Overcrowding and Arlington - is it a reason to go private or seek out something different?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I heard the school board has put off studying any new boundary adjustments. The boundaries will not change anytime soon.

In SOUTH Arlington, or potentially WRT high schools. Rezoning has already occurred for 7 schools in N Arlington and will take effect in the fall of 2015.

Wait, the middle and high school rezoning was to be decided Feb 2014. Has that been delayed or tabled?

I was at last week's Board meeting and the Board expressed no desire to change boundaries for high school so it won't happen. I wasn't clear if this change in direction came from their own reconsideration or was prompted by APS Facilities Planning recommendations. One Board member actually mentioned how ugly the process would get and stated that they don't want to go there. Adding capacity for high school is still a major priority. APS facilities staff reported to the Board that a fourth, new comprehensive high school facility is not feasible (no available land large enough and cost-prohibitive). The Board had an interesting discussion on other ways to address high school overcrowding such as dual enrollment options using local college facilities and programs (kind of like School without Walls in DC - that's my understanding, no one mentioned this school!) and leasing existing County facilities for space for special programs, etc.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Maybe people really will start to look at the under-enrolled South Arlington schools more favorably if the alternative is vastly overcrowded schools in North Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did the board to say anything about middle school boundaries? It seems like a horrible idea to continue to stick their heads in the sand. The Swanson border has to shrink.

Based on what 14:46 wrote, my guess is that the future new middle school would solve the overcrowding at Swanson and Williamsburg.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I heard the school board has put off studying any new boundary adjustments. The boundaries will not change anytime soon.

In SOUTH Arlington, or potentially WRT high schools. Rezoning has already occurred for 7 schools in N Arlington and will take effect in the fall of 2015.

Wait, the middle and high school rezoning was to be decided Feb 2014. Has that been delayed or tabled?

I was at last week's Board meeting and the Board expressed no desire to change boundaries for high school so it won't happen. I wasn't clear if this change in direction came from their own reconsideration or was prompted by APS Facilities Planning recommendations. One Board member actually mentioned how ugly the process would get and stated that they don't want to go there. Adding capacity for high school is still a major priority. APS facilities staff reported to the Board that a fourth, new comprehensive high school facility is not feasible (no available land large enough and cost-prohibitive). The Board had an interesting discussion on other ways to address high school overcrowding such as dual enrollment options using local college facilities and programs (kind of like School without Walls in DC - that's my understanding, no one mentioned this school!) and leasing existing County facilities for space for special programs, etc.

My guess is the school board caved into pressure from Arlington parents that did not want high school boundaries to change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I heard the school board has put off studying any new boundary adjustments. The boundaries will not change anytime soon.

In SOUTH Arlington, or potentially WRT high schools. Rezoning has already occurred for 7 schools in N Arlington and will take effect in the fall of 2015.

Wait, the middle and high school rezoning was to be decided Feb 2014. Has that been delayed or tabled?

I was at last week's Board meeting and the Board expressed no desire to change boundaries for high school so it won't happen. I wasn't clear if this change in direction came from their own reconsideration or was prompted by APS Facilities Planning recommendations. One Board member actually mentioned how ugly the process would get and stated that they don't want to go there. Adding capacity for high school is still a major priority. APS facilities staff reported to the Board that a fourth, new comprehensive high school facility is not feasible (no available land large enough and cost-prohibitive). The Board had an interesting discussion on other ways to address high school overcrowding such as dual enrollment options using local college facilities and programs (kind of like School without Walls in DC - that's my understanding, no one mentioned this school!) and leasing existing County facilities for space for special programs, etc.

My guess is the school board caved into pressure from Arlington parents that did not want high school boundaries to change.

It's much easier to say you'd have no problem sending your kid to Wakefield than actually do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I heard the school board has put off studying any new boundary adjustments. The boundaries will not change anytime soon.

In SOUTH Arlington, or potentially WRT high schools. Rezoning has already occurred for 7 schools in N Arlington and will take effect in the fall of 2015.

Wait, the middle and high school rezoning was to be decided Feb 2014. Has that been delayed or tabled?

I was at last week's Board meeting and the Board expressed no desire to change boundaries for high school so it won't happen. I wasn't clear if this change in direction came from their own reconsideration or was prompted by APS Facilities Planning recommendations. One Board member actually mentioned how ugly the process would get and stated that they don't want to go there. Adding capacity for high school is still a major priority. APS facilities staff reported to the Board that a fourth, new comprehensive high school facility is not feasible (no available land large enough and cost-prohibitive). The Board had an interesting discussion on other ways to address high school overcrowding such as dual enrollment options using local college facilities and programs (kind of like School without Walls in DC - that's my understanding, no one mentioned this school!) and leasing existing County facilities for space for special programs, etc.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Maybe people really will start to look at the under-enrolled South Arlington schools more favorably if the alternative is vastly overcrowded schools in North Arlington.

N. Arlington school here (Jamestown). Our school isn't "vastly" overcrowded and there are no problems related to overcrowding. What are you going on about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

My guess is the school board caved into pressure from Arlington parents that did not want high school boundaries to change.

It's much easier to say you'd have no problem sending your kid to Wakefield than actually do it. [/quote

My guess is that the school board is putting off telling Arlington parents unpleasant truths, such as "high school boundaries need to change."

