APS DHMS walk zone nuclear option

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My concern is that APS’ own projections have Williamsburg at 95% capacity after this move. That doesn’t leave much room for error, and APS is notoriously bad at these kind of projections. I can accept that they will rezone us, but I dread them just moving the over-enrollment problem from one end of the county to the other. I hope they can balance it better so that all the middle schools are around 90% but I’m not holding my breath.

APS staff knew these Hamm people would freak the F out and they will leave some of them at Hamm. That’s my prediction. Hamm will be left brimming to capacity. (And then complain about that in a couple of years.)

APS never just adopts the first proposal. They always tweak.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh look. We should have done a Rosslyn MS after all.

+1

Why do people keep talking about a Rosslyn middle school? How would have helped this situation? Truly don’t understand the point.

Not sure because the kids who live near Hamm would have been bused there, so I am not sure how that would have been better for them than busing to WMS. Some ppl just like to complain. And also they don't get it.

The PP who say we should have built at Rosslyn are NOT current Hamm/Taylor parents, that was clear from other parts of the post.

I just don’t see why anyone is lamenting that option, unless they mean abolish HBW so that middle schools would have more capacity (1100 sear Hamm, 1100 seat Heights), but no Taylor/Hamm parent would consider that? So really confused who is advocating for Rosslyn?

One take away I have from the Rosslyn point is that APS staff planners are really terrible. How could they locate a “neighborhood” MS so far away from the needed seats? That is, they justified spending millions on building DHMS as a neighborhood school and just in a heartbeat APS is now saying, woops, we don’t need those seats there.

Same argument re: Cardinal/closing Nottingham.

Bottom line for me is they are wholly incompetent and so parents should fight for what they want. This is not a do what’s best for the system when it’s comes to your own children/family. And that’s Ok.

NOPE! It was the local community that wanted its "walkable" middle school and insisted on the Stratford site becoming the neighborhood middle school. Per usual, APS gave in.

Community didn’t care if it was walkable; they just didn’t want the ridiculous dreg of land that is the heights site for 1100 students. I know people who could walk to the Heights who wanted the Hamm site because the whole “warehouse” model was obscene.

That's fine, in fact I get it. Just don't complain now about what you got.

They aren’t complaining! Quite the opposite - current Hamm families love the school and want to stay. That is what they are advocating for.

They are complaining about the very foreseeable results of putting two middle schools too close to each other. Which is exactly what they wanted.

This is what kills me.

If you hang around long enough you realize many things the entitled parents push hard for in this County end up having unforeseen (to them) consequences they then don’t like and they turn on a dime and adopt some other line of thinking to argue for what they want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My concern is that APS’ own projections have Williamsburg at 95% capacity after this move. That doesn’t leave much room for error, and APS is notoriously bad at these kind of projections. I can accept that they will rezone us, but I dread them just moving the over-enrollment problem from one end of the county to the other. I hope they can balance it better so that all the middle schools are around 90% but I’m not holding my breath.

APS staff knew these Hamm people would freak the F out and they will leave some of them at Hamm. That’s my prediction. Hamm will be left brimming to capacity. (And then complain about that in a couple of years.)

APS never just adopts the first proposal. They always tweak.

In the end it could be a few Hamm planning units that get sent to Williamsburg and the loudest Hamm people will declare victory and not give a shit about the few kids splintered. Not their kids. When it’s better for the kids if they are split evenly.

I was part of the 3 units lopped off McKinley to go to Ashlawn after that community badgered the school board to stay together at Cardinal.

[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:Oh look. We should have done a Rosslyn MS after all.

+1

Why do people keep talking about a Rosslyn middle school? How would have helped this situation? Truly don’t understand the point.

Not sure because the kids who live near Hamm would have been bused there, so I am not sure how that would have been better for them than busing to WMS. Some ppl just like to complain. And also they don't get it.

The PP who say we should have built at Rosslyn are NOT current Hamm/Taylor parents, that was clear from other parts of the post.

I just don’t see why anyone is lamenting that option, unless they mean abolish HBW so that middle schools would have more capacity (1100 sear Hamm, 1100 seat Heights), but no Taylor/Hamm parent would consider that? So really confused who is advocating for Rosslyn?

