Projected Overcrowding in High School APSVA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile HB Woodlawn has seen zero growth since moving to the new building. They still plan for just around 80 kids per MS grade and around 115 per HS grade. The lottery only accepted 75 6th graders and 26 9th graders (bringing the total 9th grade class next year to just 107 since they currently have 81 8th graders and I’m sure at least one or two will decide to move to another school). They really need to increase their enrollment to 100 per MS grade as promised when plans for them to move to the new building were being discussed. HS grades should each be at 125 at a minimum. They would still be a small program with these numbers.

HB is a perfect example of APS's fraud, waste and abuse of tax payer dollars.

Just stop it. All those kids would be back in the three comprehensive high schools if HB was still on Vacation Lane (where they wanted to stay) and that building was a neighborhood middle school, as originally proposed when they decided not to sell the land. And building it taller to hold more kids would have been cost-prohibitive. There are no fields.

If you have somewhere to put 900 middle and high schoolers, by all means, let us know where to build that school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile HB Woodlawn has seen zero growth since moving to the new building. They still plan for just around 80 kids per MS grade and around 115 per HS grade. The lottery only accepted 75 6th graders and 26 9th graders (bringing the total 9th grade class next year to just 107 since they currently have 81 8th graders and I’m sure at least one or two will decide to move to another school). They really need to increase their enrollment to 100 per MS grade as promised when plans for them to move to the new building were being discussed. HS grades should each be at 125 at a minimum. They would still be a small program with these numbers.

We should max out all lottery schools, even using trailers (for ES) or abolish them and maximize the space use.

I KNOW we can't take over the community centers but if I ruled the world, that's what I would do. The building would clear out by 5pm so it could be used by the community after that.

How many classrooms would fit in a community center, and what is the staffing plan--principal, front office, school nurse, counselors? Special ed, English language learners? Art/music/gym?

Do parents get to decide if their kids go to the school with only one or two grades, or one class in each grade, or are they just zoned into it?

Is there busing to the closest comprehensive school so kids have an opportunity to participate in after school clubs and activities or do they only have the ones that can be supported by their numbers?

[Anonymous]

What about Wakefield?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile HB Woodlawn has seen zero growth since moving to the new building. They still plan for just around 80 kids per MS grade and around 115 per HS grade. The lottery only accepted 75 6th graders and 26 9th graders (bringing the total 9th grade class next year to just 107 since they currently have 81 8th graders and I’m sure at least one or two will decide to move to another school). They really need to increase their enrollment to 100 per MS grade as promised when plans for them to move to the new building were being discussed. HS grades should each be at 125 at a minimum. They would still be a small program with these numbers.

HB is a perfect example of APS's fraud, waste and abuse of tax payer dollars.

Just stop it. All those kids would be back in the three comprehensive high schools if HB was still on Vacation Lane (where they wanted to stay) and that building was a neighborhood middle school, as originally proposed when they decided not to sell the land. And building it taller to hold more kids would have been cost-prohibitive. There are no fields.

If you have somewhere to put 900 middle and high schoolers, by all means, let us know where to build that school.

WAH we had to give up one of the largest parcels of land APS owns for an architects blinged out brand new vanity project. We can’t possibly accept more students...

HB should have moved to office buildings; they play on home school sports, and can walk off campus anytime they want is an office setting would have been ideal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile HB Woodlawn has seen zero growth since moving to the new building. They still plan for just around 80 kids per MS grade and around 115 per HS grade. The lottery only accepted 75 6th graders and 26 9th graders (bringing the total 9th grade class next year to just 107 since they currently have 81 8th graders and I’m sure at least one or two will decide to move to another school). They really need to increase their enrollment to 100 per MS grade as promised when plans for them to move to the new building were being discussed. HS grades should each be at 125 at a minimum. They would still be a small program with these numbers.

We should max out all lottery schools, even using trailers (for ES) or abolish them and maximize the space use.

I KNOW we can't take over the community centers but if I ruled the world, that's what I would do. The building would clear out by 5pm so it could be used by the community after that.

How many classrooms would fit in a community center, and what is the staffing plan--principal, front office, school nurse, counselors? Special ed, English language learners? Art/music/gym?

Do parents get to decide if their kids go to the school with only one or two grades, or one class in each grade, or are they just zoned into it?

Is there busing to the closest comprehensive school so kids have an opportunity to participate in after school clubs and activities or do they only have the ones that can be supported by their numbers?

You could expand a community center like Madison into a good size middle school, and then build a high school on existing MS site

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile HB Woodlawn has seen zero growth since moving to the new building. They still plan for just around 80 kids per MS grade and around 115 per HS grade. The lottery only accepted 75 6th graders and 26 9th graders (bringing the total 9th grade class next year to just 107 since they currently have 81 8th graders and I’m sure at least one or two will decide to move to another school). They really need to increase their enrollment to 100 per MS grade as promised when plans for them to move to the new building were being discussed. HS grades should each be at 125 at a minimum. They would still be a small program with these numbers.

