Reply to Western High School Boundary Map options (A/B/C/D)

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think most in the area are excited about having a school.  I also think a lot of Crossfield people would like to go there, but you have people like the speakers the other night that make it about their own opinions.  Using the pandemic as an excuse and construction at Crossfield as a reason to stay at Oakton? When the distance to Oakton is at least twice as long and very, very difficult.  66 or windy roads.[/quote]

It’s not only the two speakers from Crossfield. If you joined the community meeting between the School Board members and the Crossfield families, you  would see most of the families want to stay at Oakton.

The speakers chose to speak up because that’s what the board member suggested.

[/quote]

That's not true actually, it's just that everyone is too scared to speak up at a meeting where the entire PTO and all the room moms are present and going on and on about safety. [/quote]

I find it hard to believe these people have so much power if they are in fact the minority. How many people were at this meeting? [/quote]

Maybe 30 and everyone who talked has older kids.[/quote]

So let’s say 5 people spoke…the other 25 were that fearful they sat there in silence? If that’s the case how could you ever expect the board to know anyone at Crossfield wants to move to Western? What’s the repercussion for people speaking up? If it’s the choice between I guess being an outsider vs. having your kids travel on what you say is an unsafe bus ride (I have no firsthand knowledge). I think one outweighs the other. [/quote]

You are using flawed logic. That meeting was set up by the Crossfield PTO whose leadership has made their position very clear. Why would someone with a different view feel comfortable speaking out when they know that the people who organized the meeting did so specifically to fight back on the potential change? Let’s not pretend it was some neutral meeting set up as a forum to hear all viewpoints.

If you don’t know the people involved you probably don’t understand the social dynamics at play. I do. They are pressuring people to sign their petition. I wouldn’t feel comfortable speaking up either. I have seen them be outright hostile towards people with a different opinion from them on much more minor topics, let alone something like this. Why would someone want to deal with that at school, in the neighborhood, at sports, etc?

Believe me, when people with elementary schoolers and younger have one on one conversations they are expressing openness to attending the new school. But the people who are open to it aren’t the types who loudly complain in order to get what they want in life. It’s partly a personality thing. [/quote]

I’m sorry but it’s not about feeling comfortable it’s about doing what you think is right. How many people have signed this petition? 50-75? Then create your own and send it to the board as it sounds like you’d more than exceed whatever number they have. [/quote]

The crossfield petition is edging in on 600 people.

It's wildly popular.[/quote]

Wow…okay, so 600 people were pressured to sign a petition then? Come on. The board should not care but clearly that community wants to stay at Oakton. [/quote]

I think the board will look at opt-in numbers.  Crossfield will most likely stay at Oakton. [/quote]

Once again, it's not fair to make this decision based on parents of current middle and high schoolers. [/quote]

And yet those are the kids immediately impacted. [b]They are the kids been asked to move to a school without sports or activities or programs. We are opting in but we have a kid who is not likely to play varsity sports in HS and who is excited to start the clubs they are interested in. [/b]We also are moving from an IB school to an AP school, there feels like less academic risk.

But asking parents who know that they are at an academically strong school to move to a school with nothing there is a big ask. We were looking at pupil placing before all this because we wanted the academic program at a place like Oakton. It will look very different by the time the kids in early ES get to Western because the core will have been established and you can see that. But asking the parents of 5th and 6th graders to be excited to move to something new when they are at a place that is so well established is hard.

I don't know too many really excited parents from Oak Hill, I think there is more a sense that there is no point in really objecting because they are too close and Chantilly is overcrowded. But the parents of kids I know in 6th grade at Oak Hill are not exactly excited. There are parents at SLHS who are not interested in moving for the same reason as the Oakton families. They are fine with IB and are worried about the lack of sports or theatre for a school with none of that.

What some people see as a positive in 5-10 years is a risk for the ones taking it on now. And I get that. [/quote]
YOU CAN OPT OUT OF WESTERN. YOU HAVE A CHOICE. We won't. We'll be stuck with Oakton even though there will be FIVE high schools closer to our homes.[/quote]

You say that like it's a bad thing to be "stuck"at the 6th best school in VA? That just sounds... Wierd

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia/districts/fairfax-county-public-schools/oakton-high-school-20454[/quote]

Because he/she is not from Oakton. [/quote]

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