4th comprehensive Arlington high school

[Anonymous]

^^^Lobbying for the fourth comprehensive high school at the Kenmore site, I mean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What ultimately stopped me from lobbying for a 4th comprehensive was its location in the south and the fact that it would ultimately be made disproportionately of FARMs students. W-L is a great site for bringing North and South together, and the Career Center is more centrally located in the same way.

But I agree that Kenmore has superior land available to it and the whole thing makes me angry. But ... once a student population is around 45% FARMs, it's a bit doomed in terms of achievement, and that's the way a Kenmore High seemed, to me, likely to be zoned under this School Board's way of doing things.

I believe the FRL proportions would be worse with the school at the Career Center. Kenmore could take a boundary extending northward and eastward without capturing all of the most densely low-income neighborhoods on the west end of Columbia Pike (even with this SB - and I tend to not have any hope or optimism with this board on anything). South of the Pike, or much of it, could stay at Wakefield along with the affluence of the Oakridge district, Shirlington, Douglas Park.

But the Career Center will take the wealthy Oakridge area, and the parts of the Pike that have caused Patrick henry to lose its Title I status (it is close to 30% FRL now rather than over 40%). Taking the wealthiest parts of south Arlington, along with some strong MC neighborhoods north of 50, would decimate Wakefield.

There is more flexibility with boundaries with a fourth school located at Kenmore than there is with two schools located in the center of the County. (By that, I also mean flexibility in shifting the boundaries to all four schools as needed, because you can shift areas around clockwise). One has to wonder if that's part of the real reason for so much pushback about the Kenmore site......Glencarlyn, north Arlington Forest......they don't want to lose their "walkability" to W-L. Well, they can't give the same "lack of walkability" argument to a school in their backyard at Kenmore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What ultimately stopped me from lobbying for a 4th comprehensive was its location in the south and the fact that it would ultimately be made disproportionately of FARMs students. W-L is a great site for bringing North and South together, and the Career Center is more centrally located in the same way.

But I agree that Kenmore has superior land available to it and the whole thing makes me angry. But ... once a student population is around 45% FARMs, it's a bit doomed in terms of achievement, and that's the way a Kenmore High seemed, to me, likely to be zoned under this School Board's way of doing things.

I believe the FRL proportions would be worse with the school at the Career Center. Kenmore could take a boundary extending northward and eastward without capturing all of the most densely low-income neighborhoods on the west end of Columbia Pike (even with this SB - and I tend to not have any hope or optimism with this board on anything). South of the Pike, or much of it, could stay at Wakefield along with the affluence of the Oakridge district, Shirlington, Douglas Park.

But the Career Center will take the wealthy Oakridge area, and the parts of the Pike that have caused Patrick henry to lose its Title I status (it is close to 30% FRL now rather than over 40%). Taking the wealthiest parts of south Arlington, along with some strong MC neighborhoods north of 50, would decimate Wakefield.

There is more flexibility with boundaries with a fourth school located at Kenmore than there is with two schools located in the center of the County. (By that, I also mean flexibility in shifting the boundaries to all four schools as needed, because you can shift areas around clockwise). One has to wonder if that's part of the real reason for so much pushback about the Kenmore site......Glencarlyn, north Arlington Forest......they don't want to lose their "walkability" to W-L. Well, they can't give the same "lack of walkability" argument to a school in their backyard at Kenmore.

This is exactly right. Nobody is so worried about Wakefield being high fr/l, or getting even higher, just so long as they are not zoned there. Eventually we will need a 4th comprehensive. I'd argue that time is upon us now, but if we build enough seats at W-L and Arlington Tech, we can probably muddle through the next decade. But I don't think the conditions that caused Arlington's school-aged population to sharply decline in the past will be repeated, so we need a longer-term plan. Once the W-L annex and Arlington Texh are full, what then? It makes more sense to plan and to build a 4th comprehensive HS on the largest parcel of land that APS owns rather than trying to cram it onto a much smaller site at the Career Center.

