APS Closing Nottingham

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, if Nottingham had just been the one turned into an option, would there even be an issue? Would McKinley be the one closing now? Or are there enough kids in the McKinley/Cardinal zones and adjacent zones to keep both schools open as neighborhood schools? Just curious if anyone has thought about it. Did APS make the wrong decision then, caving to pressure? Or would we be in this scenario either way?

I think so and why I think the Nottingham thing has been in the works for years. When APS first started looking at moving ATS, Tuckahoe and Nottingham were in the mix. APS cited the crossover walkzones and extra seats. Of course, that pitting those two PTAs against each other. Eventually, APS came out with the ATS->McK plan, which set off McK families, but caused the other two schools to settle down. The writing was on the wall, however, that Nottingham might have a different future than just a neighborhood school. APS was laying the groundwork so this isn't a huge surprise.

[Anonymous]

Can people quit saying 10 years ago? It's a small thing, but it's so annoying. :p The boundary change was 7 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also did a search and these old threads brought back memories. So many schools were overcrowded back then. Pre-covid/APE days.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/837799.page
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/712347.page
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/745998.page


With birth rates declining all over it seems like overcrowding may be a short-term problem.
https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/APS-Fall-2022-10-Year-Enrollment-Projections.pdf

All I see on there is McKinley complaining about, well, everything. This post summed it up well-

"Yes. You can't have a school so overcrowded, complain about and then complain when APS does something to fix it. Not a good plan, McKinley."

Those posts show how many schools/communities have gone through significant changes in the past. This is nothing new.

Ask questions, but if this is the best solution for APS don't be a dick about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also did a search and these old threads brought back memories. So many schools were overcrowded back then. Pre-covid/APE days.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/837799.page
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/712347.page
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/745998.page


With birth rates declining all over it seems like overcrowding may be a short-term problem.
https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/APS-Fall-2022-10-Year-Enrollment-Projections.pdf

Was there ever a time when APS Planning got it right? Seems like this PTA vs PTA antagonism serves them well because it’s a distraction from the total sh*tshow they unleash every few years. If you’re still hating Nottingham 10 years later, instead of them, they win.

People who are saying “suck it up” when there are so many questions left to be answered- you’re part of the problem! APS are public servants spending the taxpayer dime. With their record, it’s fair to ask questions. This isn’t an autocracy even if you don’t like the people asking. In the parlance of the juvenile posters on here- get over it.

Agree. APS sets up these school vs school battles. Parents understandably advocate for their own kids interest then other parents call them evil for it. Don't hate the player, hate the game. Or better yet the gamemaker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's a useful thread from back in the day: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/593495.page

Nottingham protested getting extra planning units and was then the most under-capacity school in the entire county in Fall of 2016, while McKinley was over capacity by about 50 kids (based on what the renovated school could contain, even though it was still undergoing renovations and dealing with trailers).

Also this one: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/547393.page

I used to be a McKinley parent and I posted this comment in that second thread:

I'm a current McKinley parent and I guess I don't really think this is a big deal, and that the parents are having a harder time with it than the kids will.

My child LOVED having gym in the trailer, and all the echoey sounds you could make with your voice in there.

The school dealt with space issues this year by making some specials classes "roaming" classes, so for example the kids might have Spanish or Art or Music in their own classrooms instead of going to a room dedicated to that subject. It would not be an ideal long term plan, but for a year or two I don't see any negative effects on my child or his education.

My kid has never had class all year in a trailer, but my understanding is that the kids actually quite like the trailers. It seems to build class unity and make you feel like you are your own special community, plus you can do whatever you want to the walls. Again, I wouldn't want trailers as the long term plan (which is why they are doing this renovation/addition to the school in the first place), but as a temporary thing, it's fine.

I appreciate that in general McKinley is not full of spoiled people who are constantly asking for special treatment and privileges and not taking "more than our share." When something is important -- like when Tuckahoe wanted to move two of its planning groups over so they could keep their neighborhood together even though that would have put McKinley at 110% capacity AFTER THE NEW ADDITION WAS ADDED -- we will talk reasonably to APS and get them to change their mind. In this case we are talking about a three month delay of the main new construction, so three months of a trailer fleet. I just don't think that's a big deal. And if a new child was coming to the school over from Glebe or Tuckahoe, they might find the whole thing fun and again, sort of community building. "Look we're all getting through this together." If they waited to come until the following year, they would have missed out on that.

I don't think the parking is that big of a deal because there is quite a lot of street parking.

