Franklin MS email about Western High School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oak Hill attends Franklin and is likely switching to the new HS. All of the MS that feed into the 5 HS that could be impacted by Western are getting the presentation. They got it at Hughes MS and Carson MS.

Ok then pull the Oak Hill kids out of advisory and leave the rest of us the hell alone!

Lady, put down the bottle!!! All kids within the boundaries of Oakton, Chantilly, Westfield, Centerville, and South Lakes will have the option to attend Western, regardless of whether they are in boundary or not. THAT MEANS YOUR KID. So, sorrynotsorry, but this does apply to you. Relax. Get help.

You’re an idiot. My kid will actually not have the option to attend because I’m not driving them on a daily basis. It’s an automatic no for us. We are not going to be in boundary so there would be no bus transportation. I’m also not switching my child to a school that is further away from their base school and where none of their friends would be going. I don’t give a d@mn what offerings the joint has.

The option is available. You may not allow your child to opt in and I'm sure a lot of other people feel the same way, but that doesn't mean the option is not available. Nobody here is telling you to send your child to Western. Get a grip!!!

DP, but you are being intentionally obtuse. These presentations are intended to persuade kids Western is a superior option to their base schools, even if transportation ultimately won’t be provided. It puts parents in the position of having to be the bad guys who say no.

It’s unfortunate that Michelle Reid apparently can’t be happy and feel like she’s accomplished something unless others are disappointed.

Have you never had to be the bad guy and say no to your kid before? No wonder schools are a mess. You all are afraid to tell your kids no!

Totally fine telling my kid “no” and I’m not the PP, but do you think it is OK that no official programming has been announced to parents while the kids have received detailed info about aviation programs? That’s slimy….especially with it already being the winter before a proposed fall 2026 opening.

Oh totally agree. I think this whole process has been a clusterf*. They should wait a year and open in the fall of 2027 with a full curriculum in place for grades 9 and 10 in boundary kids.

They have said that the school will be an AP school with the full curriculum and additional pathways. They have said that not every elective will be offered in the first year, because there will be 1,000 students at the school but that there will be a full set of electives by the third year the school is open when they have a full school. There will be the full slate of AP and Honors classes normally available to 9th and 10 graders.

[Anonymous]

Most kids we know don't want to go to a school without sports and its literally the deciding factor. They should be opening with freshman/JV sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most kids we know don't want to go to a school without sports and its literally the deciding factor. They should be opening with freshman/JV sports.

I don’t know if you can have freshman and JV VHSL teams without a varsity team. They want to have VHSL sports in the second year but they cannot have any VHSL sports and allow kids to play other ones at a different school. It is all or nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most kids we know don't want to go to a school without sports and its literally the deciding factor. They should be opening with freshman/JV sports.

I don’t know if you can have freshman and JV VHSL teams without a varsity team. They want to have VHSL sports in the second year but they cannot have any VHSL sports and allow kids to play other ones at a different school. It is all or nothing.

What's the issue with just having freshman and JV teams, and no Varsity, for the first year? Very few 9th-10th graders even make Varsity. If kids want to play on Varsity, they could not go to Western. But kids choosing to go should have the option of sports at school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most kids we know don't want to go to a school without sports and its literally the deciding factor. They should be opening with freshman/JV sports.

I don’t know if you can have freshman and JV VHSL teams without a varsity team. They want to have VHSL sports in the second year but they cannot have any VHSL sports and allow kids to play other ones at a different school. It is all or nothing.

What's the issue with just having freshman and JV teams, and no Varsity, for the first year? Very few 9th-10th graders even make Varsity. If kids want to play on Varsity, they could not go to Western. But kids choosing to go should have the option of sports at school.

The VHSL has requirements. You can’t just ignore them. The option for the kids starting at Western is to play VHSL sports at their base schools. It turns Western into more of a specialized program for the first year than a fully functioning high school, but that’s OK with some people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most kids we know don't want to go to a school without sports and its literally the deciding factor. They should be opening with freshman/JV sports.

