APS Closing Nottingham

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW: McK/ now ATS was under reno for 1.5 years and kept the kids in it which was a PIA. Gym Trailer! No parking! Chaos!

For the S. ARL ppl who might end up in, what is, horribly located swing space, maybe ask for an extended day bus back to original school or a parking lot near it.

Agree. I suggested APS could probably provide late bus transportation. But of course the people who know better responded immediately with a lesson on how not everyone picks up their kids at the same time from extended day. So what? A bus can pick up everyone at 5:30 and drop them off at 6:00 somewhere at/nearby their regular neighborhood school.

sure just drop a bunch of kinders off.... somewhere... what could go wrong?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If schools in the south need year long renovations and schools in the north are underenrolled, it makes sense to use Nottingham as a swing space. You do not need your school — there are other underenrolled schools right near you! Get over yourselves.

But this plan puts Tuckahoe at 113 percent capacity.

Time to put on your big girl pants and just deal. It will be fine.

So you're advocating to turn Tuckahoe into one of the most overcapacity schools in the county?

This is insane. Tuckahoe was severely overcrowded several years ago. Finally, they did a lot to fix it. And now they want to make it overcrowded again intentionally?! Boggles the mind. Glad my kids are out of this craziness but feel bad for others.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Eh. Of course the Notties are there. We all know from the boards and the neighborhood list serves and their text chains. But that doesn’t mean anything re: the outcome. The question is what’s best for Arlington. Not Nottingham.

Sure, and if you actually heard what they were saying last night, they were advocating for more study into this before rushing to close a school. There's basically nothing in the pre-cip to back up this plan other than effectively "trust us."

Just because the community wasn't in on the planning doesn't mean they haven't studied it.

OK that would be great! Let APS show us the studies then! Which schools will use the swing space? For how long? How will they handle extended day? How many busses will be needed and where will they park? I assume then if APS has studied it, they must have completed a traffic study for all the increase in traffic? What will the capacity be at Tuckahoe and Discovery after they absorb Nottingham? Will they need (additional) trailers? What will enrollment be in 2026 and beyond?

And when they tell you any of that information you'll scream about how everything they are telling you is wrong or a lie or misguided. Right?

+1. Yep. They will say that APS planning is incompetent and can’t be trusted. They are already saying that. This is not a constructive community. They will just try to put up obstacles so nothing can be done. They prefer no action to help others in the county over their minor inconvenience.

Again with the nonstop hate for people trying to save their walkable, neighborhood school community. How dare they not just roll over and accept this proposal without any APS showing any supporting data!

You guys have shown yourself to be the worst over and over during the last several rounds. Many of us have lost patience.

There are very few, if any, parents who were around during whatever perceived slight you experienced during previous discussions that are still there today. Get over yourself.

No. Plenty are still around. Not a perceived slight either. Direct attacks by Nottingham pta types on McKinkley, Tuckahoe and probably other communities as well. I’m not sure how many others in Arlington are going to go pout of their way to support Nottingham here. Especially since the proposal makes sense from a $ perspective and in reducing impact on the county as a whole.

Ok, I'll bite. Please describe these so called direct attacks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tuckahoe families will gladly be at 113 capacity. It just isn’t that much over capacity and they have endured worse. Like when Nottingham tried to set them up as an option school. ☺️

Really? And you speak for all Tuckahoe families? You think they will welcome trailers again? Have you even been to Tuckahoe?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW: McK/ now ATS was under reno for 1.5 years and kept the kids in it which was a PIA. Gym Trailer! No parking! Chaos!

For the S. ARL ppl who might end up in, what is, horribly located swing space, maybe ask for an extended day bus back to original school or a parking lot near it.

Agree. I suggested APS could probably provide late bus transportation. But of course the people who know better responded immediately with a lesson on how not everyone picks up their kids at the same time from extended day. So what? A bus can pick up everyone at 5:30 and drop them off at 6:00 somewhere at/nearby their regular neighborhood school.

sure just drop a bunch of kinders off.... somewhere... what could go wrong?

Extended day ends at 6:00 and every kid is supposed to be picked up by then. If parents can get to Nottingham anytime before 6, they can be back in their own neighborhood by 6:00 when the bus arrives. More convenient for them; Nottingham neighborhood won't have to endure the horrific congestion and dangers of all those cars constantly coming for 3 hours to pick up the kids.

It would be a designated drop-off location, not just "somewhere." And you know it. If parents want to pick up their kid earlier, they can. You know....those who are able to manage the complicated logistics for a few years. For those who can't, their kids can take the late bus back to their neighborhood and the parents can meet them there. And I don't want to now hear about the need for these kids to get home sooner because they have soccer practice. That's just finding fault with every single offered solution to any "problem" you want to find to fight the proposal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW: McK/ now ATS was under reno for 1.5 years and kept the kids in it which was a PIA. Gym Trailer! No parking! Chaos!

For the S. ARL ppl who might end up in, what is, horribly located swing space, maybe ask for an extended day bus back to original school or a parking lot near it.

