APS - new CIP proposal

[Anonymous]

F***ing Montessori PAC strikes again. FOIA MOG’s emails. How the eff did this plan take shape outside of community input? Nobody wants more Montessori ES or MS seats. And the low income families bail after Pre-K, so we’re building more Montessori capacity to serve a population of people who could afford private school, but want it for free. WTF

Also, consolidating the Montessori Pre-K classes frees up capacity at ES that aren’t having capacity issues, like Discovery and Jamestown. They’re already projecting a surplus of seats in the far N of Arlington once the new school at Reed comes online, and given zoning, those areas aren’t going to see a sudden explosion of high density development, like along the R-B corridor and the Pike. Those are the areas that are experiencing overcrowded neighborhood schools and need relief. This plan won’t help those ES, unless a lot of new families opt into Montessori. The waitlist doesn’t indicate an unmet desire for Montessori beyond Pre-K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:F***ing Montessori PAC strikes again. FOIA MOG’s emails. How the eff did this plan take shape outside of community input? Nobody wants more Montessori ES or MS seats. And the low income families bail after Pre-K, so we’re building more Montessori capacity to serve a population of people who could afford private school, but want it for free. WTF

Also, consolidating the Montessori Pre-K classes frees up capacity at ES that aren’t having capacity issues, like Discovery and Jamestown. They’re already projecting a surplus of seats in the far N of Arlington once the new school at Reed comes online, and given zoning, those areas aren’t going to see a sudden explosion of high density development, like along the R-B corridor and the Pike. Those are the areas that are experiencing overcrowded neighborhood schools and need relief. This plan won’t help those ES, unless a lot of new families opt into Montessori. The waitlist doesn’t indicate an unmet desire for Montessori beyond Pre-K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:F***ing Montessori PAC strikes again. FOIA MOG’s emails. How the eff did this plan take shape outside of community input? Nobody wants more Montessori ES or MS seats. And the low income families bail after Pre-K, so we’re building more Montessori capacity to serve a population of people who could afford private school, but want it for free. WTF

Also, consolidating the Montessori Pre-K classes frees up capacity at ES that aren’t having capacity issues, like Discovery and Jamestown. They’re already projecting a surplus of seats in the far N of Arlington once the new school at Reed comes online, and given zoning, those areas aren’t going to see a sudden explosion of high density development, like along the R-B corridor and the Pike. Those are the areas that are experiencing overcrowded neighborhood schools and need relief. This plan won’t help those ES, unless a lot of new families opt into Montessori. The waitlist doesn’t indicate an unmet desire for Montessori beyond Pre-K.

The moving pre-K seats is one of the stupidest parts of an already stupid plan. APS puts those seats where there is open space. They don't need a permanent home.

But reminder: This is not a done plan. So now is the time to complain not on DCUMs but to the two boards that have to vote on this plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:F***ing Montessori PAC strikes again. FOIA MOG’s emails. How the eff did this plan take shape outside of community input? Nobody wants more Montessori ES or MS seats. And the low income families bail after Pre-K, so we’re building more Montessori capacity to serve a population of people who could afford private school, but want it for free. WTF

Also, consolidating the Montessori Pre-K classes frees up capacity at ES that aren’t having capacity issues, like Discovery and Jamestown. They’re already projecting a surplus of seats in the far N of Arlington once the new school at Reed comes online, and given zoning, those areas aren’t going to see a sudden explosion of high density development, like along the R-B corridor and the Pike. Those are the areas that are experiencing overcrowded neighborhood schools and need relief. This plan won’t help those ES, unless a lot of new families opt into Montessori. The waitlist doesn’t indicate an unmet desire for Montessori beyond Pre-K.

