Plan for Arlington overcrowding?

[Anonymous]

Just spotted a convoy of classroom trailers on Wash Blvd headed to various N Arlington schools today. The Ed Ctr parking lot was just cleared out for the 4 classroom trailers for W-L (the max that will fit) and McKinley just added a few as well.

[Anonymous]

We are closing on a house in the Nottimgham district next month. Coming from the Hill. All the crowding talk makes me nervous. But I still think that even an overcrowded N Arl school is better than my current options.
But can someone tell me about the situ at Nottingham. And why are trailers such a bad thing?
Looking forward to being your neighbor, and living in a house without bars on my windows...

[Anonymous]

Trailers are not bad. Most N Arlington and some S Arlington elementary and secondary schools had trailers in the early to mid-90s, before additions were built.

Class sizes will remain small because of the trailers. And within a few years at least one new N Arlington elementary school should open and relieve the overcrowding at other schools.

The secondary schools are growing which is not necessarily a bad thing. Arlington's high schools were for a couple decades among the smallest in Northern Virginia. Soon, W-L and Yorktown will be among the largest once again.

Other popular communities are facing the same overcrowding issues. Haycock Elem in Falls Church has quite a few trailers.

Congrats on finding a house in an excellent neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

I look at this way...my N.Arlington/Clarendon neighborhood is FILLED with children. Every single house (minus a few retirees) is filled with infants-4th graders (mostly). The parks are filled, the streets are filled with children. My kids have tons of neighborhood friends their age to play with. They trade off and on at each others houses. This is the way I grew up. Tons of family block parties, etc. If you ask the parents...all of us plan to stay put until last kid is through HS. And, truthfully, many talk about keeping this house and just getting a second vacation house since we love the area so much.

Now my parents neighorhood in Fairfax County a little further out in suburbia is dead. Very few children. It was like what I described above when I was kid....huge roming bands of kids. Their elementary school is not at capacity.

Where would I rather raise my kids and have them go to school? A place with nobody outside to play with and nobody their age for blocks and blocks or one filled with kids. Plus-- our elementary school still has small ratios and will add classes before increasing ratio.

All a matter of perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I look at this way...my N.Arlington/Clarendon neighborhood is FILLED with children. Every single house (minus a few retirees) is filled with infants-4th graders (mostly). The parks are filled, the streets are filled with children. My kids have tons of neighborhood friends their age to play with. They trade off and on at each others houses. This is the way I grew up. Tons of family block parties, etc. If you ask the parents...all of us plan to stay put until last kid is through HS. And, truthfully, many talk about keeping this house and just getting a second vacation house since we love the area so much.

Now my parents neighorhood in Fairfax County a little further out in suburbia is dead. Very few children. It was like what I described above when I was kid....huge roming bands of kids. Their elementary school is not at capacity.

Where would I rather raise my kids and have them go to school? A place with nobody outside to play with and nobody their age for blocks and blocks or one filled with kids. Plus-- our elementary school still has small ratios and will add classes before increasing ratio.

All a matter of perspective.

Wow. Just wow. This sounds like BS. Are you really that defensive about getting redistricted in a few years?

Our neighborhood in Fairfax has plenty of children. Maybe some blocks in Arlington now have more, but Arlington is denser and older, and more of the original homeowners there have died. If you look at the enrollment numbers, you'd find that most Fairfax elementary schools have more students than they had 15-20 years ago. The only street in Arlington that I've seen that is "filled with children" is Wilson Boulevard, which certainly has lots of 20-something children roaming around every weekend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I look at this way...my N.Arlington/Clarendon neighborhood is FILLED with children. Every single house (minus a few retirees) is filled with infants-4th graders (mostly). The parks are filled, the streets are filled with children. My kids have tons of neighborhood friends their age to play with. They trade off and on at each others houses. This is the way I grew up. Tons of family block parties, etc. If you ask the parents...all of us plan to stay put until last kid is through HS. And, truthfully, many talk about keeping this house and just getting a second vacation house since we love the area so much.

Now my parents neighorhood in Fairfax County a little further out in suburbia is dead. Very few children. It was like what I described above when I was kid....huge roming bands of kids. Their elementary school is not at capacity.

Where would I rather raise my kids and have them go to school? A place with nobody outside to play with and nobody their age for blocks and blocks or one filled with kids. Plus-- our elementary school still has small ratios and will add classes before increasing ratio.

All a matter of perspective.

Wow. Just wow. This sounds like BS. Are you really that defensive about getting redistricted in a few years?

