Fairfax County Public Schools officials are planning to use a traditional model for the division’s first new high school to open in 20 years.
The county school board discussed the latest updates in planning for a new high school on the western end of the county during a work session last week (Oct. 7).
In August, Fairfax County Public Schools purchased the former King Abdullah Academy campus in the Floris area south of Herndon for $150 million. The school ceased operations in July after the Saudi Arabian government cut off funding.
While officials want the new school to offer a comprehensive curriculum for the children living in its boundaries, Superintendent Michelle Reid said they’re also considering a “school within a school” model as well. That would allow students outside the boundaries to attend the facility for certain specialized programs.
Potential programs could include aerospace, humanities, artificial intelligence, machine learning and data science, according to Reid’s presentation.
“It’s reasonable to think that we could have anywhere from 30, 60 to 90 students in one or two such pathways within a western high school while maintaining the comprehensive nature of the school and a traditional boundary,” Reid said. “There are all kinds of possibilities. And simply because we’re visiting some of those … does not imply that they’re the only possibilities. These are just some that have been suggested.”
Several school board members wanted staff to maximize the possible enrollment in those specialized programs.
“I’d love to see some component of that be expanding access because 30 students in a 2,000-plus student high school is not very many students, and I think there’s a lot more interest for some of these programs,” said Mount Vernon Board member Matteo Dunne.
FCPS officials were considering several options for programming at the new western high school. Some School Board members had previously advocated for making the facility a magnet school, but the majority at the Oct. 7 work session seemed supportive of a traditional structure.
King Abdullah was constructed in 2016. The county is remodeling and adding buildings to the campus and plans to have a capacity of about 2,000 students.
“It’s going to help a lot [with overcrowding],” Sully District School Board Representative Seema Dixit said.
The school system purchased the 32.7-acre site with plans to alleviate overcrowding at Chantilly, Centreville and Westfield high schools, which have more than 8,000 combined students and opened in 1973, 1988 and 2000, respectively.
“We have made a commitment for quite a number of years to reduce crowding of the western high schools,” Reid said.
The school is expected to open for its first ninth- and 10th-graders in the 2026-2027 school year. Those students would be the first graduating class in June 2029.
A new high school on the western end has been on school officials’ minds since at least 2015, when it was included in the school system’s multi-year Capital Improvement Program. Voters approved a bond referendum in 2021 that included $13.5 million for site acquisition, but costs have skyrocketed since Metro’s Silver Line second phase opened in 2022.
FCPS is using a consultant to draw up a proposed attendance boundary. At-Large Board Member Kyle McDaniel urged staff to look at neighborhood lines and not just the enrollment boundaries of the three overcrowded high schools. He said the location of the new school could benefit students at Oakton and South Lakes high schools as well.
“It’s not the fault of the western neighborhoods that they’re being bussed 45 minutes east to Oakton,” he said.
Once it opens, the currently unnamed school will be the first new high school in Fairfax since South County High School opened its doors in 2005.
The board is expected to vote next month on the structure of the school. Reid also hopes to have proposed boundaries ready by January.
Hunter Mill District Representative Melanie Meren said there’s still a lot of work to do before a vote next month.
“We haven’t even talked about what is the experience for a rising ninth grader at this school,” she said. “Do they have homecoming? Do they have sports? What about music? Do they have marching band? When are we going to talk about that?”
FCPS is planning an open house at the new school on Oct. 25. The event will allow residents to see the building and listen to a presentation about the plans for the facility.
