FCPS Boundary Review Updates

[Anonymous]

Get rid of IB at South Lakes and Herndon enrollment is resolved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The main area of difficulty for boundaries including the KAA as an FCPS HS is MS attendance areas. But that problem existed pre KAA acquisition. Herndon MS does not have AAP level iv and a split feed [Hutchison which is not in the Town of Herndon] on the base school attendance area to the oversized Carson MS as "Mclearen Rd HS" would work. That frees up space at Hughes pre Thru mess for Oakton.

I don't understand this? Please explain.

Go to faciltiies transfer dashboard - 1st map. https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/fcps.fts/viz/SY2024-25StudentTransfersDashboard/ReadMe

Hughes receives 101 from Herndon MS as official AAP transfers/assigned site that get FCPS transportation. No clear MS site for Oakton unless Franklin becomes a tip of tail ...

Herndon MS:
program capacity 1,062/ membership 905/ cap utilization 85%/ trailers 6 [surplus or used for nstruction?]
Add the 101 to membership and Herndon is at 95% but feeds to a newly supersized HS. Unless FCPS plans to shuffle Chantilly academies into Herndon there will be areas added to the site. Herndon HS new capacity is about 2700. Langley feeders except Spring Hill: some significantly lower membership than 20 years ago + lower AAP feed. What does that mean? Empty nesters.

So Langley could go over cap and same for Cooper even without the Thru Spring Hill Island 100% move. Spring Hill Island is one big fat SPA comprised of the usual -Rotunda, Lincoln area plus stuff that no one has looked at ever.

Carson: on utilization maps has AAP feeders as Franklin and Herndon.

I see, but do not understand your point.

Point is Hughes gets 101 official count AAP students from Herndon MS. All could be at an AAP Level iv program at Herndon MS. Herndon MS does not have enough capacity for all that could feed to Herndon HS. Carson will be the "Mclearen Road HS" middle school. If Carson has more capacity than needed for the new HS it can be a split feeder to it's HS and Herndon.

100 plus slots then open up at Hughes - Hughes/South Lakes got students in 2008 from Madison. Current feeds include some residences that are Oakton ES/Thoreau/Madison with AAP Sunrise Valley/Jackson. Jackson gets 76 AAP from Thoreau. Some could leve under 10 minutes from Hughes. Kilmer only has 20 AAP transfers in and has a massive overcapacity problem. Total into Kilmer from Thoreau are 39 and some could be sped etc.

[Anonymous]

So, your point is for Carson to take Herndon kids? Which ones? If anyone goes to Herndon from Carson, I would think it would be McNair or Coates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

They are talking about Oakton. We're happy our kids are zoned to a good school, but that commute is a beast and we'd welcome a closer high school.

While Oakton has Western Fairfax students because of overcrowding in Western Fairfax, I'm not sure i'd call it a Western Fairfax school.

A Western high school is any school that largely serves kids living in Western Fairfax. Oakton does, and will continue to, serve many kids in Western Fairfax. The proximity of Madison, Oakton, Woodson, and Fairfax does not allow for any other result.

And, just recently, Oakton was expanded to have a program capacity of 2642 seats. It's below capacity now and projected to be even more under capacity by 2029.

By that logic I guess Langley is a Western high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Oh, so we're spending $150Million on a school for no reason? You need to stop with the crazy conspiracy theories. Get help.

No, a wise move to purchase but will need renovation to be useful given FCPS class sizes. Not to mention parking and athletic field needs. So, at least 3 years away from use which is fine. Will arrive sooner and less expensive than building from scratch. Doesn’t change the fact that the boundary study will never be acted upon.

3 years? We all know what dark hole you pulled that estimate out of. The existing school has athletic fields and so does Rachel Carson next door. Any desired renovations don't have to be complete for students to use the school. All the other county schools have been in use the whole time while undergoing extensive renovations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

A Western high school is any school that largely serves kids living in Western Fairfax. Oakton does, and will continue to, serve many kids in Western Fairfax. The proximity of Madison, Oakton, Woodson, and Fairfax does not allow for any other result.

