APS: New High School forum tonight 7-9 pm at Yorktown

[Anonymous]

Or find another, better location for the 4th HS (aquatic center???).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or find another, better location for the 4th HS (aquatic center???).

You CAN'T put a HS at the aquatic center location. Environmental contamination and flight path.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or find another, better location for the 4th HS (aquatic center???).

You CAN'T put a HS at the aquatic center location. Environmental contamination and flight path.

Ok get the CB to help find better options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or find another, better location for the 4th HS (aquatic center???).

You CAN'T put a HS at the aquatic center location. Environmental contamination and flight path.

Ok get the CB to help find better options.

The problem is there aren't better location options right now that would allow for the seats to come online when needed. These locations weren't just picked on a whim. A lot of analysis went into narrowing it down to this. Given the timeline it needs to be property currently owned by APS and someplace that does not require first moving another school. Certainly there's lots of room for argument about what this new school should be -- neighborhood vs option, what kind of option-- but saying go back and pick a different location is not reasonable and would mean at this point not getting the seats built when needed.

[Anonymous]

If we tell them to find a new location now, they will just delay things 2 more years (which is what happened in 2013 with middle school). We need to find the most acceptable option now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Make a fourth comprehensive HS at Kenmore or the VHC site. Figure out the ES/MS locations and traffic calming measures.

In the mean time, add a second 800-seat HB at the Ed Center. For any additional kids beyond that (500 if the 1300 is accurate), add some seats to Yorktown and Wakefield and adjust boundaries.

So what about this option?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd want to see a map of the proposed 4th high school boundary. I'd want to see which PU's and see a break down of the numbers of free and reduced lunch.
I want to know what exactly the demographics of this new school will look like. I'd want a commitment from the SB about which Yorktown units will be moved to the new school.
That fight needs to be had before south Arlington agrees to Kenmore.

I live in north Arlington and I totally agree with this. If we are doing Kenmore for the benefit of all the angry people who live in the north who don't want the 4,000 seat W-L (and it is mostly north Arlington that is mobilizing in favor of Kenmore), their commitment to send their kids there needs to be obtained NOW before the decision is made. If the North wants this from the South, they need to commit to the success of the school with their kids, so this won't be another bait and switch pulled on the south.

That's the only way I support the Kenmore option now. Otherwise it seems destined to be a socioeconomically challenged school and that's not fair. I'd rather have a 4,000 seat W-L where kids are more anonymous but still likely to succeed because it was a good combination of rich and poor kids.

[Anonymous]

^^Lady, nobody succeeds once the numbers get to 4,000---rich or poor. Studies continually bear that out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^Lady, nobody succeeds once the numbers get to 4,000---rich or poor. Studies continually bear that out.

+1

[Anonymous]

This thread has convinced me that a choice program at W-L at the ed center might not be that bad -- if they set it up as a completely separate school that shared the same campus. There would still be contention for shared resources such as the cafeteria and gym but at least there would be equity for extra curriculars. The ninth grade academy is definitely not equitable/fair for W-L kids, having a HB like program there though might be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread has convinced me that a choice program at W-L at the ed center might not be that bad -- if they set it up as a completely separate school that shared the same campus. There would still be contention for shared resources such as the cafeteria and gym but at least there would be equity for extra curriculars. The ninth grade academy is definitely not equitable/fair for W-L kids, having a HB like program there though might be.

How about putting one of the soon-to-be-needed ESs there, making the W-L site as much like the Kenmore site as possible? Only with the school playground less conveniently located (across the street at the existing playground? Via bridge to the Buck site, depending on what happens there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread has convinced me that a choice program at W-L at the ed center might not be that bad -- if they set it up as a completely separate school that shared the same campus. There would still be contention for shared resources such as the cafeteria and gym but at least there would be equity for extra curriculars. The ninth grade academy is definitely not equitable/fair for W-L kids, having a HB like program there though might be.

