Reply to Fall 2022 Over/Under-Enrollment at FCPS High Schools

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Expanding high schools during renovations makes perfect sense, logistically and economically.

Better to be prepared with surplus space in as many high schools as possible, than to be caugh in a situation with too many students and not place to logically put them other than a bunch of trailers.

Rezoning should be the last resort.

I hope fcps continues to expand any high school they renovate.[/quote]

Here are the additional high school students FCPS is projecting in different pyramids if current and planned projects are built (only a fraction of these units are included in existing FCPS projections):

Marshall 795
McLean 615
Westfield 597
South Lakes 541
Edison 224
Fairfax 98
Falls Church 88
Lewis 86
West Potomac 73
Mount Vernon 52
Oakton 48
Justice 43
Chantilly 37
Woodson 25
Hayfield 15
South County 11
Annandale 6
Langley 4
Robinson 4
West Springfield 3
Herndon 2
Madison 2
Centreville 1

So in essence they know the county has four main growth areas: (1) Tysons (Marshall, McLean); (2) Herndon/Silver Line (Westfield); (3) Reston (South Lakes); and (4) Route 1/Embark (Edison).

Nevertheless, according to you, if Hayfield came up for a renovation, it would make more sense to spend money adding lots of additional seats there than to pro-actively allocate money to expand capacity in any of these four growth areas.

That seems like slavish adherence to a principle rather than smart planning.  
[/quote]

If they are gutting a high school, and there is a practical way tod add capacity while the school is gutted, then yes, fcps should add capacity.

That being said, I don't think the schools in that middle range of capacity, even the schools barely over capcity like Edison or West Springfield should be a part of the over crowding discussion.

The focus should slowly be on those 4 schools that would benefit from significant attention from fcps.

There is a poster who continuously wants West Springfield to be the focus of the over crowding discussion.  It is ridiculous for the poster to even try to do this as there is no comparison to those 4 schools in that part of the county.

I do think that the decision to add capacity during that full renovation was a very smart move, and would say that no matter what school it was.  It did not add to the 4 year timeline.  In fact, they finished ahead of schedule.  It added very little to budget.  It gave the school breathing room to manage the 2-4 year jump in size of the classes of 24-26, and the swing back to lower enrollment in a few years when the 3 large classes graduate.

The WSHS renovation should be a model for all of the high schools that undergo a full renovation.[/quote]

No one will argue against the wisdom of having expanded West Springfield during its renovation since it is now making full use of that space and more.

However, you're so enamored of West Springfield's current condition that you've suggested it's the model for every school that's scheduled for a renovation.

Claiming that adding more space than is necessary or was planned adds very little to budget is simply wrong.  It takes both time and money, including money that could be spent elsewhere.  And it then creates pressure invariably to make use of that space, in ways that may or may not align with FCPS's other goals, whether it's reducing transportation costs, limiting the amount of time kids spend on buses, or offering comparable programs at different schools.

If you don't see this, you're either not considering the full picture, or willfully blind to the consequences of this policy.  It's been the policy at FCPS for a while, and it's been good for some pyramids, like yours, and anything but positive for others. [/quote]

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