And, just recently, Oakton was expanded to have a program capacity of 2642 seats. It's below capacity now and projected to be even more under capacity by 2029.

Well , I guess we can ship Fair Lakes kids to Lewis and call that a Western High School.

Look at a map. Oakton is not a Western High school. Just because Great Falls wants their kids to ride a bus for thirty minutes does not mean that everyone wants to do that. And, if you kept up with the local news, you would have read that BOS just approved a huge new residential development just up the street from Oakton.

Exactly, look at a map. Madison, Oakton, Woodson, and Fairfax are all close to each other. Their location is central Fairfax, but Oakton's boundaries have always extended considerably to the west. When it opened, it served areas that bordered Loudoun and Prince William. Eventually that was no longer the case and its western boundaries simply extended to eastern Herndon.

If some kids from western Fairfax don't continue to attend Oakton, then the school's recent expansion to almost 2650 seats was a giant waste of money. It is not at all like sending kids from Fair Lakes to Lewis.

The county approves residential development all over the county and FCPS seeks to quantify the impact when a developer breaks ground. Depending on the type of development, student yields can vary considerably. Their latest projections have Oakton at over 125 seats under capacity in five years.

We all get that you'd prefer a school that's essentially in your back yard over one that's 8 miles away, so long as the demographics are wealthy enough for your tastes. However, if FCPS has gone ahead and added capacity to multiple schools that serve kids in western Fairfax (South Lakes, Oakton, and Herndon, with plans in the works to expand Centreville as well), it's fair to ask why FCPS is buying KAA now and what process did it follow to satisfy itself this was the right decision. Even if it doesn't change what FCPS does with KAA, asking questions now might make for a better process the next time. Right now there is zero consistency in what FCPS does. They spend half their time yelling at people that boundary changes are necessary because they can't possibly build or buy their way out of existing overcrowding at some schools, and then they turn around and pursue projects like Dunn Loring and KAA with next to no analysis.

[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.

Citizens For Great Falls has been fighting the needed Western high school since the beginning. They are deathly afraid of being rezoned to Herndon and want to fill Herndon with kids from south of the school so that the Forestville ES and Great Falls ES kids don't end up there one day. They are going ballistic now because they didn't get time to organize and tank the whole thing, and now FCPS is getting basically a ready-made school for a price they can't even argue with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

They are talking about Oakton. We're happy our kids are zoned to a good school, but that commute is a beast and we'd welcome a closer high school.

While Oakton has Western Fairfax students because of overcrowding in Western Fairfax, I'm not sure i'd call it a Western Fairfax school.

A Western high school is any school that largely serves kids living in Western Fairfax. Oakton does, and will continue to, serve many kids in Western Fairfax. The proximity of Madison, Oakton, Woodson, and Fairfax does not allow for any other result.

And, just recently, Oakton was expanded to have a program capacity of 2642 seats. It's below capacity now and projected to be even more under capacity by 2029.

By that logic I guess Langley is a Western high school.

That's actually correct, although you'd have a total meltdown if that point was reiterated.

Just like Oakton, Langley was expanded based on an assumption it would continue to serve kids in western Fairfax. Pull kids from western Fairfax out of Langley (mostly Great Falls) and Oakton (mostly Herndon/Oak Hill) and you have hundreds and hundreds of empty seats.

[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.

Citizens For Great Falls has been fighting the needed Western high school since the beginning. They are deathly afraid of being rezoned to Herndon and want to fill Herndon with kids from south of the school so that the Forestville ES and Great Falls ES kids don't end up there one day. They are going ballistic now because they didn't get time to organize and tank the whole thing, and now FCPS is getting basically a ready-made school for a price they can't even argue with.

