Middle school boundary adjustments aps

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Apparently Hamm was only accepting 24 transfers this year and there were 70 applicants. Hopefully this shows that it would be possible to fill schools with voluntary transfers.

Hamm isn't the school they need to fill! Williamsburg is.

Did Williamsburg also fill up their transfer quota?

Would be interesting to know. Williamsburg is seriously under enrolled.

At a minimum the School Board should move the straggling Tuckahoe and Nottingham planning units to Williamsburg just to alleviate Swanson, which is too full and on track to get more full. The Williamsburg issue is just going to keep getting worse if they don't do anything.

I think Williamsburg only had 10 seats for 6th-grade neighborhood transfers, and there were 50+ on the waitlist. If WMS is so under enrolled, why weren't there more transfer seats available?

They probably don't want to hire more teachers. They went down a teacher in every subject last year due to low enrollment. So that's probably what they can add in with current staffing levels. If they rezone kids. they can properly staff up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apparently Hamm was only accepting 24 transfers this year and there were 70 applicants. Hopefully this shows that it would be possible to fill schools with voluntary transfers.

Hamm isn't the school they need to fill! Williamsburg is.

Did Williamsburg also fill up their transfer quota?

Would be interesting to know. Williamsburg is seriously under enrolled.

At a minimum the School Board should move the straggling Tuckahoe and Nottingham planning units to Williamsburg just to alleviate Swanson, which is too full and on track to get more full. The Williamsburg issue is just going to keep getting worse if they don't do anything.

I think Williamsburg only had 10 seats for 6th-grade neighborhood transfers, and there were 50+ on the waitlist. If WMS is so under enrolled, why weren't there more transfer seats available?

Apparently the number of transfer seats is up to the principal, so based on the desires of Williamsburg, not the needs of APS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apparently Hamm was only accepting 24 transfers this year and there were 70 applicants. Hopefully this shows that it would be possible to fill schools with voluntary transfers.

Hamm isn't the school they need to fill! Williamsburg is.

Did Williamsburg also fill up their transfer quota?

Would be interesting to know. Williamsburg is seriously under enrolled.

At a minimum the School Board should move the straggling Tuckahoe and Nottingham planning units to Williamsburg just to alleviate Swanson, which is too full and on track to get more full. The Williamsburg issue is just going to keep getting worse if they don't do anything.

I think Williamsburg only had 10 seats for 6th-grade neighborhood transfers, and there were 50+ on the waitlist. If WMS is so under enrolled, why weren't there more transfer seats available?

Apparently the number of transfer seats is up to the principal, so based on the desires of Williamsburg, not the needs of APS.

That's ludicrous.
I understand they need to know how many there will be for planning factors; but only offering 10 seats when they are so under-capacity?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apparently Hamm was only accepting 24 transfers this year and there were 70 applicants. Hopefully this shows that it would be possible to fill schools with voluntary transfers.

Hamm isn't the school they need to fill! Williamsburg is.

Did Williamsburg also fill up their transfer quota?

Would be interesting to know. Williamsburg is seriously under enrolled.

At a minimum the School Board should move the straggling Tuckahoe and Nottingham planning units to Williamsburg just to alleviate Swanson, which is too full and on track to get more full. The Williamsburg issue is just going to keep getting worse if they don't do anything.

I think Williamsburg only had 10 seats for 6th-grade neighborhood transfers, and there were 50+ on the waitlist. If WMS is so under enrolled, why weren't there more transfer seats available?

They probably don't want to hire more teachers. They went down a teacher in every subject last year due to low enrollment. So that's probably what they can add in with current staffing levels. If they rezone kids. they can properly staff up.

They should already know this before the school year starts to be able to get the appropriate # of teachers. Let's see what they offer next year. If there were 50 on the waitlist this year and they still only open ten seats..... ahem....

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Williamsburg is too underenrolled for them to do nothing while several other middle schools sit there at I full capacity or over.

No other middle schools is over capacity.

People are free to transfer.

I'm sure you'd find that solution equally helpful if Gunston were the vastly under-enrolled school and Williamsburg at/above capacity.

At the elementary level, Drew has been underenrolled since Montessori moved out with no signs of that ever changing. APS is fine with letting a school be underenrolled if people aren't yelling about it.

Drew's population is precisely the demographic that SHOULD be in a small school. Nottingham is not.

Yep

Same with Williamsburg. Such a joke.

