FCPS Boundary Review Updates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just here to say that the school board appears to be intentionally burying the news of this school purchase. It’s at the bottom of the email providing a synopsis of yesterday’s sb meeting. Something seems very suspicious with a $150 million school purchase, that they all seemed to be falling over each other to claim credit for, being jammed into the agenda last minute and buried in a Friday email.

It’s super duper suspicious. Any local press here should really look into this.

You're being paranoid. The email was in the order of the agenda. This was late in the agenda, so it's at the bottom of the email.

Oh yeah, I always believe that communications about actions that impact half the county should be placed behind the section discussing replacing lights on a middle school baseball field.

No one believes your argument. It doesn’t pass the smell test.

It wasn't an argument, you can look up the agenda on Board Docs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just here to say that the school board appears to be intentionally burying the news of this school purchase. It’s at the bottom of the email providing a synopsis of yesterday’s sb meeting. Something seems very suspicious with a $150 million school purchase, that they all seemed to be falling over each other to claim credit for, being jammed into the agenda last minute and buried in a Friday email.

It’s super duper suspicious. Any local press here should really look into this.

You're being paranoid. The email was in the order of the agenda. This was late in the agenda, so it's at the bottom of the email.

Oh yeah, I always believe that communications about actions that impact half the county should be placed behind the section discussing replacing lights on a middle school baseball field.

No one believes your argument. It doesn’t pass the smell test.

DP, I believe their argument. I watched the school board meeting and followed the agenda and can confirm the discussion on baseball lights occurred before the land acquisition. Hence the order of the meeting minutes.

You shills really will carry any water for them.

When did you stop believing that government should be open and accountable?

DP but everything is available on Board Docs and the school board meeting was live streamed and available on. YouTube. As you noted, it was also sent out in an email summary of the board meeting. It's not our fault that you can't get all the way through an email.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone post the Great Falls parents statement on this? I am not part of their Facebook group.

Community Group Comments on School Board Plan to Acquire a New Western High School

Today, Citizens For Great Falls President John Halacy and Vice President Manny Dacoba responded to action taken last night by the Fairfax County School Board to authorize the $150 million purchase of the now-shuttered King Abdullah Academy in Herndon.

With nine members voting to support the motion and three abstaining, the Fairfax County School Board authorized the acquisition of the King Abdullah Academy. Located in Herndon, the 40-acre site previously housed high school and middle school students for an enrollment of about 800 students. Currently assessed at $117,665,760 by Fairfax County, it is described on the former school’s website as a fully equipped high school complete with state-of-the-art classrooms, labs, indoor and outdoor athletic facilities, as well as an eight-lane Olympic-style, 25-yard competition pool.

According to Halacy and Dacoba, “The timing of this announcement is incredible for several reasons. While the need for more high school capacity in the western area of the county has been under discussion for at least 20 years, due to increased residential development, the school board and administrators have been heavily engaged in the debate surrounding the method and policies involving a revision of school boundaries to address capacity issues, given the differences in enrollments throughout the county. The vote by the school board to acquire a new facility will have a sweeping effect on current planning efforts that have involved a contentious relationship between the administration and the community. This tends to overshadow months of work and meetings by residents who have been participating in the county’s Boundary Review Advisory Committee (BRAC).”

They added: “Based on the comments at last night’s meeting of the board, some board members consider the purchase price a rare bargain and characterize this as a windfall, given the current cost of land acquisition and construction. It could present opportunities to ease capacity issues and reduce time and effort in the process of addressing needs for the western part of the county. But the decision to proceed with this by the Superintendent and her staff without engagement with the ongoing planning process is a disappointing factor. Even with the cost that has been reported, we agree with the school board members who did not vote for this because of numerous unanswered questions and the lack of transparency surrounding this initiative.

The county recently struggled to achieve a balanced budget, proposing severe cuts to avoid negatively affecting the school system’s budget and other essential county services. So, initiatives like buying a new school are likely to have a significant budget impact going forward. Though we are not surprised that the school administrators undertook this significant financial commitment without full public disclosure and debate, particularly without including such plans in the current discussions with the Boundary Review Advisory Committee (BRAC) community members.

