APS Closing Nottingham

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you not just push out the population of the to-be renovated school into schools that are closer? Even if some kids are bussed to other schools, it is going to be better and shorter bus ride as opposed to trucking everyone to the north west corner of Arlington and destroying the heartbeat of an entire neighborhood?

Also, far less disruptive would be leasing office space as temporary swing space. They did this with the APS preschool, the one that provide space for APS employees- it seemed like a really nice space. Especially with the low occupancy rates of office space across Arlington

We don’t live in the immediate Nottingham surrounding neighborhood, and my child is old enough that he will not be impacted (he probably wants to be impacted and use the slide at Discovery). However, fundamentally, I don’t think students or neighborhoods should be sacrificed when there are other viable options.

I think it be tough for an school to fit in an office building for what could be a year. With lack of outdoor space, a gym or cafeteri, etc.

I also think it be hard to move kids into multiple other schools. Most schools in s. Arlington are at capacity. They can't really absorb 600 other kids. Nottingham is undercapacity and so are the surrounding schools so there is room to a absorb students

Plus they looked at all this and the PowerPoint lays it out. Repurposing an ES cost 5 million. Using office space, community centers, the WL annex or just building a new school next to an old one is 40 million plus.

I think logistically and financially it make the most sense but I know how hard it is and I am really sorry.

I agree with most of this, unfortunately. Sorry to the Nottingham community. However, I think it’s very important that APS retain this site and never sell it, because there may come a time in the not-too-distant future where we need the permanent seats in this area again. Also, if the school being renovated right now is Barcroft or Randolph, I think they could use seats at Drew/Fleet temporarily rather than bus the kids so far from home en masse. If the school being renovated right now is Montessori or a N Arlington school, use Nottingham.

There aren’t excess seats at Fleet.

Per the report there are some. Once the Goodwill site opens there won’t be, but I assume whatever construction project necessitates shutting down Nottingham might happen before that time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also think that this is only going to be used to renovate north Arlington schools. It's not going to be used for Abington/Hoffman -Boston/Oakridge/Drew because it's just too far away and parents can't get to their kids.

+1. Agree that this will be used for only the North Arlington schools that need renovating. As a PP stated Jamestown and Taylor are at the top of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why aren’t they looking more seriously at building the S Arlington elementary? They report and presentation yesterday said it was going to be needed but basically that “it’s hard” because the site is county owned. If the demand is there for Virginia Highlands, let’s invest in S Arlington and give them the elementary they need, rather than creating a bandaid solution by shutting down Nottingham, even though the report acknowledges it may need to be reopened as a neighborhood school. IMHO it just seems like the school board doesn’t want to work with the county. A cynical part of me wonders if this is a play to get N Arlingotn parents to push for investment in S Arlington (… and it might work)

If we give them permission to invest in South Arlington, do you think they’ll stop trying to destroy active and invested school communities in the North? There other ways to achieve “equity” besides making everyone’s experience equally awful. We could, you know, raise the bar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like a good plan. My kids are zoned for Nottingham but it makes sense to me. Nearby school are easy enough to get to and walkable for many, including the two busloads of kids who currently get bussed to Nottingham despite being in the walking zone for other schools.

Are you cool with the hundreds of cars and buses that are going to be speeding through our neighborhood from 7 am - 6 pm to accomplish this plan? I’m not.

I live in a neighborhood with a school. It isn't full of people "speeding".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can we expect support for school choice and vouchers now? Bc we can see that APS has no regard for those families who invest in having a strong local school and close ties to their immediate community.

LOL. APS has been tearing apart school communities for a long time now. You just never noticed (or didn’t care) because it didn’t affect you. Anyway, welcome to the club!

facts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also think that this is only going to be used to renovate north Arlington schools. It's not going to be used for Abington/Hoffman -Boston/Oakridge/Drew because it's just too far away and parents can't get to their kids.

+1. Agree that this will be used for only the North Arlington schools that need renovating. As a PP stated Jamestown and Taylor are at the top of that.

Taylor was closed for two weeks last year because of electrical and HVAC issues. I wonder if the extent of the problem is such that it is next on docket to be renovated?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone clarify - they’re not actually shutting down Nottingham, are they? They are moving another school into the space temporarily - and then what happens to the Nottingham building once the renovations at the unamed school are complete?

My guess is that they'll realize that their projections are wrong and reopen Nottingham soon after to deal with population growth, possibly as an option school. For instance it wouldn't be hard to fill it as a second ATS.

I don’t know about that. A lot more kids going private from WMS his year than in the past. From what I’ve seen the families who are buying the $2,500,000 houses are not using APS. They use catholic school or private.

+ a million. At least they have learned something. Their projections have always been wrong and they are always playing catch up. While all the kids that left during the pandemic were a saving grace for APS, they can no longer rely on such a large number of kids going private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can we expect support for school choice and vouchers now? Bc we can see that APS has no regard for those families who invest in having a strong local school and close ties to their immediate community.

LOL. APS has been tearing apart school communities for a long time now. You just never noticed (or didn’t care) because it didn’t affect you. Anyway, welcome to the club!

