APS Families--Pls email county and school boards by Tues. 5/24!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So is the negative effect of the overcrowding of the high schools expected to hit W-L the hardest and somehow Yorktown will be spared?

That's why there is support within the w-l community for redrawing boundaries and for an addition to the school that may or may not house mostly freshmen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about Wakefield?

Well, as usual, nobody cares about Wakefield.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My recommendation to this complex and vexing issue, move APS administrators from their building into trailers on the parking deck and turn their office building into additional seats. It solve a small piece of the problem. But perhaps it will motivate our well paid administrators to find ways to trim their budget and find more funds for this crisis issue, find land or buildings for more schools, and a way out of this seating crisis. Even if County increased the sharing ratio from 47% to 50% of all County revenue, we just get more expensive consultants and technology, not more seats. The relocation of HB to the Rosslyn site is a good explain of how wisely they use the funds, a new school with a cap of 775 seats for just a mere $100 million. Yorktown HS new building (2011-2013 costs) provided 1600 seats for $103 million. I will grant that a smaller project can actual cost as much as a slight larger one, 2011 costs are lower than 2016 costs, and the siting is different. Taking that all into account does even out the the cost per seat between the 2013 HS and the new Rosslyn school.

And let's remember this is not a new issue. This has been vexing APS since 2011.

"Facing a burgeoning school population that has grown by 15 percent since 2006 and is projected to balloon another 20+ percent by 2017, school leaders are examining numerous options for new buildings, additions and renovations. Sixteen options for buildings or additions on Arlington Public Schools property were presented at a public meeting last week, and more options are on the way." Arlingotn Now, 12/5/2011

APS has already moved many administrators into rented space and the superintendent has said they would move the rest into rented space if a new use for the Ed Center was approved. They are crammed into the Ed Center space now and also into the other facilities space over on Four Mile Run--it's not like they have added on to their facilities even as the size of the school population has increased by 25% and they have had to add new staff. The central admin budget is a small fraction of the APS budget anyhow (this is all in the WABE guide if you care to look at actual data).

The amount of money the schools get from the county, the size of H-B--those are political decisions made by the Board. Put your anger where it is deserved.

(Oh, wait. We just had an election last week and fewer than 2,000 people showed up to vote and the incumbent and the person handpicked by the current chair won. Oh well.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about Wakefield?

Well, as usual, nobody cares about Wakefield.

Washington-Lee is projected to be the most overcrowded followed by Wakefield and then Yorktown. The School Board proposes to do internal modifications at Wakefield by August 2017 to create 300 more seats and in August of 2018, the same to Yorktown. This was already done at W-L last summer but only very briefly solved the projected overcrowding. There is talk about redrawing boundaries once these internal modifications are complete to more evenly distribute students across the county. What is not clear is whether the boundaries would be redrawn in 2017 and 2018. In any event, the addition of the seats at Wakefield and Yorktown are merely a short term solution.

So yes, people care about Wakefield and yes, Yorktown appears to be least impacted by overcrowding in the next decade, unless you throw in HB, which gets its $98M school to seat only 750 total students.

[Anonymous]

This post has gone a bit off the rails. APS needs more land/help from ACB to tackle this seat crisis. Does anyone up for election actually want to do anything to help the schools? Or, is anyone actually against adding more freakin' density?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This post has gone a bit off the rails. APS needs more land/help from ACB to tackle this seat crisis. Does anyone up for election actually want to do anything to help the schools? Or, is anyone actually against adding more freakin' density?

Although I found most of last night's meeting discouraging, I thought at the end they mentioned looking at VHC, the Ed Center and the Buck Property (Where is this located in relation to W-L?).

I'm not familiar enough with how the budget process works, but didn't they mention the process having to build in reserves and needing to pivot (e.g., TJ parking garage--although much cheaper than a new school)? So, (being completely optimistic here), wouldn't that me at some point they'll have to consider whether VHC could be a possible sight for a new HS? Of course, the funding then comes into play.

Also, can someone explain to me what a zero-period is? Is this something done only at W-L? or all 3 high schools? (TIA--parent w/o any high school kids yet).

[Anonymous]

Zero period is a class scheduled before first period sonstudents taking zero period classes start around 7:30 and are finished earlier in the day some days due to block scheduling than the student with a typical schedule. One of my sons had his AP English class zero period at WL five years ago and hated it. He ended up with a zero period class after having to rearrange his schedule three weeks into the school year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This post has gone a bit off the rails. APS needs more land/help from ACB to tackle this seat crisis. Does anyone up for election actually want to do anything to help the schools? Or, is anyone actually against adding more freakin' density?

Although I found most of last night's meeting discouraging, I thought at the end they mentioned looking at VHC, the Ed Center and the Buck Property (Where is this located in relation to W-L?).

I'm not familiar enough with how the budget process works, but didn't they mention the process having to build in reserves and needing to pivot (e.g., TJ parking garage--although much cheaper than a new school)? So, (being completely optimistic here), wouldn't that me at some point they'll have to consider whether VHC could be a possible sight for a new HS? Of course, the funding then comes into play.

Also, can someone explain to me what a zero-period is? Is this something done only at W-L? or all 3 high schools? (TIA--parent w/o any high school kids yet).

This is across the street from W-L.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Zero period is a class scheduled before first period sonstudents taking zero period classes start around 7:30 and are finished earlier in the day some days due to block scheduling than the student with a typical schedule. One of my sons had his AP English class zero period at WL five years ago and hated it. He ended up with a zero period class after having to rearrange his schedule three weeks into the school year.