Purchasing a high school by a county public school authority without adequate public disclosure and input from the community that has been involved in this effort for decades is an example of an administratively unsound choice. Just as the School Board’s negotiated its labor agreements that granted a 7% salary increase for their employees without involving the Board of Supervisors (which is the county’s budget authority), taking this action behind closed doors is another striking example of the lack of transparency and disregard for citizen participation typical of this school and its administrators.

School board officials and Superintendent Reid should be reminded that they don’t operate in a policy and decision-making vacuum. Major policy choices like building new schools in our community or acquiring major new facilities should involve public engagement and not be decided behind closed doors. We are eager to learn more about how this planned proposal will fit into the overall strategy for addressing school capacity issues, boundaries, and budget.

Citizens For Great Falls looks forward to engaging with the community organizations like FairFACTS Matters Foundation and the other organizations across Fairfax County involved in the efforts to
support high-quality education in our community.

It sounds like these people don't understand the difference between the annual budget and the capital budget. And that they don't want teachers to earn a living wage. Really on brand for the type of people I imagine live in Great Falls.

[Anonymous]

I don't like how this one organization from a teeny tiny part of the county has so much influence because they have the money to pull together a website and members who work in political communications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone post the Great Falls parents statement on this? I am not part of their Facebook group.

Community Group Comments on School Board Plan to Acquire a New Western High School

Today, Citizens For Great Falls President John Halacy and Vice President Manny Dacoba responded to action taken last night by the Fairfax County School Board to authorize the $150 million purchase of the now-shuttered King Abdullah Academy in Herndon.

With nine members voting to support the motion and three abstaining, the Fairfax County School Board authorized the acquisition of the King Abdullah Academy. Located in Herndon, the 40-acre site previously housed high school and middle school students for an enrollment of about 800 students. Currently assessed at $117,665,760 by Fairfax County, it is described on the former school’s website as a fully equipped high school complete with state-of-the-art classrooms, labs, indoor and outdoor athletic facilities, as well as an eight-lane Olympic-style, 25-yard competition pool.

According to Halacy and Dacoba, “The timing of this announcement is incredible for several reasons. While the need for more high school capacity in the western area of the county has been under discussion for at least 20 years, due to increased residential development, the school board and administrators have been heavily engaged in the debate surrounding the method and policies involving a revision of school boundaries to address capacity issues, given the differences in enrollments throughout the county. The vote by the school board to acquire a new facility will have a sweeping effect on current planning efforts that have involved a contentious relationship between the administration and the community. This tends to overshadow months of work and meetings by residents who have been participating in the county’s Boundary Review Advisory Committee (BRAC).”

They added: “Based on the comments at last night’s meeting of the board, some board members consider the purchase price a rare bargain and characterize this as a windfall, given the current cost of land acquisition and construction. It could present opportunities to ease capacity issues and reduce time and effort in the process of addressing needs for the western part of the county. But the decision to proceed with this by the Superintendent and her staff without engagement with the ongoing planning process is a disappointing factor. Even with the cost that has been reported, we agree with the school board members who did not vote for this because of numerous unanswered questions and the lack of transparency surrounding this initiative.

The county recently struggled to achieve a balanced budget, proposing severe cuts to avoid negatively affecting the school system’s budget and other essential county services. So, initiatives like buying a new school are likely to have a significant budget impact going forward. Though we are not surprised that the school administrators undertook this significant financial commitment without full public disclosure and debate, particularly without including such plans in the current discussions with the Boundary Review Advisory Committee (BRAC) community members.

Purchasing a high school by a county public school authority without adequate public disclosure and input from the community that has been involved in this effort for decades is an example of an administratively unsound choice. Just as the School Board’s negotiated its labor agreements that granted a 7% salary increase for their employees without involving the Board of Supervisors (which is the county’s budget authority), taking this action behind closed doors is another striking example of the lack of transparency and disregard for citizen participation typical of this school and its administrators.

School board officials and Superintendent Reid should be reminded that they don’t operate in a policy and decision-making vacuum. Major policy choices like building new schools in our community or acquiring major new facilities should involve public engagement and not be decided behind closed doors. We are eager to learn more about how this planned proposal will fit into the overall strategy for addressing school capacity issues, boundaries, and budget.

Citizens For Great Falls looks forward to engaging with the community organizations like FairFACTS Matters Foundation and the other organizations across Fairfax County involved in the efforts to
support high-quality education in our community.

