APS Closing Nottingham

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly I think many people should be upset over this-“underemrollment” means there are not 27 kids packed into a classroom. The 27 maximum permitted per classroom as a new phenomenon, previously was 24, and before that 22 or something like that. Let’s not act like Nottingham has 10 or 12 kids in the classroom. There are plenty of kids there. “ Underenrollment” is a misleading term when you think about what full enrollment looks like. Nottingham is actually closer to an ideal student ratio.

I totally agree with this. I felt like they slipped the class size increase through. And now that they have space—I get it it’s in N Arlington and those elitists should burn—too bad sucker. It’s so frustrating.

Both of you need to get some facts.

Only 2 kindergarten classes this past year. Both at or above class size max. 3 classes in most of the higher grades and mostly at or just under the max size. Similar to many of the elementaries. 5th grades classes are among the smallest.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Class-Size-Report-2022-23_FINAL-2.pdf

TWO kindergartens?! That’s a not a school that people are coming back to post-pandemic. That’s a school that is not going to make it. How many kids is that, 50? 52?

Report says 49 kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First they overcrowded Glebe
And I did not speak out
Because I didn't have kids there and so eff that.
Then they repurposed McKinley
And I did not speak out
and in fact was a little grateful over it because better them than us.
Then they came for Nottingham
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
and in fact for some reason people don't seem to like me that much and they're starting to get on my nerves

It's funny because if Nottingham hadn't been so vocal about turning away kids from other schools before because they were oh so crowded, they might not be underenrolled now. But noooooo, like always the Nottingham moms and dads were all: FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!!

Everyone else is really done with Nottingham's Thunderdome antics. Reading some of the terrible "I'm a lawyer but have no experience with this kind of law" takes posted here is hysterical -- you guys are too much. Look at this this way, Nottingham: This is actually an opportunity for you, since your school isn't being scrapped, it's being given an extension. If enrollment numbers in your area go back up after covid, like you have been saying they will when folks return from private, then Nottingham will turn back into a local elementary in several years after the renovations. If not, and if you've been wrong about the numbers, then let's see what this experiment shows re whether the school is really needed as a local elementary.

Nottingham was overcrowded. Significantly so, and for some time. So overcrowded that we spent hundreds of millions of dollars on new elementary schools nearby. Now, less than a decade later, we are shutting down Nottingham because oops, we didn’t need that space after all.

Tell me- did the school board screw up then, or is it screwing up now? Because no rational district spends hundreds of millions of dollars to create new schools that aren’t needed. Have things changed so permanently and remarkably after COVID that we need to completely change course? If so, why aren’t we looking at that?

I don’t trust their projection data. Their confidence in it, despite being repeatedly wrong and it having the same sort of limitations that caused them to be caught flat footed in the 2010s, is very concerning.

I can see few people share this concern when it comes to sticking it to the Nottingham community. I don’t like being surrounded by idiots, and for that reason I’m looking toward the exits. Enjoy the bond service on those hundred million dollar schools.

I think it’s a little unfair to blame the school board for building a new school when it was clearly needed. (Although I do blame them for building clearly over the top fancy ones). No one could have predicted the pandemic/the resulting learning loss and exodus to private. The fact now is that APS doesn’t need an elementary school there now. If in 10 years an elementary school is needed, then great, the building is there and APS can reopen it.

Although, my prediction is that the demographics in that neighborhood have permanently changed. No 2 government employees can buy a house there like they could 20-30 years ago. And when people buy 2.5 to 3 million houses, they tend to go private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First they overcrowded Glebe
And I did not speak out
Because I didn't have kids there and so eff that.
Then they repurposed McKinley
And I did not speak out
and in fact was a little grateful over it because better them than us.
Then they came for Nottingham
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
and in fact for some reason people don't seem to like me that much and they're starting to get on my nerves

It's funny because if Nottingham hadn't been so vocal about turning away kids from other schools before because they were oh so crowded, they might not be underenrolled now. But noooooo, like always the Nottingham moms and dads were all: FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!!

