4th comprehensive Arlington high school

[Anonymous]

The promises made by this Board to the vocal Montessori lobby (and the Fleet and Reed communities) have put APS in a straightjacket. The rest of us are just catching up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The promises made by this Board to the vocal Montessori lobby (and the Fleet and Reed communities) have put APS in a straightjacket. The rest of us are just catching up.

Montessori isn't going to get moved off the Career Center site unless we want to spend our limited bonding capacity/land building them a shiny new facility in some other neighborhood rather than using that land and money to build the next new neighborhood Elementary School. That's going to be a tough sell.

[Anonymous]

Why is Montessori more important than high school seat need and community desires?

[Anonymous]

I didn't say it was going to happen. I'm saying that the special interests (Montessori/Westover) got theirs early while the rest of us were unaware of the consequences. Now we're all stuck. You would've hoped the Board would have been looking out for the overall good. But no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is Montessori more important than high school seat need and community desires?

Plenty of the south Arlington middle class desire Montessori.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It occurs to me that any way a 4th HS happens, Arlington Forest and Glen Carlyn are going to be rezoned to Wakefield because they'll have to expand that boundary N if the school loses all its SE PU's to a new HS at the Career Center.

Those neighborhoods would not go to Wakefield if the school were built at Kenmore. Glencarlyn and Arlington Forest can both be moved to either Kenmore or Career Center.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It occurs to me that any way a 4th HS happens, Arlington Forest and Glen Carlyn are going to be rezoned to Wakefield because they'll have to expand that boundary N if the school loses all its SE PU's to a new HS at the Career Center.

Those neighborhoods would not go to Wakefield if the school were built at Kenmore. Glencarlyn and Arlington Forest can both be moved to either Kenmore or Career Center.

Okay, you're correct. I meant to say either way they're going to be moved out of W-L. If they build at Career Center, it would be to Wakefield. If they build at Kenmore, they'd move there. If they do nothing, they're probably going to be rezoned to Wakefield in the next refinement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To make full use of the career center site, we need to find a place for Montessori so that we can also tear down Patrick Henry at the same time. I can’t help but notice that Barcroft has a similarly sized building that could easily hold Montessori. Montessori is in mid-400s on enrollment.

Barcroft capacity is 460 and Henry is 463.

Time to make this decision is now so that the career center site can be fully developed- perhaps including building a new elementary on that site. But unless Montessori location is moved we can’t make full use of career center land.

People seem to only focus on one factor at a time. First of all, Montessori is lobbying to expand. Whether the existing program gets larger or not, I fully support joining the 6-8 grade levels of Montessori currently taking up much needed space at Gunston with the preK-5 kids. That alone requires a larger facility. A number of, if not all, the Montessori preK classes should also join them and free-up more space in the other schools for VPI classes and neighborhood K-5 students. Barcroft isn't able to accommodate those needs.

Secondly, the factor of good locations for neighborhood programs based on high-density of students who can, and are actually highly likely, to walk to the school. Barcroft is a highly walkable school by #s of students.

In all the reshuffling to fill the 400+ seats at Drew, why doesn't Hoffman-Boston come into play? Traffic accessibility stinks; but it has a ton of space and could easily accommodate Montessori and expansion. There are several Montessori preK classes there now. The Hoffman Boston student body is not that large and can be absorbed into the boundaries of nearby schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To make full use of the career center site, we need to find a place for Montessori so that we can also tear down Patrick Henry at the same time. I can’t help but notice that Barcroft has a similarly sized building that could easily hold Montessori. Montessori is in mid-400s on enrollment.

Barcroft capacity is 460 and Henry is 463.

Time to make this decision is now so that the career center site can be fully developed- perhaps including building a new elementary on that site. But unless Montessori location is moved we can’t make full use of career center land.

