MPSA - new school or move to north Arlington?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So Duran confirmed at last SB meeting that MPSA would have to relocate as new careeer center gets built. Will it move to north Arlington and replace a school there or get a new school building in south Arlington? Any place that makes sense other than near the current site?

If they build a NEW school for a program again there will be pitchforks.

Buh bye Nottingham, you know most of your kids will be private in 4 years anyway.

I look forward to my home value going up even more when my house is walkable to Discovery and MPSA.

Agree but MPSA will have to go to Discovery or Tuckahoe. Easier for Nottingham to take trailers and it is the most walkable neighborhood school.

Discovery has repeatedly been ruled out as a choice school location precisely because it can’t accommodate relocatables or expansion. Not that a choice school is going to happen in any case, but if people are interested in the SB’s thoughts on potential locations, they can revisit the materials from a few years ago. Sorry to burst your bubble, but Nottingham’s ability to take trailers makes it more attractive as a choice school location, especially since overcrowding in the neighborhood isn’t projected at all.

DP. That is a really stupid calculus. They can easily control the size of an option school, but have little control over neighborhood population growth. Also, APS tried this with Nottingham several years ago and it got shut down because of the 17 different ways that it was demonstrated to be a foolish plan. I mean, they literally refused to do a traffic study in that process because they knew that alone would prove it infeasible.

Because they can control the size of an option school, they can increase the size to help relieve crowding throughout the county, not just one neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The vast majority (roughly 80%) of students at MPSA come from S Arlington schools. APS is short on buses. It would be ridiculously stupid to move it to N Arlington.
https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/2019-2020_APS-Transfer-Report-All-Parts.pdf

They'd utilize the same number of buses

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The vast majority (roughly 80%) of students at MPSA come from S Arlington schools. APS is short on buses. It would be ridiculously stupid to move it to N Arlington.
https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/2019-2020_APS-Transfer-Report-All-Parts.pdf

They'd utilize the same number of buses

The routes would take longer.

[Anonymous]

I think APS would not move it to the North. I think they would consider moving it to Barcroft or Carlin Springs. Barcroft is chronically under enrolled (though very walkable for most people) and Carlin Springs is only accessible by bus for most people. It would make sense for an option school to be somewhere that people have to be bussed to.

[Anonymous]

The existing CC building has to be renovated after the new HS is built. That will cost tens of millions of dollars. $40? $50? APS is not talking about that yet.

MPSA is going to be torn down. You could leave it on the site during construction, then renno, then move it to the old building. But that takes at least 5 years, and it also means the construction for the new building will be much harder and stupider, because they will spend $1 million building MPSA a new play area they plan to destroy, and they will build a half field instead of a full field, and the bus loop won't be optimized, etc.

They absolutely should move MPSA north now. It doesn't matter where, we have the seats, use them. Make the construction make more sense now.

Then in 5 years when you are renovating the old building, we will know what we need it for. It may be another neighborhood school in S Arlington, where they are building new multi-story family buildings at a crazy pace. Or if north Arlington has some magical growth they could move MPSA back at that point.

That's what makes the most sense.

I don't know what MPSA actually wants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think APS would not move it to the North. I think they would consider moving it to Barcroft or Carlin Springs. Barcroft is chronically under enrolled (though very walkable for most people) and Carlin Springs is only accessible by bus for most people. It would make sense for an option school to be somewhere that people have to be bussed to.

They aren’t going to make the very walkable Barcroft an option school. And they aren’t going to take over Carlin Springs either. CS parents have been very clear in their feedback that they don’t want to be moved back to an older building and have their school taken away, and they also prefer their kids to have bus service for ES. They don’t have the time or inclination to walk their kids to and from school. It’s a burden for them, given the hilly neighborhood. MPSA isn’t going to be moved off site. They just hope for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The existing CC building has to be renovated after the new HS is built. That will cost tens of millions of dollars. $40? $50? APS is not talking about that yet.

MPSA is going to be torn down. You could leave it on the site during construction, then renno, then move it to the old building. But that takes at least 5 years, and it also means the construction for the new building will be much harder and stupider, because they will spend $1 million building MPSA a new play area they plan to destroy, and they will build a half field instead of a full field, and the bus loop won't be optimized, etc.