It sounds like these people don't understand the difference between the annual budget and the capital budget. And that they don't want teachers to earn a living wage. Really on brand for the type of people I imagine live in Great Falls.

Why did they have to bring the teachers' salary increase into this? Are they against that? WOW

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone post the Great Falls parents statement on this? I am not part of their Facebook group.

Community Group Comments on School Board Plan to Acquire a New Western High School

Today, Citizens For Great Falls President John Halacy and Vice President Manny Dacoba responded to action taken last night by the Fairfax County School Board to authorize the $150 million purchase of the now-shuttered King Abdullah Academy in Herndon.

With nine members voting to support the motion and three abstaining, the Fairfax County School Board authorized the acquisition of the King Abdullah Academy. Located in Herndon, the 40-acre site previously housed high school and middle school students for an enrollment of about 800 students. Currently assessed at $117,665,760 by Fairfax County, it is described on the former school’s website as a fully equipped high school complete with state-of-the-art classrooms, labs, indoor and outdoor athletic facilities, as well as an eight-lane Olympic-style, 25-yard competition pool.

According to Halacy and Dacoba, “The timing of this announcement is incredible for several reasons. While the need for more high school capacity in the western area of the county has been under discussion for at least 20 years, due to increased residential development, the school board and administrators have been heavily engaged in the debate surrounding the method and policies involving a revision of school boundaries to address capacity issues, given the differences in enrollments throughout the county. The vote by the school board to acquire a new facility will have a sweeping effect on current planning efforts that have involved a contentious relationship between the administration and the community. This tends to overshadow months of work and meetings by residents who have been participating in the county’s Boundary Review Advisory Committee (BRAC).”

They added: “Based on the comments at last night’s meeting of the board, some board members consider the purchase price a rare bargain and characterize this as a windfall, given the current cost of land acquisition and construction. It could present opportunities to ease capacity issues and reduce time and effort in the process of addressing needs for the western part of the county. But the decision to proceed with this by the Superintendent and her staff without engagement with the ongoing planning process is a disappointing factor. Even with the cost that has been reported, we agree with the school board members who did not vote for this because of numerous unanswered questions and the lack of transparency surrounding this initiative.

The county recently struggled to achieve a balanced budget, proposing severe cuts to avoid negatively affecting the school system’s budget and other essential county services. So, initiatives like buying a new school are likely to have a significant budget impact going forward. Though we are not surprised that the school administrators undertook this significant financial commitment without full public disclosure and debate, particularly without including such plans in the current discussions with the Boundary Review Advisory Committee (BRAC) community members.

Purchasing a high school by a county public school authority without adequate public disclosure and input from the community that has been involved in this effort for decades is an example of an administratively unsound choice. Just as the School Board’s negotiated its labor agreements that granted a 7% salary increase for their employees without involving the Board of Supervisors (which is the county’s budget authority), taking this action behind closed doors is another striking example of the lack of transparency and disregard for citizen participation typical of this school and its administrators.

School board officials and Superintendent Reid should be reminded that they don’t operate in a policy and decision-making vacuum. Major policy choices like building new schools in our community or acquiring major new facilities should involve public engagement and not be decided behind closed doors. We are eager to learn more about how this planned proposal will fit into the overall strategy for addressing school capacity issues, boundaries, and budget.

Citizens For Great Falls looks forward to engaging with the community organizations like FairFACTS Matters Foundation and the other organizations across Fairfax County involved in the efforts to
support high-quality education in our community.

It sounds like these people don't understand the difference between the annual budget and the capital budget. And that they don't want teachers to earn a living wage. Really on brand for the type of people I imagine live in Great Falls.

Not from Great Falls but you pay for a new school out of the capital budget and then have ongoing operating expenses. Overall operating expenses will go up with more schools.

If you look at the overall capacity at Herndon, South Lakes, Westfield, Chantilly, Centreville, and Oakton, and compare it to both last year’s enrollment and the projected enrollment in five years, there’s only a slight (under 50 kids) capacity deficit in the aggregate this year even if you exclude the Chantilly modular, no capacity deficit this year if you include the Chantilly modular, and no capacity deficit in five years even if you exclude the Chantilly modular.

So it may be nice to have a new HS near Carson, but they have a decent argument that the School Board didn’t bother to clearly justify this purchase, particularly since it’s spent the past two years lecturing everyone it can’t build or buy its way out of any overcrowding and boundary changes are necessary and unavoidable.

