Alexandria HSs

[Anonymous]

Yeah, well when the SHTF with the next recession (?2020) and there is no money for ACPS nor other, maybe the Board and new Super will wake up and focus on Basics of Education not the fluff.

I don't hear City Council planning for this as yet: I'm working a "rainy day" fund already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I see ACPS Comms has the new Super doing the media rounds- they've got the "Local Hero Returns Home To Save Us All!" narrative going full-tilt. Will he have the courage to tackle the problem areas? Will he look at the school administrators practicing scorched earth with faculty? Will he address the central office management who run their departments like Boss Hogg ran Hazard County?

I'm not optimistic, personally. I think it'll be SSDD and ACPS will continue to crater.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see ACPS Comms has the new Super doing the media rounds- they've got the "Local Hero Returns Home To Save Us All!" narrative going full-tilt. Will he have the courage to tackle the problem areas? Will he look at the school administrators practicing scorched earth with faculty? Will he address the central office management who run their departments like Boss Hogg ran Hazard County?

I'm not optimistic, personally. I think it'll be SSDD and ACPS will continue to crater.

+1

I think the problem with the central and school admins is that they really are doing the best they can but honestly don't have that the best educational background themselves or any relevant professional experience outside ACPS to draw from. The bloat seems to result from the fact that they need 2 or 3 people to do a job that one person who had good experience and education could do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why does Alexandria City (2017 estimates:155,810) not have a similarly robust discussion on ACPS schools like Arlington County (Population estimates, July 1, 2017, (V2017)234,965) residents do? What is wrong with us that we don't discuss ACPS with regularity?

More UMC families using the public schools in Arlington I would guess, since DCUM is mostly UMC parents talking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

High School Capacity

When Alexandria's students came back to school in the fall of 2009, there were 2,233 students at T. C. Williams High School's King Street campus (10th, 11th and 12th grades) and 688 students at the Minnie Howard campus (9th grade). The combined 2,921 students across four grades was after several years of stagnant enrollment numbers.

When school started this past fall, there were 3,949 students across the four grades at T. C. Williams High School. Not only is T. C. Williams High School the largest four grade high school in the Commonwealth of Virginia, the next largest school has a thousand less students!

The configuration of the future of high school capacity will be one of the most important issues that our City works through over the next few years. In approving the most recent 10-year Capital Improvement Program, the School Board included $124 million spread over 3 years to address high school capacity. This is a portion of the overall capital funding that the City Council provided for the School Board in our most recently approved budget.

The Board's approved Capital Improvement Program assumes an opening of a new high school facility during Fiscal Year 2023 (begins July 1, 2022). With the money in place, we must now determine the location and configuration of that new capacity.

The City's decision to allocate significant resources to high school capacity began several years ago with requests for resources to add classrooms to the Minnie Howard campus. Ultimately that request would have only been a stop-gap, as we would have spent tens of millions of dollars to add capacity to a building that was not intended for high school use and would not have resolved the capacity challenges.

With the funding now in place for a more comprehensive answer to high school capacity, the School Board is now commencing a process to develop options and explore alternatives as to how high school capacity might be accomodated in the future.

The City Council and School Board recently approved the second phase of the Long Range Educational Facilities Plan. This phase focused on high school and early childhood education facilities and provided a series of recommendations for addressing capacity challenges for both.

The Ad Hoc Joint City-Schools Facilities Investment Task Force included resources to address high school capacity in their recommendations, but paired the resources with policy recommendations.

The residents of our City have offered a variety of ideas for how we might configure this additional capacity. Some residents support a rebuild of Minnie Howard, with a transition from a 9th grade center to one that houses 9th and 10th grades. Others have suggested that additional capacity be built on the existing King Street campus: either the site of the existing stadium, in conjunction with a rebuild of the Chinquapin Recreation Center or on the Chinquapin Park circle. Other residents have advocated a totally separate four-grade high school elsewhere in the City. Some have suggested that we obtain capacity outside of the King Street and Minnie Howard campuses for discrete programs (STEM Academy, International Academy, etc) to relieve pressure.

As we enter a new era of joint collaboration and investment in partnership with the Alexandria City Public Schools, this project will be a crucial test of our ability to work together and work to satisfy multiple municipal needs on a single site.