I noticed and I cared, but to be frank I have to earn an income and take a rest in between APS’s triennial efforts to destroy my neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like the idea of having a school they can move kids into to renovate another. Many of the schools are in desperate need of renovations which are impossible to complete when kids are in the building.

OMG- how much more are they going to pay me as a teacher

1 to move all my stuff to the holding school and back and
2 to pay for the EZPASS on 66 and 495 that just added to my commute?

I know none of this really matters to anyone be me and my family, I’m aware my needs are small. Just know that whenever the school move happens, it sounds like a great year to transfer to FCPS!!!!

You're right. Those are absolutely things APS should have considered before making such an outlandish proposal. On the other hand, did it make the commute for one of your colleagues easier?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like a good plan. My kids are zoned for Nottingham but it makes sense to me. Nearby school are easy enough to get to and walkable for many, including the two busloads of kids who currently get bussed to Nottingham despite being in the walking zone for other schools.

I love you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would you not just push out the population of the to-be renovated school into schools that are closer? Even if some kids are bussed to other schools, it is going to be better and shorter bus ride as opposed to trucking everyone to the north west corner of Arlington and destroying the heartbeat of an entire neighborhood?

Also, far less disruptive would be leasing office space as temporary swing space. They did this with the APS preschool, the one that provide space for APS employees- it seemed like a really nice space. Especially with the low occupancy rates of office space across Arlington

We don’t live in the immediate Nottingham surrounding neighborhood, and my child is old enough that he will not be impacted (he probably wants to be impacted and use the slide at Discovery). However, fundamentally, I don’t think students or neighborhoods should be sacrificed when there are other viable options.

I'm not sure I follow. You propose to move kids from a school being renovated to various nearby schools for the time during the renovation, and then back together again once the renovation is complete? You propose to overcrowd/disrupt multiple "nearby" neighborhood schools temporarily to do a renovation and then disrupt them again in a year when the renovation is complete? Rather than "destroy the heartbeat of an entire neighborhood" that must not beat all that strongly if it can't withstand a change in the location to where it sends its kids to school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why aren’t they looking more seriously at building the S Arlington elementary? They report and presentation yesterday said it was going to be needed but basically that “it’s hard” because the site is county owned. If the demand is there for Virginia Highlands, let’s invest in S Arlington and give them the elementary they need, rather than creating a bandaid solution by shutting down Nottingham, even though the report acknowledges it may need to be reopened as a neighborhood school. IMHO it just seems like the school board doesn’t want to work with the county. A cynical part of me wonders if this is a play to get N Arlingotn parents to push for investment in S Arlington (… and it might work)

If we give them permission to invest in South Arlington, do you think they’ll stop trying to destroy active and invested school communities in the North? There other ways to achieve “equity” besides making everyone’s experience equally awful. We could, you know, raise the bar.

Oh my.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you not just push out the population of the to-be renovated school into schools that are closer? Even if some kids are bussed to other schools, it is going to be better and shorter bus ride as opposed to trucking everyone to the north west corner of Arlington and destroying the heartbeat of an entire neighborhood?

Also, far less disruptive would be leasing office space as temporary swing space. They did this with the APS preschool, the one that provide space for APS employees- it seemed like a really nice space. Especially with the low occupancy rates of office space across Arlington

We don’t live in the immediate Nottingham surrounding neighborhood, and my child is old enough that he will not be impacted (he probably wants to be impacted and use the slide at Discovery). However, fundamentally, I don’t think students or neighborhoods should be sacrificed when there are other viable options.

I think it be tough for an school to fit in an office building for what could be a year. With lack of outdoor space, a gym or cafeteri, etc.

I also think it be hard to move kids into multiple other schools. Most schools in s. Arlington are at capacity. They can't really absorb 600 other kids. Nottingham is undercapacity and so are the surrounding schools so there is room to a absorb students

Plus they looked at all this and the PowerPoint lays it out. Repurposing an ES cost 5 million. Using office space, community centers, the WL annex or just building a new school next to an old one is 40 million plus.

I think logistically and financially it make the most sense but I know how hard it is and I am really sorry.

I agree with most of this, unfortunately. Sorry to the Nottingham community. However, I think it’s very important that APS retain this site and never sell it, because there may come a time in the not-too-distant future where we need the permanent seats in this area again. Also, if the school being renovated right now is Barcroft or Randolph, I think they could use seats at Drew/Fleet temporarily rather than bus the kids so far from home en masse. If the school being renovated right now is Montessori or a N Arlington school, use Nottingham.

I don't understand this idea of breaking up the school for one year during a renovation by dispersing kids to multiple nearby schools. That's so disruptive to many more people and more schools than the inconvenience of one year "long distance" schlepping up from Columbia Pike to Nottingham.

[Anonymous]

It actually seems like a good idea. And it sounds like they’ve already laid the groundwork to make it happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can we expect support for school choice and vouchers now? Bc we can see that APS has no regard for those families who invest in having a strong local school and close ties to their immediate community.

If those families don't like it, perhaps they could just move and take their "investment" elsewhere where they will be respected (ie, get whatever they want without regard to impact on others)