Please explain how Henry parent position on CC makes sense
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Anonymous
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We need to revisit the Kenmore site. It was ridiculous that they didn’t go with that option.
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Anonymous
My understanding is that the county nixed that option, told APS they wouldn't get a use permit for another school on the site. |
Anonymous
If they want to appeal to Apple, Amazon, etc. they should invest in schools. |
Anonymous
Here is my memory for how it went down (Arl Heights poster). Henry community wanted Henry to be expanded. APS said no, that property is off the table. Okay, so we thought all along, there was a master plan to make the Career Center site a 4th High School. I understand that the County Board told the school board that it would never give a use permit to build on Kenmore because there are so many problems with traffic in that area and Fairfax will never give Arlington egress out the other side of the property. There are not very many (if any) decent sized lots at that time already owned by APS. So, we went to the SB and said, Kenmore says no, we'll say yes. Build your 4th high school here. School board went with the hybrid plan so that they could get HS seats online faster, but then the high school projections were way higher than the 1400 that they were building for. So, SB created the Career Center working group for figuring out how to create a 4th high school by a phasing in process. Again, from the very beginning (and before the school board voted on the hybrid), we had a resolution saying that we opposed inequitable HS seats. But, we were okay with starting with 800 neighborhood seats (so long as the facilities were in place or walking distance) and then building up to a true urban high school 2400+ students. So, in a nutshell, we never read the hybrid option as entirely choice seats--and we don't think there was ever a serious plan for those to be option seats. If that were necessarily true, we could have built onto Henry, and there would have been no need for the working group at all. We could have went straight to building level planning, a la how they are adding 600 seats at the ed. center. And to your question about "expecting another outcome"--I guess I never expected APS to propose the seats they are proposing now. Like I said, in hindsight, I would have encouraged NIMBY-ism. Another thing is, I guess I don't get all the hate for supporting (or "making a grab") for a 4th high school here. Kenmore gets its fair share of hate because it blocks a 4th high school, and we get our fair share because we supported one. I hope this answers your question. |
Anonymous
This is exactly how I remember it, too. All along they have said they can't put the equivalent amenities on the site, which was why they said the seats were TBD, focus decided later. Frankly, that is asinine. Who just plops a school down at a site and then decides what the focus should be after the fact? Should t the site itself dictate what the optimal focus would be? But, I digress. The neighborhood kept on with the drum beat of "neighborhood seats," so what staff and the SB heard was, "yes, we understand the site and financial limitations and we accept whatever you put here, as long as they are neighborhood seats." Y'all were misled, but not by APS. They also didn't promise you that the Henry boundary would not change when the school moved to a new physical location. Again, you're hearing what you want to hear and not hearing what they are actually saying. |
Anonymous
As I recall, only a short time before the hybrid option came down the SB decided to expand Arl Tech by another 800 (now 600) seats and brought up CTE to 300 seats. Once people started hearing about this they conflated it with the hybrid option seats, and then lost some trust when it was explained to them that the SB planned to add 1900 seats over the next couple of years but had only really advertised about 800 of those seats. Most of that number were choice seats, but when the SB refused to commit to an educational focus for the 800, that started to worry people. The nightmare scenario was that the SB would say these would "probably" be choice seats while they built it, only to be unable to fill these seats and then switch gears to make it a neighborhood school without any of the facilities. (We've seen this borne out to an extent as Arl Tech, which is a great program, has struggled to meet its enrollment targets). And why else would the SB refuse to commit to a focus at that point but to preserve that option down the road? If you're the neighborhood in that situation, you have several choices: 1)Do Nothing. Wait as the process plays itself out, and hope that the SB doesn't decide to screw the rare neighborhood that has yet to demand anything from them. 2)Go full NIMBY and threaten to burn this mother down (I like to call this the "Glencarlyn gambit") 3)Push the SB to commit to making them choice seats. The problem with this is that A)There's already a lot of choice seats and that's a big burden on the neighborhood in terms of traffic and construction w/out much in return, and B)you can't stop the school board from reversing itself later on when the students don't show up. Which seems more likely if they don't bother to put in at least some of the trappings of a high school, like a field space. 