APS Engage Update Pre-CIP Report

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI. MPSA can stay in the Patrick Henry building until the old Career Center building is renovated. The program doesn’t need swing space. The new Career Center building is being built adjacent to MPSA and will not affect MPSA operations.

That's the current plan without the swing space available. If this proposal is approved, they can revisit the CC plans because fitting that building to suit Montessori costs so much more than just fitting a regular elementary. MPSA wants a full k-12 program, or at least K-8; and I don't think they really want to do that at that site. Just saying, it's a possibility that plans will change a bit and I wouldn't be surprised. Moving MPSA off-site could facilitate the redevelopment of that site.

That would be a colossal waste of money. First, refurbishing Career Centerr for anyone to use will require real money. That building is as old as Henry building. So why pay to rehab it, pay more to move MPsA to Nottingham, then pay even more to site and build a new elementary for MPSA later? That is like doubling the ultimate expenditure.
Also, why? The need and ability to overhaul other ESs comes *after* MPSA moves into Career Center. It makes no sense to delay carrying out the approved plan for MPSA/CareerEnter/ArlTech for other projects that are not even decided yet. The FAC and BAC are just starting to really figure out who and how much can be achieved in future CIPs, so it is going to be a few more years before a list of worthy projects is agreed to. I have no doubt there will be, but holding up the Approved Career Center plan for them is like not replacing a leaky roof now because you know you need a new air conditioner next decade.

[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:Build new facilities in South Arlington, where the county needs them, already!

Stop messing around with boundaries and whatnot to try to alleviate crowding in the south by moving kids north. Please.

And I live in North Arlington.

They can’t. APS has stated In published reports that they are beyond the point of building their way out of the capacity crisis. They have to work with the facilities that they have. Even if they had the capital, it takes 10 years to bring a new school online. I would expect boundary changes, relocatable classrooms, and potentially leased office space for schools in the future. They can’t build anything new. It’s not even worth discussing.

It really defies all logic to say Arlington county cannot fix this. Sure different entities within Arlington county own different parcels of land, but come on. It is all one county government.

The overcrowding has been an issue for more than a decade. Poor planning then, and continued poor planning now, makes the problem worse. Leasing space for schools is a good idea though. It would be quicker than building a new school.

I agree that that they have been terrible planners. The money spent on HB Woodlawn- a school in Rosslyn surrounded by current and projected affordable housing units- blows my mind. Those kids aren’t in the walk zone for anywhere and we could have had some type of neighborhood school there rather than a fancy option school for rich people. But I do take APS at face when they say they aren’t building more schools. I think they are going to try and be creative with existing schools and possibly leading vacant office space. G_d help us.

Do you not know the history? APS wanted to put a neighborhood school there. But the neighborhood around the now Hamm complained and lobbied very loudly, so APS caved, and they kicked HB to Rosslyn and put Hamm on HB's old site.

I remember this. The neighborhood around the then HB wanted the site, said their snowflakes couldn't go to school in Rosslyn, so they killed the plan to build a ms in Rosslyn. And we got Hamm.

I don't have a lot of sympathy for people in that neighborhood who now may have to take a bus to Williamsburg to balance capacity. They caused this situation!

I’m sure I’ll be sorry I asked, but what is wrong with Rosslyn? The new HB site is beautiful. That could have been a brand new neighborhood school in a community surrounded by multi family housing and around the corner from a metro stop (ideally it would be walkable for most but I think siting schools near public transit makes sense in our community).

If APS really caved to the parents, shame on them. I hope they repurpose that brand new school in the heart of Rosslyn as a true community resource. What a waste.

Yes HB Heights is amazing. That is NOT what the neighborhood school would have gotten. They were planning to include 300 more students for a 1000 student neighborhood school on the same plot. The airy spacious building would this be turned into a warehouse, with kids bussed from 3 miles away in rush hour Rosslyn traffic.