One take away I have from the Rosslyn point is that APS staff planners are really terrible. How could they locate a “neighborhood” MS so far away from the needed seats? That is, they justified spending millions on building DHMS as a neighborhood school and just in a heartbeat APS is now saying, woops, we don’t need those seats there.

Same argument re: Cardinal/closing Nottingham.

Bottom line for me is they are wholly incompetent and so parents should fight for what they want. This is not a do what’s best for the system when it’s comes to your own children/family. And that’s Ok.

NOPE! It was the local community that wanted its "walkable" middle school and insisted on the Stratford site becoming the neighborhood middle school. Per usual, APS gave in.

Community didn’t care if it was walkable; they just didn’t want the ridiculous dreg of land that is the heights site for 1100 students. I know people who could walk to the Heights who wanted the Hamm site because the whole “warehouse” model was obscene.

That's fine, in fact I get it. Just don't complain now about what you got.

They aren’t complaining! Quite the opposite - current Hamm families love the school and want to stay. That is what they are advocating for.

They are complaining about the very foreseeable results of putting two middle schools too close to each other. Which is exactly what they wanted.

This is what kills me.

If you hang around long enough you realize many things the entitled parents push hard for in this County end up having unforeseen (to them) consequences they then don’t like and they turn on a dime and adopt some other line of thinking to argue for what they want.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My concern is that APS’ own projections have Williamsburg at 95% capacity after this move. That doesn’t leave much room for error, and APS is notoriously bad at these kind of projections. I can accept that they will rezone us, but I dread them just moving the over-enrollment problem from one end of the county to the other. I hope they can balance it better so that all the middle schools are around 90% but I’m not holding my breath.

Yes this is our concern as Nottingham parents about the projections for Zone 1 elementary schools - closing Nottingham puts every school at, above or very near capacity with zero room for errors on projections.

But everyone is telling us just to suck it up. I wonder what people will say here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My concern is that APS’ own projections have Williamsburg at 95% capacity after this move. That doesn’t leave much room for error, and APS is notoriously bad at these kind of projections. I can accept that they will rezone us, but I dread them just moving the over-enrollment problem from one end of the county to the other. I hope they can balance it better so that all the middle schools are around 90% but I’m not holding my breath.

APS staff knew these Hamm people would freak the F out and they will leave some of them at Hamm. That’s my prediction. Hamm will be left brimming to capacity. (And then complain about that in a couple of years.)

APS never just adopts the first proposal. They always tweak.

In the end it could be a few Hamm planning units that get sent to Williamsburg and the loudest Hamm people will declare victory and not give a shit about the few kids splintered. Not their kids. When it’s better for the kids if they are split evenly.

I was part of the 3 units lopped off McKinley to go to Ashlawn after that community badgered the school board to stay together at Cardinal.

They should just grandfather in small populations like that from grade 3rd or so. This isn’t rocket science

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My concern is that APS’ own projections have Williamsburg at 95% capacity after this move. That doesn’t leave much room for error, and APS is notoriously bad at these kind of projections. I can accept that they will rezone us, but I dread them just moving the over-enrollment problem from one end of the county to the other. I hope they can balance it better so that all the middle schools are around 90% but I’m not holding my breath.

APS staff knew these Hamm people would freak the F out and they will leave some of them at Hamm. That’s my prediction. Hamm will be left brimming to capacity. (And then complain about that in a couple of years.)

APS never just adopts the first proposal. They always tweak.

In the end it could be a few Hamm planning units that get sent to Williamsburg and the loudest Hamm people will declare victory and not give a shit about the few kids splintered. Not their kids. When it’s better for the kids if they are split evenly.

I was part of the 3 units lopped off McKinley to go to Ashlawn after that community badgered the school board to stay together at Cardinal.

They should just grandfather in small populations like that from grade 3rd or so. This isn’t rocket science

Not as simple as it sounds. Siblings etc. 3 years of 3 extra planning units worth of kids isn’t no big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My concern is that APS’ own projections have Williamsburg at 95% capacity after this move. That doesn’t leave much room for error, and APS is notoriously bad at these kind of projections. I can accept that they will rezone us, but I dread them just moving the over-enrollment problem from one end of the county to the other. I hope they can balance it better so that all the middle schools are around 90% but I’m not holding my breath.

