Thoughts on McKinley or Discovery?

[Anonymous]

Randolph as the new ATS would be great. It s a small
School that can't be expanded due to topography. It's also in the center of a huge poverty pocket. It would be good to disperse those students elsewhere instead of concentrating them in the same school.

[Anonymous]

Yes that would be great. What are the chances the school board puts a coveted school in ScArlington in a high poverty area? Probably less than the chance of winning the lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Probably THE biggest thing they can do to alleviate crowding north of Rt 50 is turn ATS into a neighborhood school and re-locate the program. Will never happen, the ATS lobby is too strong, in the same way that it's next to impossible to get HB Woodlawn's population meaningfully increased.

I don't know enough about the population and capacity at schools south of 50 other than that Claremont and Oakridge are also severely over-enrolled, so I don't have solutions.

Point being, there IS land, APS just doesn't have the will to use it properly. I'm so disappointed that Lander and Talento caved to Van Doren and agreed to extend Murphy's contract. The guy is a joke, and his staff have shown themselves to make error after error without consequence to them.

Agree 100%

As a former ATS parent, I 100% agree, too. ATS can be moved. The building does not make a program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Probably THE biggest thing they can do to alleviate crowding north of Rt 50 is turn ATS into a neighborhood school and re-locate the program. Will never happen, the ATS lobby is too strong, in the same way that it's next to impossible to get HB Woodlawn's population meaningfully increased.

.

From listening to the last school board work session- I think this is likely to happen (or it is likely to be abolished.) Part of the strategic plan is to take another look at the role of choice schools in APS, and how they fit into the instructional model. I would think I realistic look at ATS would find that its only real distinctive is that it is small- and does that fit into the APS instructional model? I would think not. The other part they stated was to look at the location of choice schools and does it still make sense. I think if ATS does survive- it is likely to be moved to one of the elementary sites with the smallest footprint that has other nearby elementary schools. I would tend to think that means Randolph. It could also possibly be the Madison school site- if they go with a dividing the county with choice on both sides perspective.

I'm the person who posted above about why the Madison and Jennie Dean sites don't make sense as school sites. This would be the one exception in my mind, if those sites were developed to house choice programs like ATS (either with the new building housing the choice program or one of the nearby neighborhood schools moving into the new building and the choice program moving into the old one, depending on capacity considerations).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes that would be great. What are the chances the school board puts a coveted school in ScArlington in a high poverty area? Probably less than the chance of winning the lottery.

Nonsense. Especially since the community around ATS is getting more crowded and disgruntled. Besides Goldstein lives in the Randolph neighborhood, and O'Grady is all for choice. Moving ATS south and adding another neighborhood school to the north side makes great sense.

[Anonymous]

I actually think if they do this they should move ATS to Barcroft. The year round school concept is possibly ending. Randolph has an IB program that the county is investing in and the community enjoys (and it works particularly well with the very international Randolph population). I suspect that this enthusiasm for moving ATS to Randolph is from the folks who don't want Reed to be Arlington's second IB school and are trying to squash that concept. And FYI both Randolph and barcroft can be expanded. They had plans drawn up back in 2014 when it looked like the new school at TJ might not happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually think if they do this they should move ATS to Barcroft. The year round school concept is possibly ending. Randolph has an IB program that the county is investing in and the community enjoys (and it works particularly well with the very international Randolph population). I suspect that this enthusiasm for moving ATS to Randolph is from the folks who don't want Reed to be Arlington's second IB school and are trying to squash that concept. And FYI both Randolph and barcroft can be expanded. They had plans drawn up back in 2014 when it looked like the new school at TJ might not happen.

Randolph backs to a cliff

[Anonymous]

There were going to add to the side with a 2-story addition and add a badly needed turn around for drop off. I'm not dying it was a great option but they did have plans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually think if they do this they should move ATS to Barcroft. The year round school concept is possibly ending. Randolph has an IB program that the county is investing in and the community enjoys (and it works particularly well with the very international Randolph population). I suspect that this enthusiasm for moving ATS to Randolph is from the folks who don't want Reed to be Arlington's second IB school and are trying to squash that concept. And FYI both Randolph and barcroft can be expanded. They had plans drawn up back in 2014 when it looked like the new school at TJ might not happen.

The plans left very little green space at Barcroft, if I remember correctly. The school really can't get a bigger footprint without risking the field space (which many rec programs use for practices). Maybe they could go up, though, and keep the building in use?

I do think smaller sites should be used for programs and larger sites for neighborhood schools, because parents can weigh the pros and cons of less outdoor space/possibly fewer opportunities for sports as part of the equation when determining whether to apply to a choice program. Let the schools that have to take everyone who walks through their doors have more space.

[Anonymous]

ATS is a choice program and as such APS could "choose" to move it. Just ask the HB Community. It's made a lot of sense, but never bee under real consideration in the past as far as I can tell. Hopefully, times are changing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ATS is a choice program and as such APS could "choose" to move it. Just ask the HB Community. It's made a lot of sense, but never bee under real consideration in the past as far as I can tell. Hopefully, times are changing.

The board is going to have a ( hopefully ) refreshingly new dynamic. Hopefully Nancy and Tannia can keep from feeling micoragressed.