Thanks! So it sounds like due to overcrowding they offer some classes before school generally starts and then they may leave before the school day typically ends. This way they have less people occupying the space during regular school hours.

Hasn't Fairfax county moved high school start times back due to the studies and here we're asking teenagers to use them before the typical school day even begins? DoYorktown and Wakefield do this? Or is it just W-L?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Zero period is a class scheduled before first period sonstudents taking zero period classes start around 7:30 and are finished earlier in the day some days due to block scheduling than the student with a typical schedule. One of my sons had his AP English class zero period at WL five years ago and hated it. He ended up with a zero period class after having to rearrange his schedule three weeks into the school year.

Thanks! So it sounds like due to overcrowding they offer some classes before school generally starts and then they may leave before the school day typically ends. This way they have less people occupying the space during regular school hours.

Hasn't Fairfax county moved high school start times back due to the studies and here we're asking teenagers to use them before the typical school day even begins? Do Yorktown and Wakefield do this? Or is it just W-L?

I thought about that too. It would be better to put the classes at the end of the day, but then some students will miss out of sports and clubs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Zero period is a class scheduled before first period sonstudents taking zero period classes start around 7:30 and are finished earlier in the day some days due to block scheduling than the student with a typical schedule. One of my sons had his AP English class zero period at WL five years ago and hated it. He ended up with a zero period class after having to rearrange his schedule three weeks into the school year.

Thanks! So it sounds like due to overcrowding they offer some classes before school generally starts and then they may leave before the school day typically ends. This way they have less people occupying the space during regular school hours.

Hasn't Fairfax county moved high school start times back due to the studies and here we're asking teenagers to use them before the typical school day even begins? DoYorktown and Wakefield do this? Or is it just W-L?

HB also has a zero period, but it starts later than those at other high schools, because HB's regular start time is later. IOW, zero period at HB starts closer to 8 than to 7:30. It is most popular with kids who do need to leave school before the regular end of day in HB (e.g., students who play sports at their home high schools, etc.).

My DS goes to W-L, and we've been happy with his experience there. But there is no question that the school is bursting at the seams, and they seem happy whenever students have any excuse to be off campus. My DS has an independent study class this year (because a desired class did not fit into his schedule), so he has the afternoon "off" every other day. This hasn't been a problem for my responsible 18-year-old, but I can easily imagine this situation being a pretty bad idea for a different kid. I also think being away from school so much has contributed to my DS's relative lack of engagement in school activities, etc. this year (yes, some of that could be senioritis, but there isn't a lot of additional evidence supporting the senioritis theory, since his grades remain good). I think a sense of connection and "belonging" to a group is a really important component of adolescent mental health, and the idea of encouraging our teens to be less present/involved in their schools really troubles me (unless something else is filling that void).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Zero period is a class scheduled before first period sonstudents taking zero period classes start around 7:30 and are finished earlier in the day some days due to block scheduling than the student with a typical schedule. One of my sons had his AP English class zero period at WL five years ago and hated it. He ended up with a zero period class after having to rearrange his schedule three weeks into the school year.

Thanks! So it sounds like due to overcrowding they offer some classes before school generally starts and then they may leave before the school day typically ends. This way they have less people occupying the space during regular school hours.

Hasn't Fairfax county moved high school start times back due to the studies and here we're asking teenagers to use them before the typical school day even begins? Do Yorktown and Wakefield do this? Or is it just W-L?

I thought about that too. It would be better to put the classes at the end of the day, but then some students will miss out of sports and clubs.

Yes, and some kids have jobs, too.

As long as we want kids to be involved in extracurricular activities (and I think we do), there really are good reasons to maintain the current structure of the high school day.

[Anonymous]

"All while CARD blames the poors."

Do they? I just went on their website and it looks like CARD is asking that the county spread out AH and not concentrate it in certain areas. Doesn't research (and history) prove that concentrating poverty into certain neighborhoods does more harm than good? For everyone?

I'm just wondering why CARD has such a bad rap. It seems like their ideas are pretty reasonable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"All while CARD blames the poors."

Do they? I just went on their website and it looks like CARD is asking that the county spread out AH and not concentrate it in certain areas. Doesn't research (and history) prove that concentrating poverty into certain neighborhoods does more harm than good? For everyone?

I'm just wondering why CARD has such a bad rap. It seems like their ideas are pretty reasonable.

I'm in CARD, so I agree with the platform. I think it's a hard message to sell, as evidenced by the low turn out at their protest of AH. No one wants to be seen as the bad guy or against lower income families. CARD walks a fine line there, in asking for reasonable and thoughtful plans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The person who mentioned CARD above--I looked at their website. I see plenty of buzz words but what exactly is it they are working for? What does "thoughtful" placement of AH mean? What is more important to them AH issues or school issues or do they seem them as inextricably entwined? Where are they on the capacity issue?

I think it means not just cramming it into South Arlington while falsely claiming land is cheaper there. It means building more mixed income complexes, and affordable units being equally distributed throughout the county, and along major transit corridors that aren't just Columbia Pike.

There are plans, and it was referenced last night, to substantially increase population density along Lee Highway in the coming decades. It's a prime spot for multi-family housing, including MARKs and CAFs.

It's not just about Columbia Pike. CARD doesn't want to see concentrated Poverty anywhere. They want to see mixed income buildings. They are absolutely the only people saying housing policy is school policy. They are not attacking or blaming poor people. They want to hold our leadership accountable. The only people they are listening to is the AH lobby. Seriously you people need to go to a meeting regarding new CAF's. It's unreal.