What do you expect from APS staff (option/neighborhood) on 4/30?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So is there going to be a questionnaire, or was the staff full of shit about that too? I'm not sure what the point of it would be anyway, since they clearly don't care what the community thinks either way.

Honestly, there is little the community can say b/c there is not much capacity in the system and hard choices have to be made. People have to be moved. No one wants to move. There questionnaire is done.

And, everyone's community is super special and irreplaceable. No boundary change/school move will make people happy, the district just needs to have the balls to make a decision that works best for the district as a whole and not cave to the richest/loudest whiners.

The staff needs to be willing to have an honest process with all options (but the four officially excluded) on the table. Their own analysis would identify at least two schools in NW that are better candidates for option sites than Nottingham, sites that would be better not just for the Nottingham community but for NW as a whole, but they've disregarded it because it's not the result they want, which is dishonest. If that's the way they wanted to go with it, they shouldn't have created that farce of an analysis and should have just put their proposal out on the table for us to discuss openly and honestly.

And really, anyone else watching this process who thinks they're safe from any big changes is a fool, because this is only the latest in a long line of decisions by the SB/staff where we've learned after the fact that they were hiding key information and considerations from the public at the time. How do you think the boundaries are going to work when Nottingham becomes an option school? Most of Tuckahoe isn't going to be at Tuckahoe anymore, the only way you can fill McKinley once Reed opens is to take all of Tuckahoe's planning units south of Lee Highway and southwest of 66, and then they'll still have to hook the McKinley zone around the Reed zone to fill it (and take Ashlawn north of Wilson). Tuckahoe will be majority former-Nottingham after the switch. Ashlawn's boundary is still going to be a long, snaking mess unless the SB decides to cross 50 and fill it with former Carlin Springs families instead (which I think is a strong possibility because they're otherwise going to have a tough time placing those families. Glebe is either going to have a bunch of trailers even after this, or some of their walking families on the eastern side will be bused to Taylor or ASFS. McKinley, and to a lesser extent Tuckahoe, are still going to have a disproportionate number of students because they are the only schools in the staff-designated NW other than Jamestown that can take trailers, and we know the staff has declared Jamestown untouchable.

I think a lot of people in NW (and the north generally) who believe themselves to be sitting pretty right now are going to be very surprised when the new boundary map comes out. I guarantee you the staff already has a draft of it, but they're going to withhold it until the last minute when they make their recommendation and it's too late to revisit the location selection because they don't want more objections to their plan. So look at your school and think about what the boundaries will have to be after this. Make sure you're good with them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So is there going to be a questionnaire, or was the staff full of shit about that too? I'm not sure what the point of it would be anyway, since they clearly don't care what the community thinks either way.

Honestly, there is little the community can say b/c there is not much capacity in the system and hard choices have to be made. People have to be moved. No one wants to move. There questionnaire is done.

And, everyone's community is super special and irreplaceable. No boundary change/school move will make people happy, the district just needs to have the balls to make a decision that works best for the district as a whole and not cave to the richest/loudest whiners.

Agree completely and wish that APS didn't even bother with all their requests for input. All that does is prolong the process, feed parents' egos that what they have to say is soooo important, and increase strife.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When Nottingham is an option school and Discovery is bursting at the seams, it will end up with trailers. The safety valve of the enormous Nottingham lot will have been taken away and APS will have no choice to add trailers.

No, what's going to happen is they'll do what they did last time, zone Discovery to 92% or 93% capacity at most while putting McKinley at 99% or 100%. Why do you think Discovery was set under 90% capacity when it first opened, even though McKinley was going to be over capacity? Look at the history, people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And how tone deaf is it to say that Discovery kids can't lose their fields, so APS would put more trailers at McKinley (the school who already has no field)??

Discovery. Does. Not. Have. Fields.

Moron.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had seen written here before that choice programs were used to give north Arlington schools a boost years back, when enrollment slumped.
I think it’s wonderful that staff is looking to do the same for south Arlington now.
I’m shocked at this plan. I’m shocked in a really great way.
Good job staff!

Enrollment is slumping in south Arlington? Cite?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had seen written here before that choice programs were used to give north Arlington schools a boost years back, when enrollment slumped.
I think it’s wonderful that staff is looking to do the same for south Arlington now.
I’m shocked at this plan. I’m shocked in a really great way.
Good job staff!

Enrollment is slumping in south Arlington? Cite?

With middle class families?
Look at that transfers out of Randolph, Barcroft, Drew, and Carlin Springs.
There are other problems here besides ( clutches pearls) Nottingham.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had seen written here before that choice programs were used to give north Arlington schools a boost years back, when enrollment slumped.
I think it’s wonderful that staff is looking to do the same for south Arlington now.
I’m shocked at this plan. I’m shocked in a really great way.
Good job staff!

Enrollment is slumping in south Arlington? Cite?

DP. Go look at APS projections. South will have excess seats after Fleet opens, that's part of why they're considering moving another option program down there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So is there going to be a questionnaire, or was the staff full of shit about that too? I'm not sure what the point of it would be anyway, since they clearly don't care what the community thinks either way.

Honestly, there is little the community can say b/c there is not much capacity in the system and hard choices have to be made. People have to be moved. No one wants to move. There questionnaire is done.

And, everyone's community is super special and irreplaceable. No boundary change/school move will make people happy, the district just needs to have the balls to make a decision that works best for the district as a whole and not cave to the richest/loudest whiners.