I just think all this complaining is very much a spoiled North Arlington mindset -- "MY CHILD SHALL NOT BE INCONVENIENCED BY TRAILERS" -- when you are coming from schools that already have fleets of trailers in their fields. Maybe you just don't want to leave your home schools, and that's fair. I wouldn't want to either, probably. But we're all in this together, and we can get through it as a community.

The new school is going to be really, really beautiful.

I also defended Nottingham in that thread.

Ha ha, joke’s on me. I have since lost all positive vibes towards Nottingham parents. It seems to be an area that looks out only for its own rather than caring for the community at large, and I am tired of it. So much of this they have absolutely done to themselves, even though they blame literally everyone BUT themselves. They refused to take more kids. They got upset over Covid and fled to private. They passed the buck about being turned into an option school — that shoe just didn’t fit their dainty little foot either. And every time APS asked them to eat poop for the community, not only did they not eat the poop, they found another community to target to eat the poop and lobbied hard to give the steaming poop to that community instead, it was just such a much better fit for them.

So Nottingham, welcome to your swing space shit sandwich. Nobody else is going to eat it for you. Bon appetit.

You sound a little delusional and maybe jealous? I don’t know. Wouldn’t say this in public though.

Right. It sounds like this McKinley parent is jealous that the Nottingham parents did a better job advocating than they did. And the Nottingham PTA was proactive in addressing the needs of its school community while the McK PTA sat on its hands.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can people quit saying 10 years ago? It's a small thing, but it's so annoying. :p The boundary change was 7 years ago.

You are very easily annoyed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's a useful thread from back in the day: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/593495.page

Nottingham protested getting extra planning units and was then the most under-capacity school in the entire county in Fall of 2016, while McKinley was over capacity by about 50 kids (based on what the renovated school could contain, even though it was still undergoing renovations and dealing with trailers).

Also this one: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/547393.page

I used to be a McKinley parent and I posted this comment in that second thread:

I'm a current McKinley parent and I guess I don't really think this is a big deal, and that the parents are having a harder time with it than the kids will.

My child LOVED having gym in the trailer, and all the echoey sounds you could make with your voice in there.

The school dealt with space issues this year by making some specials classes "roaming" classes, so for example the kids might have Spanish or Art or Music in their own classrooms instead of going to a room dedicated to that subject. It would not be an ideal long term plan, but for a year or two I don't see any negative effects on my child or his education.

My kid has never had class all year in a trailer, but my understanding is that the kids actually quite like the trailers. It seems to build class unity and make you feel like you are your own special community, plus you can do whatever you want to the walls. Again, I wouldn't want trailers as the long term plan (which is why they are doing this renovation/addition to the school in the first place), but as a temporary thing, it's fine.

I appreciate that in general McKinley is not full of spoiled people who are constantly asking for special treatment and privileges and not taking "more than our share." When something is important -- like when Tuckahoe wanted to move two of its planning groups over so they could keep their neighborhood together even though that would have put McKinley at 110% capacity AFTER THE NEW ADDITION WAS ADDED -- we will talk reasonably to APS and get them to change their mind. In this case we are talking about a three month delay of the main new construction, so three months of a trailer fleet. I just don't think that's a big deal. And if a new child was coming to the school over from Glebe or Tuckahoe, they might find the whole thing fun and again, sort of community building. "Look we're all getting through this together." If they waited to come until the following year, they would have missed out on that.

I don't think the parking is that big of a deal because there is quite a lot of street parking.

I just think all this complaining is very much a spoiled North Arlington mindset -- "MY CHILD SHALL NOT BE INCONVENIENCED BY TRAILERS" -- when you are coming from schools that already have fleets of trailers in their fields. Maybe you just don't want to leave your home schools, and that's fair. I wouldn't want to either, probably. But we're all in this together, and we can get through it as a community.

The new school is going to be really, really beautiful.

I also defended Nottingham in that thread.

Ha ha, joke’s on me. I have since lost all positive vibes towards Nottingham parents. It seems to be an area that looks out only for its own rather than caring for the community at large, and I am tired of it. So much of this they have absolutely done to themselves, even though they blame literally everyone BUT themselves. They refused to take more kids. They got upset over Covid and fled to private. They passed the buck about being turned into an option school — that shoe just didn’t fit their dainty little foot either. And every time APS asked them to eat poop for the community, not only did they not eat the poop, they found another community to target to eat the poop and lobbied hard to give the steaming poop to that community instead, it was just such a much better fit for them.

So Nottingham, welcome to your swing space shit sandwich. Nobody else is going to eat it for you. Bon appetit.

