Just make Jamestown an Option School Already

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wouldn't that argue for any future ES seats at the Ed Center being neighborhood then, and the new school being built in S Arlington being a replacement for Henry / Montessori. Maybe on the Kenmore campus?

Any seats at the Ed Center are going to be temporary, not permanent; it's being designed as swing space. For that reason, it makes more sense (assuming the timing works) to move Montessori there when Henry gets torn down until they have a permanent space for Montessori developed because they don't have to redrawn neighborhood boundaries to accomplish this. If they move neighborhood seats into the Ed Center for two or three years, that means two additional and needless boundary redrawing processes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"You"? It's us vs them, eh? Very nice. I'm a N Arlington resident actually. Funny that you pointed me to the slides but then say that S Arlington will have more than enough seats. Did you not see the massive ES seat deficit on the horizon? Self-serving, much?

Even after Reed opens, that seat shortage is expected to be disproportionately in the north, especially NE.

The NE will have the most available space? I thought it was the NW?

The seat *shortage* will be disproportionately in NE. Shortage means not having as much as you need, as opposed to an excess or abundance.

Jamestown has plenty of space. Once Key and ASF are true neighborhood schools we will have plenty of seats in NE.

If they move Key out of NE (such as by using Jamestown to house a program), that will give NE a lot of relief, but it will still be bursting at the seams. Especially if Jamestown become option, because a lot of those kids are going to be moved to Taylor and Taylor kids will be moved into the Key/ASFS area. Which isn't to say Jamestown shouldn't be an option site, it makes a lot of sense, just that NE will still be tight, especially with all of the new housing developments already pending or approved over there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"You"? It's us vs them, eh? Very nice. I'm a N Arlington resident actually. Funny that you pointed me to the slides but then say that S Arlington will have more than enough seats. Did you not see the massive ES seat deficit on the horizon? Self-serving, much?

Even after Reed opens, that seat shortage is expected to be disproportionately in the north, especially NE.

The NE will have the most available space? I thought it was the NW?

The seat *shortage* will be disproportionately in NE. Shortage means not having as much as you need, as opposed to an excess or abundance.

Jamestown has plenty of space. Once Key and ASF are true neighborhood schools we will have plenty of seats in NE.

If they move Key out of NE (such as by using Jamestown to house a program), that will give NE a lot of relief, but it will still be bursting at the seams. Especially if Jamestown become option, because a lot of those kids are going to be moved to Taylor and Taylor kids will be moved into the Key/ASFS area. Which isn't to say Jamestown shouldn't be an option site, it makes a lot of sense, just that NE will still be tight, especially with all of the new housing developments already pending or approved over there.

Many of the Jamestown seats will end up at Discovery. Because planning units will shift west as Reed and McKinley absorb PUs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wouldn't that argue for any future ES seats at the Ed Center being neighborhood then, and the new school being built in S Arlington being a replacement for Henry / Montessori. Maybe on the Kenmore campus?

Any seats at the Ed Center are going to be temporary, not permanent; it's being designed as swing space. For that reason, it makes more sense (assuming the timing works) to move Montessori there when Henry gets torn down until they have a permanent space for Montessori developed because they don't have to redrawn neighborhood boundaries to accomplish this. If they move neighborhood seats into the Ed Center for two or three years, that means two additional and needless boundary redrawing processes.

Wait, so Henry is going to be a temporary home and then the Ed Center is going to be a temporary home? That's ridiculous and unfair. And how much money will be wasted on this? You can't have an ES without a library, gym, cafeteria, playground. You're going to put those at the Ed Center temporarily? Please.

[Anonymous]

One thing I think it's helpful to keep in mind as we talk about elementary seats vs. high school seats is that elementary schools are spread out across a lot more sites around the county and have a dramatically greater ability to create extra capacity via trailers than the high schools do. No, trailers aren't ideal and none of us want them as part of a plan, but if we have to choose which level should be given priority for an available location, it's valuable to remember that the elementary schools as a whole have a much greater ability to absorb an excess 700-800 students than the high schools both because of how many more sites there are and how much more available green space there is at the average site.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wouldn't that argue for any future ES seats at the Ed Center being neighborhood then, and the new school being built in S Arlington being a replacement for Henry / Montessori. Maybe on the Kenmore campus?

