Overcrowding at Arlington Traditional School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ATS parent here. We're over our official capacity because we agreed to let in extra kids. First, we increased class sizes and then we added trailers. We're fine with taking each grade to 4 classes. We're fine with trailers. We're just resisting attempts to take each grade to 5 classes, and adding something like 10 more trailers, without some sort of permanent renovation. The building is not large, and the multipurpose room and gym are not large.

Some of the schools that have more kids are also a larger building, with a larger gym and a larger cafeteria and more classrooms. I'm not saying they should be overloaded either - overcrowding is bad for everyone.

And part of the reason McKinley is overcrowded is because planning units asked to stay there instead of being moved to less crowded schools up North.

So generous. I'm glad you had a say in the matter, just like neighborhood schools..........oh, wait.

2nd part - Nope. You are confusing that with Swanson. The p/us wanted to stay at Tuckahoe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS has 542 students. McK has 757. At least according to APS, ATS has 4 trailers, McK has 8. It's more than bursting at the seams and lost its field too, after years of construction. And didn't gain an extra music or art or gifted teacher to account for the extra enrollment. Those are facts too.

Ummmm...what field did they lose? They will lose some field if they get more trailers. The current location of the trailers was an unusable green space.

You do bring up a good question. How many art teachers and music teachers do most schools in APS get?

No. Before construction, there was actually a baseball field at McKinley. You have to go back in time to find it, though. Starting a few years ago, they covered it with trailers for construction with the promise that the field/outdoor space would be restored after construction. Oops.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS has 542 students. McK has 757. At least according to APS, ATS has 4 trailers, McK has 8. It's more than bursting at the seams and lost its field too, after years of construction. And didn't gain an extra music or art or gifted teacher to account for the extra enrollment. Those are facts too.

Ummmm...what field did they lose? They will lose some field if they get more trailers. The current location of the trailers was an unusable green space.

You do bring up a good question. How many art teachers and music teachers do most schools in APS get?

No. Before construction, there was actually a baseball field at McKinley. You have to go back in time to find it, though. Starting a few years ago, they covered it with trailers for construction with the promise that the field/outdoor space would be restored after construction. Oops.

I wrote the bolded - sorry, I thought you were talking about ATS. I am very very aware of what happened at McKinley. McK has been dealing with unfair issues for a long time. Still a great school! ATS - even with 8 more trailers has TONS of field space left over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS has 542 students. McK has 757. At least according to APS, ATS has 4 trailers, McK has 8. It's more than bursting at the seams and lost its field too, after years of construction. And didn't gain an extra music or art or gifted teacher to account for the extra enrollment. Those are facts too.

Ummmm...what field did they lose? They will lose some field if they get more trailers. The current location of the trailers was an unusable green space.

You do bring up a good question. How many art teachers and music teachers do most schools in APS get?

No. Before construction, there was actually a baseball field at McKinley. You have to go back in time to find it, though. Starting a few years ago, they covered it with trailers for construction with the promise that the field/outdoor space would be restored after construction. Oops.

OP here. To say you have to go back in time to "find" the baseball field is slander. McKinley had a baseball field before, and it has one now. The difference is that APS has effectively "moved in the left field fence" for the main baseball diamond, and the "right field" fence for the secondary diamond.

That changes baseball and softball from a two to a three-dimensional experience. Kids now get to hit the ball off the wall, when they couldn't before. The children experience geometric concepts during PE in a way they never could under the old unplanned field setup. They get to experience a "Green Monster" or "Polo Grounds" experience (for you senior citizen types).

My larger point stands. APS is trying to lard Arlington Traditional with all sorts of kids so that they don't have to listen to people in neighborhood schools complain.

What APS perhaps SHOULD do is relocate ATS to the Discovery physical plant. Then you move Discovery kids to Nottingham, Nottingham ones to Glebe and Science Focus, and Glebe ones to the ATS building. I would be OK with this IFF:

1. Capacity was held to no more than the current student load at ATS. Then we'd have a physical plant that can actually accommodate the students without the relocatables that go against every traditional educational practice.

2. We are able to harvest enough slots from South Arlington schools (esp. FARMS) not wanting to bring their kids all the way North. In doing so, we graciously relieve some of the North Arlington burden by replacing those South Arlington kids with neighborhood kids. Discovery's current neighborhood, of course, should get first dibs on those slots.