I actually live in Rosslyn in one of the high rises (my kids are in high school now), and there are very few kids in any of the multi family housing in Rosslyn, at least middle school or high school age. So majority of a Rosslyn middle school would come from near the Stratford site

Sure, but some of them would have come from Lyon Village, the neighborhood north of Langston, etc. There would have been walkers.

Meanwhile all the parents who insisted that their kids needed to be able to walk to MS and therefore needed the site on Vacation Lane shifted gears as soon as the decision was made and insisted the site needed to provide convenient dropoff lanes.

My kids would have gone to the Wilson Blvd 1300-student middle school, and I would have been fine with that.

Adorbs. Most of Lyon Village send their MS and HS kids to private. Even more so if they had zero field space in a Rosslyn warehouse.

North of Langston? You mean the Highlands neighborhood near Dawson Terrace? There are even fewer families and older kids there, nestled between Lee Highway and GW parkway.

Okay, you would have been fine? Sure? Most parents weren’t.

Most parents would, but the loudest parents are still trying to piss and moan about any change that means their kids' school won't look like the schools they attended 30 or 40 years earlier.

If putting a 1300-seat MS on Wilson would have gotten more parents to send their kids private, that's OK with me. I don't think most of the current batch of MS and HS parents send their kids to private, judging by bus stops and yard signs, but the parents who can afford the $2M+ houses are definitely choosing private for their kids just starting school. I loved it when people with anti-MM, "school overcrowding" signs in their yards had private school bumper stickers.

+1.

I would love to see that demographic breakdown because I don’t think it’s nearly as common as you think. I think a lot of families chose their neighborhood (yes, even the $2M ones) for the public school. If anything, an expensive house could be a big bet on the quality of the district, since people may choose between spending more on a house vs sending kids to private.

That would be fascinating. In our neighborhood there have always been a significant chunk of private school families, but it does seem like it’s been increasing over the past 5 or so years (even pre-Covid). If we send our kids to public, I am legitimately wondering what nearby kids will actually be there. I suspect not many.

Anecdotally, I know almost no private school families in Arlington. I know one or two families that go to Catholic school, and one family that went to private school during the pandemic and then stayed. That’s it.

Oh, one other family whose child goes to a special needs private school.

[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:Build new facilities in South Arlington, where the county needs them, already!

Stop messing around with boundaries and whatnot to try to alleviate crowding in the south by moving kids north. Please.

And I live in North Arlington.

They can’t. APS has stated In published reports that they are beyond the point of building their way out of the capacity crisis. They have to work with the facilities that they have. Even if they had the capital, it takes 10 years to bring a new school online. I would expect boundary changes, relocatable classrooms, and potentially leased office space for schools in the future. They can’t build anything new. It’s not even worth discussing.

It really defies all logic to say Arlington county cannot fix this. Sure different entities within Arlington county own different parcels of land, but come on. It is all one county government.

The overcrowding has been an issue for more than a decade. Poor planning then, and continued poor planning now, makes the problem worse. Leasing space for schools is a good idea though. It would be quicker than building a new school.

I agree that that they have been terrible planners. The money spent on HB Woodlawn- a school in Rosslyn surrounded by current and projected affordable housing units- blows my mind. Those kids aren’t in the walk zone for anywhere and we could have had some type of neighborhood school there rather than a fancy option school for rich people. But I do take APS at face when they say they aren’t building more schools. I think they are going to try and be creative with existing schools and possibly leading vacant office space. G_d help us.

Do you not know the history? APS wanted to put a neighborhood school there. But the neighborhood around the now Hamm complained and lobbied very loudly, so APS caved, and they kicked HB to Rosslyn and put Hamm on HB's old site.

I remember this. The neighborhood around the then HB wanted the site, said their snowflakes couldn't go to school in Rosslyn, so they killed the plan to build a ms in Rosslyn. And we got Hamm.

I don't have a lot of sympathy for people in that neighborhood who now may have to take a bus to Williamsburg to balance capacity. They caused this situation!

