Reply to School Boundaries and "One Fairfax"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Throwing this out there...

But isn't Langley, based upon its location and site, going to be under-enrolled? It's always been an enclave of sorts; it's boundaries include single family homes on relatively large lots. Not so many developments or large neighborhoods and certainly not great numbers (trying to think of one) apartment complexes like Fairfax or Falls Church or Vienna or Herndon area schools have in their infrastructure.

Would the residents of the Tysons high rises be zoned for Langley? Wouldn't McLean HS be more appropriate? Should we as FCPS taxpayers be focusing on McLean HS renovation and expansion?

And, Langley HS was built to alleviate overcrowding at the then-new Herndon HS circa 1968. Students with a Great Falls address now had a new school.

All this to say, given the changing demographics and how extraordinarily difficult it is to reach Langley and even Cooper MS, I foresee Langley being under enrolled for a long time and I blame the infrastructure. Langley parents and students already complain about the long bus rides and traffic jams ar a regular occurrence. All in all, a mess.[/quote]

There have been times in the past where Langley was above capacity and near its current, expanded capacity. It has a huge catchment area.  The current enrollment is down because neighborhoods go through cycles and even more Langley families are sending their kids to privates.

All the Tysons housing and development currently feeds to Marshall (about 2/3) or McLean (about 1/3). But that area is not far from Langley either, and reassigning at least some of it to Langley is an option.  It is certainly easier to get to Langley from Tysons than it is from the Great Falls neighborhoods near the Loudoun border.

It comes back to the question as to whether FCPS decides to prioritize diversity or minimizing travel time for students. FCPS also plans to expand Madison, which means that the Marshall neighborhoods in Vienna could be reassigned to Madison in the future.  Does FCPS want to turn Marshall into Tysons High and McLean into Tysons-West Falls High, or does it want to keep the demographics relatively balanced as among Langley, McLean, Madison, and Marshall?

FCPS’s current plans leave McLean’s capacity well under the current or planned capacity of Langley, Marshall and Madison.  They expanded Langley during its recent renovation because they thought it would be expedient and save money, but Langley’s location near the Arlington border is the least convenient of the four schools.  They will be under continued pressure from the community to move some kids from McLean to Langley, but then also allocate funds to expand McLean. [/quote]

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