Is APS really looking to close a N. Arlington elem school again?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:There isn’t enough money to properly fix Swanson and TJ so finding money to renovate Taylor isn’t gonna happen.

APS is proposing bare minimum renovations for both TJ and Swanson. Unfortunate, since TJ already went through previous, long, drawn-out BLPC processes with published designs for new school buildings following many months of hard work.

For this round, it looks like a paint job, new roof, and new fixtures and furnishings are all the school may get--to last for the next 25 years. Although it wasn't intentional, so not a criticism, but the option programs have been getting really beautiful, state-of-the-art facilities. Timing was off for Swanson and TJ, so the neighborhood schools get the shaft in this renovation cycle.

That is not true at all. APS built several really nice new facilities for neighborhood schools - Discovery, Fleet, Cardinal. While Swanson and TJ are old, Kenmore is a really nice facility. Before the move to the new school (which HB and Shriver did not want), the building they were in was very old and not in very good shape. When APS kicked them out for a neighborhood middle school, it renovated it substantially and it's much much nicer now.

The "new" Kenmore was built over 20 years ago. The original Kenmore would have been renovated if it came up for replacement in the current fiscal climate. Swanson received a low budget renovation and air-conditioning in 1994. The historic, arched gym windows at Swanson were replaced about 6 years ago. So yes, APS has invested in neighborhood schools and all three high schools were rebuilt beginning in the 00s. But in terms of timing, after the beautiful Heights and Arlington Tech buildings, it's unfortunate that windowless TJ (which should be rebuilt with the county facility to house a proper indoor track) and Swanson will receive cheapo renovations. Bad timing is all.

You're choosing not to mention all of the beautiful new or renovated NEIGHBORHOOD buildings. Yes, APS has built/is building new buildings for two choice programs. But it also built more for neighborhood schools. Also the career center building is not in good shape at all. And HB only got a new building because APS kicked it out of his building over its objections in order to prioritize a neighborhood school.

You mentioned the new beautiful elementary schools, and I added acknowledgement of the three rebuilt comprehensive high schools and Kenmore, the first of the schools to be rebuilt within the past 25 years. I'll add the beautiful W-L Annex and Planetarium to that list. APS was still flush with money and justifiably built a beautiful new Heights School and Grace Hopper Campus as well. Dorothy Hamm MS is also beautiful. I never said nor implied those were bad decisions. I'm just saying timing and a bit of bad luck meant previous cheap/subpar renovations for Swanson and TJ are followed up by the current plans for another round of bare bones renovations. Although I doubt the money can be found, I hope both schools get the renovations they deserve. Arlington should also have a functional indoor track, and I'd support a completely new joint rec center/middle school at TJ.

I do agree it's bad timing for TJ and Swanson. I was responding to previous comments that APS prioritized buildings for option schools because that is not true.

The design for the heights was targeted for the HBW population; HBW did not want to expand at the Stratford sight (it is the largest middle school plot) nor co-locate with neighborhood school like Drew used to do. So they had to give up their spacious campus.

The Heights building site originally was going to have a 1300 seat middle school; HBW is 700 or so total middle and high school. So the $100M building was built FOR them, otherwise it would have 600 extra seat capacity.

They blew out the budget for heights; it should have been much more functional and utilitarian and built to the original capacity with flexible configuration to adjust as programs move or change size. It would have saved a lot of money and preserved capacity.

As it is now, the middle schools in the northern part of the county are under-enrolled. We can't go back in time and change the past. All of the capital projects APS has pushed through have been more or less successful, with the exception of locating Discovery so close to Nottingham--but the county blocked other sites from consideration.

this is untrue. They looked at Westover but the neighborhood lobbied against it and the school board caved to them.

But didn't Westover change their minds a couple years later. Now they have their beautiful Cardinal ES. APS is generally responsive to neighborhood desires.

No. Westover didn't want HB on that site so close to Swanson. They wanted an elementary school b/c their kids were at a severely overenrolled McKinley. APS agreed the seats were needed, but then the pandemic happened and a lot of kids from N-N-Arlington went private. APS screwed up boundaries and now Nottingham is way underenrolled. Discovery should have never been built. Cardinal should have come fist and then the seat distribution would have made a lot more sense.

No this is revisionist history. Westover originally didn't want any schools on that site, they just wanted their library and playround/field.