Our neighborhood in Fairfax has plenty of children. Maybe some blocks in Arlington now have more, but Arlington is denser and older, and more of the original homeowners there have died. If you look at the enrollment numbers, you'd find that most Fairfax elementary schools have more students than they had 15-20 years ago. The only street in Arlington that I've seen that is "filled with children" is Wilson Boulevard, which certainly has lots of 20-something children roaming around every weekend.

The N Arlington SFH neighborhoods are filled with kids and young families. There are plenty of young single professionals also. I don't think the PP mentioned anything about redistricting. Clarendon is too close to W-L to be considered for a high school boundary change. It's been in the W-L boundary for 87 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I look at this way...my N.Arlington/Clarendon neighborhood is FILLED with children. Every single house (minus a few retirees) is filled with infants-4th graders (mostly). The parks are filled, the streets are filled with children. My kids have tons of neighborhood friends their age to play with. They trade off and on at each others houses. This is the way I grew up. Tons of family block parties, etc. If you ask the parents...all of us plan to stay put until last kid is through HS. And, truthfully, many talk about keeping this house and just getting a second vacation house since we love the area so much.

Now my parents neighorhood in Fairfax County a little further out in suburbia is dead. Very few children. It was like what I described above when I was kid....huge roming bands of kids. Their elementary school is not at capacity.

Where would I rather raise my kids and have them go to school? A place with nobody outside to play with and nobody their age for blocks and blocks or one filled with kids. Plus-- our elementary school still has small ratios and will add classes before increasing ratio.

All a matter of perspective.

Wow. Just wow. This sounds like BS. Are you really that defensive about getting redistricted in a few years?

Our neighborhood in Fairfax has plenty of children. Maybe some blocks in Arlington now have more, but Arlington is denser and older, and more of the original homeowners there have died. If you look at the enrollment numbers, you'd find that most Fairfax elementary schools have more students than they had 15-20 years ago. The only street in Arlington that I've seen that is "filled with children" is Wilson Boulevard, which certainly has lots of 20-something children roaming around every weekend.

Like most visitors you never go into the private neighoborhoods. You have oviously have not been to the SFH neighborhoods along Wilson Blvd. FWIW, my former Fairfax County HS just dropped enrollment so sharply they just lost their AAA status for HS sports. They are now an "AA" school. Fairfax County is very large. There are many dead, foreclosed neighborhoods in the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I look at this way...my N.Arlington/Clarendon neighborhood is FILLED with children. Every single house (minus a few retirees) is filled with infants-4th graders (mostly). The parks are filled, the streets are filled with children. My kids have tons of neighborhood friends their age to play with. They trade off and on at each others houses. This is the way I grew up. Tons of family block parties, etc. If you ask the parents...all of us plan to stay put until last kid is through HS. And, truthfully, many talk about keeping this house and just getting a second vacation house since we love the area so much.

Now my parents neighorhood in Fairfax County a little further out in suburbia is dead. Very few children. It was like what I described above when I was kid....huge roming bands of kids. Their elementary school is not at capacity.

Where would I rather raise my kids and have them go to school? A place with nobody outside to play with and nobody their age for blocks and blocks or one filled with kids. Plus-- our elementary school still has small ratios and will add classes before increasing ratio.

All a matter of perspective.

Wow. Just wow. This sounds like BS. Are you really that defensive about getting redistricted in a few years?

Our neighborhood in Fairfax has plenty of children. Maybe some blocks in Arlington now have more, but Arlington is denser and older, and more of the original homeowners there have died. If you look at the enrollment numbers, you'd find that most Fairfax elementary schools have more students than they had 15-20 years ago. The only street in Arlington that I've seen that is "filled with children" is Wilson Boulevard, which certainly has lots of 20-something children roaming around every weekend.

The N Arlington SFH neighborhoods are filled with kids and young families. There are plenty of young single professionals also. I don't think the PP mentioned anything about redistricting. Clarendon is too close to W-L to be considered for a high school boundary change. It's been in the W-L boundary for 87 years.

Exactly. Clarendon is walking distance to W&L. It will remain in-boundary. I question why Miss Farifax is even in an Arlington post, anyways.

[Anonymous]

To the Fairfax County woman...if we have no kids and only 2o-somethings who is filling the schools?

You don't get overcrowding without an abundance of kids. Geesh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Like most visitors you never go into the private neighoborhoods. You have oviously have not been to the SFH neighborhoods along Wilson Blvd. FWIW, my former Fairfax County HS just dropped enrollment so sharply they just lost their AAA status for HS sports. They are now an "AA" school. Fairfax County is very large. There are many dead, foreclosed neighborhoods in the county.

Total bullshit. The only two Fairfax high schools that have a lower enrollment today than they had in 1995 are Herndon and Centreville (each of which has over 2000 students), and that's only because a new school (Westfield) that now has over 2,800 students was built in the western part of the county All Fairfax schools play in the AAA league, and every school in the county has a larger enrollment than Wakefield HS in Arlington.