We also have no idea at this point how this affects the ongoing boundary review or other capital projects in the most recent CIP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't like how this one organization from a teeny tiny part of the county has so much influence because they have the money to pull together a website and members who work in political communications.

Yeah, F democracy, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone post the Great Falls parents statement on this? I am not part of their Facebook group.

Community Group Comments on School Board Plan to Acquire a New Western High School

Today, Citizens For Great Falls President John Halacy and Vice President Manny Dacoba responded to action taken last night by the Fairfax County School Board to authorize the $150 million purchase of the now-shuttered King Abdullah Academy in Herndon.

With nine members voting to support the motion and three abstaining, the Fairfax County School Board authorized the acquisition of the King Abdullah Academy. Located in Herndon, the 40-acre site previously housed high school and middle school students for an enrollment of about 800 students. Currently assessed at $117,665,760 by Fairfax County, it is described on the former school’s website as a fully equipped high school complete with state-of-the-art classrooms, labs, indoor and outdoor athletic facilities, as well as an eight-lane Olympic-style, 25-yard competition pool.

According to Halacy and Dacoba, “The timing of this announcement is incredible for several reasons. While the need for more high school capacity in the western area of the county has been under discussion for at least 20 years, due to increased residential development, the school board and administrators have been heavily engaged in the debate surrounding the method and policies involving a revision of school boundaries to address capacity issues, given the differences in enrollments throughout the county. The vote by the school board to acquire a new facility will have a sweeping effect on current planning efforts that have involved a contentious relationship between the administration and the community. This tends to overshadow months of work and meetings by residents who have been participating in the county’s Boundary Review Advisory Committee (BRAC).”

They added: “Based on the comments at last night’s meeting of the board, some board members consider the purchase price a rare bargain and characterize this as a windfall, given the current cost of land acquisition and construction. It could present opportunities to ease capacity issues and reduce time and effort in the process of addressing needs for the western part of the county. But the decision to proceed with this by the Superintendent and her staff without engagement with the ongoing planning process is a disappointing factor. Even with the cost that has been reported, we agree with the school board members who did not vote for this because of numerous unanswered questions and the lack of transparency surrounding this initiative.

The county recently struggled to achieve a balanced budget, proposing severe cuts to avoid negatively affecting the school system’s budget and other essential county services. So, initiatives like buying a new school are likely to have a significant budget impact going forward. Though we are not surprised that the school administrators undertook this significant financial commitment without full public disclosure and debate, particularly without including such plans in the current discussions with the Boundary Review Advisory Committee (BRAC) community members.

Purchasing a high school by a county public school authority without adequate public disclosure and input from the community that has been involved in this effort for decades is an example of an administratively unsound choice. Just as the School Board’s negotiated its labor agreements that granted a 7% salary increase for their employees without involving the Board of Supervisors (which is the county’s budget authority), taking this action behind closed doors is another striking example of the lack of transparency and disregard for citizen participation typical of this school and its administrators.

School board officials and Superintendent Reid should be reminded that they don’t operate in a policy and decision-making vacuum. Major policy choices like building new schools in our community or acquiring major new facilities should involve public engagement and not be decided behind closed doors. We are eager to learn more about how this planned proposal will fit into the overall strategy for addressing school capacity issues, boundaries, and budget.

Citizens For Great Falls looks forward to engaging with the community organizations like FairFACTS Matters Foundation and the other organizations across Fairfax County involved in the efforts to
support high-quality education in our community.

It sounds like these people don't understand the difference between the annual budget and the capital budget. And that they don't want teachers to earn a living wage. Really on brand for the type of people I imagine live in Great Falls.

Not from Great Falls but you pay for a new school out of the capital budget and then have ongoing operating expenses. Overall operating expenses will go up with more schools.

If you look at the overall capacity at Herndon, South Lakes, Westfield, Chantilly, Centreville, and Oakton, and compare it to both last year’s enrollment and the projected enrollment in five years, there’s only a slight (under 50 kids) capacity deficit in the aggregate this year even if you exclude the Chantilly modular, no capacity deficit this year if you include the Chantilly modular, and no capacity deficit in five years even if you exclude the Chantilly modular.

