APS Closing Nottingham

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nottingham had 20 more kids than APS projected they would last year in 2022 and even with that they STILL only have 391 kids at the school! The school is currently operating at 64% capacity when you include trailer capacity and 85% capacity when you don't, and those seem to be the lowest numbers in the county right now. (Innovation is also low but it just opened in 2021; the only other schools approaching Nottingham's numbers are Title 1 schools.) Meanwhile, nearby Discovery and Taylor are also operating at only 81% and 70% of capacity when you include trailers (and 81% and 86% when you do not). https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Enrollment-Management-Plan-2023-Final.pdf

Listening to some of the Nottingham parents on here is eye opening. I will just say that I really appreciate the rare Nottingham parent in here saying this is not great but they can do it for the good of the community.

The comments are eye opening. We moved north a few years ago and we’re shocked how out of touch the far north crowd (Jamestown Discovery Nottingham) is with the rest of the County. Loved the comment on her that Nottingham should just be allowed to be small because that’s just better. As if other school communities wouldn’t like that too. Clueless and out of touch at best. Entitled and selfish at worst. That’s these neighborhoods.

True but I think their heyday is over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nottingham had 20 more kids than APS projected they would last year in 2022 and even with that they STILL only have 391 kids at the school! The school is currently operating at 64% capacity when you include trailer capacity and 85% capacity when you don't, and those seem to be the lowest numbers in the county right now. (Innovation is also low but it just opened in 2021; the only other schools approaching Nottingham's numbers are Title 1 schools.) Meanwhile, nearby Discovery and Taylor are also operating at only 81% and 70% of capacity when you include trailers (and 81% and 86% when you do not). https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Enrollment-Management-Plan-2023-Final.pdf

Listening to some of the Nottingham parents on here is eye opening. I will just say that I really appreciate the rare Nottingham parent in here saying this is not great but they can do it for the good of the community.

It is bizarre to include trailers in a school's capacity! Is that what APS is doing? That is F'ed up gamesmanship. We could put 20 trailers at Nottingham and call it at 10% capacity.

85% is hardly a school that needs to be shut down. And it's higher than Discovery and 1% lower than Taylor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nottingham had 20 more kids than APS projected they would last year in 2022 and even with that they STILL only have 391 kids at the school! The school is currently operating at 64% capacity when you include trailer capacity and 85% capacity when you don't, and those seem to be the lowest numbers in the county right now. (Innovation is also low but it just opened in 2021; the only other schools approaching Nottingham's numbers are Title 1 schools.) Meanwhile, nearby Discovery and Taylor are also operating at only 81% and 70% of capacity when you include trailers (and 81% and 86% when you do not). https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Enrollment-Management-Plan-2023-Final.pdf

Listening to some of the Nottingham parents on here is eye opening. I will just say that I really appreciate the rare Nottingham parent in here saying this is not great but they can do it for the good of the community.

It is bizarre to include trailers in a school's capacity! Is that what APS is doing? That is F'ed up gamesmanship. We could put 20 trailers at Nottingham and call it at 10% capacity.

85% is hardly a school that needs to be shut down. And it's higher than Discovery and 1% lower than Taylor.

Two kindergartens is strongly suggestive of underuse of the school moving forward. That’s less than 50 kids in a grade!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nottingham had 20 more kids than APS projected they would last year in 2022 and even with that they STILL only have 391 kids at the school! The school is currently operating at 64% capacity when you include trailer capacity and 85% capacity when you don't, and those seem to be the lowest numbers in the county right now. (Innovation is also low but it just opened in 2021; the only other schools approaching Nottingham's numbers are Title 1 schools.) Meanwhile, nearby Discovery and Taylor are also operating at only 81% and 70% of capacity when you include trailers (and 81% and 86% when you do not). https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Enrollment-Management-Plan-2023-Final.pdf

Listening to some of the Nottingham parents on here is eye opening. I will just say that I really appreciate the rare Nottingham parent in here saying this is not great but they can do it for the good of the community.

