APS - new CIP proposal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why the *** does Montessori need another school? Both of our dual language programs are way over capacity (and now even more so, thanks school moves.) If there's anything that APS needs option-school wise, it's another elementary immersion program.

They shrunk both immersion programs to 96 K students this year. There were 8 Spanish speakers waitlisted at Key and none at Claremont. Claremont had a 91 person waitlist for English speakers and 33 at Key

Option schools should be as overcrowded as the most crowded neighborhood school, otherwise people start opting for the options to escape a packed school rather than actually for the program. This is the fatal flaw in HB for example.

It sounds like they need more Kindergardens. What a shortsighted decision!

They’re trying to bring it back to a 50/50 balance. If they can’t get enough Spanish speakers to pair with the English speakers, they shouldn’t have additional K classes. It undermines the fidelity of the program. And there are neighborhood seats in South Arlington. Drew is accepting transfers.

How convenient. We can’t make our school overcrowded because it would disrupt the delicate ratio of our program. I’m sure if there are 4 more English speaking kids per class they will manage. They need to absorb the over crowding just like neighborhood schools.

Claremont is already overcrowded and has been for years. I’m not an immersion parent, but this is stupid and you don’t have a grasp of your facts. The program should be 50/50, since that’s the model. Letting too many English speakers off the waitlist just dilutes the value of the program and overcrowds the school unnecessarily. You seem just to hate option schools. The option schools aren’t the reason Abingdon is f***ed. A boundary change could happen tomorrow and all the overcrowding in South Arlington would be solved, at least for now. But the SB punted because of angry parents. And with the new school in North Arlington opening this fall, I believe there isn’t a seat deficit overall, and they could solve any lingering capacity problems with another tweak to the changes they already made. But guess what: everyone wants somebody else to be the ones moved. Not the fault of Immersion, or option schools. The choices are: uneven overcrowding or boundary changes. The parents have picked their poison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why the *** does Montessori need another school? Both of our dual language programs are way over capacity (and now even more so, thanks school moves.) If there's anything that APS needs option-school wise, it's another elementary immersion program.

They shrunk both immersion programs to 96 K students this year. There were 8 Spanish speakers waitlisted at Key and none at Claremont. Claremont had a 91 person waitlist for English speakers and 33 at Key

Option schools should be as overcrowded as the most crowded neighborhood school, otherwise people start opting for the options to escape a packed school rather than actually for the program. This is the fatal flaw in HB for example.

It sounds like they need more Kindergardens. What a shortsighted decision!

They’re trying to bring it back to a 50/50 balance. If they can’t get enough Spanish speakers to pair with the English speakers, they shouldn’t have additional K classes. It undermines the fidelity of the program. And there are neighborhood seats in South Arlington. Drew is accepting transfers.

How convenient. We can’t make our school overcrowded because it would disrupt the delicate ratio of our program. I’m sure if there are 4 more English speaking kids per class they will manage. They need to absorb the over crowding just like neighborhood schools.

Claremont is already overcrowded and has been for years. I’m not an immersion parent, but this is stupid and you don’t have a grasp of your facts. The program should be 50/50, since that’s the model. Letting too many English speakers off the waitlist just dilutes the value of the program and overcrowds the school unnecessarily. You seem just to hate option schools. The option schools aren’t the reason Abingdon is f***ed. A boundary change could happen tomorrow and all the overcrowding in South Arlington would be solved, at least for now. But the SB punted because of angry parents. And with the new school in North Arlington opening this fall, I believe there isn’t a seat deficit overall, and they could solve any lingering capacity problems with another tweak to the changes they already made. But guess what: everyone wants somebody else to be the ones moved. Not the fault of Immersion, or option schools. The choices are: uneven overcrowding or boundary changes. The parents have picked their poison.

My stance is option school should always be as crowded as the MOST overcrowded neighborhood schools, especially if there is an Fing waitlist.

If they can’t attract enough students they should have neighborhood-only classes to make use of facilities.

And stop with your precious “model”. All of us have to make compromises.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/arlington/Board.nsf/files/C2RT7M7546E4/$file/F-1%20Supts%20Proposed%20FY%202022-2024%20CIP%20Presentation.pdf

All the money for secondary seats will go to building a new choice MS/HS at the Career Center. And a new Montessori building on the site of the old CC (even though it's elementary and we don't urgently need ES seats).

Middle school seats continue to have a huge deficit.

