APS: Elementary Walk Zone surveys out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Virginia provides that all pre-k, kindergarten, first grade and self-contained SpEd classes are supposed to be on an exit floor for fire safety reasons;

BS call on this. How many local preschools in the area are on the second floor? Even ones built in recent years. Stop spreading fake news.

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/support/facility_construction/school_construction/regs_guidelines/guidelines.pdf

Page 17, item 4.5

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no clue what’s going to happen to ASFS. I see no viable boundary solution for it.

Yeah, this is generating a lot of uncertainty for the entire key and taylro zones.

Switching ASFS and Key seems like the easiest path for the board right now because then they don't really have to rezone anyone. They switch the faculty some specialty stuff (yes, expensive PITA, but then it's done) and tell the students to just report to the same program, different location. Status quo means redistricting a lot of students, so it isn't really status quo and moving Key somewhere else entirely means finding another building and AND a lot of redistricting. Mess.

They can't just switch and do nothing else because they changed the transfer policy. The immersion program at Key will now be lottery with no neighborhood preference. They will have to adjust boundaries too. So this isn't a quick fix.

They could do a pretty minor fix to the key boundary to push some more kids to taylor to address current overcrowding. If you look at the actual transfer numbers, sending the portion of ASFS that is not zoned to key back to their home school opens up over a hundred seats (maybe closer to 200). That and pushing some parts that are already surrounded by taylor (for example the units north of lee highway, not to single anyone out) frees up a lot of room. Jamestown could absorb some of taylor to compensate.

The ASFS PTA really overblew the effect of the transfer policy when telling parents about it this year. It doesn't have an effect until next year, and while there does need to be an adjustment of boundaries, keep the school where it is doesn't serve any of its current students. Only three planning units from the current key zone live within a mile of the school.

The Jamestown borders already reach down very close to Taylor. Moving any more of them would cut into the Taylor walk zone. That's not going to happen.

I think some of Taylor's "one mile walk zone" is not really walkable per the maps. It's possible that some PUs could be moved to Jamestown if they aren't in Taylor's "effective walk zone."

There’s overlap between Taylor’s expanded walk zone and the expanded walk zone for Asfs. I’m not sure both can exist as neighborhood schools without making an arm from Rosslyn to Taylor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Virginia provides that all pre-k, kindergarten, first grade and self-contained SpEd classes are supposed to be on an exit floor for fire safety reasons;

BS call on this. How many local preschools in the area are on the second floor? Even ones built in recent years. Stop spreading fake news.

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/support/facility_construction/school_construction/regs_guidelines/guidelines.pdf

Page 17, item 4.5

Should / supposed...? So they don't have to be?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Virginia provides that all pre-k, kindergarten, first grade and self-contained SpEd classes are supposed to be on an exit floor for fire safety reasons;

BS call on this. How many local preschools in the area are on the second floor? Even ones built in recent years. Stop spreading fake news.

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/support/facility_construction/school_construction/regs_guidelines/guidelines.pdf

Page 17, item 4.5

Should / supposed...? So they don't have to be?

If you don't care about kids dying in a fire, I suppose you could ignore them.

I suspect APS cares about kids dying in fires.

[Anonymous]

OK, I am new to this discussion. Looking at the new Fleet, the planning units under review - several of them are in north arlington, like way into barrett and long branch! This makes it seem like the boundaries have already been drawn for that school? What the heck?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no clue what’s going to happen to ASFS. I see no viable boundary solution for it.

Yeah, this is generating a lot of uncertainty for the entire key and taylro zones.

Switching ASFS and Key seems like the easiest path for the board right now because then they don't really have to rezone anyone. They switch the faculty some specialty stuff (yes, expensive PITA, but then it's done) and tell the students to just report to the same program, different location. Status quo means redistricting a lot of students, so it isn't really status quo and moving Key somewhere else entirely means finding another building and AND a lot of redistricting. Mess.

They can't just switch and do nothing else because they changed the transfer policy. The immersion program at Key will now be lottery with no neighborhood preference. They will have to adjust boundaries too. So this isn't a quick fix.

They could do a pretty minor fix to the key boundary to push some more kids to taylor to address current overcrowding. If you look at the actual transfer numbers, sending the portion of ASFS that is not zoned to key back to their home school opens up over a hundred seats (maybe closer to 200). That and pushing some parts that are already surrounded by taylor (for example the units north of lee highway, not to single anyone out) frees up a lot of room. Jamestown could absorb some of taylor to compensate.