You sound a little delusional and maybe jealous? I don’t know. Wouldn’t say this in public though.

Right. It sounds like this McKinley parent is jealous that the Nottingham parents did a better job advocating than they did. And the Nottingham PTA was proactive in addressing the needs of its school community while the McK PTA sat on its hands.

Pretty sure I’m not jealous. I don’t like the way you guys operate, why would I want to turn into that?

You can’t turn against your neighbors year after year and then be mad when they no longer support you in your hour of need. I was with Nottingham back during the boundary changes, I thought McKinley should just take the extra kids because Nottingham had been overcrowded for a while. Then they fingered McKinley for an option school. Then they joined APE in droves to complain about teachers during Covid and fled to private. You all did this to yourselves. The irony to me is that if you had accepted becoming an option school, you would be sitting pretty like Woodlawn (is that the residential area near McK?) now, with a great neighborhood school nearby and a fantastic option school that everyone loves in your backyard. But no, you resisted even the slightest inconvenience for yourselves to help APS and now you get to be Swing Space Elementary.

You may get out of this one too — that’s what Karens often do — but the community will just hate you more, so have at it. Sooner or later you will have to eat the shit sandwich, and imho it’s just going to keep getting bigger as your karma decreases until you begin to behave like decent human beings who care about anything but their own situation.

[Anonymous]

The other thing missing from the memories is that the move of the T kids to McK was done when the addition was scheduled to be complete but wasn't so for 1.5 years, McK was at 125 or 150 or something crazy percent over b/c of that. It really sucked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's a useful thread from back in the day: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/593495.page

Nottingham protested getting extra planning units and was then the most under-capacity school in the entire county in Fall of 2016, while McKinley was over capacity by about 50 kids (based on what the renovated school could contain, even though it was still undergoing renovations and dealing with trailers).

Also this one: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/547393.page

I used to be a McKinley parent and I posted this comment in that second thread:

I'm a current McKinley parent and I guess I don't really think this is a big deal, and that the parents are having a harder time with it than the kids will.

My child LOVED having gym in the trailer, and all the echoey sounds you could make with your voice in there.

The school dealt with space issues this year by making some specials classes "roaming" classes, so for example the kids might have Spanish or Art or Music in their own classrooms instead of going to a room dedicated to that subject. It would not be an ideal long term plan, but for a year or two I don't see any negative effects on my child or his education.

My kid has never had class all year in a trailer, but my understanding is that the kids actually quite like the trailers. It seems to build class unity and make you feel like you are your own special community, plus you can do whatever you want to the walls. Again, I wouldn't want trailers as the long term plan (which is why they are doing this renovation/addition to the school in the first place), but as a temporary thing, it's fine.

I appreciate that in general McKinley is not full of spoiled people who are constantly asking for special treatment and privileges and not taking "more than our share." When something is important -- like when Tuckahoe wanted to move two of its planning groups over so they could keep their neighborhood together even though that would have put McKinley at 110% capacity AFTER THE NEW ADDITION WAS ADDED -- we will talk reasonably to APS and get them to change their mind. In this case we are talking about a three month delay of the main new construction, so three months of a trailer fleet. I just don't think that's a big deal. And if a new child was coming to the school over from Glebe or Tuckahoe, they might find the whole thing fun and again, sort of community building. "Look we're all getting through this together." If they waited to come until the following year, they would have missed out on that.

I don't think the parking is that big of a deal because there is quite a lot of street parking.

I just think all this complaining is very much a spoiled North Arlington mindset -- "MY CHILD SHALL NOT BE INCONVENIENCED BY TRAILERS" -- when you are coming from schools that already have fleets of trailers in their fields. Maybe you just don't want to leave your home schools, and that's fair. I wouldn't want to either, probably. But we're all in this together, and we can get through it as a community.

The new school is going to be really, really beautiful.

I also defended Nottingham in that thread.

Ha ha, joke’s on me. I have since lost all positive vibes towards Nottingham parents. It seems to be an area that looks out only for its own rather than caring for the community at large, and I am tired of it. So much of this they have absolutely done to themselves, even though they blame literally everyone BUT themselves. They refused to take more kids. They got upset over Covid and fled to private. They passed the buck about being turned into an option school — that shoe just didn’t fit their dainty little foot either. And every time APS asked them to eat poop for the community, not only did they not eat the poop, they found another community to target to eat the poop and lobbied hard to give the steaming poop to that community instead, it was just such a much better fit for them.

So Nottingham, welcome to your swing space shit sandwich. Nobody else is going to eat it for you. Bon appetit.

