Is Nottingham going to be the new option school in Arlington or its still being decided?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of ASFS will be moving. There are families who live within the walk zone.

Every school will likely have new boundaries. All. Let that sink in.

Now please stop getting selfish and demanding that we move items between schools. Kids who are at one school in 2020 May get split between 2 or 3 schools depending on how the boundaries shake out. Would you want a precious mural cut in two and taken to the new schools? Aquarium cut in two?

Stop being selfish. We have a capacity crisis and we need people to stop being so parochial and think about the greater good instead of threatening to take their toys home and getting matching shirts.

At asfs there are currently five families who live in the walk zone. Let that sink in— those guys wearing matching yellow shirts who got teachers to also wear matching yellow shirts were literally all there at that school board meeting. There are no more of them. And they literally are the same ten people who have showed up repeatedly at school board office hours— using maiden names and arriving separately to make them seem more numerous than they are. This is the epitome of a minority loud voice selfishly disregarding the greater community to promote a very specific, selfish agenda.
So I think it’s very fair to ask that if they do set up a neighborhood school there, some portion of the science equipment move to different schools. Maybe move the flight simulator to taylor. How special would that be! And move the aquariums to Ashlawn or key or Long branch.

You must be confusing 5 new walk zone families who started at Science Focus this school year. My child finished Science Focus last year and I know of 5 on my street alone who are currently there and I’m aware of about 20 neighborhood families currently there. That does not consider those each year who wanted to get in and couldn’t because there have been no seats for these kids in recent years. When my older DC was there 10 years ago, the school was half team and half Key. In fact, we had a PTA president in past years from the walk area too so it’s not always been all about the children who live in the Key boundary as some would have others believe. People seem to have short memories and focusing on the current population in any one school will never solve any larger APS capacity problems.

Sounds like there are a lot of folks who live near Key who want to have a neighborhood school - I’m confused why people are upset that folks who live near Science Focus want a neighborhood school too … sounds like an odd double standard to me.

New poster here. They stopped the lottery three or four years ago so there are very few kids from that neighborhood that attend the school. It’s possible people who live in the walk zone lied about their address, but there are only a handful currently. There are only a hundred kids period from Taylor at asfs, and most of those are in the fifth grade and are from around Donaldson run. So it’s possible you know 20 families there currently, but it’s likely most of them are lying about their addresses to attend the school.
And I’m sorry but you have to focus on the current population when making decisions. Otherwise you’ll wonder why your pta got decimated because 90% of the school doesn’t attend it anymore.
I understand your neighborhood wants a neighborhood school. I think this is probably a good argument to just get rid of options or embed them the way highschools do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one on staff or SB is going to change their mind about making Nottingham an option because you argue it’s too many buses. The buses will go wherever ATS goes. The fact that you keep arguing this shows how narrow minded your focus is. This is not about bus fumes in Nottingham. Try another argument. Maybe a new change.org petition. Try the governor.

All we want on the buses is for them to do a study of how they'd handle the traffic. We don't have the bus lane to accommodate all of those buses, so how are they going to manage them without blocking northbound Ohio Street, where will the parents driving their kids to school go if they don't have a drop-off lane, where will they add crossing guards so that kids who need to cross 16th and/or Ohio to walk to Tuckahoe can be safe when they're crossing paths with a dozen buses and 50+ cars, etc. If they do the study and show us a solid plan for how Nottingham will accommodate it all, then we will let up on the bus issue.

I like how Discovery does traffic. 36th St. N. is one way at certain times of the school day. Can we just do the same thing with Ohio street? That would help manage the traffic and buses around Nottingham.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of ASFS will be moving. There are families who live within the walk zone.

Every school will likely have new boundaries. All. Let that sink in.

Now please stop getting selfish and demanding that we move items between schools. Kids who are at one school in 2020 May get split between 2 or 3 schools depending on how the boundaries shake out. Would you want a precious mural cut in two and taken to the new schools? Aquarium cut in two?

Stop being selfish. We have a capacity crisis and we need people to stop being so parochial and think about the greater good instead of threatening to take their toys home and getting matching shirts.

At asfs there are currently five families who live in the walk zone. Let that sink in— those guys wearing matching yellow shirts who got teachers to also wear matching yellow shirts were literally all there at that school board meeting. There are no more of them. And they literally are the same ten people who have showed up repeatedly at school board office hours— using maiden names and arriving separately to make them seem more numerous than they are. This is the epitome of a minority loud voice selfishly disregarding the greater community to promote a very specific, selfish agenda.
So I think it’s very fair to ask that if they do set up a neighborhood school there, some portion of the science equipment move to different schools. Maybe move the flight simulator to taylor. How special would that be! And move the aquariums to Ashlawn or key or Long branch.