I’m sure I’ll be sorry I asked, but what is wrong with Rosslyn? The new HB site is beautiful. That could have been a brand new neighborhood school in a community surrounded by multi family housing and around the corner from a metro stop (ideally it would be walkable for most but I think siting schools near public transit makes sense in our community).

If APS really caved to the parents, shame on them. I hope they repurpose that brand new school in the heart of Rosslyn as a true community resource. What a waste.

Yes HB Heights is amazing. That is NOT what the neighborhood school would have gotten. They were planning to include 300 more students for a 1000 student neighborhood school on the same plot. The airy spacious building would this be turned into a warehouse, with kids bussed from 3 miles away in rush hour Rosslyn traffic.

I actually live in Rosslyn in one of the high rises (my kids are in high school now), and there are very few kids in any of the multi family housing in Rosslyn, at least middle school or high school age. So majority of a Rosslyn middle school would come from near the Stratford site

Sure, but some of them would have come from Lyon Village, the neighborhood north of Langston, etc. There would have been walkers.

Meanwhile all the parents who insisted that their kids needed to be able to walk to MS and therefore needed the site on Vacation Lane shifted gears as soon as the decision was made and insisted the site needed to provide convenient dropoff lanes.

My kids would have gone to the Wilson Blvd 1300-student middle school, and I would have been fine with that.

Adorbs. Most of Lyon Village send their MS and HS kids to private. Even more so if they had zero field space in a Rosslyn warehouse.

North of Langston? You mean the Highlands neighborhood near Dawson Terrace? There are even fewer families and older kids there, nestled between Lee Highway and GW parkway.

Okay, you would have been fine? Sure? Most parents weren’t.

Most parents would, but the loudest parents are still trying to piss and moan about any change that means their kids' school won't look like the schools they attended 30 or 40 years earlier.

If putting a 1300-seat MS on Wilson would have gotten more parents to send their kids private, that's OK with me. I don't think most of the current batch of MS and HS parents send their kids to private, judging by bus stops and yard signs, but the parents who can afford the $2M+ houses are definitely choosing private for their kids just starting school. I loved it when people with anti-MM, "school overcrowding" signs in their yards had private school bumper stickers.

+1.

I would love to see that demographic breakdown because I don’t think it’s nearly as common as you think. I think a lot of families chose their neighborhood (yes, even the $2M ones) for the public school. If anything, an expensive house could be a big bet on the quality of the district, since people may choose between spending more on a house vs sending kids to private.

That would be fascinating. In our neighborhood there have always been a significant chunk of private school families, but it does seem like it’s been increasing over the past 5 or so years (even pre-Covid). If we send our kids to public, I am legitimately wondering what nearby kids will actually be there. I suspect not many.

Anecdotally, I know almost no private school families in Arlington. I know one or two families that go to Catholic school, and one family that went to private school during the pandemic and then stayed. That’s it.

Oh, one other family whose child goes to a special needs private school.

So you live in 22205?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI. MPSA can stay in the Patrick Henry building until the old Career Center building is renovated. The program doesn’t need swing space. The new Career Center building is being built adjacent to MPSA and will not affect MPSA operations.

That's the current plan without the swing space available. If this proposal is approved, they can revisit the CC plans because fitting that building to suit Montessori costs so much more than just fitting a regular elementary. MPSA wants a full k-12 program, or at least K-8; and I don't think they really want to do that at that site. Just saying, it's a possibility that plans will change a bit and I wouldn't be surprised. Moving MPSA off-site could facilitate the redevelopment of that site.

There is zero reason for Montessori to have a k-12 program. I don’t even think there is a reason for them to have a middle school. But we know APS and school board members like to chase the next shiny thing.

[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:

Anonymous wrote:Build new facilities in South Arlington, where the county needs them, already!

Stop messing around with boundaries and whatnot to try to alleviate crowding in the south by moving kids north. Please.

And I live in North Arlington.

They can’t. APS has stated In published reports that they are beyond the point of building their way out of the capacity crisis. They have to work with the facilities that they have. Even if they had the capital, it takes 10 years to bring a new school online. I would expect boundary changes, relocatable classrooms, and potentially leased office space for schools in the future. They can’t build anything new. It’s not even worth discussing.