+1000

Montessori has a building. It doesn't need a new one (even a repurposed one). That is wasted money and time. Build up Arl Tech on the current site, and put a field where the parking lot is. Montessori middle school has been shrinking, not growing, because families feel like their kids end up in high school very unprepared.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:F***ing Montessori PAC strikes again. FOIA MOG’s emails. How the eff did this plan take shape outside of community input? Nobody wants more Montessori ES or MS seats. And the low income families bail after Pre-K, so we’re building more Montessori capacity to serve a population of people who could afford private school, but want it for free. WTF

Also, consolidating the Montessori Pre-K classes frees up capacity at ES that aren’t having capacity issues, like Discovery and Jamestown. They’re already projecting a surplus of seats in the far N of Arlington once the new school at Reed comes online, and given zoning, those areas aren’t going to see a sudden explosion of high density development, like along the R-B corridor and the Pike. Those are the areas that are experiencing overcrowded neighborhood schools and need relief. This plan won’t help those ES, unless a lot of new families opt into Montessori. The waitlist doesn’t indicate an unmet desire for Montessori beyond Pre-K.

The moving pre-K seats is one of the stupidest parts of an already stupid plan. APS puts those seats where there is open space. They don't need a permanent home.

But reminder: This is not a done plan. So now is the time to complain not on DCUMs but to the two boards that have to vote on this plan.

Bwah! Like someone said above, APS in the end doesn't care about community input. Also, MOG as the chair, will push this through. I have no confidence in the system anymore.


Also +1,000. I had a child who went through the entire APS Montessori PreK, from PreK to K. Which I paid a lot for. By the time they ended up at their neighborhood elementary school in grade 1, they were so far behind his cohort.

Biggest mistake ever.

[Anonymous]

Bump. This still seems to be moving forward. What do people think?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bump. This still seems to be moving forward. What do people think?

That there's nothing anyone can do about it. The school board has acquiesced under Montessori and Monique's influence (they don't care what happens to the other facilities and programs on the site, they just want their new larger building...they got what they want) and that's what's going into the CIP. They have to put something in it and there isn't time to discuss anything else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bump. This still seems to be moving forward. What do people think?

That there's nothing anyone can do about it. The school board has acquiesced under Montessori and Monique's influence (they don't care what happens to the other facilities and programs on the site, they just want their new larger building...they got what they want) and that's what's going into the CIP. They have to put something in it and there isn't time to discuss anything else.

This. But that’s what happens when one “program” has a PAC. Their lobbyists are successful, even if there isn’t community support. This was not ever, not once, brought up as a possibility throughout the years long working group or BLPC processes. It all happened behind the scenes, completely out of view of everyone. Montessori gets what they want, at the cost of (literally) everything else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bump. This still seems to be moving forward. What do people think?

I looked at the slides but didn't see the meeting itself. Did they discuss the fact that they've abandoned the plan to add parking to the facility that's going to have 2,000-3,000 students attending?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bump. This still seems to be moving forward. What do people think?

I looked at the slides but didn't see the meeting itself. Did they discuss the fact that they've abandoned the plan to add parking to the facility that's going to have 2,000-3,000 students attending?

Sorry scratch that, I was looking at the wrong set of slides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bump. This still seems to be moving forward. What do people think?

I looked at the slides but didn't see the meeting itself. Did they discuss the fact that they've abandoned the plan to add parking to the facility that's going to have 2,000-3,000 students attending?

They haven't really discussed staging at all. So there will be parking, but the parking structure gets built last and you know that means it may not actually be built ... and the interim parking solution means there is no green space on the site at all for 5 years while you continue to have 1000s of students there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bump. This still seems to be moving forward. What do people think?

I looked at the slides but didn't see the meeting itself. Did they discuss the fact that they've abandoned the plan to add parking to the facility that's going to have 2,000-3,000 students attending?

They haven't really discussed staging at all. So there will be parking, but the parking structure gets built last and you know that means it may not actually be built ... and the interim parking solution means there is no green space on the site at all for 5 years while you continue to have 1000s of students there.

Well, there really isn't any green space there now anyway. And there's almost zero parking now that there are 8 trailers on the parking lot.
Unfortunately, though, you're right. This project doesn't even have a budget yet. It's guaranteed to go over whatever budget it does end up with. The County is anti-parking. So, the most logical "cut" to stay "near" budget will be to just not ever build the parking structure.

