APS: Think the "no move" campaign is going to work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So let's review who the no-movers have alienated:

-Nottingham and Tuckahoe with the alternate move maps
-Ashlawn, Barrett, and Long Branch with the no move tentacle and island maps. Maybe Glebe too.
-S Arlington by sending Long Branch refugees to Fleet and also advocating to save money for a N Arlington school by skipping parking at the Career Center project.
-ASFS by pretending like the overcrowded neighborhood kids don't need a school.

Who do they have left to get on their side? The general contempt for neighborhood schools has come through loud and clear.

Add the west end of the Pike. APS wants to prioritize this area for new construction but the Key lobby wants the $ to build a new school somewhere in Rosslyn/Cthouse so they don't have to move.

It just kills me when Key says they're doing this in the name of equity and for the benefit of low SES families, while screwing over the much larger low SES families in South Arlington.

oh me too me too. I am gobsmacked that they are willing to toss out everything in order to avoid moving. e.g. let's build 1000 person elementary schools- that 750 cap is just silly. We don't need no playground space- let's put kindergartners in sky scrapers with another 1500 kids- just so we don't need to move.

[Anonymous]

22:48 - ATS has 8 trailers. The entire second and third grade are in trailers. They are at something like 126% of their official capacity. So underattended? No. And the hundreds of people on the waiting list keep classes at full capacity - people even transfer their kids in for 4th and 5th grades.

[Anonymous]

6:18 Claremont has capacity for 599 kids (as of 2017-2018) and has 733 kids including preschoolers as of December 2019. So yes, over capacity (122%) but not 800 kids in a building built for 400.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:6:18 Claremont has capacity for 599 kids (as of 2017-2018) and has 733 kids including preschoolers as of December 2019. So yes, over capacity (122%) but not 800 kids in a building built for 400.

You gotta love how Key teacher is suddenly outraged about trailers now that Key may get some. Umm, what about all the kids at other schools who have been in trailers for years? Where's her concern for them?

Also, I don't get her logic. She is outraged that Key will have trailers at the new smaller building but at the same time claims many families won't make the move, thus lowering Key's population so it will fit into the building just fine. Which is it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:oh me too me too. I am gobsmacked that they are willing to toss out everything in order to avoid moving. e.g. let's build 1000 person elementary schools- that 750 cap is just silly. We don't need no playground space- let's put kindergartners in sky scrapers with another 1500 kids- just so we don't need to move.

You jest but why do all Arlington elementary schools need to be 2-3 story structures? Yes, K and PreK should go to school on ground floor for legal and safety reasons. But why can't you have 5th grade classes say on the 5th floor of a building? Heck, you can put a playground on the roof (with high fenced in areas and astroturf)? Arlington is an urbanized county. So it's not unreasonable to have some "non-traditional" schools that are taller so we don't have the issue of not enough seats when we're only considering 2-3 story "traditional" buildings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:oh me too me too. I am gobsmacked that they are willing to toss out everything in order to avoid moving. e.g. let's build 1000 person elementary schools- that 750 cap is just silly. We don't need no playground space- let's put kindergartners in sky scrapers with another 1500 kids- just so we don't need to move.

You jest but why do all Arlington elementary schools need to be 2-3 story structures? Yes, K and PreK should go to school on ground floor for legal and safety reasons. But why can't you have 5th grade classes say on the 5th floor of a building? Heck, you can put a playground on the roof (with high fenced in areas and astroturf)? Arlington is an urbanized county. So it's not unreasonable to have some "non-traditional" schools that are taller so we don't have the issue of not enough seats when we're only considering 2-3 story "traditional" buildings.

I believe 1st grade is also supposed to be on the egress level.

I'm not generally opposed to building higher and more creatively. It's still BS to suggest that 1500 elementary kids would fit on the Key site.

[Anonymous]

Parents whose lives are being “upended” by moving their option school 2 miles do have another choice. They can send their kid to their neighborhood school and give the option spot to a family who can manage the 2 mile difference. Plenty on the waiting list happy to deal with the commute!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. McKinley PTA (which started out presenting itself as a reasonable and calm player) has gone completely off the rails. Appeals to PTAs and personal rebukes.

where is this?

They have an email campaign of misinformation going out to other PTAs.

ahh. fortunately I think most PTA leadership is smarter than this and will see right through it.

Can the CCPTA hold a happy hour at the Beer Garden for team Save McKinley? I think we all feel the pain that McKrazy and Data Dudes are going through. This is a tough battle they are fighting and they are really getting desperate. Maybe we can capture some "lessons learned" for the next round.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parents whose lives are being “upended” by moving their option school 2 miles do have another choice. They can send their kid to their neighborhood school and give the option spot to a family who can manage the 2 mile difference. Plenty on the waiting list happy to deal with the commute!