You sound a little delusional and maybe jealous? I don’t know. Wouldn’t say this in public though.

Right. It sounds like this McKinley parent is jealous that the Nottingham parents did a better job advocating than they did. And the Nottingham PTA was proactive in addressing the needs of its school community while the McK PTA sat on its hands.

Pretty sure I’m not jealous. I don’t like the way you guys operate, why would I want to turn into that?

You can’t turn against your neighbors year after year and then be mad when they no longer support you in your hour of need. I was with Nottingham back during the boundary changes, I thought McKinley should just take the extra kids because Nottingham had been overcrowded for a while. Then they fingered McKinley for an option school. Then they joined APE in droves to complain about teachers during Covid and fled to private. You all did this to yourselves. The irony to me is that if you had accepted becoming an option school, you would be sitting pretty like Woodlawn (is that the residential area near McK?) now, with a great neighborhood school nearby and a fantastic option school that everyone loves in your backyard. But no, you resisted even the slightest inconvenience for yourselves to help APS and now you get to be Swing Space Elementary.

You may get out of this one too — that’s what Karens often do — but the community will just hate you more, so have at it. Sooner or later you will have to eat the shit sandwich, and imho it’s just going to keep getting bigger as your karma decreases until you begin to behave like decent human beings who care about anything but their own situation.

Wow. I didn’t know there were brushes that can make broad strokes that big. Feel better now, honey? You’re talking awfully lot about sandwiches - are you hungry?

So, if I follow your logic (and honestly I don’t know why I’m even engaging), the gist of your argument is at some point 7 or maybe 10 years ago, Nottingham didn’t want to be overcrowded so advocated to avoid that which somehow upset you so much that you continue to hold a grudge about it 7 or 10 years later? And now, you take great joy in that school closing because you feel the moms there are mean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP sounds fine. No need to be a b.

They dug up a post from years ago and then went on a rant filled with misinformation and kindergarten level insults.

PP is discussing the topic. You just threw out insults. If you have nothing to contribute then sit down.

Wait how are shit sandwiches and “Karen’s” on topic and not meant to be insulting?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's a useful thread from back in the day: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/593495.page

Nottingham protested getting extra planning units and was then the most under-capacity school in the entire county in Fall of 2016, while McKinley was over capacity by about 50 kids (based on what the renovated school could contain, even though it was still undergoing renovations and dealing with trailers).

Also this one: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/547393.page

I used to be a McKinley parent and I posted this comment in that second thread:

I'm a current McKinley parent and I guess I don't really think this is a big deal, and that the parents are having a harder time with it than the kids will.

My child LOVED having gym in the trailer, and all the echoey sounds you could make with your voice in there.

The school dealt with space issues this year by making some specials classes "roaming" classes, so for example the kids might have Spanish or Art or Music in their own classrooms instead of going to a room dedicated to that subject. It would not be an ideal long term plan, but for a year or two I don't see any negative effects on my child or his education.

My kid has never had class all year in a trailer, but my understanding is that the kids actually quite like the trailers. It seems to build class unity and make you feel like you are your own special community, plus you can do whatever you want to the walls. Again, I wouldn't want trailers as the long term plan (which is why they are doing this renovation/addition to the school in the first place), but as a temporary thing, it's fine.

I appreciate that in general McKinley is not full of spoiled people who are constantly asking for special treatment and privileges and not taking "more than our share." When something is important -- like when Tuckahoe wanted to move two of its planning groups over so they could keep their neighborhood together even though that would have put McKinley at 110% capacity AFTER THE NEW ADDITION WAS ADDED -- we will talk reasonably to APS and get them to change their mind. In this case we are talking about a three month delay of the main new construction, so three months of a trailer fleet. I just don't think that's a big deal. And if a new child was coming to the school over from Glebe or Tuckahoe, they might find the whole thing fun and again, sort of community building. "Look we're all getting through this together." If they waited to come until the following year, they would have missed out on that.

I don't think the parking is that big of a deal because there is quite a lot of street parking.

I just think all this complaining is very much a spoiled North Arlington mindset -- "MY CHILD SHALL NOT BE INCONVENIENCED BY TRAILERS" -- when you are coming from schools that already have fleets of trailers in their fields. Maybe you just don't want to leave your home schools, and that's fair. I wouldn't want to either, probably. But we're all in this together, and we can get through it as a community.

The new school is going to be really, really beautiful.

I also defended Nottingham in that thread.