Stupid is looking at COVID numbers and pretending they are permanent and we should make expensive decisions based on them.

The statistical analysis was pretty darn simple. There is no shortage of young kids in NW - the question is where they are going. If the low enrollment persists a couple of more years, then sure, I’ll be the first one to say close and consolidate.

What I don’t want to see is what happened before - short sighted planning, jettisoning school property to be lost to the senior arts center and dog park crowd forever, and a decade and tens of millions of dollars until we can respond to severe overcrowding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

It’s insane that APS is just completely ignoring the private school exodus in the context of these seating questions. Why? Why does no one look at it? Why aren’t we spending some of this time money and energy on really understanding the numbers instead of relying on the incompetent APS staff who have a demonstrable record of absolutely blowing there calls?

What do you want them to do with those numbers? Seems like you want them to assume they will all come back. Even if they do, they aren't coming back at the same grade levels as when they left....they're moving up and out of elementary. So APS still wouldn't have a practical way to accurately account for any exodus or for any subsequent maybe/maybe not returns. If you think it's so easy and essential, you could volunteer your precious time and talents and gather that information and make the predictions for them.

Some of the people complaining left for private school, but they also want their public option there and waiting for them if they decide to come back.

They gave up on public, but they want their cake and to eat it too.

I don’t think that paying taxes for the public school and also paying private school tuition is “having your cake and eating it too.” If anything we should thank those families that are opening up seats while also paying taxes.

+1. Those wealthy families are entitled to a free and appropriate public education whenever they want it, even if it means diverting resources from the less well off. School aren’t a welfare program, contrary to popular belief.

COVID was such a strange thing and APS’s response so botched, there’s no way to say with certainty what’s happening when things return to “normal.” The kids are here, that’s all I know. Empty nesters are cashing out, and single childless folks aren’t spending $1.2m+ to move to NW for the walkability, nightlife, and good commutes.

Wealthy kids are entitled to a public education on demand, but no one is taking that away. It will just be at Tuckahoe or Discovery instead of Nottingham. They can do that.

Sorry to burst your bubble but no one who went private is coming back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nottingham had 20 more kids than APS projected they would last year in 2022 and even with that they STILL only have 391 kids at the school! The school is currently operating at 64% capacity when you include trailer capacity and 85% capacity when you don't, and those seem to be the lowest numbers in the county right now. (Innovation is also low but it just opened in 2021; the only other schools approaching Nottingham's numbers are Title 1 schools.) Meanwhile, nearby Discovery and Taylor are also operating at only 81% and 70% of capacity when you include trailers (and 81% and 86% when you do not). https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Enrollment-Management-Plan-2023-Final.pdf

Listening to some of the Nottingham parents on here is eye opening. I will just say that I really appreciate the rare Nottingham parent in here saying this is not great but they can do it for the good of the community.

Stupid is looking at COVID numbers and pretending they are permanent and we should make expensive decisions based on them.

The statistical analysis was pretty darn simple. There is no shortage of young kids in NW - the question is where they are going. If the low enrollment persists a couple of more years, then sure, I’ll be the first one to say close and consolidate.

What I don’t want to see is what happened before - short sighted planning, jettisoning school property to be lost to the senior arts center and dog park crowd forever, and a decade and tens of millions of dollars until we can respond to severe overcrowding.

They're not selling the school! They're doing exactly what you seem to be espousing -- putting it on hold for a bit while the numbers play out, meanwhile the school property benefits another arlington community in need, and Nottingham kids still get served by great North Arlington schools. But nooo, with Nottingham parents, there is always something wrong unless they are coming out fully on top of everyone else.

Why don't I believe you when you say "I'll be the first one to say close and consolidate."? I don't think you will ever, ever, ever say that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one cares if Nottingham pta moms leave Arlington. Seriously. No one.

I believe this is true. The problem is when all the north Arlington pta moms leave and you are stuck in Alexandria public schools. Good luck!

