APS Overcrowding - In 3 years it’s projected to start declining

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is probably for a new thread, but if Arlington can't build a 4th comprehensive high school (which is what they should do), I think they should consider an arts-focused high school that could have admission at least party by audition/portfolio. Something like the High School of Performing Arts in NYC or Duke Ellington in DC. Then they could invest in a nice auditorium/art spaces and have a smaller field and no pool for gym. The trade off would be kids would not have access to many high school varsity sports but they would have access to enhanced arts education. It would be easier for find space for a school like this since it would not need a pool and a football field.

They tossed that around back in the same timeframe when they were coming up with Arlington Tech. It still is a question of whether that is sufficient to be a comprehensive high school or if it's a program like Tech and HB, where the kids can still go back to the comprehensive schools for any classes, sports or extracurriculars that they want. Which means that they haven't totally offloaded the overcrowding at those schools.

For this to work I think Arlington would have to say that these students at the new arts school could not participate in sports at their home school (they would just have gym class for general health). The tradeoff would be better arts programs. Everyone can't have everything.

So HB and Tech can return to the comprehensives, but the new Art program can't? That would be a non starter and kill the program. Now maybe you take it away comprehensives from the other programs and make them proper schools -- but I'm sure the HB mafia would quash that.

Well if you give the arts school some cool arts stuff the other schools don't have (I have no idea what that would be) and don't force anyone to go there, I don't see the harm. That said, likely kids who cared about doing team sports would not go so it would not really relieve the pressure on sports at the other three high schools since the kids who left for arts school would not have tried out for teams anyway.

The issue is if you build an expensive program that no one really wants it doesn't help overcrowding and reduces funds for actual solutions (like paying to fix the roads near kenmore). This is the problem with CC and Arlington Tech

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is probably for a new thread, but if Arlington can't build a 4th comprehensive high school (which is what they should do), I think they should consider an arts-focused high school that could have admission at least party by audition/portfolio. Something like the High School of Performing Arts in NYC or Duke Ellington in DC. Then they could invest in a nice auditorium/art spaces and have a smaller field and no pool for gym. The trade off would be kids would not have access to many high school varsity sports but they would have access to enhanced arts education. It would be easier for find space for a school like this since it would not need a pool and a football field.

They tossed that around back in the same timeframe when they were coming up with Arlington Tech. It still is a question of whether that is sufficient to be a comprehensive high school or if it's a program like Tech and HB, where the kids can still go back to the comprehensive schools for any classes, sports or extracurriculars that they want. Which means that they haven't totally offloaded the overcrowding at those schools.

For this to work I think Arlington would have to say that these students at the new arts school could not participate in sports at their home school (they would just have gym class for general health). The tradeoff would be better arts programs. Everyone can't have everything.

So HB and Tech can return to the comprehensives, but the new Art program can't? That would be a non starter and kill the program. Now maybe you take it away comprehensives from the other programs and make them proper schools -- but I'm sure the HB mafia would quash that.

Well if you give the arts school some cool arts stuff the other schools don't have (I have no idea what that would be) and don't force anyone to go there, I don't see the harm. That said, likely kids who cared about doing team sports would not go so it would not really relieve the pressure on sports at the other three high schools since the kids who left for arts school would not have tried out for teams anyway.

Because you see everyone, kids interested in the arts don't also play sports.

Good grief.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is probably for a new thread, but if Arlington can't build a 4th comprehensive high school (which is what they should do), I think they should consider an arts-focused high school that could have admission at least party by audition/portfolio. Something like the High School of Performing Arts in NYC or Duke Ellington in DC. Then they could invest in a nice auditorium/art spaces and have a smaller field and no pool for gym. The trade off would be kids would not have access to many high school varsity sports but they would have access to enhanced arts education. It would be easier for find space for a school like this since it would not need a pool and a football field.

They tossed that around back in the same timeframe when they were coming up with Arlington Tech. It still is a question of whether that is sufficient to be a comprehensive high school or if it's a program like Tech and HB, where the kids can still go back to the comprehensive schools for any classes, sports or extracurriculars that they want. Which means that they haven't totally offloaded the overcrowding at those schools.