So it may be nice to have a new HS near Carson, but they have a decent argument that the School Board didn’t bother to clearly justify this purchase, particularly since it’s spent the past two years lecturing everyone it can’t build or buy its way out of any overcrowding and boundary changes are necessary and unavoidable.

We also have no idea at this point how this affects the ongoing boundary review or other capital projects in the most recent CIP.

This the prevailing sentiment. It’s not that most people are against the purchase, but process for a purchase like this is extremely lacking.

The SB needs to get out there and justify the secrecy and lack of public input. Maybe there is a reason for it, but all we’ve heard from the school board is certain members patting themselves on the back for a job well done, even as a few members abstained

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone post the Great Falls parents statement on this? I am not part of their Facebook group.

Community Group Comments on School Board Plan to Acquire a New Western High School

Today, Citizens For Great Falls President John Halacy and Vice President Manny Dacoba responded to action taken last night by the Fairfax County School Board to authorize the $150 million purchase of the now-shuttered King Abdullah Academy in Herndon.

With nine members voting to support the motion and three abstaining, the Fairfax County School Board authorized the acquisition of the King Abdullah Academy. Located in Herndon, the 40-acre site previously housed high school and middle school students for an enrollment of about 800 students. Currently assessed at $117,665,760 by Fairfax County, it is described on the former school’s website as a fully equipped high school complete with state-of-the-art classrooms, labs, indoor and outdoor athletic facilities, as well as an eight-lane Olympic-style, 25-yard competition pool.

According to Halacy and Dacoba, “The timing of this announcement is incredible for several reasons. While the need for more high school capacity in the western area of the county has been under discussion for at least 20 years, due to increased residential development, the school board and administrators have been heavily engaged in the debate surrounding the method and policies involving a revision of school boundaries to address capacity issues, given the differences in enrollments throughout the county. The vote by the school board to acquire a new facility will have a sweeping effect on current planning efforts that have involved a contentious relationship between the administration and the community. This tends to overshadow months of work and meetings by residents who have been participating in the county’s Boundary Review Advisory Committee (BRAC).”

They added: “Based on the comments at last night’s meeting of the board, some board members consider the purchase price a rare bargain and characterize this as a windfall, given the current cost of land acquisition and construction. It could present opportunities to ease capacity issues and reduce time and effort in the process of addressing needs for the western part of the county. But the decision to proceed with this by the Superintendent and her staff without engagement with the ongoing planning process is a disappointing factor. Even with the cost that has been reported, we agree with the school board members who did not vote for this because of numerous unanswered questions and the lack of transparency surrounding this initiative.

The county recently struggled to achieve a balanced budget, proposing severe cuts to avoid negatively affecting the school system’s budget and other essential county services. So, initiatives like buying a new school are likely to have a significant budget impact going forward. Though we are not surprised that the school administrators undertook this significant financial commitment without full public disclosure and debate, particularly without including such plans in the current discussions with the Boundary Review Advisory Committee (BRAC) community members.

Purchasing a high school by a county public school authority without adequate public disclosure and input from the community that has been involved in this effort for decades is an example of an administratively unsound choice. Just as the School Board’s negotiated its labor agreements that granted a 7% salary increase for their employees without involving the Board of Supervisors (which is the county’s budget authority), taking this action behind closed doors is another striking example of the lack of transparency and disregard for citizen participation typical of this school and its administrators.

School board officials and Superintendent Reid should be reminded that they don’t operate in a policy and decision-making vacuum. Major policy choices like building new schools in our community or acquiring major new facilities should involve public engagement and not be decided behind closed doors. We are eager to learn more about how this planned proposal will fit into the overall strategy for addressing school capacity issues, boundaries, and budget.

Citizens For Great Falls looks forward to engaging with the community organizations like FairFACTS Matters Foundation and the other organizations across Fairfax County involved in the efforts to
support high-quality education in our community.

Wow! Do these people not understand that not having available property in a good location has been the reason given for not already building this school?

I live in the area and have watched this for years. And, I supported Great Falls in wanting to stay at Langley because I understand the desire to stay where you are. I am happy for my neighborhood to stay where it is, but THRU has been threatening to move us much further away from the school our neighborhood has attended forever.