Virtual school is envisioned as the answer to the capacity problems:

"Virtual Learning May Impact Capacity Needs
•APS will have a virtual school for 2021-22
•A long-term virtual school will likely remain available for students who find it works better for them and their needs
•Virtual learning could reduce the needs for in-person seats, we will get a better sense of the impact over the next several years"

So, are they relocating the Montessori MS seats from Gunston AND adding MS seats to Arl Tech? How many seats short are they then?

For 2024-25 school year they are -531 seats; for 2025-26 they are -671. No relief for those MS students is planned at all it seems.

If this CIP proposal is adopted with the 1300 seat plan for the choice MS/HS at the Career Center, APS will still be short 500 seats for MS students.

If the 1800 seat proposal is adopted [the CIP document released yesterday says nothing about projected costs], APS will still be short 150 seats for MS students.

There is still no plan to build at Kenmore even though that campus is huge and under-utilized.

When APS chose to do a limited one-year plan last year, the SB directed staff to develop a CIP this year that meets all projected seat needs. This proposal doesn't accomplish that. From last year's CIP:

"The FY 2022 Four-to-Six-Year CIP will need to do the following:
• Meet the projected need for seats at all levels based on the Fall 2020 projections
• Potentially include additions, modifications, program moves, leased space, new construction, and/or other solutions that fit within the projected 10-year CIP funding"

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/2020-08-26-CIP_Report_Complete.pdf

Would they still be short those seats if the Montessori becomes K-8 in the repurposed CC building, thus freeing up space at Gunston from those who do Montessori there or kids who do ES Montessori but currently don't continue it into MS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/arlington/Board.nsf/files/C2RT7M7546E4/$file/F-1%20Supts%20Proposed%20FY%202022-2024%20CIP%20Presentation.pdf

All the money for secondary seats will go to building a new choice MS/HS at the Career Center. And a new Montessori building on the site of the old CC (even though it's elementary and we don't urgently need ES seats).

Middle school seats continue to have a huge deficit.

Virtual school is envisioned as the answer to the capacity problems:

"Virtual Learning May Impact Capacity Needs
•APS will have a virtual school for 2021-22
•A long-term virtual school will likely remain available for students who find it works better for them and their needs
•Virtual learning could reduce the needs for in-person seats, we will get a better sense of the impact over the next several years"

So, are they relocating the Montessori MS seats from Gunston AND adding MS seats to Arl Tech? How many seats short are they then?

For 2024-25 school year they are -531 seats; for 2025-26 they are -671. No relief for those MS students is planned at all it seems.

If this CIP proposal is adopted with the 1300 seat plan for the choice MS/HS at the Career Center, APS will still be short 500 seats for MS students.

If the 1800 seat proposal is adopted [the CIP document released yesterday says nothing about projected costs], APS will still be short 150 seats for MS students.

There is still no plan to build at Kenmore even though that campus is huge and under-utilized.

When APS chose to do a limited one-year plan last year, the SB directed staff to develop a CIP this year that meets all projected seat needs. This proposal doesn't accomplish that. From last year's CIP:

"The FY 2022 Four-to-Six-Year CIP will need to do the following:
• Meet the projected need for seats at all levels based on the Fall 2020 projections
• Potentially include additions, modifications, program moves, leased space, new construction, and/or other solutions that fit within the projected 10-year CIP funding"

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/2020-08-26-CIP_Report_Complete.pdf

Would they still be short those seats if the Montessori becomes K-8 in the repurposed CC building, thus freeing up space at Gunston from those who do Montessori there or kids who do ES Montessori but currently don't continue it into MS?

That's a good question. I don't think the MS Montessori program is very large right now, but perhaps it would grow if they brought it over to this site. But I get the impression from the slides that any MS seats added through this process are already accounted for. I think the 500 or 150 seat deficit is what this proposal leaves us with. Again, no budget for the project at this point so the 1800 seat option might be unachievable. Which would leave us with a 500 seat deficit for MS.

I'm also concerned with how they handle the two years of extreme MS overcrowding between 2024-26. My own kids will be in middle school then. That is a whole lot of trailers. Where are the creative solutions they implied they would be looking at to meet projected seat needs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why the *** does Montessori need another school? Both of our dual language programs are way over capacity (and now even more so, thanks school moves.) If there's anything that APS needs option-school wise, it's another elementary immersion program.

