For the first time in nearly four decades FCPS revised the boundaries for the 2026-27 school year. This change would increase CHS’s overcrowding from 110% to 112% until boundaries for Skyview High School, formerly known as Western High School, are implemented.
The county bought Skyview High School, formerly King Abdullah Academy, in August. It is expected to open to freshmen and sophomores for the 2026-27 school year, and support over 2,000 students at full capacity, relieving enrollment pressure at nearby schools including CHS. According to Director of Student Services Amy Parmentier, as of Feb. 3 there are 33 rising sophomores and 64 rising freshmen who were initially zoned for CHS that have opted to attend Skyview High School. FCPS’ capacity and overcrowding estimates do not include the impact of students choosing to attend Skyview High School instead of their base school.
“We don’t have spaces for a lot of activities [and] extra classrooms,” principal Dr. Amy Goodloe said. “I think the positive in the long term is that we will get back to a reasonable capacity at CHS, but it’s going to take several years to get there.”
According to FCPS, the boundary changes are part of a 16-month comprehensive review designed to address overcrowding, split feeders and equity across all 24 high school pyramids. Split feeders happen when students from one school are sent to different middle or high schools next, often to balance enrollment and capacity. This can disrupt friendships, so FCPS adjusted boundaries to keep student groups as much as possible.
“Now kids will be able to stay in the same pyramid all the way through, so they will go to elementary, middle and high school with the same kids,” assistant principal Jihoon Shin said. “Over the past 20 years, there’s been shifts to try to do that because [FCPS] thinks there’s value in kids going to school with the same kids their entire career.”
According to Goodloe, CHS was included in the boundary review because years of overcrowding have made the school hard to manage. This caused limited classroom space, fewer opportunities for activities and restrictions on student transfers.
For adjusting at the high school level, incoming freshmen are required to attend the school within their new boundary, while rising sophomores, juniors and seniors have the choice to remain at their current school. Support for students transferring include orientation events and chances to connect with the new school communities.
“We would expect for next year, we’re going to have a smaller incoming freshman class,” Goodloe said. “We expect that to be around 600, but we also expect our enrollment overall to dip a little bit because some students will be choosing to go to the Western High School.”
FCPS analyzes student membership and school capacity using Student Planning Areas, small geographic sub-units, which allow officials to reassign small sections of neighborhoods to different schools. For CHS, this means boundaries are shifted to nearby schools, helping reduce overcrowding while keeping most students close to home and maintaining community connections.
“I get that they’re trying to make schools less crowded by changing which neighborhoods go where, but I’m not sure if it’s going to really help,” freshman David Hong said. “I’m still getting used to high school, so the boundary change is confusing, especially since it could affect where I go to school next year.”
Goodloe said that while boundary changes can feel disruptive to communities, most students at CHS and rising freshmen will not face major changes. Some students may benefit from attending a school closer to home.
“For all the current Chantilly students and even students rising into ninth grade, there is no significant impact,” Goodloe said. “Though we are expecting a small number of students that were originally boundaried to Fairfax High School, they’re just going to be getting closer to home.”
