Hmm...where were the South Fairlington to Abingdon Walkers today?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is just a repeat of the HS process. There are only so many places to site a school in this county. APS looks at the possibilities, engages the community, NIMBYs inevitably push back, APS finally picks a site, the Arlington Heights area hears promises be made that weren't made, turns out those promises may not be fulfilled (because they weren't made), and the neighborhood gets upset.

It's not that I don't think the Career Center HS is a bad idea. I do. I'm just kinda tired of hearing about promises made to that neighborhood that haven't panned out, because there shouldn't be promises made to any of us.

Yes and no. I get tried of south Arlington always drawing the short straw. Let’s be real, they don’t pull half this shit with 22207.
- bystander

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is just a repeat of the HS process. There are only so many places to site a school in this county. APS looks at the possibilities, engages the community, NIMBYs inevitably push back, APS finally picks a site, the Arlington Heights area hears promises be made that weren't made, turns out those promises may not be fulfilled (because they weren't made), and the neighborhood gets upset.

It's not that I don't think the Career Center HS is a bad idea. I do. I'm just kinda tired of hearing about promises made to that neighborhood that haven't panned out, because there shouldn't be promises made to any of us.

Yes and no. I get tried of south Arlington always drawing the short straw. Let’s be real, they don’t pull half this shit with 22207.
- bystander

Well, that may be true. I wish they would skip all the "engagement" and just make decisions either way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is just a repeat of the HS process. There are only so many places to site a school in this county. APS looks at the possibilities, engages the community, NIMBYs inevitably push back, APS finally picks a site, the Arlington Heights area hears promises be made that weren't made, turns out those promises may not be fulfilled (because they weren't made), and the neighborhood gets upset.

It's not that I don't think the Career Center HS is a bad idea. I do. I'm just kinda tired of hearing about promises made to that neighborhood that haven't panned out, because there shouldn't be promises made to any of us.

Then they shouldn’t engage the community and they should just do whatever they want. It’s disingenious to “engage” the community and get everyone spun up if no one’s input is even going to matter.

They should have just opened Fleet as an entirely new school, left everything else as-is, drawn whatever boundaries relieve overcrowding at other schools (literally the entire point) and have been done with it. Instead, we’re in this nonsensical game of promises and not me. To leave Drew under capacity like that is an insult to everyone.

Exactly. It may be water under the bridge, but it is a sore point for our communities. The entire process for Fleet has been a fiasco, and there is similar nonsense with the CC site already. And while their may be limited land now, this wasn't always the case. Some of the people tuned in to this boundary process have been advocating for more reasonable and sustainable development all along.

[Anonymous]

The reality though is that neighborhoods are learning that playing nice with APS is a loser's game. Arlington Heights didn't really want a HS, but figured since APS was set on making one here, may as well play nice and try to work with them instead of fighting it ala Kenmore. Now they are likely going to get screwed over when APS builds it, can't fill it, and zones kids there even though it doesn't have the same stuff all the other schools do. And as an added bonus, people will bitch when parents complain about it. In retrospect, it would have been smarter to fight the thing.

So think about that: APS' engagement process just proves that you are smarter to be a NIMBY than to try to work with them, because you can't believe anything they say. Awesome APS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is just a repeat of the HS process. There are only so many places to site a school in this county. APS looks at the possibilities, engages the community, NIMBYs inevitably push back, APS finally picks a site, the Arlington Heights area hears promises be made that weren't made, turns out those promises may not be fulfilled (because they weren't made), and the neighborhood gets upset.

It's not that I don't think the Career Center HS is a bad idea. I do. I'm just kinda tired of hearing about promises made to that neighborhood that haven't panned out, because there shouldn't be promises made to any of us.

Yes and no. I get tried of south Arlington always drawing the short straw. Let’s be real, they don’t pull half this shit with 22207.
- bystander

Well, that may be true. I wish they would skip all the "engagement" and just make decisions either way.

If they did that, then wouldn't we be left with god awful map #1? I still can't decide if Map #1 was APS's Trojan horse map to prepare us for the subsequent maps, or if they legitimately thought it was a good idea...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is just a repeat of the HS process. There are only so many places to site a school in this county. APS looks at the possibilities, engages the community, NIMBYs inevitably push back, APS finally picks a site, the Arlington Heights area hears promises be made that weren't made, turns out those promises may not be fulfilled (because they weren't made), and the neighborhood gets upset.

It's not that I don't think the Career Center HS is a bad idea. I do. I'm just kinda tired of hearing about promises made to that neighborhood that haven't panned out, because there shouldn't be promises made to any of us.

Yes and no. I get tried of south Arlington always drawing the short straw. Let’s be real, they don’t pull half this shit with 22207.
- bystander

Well, that may be true. I wish they would skip all the "engagement" and just make decisions either way.