For this to work I think Arlington would have to say that these students at the new arts school could not participate in sports at their home school (they would just have gym class for general health). The tradeoff would be better arts programs. Everyone can't have everything.

So HB and Tech can return to the comprehensives, but the new Art program can't? That would be a non starter and kill the program. Now maybe you take it away comprehensives from the other programs and make them proper schools -- but I'm sure the HB mafia would quash that.

Well if you give the arts school some cool arts stuff the other schools don't have (I have no idea what that would be) and don't force anyone to go there, I don't see the harm. That said, likely kids who cared about doing team sports would not go so it would not really relieve the pressure on sports at the other three high schools since the kids who left for arts school would not have tried out for teams anyway.

Because you see everyone, kids interested in the arts don't also play sports.

Good grief.

Olympic Jazz hands!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is probably for a new thread, but if Arlington can't build a 4th comprehensive high school (which is what they should do), I think they should consider an arts-focused high school that could have admission at least party by audition/portfolio. Something like the High School of Performing Arts in NYC or Duke Ellington in DC. Then they could invest in a nice auditorium/art spaces and have a smaller field and no pool for gym. The trade off would be kids would not have access to many high school varsity sports but they would have access to enhanced arts education. It would be easier for find space for a school like this since it would not need a pool and a football field.

They tossed that around back in the same timeframe when they were coming up with Arlington Tech. It still is a question of whether that is sufficient to be a comprehensive high school or if it's a program like Tech and HB, where the kids can still go back to the comprehensive schools for any classes, sports or extracurriculars that they want. Which means that they haven't totally offloaded the overcrowding at those schools.

For this to work I think Arlington would have to say that these students at the new arts school could not participate in sports at their home school (they would just have gym class for general health). The tradeoff would be better arts programs. Everyone can't have everything.

So HB and Tech can return to the comprehensives, but the new Art program can't? That would be a non starter and kill the program. Now maybe you take it away comprehensives from the other programs and make them proper schools -- but I'm sure the HB mafia would quash that.

Well if you give the arts school some cool arts stuff the other schools don't have (I have no idea what that would be) and don't force anyone to go there, I don't see the harm. That said, likely kids who cared about doing team sports would not go so it would not really relieve the pressure on sports at the other three high schools since the kids who left for arts school would not have tried out for teams anyway.

Because you see everyone, kids interested in the arts don't also play sports.

Good grief.

Of course some kids are interested in arts and sports. Those kids would have to decide whether the tradeoff was worth it to them. An arts-focused high school that does not have competitive sports teams is not an ideal or even great option. But if the better option (a comprehensive 4th high school) is off the table, then you have to think about some solutions that are better than doing nothing. I would put this in that category. If you include things like creative writing as an arts option I bet there would be enough kids for a high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where will they build this 4th High School?

I think they could build it at the Barcroft Rec center but I doubt they ever would since they invested so much in the race facility there. But it has a lot of land and is off a main road.

I think it would be a great idea to turn off community center Into a high school, it’s better for the entire community! Luckily, we are rich with community centers in Arlington so losing one would not be a great loss. However, county maintained assets are completely separate from school maintain assets so it’s not as if it’s an easy thing to do, unfortunately. Does anyone else have insight into this?

The insight is this would never happen.

Barcroft is a heavily used rec center. The County runs all of its rec gymnastics programs out of this site, which are hugely popular. The fields and outdoor areas are heavily used by sports teams and field space is already tight in Arlington. So no, the County isn't going to tear down a relatively new rec center and give it to APS to build a school. Even if they wanted to, the community would flip out (and rightly so).

I think you should use the Fairlington community center site. It already has a field/green space, aged building, etc..

That site is nowhere near big enough for a high school. You need a lot of land.

New high schools are built up not out. Think HB.