HB is a perfect example of APS's fraud, waste and abuse of tax payer dollars.

Just stop it. All those kids would be back in the three comprehensive high schools if HB was still on Vacation Lane (where they wanted to stay) and that building was a neighborhood middle school, as originally proposed when they decided not to sell the land. And building it taller to hold more kids would have been cost-prohibitive. There are no fields.

If you have somewhere to put 900 middle and high schoolers, by all means, let us know where to build that school.

WAH we had to give up one of the largest parcels of land APS owns for an architects blinged out brand new vanity project. We can’t possibly accept more students...

HB should have moved to office buildings; they play on home school sports, and can walk off campus anytime they want is an office setting would have been ideal.

Agree - put HB in office space.

The Heights building should have been an elementary school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile HB Woodlawn has seen zero growth since moving to the new building. They still plan for just around 80 kids per MS grade and around 115 per HS grade. The lottery only accepted 75 6th graders and 26 9th graders (bringing the total 9th grade class next year to just 107 since they currently have 81 8th graders and I’m sure at least one or two will decide to move to another school). They really need to increase their enrollment to 100 per MS grade as promised when plans for them to move to the new building were being discussed. HS grades should each be at 125 at a minimum. They would still be a small program with these numbers.

HB is a perfect example of APS's fraud, waste and abuse of tax payer dollars.

Just stop it. All those kids would be back in the three comprehensive high schools if HB was still on Vacation Lane (where they wanted to stay) and that building was a neighborhood middle school, as originally proposed when they decided not to sell the land. And building it taller to hold more kids would have been cost-prohibitive. There are no fields.

If you have somewhere to put 900 middle and high schoolers, by all means, let us know where to build that school.

WAH we had to give up one of the largest parcels of land APS owns for an architects blinged out brand new vanity project. We can’t possibly accept more students...

HB should have moved to office buildings; they play on home school sports, and can walk off campus anytime they want is an office setting would have been ideal.

Great, let's walk this one through. Sounds like you are saying they should rent an office building, since APS doesn't own one they can use. So, we're paying commercial rents, in Arlington. And also somehow coming up with several million dollars to convert commercial space to educational space out of a current budget, because you can't use bond funds to pay for improvements to buildings that you don't own. And that conversion will include combining multiple floors order to put in a cafeteria, gym, and theater, not to mention renovating utilities to put in all the other things you need for a high school like science labs, art rooms, etc. And at the end of the lease we will have to pay several million dollars to put it all back to commercial space.

Can you smug people stop recycling these dumb ideas year after year after year? All of this stuff has been floated, and vetted, and determined to be more costly and more complicated and create less capacity and take more time than the alternatives. There are multiple citizen advisory groups and task forces in addition to full-time staff who work on these issues. If it were easier and cheaper to make the Wilson building bigger, or put HB in an office building, or whatever, THEY WOULD HAVE DONE THAT. All of the things they do they do because there is no clear better alternative.

[Anonymous]

Agree that HB needs to move to 125 9th graders. It’s disgusting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile HB Woodlawn has seen zero growth since moving to the new building. They still plan for just around 80 kids per MS grade and around 115 per HS grade. The lottery only accepted 75 6th graders and 26 9th graders (bringing the total 9th grade class next year to just 107 since they currently have 81 8th graders and I’m sure at least one or two will decide to move to another school). They really need to increase their enrollment to 100 per MS grade as promised when plans for them to move to the new building were being discussed. HS grades should each be at 125 at a minimum. They would still be a small program with these numbers.

HB is a perfect example of APS's fraud, waste and abuse of tax payer dollars.

Just stop it. All those kids would be back in the three comprehensive high schools if HB was still on Vacation Lane (where they wanted to stay) and that building was a neighborhood middle school, as originally proposed when they decided not to sell the land. And building it taller to hold more kids would have been cost-prohibitive. There are no fields.

If you have somewhere to put 900 middle and high schoolers, by all means, let us know where to build that school.

WAH we had to give up one of the largest parcels of land APS owns for an architects blinged out brand new vanity project. We can’t possibly accept more students...

HB should have moved to office buildings; they play on home school sports, and can walk off campus anytime they want is an office setting would have been ideal.

Agree - put HB in office space.

The Heights building should have been an elementary school.

Kindergarten and first grade have to be on the ground floor. If Montessori were there, that means the 3/4/5 classes and the 1st/2nd/3rd classes would have to be on the ground floor.