APS staff knew these Hamm people would freak the F out and they will leave some of them at Hamm. That’s my prediction. Hamm will be left brimming to capacity. (And then complain about that in a couple of years.)

APS never just adopts the first proposal. They always tweak.

In the end it could be a few Hamm planning units that get sent to Williamsburg and the loudest Hamm people will declare victory and not give a shit about the few kids splintered. Not their kids. When it’s better for the kids if they are split evenly.

I was part of the 3 units lopped off McKinley to go to Ashlawn after that community badgered the school board to stay together at Cardinal.

They should just grandfather in small populations like that from grade 3rd or so. This isn’t rocket science

Not as simple as it sounds. Siblings etc. 3 years of 3 extra planning units worth of kids isn’t no big deal.

Siblings that don’t qualify go to new school. Just like when one kid goes to middle school and one still in elem. again this isn’t hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My concern is that APS’ own projections have Williamsburg at 95% capacity after this move. That doesn’t leave much room for error, and APS is notoriously bad at these kind of projections. I can accept that they will rezone us, but I dread them just moving the over-enrollment problem from one end of the county to the other. I hope they can balance it better so that all the middle schools are around 90% but I’m not holding my breath.

APS staff knew these Hamm people would freak the F out and they will leave some of them at Hamm. That’s my prediction. Hamm will be left brimming to capacity. (And then complain about that in a couple of years.)

APS never just adopts the first proposal. They always tweak.

In the end it could be a few Hamm planning units that get sent to Williamsburg and the loudest Hamm people will declare victory and not give a shit about the few kids splintered. Not their kids. When it’s better for the kids if they are split evenly.

I was part of the 3 units lopped off McKinley to go to Ashlawn after that community badgered the school board to stay together at Cardinal.

They should just grandfather in small populations like that from grade 3rd or so. This isn’t rocket science

Not as simple as it sounds. Siblings etc. 3 years of 3 extra planning units worth of kids isn’t no big deal.

Siblings that don’t qualify go to new school. Just like when one kid goes to middle school and one still in elem. again this isn’t hard.

That’s nice you don’t think it’s hard. I guarantee you everyone would not feel the way you do about siblings at different elementary schools. It would be an issue that would rile up a whole new and different crowd of complainers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh look. We should have done a Rosslyn MS after all.

+1

Why do people keep talking about a Rosslyn middle school? How would have helped this situation? Truly don’t understand the point.

Not sure because the kids who live near Hamm would have been bused there, so I am not sure how that would have been better for them than busing to WMS. Some ppl just like to complain. And also they don't get it.

The PP who say we should have built at Rosslyn are NOT current Hamm/Taylor parents, that was clear from other parts of the post.

I just don’t see why anyone is lamenting that option, unless they mean abolish HBW so that middle schools would have more capacity (1100 sear Hamm, 1100 seat Heights), but no Taylor/Hamm parent would consider that? So really confused who is advocating for Rosslyn?

One take away I have from the Rosslyn point is that APS staff planners are really terrible. How could they locate a “neighborhood” MS so far away from the needed seats? That is, they justified spending millions on building DHMS as a neighborhood school and just in a heartbeat APS is now saying, woops, we don’t need those seats there.

Same argument re: Cardinal/closing Nottingham.

Bottom line for me is they are wholly incompetent and so parents should fight for what they want. This is not a do what’s best for the system when it’s comes to your own children/family. And that’s Ok.

NOPE! It was the local community that wanted its "walkable" middle school and insisted on the Stratford site becoming the neighborhood middle school. Per usual, APS gave in.

Community didn’t care if it was walkable; they just didn’t want the ridiculous dreg of land that is the heights site for 1100 students. I know people who could walk to the Heights who wanted the Hamm site because the whole “warehouse” model was obscene.

That's fine, in fact I get it. Just don't complain now about what you got.

They aren’t complaining! Quite the opposite - current Hamm families love the school and want to stay. That is what they are advocating for.

They are complaining about the very foreseeable results of putting two middle schools too close to each other. Which is exactly what they wanted.

