APS: Washington Liberty will be minimum 2700 students by 2025

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing that gets me is that bitter people whose kids didn't get into HB want to destroy it by closing it or changing it beyond recognition What good does that do for anyone? It doesn't help the kids who are there, and it also doesn't help the kids who didn't get in.

Arlington Tech is also really great. Are you against that too?

DP. I don't have kids at the high school level yet but this argument never sits right with me. The school system is set up with lottery options that many people perceive as "better." Personally, I think this is an unfair system but I would enter my kid in the lottery because this is the system we have. I can understand why people are annoyed when their kids don't get in and why they might wonder why it can't be bigger to give more kids that opportunity. If anything, people arguing against that idea in this environment seem like resource hoarders. This is a PUBLIC school system.

I agree more kids should have these types of opportunities, but the answer isn't to destroy the programs we do have. The answer is to have more programs. HB really isn't right for a lot of kids, but other types of programs probably would be. So go advocate for more types of options.

But why would HB be destroyed if it were expanded a bit? This is just a theoretical question, I don't think APS will add more oe expanded options at this point.

DP. HB already expanded a little. Given the school’s self-directed philosophy that entails a lot of independence with less adult supervision, a large school program would not work out at all.

How much did expand ? In 2010 it has 600 students across 6-12; today it has 700, about 15% growth. Meanwhile WL went from 1800 to 2700 students, 50% growth. HB should be at least 900 students to be in step with the rest of Arlington high schools.

I’m so tired of hearing how the program DEPENDS on a small school size. How convenient.

Well the rest of us our tired of your whining and weird obsession with bashing a school.

My obsession is my kids neighborhood school is way way too big for them, meanwhile a select few get a boutique experience. If HBW becam right sized it would absorb about 400 high school students and WL could be about the same size as YT.

I think there is a small handful of HB posters on these boards and they are all so tone-deaf. Your points are fair and a rational person would acknowledge that.

There are also parents here who are fine with the 2600 student W-L and remember the neighborhood outreach and the involvement of the various PTAs in that discussion. Many of those elementary parents now have (or recently had) kids in high school (either W-L or Yorktown since a fair number of W-L neighborhoods were moved to Ytown in 2018).

I am the PP far up the thread with the DD happy at WL. So many kids want to go there and have the access to both AP and IB classes. One benefit of making it the size it is today is that more families are happy. At this point, if you make it smaller then people would complain. The demand is being met.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing that gets me is that bitter people whose kids didn't get into HB want to destroy it by closing it or changing it beyond recognition What good does that do for anyone? It doesn't help the kids who are there, and it also doesn't help the kids who didn't get in.

Arlington Tech is also really great. Are you against that too?

DP. I don't have kids at the high school level yet but this argument never sits right with me. The school system is set up with lottery options that many people perceive as "better." Personally, I think this is an unfair system but I would enter my kid in the lottery because this is the system we have. I can understand why people are annoyed when their kids don't get in and why they might wonder why it can't be bigger to give more kids that opportunity. If anything, people arguing against that idea in this environment seem like resource hoarders. This is a PUBLIC school system.

I agree more kids should have these types of opportunities, but the answer isn't to destroy the programs we do have. The answer is to have more programs. HB really isn't right for a lot of kids, but other types of programs probably would be. So go advocate for more types of options.

But why would HB be destroyed if it were expanded a bit? This is just a theoretical question, I don't think APS will add more oe expanded options at this point.

DP. HB already expanded a little. Given the school’s self-directed philosophy that entails a lot of independence with less adult supervision, a large school program would not work out at all.

How much did expand ? In 2010 it has 600 students across 6-12; today it has 700, about 15% growth. Meanwhile WL went from 1800 to 2700 students, 50% growth. HB should be at least 900 students to be in step with the rest of Arlington high schools.

I’m so tired of hearing how the program DEPENDS on a small school size. How convenient.

Well the rest of us our tired of your whining and weird obsession with bashing a school.

