Can anything be done about HB Woodlawn?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS is not interested in making sure every kid has a good experience. It is interested in having bells and whistles here and there (a fancy elementary school with a slide, some choice programs that sound vaguely innovative, and a small, open-campus middle/high school that will keep getting Murphy invited to fancy seminars). So what if everything else is overcrowded and mediocre?

Original plan for the site was a 1300 student neighborhood middle school. Were the plans as fancy when that was the plan or did it balloon when it became HB?

I don't recall it ever getting to the design stage when the idea of a middle school was floated.

There was a pretty common forward design presented prior to it becoming HB; I remember they were touting features like LEED certification (and not discussing logistics like parking or field space). But they did plan to have 1300 kids on that 2 acre lot, but now with far fewer kids they pulled out all the stops?

[Anonymous]

People are forgetting that when the original idea of making the Wilson site a neighborhood MS, parents FREAKED out. Noone, NOONE, wanted their kids in such an urban area going to MS. Plus, it was realized that there was no way to house 1300 kids in such a small footprint.

The new HB/Stratford school is not only going to be a co-located school (HB kids plus the Stratford program(which requires expensive accomodations/facilities)) it will also serve the community with a turf field with lights and indoor basketball court/gym.

Let's look at the real issue of overcrowding - the county approving all of these low income residences with nowhere to put all the kids that will fill them. The county/school board made a huge error a a few years' back by thinking that families don't live in apartments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are forgetting that when the original idea of making the Wilson site a neighborhood MS, parents FREAKED out. Noone, NOONE, wanted their kids in such an urban area going to MS. Plus, it was realized that there was no way to house 1300 kids in such a small footprint.

The new HB/Stratford school is not only going to be a co-located school (HB kids plus the Stratford program(which requires expensive accomodations/facilities)) it will also serve the community with a turf field with lights and indoor basketball court/gym.

Let's look at the real issue of overcrowding - the county approving all of these low income residences with nowhere to put all the kids that will fill them. The county/school board made a huge error a a few years' back by thinking that families don't live in apartments.

Well, I think if the parents had been told the Urban MS would house the much smaller number now planned it would have been better received. HB population is about the right size for the site, but the bells and whistles are really driving up cost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are forgetting that when the original idea of making the Wilson site a neighborhood MS, parents FREAKED out. Noone, NOONE, wanted their kids in such an urban area going to MS. Plus, it was realized that there was no way to house 1300 kids in such a small footprint.

The new HB/Stratford school is not only going to be a co-located school (HB kids plus the Stratford program(which requires expensive accomodations/facilities)) it will also serve the community with a turf field with lights and indoor basketball court/gym.

Let's look at the real issue of overcrowding - the county approving all of these low income residences with nowhere to put all the kids that will fill them. The county/school board made a huge error a a few years' back by thinking that families don't live in apartments.

The official reason, I recall, was concerns about busing and traffic to the Wilson site for such a big school. Also, there isn't any green space for athletic fields.

The real reason probably has to do with how it would be zoned and the demographics that would be concentrated in it. That's the proverbial "island" that gives Yorktown its racial and SES diversity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are forgetting that when the original idea of making the Wilson site a neighborhood MS, parents FREAKED out. Noone, NOONE, wanted their kids in such an urban area going to MS. Plus, it was realized that there was no way to house 1300 kids in such a small footprint.

The new HB/Stratford school is not only going to be a co-located school (HB kids plus the Stratford program(which requires expensive accomodations/facilities)) it will also serve the community with a turf field with lights and indoor basketball court/gym.

Let's look at the real issue of overcrowding - the county approving all of these low income residences with nowhere to put all the kids that will fill them. The county/school board made a huge error a a few years' back by thinking that families don't live in apartments.

10000% BS. Plenty of parents wanted an urban MS. They just didn’t have the same voracity as the Taylor parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People are forgetting that when the original idea of making the Wilson site a neighborhood MS, parents FREAKED out. Noone, NOONE, wanted their kids in such an urban area going to MS. Plus, it was realized that there was no way to house 1300 kids in such a small footprint.

The new HB/Stratford school is not only going to be a co-located school (HB kids plus the Stratford program(which requires expensive accomodations/facilities)) it will also serve the community with a turf field with lights and indoor basketball court/gym.

Let's look at the real issue of overcrowding - the county approving all of these low income residences with nowhere to put all the kids that will fill them. The county/school board made a huge error a a few years' back by thinking that families don't live in apartments.