3. The VPI slots at ATS get transferred to McKinley just until the new Reed school opens up. That would free up more spaces in ATS, lessening the impact on the current Discovery and Nottingham neighborhoods.

If we can accomplish all those things, then I'd be OK with moving to a proven facility like Discovery. Otherwise, let's reduce the ATS population so we can get rid of the relocatables and get the school we signed up for and deserve.

[Anonymous]

What is the big deal about trailers? Who cares if your kid is in a classroom or "relocatable?" I have a hard time understanding why people freak out about this, except that maybe they are snobs who equate trailers with poor people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS has 542 students. McK has 757. At least according to APS, ATS has 4 trailers, McK has 8. It's more than bursting at the seams and lost its field too, after years of construction. And didn't gain an extra music or art or gifted teacher to account for the extra enrollment. Those are facts too.

Ummmm...what field did they lose? They will lose some field if they get more trailers. The current location of the trailers was an unusable green space.

You do bring up a good question. How many art teachers and music teachers do most schools in APS get?

No. Before construction, there was actually a baseball field at McKinley. You have to go back in time to find it, though. Starting a few years ago, they covered it with trailers for construction with the promise that the field/outdoor space would be restored after construction. Oops.

OP here. To say you have to go back in time to "find" the baseball field is slander. McKinley had a baseball field before, and it has one now. The difference is that APS has effectively "moved in the left field fence" for the main baseball diamond, and the "right field" fence for the secondary diamond.

That changes baseball and softball from a two to a three-dimensional experience. Kids now get to hit the ball off the wall, when they couldn't before. The children experience geometric concepts during PE in a way they never could under the old unplanned field setup. They get to experience a "Green Monster" or "Polo Grounds" experience (for you senior citizen types).

My larger point stands. APS is trying to lard Arlington Traditional with all sorts of kids so that they don't have to listen to people in neighborhood schools complain.

What APS perhaps SHOULD do is relocate ATS to the Discovery physical plant. Then you move Discovery kids to Nottingham, Nottingham ones to Glebe and Science Focus, and Glebe ones to the ATS building. I would be OK with this IFF:

1. Capacity was held to no more than the current student load at ATS. Then we'd have a physical plant that can actually accommodate the students without the relocatables that go against every traditional educational practice.

2. We are able to harvest enough slots from South Arlington schools (esp. FARMS) not wanting to bring their kids all the way North. In doing so, we graciously relieve some of the North Arlington burden by replacing those South Arlington kids with neighborhood kids. Discovery's current neighborhood, of course, should get first dibs on those slots.

3. The VPI slots at ATS get transferred to McKinley just until the new Reed school opens up. That would free up more spaces in ATS, lessening the impact on the current Discovery and Nottingham neighborhoods.

If we can accomplish all those things, then I'd be OK with moving to a proven facility like Discovery. Otherwise, let's reduce the ATS population so we can get rid of the relocatables and get the school we signed up for and deserve.

Wow, slow clap for this one. I actually thought you were serious until I got to point 2, you laid that one a little too thick. Overall nice work though.

[Anonymous]

MCKinley has no baseball field. You are thinking of a different school.

[Anonymous]

I got duped! At least you revealed the soul of an ATS parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the big deal about trailers? Who cares if your kid is in a classroom or "relocatable?" I have a hard time understanding why people freak out about this, except that maybe they are snobs who equate trailers with poor people.

Do trailers have bathrooms? (I haven't actually been in one.) I am just wondering if ATS can put K in trailers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the big deal about trailers? Who cares if your kid is in a classroom or "relocatable?" I have a hard time understanding why people freak out about this, except that maybe they are snobs who equate trailers with poor people.

Do trailers have bathrooms? (I haven't actually been in one.) I am just wondering if ATS can put K in trailers.

I believe they all do, all the ones I have been in have had bathrooms. Generally they prefer to put the older grades in the trailers because there are fewer safety concerns with older kids moving between the trailers and the main school building, and because walkers in fourth and fifth grade can be released directly from the trailer at the end of the day rather than having to be walked around/through the school to meet parents at a dismissal area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the big deal about trailers? Who cares if your kid is in a classroom or "relocatable?" I have a hard time understanding why people freak out about this, except that maybe they are snobs who equate trailers with poor people.

