Another choice school in N Arlington?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McK is opening the addition and will still end up over capacity. Ashlawn is still going to be over capacity. Glebe will still be over capacity. I'm sure Tuckahoe will, too. All of those would feed into or see relief from a Westover school. Those families moved to Nottingham would welcome being rejoined with their neighbors at Reed.

Putting a 725 seat school at Reed doesn't make sense, but it could be converted to something the size of Nottingham for not a lot of money and the extra could go to additions where needed.

The Westover residents have been asking for a neighborhood school for years, but some other area gets in with the SB first.

How do you draw the boundaries though when the walkable zones for Reed and McKinley would seem to overlap and the worst overcrowding is at Ashlawn? The Ashlawn boundaries are already some of the strangest in the county. Have you looked at the ES boundary map? And how does this help the NE, where the overcrowding is worst than in the NW? Look, I know Westover wants a neighborhood school now, but where was everyone when the McK addition was on the table? If the Westover residents want this to happen, they need to back up the proposal with more granular numbers. APS (and the rest of the county) is not going to give Westover a little neighborhood school based on vague speculation that Tuckahoe might also be over capacity some day, when APS has hard numbers showing that the NE is overcrowded now. This neighborhood vs. neighborhood BS will get you nowhere. You have to come up with a solution that will help the entirety of North Arlington if you want to be taken seriously.

The neighborhoods around Reed are overcrowded now. Even with the addition, Tuckahoe, McKinley and Glebe are over 100%. Those are real numbers. Any number that is for 2025 is speculatory and APS is notoriously bad at predicting even a few years out.

You seem to be saying APS should spend millions to give you a neighborhood school to relieve truly minimal overcrowding (less than 200 kids total I think) when there is a truly severe overcrowding problem in Ballston/Rosslyn that that does nothing to address, and a truly crushing high school overenrollment problem looming that will break the bank. Do you not see ANY problem with what you are suggesting?

+1 We're at Long Branch and really frustrated that none of the options I see getting discussed reference Long Branch at all. It is in a serious capacity problem and as the, by far, smallest site in the district there is NO place to even put more than the 2 trailers we already heave. Yes, I know compared to the great numbers of trailers at other schools that does't seem like much but at least those schools have land to handle trailers. I haven't heard anything about what solutions are actually possible just to handle next year's over-capacity.

Well, during the SAWG process, it was mentioned more than once, by staff, that building the new south Arlington school at TJ could allow for overflow from Long Branch. I don't think it would have been mentioned if they weren't already considering doing that. So, don't worry, even the new south Arlington school is going to help north Arlington.

Which long branch zones would be sent to the new school at jefferson? My kids aren't in school yet, but we are in ashton heights, down the street from long branch and across 50 from jefferson. I hear awesome things about Patrick Henry, and it would be great for the kids to go to school in a new building, but am I supposed to walk my kindergartner across a 6 lane highway with a toddler and baby in tow to get to elementary school? Even with the pedestrian bridge that sounds awful.

No one knows which parts of the Long Branch zone will go to the new school. But part of it probably will when the boundaries are determined.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The county needs to get the 11 acres at the Hospital site in s. Arlington, get it in the SB's hands, build a nice school (not crazy nice, but nice) with a nice park for the neighborhood. 11 acres will never present itself again. Completely analyze and rework the boundaries - for all levels. In the past, they have dickered around with only a few planning units here and there (near Tuckahoe, McK Nottingham and Glebe) moving, for example, 24 kids from one overcrowded school to another without resulting in comprehensive relief. In that process, figure out where a NEIGHBORhood elementary school needs to be located. Not a choice school. Few people want a choice school in their neighborhood. It may be that no land is available in the area that the projections show needs an elementary. In that case, build a school choice school, but allow 60 percent of the planning units surrounding that school to opt in first. Then the rest can come from the areas they believe will be overcrowded. Then build onto the schools that serve the overcrowded areas, if we can or if needed. Right now, the counties numbers indicate that the Balston Corridor will see the most growth and have the largest seat deficit. However, just last year the County believed the largest seat deficit would be in northwestern part of the County (even with the new schools and additions). I do not have a lot of faith in the projections at that level of granularity.

Smart post!

[Anonymous]

I wonder how many of the people insisting they should have a neighborhood school are going to be driving their kids wherever they go anyway? Look at Stratford and the "need" for easier dropoff. And those are middle school kids, whose parents are (I hope) more willing to let their kids walk. (More willing, but still not particularly so.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Which long branch zones would be sent to the new school at jefferson? My kids aren't in school yet, but we are in ashton heights, down the street from long branch and across 50 from jefferson. I hear awesome things about Patrick Henry, and it would be great for the kids to go to school in a new building, but am I supposed to walk my kindergartner across a 6 lane highway with a toddler and baby in tow to get to elementary school? Even with the pedestrian bridge that sounds awful.

If your biggest problem is that, for a couple of years, you are going to have to walk your kids over a pedestrian bridge, count your blessings.