They shrunk both immersion programs to 96 K students this year. There were 8 Spanish speakers waitlisted at Key and none at Claremont. Claremont had a 91 person waitlist for English speakers and 33 at Key

Option schools should be as overcrowded as the most crowded neighborhood school, otherwise people start opting for the options to escape a packed school rather than actually for the program. This is the fatal flaw in HB for example.

It sounds like they need more Kindergardens. What a shortsighted decision!

They’re trying to bring it back to a 50/50 balance. If they can’t get enough Spanish speakers to pair with the English speakers, they shouldn’t have additional K classes. It undermines the fidelity of the program. And there are neighborhood seats in South Arlington. Drew is accepting transfers.

How convenient. We can’t make our school overcrowded because it would disrupt the delicate ratio of our program. I’m sure if there are 4 more English speaking kids per class they will manage. They need to absorb the over crowding just like neighborhood schools.

Claremont is already overcrowded and has been for years. I’m not an immersion parent, but this is stupid and you don’t have a grasp of your facts. The program should be 50/50, since that’s the model. Letting too many English speakers off the waitlist just dilutes the value of the program and overcrowds the school unnecessarily. You seem just to hate option schools. The option schools aren’t the reason Abingdon is f***ed. A boundary change could happen tomorrow and all the overcrowding in South Arlington would be solved, at least for now. But the SB punted because of angry parents. And with the new school in North Arlington opening this fall, I believe there isn’t a seat deficit overall, and they could solve any lingering capacity problems with another tweak to the changes they already made. But guess what: everyone wants somebody else to be the ones moved. Not the fault of Immersion, or option schools. The choices are: uneven overcrowding or boundary changes. The parents have picked their poison.

My stance is option school should always be as crowded as the MOST overcrowded neighborhood schools, especially if there is an Fing waitlist.

If they can’t attract enough students they should have neighborhood-only classes to make use of facilities.

And stop with your precious “model”. All of us have to make compromises.

Nope. Letting all those white kids off the waitlist to Claremont or Key just means those two schools needlessly take in more kids, while the most crowded neighborhood school(s) won’t be helped, and don’t want to be helped if it means they have to go to an adjacent school. That’s a solution available NOW. If you’re at Abingdon they will even give you transportation to Drew.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/arlington/Board.nsf/files/C2RT7M7546E4/$file/F-1%20Supts%20Proposed%20FY%202022-2024%20CIP%20Presentation.pdf

All the money for secondary seats will go to building a new choice MS/HS at the Career Center. And a new Montessori building on the site of the old CC (even though it's elementary and we don't urgently need ES seats).

Middle school seats continue to have a huge deficit.

Virtual school is envisioned as the answer to the capacity problems:

"Virtual Learning May Impact Capacity Needs
•APS will have a virtual school for 2021-22
•A long-term virtual school will likely remain available for students who find it works better for them and their needs
•Virtual learning could reduce the needs for in-person seats, we will get a better sense of the impact over the next several years"

So, are they relocating the Montessori MS seats from Gunston AND adding MS seats to Arl Tech? How many seats short are they then?

For 2024-25 school year they are -531 seats; for 2025-26 they are -671. No relief for those MS students is planned at all it seems.

If this CIP proposal is adopted with the 1300 seat plan for the choice MS/HS at the Career Center, APS will still be short 500 seats for MS students.

If the 1800 seat proposal is adopted [the CIP document released yesterday says nothing about projected costs], APS will still be short 150 seats for MS students.

There is still no plan to build at Kenmore even though that campus is huge and under-utilized.

When APS chose to do a limited one-year plan last year, the SB directed staff to develop a CIP this year that meets all projected seat needs. This proposal doesn't accomplish that. From last year's CIP:

"The FY 2022 Four-to-Six-Year CIP will need to do the following:
• Meet the projected need for seats at all levels based on the Fall 2020 projections
• Potentially include additions, modifications, program moves, leased space, new construction, and/or other solutions that fit within the projected 10-year CIP funding"

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/2020-08-26-CIP_Report_Complete.pdf

Would they still be short those seats if the Montessori becomes K-8 in the repurposed CC building, thus freeing up space at Gunston from those who do Montessori there or kids who do ES Montessori but currently don't continue it into MS?

That's a good question. I don't think the MS Montessori program is very large right now, but perhaps it would grow if they brought it over to this site. But I get the impression from the slides that any MS seats added through this process are already accounted for. I think the 500 or 150 seat deficit is what this proposal leaves us with. Again, no budget for the project at this point so the 1800 seat option might be unachievable. Which would leave us with a 500 seat deficit for MS.

