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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I work at a MS and many 8th graders were hyped up after the "new western HS" presentation today, I expect will be asking their parents to opt in. Weird that the boundaries/bussing won't be known for awhile yet. [/quote]

The point of the presentation is to hype kids up.  Reid wants excitement for her opt-in school. The question is whether the enthusiasm wears off when families realize the lack of sports and the unclear boundaries.  [/quote]

If you attended the presentation on Friday you would know that the question about sports was asked a lot and answered a lot. The parents are very well aware of the sports situation. There was a 10 minute presentation and 50 minutes of questions. Lots and lots of questions. Which was good.

And I fully agree that is ridiculous that the borders have not been set. They should have been the first thing set and then adjust the boundaries for the rest of the county. A fair amount of the movement that was planned was in this area, the Western HS should have been to immediate focus of the redistricting process.

They are not hiding the sports issue. They are not hiding that the borders are not clear. 
[/quote]

I think when people see the actual opt-in form, it will weed out a lot of kids/families with some level of interest because it appears it will need to specify that:

* If you opt in, you agree to attend Western HS, space permitting, even if you ultimately do not live within the established boundary, in which case you will be responsible for arranging your own transportation; and

* If Western is over-subscribed, those who live within the established boundary may/will be given priority and you may be required to attend your currently assigned school.

So if you are zoned for Coates, McNair, Floris, or Oak Hill, and are interested in Western, your evaluation is rather different than if you are zoned for Fox Mill or Crossfield (or the Navy island), which may or may not end up within the boundary, or much different than if you are zoned to any other elementary schools that feed into Westfield, Chantilly, South Lakes, Oakton, or Centreville. which have next to no chances of ending up assigned to Western.

For many people, it's just too much uncertainty.  [/quote]

I suspect they will only get kids opting in from those first four schools. I don't think anyone from Fox Mill or Crossfield will want to risk not having transportation, nor will they want to risk younger children not being able to go to the same high school as their older child. I know I wouldn't. [/quote]

I know families opting in from Fox Mill and it is more than a handful. I know families planning on SLHS. No one who is opting in is worried about the boundaries, there are enough opting in that carpooling will be easy if needed but the Japanese immersion comments made on Friday sure make it seem like Fox Mill will be in boundary. [/quote]
I wouldn't count on it. SLHS has made a dramatic turnaround in performance and reputation since adding those Fox Mill homes. It would be political suicide for Meren to allow the school to drop back to how it used to be.  I think Western will get that bit of Floris that is currently SL, but doubt they'll move all of Fox Mill in the end.[/quote]

And the families that don't want IB will happily pupil place to Western for the special programs and AP. The same way that a good number of families leave every year for AP at Herndon, Langly, and Oakton. Except now it will be closer, and they are offering Japanese. There is an active push by some Fox Mill families to move to the new school. And as the school moves past the lack of sports, there will be a stronger push.

Somewhere between 130-200 student's pupil place out each year for AP, depending on the year. Parents have been asking for AP at SLHS for the last 25 years. Some parents want AP enough that they send their kids to Herndon, a school that most people on this board think is awful. What do you think is going to happen once the Western School is up and running and has sports and AP?

There are Fox Mill families that are actively working to move to Western. Meren is trying to delay opening Western because she is stuck between people who want to keep Fox Mill at SLHS and a large group that want to move. [/quote]

You keep attacking Meren, but maybe she just thinks they should really make sure they know what they are doing before they open a new high school.

Keep in mind you’re entrusting the opening of this opt-in, two-grade, no-sports, no-staff (yet), no-boundaries (yet), soon-to-be-construction-zone school to the same people who hired the lamentable, unqualified Thru Consulting and conducted a debacle of a boundary review.  Nothing could possibly go wrong, right?   [/quote]

Reid needs to go.  The school was a great purchase and needed.  But, her desire for something new and glamorous has been troubling.  The school was needed for overcrowding and to eliminate long bus rides.  If they had incorporated the boundaries into the present study (which has also been a mess), it would make a lot more sense.

It would seem that she is doing everything she can to sabotage having a traditional boundary high school.
They easily could have opened with ninth and tenth grade if they would have figured out the sports issue.[/quote]

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