I don’t know if you can have freshman and JV VHSL teams without a varsity team. They want to have VHSL sports in the second year but they cannot have any VHSL sports and allow kids to play other ones at a different school. It is all or nothing.

What's the issue with just having freshman and JV teams, and no Varsity, for the first year? Very few 9th-10th graders even make Varsity. If kids want to play on Varsity, they could not go to Western. But kids choosing to go should have the option of sports at school.

It is a VHSL rule and there are sophomores that could play varsity so not being able to go to the other school for sports would be problematic for the few students who could be impacted. I don’t pretend to understand the way VHSL runs but it is something that they looked at. I know this was mentioned a bunch in the three different sessions I attended last week. The answer was consistently that they tried to work out situations to allow some sports at Western and allow other sports inclusion at different schools and that was a hard no. They are pushing for full sports at the school in the second year but acknowledge that might not be possible until the third year.

DS plays rec sports and is not interested in HS sports so this is not a factor for him. I know it is for others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most kids we know don't want to go to a school without sports and its literally the deciding factor. They should be opening with freshman/JV sports.

I don’t know if you can have freshman and JV VHSL teams without a varsity team. They want to have VHSL sports in the second year but they cannot have any VHSL sports and allow kids to play other ones at a different school. It is all or nothing.

What's the issue with just having freshman and JV teams, and no Varsity, for the first year? Very few 9th-10th graders even make Varsity. If kids want to play on Varsity, they could not go to Western. But kids choosing to go should have the option of sports at school.

The VHSL has requirements. You can’t just ignore them. The option for the kids starting at Western is to play VHSL sports at their base schools. It turns Western into more of a specialized program for the first year than a fully functioning high school, but that’s OK with some people.

I don't understand the logistics of "play sports at your base school for one year". Are they providing transportation? That would be logistical nightmare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most kids we know don't want to go to a school without sports and its literally the deciding factor. They should be opening with freshman/JV sports.

I don’t know if you can have freshman and JV VHSL teams without a varsity team. They want to have VHSL sports in the second year but they cannot have any VHSL sports and allow kids to play other ones at a different school. It is all or nothing.

What's the issue with just having freshman and JV teams, and no Varsity, for the first year? Very few 9th-10th graders even make Varsity. If kids want to play on Varsity, they could not go to Western. But kids choosing to go should have the option of sports at school.

The VHSL has requirements. You can’t just ignore them. The option for the kids starting at Western is to play VHSL sports at their base schools. It turns Western into more of a specialized program for the first year than a fully functioning high school, but that’s OK with some people.

I don't understand the logistics of "play sports at your base school for one year". Are they providing transportation? That would be logistical nightmare.

I believe they’ve suggested they’ll run busses from Western to the base schools in the afternoon for activities.

These folks aren’t exactly masters at logistics, as should be clear by now. Some kids at Western will have regular busses, others may have buses for activities, and some will have no busses at all. Of course, they don’t want to provide busses for grandfathered kids at other schools facing boundary changes at all. They don’t put kids or families first, or even second.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most kids we know don't want to go to a school without sports and its literally the deciding factor. They should be opening with freshman/JV sports.

I don’t know if you can have freshman and JV VHSL teams without a varsity team. They want to have VHSL sports in the second year but they cannot have any VHSL sports and allow kids to play other ones at a different school. It is all or nothing.

What's the issue with just having freshman and JV teams, and no Varsity, for the first year? Very few 9th-10th graders even make Varsity. If kids want to play on Varsity, they could not go to Western. But kids choosing to go should have the option of sports at school.

The VHSL has requirements. You can’t just ignore them. The option for the kids starting at Western is to play VHSL sports at their base schools. It turns Western into more of a specialized program for the first year than a fully functioning high school, but that’s OK with some people.

I don't understand the logistics of "play sports at your base school for one year". Are they providing transportation? That would be logistical nightmare.

They will be running busses to the other school for after school activities. I would be surprised if too many ids who really want to play sports end up at Western next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most kids we know don't want to go to a school without sports and its literally the deciding factor. They should be opening with freshman/JV sports.

