Let's open a new school in N. Arlington??

[Anonymous]

So was Lab and Diener.

More power to the moms! (And more money, b/c they're usually well heeled.)

[Anonymous]

omg, i have totally had this conversation with numerous moms. the whole private school search was depressingly limited. We are lucky public has been working so far, but I would be in on it if only to help other families not go through the kind of school hunt we did.

[Anonymous]

North Arlington has terrific schools. What would this new school offer that the public schools do not?

I almost hate to ask this.....

[Anonymous]

If anyone is interested in coming together to make this happen, please email: anewschoolinnova at gmail.com. I will work to have a group of us meet to brainstorm to see what this might look like.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

FWIW - responding to the poster who suggested contacting churches - I know our church (St. Charles, in Clarendon) closed their gradeschool after last year. They've retooled as a preschool only (they used to have both) but it's not a bad place to start. You may find similar church schools where the financing and need no longer meet the size of the location in which case, a private school might be able to co-locate there.

[Anonymous]

OP Here: So this is becoming a little more than a pipe-dream. Any more leads on space? If so, please post them! Let's do this!

[Anonymous]

While not related to this discussion personally, I could see this happening for you if you were to start on a very small scale - but one has to be very careful to be kind to all parents parent in such a process. Just remember in any new venture you will be talking about "children first." However, it will soon out of necessity need to focus on "labels" and abilities and challenges because the key for positive outcomes for the students to be served will be defining the population(s) to be served.

Besides space, it might also help to talk to those who have been involved in the founding of other small private or small charter schools to get a handle on even the basic practical implications of:

- What are the legal implications in setting up such a school?

- What are the insurance and liability issues?

- What is realistic in a projected budget for such a school and therefore the tuition rate?

- What would be the best method for defining the population to be served?

- Would it make sense to hire a board of directors or development board with parents or others with professional expertise to assist with the research into some of these and other questions?

For what it is worth, there is another beautiful, large Methodist church in the middle of Clarendon that one of my daughter's and her family attends that has so many empty rooms. It is a very welcoming community to young families AND, of course, it has a huge piece of real estate to finance. I wonder if this might not be another site to approach with the concept. And, again, while I raised a lot of broad general questions, a first effort could start out really small with one classroom, one teacher and 1/2 assistants and grow from there. Just remember that even in the initial concept stage, this venture is likely to spread like wildfire so a small core group really committed is going to have to be strong to keep goals and limitations in mind. No school can serve all young kids.


- How would one hire appropriate teacher(s) and teaching assistants?

- How would the core curriculum be defined as there is often a discussion on this board about whether schools which seem to succeed in meeting the social, emotional and behavioral needs of students do so at the cost of not preparing them as well academically?

[Anonymous]

There is a small private autism school in Arlington called the Shire school. They might have some advice for you.

The Nova Scoop unschooling group rents space from a church in Clifton. They might have some ideas on renting space.

Good luck.