Just make Jamestown an Option School Already

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jamestown in its present state should cease to exist. The miserable striver culture is at full peak and I’m tired of dealing with moms who have nothing better to do than try to orchestrate their children’s social lives. I’m all for it becoming an option.

Wut?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the Tuckahoe families, what would be truly so devastating about Tuckahoe becoming a choice school as opposed to one of the other schools? I believe I've posted this before in one of the discussions, but as a Nottingham parent, the idea of Nottingham becoming a choice school doesn't really bother me. So my kid goes to Discovery with a whole bunch of their classmates for a couple of years and then sees everyone again in middle school, so what? There's no big tragedy there. I'm not actually opposed to Nottingham becoming a choice school, but it has to be the best decision for the system as a whole, not just for a particular school. How is Tuckahoe differently situated from Nottingham that Tuckahoe families can't take the same position?

So you say your kid would go to Discovery with a whole bunch of their classmates. Good point. But if Tuckahoe becomes an option school in 2021, probably around 70 of my kid's classmates will go to Reed. The other 30 would be split between three schools. So they wouldn't go with a whole bunch of kids, but very few.

And if it doesn't bother you, write the School Board and tell them that.

And for the East Falls Church community, Tuckahoe is a very important part of its cohesiveness. If Nottingham doesn't serve the same purpose in your community, it is a better choice for an option school.

i don't think APS should be doing anything. Keep ATS where it is. If they have to grow, they can't do it at Nottingham or Tuckahoe. So that exchange wouldn't make any sense. And it would just overcrowd all of the schools under discussion. We should come together as part of Arlington and argue for that common cause.

Not all of the Tuckahoe community identifies with East Falls Church, a good portion of it identifies with Westover and would much prefer to go to Reed than to Tuckahoe.

+1

[Anonymous]

The whole Reed thing is a non starter. Tuckahoe families have been lobbying for that neighborhood school for years and were pissed they built Discovery first. For those families that can really walk there without driving everyday please enjoy it, we are happy you are getting your neighborhood school! But the vast majority of land and homes currently zoned as Tuckahoe are EFC homes. Once you get out of EFC that is where you see the more driving to work ect and driving to the bus stop. I just really really hope APS and those community associations who think Reed is going to be a mecca of walkers really think about how used driving everywhere families closer to Westover are. Can those parents afford to add a 20 min walk back home at 8:40am to get to their car and then drive to work? I am not sure that's realistic for those a large number of those families. I live very very close to Reed and will be zoned there and will walk there but at my bus stop which picks up 8:30 or right before half of the parents drive the three blocks to get there so they can zoom to work. I am all for more walking and cutting buses to save money but I am so sorry soooooooooo many parents are going to be driving their kids to Reed everyday! If you drive to work daily no matter what then you likely aren't going to have the time to walk 1/2 mile to school and home. So many cars are going to be coming in and out of Westover when Reed opens.

Tuckahoe really has the motivation to expand their walk zone because so many of it's parents walk to metro to get to work, it's already their mode of transportation. They don't mentally see it as a big deal. Many of the homes closest to metro for Tuckahoe don't have two cars. Anyways it's just a difference in lifestyle, some areas are very heavily reliant on driving to work daily and for Tuckahoe that is the families that currently attend Tuckahoe but live near Westover. Yes some parents walk very far to metro from Nottingham and into Westover/McKinley area but the number gets considerably smaller.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The whole Reed thing is a non starter. Tuckahoe families have been lobbying for that neighborhood school for years and were pissed they built Discovery first. For those families that can really walk there without driving everyday please enjoy it, we are happy you are getting your neighborhood school! But the vast majority of land and homes currently zoned as Tuckahoe are EFC homes. Once you get out of EFC that is where you see the more driving to work ect and driving to the bus stop. I just really really hope APS and those community associations who think Reed is going to be a mecca of walkers really think about how used driving everywhere families closer to Westover are. Can those parents afford to add a 20 min walk back home at 8:40am to get to their car and then drive to work? I am not sure that's realistic for those a large number of those families. I live very very close to Reed and will be zoned there and will walk there but at my bus stop which picks up 8:30 or right before half of the parents drive the three blocks to get there so they can zoom to work. I am all for more walking and cutting buses to save money but I am so sorry soooooooooo many parents are going to be driving their kids to Reed everyday! If you drive to work daily no matter what then you likely aren't going to have the time to walk 1/2 mile to school and home. So many cars are going to be coming in and out of Westover when Reed opens.