They absolutely should move MPSA north now. It doesn't matter where, we have the seats, use them. Make the construction make more sense now.

Then in 5 years when you are renovating the old building, we will know what we need it for. It may be another neighborhood school in S Arlington, where they are building new multi-story family buildings at a crazy pace. Or if north Arlington has some magical growth they could move MPSA back at that point.

That's what makes the most sense.

I don't know what MPSA actually wants.

APS had proposals that said the expansion of the Career Center would be around $170-200 million for what they want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The existing CC building has to be renovated after the new HS is built. That will cost tens of millions of dollars. $40? $50? APS is not talking about that yet.

MPSA is going to be torn down. You could leave it on the site during construction, then renno, then move it to the old building. But that takes at least 5 years, and it also means the construction for the new building will be much harder and stupider, because they will spend $1 million building MPSA a new play area they plan to destroy, and they will build a half field instead of a full field, and the bus loop won't be optimized, etc.

They absolutely should move MPSA north now. It doesn't matter where, we have the seats, use them. Make the construction make more sense now.

Then in 5 years when you are renovating the old building, we will know what we need it for. It may be another neighborhood school in S Arlington, where they are building new multi-story family buildings at a crazy pace. Or if north Arlington has some magical growth they could move MPSA back at that point.

That's what makes the most sense.

I don't know what MPSA actually wants.

APS had proposals that said the expansion of the Career Center would be around $170-200 million for what they want.

In all the proposals MPSA is left on site while a new HS is built. MPSA just wants out now and they don’t want to wait for however long for a new building. They shouldn’t ever have been moved out of Drew to begin with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The existing CC building has to be renovated after the new HS is built. That will cost tens of millions of dollars. $40? $50? APS is not talking about that yet.

MPSA is going to be torn down. You could leave it on the site during construction, then renno, then move it to the old building. But that takes at least 5 years, and it also means the construction for the new building will be much harder and stupider, because they will spend $1 million building MPSA a new play area they plan to destroy, and they will build a half field instead of a full field, and the bus loop won't be optimized, etc.

They absolutely should move MPSA north now. It doesn't matter where, we have the seats, use them. Make the construction make more sense now.

Then in 5 years when you are renovating the old building, we will know what we need it for. It may be another neighborhood school in S Arlington, where they are building new multi-story family buildings at a crazy pace. Or if north Arlington has some magical growth they could move MPSA back at that point.

That's what makes the most sense.

I don't know what MPSA actually wants.

APS had proposals that said the expansion of the Career Center would be around $170-200 million for what they want.

In all the proposals MPSA is left on site while a new HS is built. MPSA just wants out now and they don’t want to wait for however long for a new building. They shouldn’t ever have been moved out of Drew to begin with.

Supposedly the Drew community wanted their own school, not to share it with Montessori

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The existing CC building has to be renovated after the new HS is built. That will cost tens of millions of dollars. $40? $50? APS is not talking about that yet.

MPSA is going to be torn down. You could leave it on the site during construction, then renno, then move it to the old building. But that takes at least 5 years, and it also means the construction for the new building will be much harder and stupider, because they will spend $1 million building MPSA a new play area they plan to destroy, and they will build a half field instead of a full field, and the bus loop won't be optimized, etc.

They absolutely should move MPSA north now. It doesn't matter where, we have the seats, use them. Make the construction make more sense now.

Then in 5 years when you are renovating the old building, we will know what we need it for. It may be another neighborhood school in S Arlington, where they are building new multi-story family buildings at a crazy pace. Or if north Arlington has some magical growth they could move MPSA back at that point.

That's what makes the most sense.

I don't know what MPSA actually wants.

APS had proposals that said the expansion of the Career Center would be around $170-200 million for what they want.

In all the proposals MPSA is left on site while a new HS is built. MPSA just wants out now and they don’t want to wait for however long for a new building. They shouldn’t ever have been moved out of Drew to begin with.

