Fall 2022 Over/Under-Enrollment at FCPS High Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does everyone see how hard WS posters are fighting the suggestions that any WS kids ever get zoned to Lewis? Any of the other surrounding schools would be fine.

That is what happens when you concentrate all of the poor and ESL students.

FCPS needs a reckoning on this.

You mean they need a “courageous conversation?”

They said they needed to have them several years ago.

Never happened.

We got closed schools and name changes, so it’s cool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I suspect is any parts of WSHS are rezoned, it will be out to South Country or over to Lake Braddock.

I hope not. I'm shocked LB is listed so low. My kids can't get into a bathroom ever so have to get e=pass during class and neither got a locker they requested. I assumed we were way over and hoped they'd stop transfers in.

They had to rip the lockers out of McLean to create more space for students in the hallways. And no idea how they fit over 2900 kids into Chantilly, which has a much smaller footprint than Lake Braddock.

There is no room to expand Chantilly unless they build across the road. A new western HS is needed but that won’t happen ‘cause reasons.

I never realized quite how much I disliked Elaine Tholen until I listened to her pooh-pooh the idea that a new western high school would ever get built during the last brief School Board discussion of a CIP.

The Herndon area (more the part that feeds into Westfield than Herndon) could see an enormous increase in students if the growth associated with the new Silver Line stations materializes. Add to that the existing crowding at Centreville, Chantilly, and Oakton and it's a ticking time bomb.

But she felt duty-bound to toss cold water on the idea of a new high school because the one thing some people in Great Falls care about more than anything else is making sure that they never get moved back from Langley to Herndon, which theoretically could happen if a new school were built in western Fairfax and space opened up at Herndon. So then you end up with rich people at an under-enrolled, renovated school trying to dictate the decisions that affect kids miles away in overcrowded schools. It's obscene, and the likes of Tholen just roll over and play along.

Wouldn’t be underenrolled if they would zone more of McLean to Langley.

Western high school seems unlikely because they are off their planned completion by what? Seven years and nothing in the works yet, after all this time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does everyone see how hard WS posters are fighting the suggestions that any WS kids ever get zoned to Lewis? Any of the other surrounding schools would be fine.

That is what happens when you concentrate all of the poor and ESL students.

FCPS needs a reckoning on this.

Sorry, but this is crazy.

There are several schools in the 30% overenrollment range.

Most of the schools are slightly below or slightly above capacity by 5% or so.

That is nominal, and an amount that will fluctuate up and down depending on class/grade size.

It is beyond silly to keep dragging WSHS into this discussion when it is in the same enrollmemt range as the majority of FCPS high schools, and when there is so much over capacity over in the other parts of the county

Focusing on one school that is at average enrollment, when there are several schools that are 30% over capacity, is really, really silly and misguided.

Nobody here saying that those grossly overcrowded schools don't need relief.

But there are also under utilized schools (like Lewis) facing issues. And the fact that FCPS chose to give WS a larger than approved renovation when there was space next door is telling.

Don't worry though. Nobody will be moved from WS to Lewis.

What nonsense.

WSHS was renovated on its scheduled fcps renovation cycle. There is a rolling queue of schoops that get renovated. I believe it is a 50 year cycle

The renovation had zero do do with Lewis high school.

When you do a full renovation, you expand where feasable. It saves taxpayer money.

Lewis enrollment or under enrollment is completely irrelevant to any other high school's renovation.

The only one speaking nonsense here is you. Of course nearby excess capacity should be a factor in the size of school expansions. The county originally set out a smaller number for the capacity increase at WS and then increased that number twice in different CIPs. Meantime there was plenty of space next door at Lewis. How can that not be a factor? And they pulled students from Lewis that has contributed to the enrollment imbalance. In 2005 the two schools had and enrollment difference of less than 200. Now it is approaching 950.

Lewis was expanded in 2005 and immediately students were moved out and it has never been close to capacity. How was that a wise use of taxpayer money? And the expansion at West Potomac is also ridiculous. There are over 400 sears available at Mount Vernon.

Like I said, if you own real estate in the WS zone, don't worry, nobody is being moved to Lewis.

But the vast discrepancies in enrollments is due to people like you who refuse to think boundaries should ever be changed.

Maybe the plan is to let the schools dwindle to the point of no return,
rezone the neighborhoods to the larger school and sell the buildings to new private schools.

