Tuckahoe by the numbers - how can it stay a neighborhood school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait. Why does anyone think it's OK to move a choice program basically to border of Falls Church City. A new one, OK, I guess. Though I think if anyone should get a new optoin program is somewhere S. of 50. A current one? No way.

Because south Arlington already needs more neighborhood seats. It isn't ideal to have an option school on the edge of the county, but parents who choose an option school are making the trade-off of that program versus the neighborhood school to which they are assigned. Immersion schools need to be near both Spanish and English speaking populations to work, but schools like ATS or Montessori (which isn't on the table, I'm just using it as another example) can be put anywhere where there is excess capacity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait. Why does anyone think it's OK to move a choice program basically to border of Falls Church City. A new one, OK, I guess. Though I think if anyone should get a new optoin program is somewhere S. of 50. A current one? No way.

Because when the Reed school opens there will be an excess of seats in that area of the county. A lot of the current Tuckahoe PUs will shift to Reed. Tuckahoe and Nottingham have a lot of overlap in attendance areas, so most of the remaining kids can easily shift to Nottingham.

It may not be ideal placement for an option school, but the seats will be there.

I think the SB should be taking a poll of existing families at ATS and Key about how important the location is and who would send their kids to Tuckahoe

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait. Why does anyone think it's OK to move a choice program basically to border of Falls Church City. A new one, OK, I guess. Though I think if anyone should get a new optoin program is somewhere S. of 50. A current one? No way.

Because when the Reed school opens there will be an excess of seats in that area of the county. A lot of the current Tuckahoe PUs will shift to Reed. Tuckahoe and Nottingham have a lot of overlap in attendance areas, so most of the remaining kids can easily shift to Nottingham.

It may not be ideal placement for an option school, but the seats will be there.

I think the SB should be taking a poll of existing families at ATS and Key about how important the location is and who would send their kids to Tuckahoe

The discussion isn't whether immersion would move to Tuckahoe, it's whether ATS would move to Tuckahoe most likely. Then you'd have a few options. One would be to have ASFS and Key switch locations, with the Rosslyn site turning into the neighborhood school and the current ASFS site becoming immersion. Or, if there's enough of a need for neighborhood seats in the NW corner, then both of them become neighborhood schools and the ATS site is now freed up to become the new immersion site.

All of this is hypothetical right now until this process is done, but these are the scenarios that people are seeing play out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait. Why does anyone think it's OK to move a choice program basically to border of Falls Church City. A new one, OK, I guess. Though I think if anyone should get a new optoin program is somewhere S. of 50. A current one? No way.

Because when the Reed school opens there will be an excess of seats in that area of the county. A lot of the current Tuckahoe PUs will shift to Reed. Tuckahoe and Nottingham have a lot of overlap in attendance areas, so most of the remaining kids can easily shift to Nottingham.

It may not be ideal placement for an option school, but the seats will be there.

I think the SB should be taking a poll of existing families at ATS and Key about how important the location is and who would send their kids to Tuckahoe

The discussion isn't whether immersion would move to Tuckahoe, it's whether ATS would move to Tuckahoe most likely. Then you'd have a few options. One would be to have ASFS and Key switch locations, with the Rosslyn site turning into the neighborhood school and the current ASFS site becoming immersion. Or, if there's enough of a need for neighborhood seats in the NW corner, then both of them become neighborhood schools and the ATS site is now freed up to become the new immersion site.

All of this is hypothetical right now until this process is done, but these are the scenarios that people are seeing play out.

If both ASFS and Key become neighborhood, there will be excess capacity in the NE quadrant. Reed is going to pull in some Glebe PUs, Fleet will pull in Long Branch. The REAL crisis is going to be in the southern part of the county where they keep building and approving 2-3 bedroom family housing units. Where in the heck are the hundreds of kids at the soon-to-be-completed Frederick St development going to go to school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait. Why does anyone think it's OK to move a choice program basically to border of Falls Church City. A new one, OK, I guess. Though I think if anyone should get a new optoin program is somewhere S. of 50. A current one? No way.

Because when the Reed school opens there will be an excess of seats in that area of the county. A lot of the current Tuckahoe PUs will shift to Reed. Tuckahoe and Nottingham have a lot of overlap in attendance areas, so most of the remaining kids can easily shift to Nottingham.

It may not be ideal placement for an option school, but the seats will be there.

I think the SB should be taking a poll of existing families at ATS and Key about how important the location is and who would send their kids to Tuckahoe

but this isn't really about the existing families. The current Kindergartners will be in 4th grade when this change happens. At most this only impacts current K and 1 families. This is about the long term needs of APS. More significant than whether existing choice families want a new location (I'm sure by the way the answer to that question is no) is whether neighborhood families with preschoolers want a neighborhood school- or are they okay with their neighborhood school being a long way away.

[Anonymous]

I agree-but the existing families probably provide a good "sample" of future families.

I wonder if anyone is trying to engage the current preschool families? These are the families that will be the most impacted... they should all be informed and able to provide input.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree-but the existing families probably provide a good "sample" of future families.