Do trailers have bathrooms? (I haven't actually been in one.) I am just wondering if ATS can put K in trailers.

Yes, PK kids are in trailers at Campbell. They have bathrooms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS has 542 students. McK has 757. At least according to APS, ATS has 4 trailers, McK has 8. It's more than bursting at the seams and lost its field too, after years of construction. And didn't gain an extra music or art or gifted teacher to account for the extra enrollment. Those are facts too.

Ummmm...what field did they lose? They will lose some field if they get more trailers. The current location of the trailers was an unusable green space.

You do bring up a good question. How many art teachers and music teachers do most schools in APS get?

No. Before construction, there was actually a baseball field at McKinley. You have to go back in time to find it, though. Starting a few years ago, they covered it with trailers for construction with the promise that the field/outdoor space would be restored after construction. Oops.

OP here. To say you have to go back in time to "find" the baseball field is slander. McKinley had a baseball field before, and it has one now. The difference is that APS has effectively "moved in the left field fence" for the main baseball diamond, and the "right field" fence for the secondary diamond.

That changes baseball and softball from a two to a three-dimensional experience. Kids now get to hit the ball off the wall, when they couldn't before. The children experience geometric concepts during PE in a way they never could under the old unplanned field setup. They get to experience a "Green Monster" or "Polo Grounds" experience (for you senior citizen types).

My larger point stands. APS is trying to lard Arlington Traditional with all sorts of kids so that they don't have to listen to people in neighborhood schools complain.

What APS perhaps SHOULD do is relocate ATS to the Discovery physical plant. Then you move Discovery kids to Nottingham, Nottingham ones to Glebe and Science Focus, and Glebe ones to the ATS building. I would be OK with this IFF:

1. Capacity was held to no more than the current student load at ATS. Then we'd have a physical plant that can actually accommodate the students without the relocatables that go against every traditional educational practice.

2. We are able to harvest enough slots from South Arlington schools (esp. FARMS) not wanting to bring their kids all the way North. In doing so, we graciously relieve some of the North Arlington burden by replacing those South Arlington kids with neighborhood kids. Discovery's current neighborhood, of course, should get first dibs on those slots.

3. The VPI slots at ATS get transferred to McKinley just until the new Reed school opens up. That would free up more spaces in ATS, lessening the impact on the current Discovery and Nottingham neighborhoods.

If we can accomplish all those things, then I'd be OK with moving to a proven facility like Discovery. Otherwise, let's reduce the ATS population so we can get rid of the relocatables and get the school we signed up for and deserve.

I don't know whether to laugh or throw up. Thanks for the reminder why we moved out of Apartheid Arlington before the kids hit school age.

[Anonymous]

This was very obviously a troll post.

But Arlington still super sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[url=http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2018/mar/13/traditional-school-stuffing-arlington/]121%! For ATS!!! And yet the School Board wants to go from four relocatables on the ATS lot to twelve. Even though the whole point of the traditional education model is that you don't have ANY relocatables on the lot

Drew and Randolph don't have trailers. Come on down!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every school in the county is fighting being overcrowded. Why should ATS be any different? Much of the criticism of ATS comes off as sour grapes. "Oh, poor us. My kid didn't get into ATS so now we're going to trash the program at every opportunity."

Renovations were on the table at one point, and the school accepted the idea. And then APS didn't have the money, so they pulled the proposal to renovate.

If the program moves, it moves. But the community is coming out against being moved way over into a far corner of the county because it would adversely affect the kids from other parts of the county. For example, moving to Tuckahoe would really disadvantage the South Arlington kids whose parents can't get there easily.

My original point was that all the schools are not the same size, so they don't all have the same capacity. Adding trailers to a school does not necessarily add capacity. Anyone who fails to understand that might need a refresher course on math.

I'm looking at the Facilities Optimization Study right now, and it's showing that ATS can accommodate those 12 trailers and still have *tons* of open space. It further shows that, based on cafeteria capacity with a three-seating schedule, APS could accommodate up to 780 students. So don't sob that you can't possibly take more students, it's garbage.

780 students in a building made for 465 students? You are out of your mind!

No school currently has 780 students, and none ever will once the new schools are ready.