This is inaccurate. There was a four civic association group that was formed at that time and they requested that the Reed site be used as originally planned, as an elementary school. At that time, no one knew that APS cut corners on read and that the plans to simply build up on the existing school we’re no longer an option.

What timeframe are you talking about? I am talking about a very early timeframe back when another elementary was needed. They looked first to Westover, Westover lobbied hard against an elem school on that site and and so they built on the Williamsburg site instead. Westover definitely did not request an elem school on that site at that time!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[img]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There isn’t enough money to properly fix Swanson and TJ so finding money to renovate Taylor isn’t gonna happen.

APS is proposing bare minimum renovations for both TJ and Swanson. Unfortunate, since TJ already went through previous, long, drawn-out BLPC processes with published designs for new school buildings following many months of hard work.

For this round, it looks like a paint job, new roof, and new fixtures and furnishings are all the school may get--to last for the next 25 years. Although it wasn't intentional, so not a criticism, but the option programs have been getting really beautiful, state-of-the-art facilities. Timing was off for Swanson and TJ, so the neighborhood schools get the shaft in this renovation cycle.

That is not true at all. APS built several really nice new facilities for neighborhood schools - Discovery, Fleet, Cardinal. While Swanson and TJ are old, Kenmore is a really nice facility. Before the move to the new school (which HB and Shriver did not want), the building they were in was very old and not in very good shape. When APS kicked them out for a neighborhood middle school, it renovated it substantially and it's much much nicer now.

The "new" Kenmore was built over 20 years ago. The original Kenmore would have been renovated if it came up for replacement in the current fiscal climate. Swanson received a low budget renovation and air-conditioning in 1994. The historic, arched gym windows at Swanson were replaced about 6 years ago. So yes, APS has invested in neighborhood schools and all three high schools were rebuilt beginning in the 00s. But in terms of timing, after the beautiful Heights and Arlington Tech buildings, it's unfortunate that windowless TJ (which should be rebuilt with the county facility to house a proper indoor track) and Swanson will receive cheapo renovations. Bad timing is all.

You're choosing not to mention all of the beautiful new or renovated NEIGHBORHOOD buildings. Yes, APS has built/is building new buildings for two choice programs. But it also built more for neighborhood schools. Also the career center building is not in good shape at all. And HB only got a new building because APS kicked it out of his building over its objections in order to prioritize a neighborhood school.

You mentioned the new beautiful elementary schools, and I added acknowledgement of the three rebuilt comprehensive high schools and Kenmore, the first of the schools to be rebuilt within the past 25 years. I'll add the beautiful W-L Annex and Planetarium to that list. APS was still flush with money and justifiably built a beautiful new Heights School and Grace Hopper Campus as well. Dorothy Hamm MS is also beautiful. I never said nor implied those were bad decisions. I'm just saying timing and a bit of bad luck meant previous cheap/subpar renovations for Swanson and TJ are followed up by the current plans for another round of bare bones renovations. Although I doubt the money can be found, I hope both schools get the renovations they deserve. Arlington should also have a functional indoor track, and I'd support a completely new joint rec center/middle school at TJ.

I do agree it's bad timing for TJ and Swanson. I was responding to previous comments that APS prioritized buildings for option schools because that is not true.

The design for the heights was targeted for the HBW population; HBW did not want to expand at the Stratford sight (it is the largest middle school plot) nor co-locate with neighborhood school like Drew used to do. So they had to give up their spacious campus.

The Heights building site originally was going to have a 1300 seat middle school; HBW is 700 or so total middle and high school. So the $100M building was built FOR them, otherwise it would have 600 extra seat capacity.

They blew out the budget for heights; it should have been much more functional and utilitarian and built to the original capacity with flexible configuration to adjust as programs move or change size. It would have saved a lot of money and preserved capacity.

this is quite a bit of revisionist history. Yes there was a proposal for a 1300 seat MS in Rosslyn but they never got to the design phase so we have no idea how expensive it would have been or whether any money would have been saved or even if it was feasible to build that large in this very small plot of land. The Taylor parents revolted and wouldn't stand for their kids to be in urban Rosslyn so they made HB and Shriver (then Stratford) give up their site. They kicked out the most severe sped kids in APS and made them go to a temp location for a year before the heights was ready.