My obsession is my kids neighborhood school is way way too big for them, meanwhile a select few get a boutique experience. If HBW becam right sized it would absorb about 400 high school students and WL could be about the same size as YT.

I think there is a small handful of HB posters on these boards and they are all so tone-deaf. Your points are fair and a rational person would acknowledge that.

There are also parents here who are fine with the 2600 student W-L and remember the neighborhood outreach and the involvement of the various PTAs in that discussion. Many of those elementary parents now have (or recently had) kids in high school (either W-L or Yorktown since a fair number of W-L neighborhoods were moved to Ytown in 2018).

I am the PP far up the thread with the DD happy at WL. So many kids want to go there and have the access to both AP and IB classes. One benefit of making it the size it is today is that more families are happy. At this point, if you make it smaller then people would complain. The demand is being met.

But how big will it get? If it gets to 3000, will people still be happy? My kid is supposed to start in 2027 so I am worried.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing that gets me is that bitter people whose kids didn't get into HB want to destroy it by closing it or changing it beyond recognition What good does that do for anyone? It doesn't help the kids who are there, and it also doesn't help the kids who didn't get in.

Arlington Tech is also really great. Are you against that too?

DP. I don't have kids at the high school level yet but this argument never sits right with me. The school system is set up with lottery options that many people perceive as "better." Personally, I think this is an unfair system but I would enter my kid in the lottery because this is the system we have. I can understand why people are annoyed when their kids don't get in and why they might wonder why it can't be bigger to give more kids that opportunity. If anything, people arguing against that idea in this environment seem like resource hoarders. This is a PUBLIC school system.

I agree more kids should have these types of opportunities, but the answer isn't to destroy the programs we do have. The answer is to have more programs. HB really isn't right for a lot of kids, but other types of programs probably would be. So go advocate for more types of options.

But why would HB be destroyed if it were expanded a bit? This is just a theoretical question, I don't think APS will add more oe expanded options at this point.

DP. HB already expanded a little. Given the school’s self-directed philosophy that entails a lot of independence with less adult supervision, a large school program would not work out at all.

How much did expand ? In 2010 it has 600 students across 6-12; today it has 700, about 15% growth. Meanwhile WL went from 1800 to 2700 students, 50% growth. HB should be at least 900 students to be in step with the rest of Arlington high schools.

I’m so tired of hearing how the program DEPENDS on a small school size. How convenient.

Well the rest of us our tired of your whining and weird obsession with bashing a school.

My obsession is my kids neighborhood school is way way too big for them, meanwhile a select few get a boutique experience. If HBW becam right sized it would absorb about 400 high school students and WL could be about the same size as YT.

I think there is a small handful of HB posters on these boards and they are all so tone-deaf. Your points are fair and a rational person would acknowledge that.

There are also parents here who are fine with the 2600 student W-L and remember the neighborhood outreach and the involvement of the various PTAs in that discussion. Many of those elementary parents now have (or recently had) kids in high school (either W-L or Yorktown since a fair number of W-L neighborhoods were moved to Ytown in 2018).

I am the PP far up the thread with the DD happy at WL. So many kids want to go there and have the access to both AP and IB classes. One benefit of making it the size it is today is that more families are happy. At this point, if you make it smaller then people would complain. The demand is being met.

They could easily implement IB at YT and Wakefield, there is a large population of YT kids who transfer for IB so the demand is there and it’s still a large school.

The school within a school IB is not bad, but for kids outside of that there are serious trade-offs, and the school isn’t stopping at 2600 — it’s already 2700.

Maybe growth will be slowed by AT, but thats a big bet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing that gets me is that bitter people whose kids didn't get into HB want to destroy it by closing it or changing it beyond recognition What good does that do for anyone? It doesn't help the kids who are there, and it also doesn't help the kids who didn't get in.

Arlington Tech is also really great. Are you against that too?