10000% BS. Plenty of parents wanted an urban MS. They just didn’t have the same voracity as the Taylor parents.

Cite your source. Every documented public hearing had parents saying they didn't want an urban MS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Put some trailers in that site and force them to take on 500 more kids. LIKE THE REST OF APS!!! Those sanctimonious HB parents make me want to VOMIT.

I noticed on AEM that the most sanctimonious one about how white HB is said that she has kids (plural) there.

Nothing fishy about that at all! But even if it were all fair and square (which it’s clearly not), it’s still rotten. We don’t have space for these snowflake programs. Stick those kids ... all plural of them... in trailers like the rest of our kids.

If you don’t want your kids in trailers you can transfer to another school in APS that is less crowded. Two middle schools that have zero trailers were accepting transfers this year.

But I sure can’t send them to HB. Only the chosen ones can go there.

Yes. The ones randomly chosen.

Can't wait until your kids apply to college and it's not even random. Boy are you in for some disappointment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Put some trailers in that site and force them to take on 500 more kids. LIKE THE REST OF APS!!! Those sanctimonious HB parents make me want to VOMIT.

I noticed on AEM that the most sanctimonious one about how white HB is said that she has kids (plural) there.

Nothing fishy about that at all! But even if it were all fair and square (which it’s clearly not), it’s still rotten. We don’t have space for these snowflake programs. Stick those kids ... all plural of them... in trailers like the rest of our kids.

If you don’t want your kids in trailers you can transfer to another school in APS that is less crowded. Two middle schools that have zero trailers were accepting transfers this year.

But I sure can’t send them to HB. Only the chosen ones can go there.

Yes. The ones randomly chosen.

Can't wait until your kids apply to college and it's not even random. Boy are you in for some disappointment.

The difference of course is that we don’t have to pay for other kids’ small, private college. That’s exactly what HB has become in overcrowded APS. If HB were private, awesome for them. But public funds for this snowflake school is obscene.

[Anonymous]

And if you think HB is all random, you have been duped.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Put some trailers in that site and force them to take on 500 more kids. LIKE THE REST OF APS!!! Those sanctimonious HB parents make me want to VOMIT.

I noticed on AEM that the most sanctimonious one about how white HB is said that she has kids (plural) there.

Nothing fishy about that at all! But even if it were all fair and square (which it’s clearly not), it’s still rotten. We don’t have space for these snowflake programs. Stick those kids ... all plural of them... in trailers like the rest of our kids.

If you don’t want your kids in trailers you can transfer to another school in APS that is less crowded. Two middle schools that have zero trailers were accepting transfers this year.

But I sure can’t send them to HB. Only the chosen ones can go there.

Yes. The ones randomly chosen.

Can't wait until your kids apply to college and it's not even random. Boy are you in for some disappointment.

I think most of us believe the initial lottery is random and 75 lucky kids are chosen (for middle school) each year. The issue we have is with those who get in outside of the lottery process. Current HB middle school class sizes are around 82-85, quite a few “extras” end up at HB each year. That would be great if these extras were being taken from the waitlist but that doesn’t seem to be happening. It seems to be another “system” that gets certain kids in outside of the lottery. Without transparency after the initial lottery we’ll never know what is actually happening...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Put some trailers in that site and force them to take on 500 more kids. LIKE THE REST OF APS!!! Those sanctimonious HB parents make me want to VOMIT.

I noticed on AEM that the most sanctimonious one about how white HB is said that she has kids (plural) there.

Nothing fishy about that at all! But even if it were all fair and square (which it’s clearly not), it’s still rotten. We don’t have space for these snowflake programs. Stick those kids ... all plural of them... in trailers like the rest of our kids.

If you don’t want your kids in trailers you can transfer to another school in APS that is less crowded. Two middle schools that have zero trailers were accepting transfers this year.

But I sure can’t send them to HB. Only the chosen ones can go there.

Yes. The ones randomly chosen.

Can't wait until your kids apply to college and it's not even random. Boy are you in for some disappointment.

I think most of us believe the initial lottery is random and 75 lucky kids are chosen (for middle school) each year. The issue we have is with those who get in outside of the lottery process. Current HB middle school class sizes are around 82-85, quite a few “extras” end up at HB each year. That would be great if these extras were being taken from the waitlist but that doesn’t seem to be happening. It seems to be another “system” that gets certain kids in outside of the lottery. Without transparency after the initial lottery we’ll never know what is actually happening...