If they did that, then wouldn't we be left with god awful map #1? I still can't decide if Map #1 was APS's Trojan horse map to prepare us for the subsequent maps, or if they legitimately thought it was a good idea...

I CAN'T EITHER. I posted on one of the myriad other threads some variation of this theory. But, I also think they may genuinely have thought it would be efficient/proximate in the sense that it's a straight shot down Four Mile Run so that kids would have a quicker bus ride. I really don't know. I don't know how far the kool-aid goes on demographics either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is just a repeat of the HS process. There are only so many places to site a school in this county. APS looks at the possibilities, engages the community, NIMBYs inevitably push back, APS finally picks a site, the Arlington Heights area hears promises be made that weren't made, turns out those promises may not be fulfilled (because they weren't made), and the neighborhood gets upset.

It's not that I don't think the Career Center HS is a bad idea. I do. I'm just kinda tired of hearing about promises made to that neighborhood that haven't panned out, because there shouldn't be promises made to any of us.

Yes and no. I get tried of south Arlington always drawing the short straw. Let’s be real, they don’t pull half this shit with 22207.
- bystander

Well, that may be true. I wish they would skip all the "engagement" and just make decisions either way.

If they did that, then wouldn't we be left with god awful map #1? I still can't decide if Map #1 was APS's Trojan horse map to prepare us for the subsequent maps, or if they legitimately thought it was a good idea...

I CAN'T EITHER. I posted on one of the myriad other threads some variation of this theory. But, I also think they may genuinely have thought it would be efficient/proximate in the sense that it's a straight shot down Four Mile Run so that kids would have a quicker bus ride. I really don't know. I don't know how far the kool-aid goes on demographics either.

Right? And that was the same map that had Drew at 83% FRL. Of course that was with the "old math".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is pretty aggressive. You must be threatened by the boundary changes. I am sure Columbia Heights was convening at their "town square" Columbia Pike in the rain as well....

The difference is the CH families never claimed to be walkers. They have very simply asked to keep their community together, because they supported giving Nauck a neighborhood school in Drew and sacrificed their physical neighborhood school building location to accommodate giving Nauck a neighborhood school. They were told the whole Henry community would go to Fleet. CH families also haven't retracted comments from the walk zone survey stating they need a bus b/c it's too dangerous to walk to school like the SF families did. CH never called out another neighborhood and pointed at them and demanded APS create a map that moves them. CH families are classy, intelligent and polite and have been so from the start and no I don't live in CH, but I sure do respect their grace and composure.

No, Henry folks have behaved just as badly. Nobody can claim any higher ground here. We all use what we got. There’s no special zone of morality in CH.

Just because the CH folks were wrong doesn't excuse SF's reaction. There's no equivalence here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is just a repeat of the HS process. There are only so many places to site a school in this county. APS looks at the possibilities, engages the community, NIMBYs inevitably push back, APS finally picks a site, the Arlington Heights area hears promises be made that weren't made, turns out those promises may not be fulfilled (because they weren't made), and the neighborhood gets upset.

It's not that I don't think the Career Center HS is a bad idea. I do. I'm just kinda tired of hearing about promises made to that neighborhood that haven't panned out, because there shouldn't be promises made to any of us.

Yes and no. I get tried of south Arlington always drawing the short straw. Let’s be real, they don’t pull half this shit with 22207.
- bystander

Well, that may be true. I wish they would skip all the "engagement" and just make decisions either way.

If they did that, then wouldn't we be left with god awful map #1? I still can't decide if Map #1 was APS's Trojan horse map to prepare us for the subsequent maps, or if they legitimately thought it was a good idea...

I CAN'T EITHER. I posted on one of the myriad other threads some variation of this theory. But, I also think they may genuinely have thought it would be efficient/proximate in the sense that it's a straight shot down Four Mile Run so that kids would have a quicker bus ride. I really don't know. I don't know how far the kool-aid goes on demographics either.

Right? And that was the same map that had Drew at 83% FRL. Of course that was with the "old math".

In the county staff's defense, no one objects to the FRL rates at Barcroft, Carling Springs, and Randolph. They probably thought they were just creating a new school like those, and well, if the board doesn't care about those three, there's precedent that it's a policy decision the Superintendent and Board are comfortable with.

They probably just didn't realize there's a big difference between a school with those kind of FRL rates on an ongoing basis, and creating a whole new school with those rates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is pretty aggressive. You must be threatened by the boundary changes. I am sure Columbia Heights was convening at their "town square" Columbia Pike in the rain as well....

