like there's an opportunity to acquire not just a 30-acre property, but also a finished building, at a decent price. I suspect they felt like they had to make a bid. Qe'll see if the School Board approves it. If they acquire the KDA, it would clearly seem to suggest there shouldn't be any boundary changes at the HS level in western Fairfax until FCPS can reopen the KDA as a FCPS high school.

[Anonymous]

Motion passes.

[Anonymous]

Nuclear option about to happen in western part of the county. I hope people weren’t interested in attending their current pyramids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nuclear option about to happen in western part of the county. I hope people weren’t interested in attending their current pyramids.

So they’re going to go ahead with the Thru boundary changes in fall 2026(?) and then change everything again 5 years or fewer later when they get the Saudi school up and running?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nuclear option about to happen in western part of the county. I hope people weren’t interested in attending their current pyramids.

So they’re going to go ahead with the Thru boundary changes in fall 2026(?) and then change everything again 5 years or fewer later when they get the Saudi school up and running?

Why should it take five years? Seems like they should defer any changes involving high schools in the western part of the county and aim for a fall 2027 opening.

[Anonymous]

This is great news. Really hoping that those of us in 20171 zoned to Oakton get to go to this school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nuclear option about to happen in western part of the county. I hope people weren’t interested in attending their current pyramids.

So they’re going to go ahead with the Thru boundary changes in fall 2026(?) and then change everything again 5 years or fewer later when they get the Saudi school up and running?

Why should it take five years? Seems like they should defer any changes involving high schools in the western part of the county and aim for a fall 2027 opening.

You know they're going to want to renovate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nuclear option about to happen in western part of the county. I hope people weren’t interested in attending their current pyramids.

So they’re going to go ahead with the Thru boundary changes in fall 2026(?) and then change everything again 5 years or fewer later when they get the Saudi school up and running?

Why should it take five years? Seems like they should defer any changes involving high schools in the western part of the county and aim for a fall 2027 opening.

Yup

[Anonymous]

I think it could open fall 2026. The school is very ready to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nuclear option about to happen in western part of the county. I hope people weren’t interested in attending their current pyramids.

So they’re going to go ahead with the Thru boundary changes in fall 2026(?) and then change everything again 5 years or fewer later when they get the Saudi school up and running?

Why should it take five years? Seems like they should defer any changes involving high schools in the western part of the county and aim for a fall 2027 opening.

You know they're going to want to renovate.

No doubt. But they were able to turn a commercial office building in Seven Corners into a new elementary school in eight months, and the KAA is designed and currently functioning as a school building. So it shouldn't take five years to make the necessary adjustments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it could open fall 2026. The school is very ready to go.

There's the amount of time it will take to get the building ready and the amount of time it will take to decide on the new boundaries and figure out what the grandfathering arrangements will be. They also have to sort out how this impacts the current boundary review and adjust their capital program significantly.

Fall 2027 seems like an appropriately aggressive timetable under the circumstances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Insider at FCPS. What is occurring here is a result of advocacy efforts by wealthy McLean and Great Falls residents to ensure their school districts are "white washed." FCPS intentionally picked a no name consultant to make this look like it is an objective process based on data tied to 8130, but it is anything but. Red-lining proposals have been pushed by influential wealthy families in McLean that were accepted by the Superintendent in exchange for "considerations." You can see this evidenced in the fact that the Langley boundary spans an incredibly large geographic territory completely inconsistent with 8130 transportation tenets but is maintained to ensure wealthy white kids can still go to McLean. Another recent example is red-lining the Timber Lane Title I kids out of McLean, but picking up more wealthy white kids in Idylwood previously zoned to Marshall. These changes have no impact on capacity, but they do remove non-white kids from McLean as the influential families are seeking.

Be very skeptical of Thru consulting and their lack of transparency. Be skeptical of the fact that the school board apparently has no oversight. Be skeptical of the facts that the BRAC never saw the maps prior to their publishing and they differed from those considered in the first round of meetings.

I suggest you push elected leaders beyond Fairfax county to push for transparency and more accountability. Otherwise these few influential families will have their way and the county will suffer the results.

There are many other inaccuracies in your post, it's hard to address them all but here are some:

* Langley's boundaries have been in place for decades and reflect a decision made in the 1990s to address overcrowding at Herndon by moving some areas to Langley. Langley remains under capacity today, so there's no need to pull anyone out.

* People in McLean zoned to Langley and McLean don't really care where kids in Great Falls go to school (other than, perhaps, to oppose unnecessary boundary changes on principle).

* The large catchment area for Langley enables more wealthy kids to attend Langley, not McLean.

* The latest Thru proposals would move single-family homes, townhouses, and low-income garden apartments out of McLean to Falls Church and Marshall, but also move other single-family homes, townhouses, and low-income garden apartments from Marshall to McLean. It may be clumsy and unnecessary, but it's not red-lining.

* The proposed changes, in the aggregate, would have an impact on capacity at Cooper/Langley (increase), Longfellow/McLean (decrease), Kilmer/Marshall (decrease), Thoreau/Madison (increase), and Jackson/Falls Church (increase). The statement that there would be no impact on capacity is blatantly false.

Given all these inaccuracies, I can't believe you're actually an FCPS insider, or at least not an FCPS insider with any resposibility relating to the boundary review. If you are an FCPS insider, you should be ashamed.

+100
I salute you for your thorough and accurate take down of the PP's nonsense. It's pretty clear the PP is just a troll, trying desperately to stir things up again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve never seen a post get ratioed as fast as that “insider” post just did.

+1
And deservedly so.