What misinformed and accusatory comment.

If they had situated Hamm at the Heights sight, it would have the same boundaries — and we would have the same imbalance. It’s a result of fewer families going to public school in the wealthy 22207 zip code (see Nottingham).

And Hamm and WMS are no closer than WMS and Swanson — they in fact make a very good fixed radius circle with WMS as the focal point.

If anything Kenmore and Swanson are Very close, and Kenmore and Jefferson are certainly close than WMS and Hamm.

You just want to claim the move is for some made of reason (schools are too close), and then somehow blame the Hamm parents? What an agenda!

Maybe if Hamm had been placed at the heights, they would all be delighted to be zoned to WMS, because it would be such an awful site for a large neighborhood school and require extensive busing anyways since the population of middle school students is much smalller in Rosslyn and many in Lyon Village leave for private by grade 6.

But as far as decision that were best for Hamm students, the Stratford site for Hamm was a winner hands down. It’s the best middle school on the county, and now the staff want to tear apart it’s community?

[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:Oh look. We should have done a Rosslyn MS after all.

+1

Why do people keep talking about a Rosslyn middle school? How would have helped this situation? Truly don’t understand the point.

Not sure because the kids who live near Hamm would have been bused there, so I am not sure how that would have been better for them than busing to WMS. Some ppl just like to complain. And also they don't get it.

The PP who say we should have built at Rosslyn are NOT current Hamm/Taylor parents, that was clear from other parts of the post.

I just don’t see why anyone is lamenting that option, unless they mean abolish HBW so that middle schools would have more capacity (1100 sear Hamm, 1100 seat Heights), but no Taylor/Hamm parent would consider that? So really confused who is advocating for Rosslyn?

One take away I have from the Rosslyn point is that APS staff planners are really terrible. How could they locate a “neighborhood” MS so far away from the needed seats? That is, they justified spending millions on building DHMS as a neighborhood school and just in a heartbeat APS is now saying, woops, we don’t need those seats there.

Same argument re: Cardinal/closing Nottingham.

Bottom line for me is they are wholly incompetent and so parents should fight for what they want. This is not a do what’s best for the system when it’s comes to your own children/family. And that’s Ok.

NOPE! It was the local community that wanted its "walkable" middle school and insisted on the Stratford site becoming the neighborhood middle school. Per usual, APS gave in.

Community didn’t care if it was walkable; they just didn’t want the ridiculous dreg of land that is the heights site for 1100 students. I know people who could walk to the Heights who wanted the Hamm site because the whole “warehouse” model was obscene.

That's fine, in fact I get it. Just don't complain now about what you got.

They aren’t complaining! Quite the opposite - current Hamm families love the school and want to stay. That is what they are advocating for.

They are complaining about the very foreseeable results of putting two middle schools too close to each other. Which is exactly what they wanted.

What misinformed and accusatory comment.

If they had situated Hamm at the Heights sight, it would have the same boundaries — and we would have the same imbalance. It’s a result of fewer families going to public school in the wealthy 22207 zip code (see Nottingham).

And Hamm and WMS are no closer than WMS and Swanson — they in fact make a very good fixed radius circle with WMS as the focal point.

If anything Kenmore and Swanson are Very close, and Kenmore and Jefferson are certainly close than WMS and Hamm.

You just want to claim the move is for some made of reason (schools are too close), and then somehow blame the Hamm parents? What an agenda!

Maybe if Hamm had been placed at the heights, they would all be delighted to be zoned to WMS, because it would be such an awful site for a large neighborhood school and require extensive busing anyways since the population of middle school students is much smalller in Rosslyn and many in Lyon Village leave for private by grade 6.

But as far as decision that were best for Hamm students, the Stratford site for Hamm was a winner hands down. It’s the best middle school on the county, and now the staff want to tear apart it’s community?

You’re wrong - WMS boundaries are too small because they are constrained by Hamms walk zone. This would not be the case if the MD had been sited elsewhere. And DH parents wouldn’t be walkable to Rosalyn so they wouldn’t care which school they were bused to.

[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:Oh look. We should have done a Rosslyn MS after all.

+1

Why do people keep talking about a Rosslyn middle school? How would have helped this situation? Truly don’t understand the point.