You must be confusing 5 new walk zone families who started at Science Focus this school year. My child finished Science Focus last year and I know of 5 on my street alone who are currently there and I’m aware of about 20 neighborhood families currently there. That does not consider those each year who wanted to get in and couldn’t because there have been no seats for these kids in recent years. When my older DC was there 10 years ago, the school was half team and half Key. In fact, we had a PTA president in past years from the walk area too so it’s not always been all about the children who live in the Key boundary as some would have others believe. People seem to have short memories and focusing on the current population in any one school will never solve any larger APS capacity problems.

Sounds like there are a lot of folks who live near Key who want to have a neighborhood school - I’m confused why people are upset that folks who live near Science Focus want a neighborhood school too … sounds like an odd double standard to me.

New poster here. They stopped the lottery three or four years ago so there are very few kids from that neighborhood that attend the school. It’s possible people who live in the walk zone lied about their address, but there are only a handful currently. There are only a hundred kids period from Taylor at asfs, and most of those are in the fifth grade and are from around Donaldson run. So it’s possible you know 20 families there currently, but it’s likely most of them are lying about their addresses to attend the school.
And I’m sorry but you have to focus on the current population when making decisions. Otherwise you’ll wonder why your pta got decimated because 90% of the school doesn’t attend it anymore.
I understand your neighborhood wants a neighborhood school. I think this is probably a good argument to just get rid of options or embed them the way highschools do it.

I also know at least 20.

Here is the breakdown of "team" transfers by grade as of last year - most of the younger grades are neighborhood:
K 11
1st 20
2nd 24
3rd 16
4th 34
5th 18

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Transfer-Report-2016-17.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one on staff or SB is going to change their mind about making Nottingham an option because you argue it’s too many buses. The buses will go wherever ATS goes. The fact that you keep arguing this shows how narrow minded your focus is. This is not about bus fumes in Nottingham. Try another argument. Maybe a new change.org petition. Try the governor.

All we want on the buses is for them to do a study of how they'd handle the traffic. We don't have the bus lane to accommodate all of those buses, so how are they going to manage them without blocking northbound Ohio Street, where will the parents driving their kids to school go if they don't have a drop-off lane, where will they add crossing guards so that kids who need to cross 16th and/or Ohio to walk to Tuckahoe can be safe when they're crossing paths with a dozen buses and 50+ cars, etc. If they do the study and show us a solid plan for how Nottingham will accommodate it all, then we will let up on the bus issue.

I like how Discovery does traffic. 36th St. N. is one way at certain times of the school day. Can we just do the same thing with Ohio street? That would help manage the traffic and buses around Nottingham.

Excellent idea. Please raise this to APS at some point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one on staff or SB is going to change their mind about making Nottingham an option because you argue it’s too many buses. The buses will go wherever ATS goes. The fact that you keep arguing this shows how narrow minded your focus is. This is not about bus fumes in Nottingham. Try another argument. Maybe a new change.org petition. Try the governor.

All we want on the buses is for them to do a study of how they'd handle the traffic. We don't have the bus lane to accommodate all of those buses, so how are they going to manage them without blocking northbound Ohio Street, where will the parents driving their kids to school go if they don't have a drop-off lane, where will they add crossing guards so that kids who need to cross 16th and/or Ohio to walk to Tuckahoe can be safe when they're crossing paths with a dozen buses and 50+ cars, etc. If they do the study and show us a solid plan for how Nottingham will accommodate it all, then we will let up on the bus issue.

I like how Discovery does traffic. 36th St. N. is one way at certain times of the school day. Can we just do the same thing with Ohio street? That would help manage the traffic and buses around Nottingham.

Excellent idea. Please raise this to APS at some point.

Interesting - is this common at other Elementary Schools in Arlington? Making streets one way in the morning/afternoon to manage traffic? This allows Ohio to be the bus dropoff from 29th. Could 30th/31st be blocked as well? This would allow Nottingham to take a bunch of buses.

[Anonymous]

At asfs there are currently five families who live in the walk zone. Let that sink in— those guys wearing matching yellow shirts who got teachers to also wear matching yellow shirts were literally all there at that school board meeting. There are no more of them. And they literally are the same ten people who have showed up repeatedly at school board office hours— using maiden names and arriving separately to make them seem more numerous than they are. This is the epitome of a minority loud voice selfishly disregarding the greater community to promote a very specific, selfish agenda.

So I think it’s very fair to ask that if they do set up a neighborhood school there, some portion of the science equipment move to different schools. Maybe move the flight simulator to taylor. How special would that be! And move the aquariums to Ashlawn or key or Long branch.