So you admit it was a huge neighborhood school that was foolishly proposed and was a poor fit.
APS blew the budget on architectural awards, LEED Gold, and a fancy European architectural firm. It's obvious that for the 1,300-seat school you would have gotten a standard urban middle school like those in the Bronx; scale that down for 700, and you would save money.

I am truly amazed at how the HBW proponents always use the Striver kids as their shield for why they shouldn’t have moved or shouldn’t have enlarged enrollment at the Heights. Every single time.

You're not making sense. How is it not ok to have a huge neighborhood school on the Rosslyn site but somehow ok to have the huge option school at the Rosslyn site? Pick one.

My comment said to scale down the same type of functional low cost design that would have been employed for a 1300 seat middle school.


Regarding enlarging HBW, that was actually in regards to moving the middle school population to colocate at WMS which has excess capacity and increasing the high school population to reduce overcrowding at WHS and WL — high school students can take public transportation so there is less need for buses or car drop off, and can leave ok their own to othee high schools for sports.

One of hte reasons the heights was so expensive was because of the specialized requirements for the Shriver program. The other is that the site is very small and thus challenging to build on. And yes, they did hire a fancy architect but that is not HB's fault. That's how APS does things. I don't agree with it either but don't blame HB for it. They didn't want to move there in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[img]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There isn’t enough money to properly fix Swanson and TJ so finding money to renovate Taylor isn’t gonna happen.

APS is proposing bare minimum renovations for both TJ and Swanson. Unfortunate, since TJ already went through previous, long, drawn-out BLPC processes with published designs for new school buildings following many months of hard work.

For this round, it looks like a paint job, new roof, and new fixtures and furnishings are all the school may get--to last for the next 25 years. Although it wasn't intentional, so not a criticism, but the option programs have been getting really beautiful, state-of-the-art facilities. Timing was off for Swanson and TJ, so the neighborhood schools get the shaft in this renovation cycle.

That is not true at all. APS built several really nice new facilities for neighborhood schools - Discovery, Fleet, Cardinal. While Swanson and TJ are old, Kenmore is a really nice facility. Before the move to the new school (which HB and Shriver did not want), the building they were in was very old and not in very good shape. When APS kicked them out for a neighborhood middle school, it renovated it substantially and it's much much nicer now.

The "new" Kenmore was built over 20 years ago. The original Kenmore would have been renovated if it came up for replacement in the current fiscal climate. Swanson received a low budget renovation and air-conditioning in 1994. The historic, arched gym windows at Swanson were replaced about 6 years ago. So yes, APS has invested in neighborhood schools and all three high schools were rebuilt beginning in the 00s. But in terms of timing, after the beautiful Heights and Arlington Tech buildings, it's unfortunate that windowless TJ (which should be rebuilt with the county facility to house a proper indoor track) and Swanson will receive cheapo renovations. Bad timing is all.

You're choosing not to mention all of the beautiful new or renovated NEIGHBORHOOD buildings. Yes, APS has built/is building new buildings for two choice programs. But it also built more for neighborhood schools. Also the career center building is not in good shape at all. And HB only got a new building because APS kicked it out of his building over its objections in order to prioritize a neighborhood school.

You mentioned the new beautiful elementary schools, and I added acknowledgement of the three rebuilt comprehensive high schools and Kenmore, the first of the schools to be rebuilt within the past 25 years. I'll add the beautiful W-L Annex and Planetarium to that list. APS was still flush with money and justifiably built a beautiful new Heights School and Grace Hopper Campus as well. Dorothy Hamm MS is also beautiful. I never said nor implied those were bad decisions. I'm just saying timing and a bit of bad luck meant previous cheap/subpar renovations for Swanson and TJ are followed up by the current plans for another round of bare bones renovations. Although I doubt the money can be found, I hope both schools get the renovations they deserve. Arlington should also have a functional indoor track, and I'd support a completely new joint rec center/middle school at TJ.

I do agree it's bad timing for TJ and Swanson. I was responding to previous comments that APS prioritized buildings for option schools because that is not true.

The design for the heights was targeted for the HBW population; HBW did not want to expand at the Stratford sight (it is the largest middle school plot) nor co-locate with neighborhood school like Drew used to do. So they had to give up their spacious campus.