These are the examples of those who live near this new site. All these neighborhoods are extremely close to the KAA site:

1. One neighborhood is being sent to a school thirty minutes away over I66 at rush hour or
Other neighbors in the area are being shifted the third time in a little more than a decade. And, then there are those who are sent thirty minutes away over rush hour I66 or windy back roads.
2. Another neighborhood has been shifted twice over little more than a decade. According to THRU, they plan to once again shift them--to include elementary and high school.
3. Another neighborhood is being threatened to be split down the middle. THRU is suggesting adding this group to the thirty minute commute over I66 during rush hour or over windy back roads. This neighborhood has been attending their current school (5-10 minutes depending on traffic) for decades. They would be happy to stay at current school, but THRU plans to shift them.
4.Another neighborhood goes through very heavy traffic on HWY 28 to get to yet a different high school.

And, these are all very close to the KAA site.

This would meet the needs established for the boundary study. Proximity, no islands would be needed, reduce overcrowding.
In addition, if Chantilly kids are added (which they should be) it would free space at Chantilly and Westfield which would prevent need for a very large expansion at Centreville--though, certainly some expansion there would be wise. This would also enable Fairfax students who live next to Centreville to be assigned there.

There is a lot of new construction in Westfield area and it will soon be overcrowded, too. Also, it appears there is going to be a very large expansion of housing near Oakton.
Seems to me that this is a proactive move and much needed.

[Anonymous]

So much time and effort being put in on an effort that will never come to fruition. People you are being scammed.

It is a distraction to keep people from rioting in the streets about equity grading, raises, bonuses, moving more staff out of the classroom and into administration.

A very successful distraction I might add.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't like how this one organization from a teeny tiny part of the county has so much influence because they have the money to pull together a website and members who work in political communications.

The organization to which you’re referring is an offshoot from the larger Great Falls Citizens Association. The GFCA splintered over the extent to which it should support an anti-boundary change group (FairFACTS Matters). They put out a press release, which anyone else can also do.

It’s no different than if a Franklin Farm HOA decides to issue a press release tomorrow saying this acquisition is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

[Anonymous]

I am thinking to move to fairfax county. I have been looking at oakton, VA area. There is an area that I am interested, and the home address currently is assigned to oakton elementary school, thoreau middle school and oakton high school. Will that area be affected by school boundary rezone?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone post the Great Falls parents statement on this? I am not part of their Facebook group.

Community Group Comments on School Board Plan to Acquire a New Western High School

Today, Citizens For Great Falls President John Halacy and Vice President Manny Dacoba responded to action taken last night by the Fairfax County School Board to authorize the $150 million purchase of the now-shuttered King Abdullah Academy in Herndon.

With nine members voting to support the motion and three abstaining, the Fairfax County School Board authorized the acquisition of the King Abdullah Academy. Located in Herndon, the 40-acre site previously housed high school and middle school students for an enrollment of about 800 students. Currently assessed at $117,665,760 by Fairfax County, it is described on the former school’s website as a fully equipped high school complete with state-of-the-art classrooms, labs, indoor and outdoor athletic facilities, as well as an eight-lane Olympic-style, 25-yard competition pool.

According to Halacy and Dacoba, “The timing of this announcement is incredible for several reasons. While the need for more high school capacity in the western area of the county has been under discussion for at least 20 years, due to increased residential development, the school board and administrators have been heavily engaged in the debate surrounding the method and policies involving a revision of school boundaries to address capacity issues, given the differences in enrollments throughout the county. The vote by the school board to acquire a new facility will have a sweeping effect on current planning efforts that have involved a contentious relationship between the administration and the community. This tends to overshadow months of work and meetings by residents who have been participating in the county’s Boundary Review Advisory Committee (BRAC).”

They added: “Based on the comments at last night’s meeting of the board, some board members consider the purchase price a rare bargain and characterize this as a windfall, given the current cost of land acquisition and construction. It could present opportunities to ease capacity issues and reduce time and effort in the process of addressing needs for the western part of the county. But the decision to proceed with this by the Superintendent and her staff without engagement with the ongoing planning process is a disappointing factor. Even with the cost that has been reported, we agree with the school board members who did not vote for this because of numerous unanswered questions and the lack of transparency surrounding this initiative.

The county recently struggled to achieve a balanced budget, proposing severe cuts to avoid negatively affecting the school system’s budget and other essential county services. So, initiatives like buying a new school are likely to have a significant budget impact going forward. Though we are not surprised that the school administrators undertook this significant financial commitment without full public disclosure and debate, particularly without including such plans in the current discussions with the Boundary Review Advisory Committee (BRAC) community members.