Tuckahoe really has the motivation to expand their walk zone because so many of it's parents walk to metro to get to work, it's already their mode of transportation. They don't mentally see it as a big deal. Many of the homes closest to metro for Tuckahoe don't have two cars. Anyways it's just a difference in lifestyle, some areas are very heavily reliant on driving to work daily and for Tuckahoe that is the families that currently attend Tuckahoe but live near Westover. Yes some parents walk very far to metro from Nottingham and into Westover/McKinley area but the number gets considerably smaller.

It's not only about who will actually walk, it's about whether you have to provide buses. There are so many eligible walk families to Reed that the county won't have to pay for buses for them.

[Anonymous]

There are also tons of SAH parents around Reed. Once the student is in 4th, they can walk on their own, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole Reed thing is a non starter. Tuckahoe families have been lobbying for that neighborhood school for years and were pissed they built Discovery first. For those families that can really walk there without driving everyday please enjoy it, we are happy you are getting your neighborhood school! But the vast majority of land and homes currently zoned as Tuckahoe are EFC homes. Once you get out of EFC that is where you see the more driving to work ect and driving to the bus stop. I just really really hope APS and those community associations who think Reed is going to be a mecca of walkers really think about how used driving everywhere families closer to Westover are. Can those parents afford to add a 20 min walk back home at 8:40am to get to their car and then drive to work? I am not sure that's realistic for those a large number of those families. I live very very close to Reed and will be zoned there and will walk there but at my bus stop which picks up 8:30 or right before half of the parents drive the three blocks to get there so they can zoom to work. I am all for more walking and cutting buses to save money but I am so sorry soooooooooo many parents are going to be driving their kids to Reed everyday! If you drive to work daily no matter what then you likely aren't going to have the time to walk 1/2 mile to school and home. So many cars are going to be coming in and out of Westover when Reed opens.

Tuckahoe really has the motivation to expand their walk zone because so many of it's parents walk to metro to get to work, it's already their mode of transportation. They don't mentally see it as a big deal. Many of the homes closest to metro for Tuckahoe don't have two cars. Anyways it's just a difference in lifestyle, some areas are very heavily reliant on driving to work daily and for Tuckahoe that is the families that currently attend Tuckahoe but live near Westover. Yes some parents walk very far to metro from Nottingham and into Westover/McKinley area but the number gets considerably smaller.

It's not only about who will actually walk, it's about whether you have to provide buses. There are so many eligible walk families to Reed that the county won't have to pay for buses for them.