Everyone else is really done with Nottingham's Thunderdome antics. Reading some of the terrible "I'm a lawyer but have no experience with this kind of law" takes posted here is hysterical -- you guys are too much. Look at this this way, Nottingham: This is actually an opportunity for you, since your school isn't being scrapped, it's being given an extension. If enrollment numbers in your area go back up after covid, like you have been saying they will when folks return from private, then Nottingham will turn back into a local elementary in several years after the renovations. If not, and if you've been wrong about the numbers, then let's see what this experiment shows re whether the school is really needed as a local elementary.

Nottingham was overcrowded. Significantly so, and for some time. So overcrowded that we spent hundreds of millions of dollars on new elementary schools nearby. Now, less than a decade later, we are shutting down Nottingham because oops, we didn’t need that space after all.

Tell me- did the school board screw up then, or is it screwing up now? Because no rational district spends hundreds of millions of dollars to create new schools that aren’t needed. Have things changed so permanently and remarkably after COVID that we need to completely change course? If so, why aren’t we looking at that?

I don’t trust their projection data. Their confidence in it, despite being repeatedly wrong and it having the same sort of limitations that caused them to be caught flat footed in the 2010s, is very concerning.

I can see few people share this concern when it comes to sticking it to the Nottingham community. I don’t like being surrounded by idiots, and for that reason I’m looking toward the exits. Enjoy the bond service on those hundred million dollar schools.

You had ONLY 50 kids enrolled in kindergarten this year! Ashlawn had 100. Cardinal had over 120. Glebe had 80. Even Taylor had 75. Abington had 120! How is that fair to other schools who are actually pulling their weight? Then you complain whenever the board attempts to redistrict more kids to Nottingham. Something is ALWAYS wrong with the plan, something is always "very concerning," ha. As a group, you are exhausting. I don't feel community with Nottingham because they have thrown other kids under the bus multiple times over the last several years. I wouldn't push for something to happen to their school, but if APS puts them on the chopping block, I'm not going out of my way to make arguments for you. Reap what you've sown -- if you look at it, you've brought this on yourselves by all your past actions.

You don’t know me sweetheart. I’m not even in Nottingham yet. I didn’t do anything to you, short of pay the bills for your kids to have brand new LEED Gold facilities that apparently were not needed. I’m not allowed to question massive expenses that were not prudently incurred?

I can see why my neighbors who can have already bailed. People don’t talk about anything intelligently in this district - everyone is a hysterical culture warrior. Sadly I can’t bail. We’re not all rich bastards up here.

[Anonymous]

^yup, that’s the problem when you’re the “poorest” person in a rich people neighborhood. If anything, you should be mad at your neighbors for going private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First they overcrowded Glebe
And I did not speak out
Because I didn't have kids there and so eff that.
Then they repurposed McKinley
And I did not speak out
and in fact was a little grateful over it because better them than us.
Then they came for Nottingham
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
and in fact for some reason people don't seem to like me that much and they're starting to get on my nerves

It's funny because if Nottingham hadn't been so vocal about turning away kids from other schools before because they were oh so crowded, they might not be underenrolled now. But noooooo, like always the Nottingham moms and dads were all: FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!!

Everyone else is really done with Nottingham's Thunderdome antics. Reading some of the terrible "I'm a lawyer but have no experience with this kind of law" takes posted here is hysterical -- you guys are too much. Look at this this way, Nottingham: This is actually an opportunity for you, since your school isn't being scrapped, it's being given an extension. If enrollment numbers in your area go back up after covid, like you have been saying they will when folks return from private, then Nottingham will turn back into a local elementary in several years after the renovations. If not, and if you've been wrong about the numbers, then let's see what this experiment shows re whether the school is really needed as a local elementary.

Nottingham was overcrowded. Significantly so, and for some time. So overcrowded that we spent hundreds of millions of dollars on new elementary schools nearby. Now, less than a decade later, we are shutting down Nottingham because oops, we didn’t need that space after all.

Tell me- did the school board screw up then, or is it screwing up now? Because no rational district spends hundreds of millions of dollars to create new schools that aren’t needed. Have things changed so permanently and remarkably after COVID that we need to completely change course? If so, why aren’t we looking at that?

I don’t trust their projection data. Their confidence in it, despite being repeatedly wrong and it having the same sort of limitations that caused them to be caught flat footed in the 2010s, is very concerning.