Arlington is in a tough situation. You need to figure out what you can live with, not what's ideal.

This. So much this.

Long Branch poster, they cannot expand LB, the lot is too small, and they can't use a trailer farm for the same reason, unless you don't care at all about kids having areas to play. So if there are too many kids, some have to be sent somewhere. If not being sent to the new Henry, your next closest school is Barrett, I think, in which case your kids would probably be getting on a bus to a school that is also projected to be over capacity soon. Not everybody is going to be able to walk to a small neighborhood school. Not in Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Which long branch zones would be sent to the new school at jefferson? My kids aren't in school yet, but we are in ashton heights, down the street from long branch and across 50 from jefferson. I hear awesome things about Patrick Henry, and it would be great for the kids to go to school in a new building, but am I supposed to walk my kindergartner across a 6 lane highway with a toddler and baby in tow to get to elementary school? Even with the pedestrian bridge that sounds awful.

If your biggest problem is that, for a couple of years, you are going to have to walk your kids over a pedestrian bridge, count your blessings.

Arlington is in a tough situation. You need to figure out what you can live with, not what's ideal.

This. So much this.

Long Branch poster, they cannot expand LB, the lot is too small, and they can't use a trailer farm for the same reason, unless you don't care at all about kids having areas to play. So if there are too many kids, some have to be sent somewhere. If not being sent to the new Henry, your next closest school is Barrett, I think, in which case your kids would probably be getting on a bus to a school that is also projected to be over capacity soon. Not everybody is going to be able to walk to a small neighborhood school. Not in Arlington.

OP, when the boundaries are being decided in a year or two, speak up at the community meetings if you value walking to Long Branch and want that as your school. But unless you live within a block or two of Long Branch, I wouldn't count on it being your neighborhood school once the new school opens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder how many of the people insisting they should have a neighborhood school are going to be driving their kids wherever they go anyway? Look at Stratford and the "need" for easier dropoff. And those are middle school kids, whose parents are (I hope) more willing to let their kids walk. (More willing, but still not particularly so.)

I think Stratford's location on Lee Highway makes this a little different. Most of the people around Reed are driving or putting their kids on buses. McKinley has 3 buses for those neighborhoods & Tuckahoe has even more. There is a high probability that they would walk to Reed. All you have to do is walk around Westover at the end of the school day to see how many, many kids are walking to/from Swanson. It's not a car dependent area.

[Anonymous]

Well if you want to save the most money on buses and transportation that you can, all choice elementary schools should be eliminated. I know that will never happen, but I want it. (And I live in S Arlington).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder how many of the people insisting they should have a neighborhood school are going to be driving their kids wherever they go anyway? Look at Stratford and the "need" for easier dropoff. And those are middle school kids, whose parents are (I hope) more willing to let their kids walk. (More willing, but still not particularly so.)

I think Stratford's location on Lee Highway makes this a little different. Most of the people around Reed are driving or putting their kids on buses. McKinley has 3 buses for those neighborhoods & Tuckahoe has even more. There is a high probability that they would walk to Reed. All you have to do is walk around Westover at the end of the school day to see how many, many kids are walking to/from Swanson. It's not a car dependent area.

I don't understand how the walkability of an elementary school in Westover differs from that of a middle school in Lee Heights.

To repeat, because maybe this point got buried: When parents were insisting on converting Stratford to a MS, one of their big pitches was walkability. Now they're arguing for dropoff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well if you want to save the most money on buses and transportation that you can, all choice elementary schools should be eliminated. I know that will never happen, but I want it. (And I live in S Arlington).

+100!

[Anonymous]

Wasn't there a meeting on this last night? Did anyone go?

[Anonymous]

21:56 - in your shoes, I would probably have my child take the school bus, or I would drive him/her. I think the walk zone for ES is only a mile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wasn't there a meeting on this last night? Did anyone go?

Yes, see the thread re APS high school overcrowding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:21:56 - in your shoes, I would probably have my child take the school bus, or I would drive him/her. I think the walk zone for ES is only a mile.

Plus, I think that you are entitled to ride the bus if you would have to cross a major street (and Route 50 certainly counts), even if you live in the "walk" zone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:21:56 - in your shoes, I would probably have my child take the school bus, or I would drive him/her. I think the walk zone for ES is only a mile.

Plus, I think that you are entitled to ride the bus if you would have to cross a major street (and Route 50 certainly counts), even if you live in the "walk" zone.

this is largely true in practice. It's whether or not your "safe" walk to school is more than 1 mile. So in practice if there is a major road to cross- you get bus service.
However- if there is a pedestrian bridge, that might well be considered a 'safe' walk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:21:56 - in your shoes, I would probably have my child take the school bus, or I would drive him/her. I think the walk zone for ES is only a mile.

Plus, I think that you are entitled to ride the bus if you would have to cross a major street (and Route 50 certainly counts), even if you live in the "walk" zone.

Yes. If you have to cross 50 or 66, you are bused.