I wonder if anyone is trying to engage the current preschool families? These are the families that will be the most impacted... they should all be informed and able to provide input.

APS doesn’t have the resources to do it. Hopefully word is spreading out from the schools. Our civic association actively is targeting parents of young children to get them engaged. Articles run regularly on ArlNow or in the Sun Gazette.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait. Why does anyone think it's OK to move a choice program basically to border of Falls Church City. A new one, OK, I guess. Though I think if anyone should get a new optoin program is somewhere S. of 50. A current one? No way.

Because when the Reed school opens there will be an excess of seats in that area of the county. A lot of the current Tuckahoe PUs will shift to Reed. Tuckahoe and Nottingham have a lot of overlap in attendance areas, so most of the remaining kids can easily shift to Nottingham.

It may not be ideal placement for an option school, but the seats will be there.

I think the SB should be taking a poll of existing families at ATS and Key about how important the location is and who would send their kids to Tuckahoe

The discussion isn't whether immersion would move to Tuckahoe, it's whether ATS would move to Tuckahoe most likely. Then you'd have a few options. One would be to have ASFS and Key switch locations, with the Rosslyn site turning into the neighborhood school and the current ASFS site becoming immersion. Or, if there's enough of a need for neighborhood seats in the NW corner, then both of them become neighborhood schools and the ATS site is now freed up to become the new immersion site.

All of this is hypothetical right now until this process is done, but these are the scenarios that people are seeing play out.

If both ASFS and Key become neighborhood, there will be excess capacity in the NE quadrant. Reed is going to pull in some Glebe PUs, Fleet will pull in Long Branch. The REAL crisis is going to be in the southern part of the county where they keep building and approving 2-3 bedroom family housing units. Where in the heck are the hundreds of kids at the soon-to-be-completed Frederick St development going to go to school?

what is your basis for saying there would be excess capacity in the NE quadrant? Looking at APS's forecasts, this is where they need the seats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait. Why does anyone think it's OK to move a choice program basically to border of Falls Church City. A new one, OK, I guess. Though I think if anyone should get a new optoin program is somewhere S. of 50. A current one? No way.

Because when the Reed school opens there will be an excess of seats in that area of the county. A lot of the current Tuckahoe PUs will shift to Reed. Tuckahoe and Nottingham have a lot of overlap in attendance areas, so most of the remaining kids can easily shift to Nottingham.

It may not be ideal placement for an option school, but the seats will be there.

I think the SB should be taking a poll of existing families at ATS and Key about how important the location is and who would send their kids to Tuckahoe

The discussion isn't whether immersion would move to Tuckahoe, it's whether ATS would move to Tuckahoe most likely. Then you'd have a few options. One would be to have ASFS and Key switch locations, with the Rosslyn site turning into the neighborhood school and the current ASFS site becoming immersion. Or, if there's enough of a need for neighborhood seats in the NW corner, then both of them become neighborhood schools and the ATS site is now freed up to become the new immersion site.

All of this is hypothetical right now until this process is done, but these are the scenarios that people are seeing play out.

If both ASFS and Key become neighborhood, there will be excess capacity in the NE quadrant. Reed is going to pull in some Glebe PUs, Fleet will pull in Long Branch. The REAL crisis is going to be in the southern part of the county where they keep building and approving 2-3 bedroom family housing units. Where in the heck are the hundreds of kids at the soon-to-be-completed Frederick St development going to go to school?

what is your basis for saying there would be excess capacity in the NE quadrant? Looking at APS's forecasts, this is where they need the seats.

To add to this, there are additional developments in the works in the Key zone, both market rate and affordable housing. This one was just approved last week:

https://newsroom.arlingtonva.us/release/board-commits-7-9-million-affordable-housing-loan-to-queens-court-south/
"The 249 new affordable units will include studio, one, two and three-bedroom units, and more than half of them will be family sized." Assuming each family sized unit has 1+ kid, that's a lot of kids coming in all at once.

If you chose an option school, that's great! You need to take the inconveniences that come with that. Your wishes are not more important than providing a neighborhood school in reasonable proximity to where people live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait. Why does anyone think it's OK to move a choice program basically to border of Falls Church City. A new one, OK, I guess. Though I think if anyone should get a new optoin program is somewhere S. of 50. A current one? No way.

Because when the Reed school opens there will be an excess of seats in that area of the county. A lot of the current Tuckahoe PUs will shift to Reed. Tuckahoe and Nottingham have a lot of overlap in attendance areas, so most of the remaining kids can easily shift to Nottingham.

It may not be ideal placement for an option school, but the seats will be there.

I think the SB should be taking a poll of existing families at ATS and Key about how important the location is and who would send their kids to Tuckahoe

The discussion isn't whether immersion would move to Tuckahoe, it's whether ATS would move to Tuckahoe most likely. Then you'd have a few options. One would be to have ASFS and Key switch locations, with the Rosslyn site turning into the neighborhood school and the current ASFS site becoming immersion. Or, if there's enough of a need for neighborhood seats in the NW corner, then both of them become neighborhood schools and the ATS site is now freed up to become the new immersion site.

