South Arlington and North Arlington Schools
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Anonymous
| I posted earlier in this thread and wanted to echo the person who encouraged people to get involved in their neighborhood associations. I'm in my early 40s with kids in elementary school and became more active on the neighborhood board in recent years. Yes, I would probably enjoy PTA more. But I could see that our association was being dominated by the 50/60 something empty nesters when I attended a neighborhood meeting once to complain about speeding on a street heavily used by kids going back and forth to a playground. I was told that there was nothing to be done because it wasn't in the Neighborhood Conservation Plan that they had voted for almost 10 years ago! It had already been decided (back then) that our "conservation points" were going to be allocated to new street lights. They would not raise my issue to the county because they were still trying to get their street lights updated per the "plan" and didn't want to detract attention from the "real" issue. Over the past four years we've gotten more involvement in our neighborhood board from the Gen-Xers and new millenials moving in and the tone has changed, but I imagine this is not the case in other Arlington neighborhoods. I agree there is a north/south divide, but also a generational divide within neighborhoods. Talk to anyone in your neighborhood over the age of 50 about the iPad for every second grader initiative and their blood just boils- paper and pencil worked for them and for their kids- why do we need to spend money to give every kid a fancy electronic device. It makes for colorful conversations. |
Anonymous
YES. I am that person. This is a great example. Old neighborhood conservation plans will be the death of us all. But seriously if you're concerned about school facilities, getting involved with the neighborhood associations is worthwhile. We're running out of places to put schools, and most, if not all possible sites are already spoken for as community centers or whatever else. Some of these are even located in old schools that were decommissioned. At least in my neighborhood, such sites became community centers after protracted discussions with the neighborhood association and residents. These things were made part of NCPs and other official positions set forth by the associations. So of course there are a lot of people clamoring for more school seats, but the official position of many neighborhood associations remains, no building on XXX community facility in our neighborhood. Bottom line- the school board can only work with the resources made available to it by the county board, both money and land. And a lot of decisions about how the county uses its resources are made in conjunction with the neighborhood associations, from neighborhood conservation projects like drainage ditches, to big construction projects like libraries. I love many of my older neighbors, but get involved- don't let people with little to no interest in our schools shape the conversation. |
Anonymous
We got in an argument with our civic association about the design of a park renovation. The design the parents in the neighborhood came up with had a water feature, a climbing structure, and play equipment. After the initial design was approved, the really old folks (I mean--lots of people in their 70's and 80's) showed up en masse and insisted that the design revert to how it was back in the 1960's. (!!!) So we have a bathroom, two swings, and a slide. |
Anonymous
Nauck Park? That was such a missed opportunity... |
Anonymous
Wow! That's crap. The neighborhood in Courthouse did a FANTASTIC job with Rocky Run Park. |
Anonymous
I don't know this story, but just want to say that playgrounds w/o a swing or slide, or that are not fully enclosed, really piss me off. The one at Walter Reed CC is a perfect example. trying so hard to be different that it doesn't seem interested in how children play. |
Anonymous
Where does Dorsey have his kids in school?? |
Anonymous
Hey, my DH is 50, and so busy with work and with elementary aged kids! However, our neighborhood is run by people in their late 60s to 70s who have a LOT of time! Several of them go to many meetings, planning committees, and so on. There is definitely a generational divide of interests, that appears the same in the south as in the north of the county! |
Anonymous
Yes. The county was unwilling to say no to the civic association, despite policies about park amenities. |
Anonymous
I don't understand this. First, that is like the worst playground in the county. In fact - I believe some guy put out a guide to Arlington's parks, and his kids rated them and Nauck was decidedly lame. What did they ( the old and decrepit) have against the improvements? Was it either/or with putting in a bathroom? Does it have something to with the history of that area? It used to be a segregated and rough part of town. The changes there have been possibly more profound than any other area. Anyone else imagining zombies from walking dead descending on these civic meetings? I'm being terrible. These are the people who have built up our communities. I know that, but sometimes it's hard to empathize. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
Uh... ATS. Sigh... How nice for them. Anyone know where they would be zoned without choice? |
Anonymous
I didn't mean to derail the thread, just wanted to point out how important it is that parents try to show up at things, since the county goes so much by how many people show up/how loud they complain, and there are plenty of retired people who can show up at these things to stop or change things. Look at what happened to the new school at TJ. Even if a school ends up going there, they got it delayed by at least a whole year despite the unbelievable crowding we have. And that's after it already got delayed a year because the folks in the Kenmore area got the new school pushed out of their neighborhood. There should be a new elementary opening in south Arlington in 2017, and now it will be 2019 at the earliest, because civic associations have complained about the locations, not because of $$. And we have to have yet another task force (SAWG) to deal with it, because the county board won't just do their g-damn jobs. |
Anonymous
| The Kenmore site sure has more land for a school. At TJ, they'll have to build a school over the existing parking lot. Where are people supposed to park then? How will the students and teachers even get there for the two years it's being built? |
Anonymous
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Dorsey is from south arlington and his kids are or went to south arlington schools.
Cristol is totally fine with concentrating all the affordable housing on the pike. She also thinks it is perfectly fine to have schools with 70% farms. She does not think SOL scores mean much because each student is different and arlington has great teachers. How do I know? I asked her at a meeting. There is. I question and her answer to me was very clear. She may try to soften it now that people like me have challenged her position. She talks the talk, but when asked specific questions she would not change the lack of diversity in our schools. She is very close to Mary Hynes and advised the board on what questions t ask the school board in that ridiculous affordablehousing housing plan. The questions were written to support the plan. Period. If you want to continue shoving the poorer people in arlington in south Arlington, vote Cristol. If you don't, vote McMenamin and Dorsey. |