APS Construction - Never believe their schedules

[Anonymous]

Sorry PP whose kid will have to have gym in a trailer for 2 years. My child gets to go to a school with a great schools rating of 2 where the pta can offer very few enrichment activities because the fees are out if reach for most kids. How are all of those robotics classes and after school sports leagues going for you? Luckily my child will learn some lessons about privilege and relating to those who are different than us.

Another S Atlington mom

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry PP whose kid will have to have gym in a trailer for 2 years. My child gets to go to a school with a great schools rating of 2 where the pta can offer very few enrichment activities because the fees are out if reach for most kids. How are all of those robotics classes and after school sports leagues going for you? Luckily my child will learn some lessons about privilege and relating to those who are different than us.

Another S Atlington mom

Rebalancing the N Arlington school enrollment has zero impact on the S Arlington situation, so what do you care? There are kids in SE DC schools who would love to be at your S Arlington school, so does that mean that you don't have a right to complain either?

[Anonymous]

How big are they projecting the new south arl elementary to be?
Did I read it was over 700?
Does that mean that Montessori will have more seats as well?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How big are they projecting the new south arl elementary to be?
Did I read it was over 700?
Does that mean that Montessori will have more seats as well?

Hopefully not, since Montessori has a full time assistant in every classroom and so the per-pupil cost is half again as much as every other Arlington school, which only get assistants in K. If they add more Montessori seats, it will just cost that much more.

[Anonymous]

Patrick Henry is moving to the new school which will have a capacity of 725. I think it's only adding like 200 seats but don't remember the exact number. The Montessori is moving out of Drew into the old Henry building. That opens up hundreds of seats at Drew (maybe 400 not sure). I don't think they've announced publicly that Montessori will be growing, but I think it has to to get to the target number of 725 total new seats. Not only is that expensive, it also doesn't add capacity specifically for S Arlington. It's county-wide. Our schools are over crowded too. Oh and yes, the new Patrick Henry is in the TJ parking lot. Bring up the budget issue with the board.
If part of the growth was going to come from a choice school I think they should have replicated ATS (or something) and put it in S Arlington. But the board wanted a neighborhood school. Instead they just moved a neighborhood school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Patrick Henry is moving to the new school which will have a capacity of 725. I think it's only adding like 200 seats but don't remember the exact number. The Montessori is moving out of Drew into the old Henry building. That opens up hundreds of seats at Drew (maybe 400 not sure). I don't think they've announced publicly that Montessori will be growing, but I think it has to to get to the target number of 725 total new seats. Not only is that expensive, it also doesn't add capacity specifically for S Arlington. It's county-wide. Our schools are over crowded too. Oh and yes, the new Patrick Henry is in the TJ parking lot. Bring up the budget issue with the board.
If part of the growth was going to come from a choice school I think they should have replicated ATS (or something) and put it in S Arlington. But the board wanted a neighborhood school. Instead they just moved a neighborhood school.

It just doesn't sit right with me. I mean, we're getting a new building... But no one seems thrilled with the new location. And it seems to avoid drawing from all of the dense affordable housing. I guess that's not intentional. Just always seems like a half assed solution on the south side.
Which isn't true - I know, because Wakefield got a beautiful new facility.
But how on earth are they seriously talking about reconfiguring it already?

[Anonymous]

Any new elementary school will have a capacity of 725. That isn't a "cap", but it's the suggested limit. That came up in the CIP meeting last night. They did periscope it and that means you can probably find it on their MSMS site.

Anyway, it is true that rebalancing N. Arl has NOTHING to do with what is going on below 50. It would be good for folks to pay close attention, though, when the boundaries are worked out because it's clear that staff respond to special interests (AKA the loud, litigous set).

I was actually hoping APS and ACB would join together to build a school/community site where that insane pool is going.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any new elementary school will have a capacity of 725. That isn't a "cap", but it's the suggested limit. That came up in the CIP meeting last night. They did periscope it and that means you can probably find it on their MSMS site.

Anyway, it is true that rebalancing N. Arl has NOTHING to do with what is going on below 50. It would be good for folks to pay close attention, though, when the boundaries are worked out because it's clear that staff respond to special interests (AKA the loud, litigous set).

I was actually hoping APS and ACB would join together to build a school/community site where that insane pool is going.

That location is so far out of the way (and I live in south Arlington--it is on the far side of the Crystal City hotels and high rises) that the only thing they could put there is an extremely desirable choice program, like H-B.