It really defies all logic to say Arlington county cannot fix this. Sure different entities within Arlington county own different parcels of land, but come on. It is all one county government.

The overcrowding has been an issue for more than a decade. Poor planning then, and continued poor planning now, makes the problem worse. Leasing space for schools is a good idea though. It would be quicker than building a new school.

I agree that that they have been terrible planners. The money spent on HB Woodlawn- a school in Rosslyn surrounded by current and projected affordable housing units- blows my mind. Those kids aren’t in the walk zone for anywhere and we could have had some type of neighborhood school there rather than a fancy option school for rich people. But I do take APS at face when they say they aren’t building more schools. I think they are going to try and be creative with existing schools and possibly leading vacant office space. G_d help us.

Do you not know the history? APS wanted to put a neighborhood school there. But the neighborhood around the now Hamm complained and lobbied very loudly, so APS caved, and they kicked HB to Rosslyn and put Hamm on HB's old site.

I remember this. The neighborhood around the then HB wanted the site, said their snowflakes couldn't go to school in Rosslyn, so they killed the plan to build a ms in Rosslyn. And we got Hamm.

I don't have a lot of sympathy for people in that neighborhood who now may have to take a bus to Williamsburg to balance capacity. They caused this situation!

I’m sure I’ll be sorry I asked, but what is wrong with Rosslyn? The new HB site is beautiful. That could have been a brand new neighborhood school in a community surrounded by multi family housing and around the corner from a metro stop (ideally it would be walkable for most but I think siting schools near public transit makes sense in our community).

If APS really caved to the parents, shame on them. I hope they repurpose that brand new school in the heart of Rosslyn as a true community resource. What a waste.

Yes HB Heights is amazing. That is NOT what the neighborhood school would have gotten. They were planning to include 300 more students for a 1000 student neighborhood school on the same plot. The airy spacious building would this be turned into a warehouse, with kids bussed from 3 miles away in rush hour Rosslyn traffic.

I actually live in Rosslyn in one of the high rises (my kids are in high school now), and there are very few kids in any of the multi family housing in Rosslyn, at least middle school or high school age. So majority of a Rosslyn middle school would come from near the Stratford site

Sure, but some of them would have come from Lyon Village, the neighborhood north of Langston, etc. There would have been walkers.

Meanwhile all the parents who insisted that their kids needed to be able to walk to MS and therefore needed the site on Vacation Lane shifted gears as soon as the decision was made and insisted the site needed to provide convenient dropoff lanes.

My kids would have gone to the Wilson Blvd 1300-student middle school, and I would have been fine with that.

Adorbs. Most of Lyon Village send their MS and HS kids to private. Even more so if they had zero field space in a Rosslyn warehouse.

North of Langston? You mean the Highlands neighborhood near Dawson Terrace? There are even fewer families and older kids there, nestled between Lee Highway and GW parkway.

Okay, you would have been fine? Sure? Most parents weren’t.

Most parents would, but the loudest parents are still trying to piss and moan about any change that means their kids' school won't look like the schools they attended 30 or 40 years earlier.

If putting a 1300-seat MS on Wilson would have gotten more parents to send their kids private, that's OK with me. I don't think most of the current batch of MS and HS parents send their kids to private, judging by bus stops and yard signs, but the parents who can afford the $2M+ houses are definitely choosing private for their kids just starting school. I loved it when people with anti-MM, "school overcrowding" signs in their yards had private school bumper stickers.

+1.

I would love to see that demographic breakdown because I don’t think it’s nearly as common as you think. I think a lot of families chose their neighborhood (yes, even the $2M ones) for the public school. If anything, an expensive house could be a big bet on the quality of the district, since people may choose between spending more on a house vs sending kids to private.

That would be fascinating. In our neighborhood there have always been a significant chunk of private school families, but it does seem like it’s been increasing over the past 5 or so years (even pre-Covid). If we send our kids to public, I am legitimately wondering what nearby kids will actually be there. I suspect not many.