All of this is hypothetical right now until this process is done, but these are the scenarios that people are seeing play out.

If both ASFS and Key become neighborhood, there will be excess capacity in the NE quadrant. Reed is going to pull in some Glebe PUs, Fleet will pull in Long Branch. The REAL crisis is going to be in the southern part of the county where they keep building and approving 2-3 bedroom family housing units. Where in the heck are the hundreds of kids at the soon-to-be-completed Frederick St development going to go to school?

what is your basis for saying there would be excess capacity in the NE quadrant? Looking at APS's forecasts, this is where they need the seats.

To add to this, there are additional developments in the works in the Key zone, both market rate and affordable housing. This one was just approved last week:

https://newsroom.arlingtonva.us/release/board-commits-7-9-million-affordable-housing-loan-to-queens-court-south/
"The 249 new affordable units will include studio, one, two and three-bedroom units, and more than half of them will be family sized." Assuming each family sized unit has 1+ kid, that's a lot of kids coming in all at once.

If you chose an option school, that's great! You need to take the inconveniences that come with that. Your wishes are not more important than providing a neighborhood school in reasonable proximity to where people live.

+10000

[Anonymous]

I agree with PP. However, I think it would be smart for a "choice" school to be in a location that doesn't work great as a neighborhood school. A school location that already relies heavily on buses, etc..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait. Why does anyone think it's OK to move a choice program basically to border of Falls Church City. A new one, OK, I guess. Though I think if anyone should get a new optoin program is somewhere S. of 50. A current one? No way.

Because when the Reed school opens there will be an excess of seats in that area of the county. A lot of the current Tuckahoe PUs will shift to Reed. Tuckahoe and Nottingham have a lot of overlap in attendance areas, so most of the remaining kids can easily shift to Nottingham.

It may not be ideal placement for an option school, but the seats will be there.

I think the SB should be taking a poll of existing families at ATS and Key about how important the location is and who would send their kids to Tuckahoe

The discussion isn't whether immersion would move to Tuckahoe, it's whether ATS would move to Tuckahoe most likely. Then you'd have a few options. One would be to have ASFS and Key switch locations, with the Rosslyn site turning into the neighborhood school and the current ASFS site becoming immersion. Or, if there's enough of a need for neighborhood seats in the NW corner, then both of them become neighborhood schools and the ATS site is now freed up to become the new immersion site.

All of this is hypothetical right now until this process is done, but these are the scenarios that people are seeing play out.

If both ASFS and Key become neighborhood, there will be excess capacity in the NE quadrant. Reed is going to pull in some Glebe PUs, Fleet will pull in Long Branch. The REAL crisis is going to be in the southern part of the county where they keep building and approving 2-3 bedroom family housing units. Where in the heck are the hundreds of kids at the soon-to-be-completed Frederick St development going to go to school?

what is your basis for saying there would be excess capacity in the NE quadrant? Looking at APS's forecasts, this is where they need the seats.

To add to this, there are additional developments in the works in the Key zone, both market rate and affordable housing. This one was just approved last week:

https://newsroom.arlingtonva.us/release/board-commits-7-9-million-affordable-housing-loan-to-queens-court-south/
"The 249 new affordable units will include studio, one, two and three-bedroom units, and more than half of them will be family sized." Assuming each family sized unit has 1+ kid, that's a lot of kids coming in all at once.

If you chose an option school, that's great! You need to take the inconveniences that come with that. Your wishes are not more important than providing a neighborhood school in reasonable proximity to where people live.

+10000

I don't have a dog in this fight (not Key or Immersion). I just think the need for seats is more urgent in other areas right now. As I stated, Frederick street, and Gilliam Place for that matter, will open years before this and other projects that were just approved. I think Frederick opens next year. Where are their seats? For now, a swap between two nearby schools (Key and ASFS) will preserve more funds for the more urgent and rapidly approaching seat crisis in S Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree-but the existing families probably provide a good "sample" of future families.

.

I actually don't really agree with this- at least with respect to immersion. The current immersion families all had a neighborhood preference to be admitted. If you survey them a stunning amount will essentially say that they picked Key and/or Claremont b/c it was their 'neighborhood' school- not because they actually wanted immersion. This is partly the reason why you get the steep drop off in families continuing in immersion as they go into middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree-but the existing families probably provide a good "sample" of future families.

.

I actually don't really agree with this- at least with respect to immersion. The current immersion families all had a neighborhood preference to be admitted. If you survey them a stunning amount will essentially say that they picked Key and/or Claremont b/c it was their 'neighborhood' school- not because they actually wanted immersion. This is partly the reason why you get the steep drop off in families continuing in immersion as they go into middle school.

Not sure about that.
You choose Claremont over Abingdon.
Once the choice becomes Gunston over TJ... might as well track back through your assigned pyramid.

[Anonymous]

Let tuckahoe keep their neighbor school, and open it up to transfers.
The transfer pool should exclusively be open to free lunch eligible children who attend Barcroft, Randolph, Abingdon, or Drew.
That way they keep their school, and crowding is eased south of 50.
Also, some demographics get balanced in the process.