APS boundary process this fall?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Voluntary transfers are not an adequate solution when a school like Williamsburg - at 80% capacity - is allowed to decide that it only wants to take 10 transfers. Swanson is still left overcrowded and Williamsburg only made a symbolic gesture in taking a few extra kids. Why does APS allow this? So the richest middle school in the county is also the least crowded by a long shot? We are a Glebe family and, due to the voluntary transfers, what would be about a 50/50 split between Hamm and Swanson ends up being probably a 80/20 split with several kids left disappointed and on the wait list for transferring to Hamm. Just let them all transfer or none of them - or better yet, switch the PUs to Hamm so that some kids aren’t left behind.

What do you mean by richest? You do understand that APS doesn’t give any extra money to the schools when it accepts transfers. They don’t get to hire any more teachers or any additional staff. Schools are told how much money they have and then the school makes a decision about transfers. If APS really wanted to use transfers to help it would have to give schools money based on number of students after transfers are factored in. Please learn how things work before spouting off about how schools don’t take 20% more students.

I assume they meant richest as in that’s where the wealthiest people in the county live. Speaking of not spouting off when you don’t understand how things work, if they accepted more student, they would hire more teachers. That’s been a complaint at Williamsburg, classes are quite large because they don’t have enough students for an additional team or more sections.

That’s not terribly accurate. What is true is that Williamsburg is no longer zoned to neighborhoods with more affordable housing types.

And yes, the large class sizes have been a serious problem there. The building is also quite old and in need of a complete rebuild (along with TJ).

And Swanson and Gunston.

Middle schools across the board except Hamm and Kenmore are in rough shape.

Swanson could definitely use a renovation but as a designated historic building, the front lawn and the facade can’t be altered.

Hopefully the boundaries and building renovation/rebuild pipeline gets figured out soon. All the APS focus has been on option programs it seems. Montessori, Tech, etc., and not the neighborhood schools.

[Anonymous]

What is the boundary process for this fall? Is it happening? Is it elementary or middle?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Voluntary transfers are not an adequate solution when a school like Williamsburg - at 80% capacity - is allowed to decide that it only wants to take 10 transfers. Swanson is still left overcrowded and Williamsburg only made a symbolic gesture in taking a few extra kids. Why does APS allow this? So the richest middle school in the county is also the least crowded by a long shot? We are a Glebe family and, due to the voluntary transfers, what would be about a 50/50 split between Hamm and Swanson ends up being probably a 80/20 split with several kids left disappointed and on the wait list for transferring to Hamm. Just let them all transfer or none of them - or better yet, switch the PUs to Hamm so that some kids aren’t left behind.

What do you mean by richest? You do understand that APS doesn’t give any extra money to the schools when it accepts transfers. They don’t get to hire any more teachers or any additional staff. Schools are told how much money they have and then the school makes a decision about transfers. If APS really wanted to use transfers to help it would have to give schools money based on number of students after transfers are factored in. Please learn how things work before spouting off about how schools don’t take 20% more students.

I assume they meant richest as in that’s where the wealthiest people in the county live. Speaking of not spouting off when you don’t understand how things work, if they accepted more student, they would hire more teachers. That’s been a complaint at Williamsburg, classes are quite large because they don’t have enough students for an additional team or more sections.

That’s not terribly accurate. What is true is that Williamsburg is no longer zoned to neighborhoods with more affordable housing types.

And yes, the large class sizes have been a serious problem there. The building is also quite old and in need of a complete rebuild (along with TJ).

And Swanson and Gunston.

Middle schools across the board except Hamm and Kenmore are in rough shape.

Swanson could definitely use a renovation but as a designated historic building, the front lawn and the facade can’t be altered.

Hopefully the boundaries and building renovation/rebuild pipeline gets figured out soon. All the APS focus has been on option programs it seems. Montessori, Tech, etc., and not the neighborhood schools.

Uh, the focus was never on options in recent decades, and then in the last four years it suddenly had to be. The Career Center had to be finalized to meet HS seat planning that was delayed from a decade before. That also meant addressing Montessori, which is in one of the worst buildings. Meanwhile, APS like many other school districts put long range Capital improvement planning on hold during pandemic. Now it has restarted. I agree the MS (where my kid is now) need to be addressed, but they will.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Voluntary transfers are not an adequate solution when a school like Williamsburg - at 80% capacity - is allowed to decide that it only wants to take 10 transfers. Swanson is still left overcrowded and Williamsburg only made a symbolic gesture in taking a few extra kids. Why does APS allow this? So the richest middle school in the county is also the least crowded by a long shot? We are a Glebe family and, due to the voluntary transfers, what would be about a 50/50 split between Hamm and Swanson ends up being probably a 80/20 split with several kids left disappointed and on the wait list for transferring to Hamm. Just let them all transfer or none of them - or better yet, switch the PUs to Hamm so that some kids aren’t left behind.

What do you mean by richest? You do understand that APS doesn’t give any extra money to the schools when it accepts transfers. They don’t get to hire any more teachers or any additional staff. Schools are told how much money they have and then the school makes a decision about transfers. If APS really wanted to use transfers to help it would have to give schools money based on number of students after transfers are factored in. Please learn how things work before spouting off about how schools don’t take 20% more students.

I assume they meant richest as in that’s where the wealthiest people in the county live. Speaking of not spouting off when you don’t understand how things work, if they accepted more student, they would hire more teachers. That’s been a complaint at Williamsburg, classes are quite large because they don’t have enough students for an additional team or more sections.

That’s not terribly accurate. What is true is that Williamsburg is no longer zoned to neighborhoods with more affordable housing types.