The Heights building site originally was going to have a 1300 seat middle school; HBW is 700 or so total middle and high school. So the $100M building was built FOR them, otherwise it would have 600 extra seat capacity.

They blew out the budget for heights; it should have been much more functional and utilitarian and built to the original capacity with flexible configuration to adjust as programs move or change size. It would have saved a lot of money and preserved capacity.

this is quite a bit of revisionist history. Yes there was a proposal for a 1300 seat MS in Rosslyn but they never got to the design phase so we have no idea how expensive it would have been or whether any money would have been saved or even if it was feasible to build that large in this very small plot of land. The Taylor parents revolted and wouldn't stand for their kids to be in urban Rosslyn so they made HB and Shriver (then Stratford) give up their site. They kicked out the most severe sped kids in APS and made them go to a temp location for a year before the heights was ready.

So you admit it was a huge neighborhood school that was foolishly proposed and was a poor fit.
APS blew the budget on architectural awards, LEED Gold, and a fancy European architectural firm. It's obvious that for the 1,300-seat school you would have gotten a standard urban middle school like those in the Bronx; scale that down for 700, and you would save money.

I am truly amazed at how the HBW proponents always use the Striver kids as their shield for why they shouldn’t have moved or shouldn’t have enlarged enrollment at the Heights. Every single time.

You're not making sense. How is it not ok to have a huge neighborhood school on the Rosslyn site but somehow ok to have the huge option school at the Rosslyn site? Pick one.

My comment said to scale down the same type of functional low cost design that would have been employed for a 1300 seat middle school.


Regarding enlarging HBW, that was actually in regards to moving the middle school population to colocate at WMS which has excess capacity and increasing the high school population to reduce overcrowding at WHS and WL — high school students can take public transportation so there is less need for buses or car drop off, and can leave ok their own to othee high schools for sports.

One of hte reasons the heights was so expensive was because of the specialized requirements for the Shriver program. The other is that the site is very small and thus challenging to build on. And yes, they did hire a fancy architect but that is not HB's fault. That's how APS does things. I don't agree with it either but don't blame HB for it. They didn't want to move there in the first place.

The Heights School was a part of the Rosslyn planning process that called for a unique landmark structure. APS complied with that directive. The architect fees were not out of the ordinary and we ended up with a nice civic gesture instead of a bland box. I don't think anyone is complaining over that. The County also had more money to spend in those pre pandemic days.

[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:There isn’t enough money to properly fix Swanson and TJ so finding money to renovate Taylor isn’t gonna happen.

APS is proposing bare minimum renovations for both TJ and Swanson. Unfortunate, since TJ already went through previous, long, drawn-out BLPC processes with published designs for new school buildings following many months of hard work.

For this round, it looks like a paint job, new roof, and new fixtures and furnishings are all the school may get--to last for the next 25 years. Although it wasn't intentional, so not a criticism, but the option programs have been getting really beautiful, state-of-the-art facilities. Timing was off for Swanson and TJ, so the neighborhood schools get the shaft in this renovation cycle.

That is not true at all. APS built several really nice new facilities for neighborhood schools - Discovery, Fleet, Cardinal. While Swanson and TJ are old, Kenmore is a really nice facility. Before the move to the new school (which HB and Shriver did not want), the building they were in was very old and not in very good shape. When APS kicked them out for a neighborhood middle school, it renovated it substantially and it's much much nicer now.

The "new" Kenmore was built over 20 years ago. The original Kenmore would have been renovated if it came up for replacement in the current fiscal climate. Swanson received a low budget renovation and air-conditioning in 1994. The historic, arched gym windows at Swanson were replaced about 6 years ago. So yes, APS has invested in neighborhood schools and all three high schools were rebuilt beginning in the 00s. But in terms of timing, after the beautiful Heights and Arlington Tech buildings, it's unfortunate that windowless TJ (which should be rebuilt with the county facility to house a proper indoor track) and Swanson will receive cheapo renovations. Bad timing is all.

You're choosing not to mention all of the beautiful new or renovated NEIGHBORHOOD buildings. Yes, APS has built/is building new buildings for two choice programs. But it also built more for neighborhood schools. Also the career center building is not in good shape at all. And HB only got a new building because APS kicked it out of his building over its objections in order to prioritize a neighborhood school.