4)Push the SB to admit it's preserving the option for neighborhood seats because it is very likely to actually need them, and it would be better for the entire county to recognize this fact before spending $100 million on a gamble to avoid building a 4th high school, only to be in an even worse fiscal position once it realizes the gamble failed. It's clear from the fact that so many Arlington residents are accusing the neighborhood of a brazen "grab" followed by "hissy fits" and "buying their own spin," that the correct answer was, and always will be 2). Don't play along with the County because they will likely try to screw you. And don't ask for anything from the county like fair or equal treatment because then you're just a selfish jerk. Just say no and fight it all tooth and nail, and hope that someone else ends up getting screwed instead, because you can be sure that's the other neighborhood's plan for you. I've learned a lot about my fellow Arlingtonians during this process. |
Anonymous
Oh, and p.s. at the working group, they told us from the very beginning that the decision between neighborhood vs. choice seats would be made by ANOTHER advisory group after this working group. So, APS never said one way or another until it about 2 weeks ago at one of the working sessions where the Superintendent's plan first lists them as neighborhood seats. |
Anonymous
Arl Heights poster again. The "all along they have said they can't put the equivalent amenities" is NOT true. The architects showed us 6 to 8 story buildings with a gymnasium, auditorium, pool--everything--within the footprint of the building. All that was left was outside space. The 6 to 8 story building would take up about 4 acres, leaving 8 acres for open space. This is what we were told, and in hindsight, with the intent to get community buy-in. Fast forward to today. Now we are told: can't move Henry, can't move Community High School, can't move any CTE programs, can't move the daycare. Okay, then. Why they thought with so many competing interests on that small piece of land that they could do anything with it is beyond me. BTW, this is all stuff we learned along the process. And again, we NEVER said we accept whatever you put here. NEVER. Please stop spreading that lie. I'll leave your Henry boundary stuff for another post. |
Anonymous
Thanks. I guess the disconnect is while you guys never seriously read hybrid as choice, I (and potentially others) never read hybrid as a back door into 4th HS. In fact, I read it as a specific repudiation of 4th HS, basically closing the door on all the advocacy at the time for a 4th. Anyway, thanks for engaging. There’s a cynical part of me that thinks the effort for a CC HS is to opt those neighborhoods out of Wakefield, and the emphasis on the critical need for a pool is a bit tired, but FWIW I get where you guys are coming from. I didn’t mean to pile on with use of “making a grab for” — hell, most of the APS parents focused on this issue probably wish someone, anyone would grab for a 4th HS just to make it actually happen. I just don’t think it’s in the cards at this point. |
Anonymous
| Also on 22204. They believe their own spin. Thought they could turn the 800 option seats into a neighborhood H.S. with all the fixins. But that was never in the cards. And this claim of a civil rights suit is absurd. 22204 has an awesome full service high school. This is not a disparate treatment lawsuit in the making. |
Anonymous
Well, I guess that is the disconnect then. I mean, they certainly strung us along by asking for private meetings, forming the working group (which in hindsight was totally unnecessary), and telling us privately that there was space for everything except baseball/softball diamonds. They certainly got a lot of us supporting them and trying to get the neighborhood behind it. And believe me, it's much easier to get a group of people to oppose something, rather than support something. I also hear the Wakefield thing quite a lot, and it makes me sad. My kids aren't old enough yet, but the neighborhood kids who go there love it. Again, another reason to have been a NIMBY all along. And most of you won't believe me anyway. |
Anonymous
Again, not true. |
Anonymous
Why would you think people are trying to opt out of Wakefield? When I bought my house I knew exactly what it was zoned for, just like you did. I’d be much happier over at the comprehensive Wakefield building than some half-assed neighborhood high school, and we’re right down the street from that site. I also think this is coming right at the same time that many current/future Henry families realize they’re likely getting moved to MUCH lower-performing elementary schools (my neighborhood will be screwed twice, for example, being zoned from Fleet and to the CC). That’s why they’re so “upset.” |
Anonymous
It's never too late to go full NIMBY! Just think of the possibilities: use permits, environmental impact assessments, zoning changes. Some people are even threatening Title VII! Why, the right lawyer could drag this process out for YEARS. [/sarcasm] |
Anonymous
Okay. If you were in my place, WWYD? |