And yes, the large class sizes have been a serious problem there. The building is also quite old and in need of a complete rebuild (along with TJ).

And Swanson and Gunston.

Middle schools across the board except Hamm and Kenmore are in rough shape.

Swanson could definitely use a renovation but as a designated historic building, the front lawn and the facade can’t be altered.

Hopefully the boundaries and building renovation/rebuild pipeline gets figured out soon. All the APS focus has been on option programs it seems. Montessori, Tech, etc., and not the neighborhood schools.

Uh, the focus was never on options in recent decades, and then in the last four years it suddenly had to be. The Career Center had to be finalized to meet HS seat planning that was delayed from a decade before. That also meant addressing Montessori, which is in one of the worst buildings. Meanwhile, APS like many other school districts put long range Capital improvement planning on hold during pandemic. Now it has restarted. I agree the MS (where my kid is now) need to be addressed, but they will.

The only reason APS got a new building was that the community wanted to kick HB out of its very old building to put a neighborhood middle school there. That wasn't the original plan. The new building was supposed to be for a new neighborhood middle school, but parents didn't like that plan and wanted the HB building/plot. So HB had to move. Then after HB got a new building on that plot that no one else wanted, the revisionist history is that APS focused on options as expense of neighborhood. But really it was the other way around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Voluntary transfers are not an adequate solution when a school like Williamsburg - at 80% capacity - is allowed to decide that it only wants to take 10 transfers. Swanson is still left overcrowded and Williamsburg only made a symbolic gesture in taking a few extra kids. Why does APS allow this? So the richest middle school in the county is also the least crowded by a long shot? We are a Glebe family and, due to the voluntary transfers, what would be about a 50/50 split between Hamm and Swanson ends up being probably a 80/20 split with several kids left disappointed and on the wait list for transferring to Hamm. Just let them all transfer or none of them - or better yet, switch the PUs to Hamm so that some kids aren’t left behind.

What do you mean by richest? You do understand that APS doesn’t give any extra money to the schools when it accepts transfers. They don’t get to hire any more teachers or any additional staff. Schools are told how much money they have and then the school makes a decision about transfers. If APS really wanted to use transfers to help it would have to give schools money based on number of students after transfers are factored in. Please learn how things work before spouting off about how schools don’t take 20% more students.

I assume they meant richest as in that’s where the wealthiest people in the county live. Speaking of not spouting off when you don’t understand how things work, if they accepted more student, they would hire more teachers. That’s been a complaint at Williamsburg, classes are quite large because they don’t have enough students for an additional team or more sections.

That’s not terribly accurate. What is true is that Williamsburg is no longer zoned to neighborhoods with more affordable housing types.

And yes, the large class sizes have been a serious problem there. The building is also quite old and in need of a complete rebuild (along with TJ).

And Swanson and Gunston.

Middle schools across the board except Hamm and Kenmore are in rough shape.

Swanson could definitely use a renovation but as a designated historic building, the front lawn and the facade can’t be altered.

Hopefully the boundaries and building renovation/rebuild pipeline gets figured out soon. All the APS focus has been on option programs it seems. Montessori, Tech, etc., and not the neighborhood schools.

Uh, the focus was never on options in recent decades, and then in the last four years it suddenly had to be. The Career Center had to be finalized to meet HS seat planning that was delayed from a decade before. That also meant addressing Montessori, which is in one of the worst buildings. Meanwhile, APS like many other school districts put long range Capital improvement planning on hold during pandemic. Now it has restarted. I agree the MS (where my kid is now) need to be addressed, but they will.

The only reason APS got a new building was that the community wanted to kick HB out of its very old building to put a neighborhood middle school there. That wasn't the original plan. The new building was supposed to be for a new neighborhood middle school, but parents didn't like that plan and wanted the HB building/plot. So HB had to move. Then after HB got a new building on that plot that no one else wanted, the revisionist history is that APS focused on options as expense of neighborhood. But really it was the other way around.

sorry that should have read HB got a new building, not APS!

HB got the leftovers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Voluntary transfers are not an adequate solution when a school like Williamsburg - at 80% capacity - is allowed to decide that it only wants to take 10 transfers. Swanson is still left overcrowded and Williamsburg only made a symbolic gesture in taking a few extra kids. Why does APS allow this? So the richest middle school in the county is also the least crowded by a long shot? We are a Glebe family and, due to the voluntary transfers, what would be about a 50/50 split between Hamm and Swanson ends up being probably a 80/20 split with several kids left disappointed and on the wait list for transferring to Hamm. Just let them all transfer or none of them - or better yet, switch the PUs to Hamm so that some kids aren’t left behind.

What do you mean by richest? You do understand that APS doesn’t give any extra money to the schools when it accepts transfers. They don’t get to hire any more teachers or any additional staff. Schools are told how much money they have and then the school makes a decision about transfers. If APS really wanted to use transfers to help it would have to give schools money based on number of students after transfers are factored in. Please learn how things work before spouting off about how schools don’t take 20% more students.

I assume they meant richest as in that’s where the wealthiest people in the county live. Speaking of not spouting off when you don’t understand how things work, if they accepted more student, they would hire more teachers. That’s been a complaint at Williamsburg, classes are quite large because they don’t have enough students for an additional team or more sections.

That’s not terribly accurate. What is true is that Williamsburg is no longer zoned to neighborhoods with more affordable housing types.

And yes, the large class sizes have been a serious problem there. The building is also quite old and in need of a complete rebuild (along with TJ).

And Swanson and Gunston.