I'm also concerned with how they handle the two years of extreme MS overcrowding between 2024-26. My own kids will be in middle school then. That is a whole lot of trailers. Where are the creative solutions they implied they would be looking at to meet projected seat needs?

Did anyone watch the SB meeting last night? Did Duran provide any further information about the CIP proposal or did the SB ask any questions about it? When do we get the cost information?

[Anonymous]

Back to the CIP discussion, I get that the new HS building adds 800 seats like they were planning on (plus covers the growth of Arlington Tech which thus far just got trailers). But how many new seats are created at the old Career Center building if Montessori moves there? Did they say that?

I can't really get my head around this proposal without understanding what it costs and how many seats we are adding. Plus, how many cars fit in the new gravel lot? Enough for a 1900 student high school? Plus however many are at Montessori?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Back to the CIP discussion, I get that the new HS building adds 800 seats like they were planning on (plus covers the growth of Arlington Tech which thus far just got trailers). But how many new seats are created at the old Career Center building if Montessori moves there? Did they say that?

I can't really get my head around this proposal without understanding what it costs and how many seats we are adding. Plus, how many cars fit in the new gravel lot? Enough for a 1900 student high school? Plus however many are at Montessori?

They didn't say how many Montessori seats would be added. For the MS/HS - are those choice seats all for Arlington Tech or also some other unidentified choice program. Is there going to be that much demand for Arl Tech?? 1800 students?? Isn't that nearly 3x HB Woodlawn's size? I feel like we are right back where we started, APS is ignoring the problems with this plan, and is proposing the most expensive option of tear everything down and build everything back up again. WTH???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Back to the CIP discussion, I get that the new HS building adds 800 seats like they were planning on (plus covers the growth of Arlington Tech which thus far just got trailers). But how many new seats are created at the old Career Center building if Montessori moves there? Did they say that?

I can't really get my head around this proposal without understanding what it costs and how many seats we are adding. Plus, how many cars fit in the new gravel lot? Enough for a 1900 student high school? Plus however many are at Montessori?

They didn't say how many Montessori seats would be added. For the MS/HS - are those choice seats all for Arlington Tech or also some other unidentified choice program. Is there going to be that much demand for Arl Tech?? 1800 students?? Isn't that nearly 3x HB Woodlawn's size? I feel like we are right back where we started, APS is ignoring the problems with this plan, and is proposing the most expensive option of tear everything down and build everything back up again. WTH???

Montessori getting a shiny new building is a parting gift to Monique. Meanwhile, Claremont and Campbell will likely have their own school moves voted on over the next school year, if Lisa Stengle has her way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Back to the CIP discussion, I get that the new HS building adds 800 seats like they were planning on (plus covers the growth of Arlington Tech which thus far just got trailers). But how many new seats are created at the old Career Center building if Montessori moves there? Did they say that?

I can't really get my head around this proposal without understanding what it costs and how many seats we are adding. Plus, how many cars fit in the new gravel lot? Enough for a 1900 student high school? Plus however many are at Montessori?

They didn't say how many Montessori seats would be added. For the MS/HS - are those choice seats all for Arlington Tech or also some other unidentified choice program. Is there going to be that much demand for Arl Tech?? 1800 students?? Isn't that nearly 3x HB Woodlawn's size? I feel like we are right back where we started, APS is ignoring the problems with this plan, and is proposing the most expensive option of tear everything down and build everything back up again. WTH???

Good question. Tech is already at 600. Would they grow it to 1400? I don't think it can be an arts choice program because they are not planning on a full-size theater. Lots of unanswered questions here.

[Anonymous]

Why can’t we move Kenmore somewhere like Career Center and build a full size high school there?? Is it still about buses???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t we move Kenmore somewhere like Career Center and build a full size high school there?? Is it still about buses???

Exactly!! Kenmore's campus is 30 acres. It was always the natural site for a 4th high school. How many years have they wasted at this point and gotten nowhere? Rebuild Kenmore MS at VHC and make Kenmore a HS. Done!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why the *** does Montessori need another school? Both of our dual language programs are way over capacity (and now even more so, thanks school moves.) If there's anything that APS needs option-school wise, it's another elementary immersion program.