While I do believe we must consider all options, I do begin the process skeptical that sufficient property could be identified for a separate four-grade high school, and the equity issues arising from such an effort would not be insignificant.

This is a project that will serve the students of our City for a few generations to come, and the process must reflect the importance of the investment.

Please let me know your thoughts!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does Alexandria City (2017 estimates:155,810) not have a similarly robust discussion on ACPS schools like Arlington County (Population estimates, July 1, 2017, (V2017)234,965) residents do? What is wrong with us that we don't discuss ACPS with regularity?

Because so many of us have realized ACPS is a dumpster fire and have given up, whereas APS parents/teachers have a quality, functioning system and still feel passionately about it?

Alexandria has a larger legacy of private school usage, and has a higher proportion of poor and POCs than Arlington, and has for some time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If and when ACPS and Alexandria City Council addresses the quality of education at Alexandria City schools, we residents will benefit! Don't buy into City Council saying "we have to raise your taxes as Alexandria is worthy" (think 70% tax on residents, 30% on businesses) and "we can't get businesses into Alexandria City" (think hostile business and ACPS school environment as well as developer givaways-see 2017 2018 council notes on bid etc).

Alexandria City is majorly messed up on ACPS! Council must intervene via zoning.

Alexandria City: Bright MLS; June 2018 over June 2017 sales: (year over year) "minus 4.4%."

https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/0711_JUNESALES.jpg

Er, what? The proportion of tax on commercial property (which includes multifamily residential) is not a tax rate.

What about the BID? I thought it was a good idea, but there were strong opinions on both sides.

The increase in taxes is for the schools, and most everyone I know who with kids in the public schools supported it. It is to address capacity as well as quality.


I do not know what you meab by intervene via zoning.

Yes, a decrease in sales is concerning, but its one month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does Alexandria City (2017 estimates:155,810) not have a similarly robust discussion on ACPS schools like Arlington County (Population estimates, July 1, 2017, (V2017)234,965) residents do? What is wrong with us that we don't discuss ACPS with regularity?

Because so many of us have realized ACPS is a dumpster fire and have given up, whereas APS parents/teachers have a quality, functioning system and still feel passionately about it?

Alexandria has a larger legacy of private school usage, and has a higher proportion of poor and POCs than Arlington, and has for some time

.

Long time resident here. My reaction is "so what!" It's not like 15,000 students is a lot nowadays across the USA. And Alexandria City is wealthy by and large, albeit wasted progress on schools in 1980s, 1990's and 2000's. As well as Council not demanding in return for prime development in our City.

Still. 15000 students isn't that many. Could it be Alexandria City's poor reputation w.r.t ACPS precedes them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see ACPS Comms has the new Super doing the media rounds- they've got the "Local Hero Returns Home To Save Us All!" narrative going full-tilt. Will he have the courage to tackle the problem areas? Will he look at the school administrators practicing scorched earth with faculty? Will he address the central office management who run their departments like Boss Hogg ran Hazard County?

I'm not optimistic, personally. I think it'll be SSDD and ACPS will continue to crater.

+1

I think the problem with the central and school admins is that they really are doing the best they can but honestly don't have that the best educational background themselves or any relevant professional experience outside ACPS to draw from. The bloat seems to result from the fact that they need 2 or 3 people to do a job that one person who had good experience and education could do.

Nah, the issue isn't education. It's putting unqualified people in positions of power and not only not removing not them permanently once their incompetence shows but *rewarding* them via promotion. The Dukes of Hazard analogy above is perfect- these people know they're unqualified so they lash out at others to protect their own jobs, the people above them either don't care or turn a blind eye and the people who take the hit are the students and the good teachers.

I dislike the concept of private schools but ACPS is a strong argument in their favor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does Alexandria City (2017 estimates:155,810) not have a similarly robust discussion on ACPS schools like Arlington County (Population estimates, July 1, 2017, (V2017)234,965) residents do? What is wrong with us that we don't discuss ACPS with regularity?

Because so many of us have realized ACPS is a dumpster fire and have given up, whereas APS parents/teachers have a quality, functioning system and still feel passionately about it?

Alexandria has a larger legacy of private school usage, and has a higher proportion of poor and POCs than Arlington, and has for some time

.