Middle schools across the board except Hamm and Kenmore are in rough shape.

Swanson could definitely use a renovation but as a designated historic building, the front lawn and the facade can’t be altered.

Hopefully the boundaries and building renovation/rebuild pipeline gets figured out soon. All the APS focus has been on option programs it seems. Montessori, Tech, etc., and not the neighborhood schools.

Uh, the focus was never on options in recent decades, and then in the last four years it suddenly had to be. The Career Center had to be finalized to meet HS seat planning that was delayed from a decade before. That also meant addressing Montessori, which is in one of the worst buildings. Meanwhile, APS like many other school districts put long range Capital improvement planning on hold during pandemic. Now it has restarted. I agree the MS (where my kid is now) need to be addressed, but they will.

The only reason APS got a new building was that the community wanted to kick HB out of its very old building to put a neighborhood middle school there. That wasn't the original plan. The new building was supposed to be for a new neighborhood middle school, but parents didn't like that plan and wanted the HB building/plot. So HB had to move. Then after HB got a new building on that plot that no one else wanted, the revisionist history is that APS focused on options as expense of neighborhood. But really it was the other way around.

People are upset about the Heights not because it was new, it’s because they way way overspent on a small fancy building.

When that location was going to be a 1300 seat neighborhood middle school, they had a very generic box building for the design.

Then when it became HB the pivoted to a boutique award winning architect to make it a show case building (and the APS staff in charge of it used that project to land a better job elsewhere, I forget his name).

It’s ridiculous that HB with 700 students had the largest middle school plot of land when our county is desperate for space. If they had simply expanded HB program, that might have alleviated a lot of overcrowding and made planning simpler. But its model requires a small school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Voluntary transfers are not an adequate solution when a school like Williamsburg - at 80% capacity - is allowed to decide that it only wants to take 10 transfers. Swanson is still left overcrowded and Williamsburg only made a symbolic gesture in taking a few extra kids. Why does APS allow this? So the richest middle school in the county is also the least crowded by a long shot? We are a Glebe family and, due to the voluntary transfers, what would be about a 50/50 split between Hamm and Swanson ends up being probably a 80/20 split with several kids left disappointed and on the wait list for transferring to Hamm. Just let them all transfer or none of them - or better yet, switch the PUs to Hamm so that some kids aren’t left behind.

What do you mean by richest? You do understand that APS doesn’t give any extra money to the schools when it accepts transfers. They don’t get to hire any more teachers or any additional staff. Schools are told how much money they have and then the school makes a decision about transfers. If APS really wanted to use transfers to help it would have to give schools money based on number of students after transfers are factored in. Please learn how things work before spouting off about how schools don’t take 20% more students.

I assume they meant richest as in that’s where the wealthiest people in the county live. Speaking of not spouting off when you don’t understand how things work, if they accepted more student, they would hire more teachers. That’s been a complaint at Williamsburg, classes are quite large because they don’t have enough students for an additional team or more sections.

That’s not terribly accurate. What is true is that Williamsburg is no longer zoned to neighborhoods with more affordable housing types.

And yes, the large class sizes have been a serious problem there. The building is also quite old and in need of a complete rebuild (along with TJ).

And Swanson and Gunston.

Middle schools across the board except Hamm and Kenmore are in rough shape.

Swanson could definitely use a renovation but as a designated historic building, the front lawn and the facade can’t be altered.

Hopefully the boundaries and building renovation/rebuild pipeline gets figured out soon. All the APS focus has been on option programs it seems. Montessori, Tech, etc., and not the neighborhood schools.

Uh, the focus was never on options in recent decades, and then in the last four years it suddenly had to be. The Career Center had to be finalized to meet HS seat planning that was delayed from a decade before. That also meant addressing Montessori, which is in one of the worst buildings. Meanwhile, APS like many other school districts put long range Capital improvement planning on hold during pandemic. Now it has restarted. I agree the MS (where my kid is now) need to be addressed, but they will.

The only reason APS got a new building was that the community wanted to kick HB out of its very old building to put a neighborhood middle school there. That wasn't the original plan. The new building was supposed to be for a new neighborhood middle school, but parents didn't like that plan and wanted the HB building/plot. So HB had to move. Then after HB got a new building on that plot that no one else wanted, the revisionist history is that APS focused on options as expense of neighborhood. But really it was the other way around.

It's a little funny that APS has signaled their intention to move some of the people in the neighborhoods close to/north of Hamm to Williamsburg to make room for people in the R-B corridor at Hamm. We just keep going in circles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Voluntary transfers are not an adequate solution when a school like Williamsburg - at 80% capacity - is allowed to decide that it only wants to take 10 transfers. Swanson is still left overcrowded and Williamsburg only made a symbolic gesture in taking a few extra kids. Why does APS allow this? So the richest middle school in the county is also the least crowded by a long shot? We are a Glebe family and, due to the voluntary transfers, what would be about a 50/50 split between Hamm and Swanson ends up being probably a 80/20 split with several kids left disappointed and on the wait list for transferring to Hamm. Just let them all transfer or none of them - or better yet, switch the PUs to Hamm so that some kids aren’t left behind.

What do you mean by richest? You do understand that APS doesn’t give any extra money to the schools when it accepts transfers. They don’t get to hire any more teachers or any additional staff. Schools are told how much money they have and then the school makes a decision about transfers. If APS really wanted to use transfers to help it would have to give schools money based on number of students after transfers are factored in. Please learn how things work before spouting off about how schools don’t take 20% more students.

