So what can be done at this point to prevent this waste? Clearly what they plan to do at West Potomac is motivated by racism and bias towards the Mount Vernon-area residents, and someone also needs to follow the money trail to see who benefits the most financially from these expenditures.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And maybe use some of that $36M to give MV a middle school AAP feeder?

Just be aware - $36M is only part of the cost of renovating West Potomac. The recent West Springfield HS renovation/expansion cost over $90M.

More - went back to the 2015-2019 CIP, here were the budgets for the high school renovations:

Marshall - $72M
Jefferson - $89M
Langley - $75M
West Springfield $90M
Herndon - $97M
Oakton - $96M
Falls Church - $93M

West Potomac is an odd set up - students have to move between separate buildings. Not sure what was agreed to, but I know parents wanted the county to connect the buildings.

They are planning on adding 700 seats. Not seeing how they add that space and connect the buildings for only $36M given the cost of the other renovations/expansions of the other high schools.

Comparing apples to apples -- the 2015-2019 CIP budgeted $14M for the South Lakes addition. See here at p. 12: https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/cipbook2015-19_0.pdf

Again, WestPo's addition is presently up to $36M and counting. Justice is at $19M and Madison at $20M.

I expect the cost will rise again next year. She is the worst.

Corbett Sanders says the reason for the WestPo expansion is the student projections in the CIP - not security concerns. She can’t cite security as the reason for her massive addition because then they would have to get rid of trailers and mods at all the schools. But her argument is based on false facts. The CIP projects that WestPo alone will add 150% of the # of students that all 4 high schools serving Tyson’s Corner will add in the next 5 years (250 students for WestPo alone, 100 students collectively for McLean, Langley, Madison, and Marshall). This is demonstrably untrue based on their own documents. It’s made-up numbers to give cover for a corrupt decision, imho.

Regarding the cost of the addition — $36M for the extra seats is far from cheap. “Renovations” and “additions/capacity enhancements” are 2 totally separate concepts in the CIP. Those high schools that get “renovations” are updating the entire school, not just adding seats. That is why they cost $100M+ these days, and those schools have been waiting in the renovation queue, which is now on a 37-44 year cycle. An “addition/capacity enhancement” is basically adding seats to accommodate new growth, outside of the normal renovation queue. The schools getting an “addition/capacity enhancement” get to jump the line, but only to remedy overcrowding. There are only three additions planned in this CIP (WestPo, Justice, and Madison). The other two additions - at Justice and Madison - are only in the $19M range and they are Just adding seats, not updating the entire school. WestPo is an outlier. No addition/capacity enhancement in the history of FCPS has ever cost $36M. Exacerbating the problem, WestPo has added a lot of “while we are at it’s” and is now looking more like a “renovation” rather than a straight line addition of seats.

What is more unseemly ... Last year the entire addition for WestPo was budgeted for $16M. This year it is $36M. That’s $20M quietly moved around by FCPS towards WestPo in the last 12 months.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what if the kids have to move between two buildings? That is true at every school in the county with trailers or a modular.

The parents feel it is a security concern. I'm not justifying it, just saying that is what the parents were asking for.

And I guess the county does only have $36M budgeted for the West Potomac expansion. If they have only budgeted $36M for a 700 seat addition, then either they are doing it in some really cheap way or the costs will rise.

Sadly, the 480 seats at Mount Vernon, literally right next door, will go unused while our taxpayer money flies out the door. FCPS is a joke.

They jack up the projected costs with every new CIP. It is a sham and taxpayers justifiably should be outraged.

Can you say "Karen Corbett-Sanders and her flunkies"? No one on the board stopped her. No one said, "Hey you know Karen, there are a bunch of seats available next door at Mount Vernon. We should move some students there." You know why, because then they might be forced to take hard looks at their own boundaries.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what if the kids have to move between two buildings? That is true at every school in the county with trailers or a modular.

The parents feel it is a security concern. I'm not justifying it, just saying that is what the parents were asking for.

And I guess the county does only have $36M budgeted for the West Potomac expansion. If they have only budgeted $36M for a 700 seat addition, then either they are doing it in some really cheap way or the costs will rise.

