Let’s Talk APS High Schools: 4th one or no?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots if middle class families bought in Claremont for immersion.
Not only will they lost that, but now they have to really worry about Wakefield.

Well, if they're already in Immersion and that's very important to your family, they will get to stay in even if it moves. And if Claremont becomes a neighborhood school, then it will be YOUR neighborhood school. I fail to see the problem there. And I think (hope) from the people I know who are working on the CC we're all in agreement that CC and Wakefield should both come out of this situation as equally strong schools.

Uh, I've attended all but one of the working group meetings. When did they discuss this?

I'm not saying they discussed that, because the working group won't draw boundaries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Lake Braddock with similar numbers. I agree with the Robinson poster. Huge schools can actually provide more opportunities. The cc has to be equal in amenities to accomplish that.
I will say we had practice fields a couple of blocks away. So, that wouldn’t be bad in my estimation.
I don’t think there’s a hope in hell APS wrestles Walter Reed community center away from the county, but we could at least ask. I’m not familiar enough with the area to know other possible plots of land that could be cobbled together.
Honestly it seems the CC and Walter Reed together would solve all our problems.
Of course the county board will simply say we have competing needs, and to suck it. I’m reeeeally staring to hate the board. I’m a Democrat and I’m starting to feel like their priorities don’t align with mine at all. Very frustrating.

Lake Braddock has 60 acres; Robinson has 78. How is APS going to cram 4000 kids into a single site and foster any sense of community?

I don't know where you're getting 4,000 kids for the Career Center. The Superintendent's document released on May 3 shows about 1,850, and that includes kids who come to the campus for a tech class from one of the other high schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Lake Braddock with similar numbers. I agree with the Robinson poster. Huge schools can actually provide more opportunities. The cc has to be equal in amenities to accomplish that.
I will say we had practice fields a couple of blocks away. So, that wouldn’t be bad in my estimation.
I don’t think there’s a hope in hell APS wrestles Walter Reed community center away from the county, but we could at least ask. I’m not familiar enough with the area to know other possible plots of land that could be cobbled together.
Honestly it seems the CC and Walter Reed together would solve all our problems.
Of course the county board will simply say we have competing needs, and to suck it. I’m reeeeally staring to hate the board. I’m a Democrat and I’m starting to feel like their priorities don’t align with mine at all. Very frustrating.

Lake Braddock has 60 acres; Robinson has 78. How is APS going to cram 4000 kids into a single site and foster any sense of community?

Lake Braddock has 2 levels and a huge parking lot. Tons of wasted space. Use your brain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots if middle class families bought in Claremont for immersion.
Not only will they lost that, but now they have to really worry about Wakefield.

Well, if they're already in Immersion and that's very important to your family, they will get to stay in even if it moves. And if Claremont becomes a neighborhood school, then it will be YOUR neighborhood school. I fail to see the problem there. And I think (hope) from the people I know who are working on the CC we're all in agreement that CC and Wakefield should both come out of this situation as equally strong schools.

Uh, I've attended all but one of the working group meetings. When did they discuss this?

I'm not saying they discussed that, because the working group won't draw boundaries.

But it's certainly within the group's purview to comment. So how many people do you know on the group to be able to give the impression that we're all in agreement about this issue?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Lake Braddock with similar numbers. I agree with the Robinson poster. Huge schools can actually provide more opportunities. The cc has to be equal in amenities to accomplish that.
I will say we had practice fields a couple of blocks away. So, that wouldn’t be bad in my estimation.
I don’t think there’s a hope in hell APS wrestles Walter Reed community center away from the county, but we could at least ask. I’m not familiar enough with the area to know other possible plots of land that could be cobbled together.
Honestly it seems the CC and Walter Reed together would solve all our problems.
Of course the county board will simply say we have competing needs, and to suck it. I’m reeeeally staring to hate the board. I’m a Democrat and I’m starting to feel like their priorities don’t align with mine at all. Very frustrating.

Lake Braddock has 60 acres; Robinson has 78. How is APS going to cram 4000 kids into a single site and foster any sense of community?

I don't know where you're getting 4,000 kids for the Career Center. The Superintendent's document released on May 3 shows about 1,850, and that includes kids who come to the campus for a tech class from one of the other high schools.

That's phase I.

[Anonymous]

Havign read all the documents now, that's the only thing I can't get behind is the 4K+ kids.

We've really got some issues in this county when HB gets to stay at 775, and we're trying to cram 4K people into a similar sized space. I get that we are building an urban school for the future, but the load is not shared equally. HB needs to be larger and the other HSs need to have more students before 4K students makes sense. Other than that, I'm fine with the CC plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, that is not good for Claremont. I sympathize with them. But they had to realize that would change because too many people had the same idea and the immersion program became captive to that and the other two neighborhoods. They were victim of their own success in getting in.

I live in barcroft. I know we are too far west to be zoned for a future CC site. The CC site will come on line when my kid starts going there. If the SB continues drawing boundaries to increase segregation, like did just did, twice, will move. We may move before hand since the SB has screwed Kenmore.

How was Kenmore screwed?

Not PP, but I'm pretty upset that they chose the option that both pushed Kenmore over capacity and increased the fr/l rate. The option that would have moved Immersion there was a lot better for both of those considerations, and would have made a lot of sense since they are string considering moving at least one of the ES immersion programs to that site. They'll likely have to revisit this issue that they just decided.

+1 - I couldn't understand why they scrapped moving the immersion option so quickly - seemed like there were a lot more Spanish speakers at Kenmore, close to elementary immersion program, and more centrally located (somewhat), because Gunston is really a haul for some people who want to continue immersion in middle school. On top of that, it had lower FRL rates for Kenmore and TJ - I think. I HOPE they will look at the MS boundaries one more time.

In a world where decisions were made based on logic, there'd be an immersion elementary school at Carlin Springs. Kenmore would house the immersion middle school program and W-L would be its home for high school. All relatively close, all close to the N/S, E/W line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Lake Braddock with similar numbers. I agree with the Robinson poster. Huge schools can actually provide more opportunities. The cc has to be equal in amenities to accomplish that.
I will say we had practice fields a couple of blocks away. So, that wouldn’t be bad in my estimation.
I don’t think there’s a hope in hell APS wrestles Walter Reed community center away from the county, but we could at least ask. I’m not familiar enough with the area to know other possible plots of land that could be cobbled together.
Honestly it seems the CC and Walter Reed together would solve all our problems.
Of course the county board will simply say we have competing needs, and to suck it. I’m reeeeally staring to hate the board. I’m a Democrat and I’m starting to feel like their priorities don’t align with mine at all. Very frustrating.

Lake Braddock has 60 acres; Robinson has 78. How is APS going to cram 4000 kids into a single site and foster any sense of community?

I don't know where you're getting 4,000 kids for the Career Center. The Superintendent's document released on May 3 shows about 1,850, and that includes kids who come to the campus for a tech class from one of the other high schools.

That's phase I.

What document is showing 4,000 kids at the CC? I'm not seeing it. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I think its in a presentation here:
https://www.apsva.us/career-center/ccwg-follow-journey/career-center-working-group-presentations/