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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]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]
Until you tell us what renovations have been deferred I'm going to call out your BS on this one. You've said before that anything in the CIP 5 years out is just a placeholder when you claimed the western HS was never going to be built anyway.  Unless they defer a project that was slated to start sooner (other than Centreville, which had permit issues before and can now be scaled back and possibly start sooner since it will be easier to get the necessary permit approved), you are just making things up.  For all you know they had enough room in the funds still left from the last bond to cover the new high school, and the new bond will take effect in time for them to draw from it for all the future planned work.  Stop speculating and come at us with facts next time.[/quote]

Happy to come back after the next CIP comes out to refute your ridiculous suggestion that they had a large reserve of funds lying around to close on the expensive acquisition of a school that they had no plan to build prior to 2034 (and that’s generous since more likely any start date would have just been pushed out again).  [/quote]

It will be interesting for sure.  This school purchase closed over the summer, so the funds must have come from the old bond funds since the new one didn't go up for a vote until last week.  All of the near term upcoming projects can be paid out of the newly passed bond.  The only things I could see being delayed would be 5+ years out, which as you said are just placeholders and don't really count.  By then we'll have another new bond to draw from - so until something is actually delayed from this purchase (other than us saving money on the Centreville expansion) I don't see the downside.[/quote]

If they publish a "Capital Construction Cash Flow FY 2027-31" in the next CIP, it should be easy to see what is getting deferred.  It doesn't look like KAA was funded with money previously earmaked for the CVHS project.  The CVHS construction costs primarily are intended to come from the bond approved this month and perhaps a 2027 bond as well.     [/quote]

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