I think this is it. It's not about actually walking, they do not care. They need to cut back on buses to save money. This will absolutely increase the number of people driving, not necessarily at Reed, but across APS. I just hope APS is really cautious and doesn't endanger kids based on surveys people filled out so that they wouldn't be rezoned or turned into an option school.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think the surveys matter as much as folks think. And yes a lot of kids right around will walk but what about those outside the 1/2 mile? I doubt it! And I think neighborhood school parents across the county should all be against this whole option school move BS. You know how crappy APS enrollment guesses are and it won’t be easy to fix that kind of error and which schools will be picking up the slack, the surrounding neighborhood schools. If enrollment all over is going to increase why on earth would APS eliminate any neighborhood seats, which is what would happen if they move an option program into a bigger building and put a neighborhood school in the old option smaller space. We all see how happy option schools like ATS are about taking more kids. Guaranteed if they do this it will screwed up immediately with 1-3 surrounding neighborhood schools over capacity immediately. We need to stop having endless debates about which school should be moved and fight anyof them being moved. I’d rather have endless boundary changes than allow APS to make a mistake which will be nearly impossible to fix.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think the surveys matter as much as folks think. And yes a lot of kids right around will walk but what about those outside the 1/2 mile? I doubt it! And I think neighborhood school parents across the county should all be against this whole option school move BS. You know how crappy APS enrollment guesses are and it won’t be easy to fix that kind of error and which schools will be picking up the slack, the surrounding neighborhood schools. If enrollment all over is going to increase why on earth would APS eliminate any neighborhood seats, which is what would happen if they move an option program into a bigger building and put a neighborhood school in the old option smaller space. We all see how happy option schools like ATS are about taking more kids. Guaranteed if they do this it will screwed up immediately with 1-3 surrounding neighborhood schools over capacity immediately. We need to stop having endless debates about which school should be moved and fight anyof them being moved. I’d rather have endless boundary changes than allow APS to make a mistake which will be nearly impossible to fix.

You must live by Tuckahoe. There's no way the Key/ASFS situation makes any kind of sense. Key should be moved. Switching a neighborhood and option location doesn't eliminate any seats, it just moves them to a different area.

[Anonymous]

Depends on which school is bigger and the capacity around the school being switched.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jamestown in its present state should cease to exist. The miserable striver culture is at full peak and I’m tired of dealing with moms who have nothing better to do than try to orchestrate their children’s social lives. I’m all for it becoming an option.

We have 2 kids in Jamestown...not sure what you're talking about but we haven't experienced this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jamestown in its present state should cease to exist. The miserable striver culture is at full peak and I’m tired of dealing with moms who have nothing better to do than try to orchestrate their children’s social lives. I’m all for it becoming an option.

Oh Sarah, are you sad none of the other families will let their children play with yours?

Ha, no. She (and her children) have been welcomed. Strivers gonna strive with whoever happens to be in office. Also, she drinks...or at least did at the local Halloween party...

I don't know this person you are referencing, but I know most of the parents drink. What's your point?

You don’t know a rather famous Sarah who lives in the Jamestown neighborhood? Ask Jim Carrey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jamestown in its present state should cease to exist. The miserable striver culture is at full peak and I’m tired of dealing with moms who have nothing better to do than try to orchestrate their children’s social lives. I’m all for it becoming an option.

Oh Sarah, are you sad none of the other families will let their children play with yours?

Ha, no. She (and her children) have been welcomed. Strivers gonna strive with whoever happens to be in office. Also, she drinks...or at least did at the local Halloween party...

I don't know this person you are referencing, but I know most of the parents drink. What's your point?

You don’t know a rather famous Sarah who lives in the Jamestown neighborhood? Ask Jim Carrey.

Jamestown is our Elementary and I have no idea who you’re talking about. If it’s a real person, calling them out by name on an anonymous forum is childish and nasty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jamestown in its present state should cease to exist. The miserable striver culture is at full peak and I’m tired of dealing with moms who have nothing better to do than try to orchestrate their children’s social lives. I’m all for it becoming an option.

Oh Sarah, are you sad none of the other families will let their children play with yours?

Ha, no. She (and her children) have been welcomed. Strivers gonna strive with whoever happens to be in office. Also, she drinks...or at least did at the local Halloween party...

I don't know this person you are referencing, but I know most of the parents drink. What's your point?

You don’t know a rather famous Sarah who lives in the Jamestown neighborhood? Ask Jim Carrey.

Jamestown is our Elementary and I have no idea who you’re talking about. If it’s a real person, calling them out by name on an anonymous forum is childish and nasty.

DP. She’s a public figure. Very public.

[Anonymous]

ooooooohhhh

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd like to see Jamestown become a choice school to increase diversity, both socioeconomic and racial/ethnic. But I agree, it'll be a hike for many APS families. With the principal retiring at the end of this year, it'll be a different school anyway.

The principal of Jamestown is retiring? Great time to transition to an option school!