[Anonymous]

There is no way that the ATS program will be eliminated. It has a powerful lobby and a truly formidable principal. Moreover, the School Board seems to hold ATS out as a flagship APS elementary school: economically diverse, racially diverse, with consistently high test scores. There aren't many APS elementary schools that fall into that category. I just don't see the School Board dissolving such a successful program.

Now, the school could certainly be moved. It's on a large plot of land in the center of the county and surrounded by overcrowded elementary schools (ATS is also overcrowded).

I very much doubt that it would ever be moved to the Madison site in far north Arlington. That would give the impression that the ATS program (which draws about equally from north and south Arlington) would now be disprportionately for north Arlington students. Randolph or Barcroft could conceivably work, because they are both near the center of the county. But the displaced kids from that school (Randolph or Barcroft) would need to go somewhere. We can't solve this capacity problem simply by moving programs and neighborhood schools to other, existing school buildings. We need to build new school sites. I wonder if the Walter Reed Community Center would ever be an option? If the County Board ever has the political will be turn a community center into a school (doubtful), Walter Reed seems like a better candidate than Madison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no way that the ATS program will be eliminated. It has a powerful lobby and a truly formidable principal. Moreover, the School Board seems to hold ATS out as a flagship APS elementary school: economically diverse, racially diverse, with consistently high test scores. There aren't many APS elementary schools that fall into that category. I just don't see the School Board dissolving such a successful program.

Now, the school could certainly be moved. It's on a large plot of land in the center of the county and surrounded by overcrowded elementary schools (ATS is also overcrowded).

I very much doubt that it would ever be moved to the Madison site in far north Arlington. That would give the impression that the ATS program (which draws about equally from north and south Arlington) would now be disprportionately for north Arlington students. Randolph or Barcroft could conceivably work, because they are both near the center of the county. But the displaced kids from that school (Randolph or Barcroft) would need to go somewhere. We can't solve this capacity problem simply by moving programs and neighborhood schools to other, existing school buildings. We need to build new school sites. I wonder if the Walter Reed Community Center would ever be an option? If the County Board ever has the political will be turn a community center into a school (doubtful), Walter Reed seems like a better candidate than Madison.

No way the boomers give up Walter Reed.
No way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no way that the ATS program will be eliminated. It has a powerful lobby and a truly formidable principal. Moreover, the School Board seems to hold ATS out as a flagship APS elementary school: economically diverse, racially diverse, with consistently high test scores. There aren't many APS elementary schools that fall into that category. I just don't see the School Board dissolving such a successful program.

Now, the school could certainly be moved. It's on a large plot of land in the center of the county and surrounded by overcrowded elementary schools (ATS is also overcrowded).

I very much doubt that it would ever be moved to the Madison site in far north Arlington. That would give the impression that the ATS program (which draws about equally from north and south Arlington) would now be disprportionately for north Arlington students. Randolph or Barcroft could conceivably work, because they are both near the center of the county. But the displaced kids from that school (Randolph or Barcroft) would need to go somewhere. We can't solve this capacity problem simply by moving programs and neighborhood schools to other, existing school buildings. We need to build new school sites. I wonder if the Walter Reed Community Center would ever be an option? If the County Board ever has the political will be turn a community center into a school (doubtful), Walter Reed seems like a better candidate than Madison.

No way the boomers give up Walter Reed.
No way.

I'm the PP you're quoting, and I think you're right.

I would love to know how much the existing community centers are used, and how they are used. Do they really need to sit on such large plots of land, or could the county offer the same programming in smaller/different facilities. I know that it will probably never happend, though!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no way that the ATS program will be eliminated. It has a powerful lobby and a truly formidable principal. Moreover, the School Board seems to hold ATS out as a flagship APS elementary school: economically diverse, racially diverse, with consistently high test scores. There aren't many APS elementary schools that fall into that category. I just don't see the School Board dissolving such a successful program.

Now, the school could certainly be moved. It's on a large plot of land in the center of the county and surrounded by overcrowded elementary schools (ATS is also overcrowded).

I very much doubt that it would ever be moved to the Madison site in far north Arlington. That would give the impression that the ATS program (which draws about equally from north and south Arlington) would now be disprportionately for north Arlington students. Randolph or Barcroft could conceivably work, because they are both near the center of the county. But the displaced kids from that school (Randolph or Barcroft) would need to go somewhere. We can't solve this capacity problem simply by moving programs and neighborhood schools to other, existing school buildings. We need to build new school sites. I wonder if the Walter Reed Community Center would ever be an option? If the County Board ever has the political will be turn a community center into a school (doubtful), Walter Reed seems like a better candidate than Madison.

No way the boomers give up Walter Reed.
No way.

I'm the PP you're quoting, and I think you're right.

I would love to know how much the existing community centers are used, and how they are used. Do they really need to sit on such large plots of land, or could the county offer the same programming in smaller/different facilities. I know that it will probably never happend, though!

Walter Reed was considered during the SAWG process. Honestly, it was exactly where we needed a new school, however, I think it's also one of the better utilized community centers. One of my kids had a couple clases there as toddler/preschooler and it was always full.

During the SAWG process we held a meeting on the site when a group of seniors showed up to protest. They shouted down speakers. That site is off the table permanently. Trust.