DP. I don't have kids at the high school level yet but this argument never sits right with me. The school system is set up with lottery options that many people perceive as "better." Personally, I think this is an unfair system but I would enter my kid in the lottery because this is the system we have. I can understand why people are annoyed when their kids don't get in and why they might wonder why it can't be bigger to give more kids that opportunity. If anything, people arguing against that idea in this environment seem like resource hoarders. This is a PUBLIC school system.

I agree more kids should have these types of opportunities, but the answer isn't to destroy the programs we do have. The answer is to have more programs. HB really isn't right for a lot of kids, but other types of programs probably would be. So go advocate for more types of options.

But why would HB be destroyed if it were expanded a bit? This is just a theoretical question, I don't think APS will add more oe expanded options at this point.

DP. HB already expanded a little. Given the school’s self-directed philosophy that entails a lot of independence with less adult supervision, a large school program would not work out at all.

How much did expand ? In 2010 it has 600 students across 6-12; today it has 700, about 15% growth. Meanwhile WL went from 1800 to 2700 students, 50% growth. HB should be at least 900 students to be in step with the rest of Arlington high schools.

I’m so tired of hearing how the program DEPENDS on a small school size. How convenient.

Well the rest of us our tired of your whining and weird obsession with bashing a school.

My obsession is my kids neighborhood school is way way too big for them, meanwhile a select few get a boutique experience. If HBW becam right sized it would absorb about 400 high school students and WL could be about the same size as YT.

I think there is a small handful of HB posters on these boards and they are all so tone-deaf. Your points are fair and a rational person would acknowledge that.

There are also parents here who are fine with the 2600 student W-L and remember the neighborhood outreach and the involvement of the various PTAs in that discussion. Many of those elementary parents now have (or recently had) kids in high school (either W-L or Yorktown since a fair number of W-L neighborhoods were moved to Ytown in 2018).

I am the PP far up the thread with the DD happy at WL. So many kids want to go there and have the access to both AP and IB classes. One benefit of making it the size it is today is that more families are happy. At this point, if you make it smaller then people would complain. The demand is being met.

But how big will it get? If it gets to 3000, will people still be happy? My kid is supposed to start in 2027 so I am worried.

WL is reported at 2800 student capacity.

Wakefield is currently at 105% utilization, as precedent.

So hitting 2950 is very likely and would be in line with how they have handled the school in the past

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/sites...2033-for-website.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing that gets me is that bitter people whose kids didn't get into HB want to destroy it by closing it or changing it beyond recognition What good does that do for anyone? It doesn't help the kids who are there, and it also doesn't help the kids who didn't get in.

Arlington Tech is also really great. Are you against that too?

DP. I don't have kids at the high school level yet but this argument never sits right with me. The school system is set up with lottery options that many people perceive as "better." Personally, I think this is an unfair system but I would enter my kid in the lottery because this is the system we have. I can understand why people are annoyed when their kids don't get in and why they might wonder why it can't be bigger to give more kids that opportunity. If anything, people arguing against that idea in this environment seem like resource hoarders. This is a PUBLIC school system.

I agree more kids should have these types of opportunities, but the answer isn't to destroy the programs we do have. The answer is to have more programs. HB really isn't right for a lot of kids, but other types of programs probably would be. So go advocate for more types of options.

But why would HB be destroyed if it were expanded a bit? This is just a theoretical question, I don't think APS will add more oe expanded options at this point.

DP. HB already expanded a little. Given the school’s self-directed philosophy that entails a lot of independence with less adult supervision, a large school program would not work out at all.

How much did expand ? In 2010 it has 600 students across 6-12; today it has 700, about 15% growth. Meanwhile WL went from 1800 to 2700 students, 50% growth. HB should be at least 900 students to be in step with the rest of Arlington high schools.

I’m so tired of hearing how the program DEPENDS on a small school size. How convenient.

Well the rest of us our tired of your whining and weird obsession with bashing a school.

My obsession is my kids neighborhood school is way way too big for them, meanwhile a select few get a boutique experience. If HBW becam right sized it would absorb about 400 high school students and WL could be about the same size as YT.