And voluntary transfers is not going to fill up Williamsburg.

The messaging that you should leave the rich kids under enrolled and it’s all good the rest of you are at capacity is so freaking typical N Arlington obnoxious.

With the governor pulling funds and the county needing to raise estate taxes just to get APS to break even, you’re welcome to start a gofundme to pay for the buses and drivers that APS would need to turn the existing walkers at Swanson and Hamm into bus riders.

Personally I’d rather APS focus on what’s absolutely necessary this year, which will be hard enough as it is.

Get real. The bus routes shift every year and they wouldn’t need to buy any new buses. But good scare tactic.

Hey I’ve got an idea maybe they should let the walkers walk to Cardinal and then we can use their buses! Oh wait we have to keep McKinley together and blah blah.

People trot out all their favorite arguments when it works for them. It’s the Rolodex of catch phrases of arguments that suit my purpose.

You aren’t paying attention. If you convert walkers into rider you absolutely need new buses not just new routes.

The transportation department has more flexibility than what you are portraying to deal with changes. These same buses take elementary, high school, and option school kids on their routes. Sure it might be a new bus or buses on the middle school run but doing this at the margins, which is what you’re talking about here, they sort it out. They also do things like add a couple stops to existing routes on buses that are less full. All 3 of my kids have been busers and their routes change year to year and the buses are not even that full typically.

You don’t understand. The proposal was to move 1/2 of Hamm, almost all walkers, to WMS.

A big chunk of those kids were technically in the walk zone, but I have serious doubts that many of those kids walk. It's too far on streets without sidewalks. And many of the kids they were moving to Hamm would have been walkers too (e.g., most of Glebe).

Thanks for admitting your argument is made up entirely on your “serious doubts” instead of actual facts. And thanks for admitting you know nothing about Hamm or the neighborhood it’s in. Almost every street has sidewalks, and the kids walk!

I don't know who you think you're responding to, but I'm a np.

They were responding to your one speculation: “ big chunk of those kids were technically in the walk zone, but I have serious doubts that many of those kids walk”. Just because you just posted for the first time doesn’t mean you weren’t making up stuff as you obviously were since you said there were no sidewalks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Williamsburg is too underenrolled for them to do nothing while several other middle schools sit there at I full capacity or over.

No other middle schools is over capacity.

People are free to transfer.

I'm sure you'd find that solution equally helpful if Gunston were the vastly under-enrolled school and Williamsburg at/above capacity.

At the elementary level, Drew has been underenrolled since Montessori moved out with no signs of that ever changing. APS is fine with letting a school be underenrolled if people aren't yelling about it.

Drew's population is precisely the demographic that SHOULD be in a small school. Nottingham is not.

Yep

Same with Williamsburg. Such a joke.

And voluntary transfers is not going to fill up Williamsburg.

The messaging that you should leave the rich kids under enrolled and it’s all good the rest of you are at capacity is so freaking typical N Arlington obnoxious.

With the governor pulling funds and the county needing to raise estate taxes just to get APS to break even, you’re welcome to start a gofundme to pay for the buses and drivers that APS would need to turn the existing walkers at Swanson and Hamm into bus riders.

Personally I’d rather APS focus on what’s absolutely necessary this year, which will be hard enough as it is.

Get real. The bus routes shift every year and they wouldn’t need to buy any new buses. But good scare tactic.

Hey I’ve got an idea maybe they should let the walkers walk to Cardinal and then we can use their buses! Oh wait we have to keep McKinley together and blah blah.

People trot out all their favorite arguments when it works for them. It’s the Rolodex of catch phrases of arguments that suit my purpose.

You aren’t paying attention. If you convert walkers into rider you absolutely need new buses not just new routes.

The transportation department has more flexibility than what you are portraying to deal with changes. These same buses take elementary, high school, and option school kids on their routes. Sure it might be a new bus or buses on the middle school run but doing this at the margins, which is what you’re talking about here, they sort it out. They also do things like add a couple stops to existing routes on buses that are less full. All 3 of my kids have been busers and their routes change year to year and the buses are not even that full typically.

You don’t understand. The proposal was to move 1/2 of Hamm, almost all walkers, to WMS.

A big chunk of those kids were technically in the walk zone, but I have serious doubts that many of those kids walk. It's too far on streets without sidewalks. And many of the kids they were moving to Hamm would have been walkers too (e.g., most of Glebe).