I know for sure a kid who got in, never on the waitlist and let in by the principal. No autism, bullying issues, just a principal who liked this kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Put some trailers in that site and force them to take on 500 more kids. LIKE THE REST OF APS!!! Those sanctimonious HB parents make me want to VOMIT.

I noticed on AEM that the most sanctimonious one about how white HB is said that she has kids (plural) there.

Nothing fishy about that at all! But even if it were all fair and square (which it’s clearly not), it’s still rotten. We don’t have space for these snowflake programs. Stick those kids ... all plural of them... in trailers like the rest of our kids.

If you don’t want your kids in trailers you can transfer to another school in APS that is less crowded. Two middle schools that have zero trailers were accepting transfers this year.

But I sure can’t send them to HB. Only the chosen ones can go there.

Yes. The ones randomly chosen.

Can't wait until your kids apply to college and it's not even random. Boy are you in for some disappointment.

I think most of us believe the initial lottery is random and 75 lucky kids are chosen (for middle school) each year. The issue we have is with those who get in outside of the lottery process. Current HB middle school class sizes are around 82-85, quite a few “extras” end up at HB each year. That would be great if these extras were being taken from the waitlist but that doesn’t seem to be happening. It seems to be another “system” that gets certain kids in outside of the lottery. Without transparency after the initial lottery we’ll never know what is actually happening...

I know for sure a kid who got in, never on the waitlist and let in by the principal. No autism, bullying issues, just a principal who liked this kid.

I have heard of a sibling getting in outside of the lottery process. The family was very active in the school community so maybe they received special treatment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Put some trailers in that site and force them to take on 500 more kids. LIKE THE REST OF APS!!! Those sanctimonious HB parents make me want to VOMIT.

I noticed on AEM that the most sanctimonious one about how white HB is said that she has kids (plural) there.

Nothing fishy about that at all! But even if it were all fair and square (which it’s clearly not), it’s still rotten. We don’t have space for these snowflake programs. Stick those kids ... all plural of them... in trailers like the rest of our kids.

If you don’t want your kids in trailers you can transfer to another school in APS that is less crowded. Two middle schools that have zero trailers were accepting transfers this year.

But I sure can’t send them to HB. Only the chosen ones can go there.

Yes. The ones randomly chosen.

Can't wait until your kids apply to college and it's not even random. Boy are you in for some disappointment.

I think most of us believe the initial lottery is random and 75 lucky kids are chosen (for middle school) each year. The issue we have is with those who get in outside of the lottery process. Current HB middle school class sizes are around 82-85, quite a few “extras” end up at HB each year. That would be great if these extras were being taken from the waitlist but that doesn’t seem to be happening. It seems to be another “system” that gets certain kids in outside of the lottery. Without transparency after the initial lottery we’ll never know what is actually happening...

Kids get transferred into every school that "isn't accepting transfers." Why is the door closed to some and not others?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People are forgetting that when the original idea of making the Wilson site a neighborhood MS, parents FREAKED out. Noone, NOONE, wanted their kids in such an urban area going to MS. Plus, it was realized that there was no way to house 1300 kids in such a small footprint.

The new HB/Stratford school is not only going to be a co-located school (HB kids plus the Stratford program(which requires expensive accomodations/facilities)) it will also serve the community with a turf field with lights and indoor basketball court/gym.

Let's look at the real issue of overcrowding - the county approving all of these low income residences with nowhere to put all the kids that will fill them. The county/school board made a huge error a a few years' back by thinking that families don't live in apartments.

The official reason, I recall, was concerns about busing and traffic to the Wilson site for such a big school. Also, there isn't any green space for athletic fields.

The real reason probably has to do with how it would be zoned and the demographics that would be concentrated in it. That's the proverbial "island" that gives Yorktown its racial and SES diversity.

We used the Wilson site for our preschool while ours was being renovated, and I also used to live on that block. The traffic and busing thing is no joke. It was a mess with 200 kids - with almost no parking, lots of one-way streets, and narrow streets. It was a stupid idea to think about putting a comprehensive middle school on that site, and it was never actually in the cards. They had to do the dance of considering it in order to get the HB program out of the Stratford site. The Stratford site was the only place in this tiny county with no remaining large empty plots near where the overpopulation is where that middle school could go. It was always going to go there.

Now, are they over-fancying the new building up and underfilling it? Sure. But that’s a different discussion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And if you think HB is all random, you have been duped.

I have younger kids but was told by a neighbor that "there are ways to get your child into HB". She would not elaborate but her child does go there. Is there something to this?