Gee, I never thought of it that way. After all, it's the north Arlington PTA moms that determine the quality of my south arlington schools. If they leave, surely our teachers and involved south Arlington parents will leave, too.

You have to understand that losing a highly motivated, highly involved UMC population from your school system does not bode well for its future, right? Not a threat, just a fact.

We have an example of what that looks like next door and in just about every town in the southern United States.

We all have an interest in rational decision making from APS because we all pay for it and are affected by it.

I commit to be rational and think of the whole, if my neighbors in other schools can commit to not be vindictive based on perceived slights from 10 years ago.

This is just hysteria and get over yourself. 1. All of Nottingham is not going anywhere even if the school closes. Most people don't have that opttion and carry on. 2. You are a sliver of the UMC crowd in Arlington. A sliver. "All the north Arlington PTA moms" are not going anywhere.

So to recap, get over yourself.

. Is that true? I mean, APS says they oevrestimated seats in N Arlington by 1000 seats? Is that the “sliver” you are talking about? Because I agree with you in theory if it’s a sliver, but it appears to be a potential sea change. I just want to understand and it appears to me that you and APS are dismissing this. If it’s 1000 seats … then that is meaningful.

This isn’t about APS estimates potentially being off. This is about a few families at Nottingham who can’t be inconvenienced to go to school at Discovery or Tuckahoe. Each of which is almost so close you could throw a rock and hit it. The families that go private because of that were never committed to public school. And walkability clearly isn’t the motivating factor if they leave for private!!

This is not at all what it’s about. We don’t want a bunch of buses and cars coming through our neighborhood.

Take some advice from someone who has been a part of multiple boundary changes and watched even more over the years in APS. The traffic argument will get you nowhere. Wherever the swing pace is located will get more traffic. Nottingham COULD get some traction with the unusual number of deaths along Yorktown Blvd. However, pushing that could backfire. Right now there are a lot of kids walking to that site. If you claim it’s super dangerous, then why not turn it into a school where kids are bussed or driven. Yes, neighborhood people would still be pedestrians but a lot of pedestrians would be removed if there were no walkers. So making Nottingham swing space BECAUSE of the dangerous walking situation might be the likely result. I’d stop focusing on traffic and focus on other viable alternatives besides another school site.

Yes, but we will still live in the community, be walking in our own neighborhood, etc. Only one of the pedestrian deaths was related to the school, the others were adults walking in their neighborhood. Saying “great, don’t walk to school if it’s so dangerous” doesn’t solve for making it more dangerous for everyone, students or otherwise.

If the pedestrian fatalities aren't related to the school, why is this issue even being brought up in this discussion? Either this is a sticking point, or it isn't. Y'all need to make up your minds.

Because the incidents were within a block of the school, all 3. It’s a problem area with the roads around the school and adding tenfold buses is not going to help the situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one cares if Nottingham pta moms leave Arlington. Seriously. No one.

I believe this is true. The problem is when all the north Arlington pta moms leave and you are stuck in Alexandria public schools. Good luck!

Gee, I never thought of it that way. After all, it's the north Arlington PTA moms that determine the quality of my south arlington schools. If they leave, surely our teachers and involved south Arlington parents will leave, too.

You have to understand that losing a highly motivated, highly involved UMC population from your school system does not bode well for its future, right? Not a threat, just a fact.

We have an example of what that looks like next door and in just about every town in the southern United States.

We all have an interest in rational decision making from APS because we all pay for it and are affected by it.

I commit to be rational and think of the whole, if my neighbors in other schools can commit to not be vindictive based on perceived slights from 10 years ago.

This is just hysteria and get over yourself. 1. All of Nottingham is not going anywhere even if the school closes. Most people don't have that opttion and carry on. 2. You are a sliver of the UMC crowd in Arlington. A sliver. "All the north Arlington PTA moms" are not going anywhere.

So to recap, get over yourself.