I assume they meant richest as in that’s where the wealthiest people in the county live. Speaking of not spouting off when you don’t understand how things work, if they accepted more student, they would hire more teachers. That’s been a complaint at Williamsburg, classes are quite large because they don’t have enough students for an additional team or more sections.

That’s not terribly accurate. What is true is that Williamsburg is no longer zoned to neighborhoods with more affordable housing types.

And yes, the large class sizes have been a serious problem there. The building is also quite old and in need of a complete rebuild (along with TJ).

And Swanson and Gunston.

Middle schools across the board except Hamm and Kenmore are in rough shape.

Swanson could definitely use a renovation but as a designated historic building, the front lawn and the facade can’t be altered.

Hopefully the boundaries and building renovation/rebuild pipeline gets figured out soon. All the APS focus has been on option programs it seems. Montessori, Tech, etc., and not the neighborhood schools.

Uh, the focus was never on options in recent decades, and then in the last four years it suddenly had to be. The Career Center had to be finalized to meet HS seat planning that was delayed from a decade before. That also meant addressing Montessori, which is in one of the worst buildings. Meanwhile, APS like many other school districts put long range Capital improvement planning on hold during pandemic. Now it has restarted. I agree the MS (where my kid is now) need to be addressed, but they will.

The only reason APS got a new building was that the community wanted to kick HB out of its very old building to put a neighborhood middle school there. That wasn't the original plan. The new building was supposed to be for a new neighborhood middle school, but parents didn't like that plan and wanted the HB building/plot. So HB had to move. Then after HB got a new building on that plot that no one else wanted, the revisionist history is that APS focused on options as expense of neighborhood. But really it was the other way around.

People are upset about the Heights not because it was new, it’s because they way way overspent on a small fancy building.

When that location was going to be a 1300 seat neighborhood middle school, they had a very generic box building for the design.

Then when it became HB the pivoted to a boutique award winning architect to make it a show case building (and the APS staff in charge of it used that project to land a better job elsewhere, I forget his name).

It’s ridiculous that HB with 700 students had the largest middle school plot of land when our county is desperate for space. If they had simply expanded HB program, that might have alleviated a lot of overcrowding and made planning simpler. But its model requires a small school.

That's not specific to HB. That's what APS has done with all the new buildings, neighborhood or not, didn't you know that? Have you seen Discovery?

If you disagree with overspending on buildings, I am with you, but don't try to blame HB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Voluntary transfers are not an adequate solution when a school like Williamsburg - at 80% capacity - is allowed to decide that it only wants to take 10 transfers. Swanson is still left overcrowded and Williamsburg only made a symbolic gesture in taking a few extra kids. Why does APS allow this? So the richest middle school in the county is also the least crowded by a long shot? We are a Glebe family and, due to the voluntary transfers, what would be about a 50/50 split between Hamm and Swanson ends up being probably a 80/20 split with several kids left disappointed and on the wait list for transferring to Hamm. Just let them all transfer or none of them - or better yet, switch the PUs to Hamm so that some kids aren’t left behind.

What do you mean by richest? You do understand that APS doesn’t give any extra money to the schools when it accepts transfers. They don’t get to hire any more teachers or any additional staff. Schools are told how much money they have and then the school makes a decision about transfers. If APS really wanted to use transfers to help it would have to give schools money based on number of students after transfers are factored in. Please learn how things work before spouting off about how schools don’t take 20% more students.

I assume they meant richest as in that’s where the wealthiest people in the county live. Speaking of not spouting off when you don’t understand how things work, if they accepted more student, they would hire more teachers. That’s been a complaint at Williamsburg, classes are quite large because they don’t have enough students for an additional team or more sections.

That’s not terribly accurate. What is true is that Williamsburg is no longer zoned to neighborhoods with more affordable housing types.

And yes, the large class sizes have been a serious problem there. The building is also quite old and in need of a complete rebuild (along with TJ).

And Swanson and Gunston.

Middle schools across the board except Hamm and Kenmore are in rough shape.

Swanson could definitely use a renovation but as a designated historic building, the front lawn and the facade can’t be altered.

Hopefully the boundaries and building renovation/rebuild pipeline gets figured out soon. All the APS focus has been on option programs it seems. Montessori, Tech, etc., and not the neighborhood schools.

Uh, the focus was never on options in recent decades, and then in the last four years it suddenly had to be. The Career Center had to be finalized to meet HS seat planning that was delayed from a decade before. That also meant addressing Montessori, which is in one of the worst buildings. Meanwhile, APS like many other school districts put long range Capital improvement planning on hold during pandemic. Now it has restarted. I agree the MS (where my kid is now) need to be addressed, but they will.

The only reason APS got a new building was that the community wanted to kick HB out of its very old building to put a neighborhood middle school there. That wasn't the original plan. The new building was supposed to be for a new neighborhood middle school, but parents didn't like that plan and wanted the HB building/plot. So HB had to move. Then after HB got a new building on that plot that no one else wanted, the revisionist history is that APS focused on options as expense of neighborhood. But really it was the other way around.

It's a little funny that APS has signaled their intention to move some of the people in the neighborhoods close to/north of Hamm to Williamsburg to make room for people in the R-B corridor at Hamm. We just keep going in circles.

That is so DOA. They are moving Immersion to WMS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Voluntary transfers are not an adequate solution when a school like Williamsburg - at 80% capacity - is allowed to decide that it only wants to take 10 transfers. Swanson is still left overcrowded and Williamsburg only made a symbolic gesture in taking a few extra kids. Why does APS allow this? So the richest middle school in the county is also the least crowded by a long shot? We are a Glebe family and, due to the voluntary transfers, what would be about a 50/50 split between Hamm and Swanson ends up being probably a 80/20 split with several kids left disappointed and on the wait list for transferring to Hamm. Just let them all transfer or none of them - or better yet, switch the PUs to Hamm so that some kids aren’t left behind.

