APS Superintendent High School Overcrowding Plan

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the three comprehensive high schools are increasing their student populations by 50% in a decade than so should HB. It's absolutely ridiculous for that school to be in a protective bubble. I don't care if their program doesn't work if there are 50% more kids attending it. 3,000 students at a high school doesn't work either.

A PP mentioned that Arlington tech should have been another HB. But another HB would only put a small dent in the solving the high school overcrowding since HB only has 70-80 kids per grade. Need to find 1200 seats for high school in 4 years and double that in 9.

This ship has sailed. They are building a new school for HB. They aren't going to increase enrollment beyond that which is already planned, or it too will be an overcrowded building. Focus your energy elsewhere. (And no, I'm not an HB parent.)

The VH parcel is absolutely critical. Can there really be serious consideration of any other use for this land?

Who cares if HB's new building is overcrowded. So will be Wajefields new building and WL's not very old building and Yorktown's recently renovated building.

[Anonymous]

Maybe Trump's SCOTUS will repeal Brown v. Board of Ed, and then the N. Arlington concerns will be addressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe Trump's SCOTUS will repeal Brown v. Board of Ed, and then the N. Arlington concerns will be addressed.

What an idiot. The two high schools that will be most overcrowded are the ones that are most racially and economically diverse. But go ahead, be smug and blame N. Arlington. It's a lot easier than posting something thoughtful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How far along are they in building the new Wilson building?

I think it's BS that they're allowed to keep the program so small. It is entirely possible to have a 1300-student secondary program that is collectively run. If the current population doesn't want to stick around, fine. Plenty of other people would take their places.

Having attended a 600-student high school, I think you are dead wrong. But again, it doesn't matter because THIS SHIP HAS SAILED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the three comprehensive high schools are increasing their student populations by 50% in a decade than so should HB. It's absolutely ridiculous for that school to be in a protective bubble. I don't care if their program doesn't work if there are 50% more kids attending it. 3,000 students at a high school doesn't work either.

A PP mentioned that Arlington tech should have been another HB. But another HB would only put a small dent in the solving the high school overcrowding since HB only has 70-80 kids per grade. Need to find 1200 seats for high school in 4 years and double that in 9.

This ship has sailed. They are building a new school for HB. They aren't going to increase enrollment beyond that which is already planned, or it too will be an overcrowded building. Focus your energy elsewhere. (And no, I'm not an HB parent.)

The VH parcel is absolutely critical. Can there really be serious consideration of any other use for this land?

Who cares if HB's new building is overcrowded. So will be Wajefields new building and WL's not very old building and Yorktown's recently renovated building.

How many extra students do you think they could cram in there? A hundred? Two hundred? That won't even put a dent in the number of seats needed.

People, seriously. Stop tilting at windmills. The HB decision has been made. Period. We cannot solve this problem by pushing a few more students into HB. Let's focus on real solutions.

[Anonymous]

Real solutions - like putting HB2 at Career Center!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the three comprehensive high schools are increasing their student populations by 50% in a decade than so should HB. It's absolutely ridiculous for that school to be in a protective bubble. I don't care if their program doesn't work if there are 50% more kids attending it. 3,000 students at a high school doesn't work either.

A PP mentioned that Arlington tech should have been another HB. But another HB would only put a small dent in the solving the high school overcrowding since HB only has 70-80 kids per grade. Need to find 1200 seats for high school in 4 years and double that in 9.

This ship has sailed. They are building a new school for HB. They aren't going to increase enrollment beyond that which is already planned, or it too will be an overcrowded building. Focus your energy elsewhere. (And no, I'm not an HB parent.)

The VH parcel is absolutely critical. Can there really be serious consideration of any other use for this land?

Who cares if HB's new building is overcrowded. So will be Wajefields new building and WL's not very old building and Yorktown's recently renovated building.

How many extra students do you think they could cram in there? A hundred? Two hundred? That won't even put a dent in the number of seats needed.

People, seriously. Stop tilting at windmills. The HB decision has been made. Period. We cannot solve this problem by pushing a few more students into HB. Let's focus on real solutions.

Once again the HB community shows itself to be the most selfish group around. Of course it's appropriate to reopen the discussion given the CRISIS that we are facing in APS and consider how additional students might be allowed to attend the school.

[Anonymous]

Are any of the school board candidates in favor of using the VHC parcel for a 4th high school? Those would be the candidates I'd want to vote for.

Do we need to send mail to the County Board, the School Board, or both about using the VHC parcel for a 4th HS and giving up this ridiculous idea of sending kids to school in shifts?

I won't have a kid in school anymore by the time this crisis hits, but as a taxpaying Arlingtonian who cares about the schools, who went to school here and came back here after college/grad school in part for the schools, I'm horrified at this idea of shift school, and how this superintendent is putting his head in the sand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the three comprehensive high schools are increasing their student populations by 50% in a decade than so should HB. It's absolutely ridiculous for that school to be in a protective bubble. I don't care if their program doesn't work if there are 50% more kids attending it. 3,000 students at a high school doesn't work either.