People are doing their kids no favors by treating them like delicate flowers and insisting that necessary changes impact others, but not them.

[Anonymous]

At Fleet, not even all the K classes are on the ground level. And the building is not very accessible for kids in wheelchairs. They also don't have a decent evacuation plan for kids who can't evacuate on their own.

All of this makes me less likely to support tall elementary schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:oh me too me too. I am gobsmacked that they are willing to toss out everything in order to avoid moving. e.g. let's build 1000 person elementary schools- that 750 cap is just silly. We don't need no playground space- let's put kindergartners in sky scrapers with another 1500 kids- just so we don't need to move.

You jest but why do all Arlington elementary schools need to be 2-3 story structures? Yes, K and PreK should go to school on ground floor for legal and safety reasons. But why can't you have 5th grade classes say on the 5th floor of a building? Heck, you can put a playground on the roof (with high fenced in areas and astroturf)? Arlington is an urbanized county. So it's not unreasonable to have some "non-traditional" schools that are taller so we don't have the issue of not enough seats when we're only considering 2-3 story "traditional" buildings.

VA school building guidelines all for pre-k, K, 1st grade to be on egress level as well as all self-contained special ed classrooms. I have no problem building up and think that elementary schools should be 2-3 stories instead of 1. That being said- once you have all that needs to be done on the ground level on the ground level- with the corresponding footprint- there is not much need to build up to much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:oh me too me too. I am gobsmacked that they are willing to toss out everything in order to avoid moving. e.g. let's build 1000 person elementary schools- that 750 cap is just silly. We don't need no playground space- let's put kindergartners in sky scrapers with another 1500 kids- just so we don't need to move.

You jest but why do all Arlington elementary schools need to be 2-3 story structures? Yes, K and PreK should go to school on ground floor for legal and safety reasons. But why can't you have 5th grade classes say on the 5th floor of a building? Heck, you can put a playground on the roof (with high fenced in areas and astroturf)? Arlington is an urbanized county. So it's not unreasonable to have some "non-traditional" schools that are taller so we don't have the issue of not enough seats when we're only considering 2-3 story "traditional" buildings.

VA school building guidelines all for pre-k, K, 1st grade to be on egress level as well as all self-contained special ed classrooms. I have no problem building up and think that elementary schools should be 2-3 stories instead of 1. That being said- once you have all that needs to be done on the ground level on the ground level- with the corresponding footprint- there is not much need to build up to much.

Do you have a cite for these guidelines? Are they mandatory or just guidelines?

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous

Do you have a cite for these guidelines? Are they mandatory or just guidelines?


http://www.doe.virginia.gov/support/facility_construction/building_regs_and_guidelines.shtml

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:oh me too me too. I am gobsmacked that they are willing to toss out everything in order to avoid moving. e.g. let's build 1000 person elementary schools- that 750 cap is just silly. We don't need no playground space- let's put kindergartners in sky scrapers with another 1500 kids- just so we don't need to move.

You jest but why do all Arlington elementary schools need to be 2-3 story structures? Yes, K and PreK should go to school on ground floor for legal and safety reasons. But why can't you have 5th grade classes say on the 5th floor of a building? Heck, you can put a playground on the roof (with high fenced in areas and astroturf)? Arlington is an urbanized county. So it's not unreasonable to have some "non-traditional" schools that are taller so we don't have the issue of not enough seats when we're only considering 2-3 story "traditional" buildings.

VA school building guidelines all for pre-k, K, 1st grade to be on egress level as well as all self-contained special ed classrooms. I have no problem building up and think that elementary schools should be 2-3 stories instead of 1. That being said- once you have all that needs to be done on the ground level on the ground level- with the corresponding footprint- there is not much need to build up to much.

Do you have a cite for these guidelines? Are they mandatory or just guidelines?

I went to an elementary school as a kid where the cafeteria and gym were on the main ground level, but there was a ramp down for k-1 and up for 2-3, and then a set for stairs up to 4-5. The ramp counted as a ground level egress, and both the k-1 and 2-3 levels also had a walk out egress in the rear because the building was built into a hill. There are ways to do it. With the hill, 4-5 only had one set of stairs to ground level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. McKinley PTA (which started out presenting itself as a reasonable and calm player) has gone completely off the rails. Appeals to PTAs and personal rebukes.

where is this?

They have an email campaign of misinformation going out to other PTAs.

ahh. fortunately I think most PTA leadership is smarter than this and will see right through it.

Can the CCPTA hold a happy hour at the Beer Garden for team Save McKinley? I think we all feel the pain that McKrazy and Data Dudes are going through. This is a tough battle they are fighting and they are really getting desperate. Maybe we can capture some "lessons learned" for the next round.

I would second that proposal. It is really sad how APS wants to tear these communities apart