I don’t know if you can have freshman and JV VHSL teams without a varsity team. They want to have VHSL sports in the second year but they cannot have any VHSL sports and allow kids to play other ones at a different school. It is all or nothing.

What's the issue with just having freshman and JV teams, and no Varsity, for the first year? Very few 9th-10th graders even make Varsity. If kids want to play on Varsity, they could not go to Western. But kids choosing to go should have the option of sports at school.

The VHSL has requirements. You can’t just ignore them. The option for the kids starting at Western is to play VHSL sports at their base schools. It turns Western into more of a specialized program for the first year than a fully functioning high school, but that’s OK with some people.

I don't understand the logistics of "play sports at your base school for one year". Are they providing transportation? That would be logistical nightmare.

They will be running busses to the other school for after school activities. I would be surprised if too many ids who really want to play sports end up at Western next year.

I imagine they would just need one bus to each of the base schools, however the one to Oakton would be quite a haul at that time of day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most kids we know don't want to go to a school without sports and its literally the deciding factor. They should be opening with freshman/JV sports.

I don’t know if you can have freshman and JV VHSL teams without a varsity team. They want to have VHSL sports in the second year but they cannot have any VHSL sports and allow kids to play other ones at a different school. It is all or nothing.

What's the issue with just having freshman and JV teams, and no Varsity, for the first year? Very few 9th-10th graders even make Varsity. If kids want to play on Varsity, they could not go to Western. But kids choosing to go should have the option of sports at school.

It is a VHSL rule and there are sophomores that could play varsity so not being able to go to the other school for sports would be problematic for the few students who could be impacted. I don’t pretend to understand the way VHSL runs but it is something that they looked at. I know this was mentioned a bunch in the three different sessions I attended last week. The answer was consistently that they tried to work out situations to allow some sports at Western and allow other sports inclusion at different schools and that was a hard no. They are pushing for full sports at the school in the second year but acknowledge that might not be possible until the third year.

DS plays rec sports and is not interested in HS sports so this is not a factor for him. I know it is for others.

I'm pretty sure that freshman may also play varsity. Unlikely in some sports, but not all.

And, there are parents of middle school kids who think their child is such a good athlete that he/she will definitely be on varsity as a freshman. They are usually very disappointed--and angry about it, on occasion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most kids we know don't want to go to a school without sports and its literally the deciding factor. They should be opening with freshman/JV sports.

I don’t know if you can have freshman and JV VHSL teams without a varsity team. They want to have VHSL sports in the second year but they cannot have any VHSL sports and allow kids to play other ones at a different school. It is all or nothing.

What's the issue with just having freshman and JV teams, and no Varsity, for the first year? Very few 9th-10th graders even make Varsity. If kids want to play on Varsity, they could not go to Western. But kids choosing to go should have the option of sports at school.

The VHSL has requirements. You can’t just ignore them. The option for the kids starting at Western is to play VHSL sports at their base schools. It turns Western into more of a specialized program for the first year than a fully functioning high school, but that’s OK with some people.

I don't understand the logistics of "play sports at your base school for one year". Are they providing transportation? That would be logistical nightmare.

They will be running busses to the other school for after school activities. I would be surprised if too many ids who really want to play sports end up at Western next year.

VHSL also covers some academic teams like Debate. https://www.vhsl.org/debate/
South County opened with VHSL, varsity and grades 9-11. Loudoun opened Riverside with VHSL in 2015 grades 9-11 and it looked like there was some grandfathering for grade 11.

So if in boundary for Western and a student doesn't attend for year 2 will there be impact on VHSL eligibility at the prior in boundary school? If FCPS had not dithered , could it have VHSL in year 1 but not played varsity football due to lack of numbers or dropping them to JV?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most kids we know don't want to go to a school without sports and its literally the deciding factor. They should be opening with freshman/JV sports.