Have you even been by Hamm after school, kids are ALL OVER walking, for miles beyond the school. What are you talking about, almost every street has sidewalks in DHMS zone. Anyways, we don’t provide bus transport, and when rezoned we will have to.

I have a kid in the walk zone for Swanson at the far edge. Many people drive them in the morning because of the early start time and then they walk home in the afternoon in decent weather but get picked up after school too. I'm sure it's the same for Hamm. The walk zones for the middle school and high school are really quite big.

It's a big "walk zone" and I do seriously doubt a lot of the kids are really walking it. I just checked a few locations with Google maps and it's saying it would take 30-35 minutes to walk to Hamm from some locations that APS deems walkable. That's a long way with major streets to cross.

I have a kid in the middle of the Hamm walk zone and even her walk is even pretty far (20-25 minutes). Parents in our neighborhood with kids further away typically won't have their kid walk, especially in the morning but often not at all.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2023/08/MS_Hamm_SY23_24.pdf

Again with the “serious doubts“ — hint, not facts

[Anonymous]

NP but it is pretty reasonable to speculate kids on the outer edge of these walk boundaries are not walking a lot of the time. No one has "facts" because we don't follow every family in Arlington. But I am at outer ring of Yorktown and definitely we drive my kids a lot. We were at Swanson before and tons of people had carpools to drive the kids who were still in the walk zone. Why is this controversial?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP but it is pretty reasonable to speculate kids on the outer edge of these walk boundaries are not walking a lot of the time. No one has "facts" because we don't follow every family in Arlington. But I am at outer ring of Yorktown and definitely we drive my kids a lot. We were at Swanson before and tons of people had carpools to drive the kids who were still in the walk zone. Why is this controversial?

High school walk zones are much larger.

You knew of a few families at Swanson, okay? DHMS is in a much more dense and walkable part of Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Tons of kids bike. Beyond the walk zone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP but it is pretty reasonable to speculate kids on the outer edge of these walk boundaries are not walking a lot of the time. No one has "facts" because we don't follow every family in Arlington. But I am at outer ring of Yorktown and definitely we drive my kids a lot. We were at Swanson before and tons of people had carpools to drive the kids who were still in the walk zone. Why is this controversial?

High school walk zones are much larger.

You knew of a few families at Swanson, okay? DHMS is in a much more dense and walkable part of Arlington.

Than Swanson???? What?

No. It isn’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP but it is pretty reasonable to speculate kids on the outer edge of these walk boundaries are not walking a lot of the time. No one has "facts" because we don't follow every family in Arlington. But I am at outer ring of Yorktown and definitely we drive my kids a lot. We were at Swanson before and tons of people had carpools to drive the kids who were still in the walk zone. Why is this controversial?

High school walk zones are much larger.

You knew of a few families at Swanson, okay? DHMS is in a much more dense and walkable part of Arlington.

Than Swanson???? What?

No. It isn’t.

Regarding walkability:

Both Swanson and DHMS have a ton of walkers. Hence all the new pedestrian safety measures along busy Langston and Washington Blvds.

Westover and Cherrydale (and all of the surrounding neighborhoods) are very walkable by design since they all predate WWII. This walkability is what’s unique to Arlington (and D.C.). Families are lucky to live in either zone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP but it is pretty reasonable to speculate kids on the outer edge of these walk boundaries are not walking a lot of the time. No one has "facts" because we don't follow every family in Arlington. But I am at outer ring of Yorktown and definitely we drive my kids a lot. We were at Swanson before and tons of people had carpools to drive the kids who were still in the walk zone. Why is this controversial?

High school walk zones are much larger.

You knew of a few families at Swanson, okay? DHMS is in a much more dense and walkable part of Arlington.

Than Swanson???? What?

No. It isn’t.

Regarding walkability:

Both Swanson and DHMS have a ton of walkers. Hence all the new pedestrian safety measures along busy Langston and Washington Blvds.

Westover and Cherrydale (and all of the surrounding neighborhoods) are very walkable by design since they all predate WWII. This walkability is what’s unique to Arlington (and D.C.). Families are lucky to live in either zone.

I don't live in either, but I think Westover is far more walkable than Cherrydale for middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP but it is pretty reasonable to speculate kids on the outer edge of these walk boundaries are not walking a lot of the time. No one has "facts" because we don't follow every family in Arlington. But I am at outer ring of Yorktown and definitely we drive my kids a lot. We were at Swanson before and tons of people had carpools to drive the kids who were still in the walk zone. Why is this controversial?