Sadly, the 480 seats at Mount Vernon, literally right next door, will go unused while our taxpayer money flies out the door. FCPS is a joke.

They jack up the projected costs with every new CIP. It is a sham and taxpayers justifiably should be outraged.

Anonymous wrote:So what if the kids have to move between two buildings? That is true at every school in the county with trailers or a modular.

The parents feel it is a security concern. I'm not justifying it, just saying that is what the parents were asking for.

And I guess the county does only have $36M budgeted for the West Potomac expansion. If they have only budgeted $36M for a 700 seat addition, then either they are doing it in some really cheap way or the costs will rise.

Sadly, the 480 seats at Mount Vernon, literally right next door, will go unused while our taxpayer money flies out the door. FCPS is a joke.

So what if the kids have to move between two buildings? That is true at every school in the county with trailers or a modular.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And maybe use some of that $36M to give MV a middle school AAP feeder?

Just be aware - $36M is only part of the cost of renovating West Potomac. The recent West Springfield HS renovation/expansion cost over $90M.

More - went back to the 2015-2019 CIP, here were the budgets for the high school renovations:

Marshall - $72M
Jefferson - $89M
Langley - $75M
West Springfield $90M
Herndon - $97M
Oakton - $96M
Falls Church - $93M

West Potomac is an odd set up - students have to move between separate buildings. Not sure what was agreed to, but I know parents wanted the county to connect the buildings.

They are planning on adding 700 seats. Not seeing how they add that space and connect the buildings for only $36M given the cost of the other renovations/expansions of the other high schools.

These are complete renovations. They are planning to spend $36 million on West Potomac outside the normal renovation cycle, when West Potomac was not otherwise scheduled for a renovation. Absolutely pathetic.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And maybe use some of that $36M to give MV a middle school AAP feeder?

Just be aware - $36M is only part of the cost of renovating West Potomac. The recent West Springfield HS renovation/expansion cost over $90M.

More - went back to the 2015-2019 CIP, here were the budgets for the high school renovations:

Marshall - $72M
Jefferson - $89M
Langley - $75M
West Springfield $90M
Herndon - $97M
Oakton - $96M
Falls Church - $93M

West Potomac is an odd set up - students have to move between separate buildings. Not sure what was agreed to, but I know parents wanted the county to connect the buildings.

They are planning on adding 700 seats. Not seeing how they add that space and connect the buildings for only $36M given the cost of the other renovations/expansions of the other high schools.

Anonymous wrote:And maybe use some of that $36M to give MV a middle school AAP feeder?

Just be aware - $36M is only part of the cost of renovating West Potomac. The recent West Springfield HS renovation/expansion cost over $90M.

And maybe use some of that $36M to give MV a middle school AAP feeder?

^^ Also there is still the problem of how the boundaries are drawn. Yes, there are those that people-place, But the would-be Whitman MS walkers are not people-placing- they are in the West Potomac boundary.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^ You can't just rezone advanced kids to that school without giving them comparable advanced options for learning. They will just go to private school or move.

Can you clarify - are you saying the solution is to build those advanced kids a $36 million addition to WestPo so they don’t leave and go to private school?

The solution is to create an AAP elementary program in one of the MV feeder schools, and an AAP program in the MV feeder middle school, and an AP program at MV, so advanced kids zoned for MV no longer have a reason to try to pupil place to West Potomac.

MV has a feeder AAP elementary school. Riverside Elementary, which is right across the street from MVHS, is an AAP center school. It pulls students from all the MV feeder elementary schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^ You can't just rezone advanced kids to that school without giving them comparable advanced options for learning. They will just go to private school or move.

Can you clarify - are you saying the solution is to build those advanced kids a $36 million addition to WestPo so they don’t leave and go to private school?

The solution is to create an AAP elementary program in one of the MV feeder schools, and an AAP program in the MV feeder middle school, and an AP program at MV, so advanced kids zoned for MV no longer have a reason to try to pupil place to West Potomac.

This is exactly what they should do. And get rid of the addition at West Potomac. Save $36 million or close to it and use it for distance learning, masks, or meals or whatever else is needed for COVID.