On the other hand, maybe the poster who keeps repeatedly whining about the jerks in the matching yellow shirts is the epitome of a minority loud voice selfishly disregarding the greater community to promote a very specific selfish agenda. We're really supposed to believe that five families train wrecked APS' plan for the greater good of the entire county by advocating for a neighborhood school? And that the county is best served by moving all the science equipment from ASFS to the Key building (or elsewhere) because the folks who live around Key may be re-boundaried for Key? What about the families around Nottingham or any of the other schools that are going to get moved to a new school during this process? Do they also deserve to take the science beakers and basketballs and music stands from their schools just because they contributed to their PTAs at one point? Talk about a selfish agenda. None of this is fair to ANYONE. We were all told, if you live in this neighborhood, you will go to school at this particular school. Now the county wants to redo everything and move programs, and hundreds if not thousands of families are going to have to move to new schools during this process. It sucks, but hey, those families that live around Key who might all get to keep going to school together are really the only ones getting screwed because they're losing their science equipment.

[Anonymous]

Making a few key streets one way for an hour in the AM and an hour in the PM around Ohio & Little Falls is a terrific idea to improve pedestrian safety & allow buses to safely access the Nottingham site. Will share with APS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Making a few key streets one way for an hour in the AM and an hour in the PM around Ohio & Little Falls is a terrific idea to improve pedestrian safety & allow buses to safely access the Nottingham site. Will share with APS.

Won’t happen. APS doesn’t have any power over road controls, only the county can do that, and the county isn’t going to make one of major through-streets for Williamsburg and Rock Spring one way in the middle of rush hour. If you don’t know a neighborhood, stop trying to play traffic engineer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Making a few key streets one way for an hour in the AM and an hour in the PM around Ohio & Little Falls is a terrific idea to improve pedestrian safety & allow buses to safely access the Nottingham site. Will share with APS.

Won’t happen. APS doesn’t have any power over road controls, only the county can do that, and the county isn’t going to make one of major through-streets for Williamsburg and Rock Spring one way in the middle of rush hour. If you don’t know a neighborhood, stop trying to play traffic engineer.

Maybe if enough people ask for it...

Get shorts with “one way” signs on them.

[Anonymous]

^ shirts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one on staff or SB is going to change their mind about making Nottingham an option because you argue it’s too many buses. The buses will go wherever ATS goes. The fact that you keep arguing this shows how narrow minded your focus is. This is not about bus fumes in Nottingham. Try another argument. Maybe a new change.org petition. Try the governor.

All we want on the buses is for them to do a study of how they'd handle the traffic. We don't have the bus lane to accommodate all of those buses, so how are they going to manage them without blocking northbound Ohio Street, where will the parents driving their kids to school go if they don't have a drop-off lane, where will they add crossing guards so that kids who need to cross 16th and/or Ohio to walk to Tuckahoe can be safe when they're crossing paths with a dozen buses and 50+ cars, etc. If they do the study and show us a solid plan for how Nottingham will accommodate it all, then we will let up on the bus issue.

I like how Discovery does traffic. 36th St. N. is one way at certain times of the school day. Can we just do the same thing with Ohio street? That would help manage the traffic and buses around Nottingham.

Excellent idea. Please raise this to APS at some point.

Interesting - is this common at other Elementary Schools in Arlington? Making streets one way in the morning/afternoon to manage traffic? This allows Ohio to be the bus dropoff from 29th. Could 30th/31st be blocked as well? This would allow Nottingham to take a bunch of buses.

No, it’s not common. It only works on 36th because it’s one block of a two-block neighborhood street that runs parallel to and one block off of Williamsburg so it gets almost no traffic other than school and local to that road. This is not the case for Ohio, which, while not a major through-street itself, is a primary route to the through-streets for the area bounded by Little Falls, Sycamore, John Marshall and Lee Highway.

[Anonymous]

I’m starting a Change.org petition to the governor on Nottingham’s behalf to go with the Ohio=One Way T shirts. ?

[Anonymous]

It is time for the Save Ohio Street t-shirts! We need to Make Nottingham Great Again!

[Anonymous]

Ok. So as much as I love me some good Nottingham ribbing. And believe me I do; there are many compelling reasons not to put an option there:
1. Proposal to put immersion at Barcroft and leave ARS came from principals and should get a great deal of weight. How often do principals weigh in on this stuff? Most of them have worked in multiple schools around the county. They have more objective view of what’s best.
2. Once in a lifetime chance to maybe rearrange some of the planning units in our poorest elementaries and improve outcomes at all schools.
3. Compelling reasons to keep our options central to encourage the most disadvantaged children to attend and escape their overly poor elementary.
4. NW population growth isn’t going to slow down. Take transfers if there’s room for 2021-2024. You’ll need all those NW seats after that anyway.

[Anonymous]

That’s ATS. Not ARS.
And this is what Nottingham should argue. Not traffic.