Your assertion that Fairfax has many "dead, foreclosed neighborhoods" is equally ridiculous. You must be awfully insecure about having overpaid for an Arlington home to make so many stupid statements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like most visitors you never go into the private neighoborhoods. You have oviously have not been to the SFH neighborhoods along Wilson Blvd. FWIW, my former Fairfax County HS just dropped enrollment so sharply they just lost their AAA status for HS sports. They are now an "AA" school. Fairfax County is very large. There are many dead, foreclosed neighborhoods in the county.

Total bullshit. The only two Fairfax high schools that have a lower enrollment today than they had in 1995 are Herndon and Centreville (each of which has over 2000 students), and that's only because a new school (Westfield) that now has over 2,800 students was built in the western part of the county All Fairfax schools play in the AAA league, and every school in the county has a larger enrollment than Wakefield HS in Arlington.

Your assertion that Fairfax has many "dead, foreclosed neighborhoods" is equally ridiculous. You must be awfully insecure about having overpaid for an Arlington home to make so many stupid statements.

I personally don't know about 1995 population levels. But Langley, Hayfield and South County have all dropped from division 6 to division 5 in VHSL football this year. Yes, all Arlington and Fairfax County schools are AAA. I think the PP meant to talk about the move from div 6 to 5. All three schools are now below 2,000 students. The N Arlington high schools together are expected to gain close to 1,000 students over the next decade, and W-L was just bumped up to div 6.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I personally don't know about 1995 population levels. But Langley, Hayfield and South County have all dropped from division 6 to division 5 in VHSL football this year. Yes, all Arlington and Fairfax County schools are AAA. I think the PP meant to talk about the move from div 6 to 5. All three schools are now below 2,000 students. The N Arlington high schools together are expected to gain close to 1,000 students over the next decade, and W-L was just bumped up to div 6.

OK, so the poster didn't have her facts straight. There's a big difference between AAA and Divisions 5 and 6.

Langley has over 2,000 students. Most Fairfax high schools are bigger than W-L is now. Only four out of 25 schools are smaller than Yorktown. No Fairfax high school is smaller than Wakefield. During a period in which Arlington built no new high schools, Fairfax built many. And, over the next five years, Fairfax high schools are expected to gain over 1,600 students, more than Arlington schools are expected to gain over the next decade.

None of this goes to whether Arlington needs a plan to address growth and overcrowding. It only goes to the fact that the other poster was full of crap when she suggested that Arlington is teaming with kids, while Fairfax has somehow become one giant nursing home.

[Anonymous]

DipshIt- comparing Ffx county to Arlington is akin to comparing California to Delaware size-wise. Arlington is much, much smaller. The concentration of kids is in pockets.

As for house values...My house (and neighborhood) never saw recession. Our property values were some of the few in the metro are that Actually INCREASED over the last 5 years. My own house is about $175k more tHan it was worth in 2006. 1 mile to DC, 2 blocks to Clarendon metro and never having to use a car with over 70 bars and restaurants to walk to, 3 gyms, retail, Trader joes, Whe foods, parks, Pinkberry, independent coffee houses, wine shops, etc. I love where we live which is why there is usually over a 2 year wait for a house to even come on the market over here...and then 100 ppl descend on the open house. There are "want ads" in the local newspapers for ppl desperate to find something. I most certainly didnt overpay--but that's what people say that don't factor "location" into the equation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
As for house values...My house (and neighborhood) never saw recession. Our property values were some of the few in the metro are that Actually INCREASED over the last 5 years. My own house is about $175k more tHan it was worth in 2006. 1 mile to DC, 2 blocks to Clarendon metro and never having to use a car with over 70 bars and restaurants to walk to, 3 gyms, retail, Trader joes, Whe foods, parks, Pinkberry, independent coffee houses, wine shops, etc. I love where we live which is why there is usually over a 2 year wait for a house to even come on the market over here...and then 100 ppl descend on the open house. There are "want ads" in the local newspapers for ppl desperate to find something. I most certainly didnt overpay--but that's what people say that don't factor "location" into the equation.

Too funny. Most of the properties on the market now in Lyon Village have been listed for over 50 days.

You sound pathelogically committed to promoting the coolness of your nabe. Get a grip. It's still fricking Arlington, not the Left Bank or Tribeca. A reasonably nice suburb but, well, that's about it. Better schools than Alexandria or DC and smaller houses than Fairfax.

[Anonymous]

I am confused. Why are the Fairfax people with kids in Fairfax County schools so interested in Arlington? I think these are the people that can't afford it and just want to come over and trash it any chance they get.