Agree. I suggested APS could probably provide late bus transportation. But of course the people who know better responded immediately with a lesson on how not everyone picks up their kids at the same time from extended day. So what? A bus can pick up everyone at 5:30 and drop them off at 6:00 somewhere at/nearby their regular neighborhood school.

sure just drop a bunch of kinders off.... somewhere... what could go wrong?

Extended day ends at 6:00 and every kid is supposed to be picked up by then. If parents can get to Nottingham anytime before 6, they can be back in their own neighborhood by 6:00 when the bus arrives. More convenient for them; Nottingham neighborhood won't have to endure the horrific congestion and dangers of all those cars constantly coming for 3 hours to pick up the kids.

It would be a designated drop-off location, not just "somewhere." And you know it. If parents want to pick up their kid earlier, they can. You know....those who are able to manage the complicated logistics for a few years. For those who can't, their kids can take the late bus back to their neighborhood and the parents can meet them there. And I don't want to now hear about the need for these kids to get home sooner because they have soccer practice. That's just finding fault with every single offered solution to any "problem" you want to find to fight the proposal.

adding: you do realize that thousands of children are already taken from school to their neighborhoods on school buses and parents meet them at the bus stop, right? Lots of different bus stops, even. Every day. It's really quite manageable.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think this will meaningfully reduce traffic enough. What about all the parents who will drive to school because the bus rides are too long? That’s where most of the traffic will come from.

Option schools have a lot of drivers for this reason and this one will be even worse because no one will be close.

[Anonymous]

Good luck. If Nottingham gets it’s way here, it will be quite impressive. They don’t have many families as it is to mount a big campaign and half of them won’t care because they will leave the school before it takes effect. Trying to rile up tuckahoe and discovery is probably your best bet for critical mass. But I’m still doubtful many of them will care that much. They are also small schools and grades 3-5 wouldn’t be impacted.

[Anonymous]

Why not redistribute the boundaries to make the 4 elementary schools more even? And find a swing space that is more centrally located? Driving across the county during rush hour to make it to pick up before 6 disproportionally impacts lower income families, particularly those who do not have cars or who only have one parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not redistribute the boundaries to make the 4 elementary schools more even? And find a swing space that is more centrally located? Driving across the county during rush hour to make it to pick up before 6 disproportionally impacts lower income families, particularly those who do not have cars or who only have one parent.

+1.

Better watch out, the anti-Nottingham folks are going to attack you because Nottingham should have to atone for some perceived sin from 10 years ago and close for the “greater good” even though it doesn’t meet APS own requirements for a swing space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not redistribute the boundaries to make the 4 elementary schools more even? And find a swing space that is more centrally located? Driving across the county during rush hour to make it to pick up before 6 disproportionally impacts lower income families, particularly those who do not have cars or who only have one parent.

Where would you pull the kids to make it more even? And which school is being emptied for swing space instead? All of the other schools are fuller than Nottingham and so are the ones that border them you would have to make long skinny arms to fill Tuckahoe, Nottingham, Jamestown, and Taylor instead of just… emptying Nottingham.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not redistribute the boundaries to make the 4 elementary schools more even? And find a swing space that is more centrally located? Driving across the county during rush hour to make it to pick up before 6 disproportionally impacts lower income families, particularly those who do not have cars or who only have one parent.

+1.

Better watch out, the anti-Nottingham folks are going to attack you because Nottingham should have to atone for some perceived sin from 10 years ago and close for the “greater good” even though it doesn’t meet APS own requirements for a swing space.

+1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not redistribute the boundaries to make the 4 elementary schools more even? And find a swing space that is more centrally located? Driving across the county during rush hour to make it to pick up before 6 disproportionally impacts lower income families, particularly those who do not have cars or who only have one parent.

Where would you pull the kids to make it more even? And which school is being emptied for swing space instead? All of the other schools are fuller than Nottingham and so are the ones that border them you would have to make long skinny arms to fill Tuckahoe, Nottingham, Jamestown, and Taylor instead of just… emptying Nottingham.

Who says you have to close a school for swing space. The CIP report had other options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not redistribute the boundaries to make the 4 elementary schools more even? And find a swing space that is more centrally located? Driving across the county during rush hour to make it to pick up before 6 disproportionally impacts lower income families, particularly those who do not have cars or who only have one parent.

Where would you pull the kids to make it more even? And which school is being emptied for swing space instead? All of the other schools are fuller than Nottingham and so are the ones that border them you would have to make long skinny arms to fill Tuckahoe, Nottingham, Jamestown, and Taylor instead of just… emptying Nottingham.

Who says you have to close a school for swing space. The CIP report had other options.

+1. Exactly. And they dismissed many of these options for reasons such as centrality, community disruption and traffic. When the same set of criteria was applied to Nottingham, APS dismisses that concern or instead pushes it off by stating the issue is “TBD”

[Anonymous]

And here we go — just send other kids up North to protect Nottingham and close some other school instead.

We already discussed using another space besides a school — it’s not set up to be a school and developing it to be so will cost money, whereas using a preexisting school just costs bus and some planning money.

So Nottingham parents will push for delay or some other school, because things like this are for OTHER school communities, and not for them. The Karens of Nottingham will insist on speaking to your supervisor, you can be sure.