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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][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]And those so worried about Westfield losing too many should look at all the new construction close to Westfield.

40 are listed today of new construction--and more to come.[/quote]

There's more construction taking place and in the pipeline zoned to Marshall and McLean than Westfield. [/quote]

Maybe, send some to that extra space at Langley and Madison.[/quote]

Scenario 4 proposes to do just that.  The question is why they aren't proposing to send anyone to Herndon, which has more surplus capacity than either Langley or Madison, before they splurge on a new western HS.  [/quote]
The only students close enough to send to Herndon are Forestville, and Langley doesn't need relief (yet).  There is no way to shift enough kids from Centreville, Chantilly, and Westfield to fill those seats at Herndon.  Centreville has 22 trailers and modulars, Chantilly has 23, and Westfield has 13.  This area has needed a new school for years.  Herndon couldn't fill the need even if transportation there wasn't an issue.[/quote]

The PP you are responding to wants to send Coates and McNair to Herndon.[/quote]
And like I said, that wouldn't come close to solving the overcrowding in the western side of the county.  The new HS does a much better job of addressing the issue for multiple school pyramids, with the bonus affect of reducing commutes and associated transportation costs for many.[/quote]

+1.  And, not only that, but this would overcrowd Herndon--but, I guess that is the PP's goal.[/quote]

Let's look at October 2025 enrollment at western schools.

Schools with extra seats are Herndon (683), South Lakes (102), and Westfield (60).  Total available capacity is 845 seats.

Schools over capacity are Chantilly (262), Oakton (65), and Centreville (56).  Total overcrowding is 383 seats.

But rather than available of those 845 seats (and this doesn't include the surplus capacity at Madison, which could help with overcrowding at Oakton), we're planning on a new "2000+" school that will add to the surplus capacity in western Fairfax.

I mean, go ahead and say that some of these schools are too big or too far away, but taxpayers footed the bill to expand a number of them and it's not like FCPS has taken any consistent position over the years as to how big is "too" big or how far is "too far" for kids to travel to a HS.

The bottom line remains that the new western HS is addressing a want, not a need (and certainly not one that FCPS has previously or clearly defined as a "need").  And that want has more to do with avoiding certain schools than anything else.  [/quote]

And, your comment that there are "only"383 students overcrowding the schools neglects to mention that means "over capacity" even with a total of [b]58 modular and temporary classrooms. [/b] 
I don't know how they figure that--but, to me, assuming 20 kids per temp classroom, that would bring the number to an additional 1160.  And, that is likely a modest estimate.  So, add that to the 383, and I think most people would agree that we need a new school to resolve this problem.

It is not "best practice" to populate a school at 100% capacity.  I think I read that 85-90% is considered best.[/quote]

Trailers are excluded because n determining capacity and I don’t think you can fairly exclude modular seats in one part of the county near KAA when assessing capacity and then include them everywhere else.

I’ve heard School Board members say in the past anything up to 110% capacity was treated as acceptable and not requiring any response by FCPS so I don’t know where you got the “85-90% is best” idea.  But people toss out a lot of short-lived principles to justify what they want, whether it was moving kids out of Westfield in 2008 because it was allegedly “too big,” justifying the later expansion of West Potomac to 3000 seats, or rationalizing the purchase of KAA when there are over 800 available seats now in the western high schools. [/quote]
When you include the modular capacity in the school capacity like you are, you are ignoring the fact that while a modular adds desks it does not add any new common area space, hallway space, cafeteria space, etc.  These schools are bursting at the seams during class changes.  The goal should be to get rid of as many of these temporary trailers as possible, not to replace them with new ones because they've been around so long they are starting to fall apart.[/quote]

Modulars are not trailers, any more than the two extra buildings at KAA are trailers, and FCPS has long included modular seats when determining capacity. And, they do effectively add hallway space.

If you are going to make the argument they should be excluded then you have to be consistent across the entire county.

You are arguing, yet again, for preferential treatment of one part of the county when FCPS’s own capacity determinations indicate there are more than enough surplus seats at some schools in western Fairfax to accommodate current overcrowding (and that overcrowding could subside on its own given the demographic trends) at some others.[/quote]

Oh, please.  They are overcrowded even with the modulars and trailers.  And, since you don't want to count modulars, there are 36 trailers And, two free standing, constructed buildings are NOT the same as modulars.   
[/quote]

The issue isn’t whether a number of these schools are still overcrowded but instead whether that could have been addressed more efficiently by taking capacity of the surplus capacity available at other schools in western Fairfax.

Instead, other renovations will be deferred for years so you can avoid schools you don’t want your kids to attend. [/quote]

List those, please.  They cannot even get the permit to renovate Centreville.[/quote]''

Read up thread, and stop pretending the information wasn't provided (and based on Centreville's current capacity, not the expansion plan).

You might also ask yourself whether a school system that can't secure a permit in a timely manner to renovate an existing school is going to get a new school ready on a timely basis.  We already know that the talk about how this was a "turnkey" purchase turned out to be a lie. [/quote]
It's turnkey in that they can accept ~1200 students right now with no extra work required.  The work to convert the elementary classrooms into high school space will be done as needed. I don't think anyone ever said or believed that zero work had to be done to the kindergarten classrooms - that's just been your slant to say something negative about the school.  Literally they will be accepting FCPS students with no construction being done first - that is turnkey.[/quote]

There's also the matter of not having a big enough cafeteria and library. And then there is limited seating in the gymnasium, and limited outdoor sporting facilities.[/quote]

Good points.  What does it say about FCPS that these limitations at KAA weren’t candidly acknowledged when they first voted to acquire the property, or that they’ve been so slow to release detailed estimates of the costs required to ensure KAA can function as a traditional HS?  It’s obvious that all these recent proposals to let kids opt in or opt out of attending Western, and the decision to push off any decisions about new boundaries for Western, stem from a concern that people will object for years to come unless attendance is voluntary. [/quote]

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