Agree completely and wish that APS didn't even bother with all their requests for input. All that does is prolong the process, feed parents' egos that what they have to say is soooo important, and increase strife.

I agree, and it creates incentives for the staff to be disingenuous about what they really want because they are supposed to take in all this community input. Just make a decision.

[Anonymous]

I think Nottingham and Key either sink or swim together here. If they don’t want to be displaced, they need to work together to jointly show why moving programs around isn’t the only path in this boundary process. For example, restoring neighborhood preference at Key is something Nottingham should be advocating for more than just about anything if they want their school to stay a neighborhood school. Trying to show why Tuckahoe or Discovery are better candidates probably doesn’t get them very far. Bashing choice programs isn’t going to end choice programs. If Key doesn’t move because it (with ASFS) provides adequate local seats, however, the chain reaction that threatens to displace Nottingham doesn’t happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And how tone deaf is it to say that Discovery kids can't lose their fields, so APS would put more trailers at McKinley (the school who already has no field)??

Discovery. Does. Not. Have. Fields.

Moron.

So we can have elementary schools without fields? Discovery has no green space?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And how tone deaf is it to say that Discovery kids can't lose their fields, so APS would put more trailers at McKinley (the school who already has no field)??

Discovery. Does. Not. Have. Fields.

Moron.

So we can have elementary schools without fields? Discovery has no green space?

That is correct. Discovery's portion of the parcel has its building, two playgrounds (one for the preschool, one for the rest of the elementary school) and a parking lot. Its only green space is the steep, narrow hill between the school/playground and the street. The turf soccer fields are fenced off from the school and while the parcel is all owned by APS, they have some kind of lease agreement with the county for the fields so APS is limited as to what they can do with them (i.e., they can't put trailers on them and take them out of use).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think Nottingham and Key either sink or swim together here. If they don’t want to be displaced, they need to work together to jointly show why moving programs around isn’t the only path in this boundary process. For example, restoring neighborhood preference at Key is something Nottingham should be advocating for more than just about anything if they want their school to stay a neighborhood school. Trying to show why Tuckahoe or Discovery are better candidates probably doesn’t get them very far. Bashing choice programs isn’t going to end choice programs. If Key doesn’t move because it (with ASFS) provides adequate local seats, however, the chain reaction that threatens to displace Nottingham doesn’t happen.

RESTORING NEIGHBORHOOD PREFERENCE AT KEY IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN NOR WOULD IT SOLVE ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the situation was completely inequitable- that if you had the funds to buy into the Key neighborhood you had the guaranteed choice of two schools, whereas the rest of the county had to compete for limited immersion seats.
This was a unanimous decision of the school board just last year. This is not going to change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And how tone deaf is it to say that Discovery kids can't lose their fields, so APS would put more trailers at McKinley (the school who already has no field)??

Discovery. Does. Not. Have. Fields.

Moron.

So we can have elementary schools without fields? Discovery has no green space?

That is correct. Discovery's portion of the parcel has its building, two playgrounds (one for the preschool, one for the rest of the elementary school) and a parking lot. Its only green space is the steep, narrow hill between the school/playground and the street. The turf soccer fields are fenced off from the school and while the parcel is all owned by APS, they have some kind of lease agreement with the county for the fields so APS is limited as to what they can do with them (i.e., they can't put trailers on them and take them out of use).

I am confused because it seems like the Discovery students are on the soccer fields during the school day?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And how tone deaf is it to say that Discovery kids can't lose their fields, so APS would put more trailers at McKinley (the school who already has no field)??

Discovery. Does. Not. Have. Fields.

Moron.

So we can have elementary schools without fields? Discovery has no green space?

That is correct. Discovery's portion of the parcel has its building, two playgrounds (one for the preschool, one for the rest of the elementary school) and a parking lot. Its only green space is the steep, narrow hill between the school/playground and the street. The turf soccer fields are fenced off from the school and while the parcel is all owned by APS, they have some kind of lease agreement with the county for the fields so APS is limited as to what they can do with them (i.e., they can't put trailers on them and take them out of use).

This is actually incorrect. The county board owns the entire Williamsburg/Discovery parcel and APS gets to operate schools there pursuant to use permits. APS has literally no authority at all to use any more of the space for trailers than the county board wants them to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Nottingham and Key either sink or swim together here. If they don’t want to be displaced, they need to work together to jointly show why moving programs around isn’t the only path in this boundary process. For example, restoring neighborhood preference at Key is something Nottingham should be advocating for more than just about anything if they want their school to stay a neighborhood school. Trying to show why Tuckahoe or Discovery are better candidates probably doesn’t get them very far. Bashing choice programs isn’t going to end choice programs. If Key doesn’t move because it (with ASFS) provides adequate local seats, however, the chain reaction that threatens to displace Nottingham doesn’t happen.

RESTORING NEIGHBORHOOD PREFERENCE AT KEY IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN NOR WOULD IT SOLVE ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the situation was completely inequitable- that if you had the funds to buy into the Key neighborhood you had the guaranteed choice of two schools, whereas the rest of the county had to compete for limited immersion seats.
This was a unanimous decision of the school board just last year. This is not going to change.

And here is the Cherry Dale parents who started this whole mess they were bitter about not being able to afford Lyon Village.

By the way, there was no enroll in crisis before this preference change, Key had just started having a wait list for out of bounds, and science focus is fine with trailers.