I can see few people share this concern when it comes to sticking it to the Nottingham community. I don’t like being surrounded by idiots, and for that reason I’m looking toward the exits. Enjoy the bond service on those hundred million dollar schools.

You had ONLY 50 kids enrolled in kindergarten this year! Ashlawn had 100. Cardinal had over 120. Glebe had 80. Even Taylor had 75. Abington had 120! How is that fair to other schools who are actually pulling their weight? Then you complain whenever the board attempts to redistrict more kids to Nottingham. Something is ALWAYS wrong with the plan, something is always "very concerning," ha. As a group, you are exhausting. I don't feel community with Nottingham because they have thrown other kids under the bus multiple times over the last several years. I wouldn't push for something to happen to their school, but if APS puts them on the chopping block, I'm not going out of my way to make arguments for you. Reap what you've sown -- if you look at it, you've brought this on yourselves by all your past actions.

You don’t know me sweetheart. I’m not even in Nottingham yet. I didn’t do anything to you, short of pay the bills for your kids to have brand new LEED Gold facilities that apparently were not needed. I’m not allowed to question massive expenses that were not prudently incurred?

I can see why my neighbors who can have already bailed. People don’t talk about anything intelligently in this district - everyone is a hysterical culture warrior. Sadly I can’t bail. We’re not all rich bastards up here.

You don't know me either, honey, and my kids certainly don't have brand new LEED Gold facilities. You certainly seem like you'll fit in with the other Nottingham parents, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly I think many people should be upset over this-“underemrollment” means there are not 27 kids packed into a classroom. The 27 maximum permitted per classroom as a new phenomenon, previously was 24, and before that 22 or something like that. Let’s not act like Nottingham has 10 or 12 kids in the classroom. There are plenty of kids there. “ Underenrollment” is a misleading term when you think about what full enrollment looks like. Nottingham is actually closer to an ideal student ratio.

I totally agree with this. I felt like they slipped the class size increase through. And now that they have space—I get it it’s in N Arlington and those elitists should burn—too bad sucker. It’s so frustrating.

Both of you need to get some facts.

Only 2 kindergarten classes this past year. Both at or above class size max. 3 classes in most of the higher grades and mostly at or just under the max size. Similar to many of the elementaries. 5th grades classes are among the smallest.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Class-Size-Report-2022-23_FINAL-2.pdf

TWO kindergartens?! That’s a not a school that people are coming back to post-pandemic. That’s a school that is not going to make it. How many kids is that, 50? 52?

Report says 49 kids.

I know a number of people who sat out this year at APS out of concern it was still a dumpster fire post COVID. Appears to have been accurate. Know even more that recently moved in and plan to enroll in the next two years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First they overcrowded Glebe
And I did not speak out
Because I didn't have kids there and so eff that.
Then they repurposed McKinley
And I did not speak out
and in fact was a little grateful over it because better them than us.
Then they came for Nottingham
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
and in fact for some reason people don't seem to like me that much and they're starting to get on my nerves

It's funny because if Nottingham hadn't been so vocal about turning away kids from other schools before because they were oh so crowded, they might not be underenrolled now. But noooooo, like always the Nottingham moms and dads were all: FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!!

Everyone else is really done with Nottingham's Thunderdome antics. Reading some of the terrible "I'm a lawyer but have no experience with this kind of law" takes posted here is hysterical -- you guys are too much. Look at this this way, Nottingham: This is actually an opportunity for you, since your school isn't being scrapped, it's being given an extension. If enrollment numbers in your area go back up after covid, like you have been saying they will when folks return from private, then Nottingham will turn back into a local elementary in several years after the renovations. If not, and if you've been wrong about the numbers, then let's see what this experiment shows re whether the school is really needed as a local elementary.

Nottingham was overcrowded. Significantly so, and for some time. So overcrowded that we spent hundreds of millions of dollars on new elementary schools nearby. Now, less than a decade later, we are shutting down Nottingham because oops, we didn’t need that space after all.

Tell me- did the school board screw up then, or is it screwing up now? Because no rational district spends hundreds of millions of dollars to create new schools that aren’t needed. Have things changed so permanently and remarkably after COVID that we need to completely change course? If so, why aren’t we looking at that?