Not sure because the kids who live near Hamm would have been bused there, so I am not sure how that would have been better for them than busing to WMS. Some ppl just like to complain. And also they don't get it.

The PP who say we should have built at Rosslyn are NOT current Hamm/Taylor parents, that was clear from other parts of the post.

I just don’t see why anyone is lamenting that option, unless they mean abolish HBW so that middle schools would have more capacity (1100 sear Hamm, 1100 seat Heights), but no Taylor/Hamm parent would consider that? So really confused who is advocating for Rosslyn?

One take away I have from the Rosslyn point is that APS staff planners are really terrible. How could they locate a “neighborhood” MS so far away from the needed seats? That is, they justified spending millions on building DHMS as a neighborhood school and just in a heartbeat APS is now saying, woops, we don’t need those seats there.

Same argument re: Cardinal/closing Nottingham.

Bottom line for me is they are wholly incompetent and so parents should fight for what they want. This is not a do what’s best for the system when it’s comes to your own children/family. And that’s Ok.

NOPE! It was the local community that wanted its "walkable" middle school and insisted on the Stratford site becoming the neighborhood middle school. Per usual, APS gave in.

Community didn’t care if it was walkable; they just didn’t want the ridiculous dreg of land that is the heights site for 1100 students. I know people who could walk to the Heights who wanted the Hamm site because the whole “warehouse” model was obscene.

That's fine, in fact I get it. Just don't complain now about what you got.

They aren’t complaining! Quite the opposite - current Hamm families love the school and want to stay. That is what they are advocating for.

They are complaining about the very foreseeable results of putting two middle schools too close to each other. Which is exactly what they wanted.

What misinformed and accusatory comment.

If they had situated Hamm at the Heights sight, it would have the same boundaries — and we would have the same imbalance. It’s a result of fewer families going to public school in the wealthy 22207 zip code (see Nottingham).

And Hamm and WMS are no closer than WMS and Swanson — they in fact make a very good fixed radius circle with WMS as the focal point.

If anything Kenmore and Swanson are Very close, and Kenmore and Jefferson are certainly close than WMS and Hamm.

You just want to claim the move is for some made of reason (schools are too close), and then somehow blame the Hamm parents? What an agenda!

Maybe if Hamm had been placed at the heights, they would all be delighted to be zoned to WMS, because it would be such an awful site for a large neighborhood school and require extensive busing anyways since the population of middle school students is much smalller in Rosslyn and many in Lyon Village leave for private by grade 6.

But as far as decision that were best for Hamm students, the Stratford site for Hamm was a winner hands down. It’s the best middle school on the county, and now the staff want to tear apart it’s community?

OGG. Here we go again.

[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:Oh look. We should have done a Rosslyn MS after all.

+1

Why do people keep talking about a Rosslyn middle school? How would have helped this situation? Truly don’t understand the point.

Not sure because the kids who live near Hamm would have been bused there, so I am not sure how that would have been better for them than busing to WMS. Some ppl just like to complain. And also they don't get it.

The PP who say we should have built at Rosslyn are NOT current Hamm/Taylor parents, that was clear from other parts of the post.

I just don’t see why anyone is lamenting that option, unless they mean abolish HBW so that middle schools would have more capacity (1100 sear Hamm, 1100 seat Heights), but no Taylor/Hamm parent would consider that? So really confused who is advocating for Rosslyn?

One take away I have from the Rosslyn point is that APS staff planners are really terrible. How could they locate a “neighborhood” MS so far away from the needed seats? That is, they justified spending millions on building DHMS as a neighborhood school and just in a heartbeat APS is now saying, woops, we don’t need those seats there.

Same argument re: Cardinal/closing Nottingham.

Bottom line for me is they are wholly incompetent and so parents should fight for what they want. This is not a do what’s best for the system when it’s comes to your own children/family. And that’s Ok.

NOPE! It was the local community that wanted its "walkable" middle school and insisted on the Stratford site becoming the neighborhood middle school. Per usual, APS gave in.

Community didn’t care if it was walkable; they just didn’t want the ridiculous dreg of land that is the heights site for 1100 students. I know people who could walk to the Heights who wanted the Hamm site because the whole “warehouse” model was obscene.