Purchasing a high school by a county public school authority without adequate public disclosure and input from the community that has been involved in this effort for decades is an example of an administratively unsound choice. Just as the School Board’s negotiated its labor agreements that granted a 7% salary increase for their employees without involving the Board of Supervisors (which is the county’s budget authority), taking this action behind closed doors is another striking example of the lack of transparency and disregard for citizen participation typical of this school and its administrators.

School board officials and Superintendent Reid should be reminded that they don’t operate in a policy and decision-making vacuum. Major policy choices like building new schools in our community or acquiring major new facilities should involve public engagement and not be decided behind closed doors. We are eager to learn more about how this planned proposal will fit into the overall strategy for addressing school capacity issues, boundaries, and budget.

Citizens For Great Falls looks forward to engaging with the community organizations like FairFACTS Matters Foundation and the other organizations across Fairfax County involved in the efforts to
support high-quality education in our community.

Wow! Do these people not understand that not having available property in a good location has been the reason given for not already building this school?

I live in the area and have watched this for years. And, I supported Great Falls in wanting to stay at Langley because I understand the desire to stay where you are. I am happy for my neighborhood to stay where it is, but THRU has been threatening to move us much further away from the school our neighborhood has attended forever.

These are the examples of those who live near this new site. All these neighborhoods are extremely close to the KAA site:

1. One neighborhood is being sent to a school thirty minutes away over I66 at rush hour or
Other neighbors in the area are being shifted the third time in a little more than a decade. And, then there are those who are sent thirty minutes away over rush hour I66 or windy back roads.
2. Another neighborhood has been shifted twice over little more than a decade. According to THRU, they plan to once again shift them--to include elementary and high school.
3. Another neighborhood is being threatened to be split down the middle. THRU is suggesting adding this group to the thirty minute commute over I66 during rush hour or over windy back roads. This neighborhood has been attending their current school (5-10 minutes depending on traffic) for decades. They would be happy to stay at current school, but THRU plans to shift them.
4.Another neighborhood goes through very heavy traffic on HWY 28 to get to yet a different high school.

And, these are all very close to the KAA site.

This would meet the needs established for the boundary study. Proximity, no islands would be needed, reduce overcrowding.
In addition, if Chantilly kids are added (which they should be) it would free space at Chantilly and Westfield which would prevent need for a very large expansion at Centreville--though, certainly some expansion there would be wise. This would also enable Fairfax students who live next to Centreville to be assigned there.

There is a lot of new construction in Westfield area and it will soon be overcrowded, too. Also, it appears there is going to be a very large expansion of housing near Oakton.
Seems to me that this is a proactive move and much needed.

I expect they fully understand that the unavailability of land has been an impediment to building a new western HS. I expect they also understand that, in the intervening years, FCPS also went ahead and spent many millions expanding schools in western Fairfax. So it’s fair to ask whether we didn’t already add enough capacity to serve that part of the county. That doesn’t mean Thru’s recent suggestions were sound or should be implemented, only that there ought to be more rigor around the process.

Maybe FCPS can plausibly say time was of the essence here and this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire a finished building. But even then it ought to meet a clearly articulated need before we drop $150M on it and commit to all the necessary modifications.

[Anonymous]

To me, 6 high schools at 90% capacity is preferable to 5 high schools at 100-105% capacity. Especially if it provides stability to those in the area. I also wouldn't want my kid to go to a HS 30 min away, nor would I want random streets in my neighborhood moved around to fine tune capacity issues at every boundary study. I think it's worth it even if it increases operating costs.

[Anonymous]

I expect they fully understand that the unavailability of land has been an impediment to building a new western HS. I expect they also understand that, in the intervening years, FCPS also went ahead and spent many millions expanding schools in western Fairfax. So it’s fair to ask whether we didn’t already add enough capacity to serve that part of the county. That doesn’t mean Thru’s recent suggestions were sound or should be implemented, only that there ought to be more rigor around the process.

Maybe FCPS can plausibly say time was of the essence here and this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire a finished building. But even then it ought to meet a clearly articulated need before we drop $150M on it and commit to all the necessary modifications.

It has been MANY years since Westfield was expanded and Western Fairfax is still overcrowded.
What "expanded" schools are you talking about?