Virginia requirements for elementary school playgrounds are two 100'x120' play equipment areas and a 100'x120' hard surface area plus a 180'x140' field.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's the Career Center info:

https://www.apsva.us/design-and-construction/arlington-career-center/

So they are building more Arlington Tech seats through interior renovations and relocatables but there is no plan for the rest of the site. Basically they punted on the whole thing because they didn't want to commit to a real high school and the neighborhood didn't want to accept less than that.

"The approved FY 2021 CIP does not include a specific project for major expansion at the Career Center site. As directed by the School Board, the site will be subject to study for possibly accommodating high school seat need, in preparation for, and during development of the FY 2022 CIP. Any major capital project at the Career Center campus will be included in the FY 2022 CIP, which the School Board is anticipated to adopt in June 2021. Career Center renovations are ongoing to support the planned enrollment growth of Arlington Tech. To prepare for the 2020-21 School Year, summer 2020 activities include renovations within a portion of the second floor and installation of additional relocatable classrooms. To prepare for further planned growth, renovations are planned to consolidate the Columbia Pike Branch Library on the first floor in order to provide shared APS/County classrooms on the second floor. The consolidation is expected to be complete in November 2020."

Not exactly. It wasn’t going to be a neighborhood school, but the BLPC agreed a school for over 2,000 students needed a minimum number of amenities, like a full cafeteria, library, theater, gym, and parking on site. APS didn’t have the money to build it, ever, even before the Pandemic, so they wasted everyone’s time on a fantasy. There will be no actual seats, and the Tech program and all the other kids at that site are an afterthought, with kids in permanent trailers. Virtual is all they have left to propose unless thousands leave the system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile HB Woodlawn has seen zero growth since moving to the new building. They still plan for just around 80 kids per MS grade and around 115 per HS grade. The lottery only accepted 75 6th graders and 26 9th graders (bringing the total 9th grade class next year to just 107 since they currently have 81 8th graders and I’m sure at least one or two will decide to move to another school). They really need to increase their enrollment to 100 per MS grade as promised when plans for them to move to the new building were being discussed. HS grades should each be at 125 at a minimum. They would still be a small program with these numbers.

HB is a perfect example of APS's fraud, waste and abuse of tax payer dollars.

Just stop it. All those kids would be back in the three comprehensive high schools if HB was still on Vacation Lane (where they wanted to stay) and that building was a neighborhood middle school, as originally proposed when they decided not to sell the land. And building it taller to hold more kids would have been cost-prohibitive. There are no fields.

If you have somewhere to put 900 middle and high schoolers, by all means, let us know where to build that school.

I believe many of us are not asking for HB to go away - at least I'm not. We are asking for them to do the same as every other secondary school in Arlington and that is to grow. To take just 75 6th graders and then add just 26 9th graders each year is ridiculous. There should have been some growth after they moved into the new building. You quote 900 MS and HS kids in your post but they don't have nearly that many. Current HB enrollment - as of Feb 2021 - is just 241 MS and 449 HS students. That is just 690 kids for combined 6-12 grades, unbelievably small. Yes, the building is shared with the Shriver program, but that program has just 35 kids in grades 6-12, so that brings the number of students currently in the Heights building up to 725. Building capacity is 775. Why is the HB program not growing if there is capacity for at least 50 more students? Why did they lottery in just 26 9th graders when current 8th grade enrollment is just 82? If they are planning for class sizes to be just 75 -80 in MS and 108-115 in HS that means APS is planning for HB enrollment to remain at just between 657-700? That is no where near the 900 you quoted, or even the official building capacity of 775.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile HB Woodlawn has seen zero growth since moving to the new building. They still plan for just around 80 kids per MS grade and around 115 per HS grade. The lottery only accepted 75 6th graders and 26 9th graders (bringing the total 9th grade class next year to just 107 since they currently have 81 8th graders and I’m sure at least one or two will decide to move to another school). They really need to increase their enrollment to 100 per MS grade as promised when plans for them to move to the new building were being discussed. HS grades should each be at 125 at a minimum. They would still be a small program with these numbers.

HB is a perfect example of APS's fraud, waste and abuse of tax payer dollars.

Just stop it. All those kids would be back in the three comprehensive high schools if HB was still on Vacation Lane (where they wanted to stay) and that building was a neighborhood middle school, as originally proposed when they decided not to sell the land. And building it taller to hold more kids would have been cost-prohibitive. There are no fields.

If you have somewhere to put 900 middle and high schoolers, by all means, let us know where to build that school.

I believe many of us are not asking for HB to go away - at least I'm not. We are asking for them to do the same as every other secondary school in Arlington and that is to grow. To take just 75 6th graders and then add just 26 9th graders each year is ridiculous. There should have been some growth after they moved into the new building. You quote 900 MS and HS kids in your post but they don't have nearly that many. Current HB enrollment - as of Feb 2021 - is just 241 MS and 449 HS students. That is just 690 kids for combined 6-12 grades, unbelievably small. Yes, the building is shared with the Shriver program, but that program has just 35 kids in grades 6-12, so that brings the number of students currently in the Heights building up to 725. Building capacity is 775. Why is the HB program not growing if there is capacity for at least 50 more students? Why did they lottery in just 26 9th graders when current 8th grade enrollment is just 82? If they are planning for class sizes to be just 75 -80 in MS and 108-115 in HS that means APS is planning for HB enrollment to remain at just between 657-700? That is no where near the 900 you quoted, or even the official building capacity of 775.

