South Arlington elementary school boundary adjustments 2019

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That part of Douglas Park would really benefit Randolph ‘s demographics. It’s entirely sfh’s and upscale condos. I hope that happens.

Yep. Might account for why Hoffman has "improved" in recent years, though again, just my conjecture.

I believe its been some time since boundaries were redrawn in south Arlington. The last time they were looked at, that corner of Douglas Park had 100’s of low income market rate apts.
it was renovated to become high end condos. I would be interested to know how many school aged kids live there.
I seems that corner is also being eyed by Nauck families. I’m sure they’d welcome that area into Drew.
Randolph should fight for it.

That's silly. It seems? Being eyed by? That's making things up language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That part of Douglas Park would really benefit Randolph ‘s demographics. It’s entirely sfh’s and upscale condos. I hope that happens.

Yep. Might account for why Hoffman has "improved" in recent years, though again, just my conjecture.

I believe its been some time since boundaries were redrawn in south Arlington. The last time they were looked at, that corner of Douglas Park had 100’s of low income market rate apts.
it was renovated to become high end condos. I would be interested to know how many school aged kids live there.
I seems that corner is also being eyed by Nauck families. I’m sure they’d welcome that area into Drew.
Randolph should fight for it.

That's silly. It seems? Being eyed by? That's making things up language.

Go back and read this whole thread. There is a post by a Drew “stake holder” literally talking about this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we are going to have a surplus of seats in NW then WHY ARE WE OPENING REED?? Why don't we revisit that instead of rearranging the entire county?

South Arlington is going to be rearranged because we have a new school.

And Key zone needs to be rearranged because there are hundreds of kids with no in zone school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That part of Douglas Park would really benefit Randolph ‘s demographics. It’s entirely sfh’s and upscale condos. I hope that happens.

Yep. Might account for why Hoffman has "improved" in recent years, though again, just my conjecture.

I believe its been some time since boundaries were redrawn in south Arlington. The last time they were looked at, that corner of Douglas Park had 100’s of low income market rate apts.
it was renovated to become high end condos. I would be interested to know how many school aged kids live there.
I seems that corner is also being eyed by Nauck families. I’m sure they’d welcome that area into Drew.
Randolph should fight for it.

That's silly. It seems? Being eyed by? That's making things up language.

Go back and read this whole thread. There is a post by a Drew “stake holder” literally talking about this.

I have read this whole thread and don't recall the post you're talking about, but one anonymous post doesn't mean squat. The triangle bounded by Walter Reed and four mile run is not walkable to Drew, and it is walkable to Randolph.

Now, there is a case for sending the triangle of New Arlington/DP that is north of glebe to Drew instead of Randolph, but that's not the triangle zoned for Hoffman. It's zoned to Henry right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we're going to dissolve a school, why not dissolve ATS? If it's not really anything unique. Why dissolve any neighborhood school that has a ready community of walkers, particularly one in an area of growth in the county?

Because it makes no sense whatsoever to dissolve ATS, a highly successful school that is, in fact, unique, and sits in a location that will have more than enough seats - neighborhood seats are not needed in that location. Neighborhood seats are needed at Oakridge!!!! And if I see how the school board is thinking there may be too many seats around Reed with the opening of it, I truly have to wonder, why they did not slate a new elementary School for the Pentagon City area first. It was one of the recommendations of the working group... the only one they did not follow...

How is ATS unique other than having a population that is entirely there by choice and no dead weight? What is actually different about the curriculum and teaching methods?

Don’t have much time right now, but would love to answer in more detail.
ATS is unique and different. Curriculum has a bigger emphasis on arts; theater year round from K, assemblies every Friday with performances and plays, every child plays an instrument, does band and choir...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we are going to have a surplus of seats in NW then WHY ARE WE OPENING REED?? Why don't we revisit that instead of rearranging the entire county?

South Arlington is going to be rearranged because we have a new school.

DP, yes I know this. And I understand why Key needs and in-boundary school. So swap Key and ASFS and call it day. If they draw boundaries around Reed that would leave Tuckahoe way under capacity, then I think they owe it to that school community to be part of any decision to turn it into an option school (not a Tuckahoe parent, but I'm imagining how I'd feel in their shoes). They should give them an opportunity to weigh in on what type of option program they'd prefer, then ask the APS community if that's a program that's desirable. Then current Tuckahoe kids and concurrently enrolled younger siblings should get automatic entrance to the option program. Rather than displace an entire neighborhood of kids with a current program, help that community build a program from the ground up. Win win.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we are going to have a surplus of seats in NW then WHY ARE WE OPENING REED?? Why don't we revisit that instead of rearranging the entire county?

