Plan for Arlington overcrowding?

[Anonymous]

Madison is off of Old Glebe Rd near Chain Bridge. It is a very large school building, on a very large site (often used for youth soccer). It is currently a community center.

Woodmont is in the Woodmont neighborhood in N Arlington off of Lorcom Ln. It is a 1970s open plan school building that replaced a 1920s school. It closed in the 80s along with Reed. Woodmont is heavily used by various county groups and the building would not convert well into a neighborhood elementary that meets today's standards.

Custis is on S Arlington and is in private hands and unfit for conversion to an educational facility.

Lee is on Lee Hwy across from District Taco. It is a small 1920s building, and the County recently spent millions on its renovation into a state of the art community center.

The only good options are Reed, Madison, and Wilson (in Rosslyn). Wilson, however is a bit far removed from where most families live.

[Anonymous]

Wilson is not all that far from Key, and its distance could provide some useful self-selection -- move ATS or ASFS there and see if people are still so eager to enroll.

[Anonymous]

Madison has an senior daycare facility -- could that be moved to Woodmont or Reed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Madison has an senior daycare facility -- could that be moved to Woodmont or Reed?

I thought they had moved out. The seniors fought Arlington's plans back in the 90s to reopen Madison as a school during that baby boom. But the school facility is underutilized and makes the best case for conversion back into a school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: You can read the Sun Gazette story on this on its website. Or in the print edition: http://sungazette.net/articles/2011/06/01/arlington/news/nw77y.txt

You should also be able to obtain a copy of this report from APS.

The Advisory Council on School Facilities and Capital Programs is made up of Arlington residents who are appointed by the school board to two year terms. Any Arlington resident can apply to be on the citizens advisory committees and committee meetings are open to the public; website: http://www.apsva.us/domain/14.

The Superintendent's office and the school board take these advisory groups very seriously, and base their own proposals on the advisory groups' work.

PP, the second link doesn't work. Does anyone have a link to the new report online?

[Anonymous]

The link was to the description on what the citizens advisory groups do. The link is in the "departments" menu.

You will have to go the the "white building" yourself to request a copy of the report.

[Anonymous]

http://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/arlington/Board.nsf/Public

Click on the June 2 open meeting, open the agenda and you will find the report under the relevant agenda item.

[Anonymous]

I'd be shocked if they turned Reed into a school (even though it is really centrally located between some of the more crowded schools)--they just remodeled it for the low-cost school employees' daycare and library.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd be shocked if they turned Reed into a school (even though it is really centrally located between some of the more crowded schools)--they just remodeled it for the low-cost school employees' daycare and library.

But the school building was also designed so that it could become a neighborhood elementary again if needed--that was one of the concessions to the community. It meets the current school elementary standards for the most part, but I believe would require some additional work.

County programs may have to be shifted out of Madison or Reed, or the they may just remodel Wilson and team up with a developer to make money off of the site. Janney elementary in upper NW struck a deal with a developer to help fund renovations.

[Anonymous]

Any school plans for Reed will of course not affect the new Westover library even though the buildings are connected.

[Anonymous]

would it gain more support if re-district is made five or six years out? this allows residents time to plan around it and has less impact on current students.

[Anonymous]

That sounds like a good idea; although I don't know if a school district has ever approached overcrowding with such a strategy.

During a major boundary change in 1983, after Arlington decided to keep Yorktown HS open, current students and siblings of current students in the former W-L neighborhoods were given the option of attending/continuing to attend W-L.

This approach is much better than Fairfax's harsh policies that force students to leave their current school if their neighborhood has been reassigned to another school. This happened to Annandale HS students last year who were forced to attend their new neighborhood high school, Lake Braddock.

From the report, and based on how APS has dealt with overcrowding issues in the past, I don't believe any large scale redistricting will happen until after a new elementary school opens (likely after 2013), after the new Wakefield HS is complete (2013), and middle school additions are built (likely after 2013).

For now the answer is trailers.

[Anonymous]

If you're an Arlington parent, there's a survey on your thoughts about how to address overcrowding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That sounds like a good idea; although I don't know if a school district has ever approached overcrowding with such a strategy.

During a major boundary change in 1983, after Arlington decided to keep Yorktown HS open, current students and siblings of current students in the former W-L neighborhoods were given the option of attending/continuing to attend W-L.

This approach is much better than Fairfax's harsh policies that force students to leave their current school if their neighborhood has been reassigned to another school. This happened to Annandale HS students last year who were forced to attend their new neighborhood high school, Lake Braddock.

From the report, and based on how APS has dealt with overcrowding issues in the past, I don't believe any large scale redistricting will happen until after a new elementary school opens (likely after 2013), after the new Wakefield HS is complete (2013), and middle school additions are built (likely after 2013).

For now the answer is trailers.

Yes, we just got an email from out PTA at my son's school and there was a document that showed where they could potentially put new trailers in all the elementary schools.

https://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/arlington/Board.nsf/files/8DBTCV76C5F7/$file/D-2%20RelocatableMaxStudy.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, we just got an email from out PTA at my son's school and there was a document that showed where they could potentially put new trailers in all the elementary schools.

https://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/arlington/Board.nsf/files/8DBTCV76C5F7/$file/D-2%20RelocatableMaxStudy.pdf

W-L is definitely getting trailers next year. While the location has not been finalized, the trailer study you linked shows the only feasible location, the lower parking lot, and that only allows for four additional classrooms. The county has and is spending a lot of money on the school's new fields, so no additional trailers will be placed there.

So unless the optional fourth story along the Stafford Street elevation is eventually built--it was removed as a cost saving measure--boundary changes will be necessary. In 2016 there will be 2,600 students at a building designed for 1,600 back in 2005. The official capacity has been increased to about 1,900, but W-L is already over 2,000 students. When the new Wakefield is complete, we can expect boundary changes to affect all three high schools.