What do you mean by richest? You do understand that APS doesn’t give any extra money to the schools when it accepts transfers. They don’t get to hire any more teachers or any additional staff. Schools are told how much money they have and then the school makes a decision about transfers. If APS really wanted to use transfers to help it would have to give schools money based on number of students after transfers are factored in. Please learn how things work before spouting off about how schools don’t take 20% more students.

I assume they meant richest as in that’s where the wealthiest people in the county live. Speaking of not spouting off when you don’t understand how things work, if they accepted more student, they would hire more teachers. That’s been a complaint at Williamsburg, classes are quite large because they don’t have enough students for an additional team or more sections.

That’s not terribly accurate. What is true is that Williamsburg is no longer zoned to neighborhoods with more affordable housing types.

And yes, the large class sizes have been a serious problem there. The building is also quite old and in need of a complete rebuild (along with TJ).

And Swanson and Gunston.

Middle schools across the board except Hamm and Kenmore are in rough shape.

Swanson could definitely use a renovation but as a designated historic building, the front lawn and the facade can’t be altered.

Hopefully the boundaries and building renovation/rebuild pipeline gets figured out soon. All the APS focus has been on option programs it seems. Montessori, Tech, etc., and not the neighborhood schools.

Uh, the focus was never on options in recent decades, and then in the last four years it suddenly had to be. The Career Center had to be finalized to meet HS seat planning that was delayed from a decade before. That also meant addressing Montessori, which is in one of the worst buildings. Meanwhile, APS like many other school districts put long range Capital improvement planning on hold during pandemic. Now it has restarted. I agree the MS (where my kid is now) need to be addressed, but they will.

The only reason APS got a new building was that the community wanted to kick HB out of its very old building to put a neighborhood middle school there. That wasn't the original plan. The new building was supposed to be for a new neighborhood middle school, but parents didn't like that plan and wanted the HB building/plot. So HB had to move. Then after HB got a new building on that plot that no one else wanted, the revisionist history is that APS focused on options as expense of neighborhood. But really it was the other way around.

People are upset about the Heights not because it was new, it’s because they way way overspent on a small fancy building.

When that location was going to be a 1300 seat neighborhood middle school, they had a very generic box building for the design.

Then when it became HB the pivoted to a boutique award winning architect to make it a show case building (and the APS staff in charge of it used that project to land a better job elsewhere, I forget his name).

It’s ridiculous that HB with 700 students had the largest middle school plot of land when our county is desperate for space. If they had simply expanded HB program, that might have alleviated a lot of overcrowding and made planning simpler. But its model requires a small school.

That's not specific to HB. That's what APS has done with all the new buildings, neighborhood or not, didn't you know that? Have you seen Discovery?

If you disagree with overspending on buildings, I am with you, but don't try to blame HB.

Rosslyn was a unique site due to the county run masterplanning independent of APS. Unique architecture was a priority for the site, whatever the program (es, ms, or option program, community center).

Overall, APS thankfully does a better job with facilities than some other school districts that design and build on the cheap. APS also spends less than Alexandria and DCPS. The new W-L annex is phenomenal and illustrates what can be done on a shoestring budget. For some reason though APS is spending like crazy on the new Career Center.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Voluntary transfers are not an adequate solution when a school like Williamsburg - at 80% capacity - is allowed to decide that it only wants to take 10 transfers. Swanson is still left overcrowded and Williamsburg only made a symbolic gesture in taking a few extra kids. Why does APS allow this? So the richest middle school in the county is also the least crowded by a long shot? We are a Glebe family and, due to the voluntary transfers, what would be about a 50/50 split between Hamm and Swanson ends up being probably a 80/20 split with several kids left disappointed and on the wait list for transferring to Hamm. Just let them all transfer or none of them - or better yet, switch the PUs to Hamm so that some kids aren’t left behind.

What do you mean by richest? You do understand that APS doesn’t give any extra money to the schools when it accepts transfers. They don’t get to hire any more teachers or any additional staff. Schools are told how much money they have and then the school makes a decision about transfers. If APS really wanted to use transfers to help it would have to give schools money based on number of students after transfers are factored in. Please learn how things work before spouting off about how schools don’t take 20% more students.

I assume they meant richest as in that’s where the wealthiest people in the county live. Speaking of not spouting off when you don’t understand how things work, if they accepted more student, they would hire more teachers. That’s been a complaint at Williamsburg, classes are quite large because they don’t have enough students for an additional team or more sections.

That’s not terribly accurate. What is true is that Williamsburg is no longer zoned to neighborhoods with more affordable housing types.

And yes, the large class sizes have been a serious problem there. The building is also quite old and in need of a complete rebuild (along with TJ).

And Swanson and Gunston.

Middle schools across the board except Hamm and Kenmore are in rough shape.

Swanson could definitely use a renovation but as a designated historic building, the front lawn and the facade can’t be altered.

Hopefully the boundaries and building renovation/rebuild pipeline gets figured out soon. All the APS focus has been on option programs it seems. Montessori, Tech, etc., and not the neighborhood schools.

Uh, the focus was never on options in recent decades, and then in the last four years it suddenly had to be. The Career Center had to be finalized to meet HS seat planning that was delayed from a decade before. That also meant addressing Montessori, which is in one of the worst buildings. Meanwhile, APS like many other school districts put long range Capital improvement planning on hold during pandemic. Now it has restarted. I agree the MS (where my kid is now) need to be addressed, but they will.