South Arlington is going to be rearranged because we have a new school.

DP, yes I know this. And I understand why Key needs and in-boundary school. So swap Key and ASFS and call it day. If they draw boundaries around Reed that would leave Tuckahoe way under capacity, then I think they owe it to that school community to be part of any decision to turn it into an option school (not a Tuckahoe parent, but I'm imagining how I'd feel in their shoes). They should give them an opportunity to weigh in on what type of option program they'd prefer, then ask the APS community if that's a program that's desirable. Then current Tuckahoe kids and concurrently enrolled younger siblings should get automatic entrance to the option program. Rather than displace an entire neighborhood of kids with a current program, help that community build a program from the ground up. Win win.

I think if they decided to make the Reed building a choice site when Reed opens, they would move the current Tuckahoe teachers and admin over to the new school along with most of the students, so the community would be moving 1.5 miles - pretty much the same distance as Key and ASFS. I don’t get the impression there is much appetite for creating a new choice program right now. Also, if Key and ASFS are both neighborhood schools they can push some of the units north from Ashlawn and Long Branch and then move some S Arlington units north as well to relieve crowding that way. I think they just want to look at all the options before they decide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we are going to have a surplus of seats in NW then WHY ARE WE OPENING REED?? Why don't we revisit that instead of rearranging the entire county?

South Arlington is going to be rearranged because we have a new school.

DP, yes I know this. And I understand why Key needs and in-boundary school. So swap Key and ASFS and call it day. If they draw boundaries around Reed that would leave Tuckahoe way under capacity, then I think they owe it to that school community to be part of any decision to turn it into an option school (not a Tuckahoe parent, but I'm imagining how I'd feel in their shoes). They should give them an opportunity to weigh in on what type of option program they'd prefer, then ask the APS community if that's a program that's desirable. Then current Tuckahoe kids and concurrently enrolled younger siblings should get automatic entrance to the option program. Rather than displace an entire neighborhood of kids with a current program, help that community build a program from the ground up. Win win.

I think if they decided to make the Reed building a choice site when Reed opens, they would move the current Tuckahoe teachers and admin over to the new school along with most of the students, so the community would be moving 1.5 miles - pretty much the same distance as Key and ASFS. I don’t get the impression there is much appetite for creating a new choice program right now. Also, if Key and ASFS are both neighborhood schools they can push some of the units north from Ashlawn and Long Branch and then move some S Arlington units north as well to relieve crowding that way. I think they just want to look at all the options before they decide.

Sorry, meant if they make Tuckahoe a choice site, Reed will not be choice.

[Anonymous]

Not true. Less than half those kids at Tuckahoe would go to Reed. They are counting on Reed to take kids from Glebe/McKinley crowding and then also the precious Westover community. The rest of Tuckahoe (half to more than half) would get divided up between Nottingham and McKinley. I wonder if Nottingham and McKinley are factoring that in.

[Anonymous]

Are claremont and abingdon likely to trade places -- immersion at abingdon, Claremont a neighborhood school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not true. Less than half those kids at Tuckahoe would go to Reed. They are counting on Reed to take kids from Glebe/McKinley crowding and then also the precious Westover community. The rest of Tuckahoe (half to more than half) would get divided up between Nottingham and McKinley. I wonder if Nottingham and McKinley are factoring that in.

McKinley will have space when the Westover kids return to Reed (the old neighborhood school before APS shut it down).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not true. Less than half those kids at Tuckahoe would go to Reed. They are counting on Reed to take kids from Glebe/McKinley crowding and then also the precious Westover community. The rest of Tuckahoe (half to more than half) would get divided up between Nottingham and McKinley. I wonder if Nottingham and McKinley are factoring that in.

McKinley will have space when the Westover kids return to Reed (the old neighborhood school before APS shut it down).

The last five pages of a thread titled "south Arlington elementary ..." have been dominated by discussion of f'n Tuckahoe. Maybe start a new thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:sorry, but the heavy congestion around reed is no different than other areas and not comparable to Carlin springs. . What makes Carlin springs crazy is that it is a winding road on a hill with poor visibility. It interesects with route 50, an eight lane commuter highway. And, Carlin springs already has 2 elementary schools and middle School.