A PP mentioned that Arlington tech should have been another HB. But another HB would only put a small dent in the solving the high school overcrowding since HB only has 70-80 kids per grade. Need to find 1200 seats for high school in 4 years and double that in 9.

This ship has sailed. They are building a new school for HB. They aren't going to increase enrollment beyond that which is already planned, or it too will be an overcrowded building. Focus your energy elsewhere. (And no, I'm not an HB parent.)

The VH parcel is absolutely critical. Can there really be serious consideration of any other use for this land?

Who cares if HB's new building is overcrowded. So will be Wajefields new building and WL's not very old building and Yorktown's recently renovated building.

How many extra students do you think they could cram in there? A hundred? Two hundred? That won't even put a dent in the number of seats needed.

People, seriously. Stop tilting at windmills. The HB decision has been made. Period. We cannot solve this problem by pushing a few more students into HB. Let's focus on real solutions.

Once again the HB community shows itself to be the most selfish group around. Of course it's appropriate to reopen the discussion given the CRISIS that we are facing in APS and consider how additional students might be allowed to attend the school.

This "it's too late" BS is how we wound up building a brand new Wakefield hundreds of seats too small and needing to put an addition on already, and I know you're right about tilting at windmills (since the final BLPC meeting is this week). But damn! What a complete failure of planning. Maybe a couple hundred seats at HB wouldn't fix the problem, but that gives a little more breathing room to the other schools that are supposed to figure out what to do just to keep all the kids in one building at the same time for just a bit longer, and that could've been planned for at HB off the bat. Everybody should share in this problem, otherwise HB becomes a publicly-funded elite, competitive private HS and not the alternative program it was designed to be anyway (I actually think this has already happened, but if it hasn't, this is the nail in HB's gorgeous LEED gold-standard coffin).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are any of the school board candidates in favor of using the VHC parcel for a 4th high school? Those would be the candidates I'd want to vote for.

Do we need to send mail to the County Board, the School Board, or both about using the VHC parcel for a 4th HS and giving up this ridiculous idea of sending kids to school in shifts?

I won't have a kid in school anymore by the time this crisis hits, but as a taxpaying Arlingtonian who cares about the schools, who went to school here and came back here after college/grad school in part for the schools, I'm horrified at this idea of shift school, and how this superintendent is putting his head in the sand.

I agree. Time for a fourth high school. My kids are in private school currently. The idea was they would come back for high school. Not if this is what it looks like. What a shit show. Time for a new Superintendent.

The Glencarlyn neighborhood will throw a hissy fit about the high school being at VH. Guaranteed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The comprehensive HS needs more land and that's why the enormous Kenmore campus was under consideration. Carling Springs would be a great location for a MS. Since ES, MS and HS all have different start times, the traffic wouldn't have to be that bad.

But what happens in the interim? Where do the MS students who attend Kenmore go? Do you mean build a new MS first and then convert Kenmore to a HS? I guess I'm not understanding how it makes sense to convert a MS to a HS and then build a new middle school all along Carlin Springs Rd. Why wouldn't it be more cost effective and less of a disturbance/nuisance to leave Kenmore as-is and build a new HS on land that is acquired. The VHC site is 11.5 acres. Is that not big enough for a HS? How many acres is the Kenmore site?

Also, the neighborhood doesn't care about staggered start times, or at least the agitators in that neighborhood don't (and at least one of them is already getting face-time with elected officials and APS staff trying to stop the discussion before it even starts). These vocal naysayers have kids who are out of HS already, and they just don't give a sh** about the kids coming through now. They just want everything to be preserved in amber as it is now, and too bad for the rest of us.

Build a wall!

Make Alexandria pay for it

[Anonymous]

Cover a portion of 66 and build up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All this won't be affecting me, I'm switching my kids to private. Y'all can have my % of the taxes.. you're welcome.

+1. I only see the schools when I vote.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a fascinating discussion. I wonder how all the NIMBYs will feel when their property values start dropping. It's not like people are moving to Arlington for the great restaurants, good weather, or nice architecture. Location and schools are what it has going for it. Take schools out of the equation, and it might as well be Hyattsville.

In your last sentence, I think you meant "white people," not "schools."

Nope, Hyattsville has no shortage of "white people" these days. And once that Whole Foods opens up, well, just like the Vietnamese were pushed out of Clarendon . . .

Haha. Hyattsville is 33% white. ALL OF Arlington is 2/3 white. I am sure N. Arlington alone is much higher than that.

22207 is 85% white

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All this won't be affecting me, I'm switching my kids to private. Y'all can have my % of the taxes.. you're welcome.

+1. I only see the schools when I vote.

We got out of the shit show that is APS this year. The $$$ for private school is so worth it on so many levels. We thought we might bring them back for HS, but it's not looking so good.

Thankfully their school has really strong high school outplacement.