They shrunk both immersion programs to 96 K students this year. There were 8 Spanish speakers waitlisted at Key and none at Claremont. Claremont had a 91 person waitlist for English speakers and 33 at Key

Option schools should be as overcrowded as the most crowded neighborhood school, otherwise people start opting for the options to escape a packed school rather than actually for the program. This is the fatal flaw in HB for example.

It sounds like they need more Kindergardens. What a shortsighted decision!

And parents want their kids to go to HB because it’s an excellent program, not necessarily because their neighborhood school is overcrowded.

As a current HB parent who has another kid at another APS high school, I can confidently say that HB is not a private school. It’s great for a lot of reasons that in my opinion have the do almost exclusively with the people in the building, but it’s just APS when all is said and done.

BS. People know it’s essentially private school on the public dime. Never over crowded. It has the same curriculum, so it has lost lots of its luster from years past. It’s like ATS, the real secret sauce is that it’s opt-in so you get motivated parents. The independent study aspect of the program also filters likewise. Now it has a new marquee building, it should be as crowded as all the high schools and then we’ll see if people apply at same rate.

+1,000,000

I've had four kids go thru or are currently in APS and every year in fifth grade something like 98% of my kids' friends' parents tell me they are putting the kid into the HB lottery because it is essentially "free" private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They have to build a new facility for Montessori elementary if they’re going to repurpose that part of the site for the Career Center expansion. That was always par of the plan.

Disagree with the bolded. The proposal contemplates repurposing the old Career Center building for Montessori. Hopefully that will be at minimal expense, but I'm not too familiar with the space and how easily adapted it would be to elementary classrooms.

DP - I agree with the PPP. It was always part of Montessori's plan and I'm sure the Montessori SB member had a hand in this plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/arlington/Board.nsf/files/C2RT7M7546E4/$file/F-1%20Supts%20Proposed%20FY%202022-2024%20CIP%20Presentation.pdf

All the money for secondary seats will go to building a new choice MS/HS at the Career Center. And a new Montessori building on the site of the old CC (even though it's elementary and we don't urgently need ES seats).

Middle school seats continue to have a huge deficit.

Virtual school is envisioned as the answer to the capacity problems:

"Virtual Learning May Impact Capacity Needs
•APS will have a virtual school for 2021-22
•A long-term virtual school will likely remain available for students who find it works better for them and their needs
•Virtual learning could reduce the needs for in-person seats, we will get a better sense of the impact over the next several years"

So, are they relocating the Montessori MS seats from Gunston AND adding MS seats to Arl Tech? How many seats short are they then?

For 2024-25 school year they are -531 seats; for 2025-26 they are -671. No relief for those MS students is planned at all it seems.

If this CIP proposal is adopted with the 1300 seat plan for the choice MS/HS at the Career Center, APS will still be short 500 seats for MS students.

If the 1800 seat proposal is adopted [the CIP document released yesterday says nothing about projected costs], APS will still be short 150 seats for MS students.

There is still no plan to build at Kenmore even though that campus is huge and under-utilized.

When APS chose to do a limited one-year plan last year, the SB directed staff to develop a CIP this year that meets all projected seat needs. This proposal doesn't accomplish that. From last year's CIP:

"The FY 2022 Four-to-Six-Year CIP will need to do the following:
• Meet the projected need for seats at all levels based on the Fall 2020 projections
• Potentially include additions, modifications, program moves, leased space, new construction, and/or other solutions that fit within the projected 10-year CIP funding"

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/2020-08-26-CIP_Report_Complete.pdf

Would they still be short those seats if the Montessori becomes K-8 in the repurposed CC building, thus freeing up space at Gunston from those who do Montessori there or kids who do ES Montessori but currently don't continue it into MS?

That's a good question. I don't think the MS Montessori program is very large right now, but perhaps it would grow if they brought it over to this site. But I get the impression from the slides that any MS seats added through this process are already accounted for. I think the 500 or 150 seat deficit is what this proposal leaves us with. Again, no budget for the project at this point so the 1800 seat option might be unachievable. Which would leave us with a 500 seat deficit for MS.

I'm also concerned with how they handle the two years of extreme MS overcrowding between 2024-26. My own kids will be in middle school then. That is a whole lot of trailers. Where are the creative solutions they implied they would be looking at to meet projected seat needs?

Um...that would be their virtual instruction model solution. Create it and they will come (we hope). Sorry, PP; but that's as creative as APS gets.