Supposedly the Drew community wanted their own school, not to share it with Montessori

It was absolutely right to separate Montessori and the neighborhood program. The neighborhood program wasn't getting its due resources and all of those students were very poorly served. There are different bell schedules for classes and the two approaches are fundamentally different. Whether Montessori program should have been moved or the whole school converted to Montessori is a point that can be debated; but separating the two was the right thing to do. And yes, Nauck (Green Valley) wanted its own neighborhood school going back to the days of busing them to Page (now Jamestown?).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The existing CC building has to be renovated after the new HS is built. That will cost tens of millions of dollars. $40? $50? APS is not talking about that yet.

MPSA is going to be torn down. You could leave it on the site during construction, then renno, then move it to the old building. But that takes at least 5 years, and it also means the construction for the new building will be much harder and stupider, because they will spend $1 million building MPSA a new play area they plan to destroy, and they will build a half field instead of a full field, and the bus loop won't be optimized, etc.

They absolutely should move MPSA north now. It doesn't matter where, we have the seats, use them. Make the construction make more sense now.

Then in 5 years when you are renovating the old building, we will know what we need it for. It may be another neighborhood school in S Arlington, where they are building new multi-story family buildings at a crazy pace. Or if north Arlington has some magical growth they could move MPSA back at that point.

That's what makes the most sense.

I don't know what MPSA actually wants.

APS had proposals that said the expansion of the Career Center would be around $170-200 million for what they want.

In all the proposals MPSA is left on site while a new HS is built. MPSA just wants out now and they don’t want to wait for however long for a new building. They shouldn’t ever have been moved out of Drew to begin with.

Supposedly the Drew community wanted their own school, not to share it with Montessori

It was absolutely right to separate Montessori and the neighborhood program. The neighborhood program wasn't getting its due resources and all of those students were very poorly served. There are different bell schedules for classes and the two approaches are fundamentally different. Whether Montessori program should have been moved or the whole school converted to Montessori is a point that can be debated; but separating the two was the right thing to do. And yes, Nauck (Green Valley) wanted its own neighborhood school going back to the days of busing them to Page (now Jamestown?).

I thought Page became ASFS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So Duran confirmed at last SB meeting that MPSA would have to relocate as new careeer center gets built. Will it move to north Arlington and replace a school there or get a new school building in south Arlington? Any place that makes sense other than near the current site?

If they build a NEW school for a program again there will be pitchforks.

Buh bye Nottingham, you know most of your kids will be private in 4 years anyway.

I look forward to my home value going up even more when my house is walkable to Discovery and MPSA.

Agree but MPSA will have to go to Discovery or Tuckahoe. Easier for Nottingham to take trailers and it is the most walkable neighborhood school.

Discovery has repeatedly been ruled out as a choice school location precisely because it can’t accommodate relocatables or expansion. Not that a choice school is going to happen in any case, but if people are interested in the SB’s thoughts on potential locations, they can revisit the materials from a few years ago. Sorry to burst your bubble, but Nottingham’s ability to take trailers makes it more attractive as a choice school location, especially since overcrowding in the neighborhood isn’t projected at all.

DP. That is a really stupid calculus. They can easily control the size of an option school, but have little control over neighborhood population growth. Also, APS tried this with Nottingham several years ago and it got shut down because of the 17 different ways that it was demonstrated to be a foolish plan. I mean, they literally refused to do a traffic study in that process because they knew that alone would prove it infeasible.

Because they can control the size of an option school, they can increase the size to help relieve crowding throughout the county, not just one neighborhood.

Except they can’t control where those extra students come from, so there are no assurances that expanding an option school will relieve overcrowding in a particular neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So Duran confirmed at last SB meeting that MPSA would have to relocate as new careeer center gets built. Will it move to north Arlington and replace a school there or get a new school building in south Arlington? Any place that makes sense other than near the current site?

If they build a NEW school for a program again there will be pitchforks.

Buh bye Nottingham, you know most of your kids will be private in 4 years anyway.

I look forward to my home value going up even more when my house is walkable to Discovery and MPSA.

Agree but MPSA will have to go to Discovery or Tuckahoe. Easier for Nottingham to take trailers and it is the most walkable neighborhood school.