I think there is a small handful of HB posters on these boards and they are all so tone-deaf. Your points are fair and a rational person would acknowledge that.

There are also parents here who are fine with the 2600 student W-L and remember the neighborhood outreach and the involvement of the various PTAs in that discussion. Many of those elementary parents now have (or recently had) kids in high school (either W-L or Yorktown since a fair number of W-L neighborhoods were moved to Ytown in 2018).

I am the PP far up the thread with the DD happy at WL. So many kids want to go there and have the access to both AP and IB classes. One benefit of making it the size it is today is that more families are happy. At this point, if you make it smaller then people would complain. The demand is being met.

But how big will it get? If it gets to 3000, will people still be happy? My kid is supposed to start in 2027 so I am worried.

When the new Arlington Tech campus opens (it’s opening later than planned) then W-L should meet its target enrollment numbers.

And APS put off doing the comprehensive high school boundary changes (the follow up to the 2018 changes) due to covid. I think APS will look at high school boundary changes to coincide with the new Arlington Tech campus, but I doubt it will be as simple be carving off W-L neighborhoods to Yorktown like last time. The goal was for the second round of boundary changes to be more comprehensive.

But who knows, since the former APS planning department no longer exists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing that gets me is that bitter people whose kids didn't get into HB want to destroy it by closing it or changing it beyond recognition What good does that do for anyone? It doesn't help the kids who are there, and it also doesn't help the kids who didn't get in.

Arlington Tech is also really great. Are you against that too?

DP. I don't have kids at the high school level yet but this argument never sits right with me. The school system is set up with lottery options that many people perceive as "better." Personally, I think this is an unfair system but I would enter my kid in the lottery because this is the system we have. I can understand why people are annoyed when their kids don't get in and why they might wonder why it can't be bigger to give more kids that opportunity. If anything, people arguing against that idea in this environment seem like resource hoarders. This is a PUBLIC school system.

I agree more kids should have these types of opportunities, but the answer isn't to destroy the programs we do have. The answer is to have more programs. HB really isn't right for a lot of kids, but other types of programs probably would be. So go advocate for more types of options.

But why would HB be destroyed if it were expanded a bit? This is just a theoretical question, I don't think APS will add more oe expanded options at this point.

DP. HB already expanded a little. Given the school’s self-directed philosophy that entails a lot of independence with less adult supervision, a large school program would not work out at all.

How much did expand ? In 2010 it has 600 students across 6-12; today it has 700, about 15% growth. Meanwhile WL went from 1800 to 2700 students, 50% growth. HB should be at least 900 students to be in step with the rest of Arlington high schools.

I’m so tired of hearing how the program DEPENDS on a small school size. How convenient.

Well the rest of us our tired of your whining and weird obsession with bashing a school.

My obsession is my kids neighborhood school is way way too big for them, meanwhile a select few get a boutique experience. If HBW becam right sized it would absorb about 400 high school students and WL could be about the same size as YT.

I think there is a small handful of HB posters on these boards and they are all so tone-deaf. Your points are fair and a rational person would acknowledge that.

There are also parents here who are fine with the 2600 student W-L and remember the neighborhood outreach and the involvement of the various PTAs in that discussion. Many of those elementary parents now have (or recently had) kids in high school (either W-L or Yorktown since a fair number of W-L neighborhoods were moved to Ytown in 2018).

I am the PP far up the thread with the DD happy at WL. So many kids want to go there and have the access to both AP and IB classes. One benefit of making it the size it is today is that more families are happy. At this point, if you make it smaller then people would complain. The demand is being met.

But how big will it get? If it gets to 3000, will people still be happy? My kid is supposed to start in 2027 so I am worried.

When the new Arlington Tech campus opens (it’s opening later than planned) then W-L should meet its target enrollment numbers.

