APS More Seats for More Students - Community Forum on Capacity

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I didn't attend, either. But I can promise you that whatever solution they come up with will solve elementary crowding at the expense of crowding in the upper grades (which will be the exact same kids struggling with crowding now since kids get older every year), and take so long that the bubble will have moved on from elementary.

I know, I am not being helpful, but snarky. At least I didn't make a dig at the perennial north v south Arlington debate.

Actually, this forum has moved on to the MIDDLE school level. That is what the Board is now concentrating on. They even have thrown out the idea of building a new middle school at W-L where the APS administrative buildings are...

Did you attend the forum? If what you say is true, and the focus is on the middle school level, it seems that APS will focus on non-capital options to address elementary school overcrowding. The list of non-capital options to address capacity are all over the place - more relocatables, creating team-schools, increasing class size, moving programs, year-round schools, changing admissions/transfer policies. I know that Claremont's Montessori program will be transferred to Hoffman-Boston which is an under-enrolled school starting next fall and those families are devastated. I live in southeast Arlington and have a child who will start K in 2015. We would love to have the guaranteed Claremont Immersion option that my current neighborhood school has now but who knows? I hate this uncertainty but I guess I'll find out soon enough...
http://www.apsva.us/cms/lib2/VA01000586/Centricity/Domain/110/F-1%20CIP%20Framework_01_23_14.pdf

Honestly, if they can address the elementary capacity issues through these mechanisms (relocatables, schedule changes, choice programs) that would be better than building a new school. Arlington has very limited land to build on, so we should save it for the facilities we really need (which may be a middle school or a high school), and making each elementary school bigger might be more cost-effective--it would certainly be more cost effective to add 100 kids to five schools (which would require additional classroom teachers but no additional administrators or anything) than to add a new 500-student school (with full complement of administrative staff, specials teachers, lunchroom workers and custodians, etc.). Adding on to existing school buildings would also help more kids attend a school in their neighborhood, without shifting a bunch of boundaries.

Looking for clarification on this - they will be moving the entire Claremont student body to Hoffman-Boston starting next September? (I know I am restating exactly what you have said, but I live in a guarantee neighborhood, and haven't heard anything about it.)

NP. I was at the K info session at Claremont this week. They are moving the Pre-K Montessori classes to Hoffman-Boston in the fall. The rest of the school is staying put. There was no mention of the whole school moving at some point.

THANK YOU! I read it wrong - I thought it was the immersion program that was moving. (Thank goodness, b/c we purchased in a priority neighborhood just for the immersion program.)

I hate to say this but everything is on the table now to alleviate overcrowding including admissions policy changes and boundary changes (for ES) for county-wide schools. Claremont's school brochure even states this. Who knows if the priority neighborhoods will remain the same at the end of this process. I say this as someone else who lives in a priority neighborhood for Claremont and wants my child to go there. I'm hoping the guaranteed admission schools remain the same!

Does this apply to Key as well? We're in a guaranteed admission area and enrolling our rising K child for the upcoming year. Hopefully they'll grandfather siblings in if they start changing the policies.

[Anonymous]

I would imagine Key won't be changed b/c it's a way to protect precious ASFS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would imagine Key won't be changed b/c it's a way to protect precious ASFS.

I wonder if they would alter the "team" arrangement. We may move out of Key's immediate boundaries, but have always assumed we would be entitled, without special approval or anything, to keep our older child in the school and then enroll his younger sibling, just so long as we stayed in the "Team" zone. We'll probably hold off on making any big changes until decisions are made.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would imagine Key won't be changed b/c it's a way to protect precious ASFS.

You are an asshole. You do realize that kids can't be forced into a dual/immersion program. There is a huge area of kids zoned for Key that want nothing to do with Spanish Immersion.

Be thankful you have a home school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would imagine Key won't be changed b/c it's a way to protect precious ASFS.

I would vote for a new county-wide choice school or new school in South Arlington to be another ASFS - not STEM as Hoffman Boston already has that focus - but true science (inquiry-based learning and hands-on activities dealing with ecology, biology, geology, zoology, physics, astronomy, and chemistry, etc).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would imagine Key won't be changed b/c it's a way to protect precious ASFS.

You are an asshole. You do realize that kids can't be forced into a dual/immersion program. There is a huge area of kids zoned for Key that want nothing to do with Spanish Immersion.

Be thankful you have a home school.

No, it's really that there's a huge area of parents whose kids are zoned for Key that want nothing to do with Spanish immersion (not the original poster of the comment re ASFS either). I agree that immersion is not for everyone but there is a good subset of parents who don't want immersion because they don't want their kids going to a diverse school...That's really what the comments on DCUM re schools like Key, let alone S. Arlington schools, are all about for too many people here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would imagine Key won't be changed b/c it's a way to protect precious ASFS.

You are an asshole. You do realize that kids can't be forced into a dual/immersion program. There is a huge area of kids zoned for Key that want nothing to do with Spanish Immersion.

Be thankful you have a home school.

No, it's really that there's a huge area of parents whose kids are zoned for Key that want nothing to do with Spanish immersion (not the original poster of the comment re ASFS either). I agree that immersion is not for everyone but there is a good subset of parents who don't want immersion because they don't want their kids going to a diverse school...That's really what the comments on DCUM re schools like Key, let alone S. Arlington schools, are all about for too many people here.

I don't know, I'm a parent who is really into immersion and I wish it were true that the demographics (or anything at all) were somehow deterring other parents from enrolling their kids. These programs are very popular and many families opt out of their home school to attend. I can understand why someone who hasn't caught the language "bug" would be inclined to go a different route, though, because it just makes more sense to them to have their kids educated in their native tongue. I don't think you need to read anything nefarious or elitist into that. It seems like a perfectly legitimate choice for someone just not interested in bilingualism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would imagine Key won't be changed b/c it's a way to protect precious ASFS.