The only reason APS got a new building was that the community wanted to kick HB out of its very old building to put a neighborhood middle school there. That wasn't the original plan. The new building was supposed to be for a new neighborhood middle school, but parents didn't like that plan and wanted the HB building/plot. So HB had to move. Then after HB got a new building on that plot that no one else wanted, the revisionist history is that APS focused on options as expense of neighborhood. But really it was the other way around.

People are upset about the Heights not because it was new, it’s because they way way overspent on a small fancy building.

When that location was going to be a 1300 seat neighborhood middle school, they had a very generic box building for the design.

Then when it became HB the pivoted to a boutique award winning architect to make it a show case building (and the APS staff in charge of it used that project to land a better job elsewhere, I forget his name).

It’s ridiculous that HB with 700 students had the largest middle school plot of land when our county is desperate for space. If they had simply expanded HB program, that might have alleviated a lot of overcrowding and made planning simpler. But its model requires a small school.

That's not specific to HB. That's what APS has done with all the new buildings, neighborhood or not, didn't you know that? Have you seen Discovery?

If you disagree with overspending on buildings, I am with you, but don't try to blame HB.

I blame HB for not expanding their program, and the excess for the Heights far far exceeds any other renovation. It was because it was for “HBW” — their show case program of private school size for public school cost.

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Anonymous wrote:Voluntary transfers are not an adequate solution when a school like Williamsburg - at 80% capacity - is allowed to decide that it only wants to take 10 transfers. Swanson is still left overcrowded and Williamsburg only made a symbolic gesture in taking a few extra kids. Why does APS allow this? So the richest middle school in the county is also the least crowded by a long shot? We are a Glebe family and, due to the voluntary transfers, what would be about a 50/50 split between Hamm and Swanson ends up being probably a 80/20 split with several kids left disappointed and on the wait list for transferring to Hamm. Just let them all transfer or none of them - or better yet, switch the PUs to Hamm so that some kids aren’t left behind.

What do you mean by richest? You do understand that APS doesn’t give any extra money to the schools when it accepts transfers. They don’t get to hire any more teachers or any additional staff. Schools are told how much money they have and then the school makes a decision about transfers. If APS really wanted to use transfers to help it would have to give schools money based on number of students after transfers are factored in. Please learn how things work before spouting off about how schools don’t take 20% more students.

I assume they meant richest as in that’s where the wealthiest people in the county live. Speaking of not spouting off when you don’t understand how things work, if they accepted more student, they would hire more teachers. That’s been a complaint at Williamsburg, classes are quite large because they don’t have enough students for an additional team or more sections.

That’s not terribly accurate. What is true is that Williamsburg is no longer zoned to neighborhoods with more affordable housing types.

And yes, the large class sizes have been a serious problem there. The building is also quite old and in need of a complete rebuild (along with TJ).

And Swanson and Gunston.

Middle schools across the board except Hamm and Kenmore are in rough shape.

Swanson could definitely use a renovation but as a designated historic building, the front lawn and the facade can’t be altered.

Hopefully the boundaries and building renovation/rebuild pipeline gets figured out soon. All the APS focus has been on option programs it seems. Montessori, Tech, etc., and not the neighborhood schools.

Uh, the focus was never on options in recent decades, and then in the last four years it suddenly had to be. The Career Center had to be finalized to meet HS seat planning that was delayed from a decade before. That also meant addressing Montessori, which is in one of the worst buildings. Meanwhile, APS like many other school districts put long range Capital improvement planning on hold during pandemic. Now it has restarted. I agree the MS (where my kid is now) need to be addressed, but they will.

The only reason APS got a new building was that the community wanted to kick HB out of its very old building to put a neighborhood middle school there. That wasn't the original plan. The new building was supposed to be for a new neighborhood middle school, but parents didn't like that plan and wanted the HB building/plot. So HB had to move. Then after HB got a new building on that plot that no one else wanted, the revisionist history is that APS focused on options as expense of neighborhood. But really it was the other way around.

People are upset about the Heights not because it was new, it’s because they way way overspent on a small fancy building.

When that location was going to be a 1300 seat neighborhood middle school, they had a very generic box building for the design.

Then when it became HB the pivoted to a boutique award winning architect to make it a show case building (and the APS staff in charge of it used that project to land a better job elsewhere, I forget his name).

It’s ridiculous that HB with 700 students had the largest middle school plot of land when our county is desperate for space. If they had simply expanded HB program, that might have alleviated a lot of overcrowding and made planning simpler. But its model requires a small school.

That's not specific to HB. That's what APS has done with all the new buildings, neighborhood or not, didn't you know that? Have you seen Discovery?

If you disagree with overspending on buildings, I am with you, but don't try to blame HB.

Rosslyn was a unique site due to the county run masterplanning independent of APS. Unique architecture was a priority for the site, whatever the program (es, ms, or option program, community center).

Overall, APS thankfully does a better job with facilities than some other school districts that design and build on the cheap. APS also spends less than Alexandria and DCPS. The new W-L annex is phenomenal and illustrates what can be done on a shoestring budget. For some reason though APS is spending like crazy on the new Career Center.