And APS put off doing the comprehensive high school boundary changes (the follow up to the 2018 changes) due to covid. I think APS will look at high school boundary changes to coincide with the new Arlington Tech campus, but I doubt it will be as simple be carving off W-L neighborhoods to Yorktown like last time. The goal was for the second round of boundary changes to be more comprehensive.

But who knows, since the former APS planning department no longer exists.

People move into Ballston and Rosslyn condos temporarily so their kids can go to WL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing that gets me is that bitter people whose kids didn't get into HB want to destroy it by closing it or changing it beyond recognition What good does that do for anyone? It doesn't help the kids who are there, and it also doesn't help the kids who didn't get in.

Arlington Tech is also really great. Are you against that too?

DP. I don't have kids at the high school level yet but this argument never sits right with me. The school system is set up with lottery options that many people perceive as "better." Personally, I think this is an unfair system but I would enter my kid in the lottery because this is the system we have. I can understand why people are annoyed when their kids don't get in and why they might wonder why it can't be bigger to give more kids that opportunity. If anything, people arguing against that idea in this environment seem like resource hoarders. This is a PUBLIC school system.

I agree more kids should have these types of opportunities, but the answer isn't to destroy the programs we do have. The answer is to have more programs. HB really isn't right for a lot of kids, but other types of programs probably would be. So go advocate for more types of options.

But why would HB be destroyed if it were expanded a bit? This is just a theoretical question, I don't think APS will add more oe expanded options at this point.

DP. HB already expanded a little. Given the school’s self-directed philosophy that entails a lot of independence with less adult supervision, a large school program would not work out at all.

How much did expand ? In 2010 it has 600 students across 6-12; today it has 700, about 15% growth. Meanwhile WL went from 1800 to 2700 students, 50% growth. HB should be at least 900 students to be in step with the rest of Arlington high schools.

I’m so tired of hearing how the program DEPENDS on a small school size. How convenient.

Well the rest of us our tired of your whining and weird obsession with bashing a school.

My obsession is my kids neighborhood school is way way too big for them, meanwhile a select few get a boutique experience. If HBW becam right sized it would absorb about 400 high school students and WL could be about the same size as YT.

I think there is a small handful of HB posters on these boards and they are all so tone-deaf. Your points are fair and a rational person would acknowledge that.

There are also parents here who are fine with the 2600 student W-L and remember the neighborhood outreach and the involvement of the various PTAs in that discussion. Many of those elementary parents now have (or recently had) kids in high school (either W-L or Yorktown since a fair number of W-L neighborhoods were moved to Ytown in 2018).

I am the PP far up the thread with the DD happy at WL. So many kids want to go there and have the access to both AP and IB classes. One benefit of making it the size it is today is that more families are happy. At this point, if you make it smaller then people would complain. The demand is being met.

But how big will it get? If it gets to 3000, will people still be happy? My kid is supposed to start in 2027 so I am worried.

When the new Arlington Tech campus opens (it’s opening later than planned) then W-L should meet its target enrollment numbers.

And APS put off doing the comprehensive high school boundary changes (the follow up to the 2018 changes) due to covid. I think APS will look at high school boundary changes to coincide with the new Arlington Tech campus, but I doubt it will be as simple be carving off W-L neighborhoods to Yorktown like last time. The goal was for the second round of boundary changes to be more comprehensive.

But who knows, since the former APS planning department no longer exists.

People move into Ballston and Rosslyn condos temporarily so their kids can go to WL.

The area from Rosslyn to just east of the Clarendon Metro station was rezoned from W-L to Yorktown way back in the late 90s. So most of those condo kids probably go to Yorktown or transfer to W-L for IB, since W-L is closer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing that gets me is that bitter people whose kids didn't get into HB want to destroy it by closing it or changing it beyond recognition What good does that do for anyone? It doesn't help the kids who are there, and it also doesn't help the kids who didn't get in.

Arlington Tech is also really great. Are you against that too?