Anecdotally, I know almost no private school families in Arlington. I know one or two families that go to Catholic school, and one family that went to private school during the pandemic and then stayed. That’s it.

Oh, one other family whose child goes to a special needs private school.

So you live in 22205?

I'm in the south and send my kid to private (k-8). At our small private, there are many kids from 22206 and 22204.

[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:

Anonymous wrote:Build new facilities in South Arlington, where the county needs them, already!

Stop messing around with boundaries and whatnot to try to alleviate crowding in the south by moving kids north. Please.

And I live in North Arlington.

They can’t. APS has stated In published reports that they are beyond the point of building their way out of the capacity crisis. They have to work with the facilities that they have. Even if they had the capital, it takes 10 years to bring a new school online. I would expect boundary changes, relocatable classrooms, and potentially leased office space for schools in the future. They can’t build anything new. It’s not even worth discussing.

It really defies all logic to say Arlington county cannot fix this. Sure different entities within Arlington county own different parcels of land, but come on. It is all one county government.

The overcrowding has been an issue for more than a decade. Poor planning then, and continued poor planning now, makes the problem worse. Leasing space for schools is a good idea though. It would be quicker than building a new school.

I agree that that they have been terrible planners. The money spent on HB Woodlawn- a school in Rosslyn surrounded by current and projected affordable housing units- blows my mind. Those kids aren’t in the walk zone for anywhere and we could have had some type of neighborhood school there rather than a fancy option school for rich people. But I do take APS at face when they say they aren’t building more schools. I think they are going to try and be creative with existing schools and possibly leading vacant office space. G_d help us.

Do you not know the history? APS wanted to put a neighborhood school there. But the neighborhood around the now Hamm complained and lobbied very loudly, so APS caved, and they kicked HB to Rosslyn and put Hamm on HB's old site.

I remember this. The neighborhood around the then HB wanted the site, said their snowflakes couldn't go to school in Rosslyn, so they killed the plan to build a ms in Rosslyn. And we got Hamm.

I don't have a lot of sympathy for people in that neighborhood who now may have to take a bus to Williamsburg to balance capacity. They caused this situation!

I’m sure I’ll be sorry I asked, but what is wrong with Rosslyn? The new HB site is beautiful. That could have been a brand new neighborhood school in a community surrounded by multi family housing and around the corner from a metro stop (ideally it would be walkable for most but I think siting schools near public transit makes sense in our community).

If APS really caved to the parents, shame on them. I hope they repurpose that brand new school in the heart of Rosslyn as a true community resource. What a waste.

Yes HB Heights is amazing. That is NOT what the neighborhood school would have gotten. They were planning to include 300 more students for a 1000 student neighborhood school on the same plot. The airy spacious building would this be turned into a warehouse, with kids bussed from 3 miles away in rush hour Rosslyn traffic.

I actually live in Rosslyn in one of the high rises (my kids are in high school now), and there are very few kids in any of the multi family housing in Rosslyn, at least middle school or high school age. So majority of a Rosslyn middle school would come from near the Stratford site

Sure, but some of them would have come from Lyon Village, the neighborhood north of Langston, etc. There would have been walkers.

Meanwhile all the parents who insisted that their kids needed to be able to walk to MS and therefore needed the site on Vacation Lane shifted gears as soon as the decision was made and insisted the site needed to provide convenient dropoff lanes.

My kids would have gone to the Wilson Blvd 1300-student middle school, and I would have been fine with that.

Adorbs. Most of Lyon Village send their MS and HS kids to private. Even more so if they had zero field space in a Rosslyn warehouse.

North of Langston? You mean the Highlands neighborhood near Dawson Terrace? There are even fewer families and older kids there, nestled between Lee Highway and GW parkway.

Okay, you would have been fine? Sure? Most parents weren’t.

Most parents would, but the loudest parents are still trying to piss and moan about any change that means their kids' school won't look like the schools they attended 30 or 40 years earlier.

