Madison Community Center in Arlington - making it a school again?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

So what's the hold up for making it an ES?

$$$

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So what's the hold up for making it an ES?

$$$

Money and a lot of the decision makers enjoy the daycare amenities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So what's the hold up for making it an ES?

$$$

Money and a lot of the decision makers enjoy the daycare amenities.

You do realize that people can support something (for example, daycare for employees or an early intervention program for ASD) even if they do not derive any person benefit from it, right? Just because it seems like a good thing to do?

If you're from North Arlington, you might not. You might be too busy fretting about whether the universe is circling your child to your satisfaction. But other people still believe in community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So what's the hold up for making it an ES?

$$$

Money and a lot of the decision makers enjoy the daycare amenities.

You do realize that people can support something (for example, daycare for employees or an early intervention program for ASD) even if they do not derive any person benefit from it, right? Just because it seems like a good thing to do?

If you're from North Arlington, you might not. You might be too busy fretting about whether the universe is circling your child to your satisfaction. But other people still believe in community.

Yup.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So what's the hold up for making it an ES?

$$$

Money and a lot of the decision makers enjoy the daycare amenities.

APS has been looking for a real to kick TCS out of Reed for years. You have that wrong. They will be moving out.

[Anonymous]

I attended some of the planning meetings about building a new school several years ago (when Discovery was put into motion). The Board explained that the existing 60 year-old building at Madison cannot be used as a school because it is tiny (a 250 student school does not dent the crowding issues) and does not meet current code requirements. So, putting a school there would require tearing down the existing structure and building a new school building. However, there is not enough land around the school to build the needed structure. I don't even know if that land is buildable or is owned by the Parks department. Also, the current building is in heavy use as a senior center and for county classes, so if the county knocked down the building, it would also need need to build/find another location for a senior center. So, it is a lot cheaper for the county to build in another location and just keep Madison as is.

[Anonymous]

Swanson was built in 1940. If APS can make that work, they can make Madison work. I'm not arguing with you, PP, BTW. I'm calling bull on APS.

[Anonymous]

The problem IIRC, is that the land for Madison Center abuts Fort Ethan Allen Park, which is a landmark and can't be disturbed. So you can't add on (which they have done at Swanson).

The fact that some buildings can be altered to meet code doesn't mean they all can.

I will say that I think the senior center/county classes argument is malarkey. Not that Madison isn't used for that, but there are a lot of summer camps and school break camps held there, and when I'm dropping off or picking up my kids, I pass a lot of empty rooms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem IIRC, is that the land for Madison Center abuts Fort Ethan Allen Park, which is a landmark and can't be disturbed. So you can't add on (which they have done at Swanson).

The fact that some buildings can be altered to meet code doesn't mean they all can.

I will say that I think the senior center/county classes argument is malarkey. Not that Madison isn't used for that, but there are a lot of summer camps and school break camps held there, and when I'm dropping off or picking up my kids, I pass a lot of empty rooms.

Because of the arrangement of the stairs, the old, historic building would likely have to be gutted. It has a similar layout to the Lee Community Center. The facade would be preserved to appease the preservationists. The site also has a dog park, and an historic fort. The costs open a new school there would be exorbitant, and not worth it because it is not exactly walkable, and Discovery just opened to serve that part of the county.

Reopening Reed would help with the overcrowding in the more central part of N Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So what's the hold up for making it an ES?

$$$

Money and a lot of the decision makers enjoy the daycare amenities.

APS has been looking for a real to kick TCS out of Reed for years. You have that wrong. They will be moving out.

The TCS only moved in like 4 years, and they were in Rosslyn before that at Wilson school. There is huge swatch of empty office buildings in Rosslyn/Courthouse, so only impediment would be finding space for a small tot lot (Rosslyn Children's Center had one on a second story balcony as well as an indoor padded play area b/c honestly, weather in DC kind of miserable 50% of the time -- and they had an endless wait list). There are plenty of places to move a small preschool like TCS; an elementary school is so much bigger and needs bigger space for physical education and play to be developmentally appropriate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Too many admin people are invested in Reed staying a daycare (its a perk as an employee of ACPS if you can get a spot).

That stinks, one of the ES in McLean/Falls Church has a similar problem.

Yeah, that's terrible! We should only care about kids and their families once the kids are 5.

I assume you are being sarcastic, but that has been the decision of the Arlington taxpayers; if you want pre-k support from the county you should run for office on that platform or just move to DC.

[Anonymous]

To answer your initial question, OP--this option does come up from time to time.

The land is not owned by APS. It's owned by the county. There would be a process of transferring/selling the land back to APS. (This is currently being debated about many, many sites--parks, libraries, other county-owned land--and that is another thread entirely).

As PPs have already said, it's a smaller building on a small site in a district which doesn't have an overcrowding issue right now.

Stratford has a lot more land/space around it, and there is a very big plan for redevelopment happening there right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To answer your initial question, OP--this option does come up from time to time.

The land is not owned by APS. It's owned by the county. There would be a process of transferring/selling the land back to APS. (This is currently being debated about many, many sites--parks, libraries, other county-owned land--and that is another thread entirely).

As PPs have already said, it's a smaller building on a small site in a district which doesn't have an overcrowding issue right now.

Stratford has a lot more land/space around it, and there is a very big plan for redevelopment happening there right now.

Yes. Stratford will open as a new middle school for N Arlington by 2019. The school board voted on that last year. The plan is for a 1,000 student middle school there.