I don’t trust their projection data. Their confidence in it, despite being repeatedly wrong and it having the same sort of limitations that caused them to be caught flat footed in the 2010s, is very concerning.

I can see few people share this concern when it comes to sticking it to the Nottingham community. I don’t like being surrounded by idiots, and for that reason I’m looking toward the exits. Enjoy the bond service on those hundred million dollar schools.

You had ONLY 50 kids enrolled in kindergarten this year! Ashlawn had 100. Cardinal had over 120. Glebe had 80. Even Taylor had 75. Abington had 120! How is that fair to other schools who are actually pulling their weight? Then you complain whenever the board attempts to redistrict more kids to Nottingham. Something is ALWAYS wrong with the plan, something is always "very concerning," ha. As a group, you are exhausting. I don't feel community with Nottingham because they have thrown other kids under the bus multiple times over the last several years. I wouldn't push for something to happen to their school, but if APS puts them on the chopping block, I'm not going out of my way to make arguments for you. Reap what you've sown -- if you look at it, you've brought this on yourselves by all your past actions.

You don’t know me sweetheart. I’m not even in Nottingham yet. I didn’t do anything to you, short of pay the bills for your kids to have brand new LEED Gold facilities that apparently were not needed. I’m not allowed to question massive expenses that were not prudently incurred?

I can see why my neighbors who can have already bailed. People don’t talk about anything intelligently in this district - everyone is a hysterical culture warrior. Sadly I can’t bail. We’re not all rich bastards up here.

You don't know me either, honey, and my kids certainly don't have brand new LEED Gold facilities. You certainly seem like you'll fit in with the other Nottingham parents, though.

Cool. And you sound like the type of person that votes for incompetence if they check your woke equity warrior boxes. Never ask questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly I think many people should be upset over this-“underemrollment” means there are not 27 kids packed into a classroom. The 27 maximum permitted per classroom as a new phenomenon, previously was 24, and before that 22 or something like that. Let’s not act like Nottingham has 10 or 12 kids in the classroom. There are plenty of kids there. “ Underenrollment” is a misleading term when you think about what full enrollment looks like. Nottingham is actually closer to an ideal student ratio.

I totally agree with this. I felt like they slipped the class size increase through. And now that they have space—I get it it’s in N Arlington and those elitists should burn—too bad sucker. It’s so frustrating.

Both of you need to get some facts.

Only 2 kindergarten classes this past year. Both at or above class size max. 3 classes in most of the higher grades and mostly at or just under the max size. Similar to many of the elementaries. 5th grades classes are among the smallest.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Class-Size-Report-2022-23_FINAL-2.pdf

TWO kindergartens?! That’s a not a school that people are coming back to post-pandemic. That’s a school that is not going to make it. How many kids is that, 50? 52?

Report says 49 kids.

Looking harder at the stats posted in the link above, no other school besides Nottingham is so underenrolled that it had only 2 classrooms per grade. But Nottingham had 2 of those classrooms: Kindergarten (49 kids total) and 4th grade (54 kids total). No other school even had one grade like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly I think many people should be upset over this-“underemrollment” means there are not 27 kids packed into a classroom. The 27 maximum permitted per classroom as a new phenomenon, previously was 24, and before that 22 or something like that. Let’s not act like Nottingham has 10 or 12 kids in the classroom. There are plenty of kids there. “ Underenrollment” is a misleading term when you think about what full enrollment looks like. Nottingham is actually closer to an ideal student ratio.

I totally agree with this. I felt like they slipped the class size increase through. And now that they have space—I get it it’s in N Arlington and those elitists should burn—too bad sucker. It’s so frustrating.

Both of you need to get some facts.

Only 2 kindergarten classes this past year. Both at or above class size max. 3 classes in most of the higher grades and mostly at or just under the max size. Similar to many of the elementaries. 5th grades classes are among the smallest.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Class-Size-Report-2022-23_FINAL-2.pdf

TWO kindergartens?! That’s a not a school that people are coming back to post-pandemic. That’s a school that is not going to make it. How many kids is that, 50? 52?

Report says 49 kids.

Looking harder at the stats posted in the link above, no other school besides Nottingham is so underenrolled that it had only 2 classrooms per grade. But Nottingham had 2 of those classrooms: Kindergarten (49 kids total) and 4th grade (54 kids total). No other school even had one grade like that.