If putting a 1300-seat MS on Wilson would have gotten more parents to send their kids private, that's OK with me. I don't think most of the current batch of MS and HS parents send their kids to private, judging by bus stops and yard signs, but the parents who can afford the $2M+ houses are definitely choosing private for their kids just starting school. I loved it when people with anti-MM, "school overcrowding" signs in their yards had private school bumper stickers.

+1.

I would love to see that demographic breakdown because I don’t think it’s nearly as common as you think. I think a lot of families chose their neighborhood (yes, even the $2M ones) for the public school. If anything, an expensive house could be a big bet on the quality of the district, since people may choose between spending more on a house vs sending kids to private.

That would be fascinating. In our neighborhood there have always been a significant chunk of private school families, but it does seem like it’s been increasing over the past 5 or so years (even pre-Covid). If we send our kids to public, I am legitimately wondering what nearby kids will actually be there. I suspect not many.

Anecdotally, I know almost no private school families in Arlington. I know one or two families that go to Catholic school, and one family that went to private school during the pandemic and then stayed. That’s it.

Oh, one other family whose child goes to a special needs private school.

So you live in 22205?

A HUGE chunk of WMS goes to private high school. Maybe 50-75 kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI. MPSA can stay in the Patrick Henry building until the old Career Center building is renovated. The program doesn’t need swing space. The new Career Center building is being built adjacent to MPSA and will not affect MPSA operations.

That's the current plan without the swing space available. If this proposal is approved, they can revisit the CC plans because fitting that building to suit Montessori costs so much more than just fitting a regular elementary. MPSA wants a full k-12 program, or at least K-8; and I don't think they really want to do that at that site. Just saying, it's a possibility that plans will change a bit and I wouldn't be surprised. Moving MPSA off-site could facilitate the redevelopment of that site.

There is zero reason for Montessori to have a k-12 program. I don’t even think there is a reason for them to have a middle school. But we know APS and school board members like to chase the next shiny thing.

Montessori is not the next "shiny" thing. It's catering to the Montessori people and shutting them up. I don't ever see enough interest for a high school montessori program. I think there would be more interest in 6-8 if it were co-located with the pre-K to 5 program; but still not enough to justify it. I wonder what each school board member really, truly thinks about the public Montessori program.

[Anonymous]

+1. How strong is the Montessori lobby these days without OGrady on the Board? Maybe it’s time to take it on again. I think we should have the 3,4,5 year old program and nothing else. It’s a colossal waste. At a minimum, it should stop at elementary. It’s a waste of space and resources.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1. How strong is the Montessori lobby these days without OGrady on the Board? Maybe it’s time to take it on again. I think we should have the 3,4,5 year old program and nothing else. It’s a colossal waste. At a minimum, it should stop at elementary. It’s a waste of space and resources.

I agree. Expanding our preschool offerings would be very beneficial. Montessori preschool would be, imo, even better than VPI because it would provide more economically-diverse classrooms; whereas VPI is all low-income. But more quality preschool of any sort for low-income children is a foundational step to addressing those "achievement gaps" and far preferred to APS' way of addressing them by lowering the standards for all kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI. MPSA can stay in the Patrick Henry building until the old Career Center building is renovated. The program doesn’t need swing space. The new Career Center building is being built adjacent to MPSA and will not affect MPSA operations.

That's the current plan without the swing space available. If this proposal is approved, they can revisit the CC plans because fitting that building to suit Montessori costs so much more than just fitting a regular elementary. MPSA wants a full k-12 program, or at least K-8; and I don't think they really want to do that at that site. Just saying, it's a possibility that plans will change a bit and I wouldn't be surprised. Moving MPSA off-site could facilitate the redevelopment of that site.

There is zero reason for Montessori to have a k-12 program. I don’t even think there is a reason for them to have a middle school. But we know APS and school board members like to chase the next shiny thing.