[Anonymous]

Can we go back to the part where immersion isn't available to everyone?
WTF is that about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get this kumbaya nonesense. I'm sure the Tuckahoe kids would rather move into McKinley after construction is done.

Aren't they just going to be in trailers at Tuckahoe anyway? So what's the biggie about being in a trailer at McKinley for 3 months instead of 9, if McKinley is where they're ultimately headed anyway?

I'm a McK parent. And you are correct that they will be in a trailer at either place. But at Tuckahoe, at least they will have a gym, a field, parking, and a smaller overall student body.

Exactly!

McKinley will have a gym, it will just be a giant-ass trailer. (Seriously, have you SEEN the gym trailer? It's impressive. It's six trailers welded together.)
McKinley may not have a field, but the kids won't care much about that in November and December anyway, right?
The kids also do not care about parking. Not having parking 10 steps from the school is an inconvenience to YOU. Suck it up and put on some sensible shoes. It's not going to kill you.
McKinley will have approximately 100 kids more than Tuckahoe next year. Sorry, are you just too good for a 700 kid school?

It's so frustrating to hear other parents complain about REAL PROBLEMS on this board and then to hear complaints about having to park two blocks away or -- THE HORROR -- having gym in a trailer for three months. wtf is the matter with people? I can only conclude that some parts of north arlington have learned that if they complain loudly enough, even if their position is pretty unreasonable compared to the shit that other parents face, they will get their way.

In three months after school starts, McKinley will have a classroom for every kid and no kid should need to start their day in a trailer, but the kids at Tuckahoe and Glebe will still have entire grades separated from the school in trailers. But you don't want to go to McKinley as APS has told you to because parking! The rules do not apply to me because gym trailer! My snowflake should be exempt because SCHOOL TOO BIG!

Whatever, lady. Tiny violins.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: In three months after school starts, McKinley will have a classroom for every kid and no kid should need to start their day in a trailer, but the kids at Tuckahoe and Glebe will still have entire grades separated from the school in trailers. But you don't want to go to McKinley as APS has told you to because parking! The rules do not apply to me because gym trailer! My snowflake should be exempt because SCHOOL TOO BIG!

Not true. McKinley is a school built for 684 kids. It will have 712 kids in it next year. Probably more the following year. There will still be trailers. Maybe not two six plexes like this year, but still some trailers. If you look at the More Seats for More Students website, this fact is confirmed in multiple presentations. In any event, I think you are missing the point of the posts above. It isn't about the trailers and nobody is saying that Tuckahoe and Glebe should stay overcrowded. People are saying that enrollment needs to be shifted to other N. Arlington schools like Jamestown and Discovery that are below capacity to achieve better enrollment balance. Every school should at least be AT capacity before we start pushing any school OVER capacity.

[Anonymous]

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN??? This move has been planned now for three years. The time to protest about Jamestown or Discovery being better targets for extra kids was TWO YEARS AGO.

Moreover, at the McKinley meeting we were told that given the current numbers, EVEN AT 104% ENROLLMENT, they expected there would be NO TRAILERS. They may have planned for trailers earlier but that was before they had success experimenting with mobile classrooms this year. NO TRAILERS. In which case, McKinley will join the ranks of Discovery and Jamestown as being one of the only schools in North Arlington without them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry PP whose kid will have to have gym in a trailer for 2 years. My child gets to go to a school with a great schools rating of 2 where the pta can offer very few enrichment activities because the fees are out if reach for most kids. How are all of those robotics classes and after school sports leagues going for you? Luckily my child will learn some lessons about privilege and relating to those who are different than us.

Another S Atlington mom

Relax s Arlington mom!

SALA is planning a coup d'etat of the Randolph elementary PTA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN??? This move has been planned now for three years. The time to protest about Jamestown or Discovery being better targets for extra kids was TWO YEARS AGO.

Well, if you've got a kid in K or 1st grade, you were not part of these conversations three years ago because you were still chasing a toddler and were not eligible for PTA membership in any elementary school. Yet we are the ones primarily impacted by the results over the next 4-5 years, which is why there are so many questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry PP whose kid will have to have gym in a trailer for 2 years. My child gets to go to a school with a great schools rating of 2 where the pta can offer very few enrichment activities because the fees are out if reach for most kids. How are all of those robotics classes and after school sports leagues going for you? Luckily my child will learn some lessons about privilege and relating to those who are different than us.

Another S Atlington mom

Why did you choose to live there, then?