People seem to only focus on one factor at a time. First of all, Montessori is lobbying to expand. Whether the existing program gets larger or not, I fully support joining the 6-8 grade levels of Montessori currently taking up much needed space at Gunston with the preK-5 kids. That alone requires a larger facility. A number of, if not all, the Montessori preK classes should also join them and free-up more space in the other schools for VPI classes and neighborhood K-5 students. Barcroft isn't able to accommodate those needs.

Secondly, the factor of good locations for neighborhood programs based on high-density of students who can, and are actually highly likely, to walk to the school. Barcroft is a highly walkable school by #s of students.

In all the reshuffling to fill the 400+ seats at Drew, why doesn't Hoffman-Boston come into play? Traffic accessibility stinks; but it has a ton of space and could easily accommodate Montessori and expansion. There are several Montessori preK classes there now. The Hoffman Boston student body is not that large and can be absorbed into the boundaries of nearby schools.

And, if absolutely necessary, there may be the possibility of putting Montessori on the parcel next to the Career Center site that sits on Columbia Pike. There is a Montessori school on the Pike farther west, so it should be do-able. But that's only going to be a possibility if the County Board actually takes action to acquire land to help APS in a new school plan for once and APS actually tells the CB that they want the new land instead of immediately dismissing all such opportunities and offers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To make full use of the career center site, we need to find a place for Montessori so that we can also tear down Patrick Henry at the same time. I can’t help but notice that Barcroft has a similarly sized building that could easily hold Montessori. Montessori is in mid-400s on enrollment.

Barcroft capacity is 460 and Henry is 463.

Time to make this decision is now so that the career center site can be fully developed- perhaps including building a new elementary on that site. But unless Montessori location is moved we can’t make full use of career center land.

People seem to only focus on one factor at a time. First of all, Montessori is lobbying to expand. Whether the existing program gets larger or not, I fully support joining the 6-8 grade levels of Montessori currently taking up much needed space at Gunston with the preK-5 kids. That alone requires a larger facility. A number of, if not all, the Montessori preK classes should also join them and free-up more space in the other schools for VPI classes and neighborhood K-5 students. Barcroft isn't able to accommodate those needs.

Secondly, the factor of good locations for neighborhood programs based on high-density of students who can, and are actually highly likely, to walk to the school. Barcroft is a highly walkable school by #s of students.

In all the reshuffling to fill the 400+ seats at Drew, why doesn't Hoffman-Boston come into play? Traffic accessibility stinks; but it has a ton of space and could easily accommodate Montessori and expansion. There are several Montessori preK classes there now. The Hoffman Boston student body is not that large and can be absorbed into the boundaries of nearby schools.

I think until all the older residents leave or die, that will remain a neighborhood school because of its history.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To make full use of the career center site, we need to find a place for Montessori so that we can also tear down Patrick Henry at the same time. I can’t help but notice that Barcroft has a similarly sized building that could easily hold Montessori. Montessori is in mid-400s on enrollment.

Barcroft capacity is 460 and Henry is 463.

Time to make this decision is now so that the career center site can be fully developed- perhaps including building a new elementary on that site. But unless Montessori location is moved we can’t make full use of career center land.

People seem to only focus on one factor at a time. First of all, Montessori is lobbying to expand. Whether the existing program gets larger or not, I fully support joining the 6-8 grade levels of Montessori currently taking up much needed space at Gunston with the preK-5 kids. That alone requires a larger facility. A number of, if not all, the Montessori preK classes should also join them and free-up more space in the other schools for VPI classes and neighborhood K-5 students. Barcroft isn't able to accommodate those needs.

Secondly, the factor of good locations for neighborhood programs based on high-density of students who can, and are actually highly likely, to walk to the school. Barcroft is a highly walkable school by #s of students.

In all the reshuffling to fill the 400+ seats at Drew, why doesn't Hoffman-Boston come into play? Traffic accessibility stinks; but it has a ton of space and could easily accommodate Montessori and expansion. There are several Montessori preK classes there now. The Hoffman Boston student body is not that large and can be absorbed into the boundaries of nearby schools.