That's fine, in fact I get it. Just don't complain now about what you got.

They aren’t complaining! Quite the opposite - current Hamm families love the school and want to stay. That is what they are advocating for.

They are complaining about the very foreseeable results of putting two middle schools too close to each other. Which is exactly what they wanted.

What misinformed and accusatory comment.

If they had situated Hamm at the Heights sight, it would have the same boundaries — and we would have the same imbalance. It’s a result of fewer families going to public school in the wealthy 22207 zip code (see Nottingham).

And Hamm and WMS are no closer than WMS and Swanson — they in fact make a very good fixed radius circle with WMS as the focal point.

If anything Kenmore and Swanson are Very close, and Kenmore and Jefferson are certainly close than WMS and Hamm.

You just want to claim the move is for some made of reason (schools are too close), and then somehow blame the Hamm parents? What an agenda!

Maybe if Hamm had been placed at the heights, they would all be delighted to be zoned to WMS, because it would be such an awful site for a large neighborhood school and require extensive busing anyways since the population of middle school students is much smalller in Rosslyn and many in Lyon Village leave for private by grade 6.

But as far as decision that were best for Hamm students, the Stratford site for Hamm was a winner hands down. It’s the best middle school on the county, and now the staff want to tear apart it’s community?

You’re wrong - WMS boundaries are too small because they are constrained by Hamms walk zone. This would not be the case if the MD had been sited elsewhere. And DH parents wouldn’t be walkable to Rosalyn so they wouldn’t care which school they were bused to.

Haha, no they would be happy not to be bused to a Rosslyn warehouse.

They would not have made boundaries different enough to address a middle school at 65% capacity! Get real. The boundaries aren’t the issue, it’s the private school exodus. As it was DHMS is also under enrolled, at 800 pupils. The location of the middle school for Stratford vs Rosslyn is immaterial, get over it.

[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:

Anonymous wrote:Oh look. We should have done a Rosslyn MS after all.

+1

Why do people keep talking about a Rosslyn middle school? How would have helped this situation? Truly don’t understand the point.

Not sure because the kids who live near Hamm would have been bused there, so I am not sure how that would have been better for them than busing to WMS. Some ppl just like to complain. And also they don't get it.

The PP who say we should have built at Rosslyn are NOT current Hamm/Taylor parents, that was clear from other parts of the post.

I just don’t see why anyone is lamenting that option, unless they mean abolish HBW so that middle schools would have more capacity (1100 sear Hamm, 1100 seat Heights), but no Taylor/Hamm parent would consider that? So really confused who is advocating for Rosslyn?

One take away I have from the Rosslyn point is that APS staff planners are really terrible. How could they locate a “neighborhood” MS so far away from the needed seats? That is, they justified spending millions on building DHMS as a neighborhood school and just in a heartbeat APS is now saying, woops, we don’t need those seats there.

Same argument re: Cardinal/closing Nottingham.

Bottom line for me is they are wholly incompetent and so parents should fight for what they want. This is not a do what’s best for the system when it’s comes to your own children/family. And that’s Ok.

NOPE! It was the local community that wanted its "walkable" middle school and insisted on the Stratford site becoming the neighborhood middle school. Per usual, APS gave in.

Community didn’t care if it was walkable; they just didn’t want the ridiculous dreg of land that is the heights site for 1100 students. I know people who could walk to the Heights who wanted the Hamm site because the whole “warehouse” model was obscene.

That's fine, in fact I get it. Just don't complain now about what you got.

They aren’t complaining! Quite the opposite - current Hamm families love the school and want to stay. That is what they are advocating for.

They are complaining about the very foreseeable results of putting two middle schools too close to each other. Which is exactly what they wanted.

What misinformed and accusatory comment.

If they had situated Hamm at the Heights sight, it would have the same boundaries — and we would have the same imbalance. It’s a result of fewer families going to public school in the wealthy 22207 zip code (see Nottingham).

And Hamm and WMS are no closer than WMS and Swanson — they in fact make a very good fixed radius circle with WMS as the focal point.

If anything Kenmore and Swanson are Very close, and Kenmore and Jefferson are certainly close than WMS and Hamm.