DP. I don't have kids at the high school level yet but this argument never sits right with me. The school system is set up with lottery options that many people perceive as "better." Personally, I think this is an unfair system but I would enter my kid in the lottery because this is the system we have. I can understand why people are annoyed when their kids don't get in and why they might wonder why it can't be bigger to give more kids that opportunity. If anything, people arguing against that idea in this environment seem like resource hoarders. This is a PUBLIC school system.

I agree more kids should have these types of opportunities, but the answer isn't to destroy the programs we do have. The answer is to have more programs. HB really isn't right for a lot of kids, but other types of programs probably would be. So go advocate for more types of options.

But why would HB be destroyed if it were expanded a bit? This is just a theoretical question, I don't think APS will add more oe expanded options at this point.

DP. HB already expanded a little. Given the school’s self-directed philosophy that entails a lot of independence with less adult supervision, a large school program would not work out at all.

How much did expand ? In 2010 it has 600 students across 6-12; today it has 700, about 15% growth. Meanwhile WL went from 1800 to 2700 students, 50% growth. HB should be at least 900 students to be in step with the rest of Arlington high schools.

I’m so tired of hearing how the program DEPENDS on a small school size. How convenient.

Well the rest of us our tired of your whining and weird obsession with bashing a school.

My obsession is my kids neighborhood school is way way too big for them, meanwhile a select few get a boutique experience. If HBW becam right sized it would absorb about 400 high school students and WL could be about the same size as YT.

I think there is a small handful of HB posters on these boards and they are all so tone-deaf. Your points are fair and a rational person would acknowledge that.

There are also parents here who are fine with the 2600 student W-L and remember the neighborhood outreach and the involvement of the various PTAs in that discussion. Many of those elementary parents now have (or recently had) kids in high school (either W-L or Yorktown since a fair number of W-L neighborhoods were moved to Ytown in 2018).

I am the PP far up the thread with the DD happy at WL. So many kids want to go there and have the access to both AP and IB classes. One benefit of making it the size it is today is that more families are happy. At this point, if you make it smaller then people would complain. The demand is being met.

But how big will it get? If it gets to 3000, will people still be happy? My kid is supposed to start in 2027 so I am worried.

When the new Arlington Tech campus opens (it’s opening later than planned) then W-L should meet its target enrollment numbers.

And APS put off doing the comprehensive high school boundary changes (the follow up to the 2018 changes) due to covid. I think APS will look at high school boundary changes to coincide with the new Arlington Tech campus, but I doubt it will be as simple be carving off W-L neighborhoods to Yorktown like last time. The goal was for the second round of boundary changes to be more comprehensive.

But who knows, since the former APS planning department no longer exists.

There is no way there is demand for the planned 1500 students at AT, its no TJ. It’s not even HBW.

But hopefully I am wrong and it won’t just be Wakefield refugees. How long is waitlist now?

[Anonymous]

Wow, it’s amazing my thread prove right two years later!

– OP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing that gets me is that bitter people whose kids didn't get into HB want to destroy it by closing it or changing it beyond recognition What good does that do for anyone? It doesn't help the kids who are there, and it also doesn't help the kids who didn't get in.

Arlington Tech is also really great. Are you against that too?

DP. I don't have kids at the high school level yet but this argument never sits right with me. The school system is set up with lottery options that many people perceive as "better." Personally, I think this is an unfair system but I would enter my kid in the lottery because this is the system we have. I can understand why people are annoyed when their kids don't get in and why they might wonder why it can't be bigger to give more kids that opportunity. If anything, people arguing against that idea in this environment seem like resource hoarders. This is a PUBLIC school system.

I agree more kids should have these types of opportunities, but the answer isn't to destroy the programs we do have. The answer is to have more programs. HB really isn't right for a lot of kids, but other types of programs probably would be. So go advocate for more types of options.

But why would HB be destroyed if it were expanded a bit? This is just a theoretical question, I don't think APS will add more oe expanded options at this point.

DP. HB already expanded a little. Given the school’s self-directed philosophy that entails a lot of independence with less adult supervision, a large school program would not work out at all.