[Anonymous]

But won't the Career Center remain an option school, not a neighborhood school? Is the school board's plan to require the Career Center, which I thought was being billed as a hands-on learning almost vo-tech type school with no arts or sports options on site as a neighborhood school for local residents?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of folks seem to think the Career Center site is a shoe-in for a fourth comprehensive high school. But a lot of people think Kenmore makes more sense, regardless of the current traffic complaint. So, given the current process to add seats to the Career Center site and the very limited budget and phased approach to increasing capacity there, why should that be the location for a fourth comprehensive high school? Considering the various programs and the elementary school currently there, and the acreage being less than a third of the acreage at Kenmore, how/why would this make sense? How/why would this be the most efficient and feasible solution to high school capacity in the timeframe needed?

This is a case where the School Board is right. We do not need to waste 130+ million on a highschool that will be a ghost town one day just like Arlington schools were in the 80s? The SB has made the right decisions with expanding W&L and adding Arlington Tech. These are the innovative ways that will not waste money on a a comprehensive high school we do not need.

It was this attitude - that obviously needed projects in APS would be a waste of money - that convinced us to move to Fairfax. I know that’s what posters like PP are counting on, but it still feels good to have escaped the indifference to families and know our kids won’t be stuck in some annex to an already overcrowded high school.

Where in fairfax did you end up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What ultimately stopped me from lobbying for a 4th comprehensive was its location in the south and the fact that it would ultimately be made disproportionately of FARMs students. W-L is a great site for bringing North and South together, and the Career Center is more centrally located in the same way.

But I agree that Kenmore has superior land available to it and the whole thing makes me angry. But ... once a student population is around 45% FARMs, it's a bit doomed in terms of achievement, and that's the way a Kenmore High seemed, to me, likely to be zoned under this School Board's way of doing things.

South Arlington is increasingly going to resemble Alexandria city, not north Arlington in the years to come: expensive SFH that go private while apartments and low income housing goes public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But won't the Career Center remain an option school, not a neighborhood school? Is the school board's plan to require the Career Center, which I thought was being billed as a hands-on learning almost vo-tech type school with no arts or sports options on site as a neighborhood school for local residents?

That's what the plan was. Now the immediate neighborhood sees an opportunity to grab the school for themselves to create a wealthier HS, for themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But won't the Career Center remain an option school, not a neighborhood school? Is the school board's plan to require the Career Center, which I thought was being billed as a hands-on learning almost vo-tech type school with no arts or sports options on site as a neighborhood school for local residents?

That's what the plan was. Now the immediate neighborhood sees an opportunity to grab the school for themselves to create a wealthier HS, for themselves.

This seems pretty selfish of the neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Um no the neighborhood kids deserve the same H.S. experience as all the other kids. If you going to require them to attend them APS needs to give them the same experience and amenities. It is not selfish how about we put your kids at high school with no band, sports, clubs, swimming pool, fields, etc?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But won't the Career Center remain an option school, not a neighborhood school? Is the school board's plan to require the Career Center, which I thought was being billed as a hands-on learning almost vo-tech type school with no arts or sports options on site as a neighborhood school for local residents?

That's what the plan was. Now the immediate neighborhood sees an opportunity to grab the school for themselves to create a wealthier HS, for themselves.

This seems pretty selfish of the neighborhood.

Are you kidding? Did you want to open up your neighborhood to 3500+ kids that are busing in and out every day? You totally should have spoken up then.
I didn’t hear anyone in Arlington raise their hand last summer and say; yes, bring all those kids here! In fact it was the exact opposite!
There was enormous resistance in all neighborhoods in question of the type “not in my backyard”.

Arlington needs a 4th comprehensive high school - you haven’t followed this last summer apparently.
Student population is projected to increase continuously. If we don’t build it now - Murphy has already proposed plans to go let kids go to school in “shifts”, and do “online learning”, among other things. Most parents were not in favor of those proposals.

[Anonymous]

But there's no room for sports or other amenities at the Career Center. That's what I don't understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of folks seem to think the Career Center site is a shoe-in for a fourth comprehensive high school. But a lot of people think Kenmore makes more sense, regardless of the current traffic complaint. So, given the current process to add seats to the Career Center site and the very limited budget and phased approach to increasing capacity there, why should that be the location for a fourth comprehensive high school? Considering the various programs and the elementary school currently there, and the acreage being less than a third of the acreage at Kenmore, how/why would this make sense? How/why would this be the most efficient and feasible solution to high school capacity in the timeframe needed?