You mentioned the new beautiful elementary schools, and I added acknowledgement of the three rebuilt comprehensive high schools and Kenmore, the first of the schools to be rebuilt within the past 25 years. I'll add the beautiful W-L Annex and Planetarium to that list. APS was still flush with money and justifiably built a beautiful new Heights School and Grace Hopper Campus as well. Dorothy Hamm MS is also beautiful. I never said nor implied those were bad decisions. I'm just saying timing and a bit of bad luck meant previous cheap/subpar renovations for Swanson and TJ are followed up by the current plans for another round of bare bones renovations. Although I doubt the money can be found, I hope both schools get the renovations they deserve. Arlington should also have a functional indoor track, and I'd support a completely new joint rec center/middle school at TJ.

I do agree it's bad timing for TJ and Swanson. I was responding to previous comments that APS prioritized buildings for option schools because that is not true.

The design for the heights was targeted for the HBW population; HBW did not want to expand at the Stratford sight (it is the largest middle school plot) nor co-locate with neighborhood school like Drew used to do. So they had to give up their spacious campus.

The Heights building site originally was going to have a 1300 seat middle school; HBW is 700 or so total middle and high school. So the $100M building was built FOR them, otherwise it would have 600 extra seat capacity.

They blew out the budget for heights; it should have been much more functional and utilitarian and built to the original capacity with flexible configuration to adjust as programs move or change size. It would have saved a lot of money and preserved capacity.

As it is now, the middle schools in the northern part of the county are under-enrolled. We can't go back in time and change the past. All of the capital projects APS has pushed through have been more or less successful, with the exception of locating Discovery so close to Nottingham--but the county blocked other sites from consideration.

this is untrue. They looked at Westover but the neighborhood lobbied against it and the school board caved to them.

But didn't Westover change their minds a couple years later. Now they have their beautiful Cardinal ES. APS is generally responsive to neighborhood desires.

No. Westover didn't want HB on that site so close to Swanson. They wanted an elementary school b/c their kids were at a severely overenrolled McKinley. APS agreed the seats were needed, but then the pandemic happened and a lot of kids from N-N-Arlington went private. APS screwed up boundaries and now Nottingham is way underenrolled. Discovery should have never been built. Cardinal should have come fist and then the seat distribution would have made a lot more sense.

No this is revisionist history. Westover originally didn't want any schools on that site, they just wanted their library and playround/field.

And the Children's school. That was there too.

[Anonymous]

The slide at Discovery isn’t locked. Kid was excited that their class was so good in Art they got to use the slide. The kids love all of the opportunities they are given at Discovery, especially in terms of learning about sustainability and the environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The slide at Discovery isn’t locked. Kid was excited that their class was so good in Art they got to use the slide. The kids love all of the opportunities they are given at Discovery, especially in terms of learning about sustainability and the environment.

There you go folks. Proof that the fancy shmancy pricey extras are in the neighborhood schools. They are in everything APS builds whether for option or neighborhood. Stop pointing your fingers at option schools. It's an APS design/budgeting issue, not an option school issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The slide at Discovery isn’t locked. Kid was excited that their class was so good in Art they got to use the slide. The kids love all of the opportunities they are given at Discovery, especially in terms of learning about sustainability and the environment.

There you go folks. Proof that the fancy shmancy pricey extras are in the neighborhood schools. They are in everything APS builds whether for option or neighborhood. Stop pointing your fingers at option schools. It's an APS design/budgeting issue, not an option school issue.

The slide isn't even a blip on the budget for building these schools. It's a consolation prize for students and teachers when they have to walk 20 kindergarten students to the third floor for their specials. It's what happens when you build on a small footprint, you have to go up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The slide at Discovery isn’t locked. Kid was excited that their class was so good in Art they got to use the slide. The kids love all of the opportunities they are given at Discovery, especially in terms of learning about sustainability and the environment.

There you go folks. Proof that the fancy shmancy pricey extras are in the neighborhood schools. They are in everything APS builds whether for option or neighborhood. Stop pointing your fingers at option schools. It's an APS design/budgeting issue, not an option school issue.

The slide isn't even a blip on the budget for building these schools. It's a consolation prize for students and teachers when they have to walk 20 kindergarten students to the third floor for their specials. It's what happens when you build on a small footprint, you have to go up.

Seriously. That slide is nbd.