It houses 4 programs so needs space for the children, the career path programs like EMT and cosmetology, the science part of tech needs labs and the alternative path program, academy? Needs its own space for the staff that manage that. And isn’t there an esl school there too? A lot for a s -itty building.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Voluntary transfers are not an adequate solution when a school like Williamsburg - at 80% capacity - is allowed to decide that it only wants to take 10 transfers. Swanson is still left overcrowded and Williamsburg only made a symbolic gesture in taking a few extra kids. Why does APS allow this? So the richest middle school in the county is also the least crowded by a long shot? We are a Glebe family and, due to the voluntary transfers, what would be about a 50/50 split between Hamm and Swanson ends up being probably a 80/20 split with several kids left disappointed and on the wait list for transferring to Hamm. Just let them all transfer or none of them - or better yet, switch the PUs to Hamm so that some kids aren’t left behind.

What do you mean by richest? You do understand that APS doesn’t give any extra money to the schools when it accepts transfers. They don’t get to hire any more teachers or any additional staff. Schools are told how much money they have and then the school makes a decision about transfers. If APS really wanted to use transfers to help it would have to give schools money based on number of students after transfers are factored in. Please learn how things work before spouting off about how schools don’t take 20% more students.

I assume they meant richest as in that’s where the wealthiest people in the county live. Speaking of not spouting off when you don’t understand how things work, if they accepted more student, they would hire more teachers. That’s been a complaint at Williamsburg, classes are quite large because they don’t have enough students for an additional team or more sections.

That’s not terribly accurate. What is true is that Williamsburg is no longer zoned to neighborhoods with more affordable housing types.

And yes, the large class sizes have been a serious problem there. The building is also quite old and in need of a complete rebuild (along with TJ).

And Swanson and Gunston.

Middle schools across the board except Hamm and Kenmore are in rough shape.

Swanson could definitely use a renovation but as a designated historic building, the front lawn and the facade can’t be altered.

Hopefully the boundaries and building renovation/rebuild pipeline gets figured out soon. All the APS focus has been on option programs it seems. Montessori, Tech, etc., and not the neighborhood schools.

Uh, the focus was never on options in recent decades, and then in the last four years it suddenly had to be. The Career Center had to be finalized to meet HS seat planning that was delayed from a decade before. That also meant addressing Montessori, which is in one of the worst buildings. Meanwhile, APS like many other school districts put long range Capital improvement planning on hold during pandemic. Now it has restarted. I agree the MS (where my kid is now) need to be addressed, but they will.

The only reason APS got a new building was that the community wanted to kick HB out of its very old building to put a neighborhood middle school there. That wasn't the original plan. The new building was supposed to be for a new neighborhood middle school, but parents didn't like that plan and wanted the HB building/plot. So HB had to move. Then after HB got a new building on that plot that no one else wanted, the revisionist history is that APS focused on options as expense of neighborhood. But really it was the other way around.

People are upset about the Heights not because it was new, it’s because they way way overspent on a small fancy building.

When that location was going to be a 1300 seat neighborhood middle school, they had a very generic box building for the design.

Then when it became HB the pivoted to a boutique award winning architect to make it a show case building (and the APS staff in charge of it used that project to land a better job elsewhere, I forget his name).

It’s ridiculous that HB with 700 students had the largest middle school plot of land when our county is desperate for space. If they had simply expanded HB program, that might have alleviated a lot of overcrowding and made planning simpler. But its model requires a small school.

That's not specific to HB. That's what APS has done with all the new buildings, neighborhood or not, didn't you know that? Have you seen Discovery?

If you disagree with overspending on buildings, I am with you, but don't try to blame HB.

I blame HB for not expanding their program, and the excess for the Heights far far exceeds any other renovation. It was because it was for “HBW” — their show case program of private school size for public school cost.

It's so inconsistent to give HB the tiniest parcel in the county and then demand that it expand. How? Where? Have you been there? There is no room.

Also, you are either unaware or don't care that the building also houses the Shriver program. This program is for kids with severe special needs. Many are in wheelchairs. The building was built to meet their needs. That's just going to be more expensive. That's how it is. APS has a responsibility to educate these kids. So no your narrative that APS built a palace for HB is just plain wrong. They didn't even finish the floors!

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What about making ATS a feeder into WMS? That way friend groups could stay together post-elementary.

DC schools do this where option programs have their own feeder path.

Yes. Campbell, both immersion schools, Montessori, and ATS could all feed into Williamsburg then Yorktown. That would solve the underenrolled North Arlington schools once and for all.

Huh? I don't know that those numbers add up at all and it's a super weird grouping. Immersion needs to be considered separately because it has specific needs and is intended to benefit and support English learners.

I do think it would work well to give ATS students the option to continue at WMS so they can stay with friends, even if the program doesn't continue into middle school.

I know less about the Campbell program and whether those families would be interested in continuing at WMS given commutes and whether most of those kids end up at the same middle school(s) already.

And yet somehow Claremont has a lower FARMS rate and percentage of English learners than the surrounding neighborhood schools. I bet those parents would be happy to opt out of Gunston.

Huh? The ratio of English learners in immersion is set to 50/50 by definition. And immersion feeds into Gunston so signing up for immersion isn't opting out of Gunston. And Escuela Key parents are opting into Gunston and out of WMS/Hamm/Swanson by choosing immersion.

Voluntary transfers last year prioritized TJ and Swanson as the most overcrowded APS middle schools. If Gunston becomes the most crowded, presumably Gunston parents will be prioritized for a voluntary transfer to an underenrolled middle school.

It annoys me that this is thrown out as the solution. People want to know where their kids will go to middle school and know they will go with a cohort from their elementary school and their neighbors. It's not a solution to just say people from overcrowded schools can opt to go elsewhere. Listen to what you're saying. My school and its boundary works for me so several other over enrolled schools should just send their overages to my school.