Maybe those 50 are accounted for by teachers and staff?

[Anonymous]

Here's the plan: APS punts on any real planning in the next CIP because with the pandemic, how could anyone trust the projections? Clearly it's a brave new world and lots of kids are going to go private or full virtual in the future so we don't need new buildings. Spoiler alert - long term it's a blip and we need a new high school but we won't build it in time. Kids who are currently in upper elementary and middle school will be going to high school in shifts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile HB Woodlawn has seen zero growth since moving to the new building. They still plan for just around 80 kids per MS grade and around 115 per HS grade. The lottery only accepted 75 6th graders and 26 9th graders (bringing the total 9th grade class next year to just 107 since they currently have 81 8th graders and I’m sure at least one or two will decide to move to another school). They really need to increase their enrollment to 100 per MS grade as promised when plans for them to move to the new building were being discussed. HS grades should each be at 125 at a minimum. They would still be a small program with these numbers.

HB is a perfect example of APS's fraud, waste and abuse of tax payer dollars.

Just stop it. All those kids would be back in the three comprehensive high schools if HB was still on Vacation Lane (where they wanted to stay) and that building was a neighborhood middle school, as originally proposed when they decided not to sell the land. And building it taller to hold more kids would have been cost-prohibitive. There are no fields.

If you have somewhere to put 900 middle and high schoolers, by all means, let us know where to build that school.

I believe many of us are not asking for HB to go away - at least I'm not. We are asking for them to do the same as every other secondary school in Arlington and that is to grow. To take just 75 6th graders and then add just 26 9th graders each year is ridiculous. There should have been some growth after they moved into the new building. You quote 900 MS and HS kids in your post but they don't have nearly that many. Current HB enrollment - as of Feb 2021 - is just 241 MS and 449 HS students. That is just 690 kids for combined 6-12 grades, unbelievably small. Yes, the building is shared with the Shriver program, but that program has just 35 kids in grades 6-12, so that brings the number of students currently in the Heights building up to 725. Building capacity is 775. Why is the HB program not growing if there is capacity for at least 50 more students? Why did they lottery in just 26 9th graders when current 8th grade enrollment is just 82? If they are planning for class sizes to be just 75 -80 in MS and 108-115 in HS that means APS is planning for HB enrollment to remain at just between 657-700? That is no where near the 900 you quoted, or even the official building capacity of 775.

Maybe those 50 are accounted for by teachers and staff?

Pretty sure APS building capacity refers to students only, ie, classroom seats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile HB Woodlawn has seen zero growth since moving to the new building. They still plan for just around 80 kids per MS grade and around 115 per HS grade. The lottery only accepted 75 6th graders and 26 9th graders (bringing the total 9th grade class next year to just 107 since they currently have 81 8th graders and I’m sure at least one or two will decide to move to another school). They really need to increase their enrollment to 100 per MS grade as promised when plans for them to move to the new building were being discussed. HS grades should each be at 125 at a minimum. They would still be a small program with these numbers.

HB is a perfect example of APS's fraud, waste and abuse of tax payer dollars.

Just stop it. All those kids would be back in the three comprehensive high schools if HB was still on Vacation Lane (where they wanted to stay) and that building was a neighborhood middle school, as originally proposed when they decided not to sell the land. And building it taller to hold more kids would have been cost-prohibitive. There are no fields.

If you have somewhere to put 900 middle and high schoolers, by all means, let us know where to build that school.

WAH we had to give up one of the largest parcels of land APS owns for an architects blinged out brand new vanity project. We can’t possibly accept more students...

HB should have moved to office buildings; they play on home school sports, and can walk off campus anytime they want is an office setting would have been ideal.

Agree - put HB in office space.

The Heights building should have been an elementary school.

Kindergarten and first grade have to be on the ground floor. If Montessori were there, that means the 3/4/5 classes and the 1st/2nd/3rd classes would have to be on the ground floor.

Virginia requirements for elementary school playgrounds are two 100'x120' play equipment areas and a 100'x120' hard surface area plus a 180'x140' field.

No need for Montessori so you can unlink the 2/3 from the VPI/K/1.

Get an exception because it's an urban environment. It's not like NYC public schools have enormous outdoor play areas. Or even all of existing APS schools for that matter? ASFS certainly doesn't have a hard surface area now with those trailers. And doesn't have two large play equipment areas.