I heard someone from the district (at one of the meetings) say that an expansion at W-L would add cafeteria space. No idea about gym space. It would be nice if all the 9th graders could actually have lunch at the same time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread has convinced me that a choice program at W-L at the ed center might not be that bad -- if they set it up as a completely separate school that shared the same campus. There would still be contention for shared resources such as the cafeteria and gym but at least there would be equity for extra curriculars. The ninth grade academy is definitely not equitable/fair for W-L kids, having a HB like program there though might be.

How about putting one of the soon-to-be-needed ESs there, making the W-L site as much like the Kenmore site as possible? Only with the school playground less conveniently located (across the street at the existing playground? Via bridge to the Buck site, depending on what happens there?

There are no plans to use the Buck site for school space/playgrounds etc. Unfortunately, there are pipes and gas mains underneath the property which don't allow for such use. I've heard they may sell it to someone or use it for bus storage, etc. While it might be ok for HS students to cross that busy intersection had the site been usable, I doubt many school officials or parents would be cool with locating an elementary playground across the street.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread has convinced me that a choice program at W-L at the ed center might not be that bad -- if they set it up as a completely separate school that shared the same campus. There would still be contention for shared resources such as the cafeteria and gym but at least there would be equity for extra curriculars. The ninth grade academy is definitely not equitable/fair for W-L kids, having a HB like program there though might be.

How is it equitable if the field and sports teams would have a HS student population of 4000? Not to mention it's the smallest of the 3 HS campuses. If the other HS's are only 2800 or so total then we're talking 30% larger student population on much smaller fields, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm in a Yorktown unit not far from WL boundaries and I would fight tooth & nail if we were redistricted to a less-than school.

Are you defining less-than by facilities or school demographics? What would keep you from "fighting tooth and nail"?

PP from earlier. This is why I suggested making another hb. if not then do a blind lottery from all PUs near WL, which would include ours. Then have a public drawing. Of course some balancing should be done it too dump all farms kids there. Efforts should be made to replicate WL's current demographics. If you don't know who ch school you will end up intou will most likely support equitable treatment for jenmore.

I wouldn't mind having another HB mod,e program- clearly there's demand, and with high school enrollment growing And the chances of getting into HB are proportionally even smaller. But I thought during the last go-round, when the decoision was made to move to Rosslyn, it was also decided that HB needs to be capped at around 700 (800?) kids (6th through 12th graders) or the model won't work. I don't know how we would get 1300 high school seats out of an HB unless something was changed.

No, the HB folks (who love how sheltered they are from all of this) claim it wouldn't work. What's even more infuriating is that I was watching one of the recorded town hall meetings on this, and one stupid APS official claimed that parents don't want another HB. i do NOT recall that being an actual question. They also claimed that HS parents don't want a 4th comprehensive but more choice STEM programs. That was NOT on the survey either. They asked among these choice schools what types parents preferred. Of course the majority of parents picked stem over arts/drama.

I cannot stand how disingenuous they all are. why make us go through all of this etc (just like the HS boundary thing last Dec/Jan.) only to have them come up with an absurd result.

What are they going to do if they screw up the numbers once more (like McKinley or Yorktown) and it turns out there are several hundred more students instead of 1300. isn't some of this predicated on the success of Arlington Tech?! Will they just jam a few hundred more on WL?!!!! WTF? On what universe does this sound like a rational plan?

Wouldn't it be better to try and replicate an HB at Kenmore now, given the huge demand for it? This way they could get tons of HS students interested in going to that location. Eventually, they could expand that site to a full 4th comprehensive HS.

Also, among the planning units that are situated closely enough to Kenmore do a blind lottery so people can influence the school board (ie. orange shirts), and then every one would be invested in ensuring that HS is just as good as the others. Also, make sure that it doesn't swing completely into poverty (aim for a WL demographic 33% to 35% FARMS) and then there will be another HS similar to WL and hopefully everyone can win.