I don't think that's what it's saying at all. I have a kid from an elementary school that splits for middle school. The kids who didn't have an older sibling at the crowded middle school tended to apply to transfer, but those who did have an older sibling opted to go to the same school as their sibling. This seemed to work out pretty well, with a lot of students going to their preferred school and less stressful than forcing students to swap.

It doesn't work well for me. I have a kid at Tuckahoe zoned to Swanson. I don't really care where he goes. Don't mind if we get a bus or not although he would be a walker to Swanson. What about kids who want to go to the other school and don't get a transfer? A lot of these schools have 1 or a just a handful of PUs going to a middle school. If most kids get a transfer out and he doesn't, that sucks for him. He was already supposed to go to Swanson with not many kids from his elementary school and what if he's one of the only ones who ends up there? That's stressful. Unless the policy is these kids are guaranteed placement at either school of their choice, which I don't think is the case.

You're guaranteed to go to your home school. No one is guaranteed a transfer. It's not a that hard. And yes, some boundary splits suck (see prior posts by Glebe, Ashlawn and ASFS parents) and don't make sense. But the next round could very well be worse and redrawing boundaries is always disruptive.

This is what it is for a lot of people. What we have doesn't work and a lot of kids are getting screwed but my kid isn't currently screwed so let's stick with what we have because in a new system my own kid could be worse off.

This is why APS sucks. This attitude is prevalent and APS totally caves to it over and over.

Its super disruptive to school communities and families to redraw boundaries. It should be done as infrequently as possible. Voluntary transfers are minimally disruptive and are a great measure to stretch out the time between boundary changes.

Guess what is super disruptive to school communities. Having your kid in a school packed like a sardine can for 3 years. Just lived it for 3 years with one kid. Voluntary transfers don't really help this issue.

The point of transfers is to deal with overcrowding. If it's not sufficient, that's a different discussion.

You can't force enough kids to take an optional transfer to Williamsburg to fix the imbalance. The way you would fix the issue is by...rezoning kids.

I wanted to transfer but they don’t offer transportation so I couldn’t make it work.

Yeah it's not really a good plan to offer transfers to relieve overcrowding when the families have to figure out transportation themselves. Seems like nothing more than offering the option for a small number of privileged kids to pick a different school.

Maybe an option to transfer with a hub bus stop could help? I’m sure there’s a central point near Westover that families could get their kids to in the morning. If we were really competent it could even be an added ART bus route if we can’t get school buses. I doubt this will ever happen though.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Voluntary transfers are not an adequate solution when a school like Williamsburg - at 80% capacity - is allowed to decide that it only wants to take 10 transfers. Swanson is still left overcrowded and Williamsburg only made a symbolic gesture in taking a few extra kids. Why does APS allow this? So the richest middle school in the county is also the least crowded by a long shot? We are a Glebe family and, due to the voluntary transfers, what would be about a 50/50 split between Hamm and Swanson ends up being probably a 80/20 split with several kids left disappointed and on the wait list for transferring to Hamm. Just let them all transfer or none of them - or better yet, switch the PUs to Hamm so that some kids aren’t left behind.

What do you mean by richest? You do understand that APS doesn’t give any extra money to the schools when it accepts transfers. They don’t get to hire any more teachers or any additional staff. Schools are told how much money they have and then the school makes a decision about transfers. If APS really wanted to use transfers to help it would have to give schools money based on number of students after transfers are factored in. Please learn how things work before spouting off about how schools don’t take 20% more students.

I assume they meant richest as in that’s where the wealthiest people in the county live. Speaking of not spouting off when you don’t understand how things work, if they accepted more student, they would hire more teachers. That’s been a complaint at Williamsburg, classes are quite large because they don’t have enough students for an additional team or more sections.

That’s not terribly accurate. What is true is that Williamsburg is no longer zoned to neighborhoods with more affordable housing types.

And yes, the large class sizes have been a serious problem there. The building is also quite old and in need of a complete rebuild (along with TJ).

And Swanson and Gunston.

Middle schools across the board except Hamm and Kenmore are in rough shape.

Swanson could definitely use a renovation but as a designated historic building, the front lawn and the facade can’t be altered.

Hopefully the boundaries and building renovation/rebuild pipeline gets figured out soon. All the APS focus has been on option programs it seems. Montessori, Tech, etc., and not the neighborhood schools.

Uh, the focus was never on options in recent decades, and then in the last four years it suddenly had to be. The Career Center had to be finalized to meet HS seat planning that was delayed from a decade before. That also meant addressing Montessori, which is in one of the worst buildings. Meanwhile, APS like many other school districts put long range Capital improvement planning on hold during pandemic. Now it has restarted. I agree the MS (where my kid is now) need to be addressed, but they will.

The only reason APS got a new building was that the community wanted to kick HB out of its very old building to put a neighborhood middle school there. That wasn't the original plan. The new building was supposed to be for a new neighborhood middle school, but parents didn't like that plan and wanted the HB building/plot. So HB had to move. Then after HB got a new building on that plot that no one else wanted, the revisionist history is that APS focused on options as expense of neighborhood. But really it was the other way around.

It's a little funny that APS has signaled their intention to move some of the people in the neighborhoods close to/north of Hamm to Williamsburg to make room for people in the R-B corridor at Hamm. We just keep going in circles.

That is so DOA. They are moving Immersion to WMS.

Jeeze, Taylor parents are persistent. That idea has only appeared here, touted by a few disgruntled Taylor parents, with absolutely no traction within APS admin. There are about a million other better solves than that harebrained idea.