. Is that true? I mean, APS says they oevrestimated seats in N Arlington by 1000 seats? Is that the “sliver” you are talking about? Because I agree with you in theory if it’s a sliver, but it appears to be a potential sea change. I just want to understand and it appears to me that you and APS are dismissing this. If it’s 1000 seats … then that is meaningful.

This isn’t about APS estimates potentially being off. This is about a few families at Nottingham who can’t be inconvenienced to go to school at Discovery or Tuckahoe. Each of which is almost so close you could throw a rock and hit it. The families that go private because of that were never committed to public school. And walkability clearly isn’t the motivating factor if they leave for private!!

This is not at all what it’s about. We don’t want a bunch of buses and cars coming through our neighborhood.

Take some advice from someone who has been a part of multiple boundary changes and watched even more over the years in APS. The traffic argument will get you nowhere. Wherever the swing pace is located will get more traffic. Nottingham COULD get some traction with the unusual number of deaths along Yorktown Blvd. However, pushing that could backfire. Right now there are a lot of kids walking to that site. If you claim it’s super dangerous, then why not turn it into a school where kids are bussed or driven. Yes, neighborhood people would still be pedestrians but a lot of pedestrians would be removed if there were no walkers. So making Nottingham swing space BECAUSE of the dangerous walking situation might be the likely result. I’d stop focusing on traffic and focus on other viable alternatives besides another school site.

Yes, but we will still live in the community, be walking in our own neighborhood, etc. Only one of the pedestrian deaths was related to the school, the others were adults walking in their neighborhood. Saying “great, don’t walk to school if it’s so dangerous” doesn’t solve for making it more dangerous for everyone, students or otherwise.

If the pedestrian fatalities aren't related to the school, why is this issue even being brought up in this discussion? Either this is a sticking point, or it isn't. Y'all need to make up your minds.

Because the incidents were within a block of the school, all 3. It’s a problem area with the roads around the school and adding tenfold buses is not going to help the situation.

I live in this neighborhood. I'm not so much concerned about the buses. I'm concerned about all the drivers this will attract with parents driving their kids to and from school. More cars makes more more unsafe conditions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nottingham had 20 more kids than APS projected they would last year in 2022 and even with that they STILL only have 391 kids at the school! The school is currently operating at 64% capacity when you include trailer capacity and 85% capacity when you don't, and those seem to be the lowest numbers in the county right now. (Innovation is also low but it just opened in 2021; the only other schools approaching Nottingham's numbers are Title 1 schools.) Meanwhile, nearby Discovery and Taylor are also operating at only 81% and 70% of capacity when you include trailers (and 81% and 86% when you do not). https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Enrollment-Management-Plan-2023-Final.pdf

Listening to some of the Nottingham parents on here is eye opening. I will just say that I really appreciate the rare Nottingham parent in here saying this is not great but they can do it for the good of the community.

Stupid is looking at COVID numbers and pretending they are permanent and we should make expensive decisions based on them.

The statistical analysis was pretty darn simple. There is no shortage of young kids in NW - the question is where they are going. If the low enrollment persists a couple of more years, then sure, I’ll be the first one to say close and consolidate.

What I don’t want to see is what happened before - short sighted planning, jettisoning school property to be lost to the senior arts center and dog park crowd forever, and a decade and tens of millions of dollars until we can respond to severe overcrowding.

They're not selling the school! They're doing exactly what you seem to be espousing -- putting it on hold for a bit while the numbers play out, meanwhile the school property benefits another arlington community in need, and Nottingham kids still get served by great North Arlington schools. But nooo, with Nottingham parents, there is always something wrong unless they are coming out fully on top of everyone else.

Why don't I believe you when you say "I'll be the first one to say close and consolidate."? I don't think you will ever, ever, ever say that.

Why don’t I believe APS when they say it would revert back to a neighborhood school? Is it because they have conditioned this on the completion of vague future renovation projects?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

It’s insane that APS is just completely ignoring the private school exodus in the context of these seating questions. Why? Why does no one look at it? Why aren’t we spending some of this time money and energy on really understanding the numbers instead of relying on the incompetent APS staff who have a demonstrable record of absolutely blowing there calls?