Montessori is not the next "shiny" thing. It's catering to the Montessori people and shutting them up. I don't ever see enough interest for a high school montessori program. I think there would be more interest in 6-8 if it were co-located with the pre-K to 5 program; but still not enough to justify it. I wonder what each school board member really, truly thinks about the public Montessori program.

How many are in the middle school Montessori program?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI. MPSA can stay in the Patrick Henry building until the old Career Center building is renovated. The program doesn’t need swing space. The new Career Center building is being built adjacent to MPSA and will not affect MPSA operations.

That's the current plan without the swing space available. If this proposal is approved, they can revisit the CC plans because fitting that building to suit Montessori costs so much more than just fitting a regular elementary. MPSA wants a full k-12 program, or at least K-8; and I don't think they really want to do that at that site. Just saying, it's a possibility that plans will change a bit and I wouldn't be surprised. Moving MPSA off-site could facilitate the redevelopment of that site.

There is zero reason for Montessori to have a k-12 program. I don’t even think there is a reason for them to have a middle school. But we know APS and school board members like to chase the next shiny thing.

Montessori is not the next "shiny" thing. It's catering to the Montessori people and shutting them up. I don't ever see enough interest for a high school montessori program. I think there would be more interest in 6-8 if it were co-located with the pre-K to 5 program; but still not enough to justify it. I wonder what each school board member really, truly thinks about the public Montessori program.

How many are in the middle school Montessori program?

I think it's like 60-something.

[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:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Build new facilities in South Arlington, where the county needs them, already!

Stop messing around with boundaries and whatnot to try to alleviate crowding in the south by moving kids north. Please.

And I live in North Arlington.

They can’t. APS has stated In published reports that they are beyond the point of building their way out of the capacity crisis. They have to work with the facilities that they have. Even if they had the capital, it takes 10 years to bring a new school online. I would expect boundary changes, relocatable classrooms, and potentially leased office space for schools in the future. They can’t build anything new. It’s not even worth discussing.

It really defies all logic to say Arlington county cannot fix this. Sure different entities within Arlington county own different parcels of land, but come on. It is all one county government.

The overcrowding has been an issue for more than a decade. Poor planning then, and continued poor planning now, makes the problem worse. Leasing space for schools is a good idea though. It would be quicker than building a new school.

I agree that that they have been terrible planners. The money spent on HB Woodlawn- a school in Rosslyn surrounded by current and projected affordable housing units- blows my mind. Those kids aren’t in the walk zone for anywhere and we could have had some type of neighborhood school there rather than a fancy option school for rich people. But I do take APS at face when they say they aren’t building more schools. I think they are going to try and be creative with existing schools and possibly leading vacant office space. G_d help us.

Do you not know the history? APS wanted to put a neighborhood school there. But the neighborhood around the now Hamm complained and lobbied very loudly, so APS caved, and they kicked HB to Rosslyn and put Hamm on HB's old site.

I remember this. The neighborhood around the then HB wanted the site, said their snowflakes couldn't go to school in Rosslyn, so they killed the plan to build a ms in Rosslyn. And we got Hamm.

I don't have a lot of sympathy for people in that neighborhood who now may have to take a bus to Williamsburg to balance capacity. They caused this situation!

I’m sure I’ll be sorry I asked, but what is wrong with Rosslyn? The new HB site is beautiful. That could have been a brand new neighborhood school in a community surrounded by multi family housing and around the corner from a metro stop (ideally it would be walkable for most but I think siting schools near public transit makes sense in our community).

If APS really caved to the parents, shame on them. I hope they repurpose that brand new school in the heart of Rosslyn as a true community resource. What a waste.

Yes HB Heights is amazing. That is NOT what the neighborhood school would have gotten. They were planning to include 300 more students for a 1000 student neighborhood school on the same plot. The airy spacious building would this be turned into a warehouse, with kids bussed from 3 miles away in rush hour Rosslyn traffic.

I actually live in Rosslyn in one of the high rises (my kids are in high school now), and there are very few kids in any of the multi family housing in Rosslyn, at least middle school or high school age. So majority of a Rosslyn middle school would come from near the Stratford site

Sure, but some of them would have come from Lyon Village, the neighborhood north of Langston, etc. There would have been walkers.