Long time resident here. My reaction is "so what!" It's not like 15,000 students is a lot nowadays across the USA. And Alexandria City is wealthy by and large, albeit wasted progress on schools in 1980s, 1990's and 2000's. As well as Council not demanding in return for prime development in our City.

Still. 15000 students isn't that many. Could it be Alexandria City's poor reputation w.r.t ACPS precedes them?

Pardon, are you not a native English speaker, I am finding your comments very unclear.

What are you referring to when you say 15,000 students is not many? What point are you trying to make?

What do you mean by Council not demanding in return for prime development? Demanding what? The City does get concessions when a developer asks for a zoning waiver - typically they get committed AH, $ for transportation, or public plazas/green space. When a developer builds by right of course they get nothing. And the development is not always prime, some projects have fallen through.

[Anonymous]

Largest School Districts in Virginia:

Fairfax Country Pubic Schools: 185,828
Prince William County Public Schools: 87,793
Loudoun County Public Schools: 76,202
Virginia Beach City Public Schools: 69,777
Chesterfield County Public Schools: 59,659
Henrico County Public Schools 51,534
Chesapeake Public Schools: 39,943
Norfolk City Public Schools: 32,148
.
.
.
Alexandria City Public Schools:15,000.

It's all relative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Largest School Districts in Virginia:

Fairfax Country Pubic Schools: 185,828
Prince William County Public Schools: 87,793
Loudoun County Public Schools: 76,202
Virginia Beach City Public Schools: 69,777
Chesterfield County Public Schools: 59,659
Henrico County Public Schools 51,534
Chesapeake Public Schools: 39,943
Norfolk City Public Schools: 32,148
.
.
.
Alexandria City Public Schools:15,000.

It's all relative.

And your point is? What does school system size have to do with this discussion?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Largest School Districts in Virginia:

Fairfax Country Pubic Schools: 185,828
Prince William County Public Schools: 87,793
Loudoun County Public Schools: 76,202
Virginia Beach City Public Schools: 69,777
Chesterfield County Public Schools: 59,659
Henrico County Public Schools 51,534
Chesapeake Public Schools: 39,943
Norfolk City Public Schools: 32,148
.
.
.
Alexandria City Public Schools:15,000.

It's all relative.

And your point is? What does school system size have to do with this discussion?

It has everything to do with ACPS. Alexandria City has had on of the highest earned incomes for decades yet the Mayorships under Ticer, Kerry, Euille leadership declined to funnel money to improve our public educational system. It's only been recently that the money to ACPS has flowed (as opposed to developers).

[Anonymous]

Sorry "one". as in "It has everything to do with ACPS. Alexandria City has had one of the highest earned incomes for decades yet the Mayorships under Ticer, Kerry, Euille leadership declined to funnel money to improve our public educational system. It's only been recently that the money to ACPS has flowed (as opposed to developers).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Largest School Districts in Virginia:

Fairfax Country Pubic Schools: 185,828
Prince William County Public Schools: 87,793
Loudoun County Public Schools: 76,202
Virginia Beach City Public Schools: 69,777
Chesterfield County Public Schools: 59,659
Henrico County Public Schools 51,534
Chesapeake Public Schools: 39,943
Norfolk City Public Schools: 32,148
.
.
.
Alexandria City Public Schools:15,000.

It's all relative.

And your point is? What does school system size have to do with this discussion?

It has everything to do with ACPS. Alexandria City has had on of the highest earned incomes for decades yet the Mayorships under Ticer, Kerry, Euille leadership declined to funnel money to improve our public educational system. It's only been recently that the money to ACPS has flowed (as opposed to developers).

Not at all the case, PP. Both Ticer and Euille significantly increased ACPS funding. Euille presided over the complete rebuild of one school and the construction of an entirely new high school complex, replacing a truly decrepit facility with a modern and fully scalable facility. Euille also oversaw an operating budget that increased teacher and licensed staff salary increases of almost 15% during a three-cycle period. Ticer had presided over two school rebuilds. Not sure about Kerry Donley, but your post is simply wrong on two of those names. The fact that ACPS has a limitless blank check now, from the current city council, does not mean that ACPS has historically been underfunded. It hasn't. If anything, under the current school board, ACPS staff salaries have become very unattractive.