Right they could build a tall HS, preserve field space for stadium and pool.

the field space at Fairlington is small, basically just enough for one soccer field

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is probably for a new thread, but if Arlington can't build a 4th comprehensive high school (which is what they should do), I think they should consider an arts-focused high school that could have admission at least party by audition/portfolio. Something like the High School of Performing Arts in NYC or Duke Ellington in DC. Then they could invest in a nice auditorium/art spaces and have a smaller field and no pool for gym. The trade off would be kids would not have access to many high school varsity sports but they would have access to enhanced arts education. It would be easier for find space for a school like this since it would not need a pool and a football field.

They tossed that around back in the same timeframe when they were coming up with Arlington Tech. It still is a question of whether that is sufficient to be a comprehensive high school or if it's a program like Tech and HB, where the kids can still go back to the comprehensive schools for any classes, sports or extracurriculars that they want. Which means that they haven't totally offloaded the overcrowding at those schools.

For this to work I think Arlington would have to say that these students at the new arts school could not participate in sports at their home school (they would just have gym class for general health). The tradeoff would be better arts programs. Everyone can't have everything.

So HB and Tech can return to the comprehensives, but the new Art program can't? That would be a non starter and kill the program. Now maybe you take it away comprehensives from the other programs and make them proper schools -- but I'm sure the HB mafia would quash that.

Well if you give the arts school some cool arts stuff the other schools don't have (I have no idea what that would be) and don't force anyone to go there, I don't see the harm. That said, likely kids who cared about doing team sports would not go so it would not really relieve the pressure on sports at the other three high schools since the kids who left for arts school would not have tried out for teams anyway.

Because you see everyone, kids interested in the arts don't also play sports.

Good grief.

Of course some kids are interested in arts and sports. Those kids would have to decide whether the tradeoff was worth it to them. An arts-focused high school that does not have competitive sports teams is not an ideal or even great option. But if the better option (a comprehensive 4th high school) is off the table, then you have to think about some solutions that are better than doing nothing. I would put this in that category. If you include things like creative writing as an arts option I bet there would be enough kids for a high school.

Sorry consdidering how big a part sports play in college admissions, I can't see an Art school taking off. Its not like Arlington has a huge art scene; DC barely has one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is probably for a new thread, but if Arlington can't build a 4th comprehensive high school (which is what they should do), I think they should consider an arts-focused high school that could have admission at least party by audition/portfolio. Something like the High School of Performing Arts in NYC or Duke Ellington in DC. Then they could invest in a nice auditorium/art spaces and have a smaller field and no pool for gym. The trade off would be kids would not have access to many high school varsity sports but they would have access to enhanced arts education. It would be easier for find space for a school like this since it would not need a pool and a football field.

They tossed that around back in the same timeframe when they were coming up with Arlington Tech. It still is a question of whether that is sufficient to be a comprehensive high school or if it's a program like Tech and HB, where the kids can still go back to the comprehensive schools for any classes, sports or extracurriculars that they want. Which means that they haven't totally offloaded the overcrowding at those schools.

For this to work I think Arlington would have to say that these students at the new arts school could not participate in sports at their home school (they would just have gym class for general health). The tradeoff would be better arts programs. Everyone can't have everything.

So HB and Tech can return to the comprehensives, but the new Art program can't? That would be a non starter and kill the program. Now maybe you take it away comprehensives from the other programs and make them proper schools -- but I'm sure the HB mafia would quash that.

Well if you give the arts school some cool arts stuff the other schools don't have (I have no idea what that would be) and don't force anyone to go there, I don't see the harm. That said, likely kids who cared about doing team sports would not go so it would not really relieve the pressure on sports at the other three high schools since the kids who left for arts school would not have tried out for teams anyway.

Because you see everyone, kids interested in the arts don't also play sports.

Good grief.

Of course some kids are interested in arts and sports. Those kids would have to decide whether the tradeoff was worth it to them. An arts-focused high school that does not have competitive sports teams is not an ideal or even great option. But if the better option (a comprehensive 4th high school) is off the table, then you have to think about some solutions that are better than doing nothing. I would put this in that category. If you include things like creative writing as an arts option I bet there would be enough kids for a high school.