Discovery has repeatedly been ruled out as a choice school location precisely because it can’t accommodate relocatables or expansion. Not that a choice school is going to happen in any case, but if people are interested in the SB’s thoughts on potential locations, they can revisit the materials from a few years ago. Sorry to burst your bubble, but Nottingham’s ability to take trailers makes it more attractive as a choice school location, especially since overcrowding in the neighborhood isn’t projected at all.

DP. That is a really stupid calculus. They can easily control the size of an option school, but have little control over neighborhood population growth. Also, APS tried this with Nottingham several years ago and it got shut down because of the 17 different ways that it was demonstrated to be a foolish plan. I mean, they literally refused to do a traffic study in that process because they knew that alone would prove it infeasible.

Because they can control the size of an option school, they can increase the size to help relieve crowding throughout the county, not just one neighborhood.

Except they can’t control where those extra students come from, so there are no assurances that expanding an option school will relieve overcrowding in a particular neighborhood.

Nobody wants more ES or MS Montessori seats. It’s the Pre-K program that’s wildly popular. So expanding this particular option school would not be helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The existing CC building has to be renovated after the new HS is built. That will cost tens of millions of dollars. $40? $50? APS is not talking about that yet.

MPSA is going to be torn down. You could leave it on the site during construction, then renno, then move it to the old building. But that takes at least 5 years, and it also means the construction for the new building will be much harder and stupider, because they will spend $1 million building MPSA a new play area they plan to destroy, and they will build a half field instead of a full field, and the bus loop won't be optimized, etc.

They absolutely should move MPSA north now. It doesn't matter where, we have the seats, use them. Make the construction make more sense now.

Then in 5 years when you are renovating the old building, we will know what we need it for. It may be another neighborhood school in S Arlington, where they are building new multi-story family buildings at a crazy pace. Or if north Arlington has some magical growth they could move MPSA back at that point.

That's what makes the most sense.

I don't know what MPSA actually wants.

APS had proposals that said the expansion of the Career Center would be around $170-200 million for what they want.

This has all been very hard to follow. But APS is spending $170-200 million on a brand new building. The existing building will be left on the site, and needs to be renovated for some other purpose when CC moves out. That cost is probably $40-60 million IN ADDITION TO the $170-200 million for the new building. Plus whatever it costs to tear down MPSA, which won't be much.

But again, if we are tearing MPSA down anyhow, and we have 500 empty ES seats now (which we do) we should just move MPSA now and figure out later on what to do with the old CC space. I don't think MPSA has to go there, and by that time, we may need a new ES in SA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The existing CC building has to be renovated after the new HS is built. That will cost tens of millions of dollars. $40? $50? APS is not talking about that yet.

MPSA is going to be torn down. You could leave it on the site during construction, then renno, then move it to the old building. But that takes at least 5 years, and it also means the construction for the new building will be much harder and stupider, because they will spend $1 million building MPSA a new play area they plan to destroy, and they will build a half field instead of a full field, and the bus loop won't be optimized, etc.

They absolutely should move MPSA north now. It doesn't matter where, we have the seats, use them. Make the construction make more sense now.

Then in 5 years when you are renovating the old building, we will know what we need it for. It may be another neighborhood school in S Arlington, where they are building new multi-story family buildings at a crazy pace. Or if north Arlington has some magical growth they could move MPSA back at that point.

That's what makes the most sense.

I don't know what MPSA actually wants.

APS had proposals that said the expansion of the Career Center would be around $170-200 million for what they want.

This has all been very hard to follow. But APS is spending $170-200 million on a brand new building. The existing building will be left on the site, and needs to be renovated for some other purpose when CC moves out. That cost is probably $40-60 million IN ADDITION TO the $170-200 million for the new building. Plus whatever it costs to tear down MPSA, which won't be much.

But again, if we are tearing MPSA down anyhow, and we have 500 empty ES seats now (which we do) we should just move MPSA now and figure out later on what to do with the old CC space. I don't think MPSA has to go there, and by that time, we may need a new ES in SA.

Nope. We don’t need to spend any more $$ right now. They can sit tight in the building we just spent a couple million on for another 5 years or so. It’s not like they’re tearing it down now. It’s years away. Also, this is in the same walk zone as Fleet so this isn’t where we might need a new ES in South Arlington.