Ha ha, joke’s on me. I have since lost all positive vibes towards Nottingham parents. It seems to be an area that looks out only for its own rather than caring for the community at large, and I am tired of it. So much of this they have absolutely done to themselves, even though they blame literally everyone BUT themselves. They refused to take more kids. They got upset over Covid and fled to private. They passed the buck about being turned into an option school — that shoe just didn’t fit their dainty little foot either. And every time APS asked them to eat poop for the community, not only did they not eat the poop, they found another community to target to eat the poop and lobbied hard to give the steaming poop to that community instead, it was just such a much better fit for them.

So Nottingham, welcome to your swing space shit sandwich. Nobody else is going to eat it for you. Bon appetit.

You sound a little delusional and maybe jealous? I don’t know. Wouldn’t say this in public though.

Right. It sounds like this McKinley parent is jealous that the Nottingham parents did a better job advocating than they did. And the Nottingham PTA was proactive in addressing the needs of its school community while the McK PTA sat on its hands.

Pretty sure I’m not jealous. I don’t like the way you guys operate, why would I want to turn into that?

You can’t turn against your neighbors year after year and then be mad when they no longer support you in your hour of need. I was with Nottingham back during the boundary changes, I thought McKinley should just take the extra kids because Nottingham had been overcrowded for a while. Then they fingered McKinley for an option school. Then they joined APE in droves to complain about teachers during Covid and fled to private. You all did this to yourselves. The irony to me is that if you had accepted becoming an option school, you would be sitting pretty like Woodlawn (is that the residential area near McK?) now, with a great neighborhood school nearby and a fantastic option school that everyone loves in your backyard. But no, you resisted even the slightest inconvenience for yourselves to help APS and now you get to be Swing Space Elementary.

You may get out of this one too — that’s what Karens often do — but the community will just hate you more, so have at it. Sooner or later you will have to eat the shit sandwich, and imho it’s just going to keep getting bigger as your karma decreases until you begin to behave like decent human beings who care about anything but their own situation.

Wow. I didn’t know there were brushes that can make broad strokes that big. Feel better now, honey? You’re talking awfully lot about sandwiches - are you hungry?

So, if I follow your logic (and honestly I don’t know why I’m even engaging), the gist of your argument is at some point 7 or maybe 10 years ago, Nottingham didn’t want to be overcrowded so advocated to avoid that which somehow upset you so much that you continue to hold a grudge about it 7 or 10 years later? And now, you take great joy in that school closing because you feel the moms there are mean?

No not really actually. That’s okay though, you can be mad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The other thing missing from the memories is that the move of the T kids to McK was done when the addition was scheduled to be complete but wasn't so for 1.5 years, McK was at 125 or 150 or something crazy percent over b/c of that. It really sucked.

I'm sure that sucked, but again you are misdirecting your anger at Nottingham parents because APS didn't finish construction at McKinley on time for whatever reason.

And yes, I do know exactly what it feels like to be that over capacity because that's where Nottingham used to be. The whole crux of your argument is that it's perfectly ok for another school to be overcrowded, but it's not ok when it's your own kids' school. Not going to get a lot of sympathy on that one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's a useful thread from back in the day: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/593495.page

Nottingham protested getting extra planning units and was then the most under-capacity school in the entire county in Fall of 2016, while McKinley was over capacity by about 50 kids (based on what the renovated school could contain, even though it was still undergoing renovations and dealing with trailers).

Also this one: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/547393.page

I used to be a McKinley parent and I posted this comment in that second thread:

I'm a current McKinley parent and I guess I don't really think this is a big deal, and that the parents are having a harder time with it than the kids will.

My child LOVED having gym in the trailer, and all the echoey sounds you could make with your voice in there.

The school dealt with space issues this year by making some specials classes "roaming" classes, so for example the kids might have Spanish or Art or Music in their own classrooms instead of going to a room dedicated to that subject. It would not be an ideal long term plan, but for a year or two I don't see any negative effects on my child or his education.

My kid has never had class all year in a trailer, but my understanding is that the kids actually quite like the trailers. It seems to build class unity and make you feel like you are your own special community, plus you can do whatever you want to the walls. Again, I wouldn't want trailers as the long term plan (which is why they are doing this renovation/addition to the school in the first place), but as a temporary thing, it's fine.

I appreciate that in general McKinley is not full of spoiled people who are constantly asking for special treatment and privileges and not taking "more than our share." When something is important -- like when Tuckahoe wanted to move two of its planning groups over so they could keep their neighborhood together even though that would have put McKinley at 110% capacity AFTER THE NEW ADDITION WAS ADDED -- we will talk reasonably to APS and get them to change their mind. In this case we are talking about a three month delay of the main new construction, so three months of a trailer fleet. I just don't think that's a big deal. And if a new child was coming to the school over from Glebe or Tuckahoe, they might find the whole thing fun and again, sort of community building. "Look we're all getting through this together." If they waited to come until the following year, they would have missed out on that.