What do you want them to do with those numbers? Seems like you want them to assume they will all come back. Even if they do, they aren't coming back at the same grade levels as when they left....they're moving up and out of elementary. So APS still wouldn't have a practical way to accurately account for any exodus or for any subsequent maybe/maybe not returns. If you think it's so easy and essential, you could volunteer your precious time and talents and gather that information and make the predictions for them.

Some of the people complaining left for private school, but they also want their public option there and waiting for them if they decide to come back.

They gave up on public, but they want their cake and to eat it too.

I don’t think that paying taxes for the public school and also paying private school tuition is “having your cake and eating it too.” If anything we should thank those families that are opening up seats while also paying taxes.

+1. Those wealthy families are entitled to a free and appropriate public education whenever they want it, even if it means diverting resources from the less well off. School aren’t a welfare program, contrary to popular belief.

COVID was such a strange thing and APS’s response so botched, there’s no way to say with certainty what’s happening when things return to “normal.” The kids are here, that’s all I know. Empty nesters are cashing out, and single childless folks aren’t spending $1.2m+ to move to NW for the walkability, nightlife, and good commutes.

Wealthy kids are entitled to a public education on demand, but no one is taking that away. It will just be at Tuckahoe or Discovery instead of Nottingham. They can do that.

Sorry to burst your bubble but no one who went private is coming back.

Of course not, but in five years, there’s a new generation of Nottingham neighborhood babies that will need a school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one cares if Nottingham pta moms leave Arlington. Seriously. No one.

I believe this is true. The problem is when all the north Arlington pta moms leave and you are stuck in Alexandria public schools. Good luck!

Gee, I never thought of it that way. After all, it's the north Arlington PTA moms that determine the quality of my south arlington schools. If they leave, surely our teachers and involved south Arlington parents will leave, too.

You have to understand that losing a highly motivated, highly involved UMC population from your school system does not bode well for its future, right? Not a threat, just a fact.

We have an example of what that looks like next door and in just about every town in the southern United States.

We all have an interest in rational decision making from APS because we all pay for it and are affected by it.

I commit to be rational and think of the whole, if my neighbors in other schools can commit to not be vindictive based on perceived slights from 10 years ago.

This is just hysteria and get over yourself. 1. All of Nottingham is not going anywhere even if the school closes. Most people don't have that opttion and carry on. 2. You are a sliver of the UMC crowd in Arlington. A sliver. "All the north Arlington PTA moms" are not going anywhere.

So to recap, get over yourself.

. Is that true? I mean, APS says they oevrestimated seats in N Arlington by 1000 seats? Is that the “sliver” you are talking about? Because I agree with you in theory if it’s a sliver, but it appears to be a potential sea change. I just want to understand and it appears to me that you and APS are dismissing this. If it’s 1000 seats … then that is meaningful.

This isn’t about APS estimates potentially being off. This is about a few families at Nottingham who can’t be inconvenienced to go to school at Discovery or Tuckahoe. Each of which is almost so close you could throw a rock and hit it. The families that go private because of that were never committed to public school. And walkability clearly isn’t the motivating factor if they leave for private!!

This is not at all what it’s about. We don’t want a bunch of buses and cars coming through our neighborhood.

Take some advice from someone who has been a part of multiple boundary changes and watched even more over the years in APS. The traffic argument will get you nowhere. Wherever the swing pace is located will get more traffic. Nottingham COULD get some traction with the unusual number of deaths along Yorktown Blvd. However, pushing that could backfire. Right now there are a lot of kids walking to that site. If you claim it’s super dangerous, then why not turn it into a school where kids are bussed or driven. Yes, neighborhood people would still be pedestrians but a lot of pedestrians would be removed if there were no walkers. So making Nottingham swing space BECAUSE of the dangerous walking situation might be the likely result. I’d stop focusing on traffic and focus on other viable alternatives besides another school site.