[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:

Anonymous wrote:There isn’t enough money to properly fix Swanson and TJ so finding money to renovate Taylor isn’t gonna happen.

APS is proposing bare minimum renovations for both TJ and Swanson. Unfortunate, since TJ already went through previous, long, drawn-out BLPC processes with published designs for new school buildings following many months of hard work.

For this round, it looks like a paint job, new roof, and new fixtures and furnishings are all the school may get--to last for the next 25 years. Although it wasn't intentional, so not a criticism, but the option programs have been getting really beautiful, state-of-the-art facilities. Timing was off for Swanson and TJ, so the neighborhood schools get the shaft in this renovation cycle.

That is not true at all. APS built several really nice new facilities for neighborhood schools - Discovery, Fleet, Cardinal. While Swanson and TJ are old, Kenmore is a really nice facility. Before the move to the new school (which HB and Shriver did not want), the building they were in was very old and not in very good shape. When APS kicked them out for a neighborhood middle school, it renovated it substantially and it's much much nicer now.

The "new" Kenmore was built over 20 years ago. The original Kenmore would have been renovated if it came up for replacement in the current fiscal climate. Swanson received a low budget renovation and air-conditioning in 1994. The historic, arched gym windows at Swanson were replaced about 6 years ago. So yes, APS has invested in neighborhood schools and all three high schools were rebuilt beginning in the 00s. But in terms of timing, after the beautiful Heights and Arlington Tech buildings, it's unfortunate that windowless TJ (which should be rebuilt with the county facility to house a proper indoor track) and Swanson will receive cheapo renovations. Bad timing is all.

You're choosing not to mention all of the beautiful new or renovated NEIGHBORHOOD buildings. Yes, APS has built/is building new buildings for two choice programs. But it also built more for neighborhood schools. Also the career center building is not in good shape at all. And HB only got a new building because APS kicked it out of his building over its objections in order to prioritize a neighborhood school.

You mentioned the new beautiful elementary schools, and I added acknowledgement of the three rebuilt comprehensive high schools and Kenmore, the first of the schools to be rebuilt within the past 25 years. I'll add the beautiful W-L Annex and Planetarium to that list. APS was still flush with money and justifiably built a beautiful new Heights School and Grace Hopper Campus as well. Dorothy Hamm MS is also beautiful. I never said nor implied those were bad decisions. I'm just saying timing and a bit of bad luck meant previous cheap/subpar renovations for Swanson and TJ are followed up by the current plans for another round of bare bones renovations. Although I doubt the money can be found, I hope both schools get the renovations they deserve. Arlington should also have a functional indoor track, and I'd support a completely new joint rec center/middle school at TJ.

I do agree it's bad timing for TJ and Swanson. I was responding to previous comments that APS prioritized buildings for option schools because that is not true.

The design for the heights was targeted for the HBW population; HBW did not want to expand at the Stratford sight (it is the largest middle school plot) nor co-locate with neighborhood school like Drew used to do. So they had to give up their spacious campus.

The Heights building site originally was going to have a 1300 seat middle school; HBW is 700 or so total middle and high school. So the $100M building was built FOR them, otherwise it would have 600 extra seat capacity.

They blew out the budget for heights; it should have been much more functional and utilitarian and built to the original capacity with flexible configuration to adjust as programs move or change size. It would have saved a lot of money and preserved capacity.

As it is now, the middle schools in the northern part of the county are under-enrolled. We can't go back in time and change the past. All of the capital projects APS has pushed through have been more or less successful, with the exception of locating Discovery so close to Nottingham--but the county blocked other sites from consideration.

this is untrue. They looked at Westover but the neighborhood lobbied against it and the school board caved to them.

But didn't Westover change their minds a couple years later. Now they have their beautiful Cardinal ES. APS is generally responsive to neighborhood desires.

No. Westover didn't want HB on that site so close to Swanson. They wanted an elementary school b/c their kids were at a severely overenrolled McKinley. APS agreed the seats were needed, but then the pandemic happened and a lot of kids from N-N-Arlington went private. APS screwed up boundaries and now Nottingham is way underenrolled. Discovery should have never been built. Cardinal should have come fist and then the seat distribution would have made a lot more sense.

No this is revisionist history. Westover originally didn't want any schools on that site, they just wanted their library and playround/field.