The ASFS PTA really overblew the effect of the transfer policy when telling parents about it this year. It doesn't have an effect until next year, and while there does need to be an adjustment of boundaries, keep the school where it is doesn't serve any of its current students. Only three planning units from the current key zone live within a mile of the school.

The Jamestown borders already reach down very close to Taylor. Moving any more of them would cut into the Taylor walk zone. That's not going to happen.

I think some of Taylor's "one mile walk zone" is not really walkable per the maps. It's possible that some PUs could be moved to Jamestown if they aren't in Taylor's "effective walk zone."

There are quite a few Taylor units who are not walkers who could come to Jamestown. They were supposed to when Discovery came online but they fought tooth and nail!

[Anonymous]

They have in staff's mind. Most of Alcova will go to Fleet, leaving Barcroft with Gillian Place and Columbia Pike.

The goal is to also expand Barcoft south to take seats from Abingdon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They have in staff's mind. Most of Alcova will go to Fleet, leaving Barcroft with Gillian Place and Columbia Pike.

The goal is to also expand Barcoft south to take seats from Abingdon.

Where did that come from??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK, I am new to this discussion. Looking at the new Fleet, the planning units under review - several of them are in north arlington, like way into barrett and long branch! This makes it seem like the boundaries have already been drawn for that school? What the heck?

The boundaries have NOT been drawn. This current exercise is simply to look at what is realistically walkable to each school location because 1) we need to minimize bus costs and 2) past boundary changes have shown APS that the thing parents scream about the most is keeping their kids at walkable schools and 3) they want to consider locations for choice schools and would not put one in an area where you could have a highly-walkable neighborhood school (because #1 and #2). A number of planning units will be walkable to more than one school so then they'll need to decide what makes sense for each school.

Proximity is not the only thing that will be considered but, given past boundary discussions, they want to resolve that part first, by end of this school year, I believe. Then, once the real walk zones are firm they will play around with the remaining zones based on the other boundary criteria. That part will be tackled in the Fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They have in staff's mind. Most of Alcova will go to Fleet, leaving Barcroft with Gillian Place and Columbia Pike.

The goal is to also expand Barcoft south to take seats from Abingdon.

Where did that come from??

Guess: they built an enormous CAF in Abingdon's current boundary. So, of course, the powers that be want to shove it into Barcroft.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They have in staff's mind. Most of Alcova will go to Fleet, leaving Barcroft with Gillian Place and Columbia Pike.

The goal is to also expand Barcoft south to take seats from Abingdon.

Where did that come from??

Guess: they built an enormous CAF in Abingdon's current boundary. So, of course, the powers that be want to shove it into Barcroft.

And all those kids would have to buses because they can't walk across the Pike. What makes more sense is to move Immersion to Carlin Springs, because it's just not walkable and never will be, and turn Claremont back into a neighborhood school. Really, there will be hundreds of kids in the Frederick Street development and they can't all be bused into Barcroft. They could be walkers to Claremont if it were a neighborhood school.

[Anonymous]

And where would the Carlin Springs kids go? There is no room at Barcroft or Randolph or Barrett. Campbell is a choice school and needs to stay that way because the program is closely tied to the Long Branch nature center.

[Anonymous]

If all this was about was walkability, then the SB would have allowed planning units within the 1/2 mile radius to be considered for a school's walk zone. The maps take areas in the walk 1/2 mile zone for Barcroft and move them to within the 1/2 mile zone for Fleet. Those planning units are within the 1/2 mile zone for both schools, but the SB made a decision to include them in Fleet, not Barcroft. How is that not a presumptive boundary change?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And all those kids would have to buses because they can't walk across the Pike. What makes more sense is to move Immersion to Carlin Springs, because it's just not walkable and never will be, and turn Claremont back into a neighborhood school. Really, there will be hundreds of kids in the Frederick Street development and they can't all be bused into Barcroft. They could be walkers to Claremont if it were a neighborhood school.

Similar to Tuckahoe, CS could make sense if you look at it as a not very walkable school. However, Carlin Springs is unique in the way that it provides a huge amount of wrap around support services to its low income population that would be lost if those kids were dispersed to other schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And where would the Carlin Springs kids go? There is no room at Barcroft or Randolph or Barrett. Campbell is a choice school and needs to stay that way because the program is closely tied to the Long Branch nature center.

Has the school board committed to keeping Campbell a choice school?