[Anonymous]

There’s not a single member of the current School Board with an ounce of courage. They pick soft targets (Asian immigrants hoping their kids will get into TJ) but they’d never take on vocal parents like the white parents at Langley or West Springfield.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I suspect is any parts of WSHS are rezoned, it will be out to South Country or over to Lake Braddock.

I hope not. I'm shocked LB is listed so low. My kids can't get into a bathroom ever so have to get e=pass during class and neither got a locker they requested. I assumed we were way over and hoped they'd stop transfers in.

They had to rip the lockers out of McLean to create more space for students in the hallways. And no idea how they fit over 2900 kids into Chantilly, which has a much smaller footprint than Lake Braddock.

There is no room to expand Chantilly unless they build across the road. A new western HS is needed but that won’t happen ‘cause reasons.

I never realized quite how much I disliked Elaine Tholen until I listened to her pooh-pooh the idea that a new western high school would ever get built during the last brief School Board discussion of a CIP.

The Herndon area (more the part that feeds into Westfield than Herndon) could see an enormous increase in students if the growth associated with the new Silver Line stations materializes. Add to that the existing crowding at Centreville, Chantilly, and Oakton and it's a ticking time bomb.

But she felt duty-bound to toss cold water on the idea of a new high school because the one thing some people in Great Falls care about more than anything else is making sure that they never get moved back from Langley to Herndon, which theoretically could happen if a new school were built in western Fairfax and space opened up at Herndon. So then you end up with rich people at an under-enrolled, renovated school trying to dictate the decisions that affect kids miles away in overcrowded schools. It's obscene, and the likes of Tholen just roll over and play along.

Wouldn’t be underenrolled if they would zone more of McLean to Langley.

Western high school seems unlikely because they are off their planned completion by what? Seven years and nothing in the works yet, after all this time.

That has been raised with Tholen and her response was they’ve done all they can do as between the Langley and McLean pyramids because any further moves would overcrowd Cooper MS, the middle school feeder to Langley.

Perhaps they just need to bite the bullet and build an addition to McLean like they just did at less crowded Madison (outside the renovation queue).

As for the western HS, they ought to have a dedicated web page discussing what, if any, progress is being made towards its eventual construction. It’s not a good look to have it moving up in the CIP yet have School Board members question whether it’s even a real thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s not a single member of the current School Board with an ounce of courage. They pick soft targets (Asian immigrants hoping their kids will get into TJ) but they’d never take on vocal parents like the white parents at Langley or West Springfield.

West Springfield is not majority white. It is majority minority.

And the minorities do not want to get rezoned out of a high performing school any more than a white family.

It is so bigoted to assume minority blacm and hispanic families don't want high performing schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s not a single member of the current School Board with an ounce of courage. They pick soft targets (Asian immigrants hoping their kids will get into TJ) but they’d never take on vocal parents like the white parents at Langley or West Springfield.

Why do you keep dragging West Springfield into your discussion about overenrolled schools when WSHS is around the average enrollment capacity of the majority of fcps high schools? Why do you call WS a "white" school when it is majority minority with one of the highest percentages of African American students in all of FCPS?

It is such a bizarre fixation to have this strange focus on one school that is not over enrolled and has one of the most compact boundaries in the county. It is almost as if you are trolling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s not a single member of the current School Board with an ounce of courage. They pick soft targets (Asian immigrants hoping their kids will get into TJ) but they’d never take on vocal parents like the white parents at Langley or West Springfield.

Why do you keep dragging West Springfield into your discussion about overenrolled schools when WSHS is around the average enrollment capacity of the majority of fcps high schools? Why do you call WS a "white" school when it is majority minority with one of the highest percentages of African American students in all of FCPS?

It is such a bizarre fixation to have this strange focus on one school that is not over enrolled and has one of the most compact boundaries in the county. It is almost as if you are trolling.

You appear to lack the self-awareness to realize you're proving PP's point.

And there's not just one poster noting that, if the School Board was more focused, they'd pay more attention to the disparity between the enrollments at Lewis and surrounding schools, including West Springfield.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s not a single member of the current School Board with an ounce of courage. They pick soft targets (Asian immigrants hoping their kids will get into TJ) but they’d never take on vocal parents like the white parents at Langley or West Springfield.

Why do you keep dragging West Springfield into your discussion about overenrolled schools when WSHS is around the average enrollment capacity of the majority of fcps high schools? Why do you call WS a "white" school when it is majority minority with one of the highest percentages of African American students in all of FCPS?