Meanwhile all the parents who insisted that their kids needed to be able to walk to MS and therefore needed the site on Vacation Lane shifted gears as soon as the decision was made and insisted the site needed to provide convenient dropoff lanes.

My kids would have gone to the Wilson Blvd 1300-student middle school, and I would have been fine with that.

Adorbs. Most of Lyon Village send their MS and HS kids to private. Even more so if they had zero field space in a Rosslyn warehouse.

North of Langston? You mean the Highlands neighborhood near Dawson Terrace? There are even fewer families and older kids there, nestled between Lee Highway and GW parkway.

Okay, you would have been fine? Sure? Most parents weren’t.

Most parents would, but the loudest parents are still trying to piss and moan about any change that means their kids' school won't look like the schools they attended 30 or 40 years earlier.

If putting a 1300-seat MS on Wilson would have gotten more parents to send their kids private, that's OK with me. I don't think most of the current batch of MS and HS parents send their kids to private, judging by bus stops and yard signs, but the parents who can afford the $2M+ houses are definitely choosing private for their kids just starting school. I loved it when people with anti-MM, "school overcrowding" signs in their yards had private school bumper stickers.

+1.

I would love to see that demographic breakdown because I don’t think it’s nearly as common as you think. I think a lot of families chose their neighborhood (yes, even the $2M ones) for the public school. If anything, an expensive house could be a big bet on the quality of the district, since people may choose between spending more on a house vs sending kids to private.

That would be fascinating. In our neighborhood there have always been a significant chunk of private school families, but it does seem like it’s been increasing over the past 5 or so years (even pre-Covid). If we send our kids to public, I am legitimately wondering what nearby kids will actually be there. I suspect not many.

Anecdotally, I know almost no private school families in Arlington. I know one or two families that go to Catholic school, and one family that went to private school during the pandemic and then stayed. That’s it.

Oh, one other family whose child goes to a special needs private school.

So you live in 22205?

A HUGE chunk of WMS goes to private high school. Maybe 50-75 kids?

+1 Taylor portion of DHMS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1. How strong is the Montessori lobby these days without OGrady on the Board? Maybe it’s time to take it on again. I think we should have the 3,4,5 year old program and nothing else. It’s a colossal waste. At a minimum, it should stop at elementary. It’s a waste of space and resources.

Presumably Miranda Turner will be an advocate for Montessori as her kids go or have gone there. I’d be interested in hearing her views on these proposed changes, but haven’t heard seen or heard anything. Wonder how her views will square with those of APE?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1. How strong is the Montessori lobby these days without OGrady on the Board? Maybe it’s time to take it on again. I think we should have the 3,4,5 year old program and nothing else. It’s a colossal waste. At a minimum, it should stop at elementary. It’s a waste of space and resources.

Presumably Miranda Turner will be an advocate for Montessori as her kids go or have gone there. I’d be interested in hearing her views on these proposed changes, but haven’t heard seen or heard anything. Wonder how her views will square with those of APE?

Does APE have a view on the option schools? I’ve never seen them say much about them.

[Anonymous]

Montessori has never asked for a K-12. No option has. There has been talk of Immersion and Montessori K-8s over the years, which I know from time on old IPP committee years ago. There has been enough demand for both MS programs over the long term, the problem is where to site them ( as we see now with Immersion MS move proposal).
I also agree with PP that the Montessori plan at CAreer Center is pretty hashed out and set in motion. Cost to renovate old Career Center building for anybody to use still has to be determined. I'm sure it can be debated. But the siting decision has been thoroughly reviewed since before pandemic and the neighborhood has agreed. They get some good things out of it like a parking garage, open field, etc., and above all they now know the long term plan out of it all. It's been an open issue since Murphy was Sup. If you think that community is suddenly going to agree to go through construction of new ArlTech building and then agree to be ES swing space for years afterward, then I've got some open land in North Arlington to sell you.