Look at the dip. There are tons of kids in this area, more than ever it seems with every empty nester moving out. Kids left or held off on enrolling due to COVID, or they transferred to private.

Seems it would be pretty easy to poll the households about their future plans to see if this is a pattern this going to hold up, but that would require work. We all know the emotions of certain families who feel wronged by the Nottingham PTA are more important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly I think many people should be upset over this-“underemrollment” means there are not 27 kids packed into a classroom. The 27 maximum permitted per classroom as a new phenomenon, previously was 24, and before that 22 or something like that. Let’s not act like Nottingham has 10 or 12 kids in the classroom. There are plenty of kids there. “ Underenrollment” is a misleading term when you think about what full enrollment looks like. Nottingham is actually closer to an ideal student ratio.

I totally agree with this. I felt like they slipped the class size increase through. And now that they have space—I get it it’s in N Arlington and those elitists should burn—too bad sucker. It’s so frustrating.

Both of you need to get some facts.

Only 2 kindergarten classes this past year. Both at or above class size max. 3 classes in most of the higher grades and mostly at or just under the max size. Similar to many of the elementaries. 5th grades classes are among the smallest.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Class-Size-Report-2022-23_FINAL-2.pdf

TWO kindergartens?! That’s a not a school that people are coming back to post-pandemic. That’s a school that is not going to make it. How many kids is that, 50? 52?

Report says 49 kids.

Looking harder at the stats posted in the link above, no other school besides Nottingham is so underenrolled that it had only 2 classrooms per grade. But Nottingham had 2 of those classrooms: Kindergarten (49 kids total) and 4th grade (54 kids total). No other school even had one grade like that.

Look at the dip. There are tons of kids in this area, more than ever it seems with every empty nester moving out. Kids left or held off on enrolling due to COVID, or they transferred to private.

Seems it would be pretty easy to poll the households about their future plans to see if this is a pattern this going to hold up, but that would require work. We all know the emotions of certain families who feel wronged by the Nottingham PTA are more important.

Who would you poll? All households with kids? Our kids are in private and if someone asked me whether we would ever return, the answer is that I have no earthly idea. I suspect there are many families like ours that are just playing it by ear. Our responses would be interesting but likely meaningless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly I think many people should be upset over this-“underemrollment” means there are not 27 kids packed into a classroom. The 27 maximum permitted per classroom as a new phenomenon, previously was 24, and before that 22 or something like that. Let’s not act like Nottingham has 10 or 12 kids in the classroom. There are plenty of kids there. “ Underenrollment” is a misleading term when you think about what full enrollment looks like. Nottingham is actually closer to an ideal student ratio.

I totally agree with this. I felt like they slipped the class size increase through. And now that they have space—I get it it’s in N Arlington and those elitists should burn—too bad sucker. It’s so frustrating.

Both of you need to get some facts.

Only 2 kindergarten classes this past year. Both at or above class size max. 3 classes in most of the higher grades and mostly at or just under the max size. Similar to many of the elementaries. 5th grades classes are among the smallest.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Class-Size-Report-2022-23_FINAL-2.pdf

TWO kindergartens?! That’s a not a school that people are coming back to post-pandemic. That’s a school that is not going to make it. How many kids is that, 50? 52?

Report says 49 kids.

Looking harder at the stats posted in the link above, no other school besides Nottingham is so underenrolled that it had only 2 classrooms per grade. But Nottingham had 2 of those classrooms: Kindergarten (49 kids total) and 4th grade (54 kids total). No other school even had one grade like that.

Look at the dip. There are tons of kids in this area, more than ever it seems with every empty nester moving out. Kids left or held off on enrolling due to COVID, or they transferred to private.

Seems it would be pretty easy to poll the households about their future plans to see if this is a pattern this going to hold up, but that would require work. We all know the emotions of certain families who feel wronged by the Nottingham PTA are more important.

Who would you poll? All households with kids? Our kids are in private and if someone asked me whether we would ever return, the answer is that I have no earthly idea. I suspect there are many families like ours that are just playing it by ear. Our responses would be interesting but likely meaningless.