It is such a bizarre fixation to have this strange focus on one school that is not over enrolled and has one of the most compact boundaries in the county. It is almost as if you are trolling.

What does the "average enrollment capacity of the majority" of schools mean? Like you exclude a bunch of schools and then say West Springfield is then about average?

In any event, West Springfield (2650) has the fifth largest HS enrollment in the county this year, behind only Chantilly (2917), Lake Braddock (2896), West Potomac (2725), and Oakton (2679). Lewis, with which WS shares a large border, has the smallest enrollment (1685). Does anyone think a school with 1685 kids can offer the same classes or the same number of sessions of classes as one with 2650 kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s not a single member of the current School Board with an ounce of courage. They pick soft targets (Asian immigrants hoping their kids will get into TJ) but they’d never take on vocal parents like the white parents at Langley or West Springfield.

Why do you keep dragging West Springfield into your discussion about overenrolled schools when WSHS is around the average enrollment capacity of the majority of fcps high schools? Why do you call WS a "white" school when it is majority minority with one of the highest percentages of African American students in all of FCPS?

It is such a bizarre fixation to have this strange focus on one school that is not over enrolled and has one of the most compact boundaries in the county. It is almost as if you are trolling.

You appear to lack the self-awareness to realize you're proving PP's point.

And there's not just one poster noting that, if the School Board was more focused, they'd pay more attention to the disparity between the enrollments at Lewis and surrounding schools, including West Springfield.

Definitely one poster obsesssed with WSHS who posts here all the time.

They constantly triies to turn a thread about schools 30% or more over enrolled into a thread about a school only 5% over enrolled, similar enrollment to the majority of FCPS high schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s not a single member of the current School Board with an ounce of courage. They pick soft targets (Asian immigrants hoping their kids will get into TJ) but they’d never take on vocal parents like the white parents at Langley or West Springfield.

Why do you keep dragging West Springfield into your discussion about overenrolled schools when WSHS is around the average enrollment capacity of the majority of fcps high schools? Why do you call WS a "white" school when it is majority minority with one of the highest percentages of African American students in all of FCPS?

It is such a bizarre fixation to have this strange focus on one school that is not over enrolled and has one of the most compact boundaries in the county. It is almost as if you are trolling.

What does the "average enrollment capacity of the majority" of schools mean? Like you exclude a bunch of schools and then say West Springfield is then about average?

In any event, West Springfield (2650) has the fifth largest HS enrollment in the county this year, behind only Chantilly (2917), Lake Braddock (2896), West Potomac (2725), and Oakton (2679). Lewis, with which WS shares a large border, has the smallest enrollment (1685). Does anyone think a school with 1685 kids can offer the same classes or the same number of sessions of classes as one with 2650 kids?

Lewis is IB.

Start there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s not a single member of the current School Board with an ounce of courage. They pick soft targets (Asian immigrants hoping their kids will get into TJ) but they’d never take on vocal parents like the white parents at Langley or West Springfield.

Why do you keep dragging West Springfield into your discussion about overenrolled schools when WSHS is around the average enrollment capacity of the majority of fcps high schools? Why do you call WS a "white" school when it is majority minority with one of the highest percentages of African American students in all of FCPS?

It is such a bizarre fixation to have this strange focus on one school that is not over enrolled and has one of the most compact boundaries in the county. It is almost as if you are trolling.

You appear to lack the self-awareness to realize you're proving PP's point.

And there's not just one poster noting that, if the School Board was more focused, they'd pay more attention to the disparity between the enrollments at Lewis and surrounding schools, including West Springfield.

Definitely one poster obsesssed with WSHS who posts here all the time.

They constantly triies to turn a thread about schools 30% or more over enrolled into a thread about a school only 5% over enrolled, similar enrollment to the majority of FCPS high schools.

I have posted about the disparities between West Springfield and Lewis and am definitely not the only one PP ends up sparring with. So you can shelve the "one obsessed poster" because others also see the disparities.

There's a huge difference in total enrollment between West Springfield (2650) and Lewis (1685). Also, West Springfield has the second-highest number of white kids of any HS in FCPS (1289) while Lewis - with which West Springfield shares a long border - has the fewest (193).

Ask yourself if a School Board that really cares about "equity" would not be taking a harder look at Lewis, or at the boundaries in that general area. And, yes, it would include a look at whether the IB program at Lewis is helping or hurting the school. And, yes, Lewis also borders other schools besides West Springfield (Annandale, Edison, Hayfield, and South County), although none of those other schools currently has as many students or is as over-enrolled as West Springfield.