Citizens for Great Falls did not exist until a few months ago, so they clearly weren't fighting a western HS "since the beginning."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Citizens For Great Falls has been fighting the needed Western high school since the beginning. They are deathly afraid of being rezoned to Herndon and want to fill Herndon with kids from south of the school so that the Forestville ES and Great Falls ES kids don't end up there one day. They are going ballistic now because they didn't get time to organize and tank the whole thing, and now FCPS is getting basically a ready-made school for a price they can't even argue with.

Citizens for Great Falls did not exist until a few months ago, so they clearly weren't fighting a western HS "since the beginning."

New name, same people. Call them Citizens of Great Falls if you choose. We all know. They aren't being sly or subtle, trying to make other arguments like fiscal responsibility or whatever else to not say the quiet part out loud. They are scared to death of ending up at Herndon and will support or obstruct anything necessary to keep it from happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The main area of difficulty for boundaries including the KAA as an FCPS HS is MS attendance areas. But that problem existed pre KAA acquisition. Herndon MS does not have AAP level iv and a split feed [Hutchison which is not in the Town of Herndon] on the base school attendance area to the oversized Carson MS as "Mclearen Rd HS" would work. That frees up space at Hughes pre Thru mess for Oakton.

I don't understand this? Please explain.

Go to faciltiies transfer dashboard - 1st map. https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/fcps.fts/viz/SY2024-25StudentTransfersDashboard/ReadMe

Hughes receives 101 from Herndon MS as official AAP transfers/assigned site that get FCPS transportation. No clear MS site for Oakton unless Franklin becomes a tip of tail ...

Herndon MS:
program capacity 1,062/ membership 905/ cap utilization 85%/ trailers 6 [surplus or used for nstruction?]
Add the 101 to membership and Herndon is at 95% but feeds to a newly supersized HS. Unless FCPS plans to shuffle Chantilly academies into Herndon there will be areas added to the site. Herndon HS new capacity is about 2700. Langley feeders except Spring Hill: some significantly lower membership than 20 years ago + lower AAP feed. What does that mean? Empty nesters.

So Langley could go over cap and same for Cooper even without the Thru Spring Hill Island 100% move. Spring Hill Island is one big fat SPA comprised of the usual -Rotunda, Lincoln area plus stuff that no one has looked at ever.

Carson: on utilization maps has AAP feeders as Franklin and Herndon.

I see, but do not understand your point.

It's a bunch of random facts masquerading as analysis.

Do a spreadsheet yourself. Then look up historical membership. All the flips and twists do not negate the facts I posted. SY 24-25 Cooper and Langley wuld be at 101%/102% by adding 100% of the Spring Hill Island.

New "Mclearen Rd HS" capacity removes the possibility of a major move into Herndon HS. Hughes gets 101 AAP from Herndon. Herndonn MS doesn't match cap for feed but Carson is large.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Citizens For Great Falls has been fighting the needed Western high school since the beginning. They are deathly afraid of being rezoned to Herndon and want to fill Herndon with kids from south of the school so that the Forestville ES and Great Falls ES kids don't end up there one day. They are going ballistic now because they didn't get time to organize and tank the whole thing, and now FCPS is getting basically a ready-made school for a price they can't even argue with.

Citizens for Great Falls did not exist until a few months ago, so they clearly weren't fighting a western HS "since the beginning."

New name, same people. Call them Citizens of Great Falls if you choose. We all know. They aren't being sly or subtle, trying to make other arguments like fiscal responsibility or whatever else to not say the quiet part out loud. They are scared to death of ending up at Herndon and will support or obstruct anything necessary to keep it from happening.

Are you sure you want to make that argument?