I don't think the parking is that big of a deal because there is quite a lot of street parking.

I just think all this complaining is very much a spoiled North Arlington mindset -- "MY CHILD SHALL NOT BE INCONVENIENCED BY TRAILERS" -- when you are coming from schools that already have fleets of trailers in their fields. Maybe you just don't want to leave your home schools, and that's fair. I wouldn't want to either, probably. But we're all in this together, and we can get through it as a community.

The new school is going to be really, really beautiful.

I also defended Nottingham in that thread.

Ha ha, joke’s on me. I have since lost all positive vibes towards Nottingham parents. It seems to be an area that looks out only for its own rather than caring for the community at large, and I am tired of it. So much of this they have absolutely done to themselves, even though they blame literally everyone BUT themselves. They refused to take more kids. They got upset over Covid and fled to private. They passed the buck about being turned into an option school — that shoe just didn’t fit their dainty little foot either. And every time APS asked them to eat poop for the community, not only did they not eat the poop, they found another community to target to eat the poop and lobbied hard to give the steaming poop to that community instead, it was just such a much better fit for them.

So Nottingham, welcome to your swing space shit sandwich. Nobody else is going to eat it for you. Bon appetit.

You sound a little delusional and maybe jealous? I don’t know. Wouldn’t say this in public though.

Right. It sounds like this McKinley parent is jealous that the Nottingham parents did a better job advocating than they did. And the Nottingham PTA was proactive in addressing the needs of its school community while the McK PTA sat on its hands.

Pretty sure I’m not jealous. I don’t like the way you guys operate, why would I want to turn into that?

You can’t turn against your neighbors year after year and then be mad when they no longer support you in your hour of need. I was with Nottingham back during the boundary changes, I thought McKinley should just take the extra kids because Nottingham had been overcrowded for a while. Then they fingered McKinley for an option school. Then they joined APE in droves to complain about teachers during Covid and fled to private. You all did this to yourselves. The irony to me is that if you had accepted becoming an option school, you would be sitting pretty like Woodlawn (is that the residential area near McK?) now, with a great neighborhood school nearby and a fantastic option school that everyone loves in your backyard. But no, you resisted even the slightest inconvenience for yourselves to help APS and now you get to be Swing Space Elementary.

You may get out of this one too — that’s what Karens often do — but the community will just hate you more, so have at it. Sooner or later you will have to eat the shit sandwich, and imho it’s just going to keep getting bigger as your karma decreases until you begin to behave like decent human beings who care about anything but their own situation.

Wow. I didn’t know there were brushes that can make broad strokes that big. Feel better now, honey? You’re talking awfully lot about sandwiches - are you hungry?

So, if I follow your logic (and honestly I don’t know why I’m even engaging), the gist of your argument is at some point 7 or maybe 10 years ago, Nottingham didn’t want to be overcrowded so advocated to avoid that which somehow upset you so much that you continue to hold a grudge about it 7 or 10 years later? And now, you take great joy in that school closing because you feel the moms there are mean?

No not really actually. That’s okay though, you can be mad.

I think you should try this argument with the school board. “The Nottingham moms, who aren’t even there anymore, were mean to me 7, or maybe 10, years ago so you should close their school.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's a useful thread from back in the day: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/593495.page

Nottingham protested getting extra planning units and was then the most under-capacity school in the entire county in Fall of 2016, while McKinley was over capacity by about 50 kids (based on what the renovated school could contain, even though it was still undergoing renovations and dealing with trailers).

Also this one: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/547393.page

I used to be a McKinley parent and I posted this comment in that second thread:

I'm a current McKinley parent and I guess I don't really think this is a big deal, and that the parents are having a harder time with it than the kids will.

My child LOVED having gym in the trailer, and all the echoey sounds you could make with your voice in there.

The school dealt with space issues this year by making some specials classes "roaming" classes, so for example the kids might have Spanish or Art or Music in their own classrooms instead of going to a room dedicated to that subject. It would not be an ideal long term plan, but for a year or two I don't see any negative effects on my child or his education.

My kid has never had class all year in a trailer, but my understanding is that the kids actually quite like the trailers. It seems to build class unity and make you feel like you are your own special community, plus you can do whatever you want to the walls. Again, I wouldn't want trailers as the long term plan (which is why they are doing this renovation/addition to the school in the first place), but as a temporary thing, it's fine.

