HB Woodlawn Lottery results

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Exactly. The incredibly acrid debate over putting a new school there wasn't that long ago and no one wanted their kids to go to that land because it's more urban and because it's such a small plot that there will be no fields and hardly any outdoor space. If they had proposed building a new high school there parents would have been up in arms because the kids zoned for that school wouldn't have and sports fields and would be in a high rise. HB can be bigger-- fine, but let's not pretend that building a new comprehensive high school would have ever happened on that site. There is no great site for a comprehensive high school in a good location. That's part of the problem.

I wanted my kids to go there (and told the school board so). But the 22207 parents got what they wanted, which I think we can all agree is no surprise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New Poster with a couple points:

Exactly. The incredibly acrid debate over putting a new school there wasn't that long ago and no one wanted their kids to go to that land because it's more urban and because it's such a small plot that there will be no fields and hardly any outdoor space. If they had proposed building a new high school there parents would have been up in arms because the kids zoned for that school wouldn't have and sports fields and would be in a high rise. HB can be bigger-- fine, but let's not pretend that building a new comprehensive high school would have ever happened on that site. There is no great site for a comprehensive high school in a good location. That's part of the problem.

But there is. You are correct that it's not considered to be in a "good location" however.

Where? (And by good location I only meant a place where people aren't already complaining about the traffic patterns.)

It'd take some work, but you could likely build out the Hoffman-Boston Elementary campus, or the Gunston Middle School property. But yeah - that means some N Arlington kids would have to go to school in S Arlington. A lot of the people with those "4th Comprehensive HS Now" signs on their lawn only want that if it's in a certain neighborhood, with a certain group of kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HB is an incredible program and a great size. Just because your kids didn't get in don't mess it up for those that are thriving here.

So my kid and many many others get to survive but not thrive in a massively overcrowded MS and a massively overcrowded HS so that relatively speaking a few kids can thrive by attending the equivalent of private school without paying tuition just because they got lucky? Because that’s exactly what is going on.

Signed,
Parent of 8th grader at Swanson whose HS is W-L and who is 150+ on the waitlist for HB

What would be different if HB didn't exist?

If HB didn’t exist, APS could have used the Wilson land and $$$$ to build a fourth HS - one that accomodates more than a couple hundred students. Great location for a HS with all of the public transportation options.

They wanted to build another school there. HB didn't want to go there. You are rewriting history.

[Anonymous]

I agree the Wilson site would not have been an ideal site for a traditional 4th comprehensive HS, but it would have been great for a county wide HS program for kids who do not necessarily care about having (or even want) large open field spaces - exactly why many thought this was a perfect spot for HB. Many just wanted HB to agree to grow substantially- maybe double in size? I don’t believe it will change at this point, and HB will defenitely be at this site. It will just be nice to see the program grow even more than its current growth plans, especially if the Stratford program families decide they don’t think the site is a good fit for the Stratford program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HB is an incredible program and a great size. Just because your kids didn't get in don't mess it up for those that are thriving here.

So my kid and many many others get to survive but not thrive in a massively overcrowded MS and a massively overcrowded HS so that relatively speaking a few kids can thrive by attending the equivalent of private school without paying tuition just because they got lucky? Because that’s exactly what is going on.

Signed,
Parent of 8th grader at Swanson whose HS is W-L and who is 150+ on the waitlist for HB

What would be different if HB didn't exist?

If HB didn’t exist, APS could have used the Wilson land and $$$$ to build a fourth HS - one that accomodates more than a couple hundred students. Great location for a HS with all of the public transportation options.

They wanted to build another school there. HB didn't want to go there. You are rewriting history.

Not rewriting history - they wanted to put a middle school there. This conversation is about putting a HS there - an age group where kids are more likely to take advantage of the urban setting/transportation options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m gonna press my school board member contact to shut this insane program. May be great in theory but not as applied in current APS conditions.

I would imagine this is a yearly ritual when people get the results of the lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

They wanted to build another school there. HB didn't want to go there. You are rewriting history.

Not rewriting history - they wanted to put a middle school there. This conversation is about putting a HS there - an age group where kids are more likely to take advantage of the urban setting/transportation options.

If it didn't work for a middle school it's even less appropriate for a high school, which requires more space for fields/sports and ideally should be closer in size to the existing schools so they can offer similar activities. So we're back to a smaller site that's more appropriate for a choice program. The only objection is that the choice program is really popular and should be bigger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

They wanted to build another school there. HB didn't want to go there. You are rewriting history.

Not rewriting history - they wanted to put a middle school there. This conversation is about putting a HS there - an age group where kids are more likely to take advantage of the urban setting/transportation options.

If it didn't work for a middle school it's even less appropriate for a high school, which requires more space for fields/sports and ideally should be closer in size to the existing schools so they can offer similar activities. So we're back to a smaller site that's more appropriate for a choice program. The only objection is that the choice program is really popular and should be bigger.