It’s not just a “severe” traffic complaint, and the fact that the local neighborhood fought tooth and nails against this in full force.
In addition to that, Murphy’s staff had done a comprehensive analysis of several sites last year and found that the main problem was a “lack of egress” and that the property borders to Fairfax County and issues that pertained to that. With that full analysis Murphy’s staff ruled the Kenmore site completely out for further consideration for a high school or any other school (they had hoped for an additional elementary school there at one time, too, which had been shot down, too). You can probably still find the papers of that analysis online. It’s not happening at the Kenmore site. That ship has sailed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But there's no room for sports or other amenities at the Career Center. That's what I don't understand.

There is enough room. It requires a redevelopment of the entire site. The surface parking lot moves underground, etc.
The staff thinks there is a chance to acquire space that is adjacent to the parcel, too, south of 9th Street (next to the AT&T building), it would be extending to Columbia Pike.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of folks seem to think the Career Center site is a shoe-in for a fourth comprehensive high school. But a lot of people think Kenmore makes more sense, regardless of the current traffic complaint. So, given the current process to add seats to the Career Center site and the very limited budget and phased approach to increasing capacity there, why should that be the location for a fourth comprehensive high school? Considering the various programs and the elementary school currently there, and the acreage being less than a third of the acreage at Kenmore, how/why would this make sense? How/why would this be the most efficient and feasible solution to high school capacity in the timeframe needed?

This is a case where the School Board is right. We do not need to waste 130+ million on a highschool that will be a ghost town one day just like Arlington schools were in the 80s? The SB has made the right decisions with expanding W&L and adding Arlington Tech. These are the innovative ways that will not waste money on a a comprehensive high school we do not need.

It was this attitude - that obviously needed projects in APS would be a waste of money - that convinced us to move to Fairfax. I know that’s what posters like PP are counting on, but it still feels good to have escaped the indifference to families and know our kids won’t be stuck in some annex to an already overcrowded high school.

So true!! And we could only wish the students were in an actual annex! No, they are scattered in trailers.

Or worse, they will face going to school from 2:00 pm to 8:30 pm. That happened in my school district. It lasted only about 6 months. Seemed cool to us high school kids in the beginning, but it got old very quickly. Everyone hated it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of folks seem to think the Career Center site is a shoe-in for a fourth comprehensive high school. But a lot of people think Kenmore makes more sense, regardless of the current traffic complaint. So, given the current process to add seats to the Career Center site and the very limited budget and phased approach to increasing capacity there, why should that be the location for a fourth comprehensive high school? Considering the various programs and the elementary school currently there, and the acreage being less than a third of the acreage at Kenmore, how/why would this make sense? How/why would this be the most efficient and feasible solution to high school capacity in the timeframe needed?

This is a case where the School Board is right. We do not need to waste 130+ million on a highschool that will be a ghost town one day just like Arlington schools were in the 80s? The SB has made the right decisions with expanding W&L and adding Arlington Tech. These are the innovative ways that will not waste money on a a comprehensive high school we do not need.

And when will the schools be a ghost town? When traffic magically improves and people decide living in Arlington isn’t worth the money? When Trump drains the swamp?

No one has ever given me anything but a laughable explanation on how Arlington Tech is going to pull enough kids out of the high schools to make any difference.

Arlington Tech is unlikely to ever shed the vocational school tag. This isn’t necessarily fair given what they are trying to do with the program and I love vocational schools. But perceptions will persist and it won’t really appeal to the Type A demographic that dominates Arlington.

Unless they pump a ton of money into science labs (or things like that) and somehow make it “elite,” the number of kids zoned to Yorktown who go there will be painfully low. It won’t make a dent into overcrowding. And, because of that, the money put into it will be a waste.

The kids going there now have come pretty equally from Yorktown, W-L, Wakefield zones.