Any seats at the Ed Center are going to be temporary, not permanent; it's being designed as swing space. For that reason, it makes more sense (assuming the timing works) to move Montessori there when Henry gets torn down until they have a permanent space for Montessori developed because they don't have to redrawn neighborhood boundaries to accomplish this. If they move neighborhood seats into the Ed Center for two or three years, that means two additional and needless boundary redrawing processes.

Wait, so Henry is going to be a temporary home and then the Ed Center is going to be a temporary home? That's ridiculous and unfair. And how much money will be wasted on this? You can't have an ES without a library, gym, cafeteria, playground. You're going to put those at the Ed Center temporarily? Please.

It's not a definite, it's just a possibility that's being floated if necessary. APS is in a real bind with its capacity crunch and there are no great solutions that the SB is just ignoring here, especially given how hamstrung it is by county funding decisions.

[Anonymous]

That's a pretty hefty disproportionate impact on one school though. If they are moved from Henry it should be to a permanent home (or at least to an actual elementary school!).

[Anonymous]

I believe Wilson used to be used as swing space. It would probably allow for faster, less expensive construction if they didn't have to work around a functioning school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's a pretty hefty disproportionate impact on one school though. If they are moved from Henry it should be to a permanent home (or at least to an actual elementary school!).

I have a crazy idea - what if we moved Montessori to Jamestown?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's a pretty hefty disproportionate impact on one school though. If they are moved from Henry it should be to a permanent home (or at least to an actual elementary school!).

And that site should be identified as part of the current process, rather than some surprise in five years.

Henry stays where it is for now and the Career Center becomes a bigger Vo-Tech and Career-focused countywide option program. If it grows big enough to need the Henry site, then Montessori is moved to the designated site. And it has to be a pre-existing one otherwise they are going to take the money for the new South Arlington ES and use it for that. If that's what they intend to do, they had better let the community know right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's a pretty hefty disproportionate impact on one school though. If they are moved from Henry it should be to a permanent home (or at least to an actual elementary school!).

I have a crazy idea - what if we moved Montessori to Jamestown?

That would work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's a pretty hefty disproportionate impact on one school though. If they are moved from Henry it should be to a permanent home (or at least to an actual elementary school!).

It is a disproportionate impact on one school, but it's a school no one has to go to. If the disruption is too great for someone, they can go to their neighborhood school instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's a pretty hefty disproportionate impact on one school though. If they are moved from Henry it should be to a permanent home (or at least to an actual elementary school!).

I have a crazy idea - what if we moved Montessori to Jamestown?

Sure, let's go ahead and debate that in 2021 when the SB starts considering the future of the Montessori program. It's not happening now, that has already been decided very definitively.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's a pretty hefty disproportionate impact on one school though. If they are moved from Henry it should be to a permanent home (or at least to an actual elementary school!).

It is a disproportionate impact on one school, but it's a school no one has to go to. If the disruption is too great for someone, they can go to their neighborhood school instead.

Are you going to take the same position with respect to all the other choice programs? It's pretty heartless. You are talking about real children, including a large number of low income preschoolers. And if they break up the program, those kids will just be coming right back to the overcrowded neighborhood schools.

When the Wilson School was used as swing space, it was an actual elementary school building with ES amenities. The Ed Center won't offer that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's a pretty hefty disproportionate impact on one school though. If they are moved from Henry it should be to a permanent home (or at least to an actual elementary school!).

It is a disproportionate impact on one school, but it's a school no one has to go to. If the disruption is too great for someone, they can go to their neighborhood school instead.

Are you going to take the same position with respect to all the other choice programs? It's pretty heartless. You are talking about real children, including a large number of low income preschoolers. And if they break up the program, those kids will just be coming right back to the overcrowded neighborhood schools.

When the Wilson School was used as swing space, it was an actual elementary school building with ES amenities. The Ed Center won't offer that.

We are talking about a back-up plan here, the SB doesn't want to put Montessori in the Ed. Center, this is a worst-case scenario because everyone else is in line for that space ahead of the elementary schools. But yes, if someone has be disproportionately burdened by these transitions, I take that same position for all of the option schools because the same reasoning applies -- no one is required to go there if they feel the transition is too burdensome for them. The same cannot be said for neighborhood school students.