You are an asshole. You do realize that kids can't be forced into a dual/immersion program. There is a huge area of kids zoned for Key that want nothing to do with Spanish Immersion.

Be thankful you have a home school.

No, it's really that there's a huge area of parents whose kids are zoned for Key that want nothing to do with Spanish immersion (not the original poster of the comment re ASFS either). I agree that immersion is not for everyone but there is a good subset of parents who don't want immersion because they don't want their kids going to a diverse school...That's really what the comments on DCUM re schools like Key, let alone S. Arlington schools, are all about for too many people here.

I don't know, I'm a parent who is really into immersion and I wish it were true that the demographics (or anything at all) were somehow deterring other parents from enrolling their kids. These programs are very popular and many families opt out of their home school to attend. I can understand why someone who hasn't caught the language "bug" would be inclined to go a different route, though, because it just makes more sense to them to have their kids educated in their native tongue. I don't think you need to read anything nefarious or elitist into that. It seems like a perfectly legitimate choice for someone just not interested in bilingualism.

My DH is a PHD chemist who speaks Spanish fluently. He learned the language while an adult (as a hobby) through tutors, classes, and living in a Spanish-speaking country with his first wife. I am very interested in pursuing Claremont Immersion for our DC but DH says science education is best in English only so he's not 100% on-board. I'm trying to find research that refutes that position...

[Anonymous]

I know 3 families that bought into Key b/c they wanted guaranteed admission to ASFS. They didn't want anything to do with immersion, but knew the only way to get into the "choice" school was to buy in Key.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know 3 families that bought into Key b/c they wanted guaranteed admission to ASFS. They didn't want anything to do with immersion, but knew the only way to get into the "choice" school was to buy in Key.

This makes sense, though, because most applicants from the team schools are accepted to Key, which means it is largely unnecessary to live within its immediate boundaries. ASF has crowding issues and admits very few students from outside the actual boundaries. If you want guaranteed admission to ASF, you pretty much have to move within the boundary. To each his own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know 3 families that bought into Key b/c they wanted guaranteed admission to ASFS. They didn't want anything to do with immersion, but knew the only way to get into the "choice" school was to buy in Key.

This makes sense, though, because most applicants from the team schools are accepted to Key, which means it is largely unnecessary to live within its immediate boundaries. ASF has crowding issues and admits very few students from outside the actual boundaries. If you want guaranteed admission to ASF, you pretty much have to move within the boundary. To each his own.

Yeah, that's true, but that means it's no longer a choice school and choice schools are supposed to to be able to draw kids from more than 1 ES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know 3 families that bought into Key b/c they wanted guaranteed admission to ASFS. They didn't want anything to do with immersion, but knew the only way to get into the "choice" school was to buy in Key.

We are a family of Chemists, Molecular Biologists, Engineers, MDs. We chose Key boundary because we are 1 block to Clarendon Metro and all of the wonderful walkable amenties.

This neighborhood is split down the middle between Key/ASFS and Taylor and we would have been happy at either school even with our penchant for science. I don't really feel strongly that there is a huge difference between the schools. All elementary schools need to teach the basics first.

The hard part was finding any house with inventory as non-existent as it is over here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know 3 families that bought into Key b/c they wanted guaranteed admission to ASFS. They didn't want anything to do with immersion, but knew the only way to get into the "choice" school was to buy in Key.

This makes sense, though, because most applicants from the team schools are accepted to Key, which means it is largely unnecessary to live within its immediate boundaries. ASF has crowding issues and admits very few students from outside the actual boundaries. If you want guaranteed admission to ASF, you pretty much have to move within the boundary. To each his own.

It NEVER was a 'choice' school like ATS. It has always been a 'TEAM school along with Taylor and Jamestown. There is a big difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know 3 families that bought into Key b/c they wanted guaranteed admission to ASFS. They didn't want anything to do with immersion, but knew the only way to get into the "choice" school was to buy in Key.

This makes sense, though, because most applicants from the team schools are accepted to Key, which means it is largely unnecessary to live within its immediate boundaries. ASF has crowding issues and admits very few students from outside the actual boundaries. If you want guaranteed admission to ASF, you pretty much have to move within the boundary. To each his own.

It NEVER was a 'choice' school like ATS. It has always been a 'TEAM school along with Taylor and Jamestown. There is a big difference.

There is no movement between the teams anymore (or very little) because now the in-boundary kids for all 3 schools fill the spots. 10 years ago if you were in any one of the team zones you could choose any one of the three schools.

God- it bugs me when people keep repeating this false info. Key/ASFS are neighborhood first and foremost. They only take outside the zone when there is space permitting. There is no 'boundary' for ATS--it is a county-wide school. you can't buy anywhere and get guaranteed admission to 'ATS' you have to lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know 3 families that bought into Key b/c they wanted guaranteed admission to ASFS. They didn't want anything to do with immersion, but knew the only way to get into the "choice" school was to buy in Key.

This makes sense, though, because most applicants from the team schools are accepted to Key, which means it is largely unnecessary to live within its immediate boundaries. ASF has crowding issues and admits very few students from outside the actual boundaries. If you want guaranteed admission to ASF, you pretty much have to move within the boundary. To each his own.

It NEVER was a 'choice' school like ATS. It has always been a 'TEAM school along with Taylor and Jamestown. There is a big difference.

Are you saying that as a good or a bad thing? I don't know a lot about ASF because I've always been an immersion buff and I've focused on that. I get the sense that a lot of parents like what ASF has to offer - is there any option on the table to model one of the new elementary schools on ASF, which would presumably be popular as well?