Sounds like that is exactly what the PP stated - the site is not appropriate for a traditional HS which requires open field space. It is a great spot for a non-traditional HS which doesn’t require open field space but is willing to accomodate more than a few hundred students. It is a great spot for a program like HB - I think many people agree with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

They wanted to build another school there. HB didn't want to go there. You are rewriting history.

Not rewriting history - they wanted to put a middle school there. This conversation is about putting a HS there - an age group where kids are more likely to take advantage of the urban setting/transportation options.

If it didn't work for a middle school it's even less appropriate for a high school, which requires more space for fields/sports and ideally should be closer in size to the existing schools so they can offer similar activities. So we're back to a smaller site that's more appropriate for a choice program. The only objection is that the choice program is really popular and should be bigger.

Sounds like that is exactly what the PP stated - the site is not appropriate for a traditional HS which requires open field space. It is a great spot for a non-traditional HS which doesn’t require open field space but is willing to accomodate more than a few hundred students. It is a great spot for a program like HB - I think many people agree with that.

I was replying to another PP who stated: "If HB didn’t exist, APS could have used the Wilson land and $$$$ to build a fourth HS - one that accommodates more than a couple hundred students. Great location for a HS with all of the public transportation options."

It's a great location for a smaller choice HS. Not a fourth comprehensive HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

They wanted to build another school there. HB didn't want to go there. You are rewriting history.

Not rewriting history - they wanted to put a middle school there. This conversation is about putting a HS there - an age group where kids are more likely to take advantage of the urban setting/transportation options.

If it didn't work for a middle school it's even less appropriate for a high school, which requires more space for fields/sports and ideally should be closer in size to the existing schools so they can offer similar activities. So we're back to a smaller site that's more appropriate for a choice program. The only objection is that the choice program is really popular and should be bigger.

Sounds like that is exactly what the PP stated - the site is not appropriate for a traditional HS which requires open field space. It is a great spot for a non-traditional HS which doesn’t require open field space but is willing to accomodate more than a few hundred students. It is a great spot for a program like HB - I think many people agree with that.

I was replying to another PP who stated: "If HB didn’t exist, APS could have used the Wilson land and $$$$ to build a fourth HS - one that accommodates more than a couple hundred students. Great location for a HS with all of the public transportation options."

It's a great location for a smaller choice HS. Not a fourth comprehensive HS.

And then everyone would complain that APS was spending all its money on a special building for a select few kids when it needs facilities to relieve overcrowding for all the regular kids. Wash, rinse, repeat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HB is an incredible program and a great size. Just because your kids didn't get in don't mess it up for those that are thriving here.

So my kid and many many others get to survive but not thrive in a massively overcrowded MS and a massively overcrowded HS so that relatively speaking a few kids can thrive by attending the equivalent of private school without paying tuition just because they got lucky? Because that’s exactly what is going on.

Signed,
Parent of 8th grader at Swanson whose HS is W-L and who is 150+ on the waitlist for HB

So give me an idea of what it is like at an overcrowded MS/HS. APS, the School Board and many parents have no issue with being over 100%. My children are younger so we haven't had to deal with this yet. Are we talking standing room only in the cafeteria and classrooms? Impossible to get into classes/sports/clubs? I don't have any perspective on what the real impact is because many people (APS/SB/Parents) seem to have no issues with it.

Trailers for an entire grade with rats running through them.

Lunch at 10am.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New Poster with a couple points:
- At the risk of outing myself, I personally spoke out publicly to increase the size of the HB program to align with percent overcrowding of APS. I know some HB people didn’t like it. I now don’t believe in the conspiracy theory on lottery, because my kid got in. Given what an awful situation the SB has created, we decided to enter the lottery. Believe me, I am not some well-connected person in that commmunkty - quite the opposite. At least 2 of the other kids accepted at our school have zero engagement in APS. The lottery was centrally run this year.

- On use of Wilson for a neighborhood school... doesn’t anyone remember how nasty people from Taylor and Glebe got when that idea was proposed a few years ago? Love that idea, but where were you guys a few years ago? If we hadn’t let the Westover bullies prevail, we could have put HB at Reed (very clear now that we have too many elementaries planned in that quadrant now and I can’t wait to see them advocate to optionize Tuckahoe); opened a neighborhood high school in Rosslyn (although the North haters would have screamed bloody murder) and still have Stratford as a neighborhood school.

Coincidence?

Doubtful. They want to shut down the squeaky wheels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is ready for a lawsuit. Some depositions and discovery could force APS to open its files on how people get into HB and how strong the lobby is to refuse more kids.

Where do I send my check to help the cause?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is ready for a lawsuit. Some depositions and discovery could force APS to open its files on how people get into HB and how strong the lobby is to refuse more kids.

Where do I send my check to help the cause?

You think the school system is going to just turn over a bunch of IEPs? If they are weighing the cost of that litigation against your litigation, I can tell you which they are going to fight.

[Anonymous]

Good luck. They will just hide behind student privacy laws.