This is inaccurate. There was a four civic association group that was formed at that time and they requested that the Reed site be used as originally planned, as an elementary school. At that time, no one knew that APS cut corners on read and that the plans to simply build up on the existing school we’re no longer an option.

What timeframe are you talking about? I am talking about a very early timeframe back when another elementary was needed. They looked first to Westover, Westover lobbied hard against an elem school on that site and and so they built on the Williamsburg site instead. Westover definitely did not request an elem school on that site at that time!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The slide at Discovery isn’t locked. Kid was excited that their class was so good in Art they got to use the slide. The kids love all of the opportunities they are given at Discovery, especially in terms of learning about sustainability and the environment.

There you go folks. Proof that the fancy shmancy pricey extras are in the neighborhood schools. They are in everything APS builds whether for option or neighborhood. Stop pointing your fingers at option schools. It's an APS design/budgeting issue, not an option school issue.

The slide isn't even a blip on the budget for building these schools. It's a consolation prize for students and teachers when they have to walk 20 kindergarten students to the third floor for their specials. It's what happens when you build on a small footprint, you have to go up.

Seriously. That slide is nbd.

McKinley is 3 stories in part of it and I think Cardinal is 4. Isn't Fleet also also multi-level? Gone are the days of one floor, sprawling schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The slide at Discovery isn’t locked. Kid was excited that their class was so good in Art they got to use the slide. The kids love all of the opportunities they are given at Discovery, especially in terms of learning about sustainability and the environment.

There you go folks. Proof that the fancy shmancy pricey extras are in the neighborhood schools. They are in everything APS builds whether for option or neighborhood. Stop pointing your fingers at option schools. It's an APS design/budgeting issue, not an option school issue.

The slide isn't even a blip on the budget for building these schools. It's a consolation prize for students and teachers when they have to walk 20 kindergarten students to the third floor for their specials. It's what happens when you build on a small footprint, you have to go up.

Seriously. That slide is nbd.

McKinley is 3 stories in part of it and I think Cardinal is 4. Isn't Fleet also also multi-level? Gone are the days of one floor, sprawling schools.

My elementary school in a different state was built in 1915 and has classrooms on 3 floors. No elevators (they were shoehorned in later), and no AC.

And the building is still going largely as it was built, minus some plumbing updates made in the 1960s or 1970s.

We survived.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The slide at Discovery isn’t locked. Kid was excited that their class was so good in Art they got to use the slide. The kids love all of the opportunities they are given at Discovery, especially in terms of learning about sustainability and the environment.

There you go folks. Proof that the fancy shmancy pricey extras are in the neighborhood schools. They are in everything APS builds whether for option or neighborhood. Stop pointing your fingers at option schools. It's an APS design/budgeting issue, not an option school issue.

The slide isn't even a blip on the budget for building these schools. It's a consolation prize for students and teachers when they have to walk 20 kindergarten students to the third floor for their specials. It's what happens when you build on a small footprint, you have to go up.

Seriously. That slide is nbd.

McKinley is 3 stories in part of it and I think Cardinal is 4. Isn't Fleet also also multi-level? Gone are the days of one floor, sprawling schools.

Arlington never really had those except for a few built in the 50s. The original W-L built in the 1920s was three stories with no elevators or ac. Swanson, built in the 1930s, is two stories. Dorothy Hamm was built on multiple levels in the 1940s, etc. Arlington was never some sprawling suburb with exclusively one story schools.

[Anonymous]

I just want to laugh out loud at the people with slides in their N. Arlington school who say it’s no big deal. You also probably think you deserve renovations already even though we haven’t got through fixing the S. Arlington schools that will never get a slide. You never get enough and you think you deserve it all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just want to laugh out loud at the people with slides in their N. Arlington school who say it’s no big deal. You also probably think you deserve renovations already even though we haven’t got through fixing the S. Arlington schools that will never get a slide. You never get enough and you think you deserve it all.

My school with a slide (technically in South Arlington) was built on a parking lot with a crappy playground, half of it was closed for a full semester last year. It’s not all roses being in a new building. Stuff still breaks constantly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just want to laugh out loud at the people with slides in their N. Arlington school who say it’s no big deal. You also probably think you deserve renovations already even though we haven’t got through fixing the S. Arlington schools that will never get a slide. You never get enough and you think you deserve it all.

Alice Fleet palace not enough for you?