You make it extremely personal with other posters, when it's really about the huge gap between the School Board's talk about "equity" and what they really do (or don't do).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s not a single member of the current School Board with an ounce of courage. They pick soft targets (Asian immigrants hoping their kids will get into TJ) but they’d never take on vocal parents like the white parents at Langley or West Springfield.

West Springfield is not majority white. It is majority minority.

And the minorities do not want to get rezoned out of a high performing school any more than a white family.

It is so bigoted to assume minority blacm and hispanic families don't want high performing schools.

WSHS is 49% white so while you’re technically correct, I don’t think you’re as correct as you think you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s not a single member of the current School Board with an ounce of courage. They pick soft targets (Asian immigrants hoping their kids will get into TJ) but they’d never take on vocal parents like the white parents at Langley or West Springfield.

Why do you keep dragging West Springfield into your discussion about overenrolled schools when WSHS is around the average enrollment capacity of the majority of fcps high schools? Why do you call WS a "white" school when it is majority minority with one of the highest percentages of African American students in all of FCPS?

It is such a bizarre fixation to have this strange focus on one school that is not over enrolled and has one of the most compact boundaries in the county. It is almost as if you are trolling.

What does the "average enrollment capacity of the majority" of schools mean? Like you exclude a bunch of schools and then say West Springfield is then about average?

In any event, West Springfield (2650) has the fifth largest HS enrollment in the county this year, behind only Chantilly (2917), Lake Braddock (2896), West Potomac (2725), and Oakton (2679). Lewis, with which WS shares a large border, has the smallest enrollment (1685). Does anyone think a school with 1685 kids can offer the same classes or the same number of sessions of classes as one with 2650 kids?

Lewis is IB.

Start there.

Lewis teacher here. I know we’re allegedly under capacity, but I don’t see it. The halls are overcrowded during class change, the 4 lunch periods are packed, classrooms are all utilized and I don’t know anyone not teaching an obscure elective who doesn’t have capacity enrollment in their classes. So yeah, sending a couple thousand kids over here— in a building that hasn’t been touched since 2001— is of questionable value.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I suspect is any parts of WSHS are rezoned, it will be out to South Country or over to Lake Braddock.

I hope not. I'm shocked LB is listed so low. My kids can't get into a bathroom ever so have to get e=pass during class and neither got a locker they requested. I assumed we were way over and hoped they'd stop transfers in.

They had to rip the lockers out of McLean to create more space for students in the hallways. And no idea how they fit over 2900 kids into Chantilly, which has a much smaller footprint than Lake Braddock.

There is no room to expand Chantilly unless they build across the road. A new western HS is needed but that won’t happen ‘cause reasons.

I never realized quite how much I disliked Elaine Tholen until I listened to her pooh-pooh the idea that a new western high school would ever get built during the last brief School Board discussion of a CIP.

The Herndon area (more the part that feeds into Westfield than Herndon) could see an enormous increase in students if the growth associated with the new Silver Line stations materializes. Add to that the existing crowding at Centreville, Chantilly, and Oakton and it's a ticking time bomb.

But she felt duty-bound to toss cold water on the idea of a new high school because the one thing some people in Great Falls care about more than anything else is making sure that they never get moved back from Langley to Herndon, which theoretically could happen if a new school were built in western Fairfax and space opened up at Herndon. So then you end up with rich people at an under-enrolled, renovated school trying to dictate the decisions that affect kids miles away in overcrowded schools. It's obscene, and the likes of Tholen just roll over and play along.

Wouldn’t be underenrolled if they would zone more of McLean to Langley.

Western high school seems unlikely because they are off their planned completion by what? Seven years and nothing in the works yet, after all this time.

That has been raised with Tholen and her response was they’ve done all they can do as between the Langley and McLean pyramids because any further moves would overcrowd Cooper MS, the middle school feeder to Langley.

Perhaps they just need to bite the bullet and build an addition to McLean like they just did at less crowded Madison (outside the renovation queue).

As for the western HS, they ought to have a dedicated web page discussing what, if any, progress is being made towards its eventual construction. It’s not a good look to have it moving up in the CIP yet have School Board members question whether it’s even a real thing.

They should poll the McLean community.

See if they would be willing to go to Langley from Longfellow.

Back in my day our high school had two middle school feeders.