It would certainly get you better data than the number of births at VHC minus a capture factor that has no present relevance to current patterns. Any sort of caution might be warranted here. It wouldn’t take much to find ourselves in the same unanticipated enrollment situation that caused the apparent waste of $150m+ on new schools that weren’t needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly I think many people should be upset over this-“underemrollment” means there are not 27 kids packed into a classroom. The 27 maximum permitted per classroom as a new phenomenon, previously was 24, and before that 22 or something like that. Let’s not act like Nottingham has 10 or 12 kids in the classroom. There are plenty of kids there. “ Underenrollment” is a misleading term when you think about what full enrollment looks like. Nottingham is actually closer to an ideal student ratio.

I totally agree with this. I felt like they slipped the class size increase through. And now that they have space—I get it it’s in N Arlington and those elitists should burn—too bad sucker. It’s so frustrating.

Both of you need to get some facts.

Only 2 kindergarten classes this past year. Both at or above class size max. 3 classes in most of the higher grades and mostly at or just under the max size. Similar to many of the elementaries. 5th grades classes are among the smallest.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Class-Size-Report-2022-23_FINAL-2.pdf

TWO kindergartens?! That’s a not a school that people are coming back to post-pandemic. That’s a school that is not going to make it. How many kids is that, 50? 52?

Report says 49 kids.

Looking harder at the stats posted in the link above, no other school besides Nottingham is so underenrolled that it had only 2 classrooms per grade. But Nottingham had 2 of those classrooms: Kindergarten (49 kids total) and 4th grade (54 kids total). No other school even had one grade like that.

Look at the dip. There are tons of kids in this area, more than ever it seems with every empty nester moving out. Kids left or held off on enrolling due to COVID, or they transferred to private.

Seems it would be pretty easy to poll the households about their future plans to see if this is a pattern this going to hold up, but that would require work. We all know the emotions of certain families who feel wronged by the Nottingham PTA are more important.

Why are people blaming the Nottingham PTA? For what? Why not blame APS for whatever beef they have?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First they overcrowded Glebe
And I did not speak out
Because I didn't have kids there and so eff that.
Then they repurposed McKinley
And I did not speak out
and in fact was a little grateful over it because better them than us.
Then they came for Nottingham
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
and in fact for some reason people don't seem to like me that much and they're starting to get on my nerves

It's funny because if Nottingham hadn't been so vocal about turning away kids from other schools before because they were oh so crowded, they might not be underenrolled now. But noooooo, like always the Nottingham moms and dads were all: FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!!

Everyone else is really done with Nottingham's Thunderdome antics. Reading some of the terrible "I'm a lawyer but have no experience with this kind of law" takes posted here is hysterical -- you guys are too much. Look at this this way, Nottingham: This is actually an opportunity for you, since your school isn't being scrapped, it's being given an extension. If enrollment numbers in your area go back up after covid, like you have been saying they will when folks return from private, then Nottingham will turn back into a local elementary in several years after the renovations. If not, and if you've been wrong about the numbers, then let's see what this experiment shows re whether the school is really needed as a local elementary.

Nottingham was overcrowded. Significantly so, and for some time. So overcrowded that we spent hundreds of millions of dollars on new elementary schools nearby. Now, less than a decade later, we are shutting down Nottingham because oops, we didn’t need that space after all.

Tell me- did the school board screw up then, or is it screwing up now? Because no rational district spends hundreds of millions of dollars to create new schools that aren’t needed. Have things changed so permanently and remarkably after COVID that we need to completely change course? If so, why aren’t we looking at that?

I don’t trust their projection data. Their confidence in it, despite being repeatedly wrong and it having the same sort of limitations that caused them to be caught flat footed in the 2010s, is very concerning.

I can see few people share this concern when it comes to sticking it to the Nottingham community. I don’t like being surrounded by idiots, and for that reason I’m looking toward the exits. Enjoy the bond service on those hundred million dollar schools.

Totally agree with you and not a Nottingham parent. People point at the numbers today and, yes, they are low. But no one holds the staff accountable for their terrible predictions. Instead, we rely on their terrible predictions for another round of fighting. The inmates are running the asylum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly I think many people should be upset over this-“underemrollment” means there are not 27 kids packed into a classroom. The 27 maximum permitted per classroom as a new phenomenon, previously was 24, and before that 22 or something like that. Let’s not act like Nottingham has 10 or 12 kids in the classroom. There are plenty of kids there. “ Underenrollment” is a misleading term when you think about what full enrollment looks like. Nottingham is actually closer to an ideal student ratio.