I appreciate that in general McKinley is not full of spoiled people who are constantly asking for special treatment and privileges and not taking "more than our share." When something is important -- like when Tuckahoe wanted to move two of its planning groups over so they could keep their neighborhood together even though that would have put McKinley at 110% capacity AFTER THE NEW ADDITION WAS ADDED -- we will talk reasonably to APS and get them to change their mind. In this case we are talking about a three month delay of the main new construction, so three months of a trailer fleet. I just don't think that's a big deal. And if a new child was coming to the school over from Glebe or Tuckahoe, they might find the whole thing fun and again, sort of community building. "Look we're all getting through this together." If they waited to come until the following year, they would have missed out on that.

I don't think the parking is that big of a deal because there is quite a lot of street parking.

I just think all this complaining is very much a spoiled North Arlington mindset -- "MY CHILD SHALL NOT BE INCONVENIENCED BY TRAILERS" -- when you are coming from schools that already have fleets of trailers in their fields. Maybe you just don't want to leave your home schools, and that's fair. I wouldn't want to either, probably. But we're all in this together, and we can get through it as a community.

The new school is going to be really, really beautiful.

I also defended Nottingham in that thread.

Ha ha, joke’s on me. I have since lost all positive vibes towards Nottingham parents. It seems to be an area that looks out only for its own rather than caring for the community at large, and I am tired of it. So much of this they have absolutely done to themselves, even though they blame literally everyone BUT themselves. They refused to take more kids. They got upset over Covid and fled to private. They passed the buck about being turned into an option school — that shoe just didn’t fit their dainty little foot either. And every time APS asked them to eat poop for the community, not only did they not eat the poop, they found another community to target to eat the poop and lobbied hard to give the steaming poop to that community instead, it was just such a much better fit for them.

So Nottingham, welcome to your swing space shit sandwich. Nobody else is going to eat it for you. Bon appetit.

You sound a little delusional and maybe jealous? I don’t know. Wouldn’t say this in public though.

Right. It sounds like this McKinley parent is jealous that the Nottingham parents did a better job advocating than they did. And the Nottingham PTA was proactive in addressing the needs of its school community while the McK PTA sat on its hands.

Pretty sure I’m not jealous. I don’t like the way you guys operate, why would I want to turn into that?

You can’t turn against your neighbors year after year and then be mad when they no longer support you in your hour of need. I was with Nottingham back during the boundary changes, I thought McKinley should just take the extra kids because Nottingham had been overcrowded for a while. Then they fingered McKinley for an option school. Then they joined APE in droves to complain about teachers during Covid and fled to private. You all did this to yourselves. The irony to me is that if you had accepted becoming an option school, you would be sitting pretty like Woodlawn (is that the residential area near McK?) now, with a great neighborhood school nearby and a fantastic option school that everyone loves in your backyard. But no, you resisted even the slightest inconvenience for yourselves to help APS and now you get to be Swing Space Elementary.

You may get out of this one too — that’s what Karens often do — but the community will just hate you more, so have at it. Sooner or later you will have to eat the shit sandwich, and imho it’s just going to keep getting bigger as your karma decreases until you begin to behave like decent human beings who care about anything but their own situation.

Wow. I didn’t know there were brushes that can make broad strokes that big. Feel better now, honey? You’re talking awfully lot about sandwiches - are you hungry?

So, if I follow your logic (and honestly I don’t know why I’m even engaging), the gist of your argument is at some point 7 or maybe 10 years ago, Nottingham didn’t want to be overcrowded so advocated to avoid that which somehow upset you so much that you continue to hold a grudge about it 7 or 10 years later? And now, you take great joy in that school closing because you feel the moms there are mean?

Caution! It's SEVEN not 10. The McKinley poster made it clear she's very triggered by people who say it was 10 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's a useful thread from back in the day: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/593495.page

Nottingham protested getting extra planning units and was then the most under-capacity school in the entire county in Fall of 2016, while McKinley was over capacity by about 50 kids (based on what the renovated school could contain, even though it was still undergoing renovations and dealing with trailers).

Also this one: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/547393.page

I used to be a McKinley parent and I posted this comment in that second thread:

I'm a current McKinley parent and I guess I don't really think this is a big deal, and that the parents are having a harder time with it than the kids will.

My child LOVED having gym in the trailer, and all the echoey sounds you could make with your voice in there.