How much did expand ? In 2010 it has 600 students across 6-12; today it has 700, about 15% growth. Meanwhile WL went from 1800 to 2700 students, 50% growth. HB should be at least 900 students to be in step with the rest of Arlington high schools.

I’m so tired of hearing how the program DEPENDS on a small school size. How convenient.

Well the rest of us our tired of your whining and weird obsession with bashing a school.

My obsession is my kids neighborhood school is way way too big for them, meanwhile a select few get a boutique experience. If HBW becam right sized it would absorb about 400 high school students and WL could be about the same size as YT.

I think there is a small handful of HB posters on these boards and they are all so tone-deaf. Your points are fair and a rational person would acknowledge that.

There are also parents here who are fine with the 2600 student W-L and remember the neighborhood outreach and the involvement of the various PTAs in that discussion. Many of those elementary parents now have (or recently had) kids in high school (either W-L or Yorktown since a fair number of W-L neighborhoods were moved to Ytown in 2018).

I am the PP far up the thread with the DD happy at WL. So many kids want to go there and have the access to both AP and IB classes. One benefit of making it the size it is today is that more families are happy. At this point, if you make it smaller then people would complain. The demand is being met.

But how big will it get? If it gets to 3000, will people still be happy? My kid is supposed to start in 2027 so I am worried.

When the new Arlington Tech campus opens (it’s opening later than planned) then W-L should meet its target enrollment numbers.

And APS put off doing the comprehensive high school boundary changes (the follow up to the 2018 changes) due to covid. I think APS will look at high school boundary changes to coincide with the new Arlington Tech campus, but I doubt it will be as simple be carving off W-L neighborhoods to Yorktown like last time. The goal was for the second round of boundary changes to be more comprehensive.

But who knows, since the former APS planning department no longer exists.

There is no way there is demand for the planned 1500 students at AT, its no TJ. It’s not even HBW.

But hopefully I am wrong and it won’t just be Wakefield refugees. How long is waitlist now?

You will be wrong. I’m not trying to be argumentative. I suspect the waitlist, once the new building opens, will be similar to the IB waitlist. Different set of kids, of course. The project based learning thing coupled with the college classes make it really attractive and the teachers are wonderful. And Space Force!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, it’s amazing my thread prove right two years later!

– OP

This is why I’m so happy my kid got into AT. A 3k ppl school would have meant private for my kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, it’s amazing my thread prove right two years later!

– OP

This is why I’m so happy my kid got into AT. A 3k ppl school would have meant private for my kid.

So will AT draw WL down to 2400 students maybe?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, it’s amazing my thread prove right two years later!

– OP

This is why I’m so happy my kid got into AT. A 3k ppl school would have meant private for my kid.

So will AT draw WL down to 2400 students maybe?

There will probably be a quota from each middle school, and thus the student population of each high school would decrease. The goal for W-L is probably some number below 2,600? APS only recently opened the new annex so I doubt they’d want W-L to be under capacity by a large number. And they’d want to leave room for growth and IB transfers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, it’s amazing my thread prove right two years later!

– OP

This is why I’m so happy my kid got into AT. A 3k ppl school would have meant private for my kid.

So will AT draw WL down to 2400 students maybe?

There will probably be a quota from each middle school, and thus the student population of each high school would decrease. The goal for W-L is probably some number below 2,600? APS only recently opened the new annex so I doubt they’d want W-L to be under capacity by a large number. And they’d want to leave room for growth and IB transfers.

The annex added 600 seats, so why not fill to 300 seats over prior capacity. There are real limits on field space and common spaces that didn’t scale with annex addition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this why Mr. Hall left? what is the deal with that?

So now that it’s official, he’s leaving, what do we think went down? First leave of absence for personal reasons, now “to pursue new leadership opportunities within Arlington Public Schools.” Strange that he’d leave for another APS role with only a few weeks left? Graduation is 6/4?