You just want to claim the move is for some made of reason (schools are too close), and then somehow blame the Hamm parents? What an agenda!

Maybe if Hamm had been placed at the heights, they would all be delighted to be zoned to WMS, because it would be such an awful site for a large neighborhood school and require extensive busing anyways since the population of middle school students is much smalller in Rosslyn and many in Lyon Village leave for private by grade 6.

But as far as decision that were best for Hamm students, the Stratford site for Hamm was a winner hands down. It’s the best middle school on the county, and now the staff want to tear apart it’s community?

You’re wrong - WMS boundaries are too small because they are constrained by Hamms walk zone. This would not be the case if the MD had been sited elsewhere. And DH parents wouldn’t be walkable to Rosalyn so they wouldn’t care which school they were bused to.

Haha, no they would be happy not to be bused to a Rosslyn warehouse.

They would not have made boundaries different enough to address a middle school at 65% capacity! Get real. The boundaries aren’t the issue, it’s the private school exodus. As it was DHMS is also under enrolled, at 800 pupils. The location of the middle school for Stratford vs Rosslyn is immaterial, get over it.

We all know that very little would make these people happy. that's not exactly the standard APS should use.

Of course it's the boundaries. DH was underenrolled even before Covid.

[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:Oh look. We should have done a Rosslyn MS after all.

+1

Why do people keep talking about a Rosslyn middle school? How would have helped this situation? Truly don’t understand the point.

Not sure because the kids who live near Hamm would have been bused there, so I am not sure how that would have been better for them than busing to WMS. Some ppl just like to complain. And also they don't get it.

The PP who say we should have built at Rosslyn are NOT current Hamm/Taylor parents, that was clear from other parts of the post.

I just don’t see why anyone is lamenting that option, unless they mean abolish HBW so that middle schools would have more capacity (1100 sear Hamm, 1100 seat Heights), but no Taylor/Hamm parent would consider that? So really confused who is advocating for Rosslyn?

One take away I have from the Rosslyn point is that APS staff planners are really terrible. How could they locate a “neighborhood” MS so far away from the needed seats? That is, they justified spending millions on building DHMS as a neighborhood school and just in a heartbeat APS is now saying, woops, we don’t need those seats there.

Same argument re: Cardinal/closing Nottingham.

Bottom line for me is they are wholly incompetent and so parents should fight for what they want. This is not a do what’s best for the system when it’s comes to your own children/family. And that’s Ok.

NOPE! It was the local community that wanted its "walkable" middle school and insisted on the Stratford site becoming the neighborhood middle school. Per usual, APS gave in.

Community didn’t care if it was walkable; they just didn’t want the ridiculous dreg of land that is the heights site for 1100 students. I know people who could walk to the Heights who wanted the Hamm site because the whole “warehouse” model was obscene.

That's fine, in fact I get it. Just don't complain now about what you got.

They aren’t complaining! Quite the opposite - current Hamm families love the school and want to stay. That is what they are advocating for.

They are complaining about the very foreseeable results of putting two middle schools too close to each other. Which is exactly what they wanted.

What misinformed and accusatory comment.

If they had situated Hamm at the Heights sight, it would have the same boundaries — and we would have the same imbalance. It’s a result of fewer families going to public school in the wealthy 22207 zip code (see Nottingham).

And Hamm and WMS are no closer than WMS and Swanson — they in fact make a very good fixed radius circle with WMS as the focal point.

If anything Kenmore and Swanson are Very close, and Kenmore and Jefferson are certainly close than WMS and Hamm.

You just want to claim the move is for some made of reason (schools are too close), and then somehow blame the Hamm parents? What an agenda!

Maybe if Hamm had been placed at the heights, they would all be delighted to be zoned to WMS, because it would be such an awful site for a large neighborhood school and require extensive busing anyways since the population of middle school students is much smalller in Rosslyn and many in Lyon Village leave for private by grade 6.

But as far as decision that were best for Hamm students, the Stratford site for Hamm was a winner hands down. It’s the best middle school on the county, and now the staff want to tear apart it’s community?

1. People in LV wanted the Rosslyn school.

2. Hamm is great because of the principal, not because of entitled parents.