The difference is the CH families never claimed to be walkers. They have very simply asked to keep their community together, because they supported giving Nauck a neighborhood school in Drew and sacrificed their physical neighborhood school building location to accommodate giving Nauck a neighborhood school. They were told the whole Henry community would go to Fleet. CH families also haven't retracted comments from the walk zone survey stating they need a bus b/c it's too dangerous to walk to school like the SF families did. CH never called out another neighborhood and pointed at them and demanded APS create a map that moves them. CH families are classy, intelligent and polite and have been so from the start and no I don't live in CH, but I sure do respect their grace and composure.

No, Henry folks have behaved just as badly. Nobody can claim any higher ground here. We all use what we got. There’s no special zone of morality in CH.

Just because the CH folks were wrong doesn't excuse SF's reaction. There's no equivalence here.

Keep telling yourself that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is just a repeat of the HS process. There are only so many places to site a school in this county. APS looks at the possibilities, engages the community, NIMBYs inevitably push back, APS finally picks a site, the Arlington Heights area hears promises be made that weren't made, turns out those promises may not be fulfilled (because they weren't made), and the neighborhood gets upset.

It's not that I don't think the Career Center HS is a bad idea. I do. I'm just kinda tired of hearing about promises made to that neighborhood that haven't panned out, because there shouldn't be promises made to any of us.

High school at the Career Center should become Arlington's equivalent of Montgomery County's Thomas Edison HS, and a countywide program with extracurriculars.

[Anonymous]

It’s up!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is just a repeat of the HS process. There are only so many places to site a school in this county. APS looks at the possibilities, engages the community, NIMBYs inevitably push back, APS finally picks a site, the Arlington Heights area hears promises be made that weren't made, turns out those promises may not be fulfilled (because they weren't made), and the neighborhood gets upset.

It's not that I don't think the Career Center HS is a bad idea. I do. I'm just kinda tired of hearing about promises made to that neighborhood that haven't panned out, because there shouldn't be promises made to any of us.

Yes and no. I get tried of south Arlington always drawing the short straw. Let’s be real, they don’t pull half this shit with 22207.
- bystander

Well, that may be true. I wish they would skip all the "engagement" and just make decisions either way.

If they did that, then wouldn't we be left with god awful map #1? I still can't decide if Map #1 was APS's Trojan horse map to prepare us for the subsequent maps, or if they legitimately thought it was a good idea...

I CAN'T EITHER. I posted on one of the myriad other threads some variation of this theory. But, I also think they may genuinely have thought it would be efficient/proximate in the sense that it's a straight shot down Four Mile Run so that kids would have a quicker bus ride. I really don't know. I don't know how far the kool-aid goes on demographics either.

Right? And that was the same map that had Drew at 83% FRL. Of course that was with the "old math".

In the county staff's defense, no one objects to the FRL rates at Barcroft, Carling Springs, and Randolph. They probably thought they were just creating a new school like those, and well, if the board doesn't care about those three, there's precedent that it's a policy decision the Superintendent and Board are comfortable with.

They probably just didn't realize there's a big difference between a school with those kind of FRL rates on an ongoing basis, and creating a whole new school with those rates.

The majority of people who live in the SFH neighborhoods zoned to those schools care. That's why they transfer out at much higher rates. But then they don't care what happens to the school after that, and the parents who are going to be affected don't even know that any of this is going on or what's different at other schools and what their kids are missing out on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is just a repeat of the HS process. There are only so many places to site a school in this county. APS looks at the possibilities, engages the community, NIMBYs inevitably push back, APS finally picks a site, the Arlington Heights area hears promises be made that weren't made, turns out those promises may not be fulfilled (because they weren't made), and the neighborhood gets upset.

It's not that I don't think the Career Center HS is a bad idea. I do. I'm just kinda tired of hearing about promises made to that neighborhood that haven't panned out, because there shouldn't be promises made to any of us.

Yes and no. I get tried of south Arlington always drawing the short straw. Let’s be real, they don’t pull half this shit with 22207.
- bystander

Yes. They do. Same shit everywhere. That's how APS rolls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No, Henry folks have behaved just as badly. Nobody can claim any higher ground here. We all use what we got. There’s no special zone of morality in CH.

Agreed. If I hear one more time how they were "promised" they would all stay together because they "agreed" to give up their school.

even worse, that they "sacrificed" their school.

I get this, but serious question: How are communities supposed to engage with APS in the future? If APS asks a school or a group to make a big move (or stop fighting a plan) with the assurance that X will happen in the future, then the future comes and they are told nope on X, and shame on you for assuming we meant it. That is crappy, no? Looking back, APS never should have said or pretended that it could keep the school together, and people could have decided to keep fighting the new school. That's at least more honest. But why should any community work with APS in good faith on anything now?

The thing is APS shouldn't be making these promises as part of school location decisions. Just make a damn decision and put up with people being uphappy with you.

Yes. This. Same thing in N. Arlington with the "promise" to make Reed a neighborhood school. Why does that one neighborhood get that guarantee? Because they "agreed" to "accept" a school? No.