Part of the reason the Westfield/South Lakes/Chantilly folks are so keen on a school near Carson MS is that it only stands to get poor kids from Coates ES and McNair ES. A "Hutchison HS" near Hutchison ES would have fed from both Hutchison and Coates and that was too many poor kids for y'all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The main area of difficulty for boundaries including the KAA as an FCPS HS is MS attendance areas. But that problem existed pre KAA acquisition. Herndon MS does not have AAP level iv and a split feed [Hutchison which is not in the Town of Herndon] on the base school attendance area to the oversized Carson MS as "Mclearen Rd HS" would work. That frees up space at Hughes pre Thru mess for Oakton.

I don't understand this? Please explain.

Go to faciltiies transfer dashboard - 1st map. https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/fcps.fts/viz/SY2024-25StudentTransfersDashboard/ReadMe

Hughes receives 101 from Herndon MS as official AAP transfers/assigned site that get FCPS transportation. No clear MS site for Oakton unless Franklin becomes a tip of tail ...

Herndon MS:
program capacity 1,062/ membership 905/ cap utilization 85%/ trailers 6 [surplus or used for nstruction?]
Add the 101 to membership and Herndon is at 95% but feeds to a newly supersized HS. Unless FCPS plans to shuffle Chantilly academies into Herndon there will be areas added to the site. Herndon HS new capacity is about 2700. Langley feeders except Spring Hill: some significantly lower membership than 20 years ago + lower AAP feed. What does that mean? Empty nesters.

So Langley could go over cap and same for Cooper even without the Thru Spring Hill Island 100% move. Spring Hill Island is one big fat SPA comprised of the usual -Rotunda, Lincoln area plus stuff that no one has looked at ever.

Carson: on utilization maps has AAP feeders as Franklin and Herndon.

I see, but do not understand your point.

It's a bunch of random facts masquerading as analysis.

Do a spreadsheet yourself. Then look up historical membership. All the flips and twists do not negate the facts I posted. SY 24-25 Cooper and Langley wuld be at 101%/102% by adding 100% of the Spring Hill Island.

New "Mclearen Rd HS" capacity removes the possibility of a major move into Herndon HS. Hughes gets 101 AAP from Herndon. Herndonn MS doesn't match cap for feed but Carson is large.

Your posts remind me of this:

[Anonymous]

Part of the reason the Westfield/South Lakes/Chantilly folks are so keen on a school near Carson MS is that it only stands to get poor kids from Coates ES and McNair ES. A "Hutchison HS" near Hutchison ES would have fed from both Hutchison and Coates and that was too many poor kids for y'all.

Look at the Hutchison site. 3 miles from Herndon High. Terrible site for a high school. Backs up to DTR. So, once you put in Hutchison, all other attendance would come from south via Centreville Road. One artery with traffic lights. Have you even ever been there? No way out but Centreville Rd for the students. Traffic nightmare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Citizens For Great Falls has been fighting the needed Western high school since the beginning. They are deathly afraid of being rezoned to Herndon and want to fill Herndon with kids from south of the school so that the Forestville ES and Great Falls ES kids don't end up there one day. They are going ballistic now because they didn't get time to organize and tank the whole thing, and now FCPS is getting basically a ready-made school for a price they can't even argue with.

Citizens for Great Falls did not exist until a few months ago, so they clearly weren't fighting a western HS "since the beginning."

New name, same people. Call them Citizens of Great Falls if you choose. We all know. They aren't being sly or subtle, trying to make other arguments like fiscal responsibility or whatever else to not say the quiet part out loud. They are scared to death of ending up at Herndon and will support or obstruct anything necessary to keep it from happening.

Are you sure you want to make that argument?

Part of the reason the Westfield/South Lakes/Chantilly folks are so keen on a school near Carson MS is that it only stands to get poor kids from Coates ES and McNair ES. A "Hutchison HS" near Hutchison ES would have fed from both Hutchison and Coates and that was too many poor kids for y'all.

This is nonsense. A beautiful school property nearly perfectly sited fell into FCPS lap. They would be crazy not to buy it. You are acting like there are dozens of similar properties to choose from. This is a one of a kind property.