I don’t know if you can have freshman and JV VHSL teams without a varsity team. They want to have VHSL sports in the second year but they cannot have any VHSL sports and allow kids to play other ones at a different school. It is all or nothing.

What's the issue with just having freshman and JV teams, and no Varsity, for the first year? Very few 9th-10th graders even make Varsity. If kids want to play on Varsity, they could not go to Western. But kids choosing to go should have the option of sports at school.

The VHSL has requirements. You can’t just ignore them. The option for the kids starting at Western is to play VHSL sports at their base schools. It turns Western into more of a specialized program for the first year than a fully functioning high school, but that’s OK with some people.

I don't understand the logistics of "play sports at your base school for one year". Are they providing transportation? That would be logistical nightmare.

They will be running busses to the other school for after school activities. I would be surprised if too many ids who really want to play sports end up at Western next year.

I imagine they would just need one bus to each of the base schools, however the one to Oakton would be quite a haul at that time of day.

This is why I want my kid rezoned to Western so the sports kids can make that haul, not me or my kids.

[Anonymous]

This whole debacle over the Western High School involves gaslighting and manipulating parents and children to generate school spirit for a school with boundaries that have yet to be decided on and a superintendent to preposterously proposed opening it as any AI or Air and Space focused magnet school.

There is a pattern of abuse dealt to families and staff by the school board.

Plus, this new high school is only consequential for one elementary school.

Oak Hill.

Floris, Coates, Crossfield, McNair, and Fox Mill all feed into Carson and have the potential to feed to Western.

If all students from Floris, Crossfield, McNair, Westfield part of Coates, Fox Mill, Oak Hill, and Navy Attendance Island are zoned for Western, roughly 2162 students would move into the new facility.

After FCPS modifies it, that number should work.

The school needs a central cafeteria, 2 gyms (One Main, One Aux) a large and Central Library, classrooms and labs in place of open amphitheaters which are a health and safety hazard for teens, and a concentrated CTE wing separate from the rest of the school.

Pool might need filled in too.

A stadium, soccer field, baseball and softball fields, and an outdoor basketball court also need built.

Any non-neutral religious themes need removed.

With those modifications made, more capacity can be drawn and interior square footage increased.

That school was a K-12 private school. Now it is a 9-12 school.

What’s funny is that this location was where a high school would have been built if the Board of Directors didn’t screw us taxpayers over and sell it to the Saudi’s in the first place.

This whole school is a game FCPS is playing and I hate that for us, Teachers and Staff, and our effing kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This whole debacle over the Western High School involves gaslighting and manipulating parents and children to generate school spirit for a school with boundaries that have yet to be decided on and a superintendent to preposterously proposed opening it as any AI or Air and Space focused magnet school.

There is a pattern of abuse dealt to families and staff by the school board.

Plus, this new high school is only consequential for one elementary school.

Oak Hill.

Floris, Coates, Crossfield, McNair, and Fox Mill all feed into Carson and have the potential to feed to Western.

If all students from Floris, Crossfield, McNair, Westfield part of Coates, Fox Mill, Oak Hill, and Navy Attendance Island are zoned for Western, roughly 2162 students would move into the new facility.

After FCPS modifies it, that number should work.

The school needs a central cafeteria, 2 gyms (One Main, One Aux) a large and Central Library, classrooms and labs in place of open amphitheaters which are a health and safety hazard for teens, and a concentrated CTE wing separate from the rest of the school.

Pool might need filled in too.

A stadium, soccer field, baseball and softball fields, and an outdoor basketball court also need built.

Any non-neutral religious themes need removed.

With those modifications made, more capacity can be drawn and interior square footage increased.

That school was a K-12 private school. Now it is a 9-12 school.

What’s funny is that this location was where a high school would have been built if the Board of Directors didn’t screw us taxpayers over and sell it to the Saudi’s in the first place.

This whole school is a game FCPS is playing and I hate that for us, Teachers and Staff, and our effing kids.

The better not fill in that pool. It could be a great thing for the local community, including water safety instruction for kids who may not otherwise have access.