Sorry consdidering how big a part sports play in college admissions, I can't see an Art school taking off. Its not like Arlington has a huge art scene; DC barely has one.

Some kids get into college from having a strong arts background. Colleges are not just filled with athletes and all the other people who got good grades and got in once the sports teams were full. Did you really think this though?

Not even going to touch the DC has no arts scene.

[Anonymous]

Did I enter a time machine on this site today? People, where were you 5 years ago? They did surveys on this, asking about various programs for a 4th high school like an arts school.

That ship has sailed. More ppl will flee to private, a small amount will go to HB/AT, and the rest will have to deal with 3,000+ students fighting for classes at the 3 traditional high schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Of course some kids are interested in arts and sports. Those kids would have to decide whether the tradeoff was worth it to them. An arts-focused high school that does not have competitive sports teams is not an ideal or even great option. But if the better option (a comprehensive 4th high school) is off the table, then you have to think about some solutions that are better than doing nothing. I would put this in that category. If you include things like creative writing as an arts option I bet there would be enough kids for a high school.

For that to work you also have to have kids commit all-in to HB and Tech as well. No returning to your home school for AP Physics, or Chinese or to play in an orchestra or run track. The SB would never have the political will to do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did I enter a time machine on this site today? People, where were you 5 years ago? They did surveys on this, asking about various programs for a 4th high school like an arts school.

That ship has sailed. More ppl will flee to private, a small amount will go to HB/AT, and the rest will have to deal with 3,000+ students fighting for classes at the 3 traditional high schools.

I'm the PP who suggested the arts high school. I didn't live in Arlington then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did I enter a time machine on this site today? People, where were you 5 years ago? They did surveys on this, asking about various programs for a 4th high school like an arts school.

That ship has sailed. More ppl will flee to private, a small amount will go to HB/AT, and the rest will have to deal with 3,000+ students fighting for classes at the 3 traditional high schools.

Right and no one wanted an art school then or now.

Why can’t they make HB2?? I think it’s a poor substitute for 4th school, but it’s an idea.

[Anonymous]

Re: ship sailed, APS is spending almost $200 million on the CC, that will add very few new HS seats. This is where the money is going. It's done.

And, also, yes, if APS was ever going to really create a 4th comprehensive HS, it absolutely should have everything else the other schools have. All that stuff fit at CC, too, and that was the pre-COVID plan. But it was expensive, so they started over, and now they are spending almost the same amount of money and getting way less because of inflation and all the delays. It's so typical APS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Re: ship sailed, APS is spending almost $200 million on the CC, that will add very few new HS seats. This is where the money is going. It's done.

And, also, yes, if APS was ever going to really create a 4th comprehensive HS, it absolutely should have everything else the other schools have. All that stuff fit at CC, too, and that was the pre-COVID plan. But it was expensive, so they started over, and now they are spending almost the same amount of money and getting way less because of inflation and all the delays. It's so typical APS.

Well, that was why I opposed the bond measure - that would have halted it and stopped the ship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Re: ship sailed, APS is spending almost $200 million on the CC, that will add very few new HS seats. This is where the money is going. It's done.

And, also, yes, if APS was ever going to really create a 4th comprehensive HS, it absolutely should have everything else the other schools have. All that stuff fit at CC, too, and that was the pre-COVID plan. But it was expensive, so they started over, and now they are spending almost the same amount of money and getting way less because of inflation and all the delays. It's so typical APS.

So with the pandemic, they are totally banking on enrollment dropping for the next decade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Re: ship sailed, APS is spending almost $200 million on the CC, that will add very few new HS seats. This is where the money is going. It's done.

And, also, yes, if APS was ever going to really create a 4th comprehensive HS, it absolutely should have everything else the other schools have. All that stuff fit at CC, too, and that was the pre-COVID plan. But it was expensive, so they started over, and now they are spending almost the same amount of money and getting way less because of inflation and all the delays. It's so typical APS.

So with the pandemic, they are totally banking on enrollment dropping for the next decade.

They may be right, public schools across the nation are shrinking enrollment.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/17/us/public-schools-falling-enrollment.html