And, if absolutely necessary, there may be the possibility of putting Montessori on the parcel next to the Career Center site that sits on Columbia Pike. There is a Montessori school on the Pike farther west, so it should be do-able. But that's only going to be a possibility if the County Board actually takes action to acquire land to help APS in a new school plan for once and APS actually tells the CB that they want the new land instead of immediately dismissing all such opportunities and offers.

Lol. Yeah, that's going to happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To make full use of the career center site, we need to find a place for Montessori so that we can also tear down Patrick Henry at the same time. I can’t help but notice that Barcroft has a similarly sized building that could easily hold Montessori. Montessori is in mid-400s on enrollment.

Barcroft capacity is 460 and Henry is 463.

Time to make this decision is now so that the career center site can be fully developed- perhaps including building a new elementary on that site. But unless Montessori location is moved we can’t make full use of career center land.

People seem to only focus on one factor at a time. First of all, Montessori is lobbying to expand. Whether the existing program gets larger or not, I fully support joining the 6-8 grade levels of Montessori currently taking up much needed space at Gunston with the preK-5 kids. That alone requires a larger facility. A number of, if not all, the Montessori preK classes should also join them and free-up more space in the other schools for VPI classes and neighborhood K-5 students. Barcroft isn't able to accommodate those needs.

Secondly, the factor of good locations for neighborhood programs based on high-density of students who can, and are actually highly likely, to walk to the school. Barcroft is a highly walkable school by #s of students.

In all the reshuffling to fill the 400+ seats at Drew, why doesn't Hoffman-Boston come into play? Traffic accessibility stinks; but it has a ton of space and could easily accommodate Montessori and expansion. There are several Montessori preK classes there now. The Hoffman Boston student body is not that large and can be absorbed into the boundaries of nearby schools.

I think until all the older residents leave or die, that will remain a neighborhood school because of its history.

It still is a great idea!

[Anonymous]

Maybe if any of the three current comprehensive high schools in Arlington were really impressive, people would step up to the plate and recognize the need for a fourth. But when the current schools are nothing special, it makes it easier to just keep toying with the notion of more specialty programs, especially when they’d cost less money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To make full use of the career center site, we need to find a place for Montessori so that we can also tear down Patrick Henry at the same time. I can’t help but notice that Barcroft has a similarly sized building that could easily hold Montessori. Montessori is in mid-400s on enrollment.

Barcroft capacity is 460 and Henry is 463.

Time to make this decision is now so that the career center site can be fully developed- perhaps including building a new elementary on that site. But unless Montessori location is moved we can’t make full use of career center land.

People seem to only focus on one factor at a time. First of all, Montessori is lobbying to expand. Whether the existing program gets larger or not, I fully support joining the 6-8 grade levels of Montessori currently taking up much needed space at Gunston with the preK-5 kids. That alone requires a larger facility. A number of, if not all, the Montessori preK classes should also join them and free-up more space in the other schools for VPI classes and neighborhood K-5 students. Barcroft isn't able to accommodate those needs.

Secondly, the factor of good locations for neighborhood programs based on high-density of students who can, and are actually highly likely, to walk to the school. Barcroft is a highly walkable school by #s of students.

In all the reshuffling to fill the 400+ seats at Drew, why doesn't Hoffman-Boston come into play? Traffic accessibility stinks; but it has a ton of space and could easily accommodate Montessori and expansion. There are several Montessori preK classes there now. The Hoffman Boston student body is not that large and can be absorbed into the boundaries of nearby schools.

I think until all the older residents leave or die, that will remain a neighborhood school because of its history.

It still is a great idea!

I think so, too! The walk zone is nearly nonexistent. And it’s in between Drew (old location) and Henry (presumed new location).

[Anonymous]

if you are *just* outside of the proposed walk zone for the possible hs at the career center, is it likely you could still be redirected to it?
I’m really only supportive of a high school at the career center, if my house gets drawn to it. It would be really bad for my property values to be stuck at Wakefield. I was fine with Wakefield before, but it’s clear it’s going to really take a dive if the career center cite is used.
Will we know one way or the other beforehand?