High school walk zones are much larger.

You knew of a few families at Swanson, okay? DHMS is in a much more dense and walkable part of Arlington.

Than Swanson???? What?

No. It isn’t.

Regarding walkability:

Both Swanson and DHMS have a ton of walkers. Hence all the new pedestrian safety measures along busy Langston and Washington Blvds.

Westover and Cherrydale (and all of the surrounding neighborhoods) are very walkable by design since they all predate WWII. This walkability is what’s unique to Arlington (and D.C.). Families are lucky to live in either zone.

I don't live in either, but I think Westover is far more walkable than Cherrydale for middle school.

Both areas may look different but are similar. DHMS has the Lee Heights Shops. Swanson has Westover Village. Single family homes and apartments are directly adjacent or across the street from both schools. Langston Blvd does have four lanes though while Washington Blvd only has two.

The portion Langston Blvd (former Old Dominion Dr.) by DHMS was previously a railroad right-of-way so that’s why that section of road is mostly forested. It does however create a bucolic setting for the school, nestled majestically amongst the tall oaks.

[Anonymous]

Is a MS given a budget and the. Asked how many transfers it can accept? Or is it given more of a budget if it takes on more transfers?

I can’t imagine it is just blindly up to the principal. If they have a fixed budget regardless of how many transfers they take, that seems like a pretty big constraint.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Williamsburg is too underenrolled for them to do nothing while several other middle schools sit there at I full capacity or over.

No other middle schools is over capacity.

People are free to transfer.

I'm sure you'd find that solution equally helpful if Gunston were the vastly under-enrolled school and Williamsburg at/above capacity.

At the elementary level, Drew has been underenrolled since Montessori moved out with no signs of that ever changing. APS is fine with letting a school be underenrolled if people aren't yelling about it.

Drew's population is precisely the demographic that SHOULD be in a small school. Nottingham is not.

Yep

Same with Williamsburg. Such a joke.

And voluntary transfers is not going to fill up Williamsburg.

The messaging that you should leave the rich kids under enrolled and it’s all good the rest of you are at capacity is so freaking typical N Arlington obnoxious.

With the governor pulling funds and the county needing to raise estate taxes just to get APS to break even, you’re welcome to start a gofundme to pay for the buses and drivers that APS would need to turn the existing walkers at Swanson and Hamm into bus riders.

Personally I’d rather APS focus on what’s absolutely necessary this year, which will be hard enough as it is.

Get real. The bus routes shift every year and they wouldn’t need to buy any new buses. But good scare tactic.

Hey I’ve got an idea maybe they should let the walkers walk to Cardinal and then we can use their buses! Oh wait we have to keep McKinley together and blah blah.

People trot out all their favorite arguments when it works for them. It’s the Rolodex of catch phrases of arguments that suit my purpose.

You aren’t paying attention. If you convert walkers into rider you absolutely need new buses not just new routes.

The transportation department has more flexibility than what you are portraying to deal with changes. These same buses take elementary, high school, and option school kids on their routes. Sure it might be a new bus or buses on the middle school run but doing this at the margins, which is what you’re talking about here, they sort it out. They also do things like add a couple stops to existing routes on buses that are less full. All 3 of my kids have been busers and their routes change year to year and the buses are not even that full typically.

You don’t understand. The proposal was to move 1/2 of Hamm, almost all walkers, to WMS.

A big chunk of those kids were technically in the walk zone, but I have serious doubts that many of those kids walk. It's too far on streets without sidewalks. And many of the kids they were moving to Hamm would have been walkers too (e.g., most of Glebe).

Thanks for admitting your argument is made up entirely on your “serious doubts” instead of actual facts. And thanks for admitting you know nothing about Hamm or the neighborhood it’s in. Almost every street has sidewalks, and the kids walk!

I don't know who you think you're responding to, but I'm a np.

They were responding to your one speculation: “ big chunk of those kids were technically in the walk zone, but I have serious doubts that many of those kids walk”. Just because you just posted for the first time doesn’t mean you weren’t making up stuff as you obviously were since you said there were no sidewalks.

Just because you post that all kids in the walk zone walk to Hamm doesn't make it true. As many have agreed, the MS walk zones are big and there are major roads to cross to get to Hamm.

Really, there's no need to be obnoxious. We all understand that you are just fighting to avoid being rezoned to Williamsburg.