The school dealt with space issues this year by making some specials classes "roaming" classes, so for example the kids might have Spanish or Art or Music in their own classrooms instead of going to a room dedicated to that subject. It would not be an ideal long term plan, but for a year or two I don't see any negative effects on my child or his education.

My kid has never had class all year in a trailer, but my understanding is that the kids actually quite like the trailers. It seems to build class unity and make you feel like you are your own special community, plus you can do whatever you want to the walls. Again, I wouldn't want trailers as the long term plan (which is why they are doing this renovation/addition to the school in the first place), but as a temporary thing, it's fine.

I appreciate that in general McKinley is not full of spoiled people who are constantly asking for special treatment and privileges and not taking "more than our share." When something is important -- like when Tuckahoe wanted to move two of its planning groups over so they could keep their neighborhood together even though that would have put McKinley at 110% capacity AFTER THE NEW ADDITION WAS ADDED -- we will talk reasonably to APS and get them to change their mind. In this case we are talking about a three month delay of the main new construction, so three months of a trailer fleet. I just don't think that's a big deal. And if a new child was coming to the school over from Glebe or Tuckahoe, they might find the whole thing fun and again, sort of community building. "Look we're all getting through this together." If they waited to come until the following year, they would have missed out on that.

I don't think the parking is that big of a deal because there is quite a lot of street parking.

I just think all this complaining is very much a spoiled North Arlington mindset -- "MY CHILD SHALL NOT BE INCONVENIENCED BY TRAILERS" -- when you are coming from schools that already have fleets of trailers in their fields. Maybe you just don't want to leave your home schools, and that's fair. I wouldn't want to either, probably. But we're all in this together, and we can get through it as a community.

The new school is going to be really, really beautiful.

I also defended Nottingham in that thread.

Ha ha, joke’s on me. I have since lost all positive vibes towards Nottingham parents. It seems to be an area that looks out only for its own rather than caring for the community at large, and I am tired of it. So much of this they have absolutely done to themselves, even though they blame literally everyone BUT themselves. They refused to take more kids. They got upset over Covid and fled to private. They passed the buck about being turned into an option school — that shoe just didn’t fit their dainty little foot either. And every time APS asked them to eat poop for the community, not only did they not eat the poop, they found another community to target to eat the poop and lobbied hard to give the steaming poop to that community instead, it was just such a much better fit for them.

So Nottingham, welcome to your swing space shit sandwich. Nobody else is going to eat it for you. Bon appetit.

You sound a little delusional and maybe jealous? I don’t know. Wouldn’t say this in public though.

Right. It sounds like this McKinley parent is jealous that the Nottingham parents did a better job advocating than they did. And the Nottingham PTA was proactive in addressing the needs of its school community while the McK PTA sat on its hands.

Pretty sure I’m not jealous. I don’t like the way you guys operate, why would I want to turn into that?

You can’t turn against your neighbors year after year and then be mad when they no longer support you in your hour of need. I was with Nottingham back during the boundary changes, I thought McKinley should just take the extra kids because Nottingham had been overcrowded for a while. Then they fingered McKinley for an option school. Then they joined APE in droves to complain about teachers during Covid and fled to private. You all did this to yourselves. The irony to me is that if you had accepted becoming an option school, you would be sitting pretty like Woodlawn (is that the residential area near McK?) now, with a great neighborhood school nearby and a fantastic option school that everyone loves in your backyard. But no, you resisted even the slightest inconvenience for yourselves to help APS and now you get to be Swing Space Elementary.

You may get out of this one too — that’s what Karens often do — but the community will just hate you more, so have at it. Sooner or later you will have to eat the shit sandwich, and imho it’s just going to keep getting bigger as your karma decreases until you begin to behave like decent human beings who care about anything but their own situation.

Wow. I didn’t know there were brushes that can make broad strokes that big. Feel better now, honey? You’re talking awfully lot about sandwiches - are you hungry?

So, if I follow your logic (and honestly I don’t know why I’m even engaging), the gist of your argument is at some point 7 or maybe 10 years ago, Nottingham didn’t want to be overcrowded so advocated to avoid that which somehow upset you so much that you continue to hold a grudge about it 7 or 10 years later? And now, you take great joy in that school closing because you feel the moms there are mean?

No not really actually. That’s okay though, you can be mad.

I think you should try this argument with the school board. “The Nottingham moms, who aren’t even there anymore, were mean to me 7, or maybe 10, years ago so you should close their school.”

Oh yes, please and then tell the board exactly how those awful PTA moms were mean to you. As best I can tell they asked the board not to overcrowd them again. Those meanies! The nerve!

And then let us know when you're going to speak so we all can watch.