The area around reed is nothing like Carlin springs, zero comparison. The traffic on Washington Blvd is already slowed because of pedestrians in westover and there is a library right there.

Sorry, that area is pastoral in comparison to Carlin springs and route 50.

True, the two areas are not very alike. Westover is much more walkable, regardless of what people say about congestion. And Kenmore has the largest amount of APS-owned land available. They were willing to consider an additional elementary school on the Wakefield site, which is smaller; but Glencarlyn -- like EVERY NEIGHBORHOOD IN THE COUNTY - claims the market on traffic problems. I drive Carlin Springs frequently and at all times of day. It has never been as bad as Columbia Pike and is actually more of an issue on the part of Carlin Springs SOUTH of the Pike. AND there are things that can be done to improve traffic flow into/out of/and on the site. The acreage of Kenmore is greater than Wakefield and does not even include Carlin Springs ES which has four acres unto itself and a front door accessed from a completely different road than Kenmore.

Carlin Springs ES is actually one of the most ideal locations for a choice program because it has zero walkability - and because of the extreme concentration of low and very low income
students. But it will never be touched because we have to keep the low-income Latino community together and segregated from everyone else.

1. Are you aware that Carlin Springs south of the Pike is not even in Arlington County? Not sure what your point is there.
2. Many members of the Latino community are not asking to be segregated from everyone else. They, like nearly everyone else in Arlington, are asking not to have their children forcibly bused across the county further away from their homes and caregivers making it even harder for their families to be involved with the school. They, like many in N. Arlington, want the ability to send their kids to neighborhood schools where they can interact with members of their community.
3. Let's say we did make Carlin Springs or Randolph an option school. Where do you think all of the low income non-English speaking population will go? (and for the record--not everyone is Hispanic. At Randolph it's something like 60% but there are scores of students from families that speak languages other than Spanish). Assuming we're still working under a neighborhood/choice model most of them will still be together and in another school. What school has space? How will this make things better for everyone? What might help is adding more option and fewer neighborhood schools, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen.
4. FWIW--I generally agree wth you about Carlin Springs traffic----that's why I think it would have been a great place for a high school.

1. Yes, quite aware. My point is that the traffic is not a strong enough reason not to build more seats at Kenmore. Traffic is always cited as a prohibitive factor to any proposal for development no matter where it is. If they can cram a 753-seat elementary school into the closed-in corner of the TJ site and host 75-+ elementary students, 1100 middle school students, and a community center there all on 23 acres (half of which contains the open fields, tennis courts, jogging path, little league baseball field, etc.), they can put a lot more students on the Kenmore site. Kenmore site is not efficiently laid-out and there are things that can be done to improve the traffic concerns.

2. Agreed, but in two different ways. First, some members of the Latino community actually want diversity as evidenced during the high school boundary adjustment. Second, they may not be asking for segregation; but if they insist on not being bused to a school a little farther away - not across the entire County - they are in essence supporting segregation. Just like all the other neighborhoods insisting on being assigned to the closest school to them.

3. You have this issue no matter where you put an option school. The kids assigned to that school as a neighborhood school are redistricted into other surrounding schools. If option programs are relocated, boundaries obviously need to change. Unfortunately, there's no easy solution in the SW part of the county no matter what you do. But adding more option schools isn't the solution. Option programs are not intended for, and do not efficiently address, overcrowding. Redistricting is the best way to balance enrollment. Unfortunately, APS refuses to do that in a holistic manner or even in a way that prioritizes balancing enrollment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not true. Less than half those kids at Tuckahoe would go to Reed. They are counting on Reed to take kids from Glebe/McKinley crowding and then also the precious Westover community. The rest of Tuckahoe (half to more than half) would get divided up between Nottingham and McKinley. I wonder if Nottingham and McKinley are factoring that in.

McKinley will have space when the Westover kids return to Reed (the old neighborhood school before APS shut it down).

The last five pages of a thread titled "south Arlington elementary ..." have been dominated by discussion of f'n Tuckahoe. Maybe start a new thread.

This affects south Arlington if they shuffle a bunch of option schools to the north and then make some current option schools neighborhood. Or if they swap some option/neighborhood schools within south Arlingotn. That's why I care as a south Arlington parent what happens elsewhere. It's not happening in a vacuum. These moves will affect us all so it's good to pay attention and give feedback before they decide and it's too late.

[Anonymous]

Yeah. Moving ATS or Campbell to Tuckahoe screws S. Arlington. Who do you think goes to those schools?