Screw all those option families coming from across the county for all the programs on that site. Screw all the residents surrounding the site. It will be interesting to see how many people ultimately move out of Arlington Heights because of this short-sighted project. Maybe APS could buy their houses, tear them down and convert them into fields and parking lots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bump. This still seems to be moving forward. What do people think?

I looked at the slides but didn't see the meeting itself. Did they discuss the fact that they've abandoned the plan to add parking to the facility that's going to have 2,000-3,000 students attending?

They haven't really discussed staging at all. So there will be parking, but the parking structure gets built last and you know that means it may not actually be built ... and the interim parking solution means there is no green space on the site at all for 5 years while you continue to have 1000s of students there.

Well, there really isn't any green space there now anyway. And there's almost zero parking now that there are 8 trailers on the parking lot.
Unfortunately, though, you're right. This project doesn't even have a budget yet. It's guaranteed to go over whatever budget it does end up with. The County is anti-parking. So, the most logical "cut" to stay "near" budget will be to just not ever build the parking structure.

Screw all those option families coming from across the county for all the programs on that site. Screw all the residents surrounding the site. It will be interesting to see how many people ultimately move out of Arlington Heights because of this short-sighted project. Maybe APS could buy their houses, tear them down and convert them into fields and parking lots.

I'm talking about green space on the whole site. The Montessori part of the site has a fair amount of field space, which the HS apparently uses some now. But every ounce of that disappears during the entire construction period (5 years) to become a gravel parking lot.

[Anonymous]

Did anyone watch the Virtual Community Q & A last night, discussing the CIP? Did anything interesting come out of it?

Tonight is the Joint Work Session with the County, tomorrow night is the hearing. Here is the PowerPoint for tonight:
https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/arlington/Board.nsf/files/C3TJYU4ECCC8/$file/School%20Board%20PResentation%20-%20Joint%20Work%20Session%20on%20FY2022-24%20CIP%20060721.pdf

Here is a fact sheet on the proposed plan:
https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fact-Sheet-on-ACC-Proposal-in-CIP-June-7-2021v2.pdf

And here is the rationale for the CIP, where APS states the alternative to this plan is to do nothing to address middle school capacity Meanwhile, no other building projects were considered or presented. It's all option seats or nothing, apparently.
https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/2021-06-07-Rationale-for-the-development-of-the-Career-Center-Campus-to-be-included-in-the-FY-2022-24-CIP_DRAFT.pdf

There is still no budget. No transparency yet on how much it will cost to tear down the Montessori elementary school and give them a remodeled version of the existing CC. Budget will come right at the end, just before a vote is taken.

Middle school seats are desperately needed and APS is banking on 625 MS students selecting these option programs (Arl Tech and Montessori). The HB middle school program is a fraction of that size, and the Montessori MS program has been shrinking over the past several years because parents have expressed that their students arrive at HS unprepared.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:F***ing Montessori PAC strikes again. FOIA MOG’s emails. How the eff did this plan take shape outside of community input? Nobody wants more Montessori ES or MS seats. And the low income families bail after Pre-K, so we’re building more Montessori capacity to serve a population of people who could afford private school, but want it for free. WTF

Also, consolidating the Montessori Pre-K classes frees up capacity at ES that aren’t having capacity issues, like Discovery and Jamestown. They’re already projecting a surplus of seats in the far N of Arlington once the new school at Reed comes online, and given zoning, those areas aren’t going to see a sudden explosion of high density development, like along the R-B corridor and the Pike. Those are the areas that are experiencing overcrowded neighborhood schools and need relief. This plan won’t help those ES, unless a lot of new families opt into Montessori. The waitlist doesn’t indicate an unmet desire for Montessori beyond Pre-K.

+1000

Montessori has a building. It doesn't need a new one (even a repurposed one). That is wasted money and time. Build up Arl Tech on the current site, and put a field where the parking lot is. Montessori middle school has been shrinking, not growing, because families feel like their kids end up in high school very unprepared.

That's because true Montessori is an early childhood model!! I should be for 3-6 year olds then they should all go to their neighborhood schools!