I totally agree with this. I felt like they slipped the class size increase through. And now that they have space—I get it it’s in N Arlington and those elitists should burn—too bad sucker. It’s so frustrating.

Both of you need to get some facts.

Only 2 kindergarten classes this past year. Both at or above class size max. 3 classes in most of the higher grades and mostly at or just under the max size. Similar to many of the elementaries. 5th grades classes are among the smallest.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Class-Size-Report-2022-23_FINAL-2.pdf

TWO kindergartens?! That’s a not a school that people are coming back to post-pandemic. That’s a school that is not going to make it. How many kids is that, 50? 52?

Report says 49 kids.

Looking harder at the stats posted in the link above, no other school besides Nottingham is so underenrolled that it had only 2 classrooms per grade. But Nottingham had 2 of those classrooms: Kindergarten (49 kids total) and 4th grade (54 kids total). No other school even had one grade like that.

Look at the dip. There are tons of kids in this area, more than ever it seems with every empty nester moving out. Kids left or held off on enrolling due to COVID, or they transferred to private.

Seems it would be pretty easy to poll the households about their future plans to see if this is a pattern this going to hold up, but that would require work. We all know the emotions of certain families who feel wronged by the Nottingham PTA are more important.

Who would you poll? All households with kids? Our kids are in private and if someone asked me whether we would ever return, the answer is that I have no earthly idea. I suspect there are many families like ours that are just playing it by ear. Our responses would be interesting but likely meaningless.

It would certainly get you better data than the number of births at VHC minus a capture factor that has no present relevance to current patterns. Any sort of caution might be warranted here. It wouldn’t take much to find ourselves in the same unanticipated enrollment situation that caused the apparent waste of $150m+ on new schools that weren’t needed.

And that’s the reason the keep the building just in case they need to reopen an elementary school in the future. But right now if make no sense to keep such an under-enrolled school open when half the kids are in the walk zone or short bus ride to other under-enrolled schools. It’s just consolidation.

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Anonymous wrote:Honestly I think many people should be upset over this-“underemrollment” means there are not 27 kids packed into a classroom. The 27 maximum permitted per classroom as a new phenomenon, previously was 24, and before that 22 or something like that. Let’s not act like Nottingham has 10 or 12 kids in the classroom. There are plenty of kids there. “ Underenrollment” is a misleading term when you think about what full enrollment looks like. Nottingham is actually closer to an ideal student ratio.

I totally agree with this. I felt like they slipped the class size increase through. And now that they have space—I get it it’s in N Arlington and those elitists should burn—too bad sucker. It’s so frustrating.

Both of you need to get some facts.

Only 2 kindergarten classes this past year. Both at or above class size max. 3 classes in most of the higher grades and mostly at or just under the max size. Similar to many of the elementaries. 5th grades classes are among the smallest.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Class-Size-Report-2022-23_FINAL-2.pdf

TWO kindergartens?! That’s a not a school that people are coming back to post-pandemic. That’s a school that is not going to make it. How many kids is that, 50? 52?

Report says 49 kids.

Looking harder at the stats posted in the link above, no other school besides Nottingham is so underenrolled that it had only 2 classrooms per grade. But Nottingham had 2 of those classrooms: Kindergarten (49 kids total) and 4th grade (54 kids total). No other school even had one grade like that.

Look at the dip. There are tons of kids in this area, more than ever it seems with every empty nester moving out. Kids left or held off on enrolling due to COVID, or they transferred to private.

Seems it would be pretty easy to poll the households about their future plans to see if this is a pattern this going to hold up, but that would require work. We all know the emotions of certain families who feel wronged by the Nottingham PTA are more important.

Why are people blaming the Nottingham PTA? For what? Why not blame APS for whatever beef they have?

Who knows. Probably for engaging in the kind of zero sum gamesmanship that is the only way to not get bulldozed by incompetent APS planning staff and superintendents who can’t run anything beyond the Syphax jobs program.