Yes, but we will still live in the community, be walking in our own neighborhood, etc. Only one of the pedestrian deaths was related to the school, the others were adults walking in their neighborhood. Saying “great, don’t walk to school if it’s so dangerous” doesn’t solve for making it more dangerous for everyone, students or otherwise.

If the pedestrian fatalities aren't related to the school, why is this issue even being brought up in this discussion? Either this is a sticking point, or it isn't. Y'all need to make up your minds.

Because the incidents were within a block of the school, all 3. It’s a problem area with the roads around the school and adding tenfold buses is not going to help the situation.

I live in this neighborhood. I'm not so much concerned about the buses. I'm concerned about all the drivers this will attract with parents driving their kids to and from school. More cars makes more more unsafe conditions.

Agree, and we all know that people drive less safely when not in their own neighborhoods/in a hurry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not wanting your school to be shut down doesn’t sound very “entitled” to me. Any of us would be upset to get this news, even if APS has a legitimate need for a swing school and somebody’s facility needs to be closed to serve that purpose. Any other school communities want to volunteer their school? If not, does it make those communities “entitled”? Of course not.

It is when it's your 2nd or 3rd time on the chopping block and you throw APS's hot potato at a different school in your stead every time. Look now you guys are throwing it at Taylor and Discovery and Jamestown. Just suck it up!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nottingham had 20 more kids than APS projected they would last year in 2022 and even with that they STILL only have 391 kids at the school! The school is currently operating at 64% capacity when you include trailer capacity and 85% capacity when you don't, and those seem to be the lowest numbers in the county right now. (Innovation is also low but it just opened in 2021; the only other schools approaching Nottingham's numbers are Title 1 schools.) Meanwhile, nearby Discovery and Taylor are also operating at only 81% and 70% of capacity when you include trailers (and 81% and 86% when you do not). https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Enrollment-Management-Plan-2023-Final.pdf

Listening to some of the Nottingham parents on here is eye opening. I will just say that I really appreciate the rare Nottingham parent in here saying this is not great but they can do it for the good of the community.

It is bizarre to include trailers in a school's capacity! Is that what APS is doing? That is F'ed up gamesmanship. We could put 20 trailers at Nottingham and call it at 10% capacity.

85% is hardly a school that needs to be shut down. And it's higher than Discovery and 1% lower than Taylor.

Two kindergartens is strongly suggestive of underuse of the school moving forward. That’s less than 50 kids in a grade!!

Seriously insane when other elementary schools are having students eat lunch at 10 AM because of the multiple lunch shifts they have to have to support 5 to 6 elementary classes per grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only 2 kindergarten classes? Only 2 4th grades classes and most other grades are at 3 classes? I was falling for the Nottingham hysteria on here until I saw that.

Using the school for swing space might make sense but APS needs to show its full hand. What’s the plan? Who needs to move there?

+1. I think Nottingham makes sense given it’s low enrollment but I’d like to hear more about WHY APS thinks this needs to be done. Let’s hear about these renovations.

Are the entitled Nottingham parents going to claim the renos don't need to take place? That the poor brown kids in crumbling buildings with HVAC that doesn't work can just ride it out? That won't be a good look at all.

Taylor is hardly poor brown kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not wanting your school to be shut down doesn’t sound very “entitled” to me. Any of us would be upset to get this news, even if APS has a legitimate need for a swing school and somebody’s facility needs to be closed to serve that purpose. Any other school communities want to volunteer their school? If not, does it make those communities “entitled”? Of course not.

It is when it's your 2nd or 3rd time on the chopping block and you throw APS's hot potato at a different school in your stead every time. Look now you guys are throwing it at Taylor and Discovery and Jamestown. Just suck it up!

This proposal doesn’t have anything to do with redistricting though. I would feel better if this was redistricting that would ease the burden of overcrowded schools. This is “ Nottingham is a convenient spot to put other schools while they are being renovated”. What does it do to improve the capacity issues at other schools?