My kids are walking distance to W-L, so I would prefer that they not be bused to Wakefield. But they aren't walking distance to any middle school, so I don't care if they get sent somewhere other than Swanson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My guess is the school board caved into pressure from Arlington parents that did not want high school boundaries to change.

It's much easier to say you'd have no problem sending your kid to Wakefield than actually do it. [/quote

My guess is that the school board is putting off telling Arlington parents unpleasant truths, such as "high school boundaries need to change."

My kids are walking distance to W-L, so I would prefer that they not be bused to Wakefield. But they aren't walking distance to any middle school, so I don't care if they get sent somewhere other than Swanson.

PP here who attended the school board meeting: The Board was just kicking off their deliberations in an open meeting so you may be right but if you look at the presentation you will see that APS Facilities Planning recommends non-boundary approaches to dealing with high school capacity. The Board vocally agreed with this approach with one member noting that Wakefield only has 350 seats available this fall and those seats could very likely be absorbed by students already within the school's current boundary over the next few years. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out...
https://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/arlington/Board.nsf/files/9BPN295CADFB/$file/MSMS%20Process%20Update.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My guess is the school board caved into pressure from Arlington parents that did not want high school boundaries to change.

It's much easier to say you'd have no problem sending your kid to Wakefield than actually do it. [/quote

My guess is that the school board is putting off telling Arlington parents unpleasant truths, such as "high school boundaries need to change."

My kids are walking distance to W-L, so I would prefer that they not be bused to Wakefield. But they aren't walking distance to any middle school, so I don't care if they get sent somewhere other than Swanson.

PP here who attended the school board meeting: The Board was just kicking off their deliberations in an open meeting so you may be right but if you look at the presentation you will see that APS Facilities Planning recommends non-boundary approaches to dealing with high school capacity. The Board vocally agreed with this approach with one member noting that Wakefield only has 350 seats available this fall and those seats could very likely be absorbed by students already within the school's current boundary over the next few years. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out...
https://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/arlington/Board.nsf/files/9BPN295CADFB/$file/MSMS%20Process%20Update.pdf

Facilities staff and the school board don't work independently of each other, so I'm sure community opposition to boundary changes in addition to few empty seats at Wakefield contributed to the decision not to change high school boundaries. Perhaps classroom additions for the high schools are now on the horizon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I heard the school board has put off studying any new boundary adjustments. The boundaries will not change anytime soon.

In SOUTH Arlington, or potentially WRT high schools. Rezoning has already occurred for 7 schools in N Arlington and will take effect in the fall of 2015.

Wait, the middle and high school rezoning was to be decided Feb 2014. Has that been delayed or tabled?

I was at last week's Board meeting and the Board expressed no desire to change boundaries for high school so it won't happen. I wasn't clear if this change in direction came from their own reconsideration or was prompted by APS Facilities Planning recommendations. One Board member actually mentioned how ugly the process would get and stated that they don't want to go there. Adding capacity for high school is still a major priority. APS facilities staff reported to the Board that a fourth, new comprehensive high school facility is not feasible (no available land large enough and cost-prohibitive). The Board had an interesting discussion on other ways to address high school overcrowding such as dual enrollment options using local college facilities and programs (kind of like School without Walls in DC - that's my understanding, no one mentioned this school!) and leasing existing County facilities for space for special programs, etc.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Maybe people really will start to look at the under-enrolled South Arlington schools more favorably if the alternative is vastly overcrowded schools in North Arlington.

N. Arlington school here (Jamestown). Our school isn't "vastly" overcrowded and there are no problems related to overcrowding. What are you going on about?

Have you seen the projections for Yorktown and W-L in a few years? W-L is expected to be almost 40% over capacity in a few years. The magnet programs need to be at Wakefield.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School overcrowding is a separate issue than class size. (At least in APS, and at least so far, knock on wood.) Yes, the class sizes stay the same. They just build more trailers and convert more computer labs into windowless classrooms.

Things that don't change include the size and capacity of the cafeteria, size/capacity of multi-purpose rooms (a big pain for concerts, schoolwide events, etc.), size of halls, number of restrooms, drinking fountains, etc. Those things are where you really feel the crowded nature of the APS schools now.

--APS teacher

To the APS teacher -
My biggest concern with overcrowded schools is my child getting lost in the shuffle or slipping through the cracks etc. Do you have any comments on how overcrowded schools deal with this risk and foster a sense of community and a personalized, intimate learning experience or is it not really possible to get this. Should I be looking at private schools for that? For example, I think it would be nice if the school principal knows my daughter's name but it doesn't seem possible in school with close to 700 students...

That's just a bit more than a hundred new names a year. Not very hard for an experienced school administrator.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I heard the school board has put off studying any new boundary adjustments. The boundaries will not change anytime soon.

In SOUTH Arlington, or potentially WRT high schools. Rezoning has already occurred for 7 schools in N Arlington and will take effect in the fall of 2015.

Wait, the middle and high school rezoning was to be decided Feb 2014. Has that been delayed or tabled?

I was at last week's Board meeting and the Board expressed no desire to change boundaries for high school so it won't happen. I wasn't clear if this change in direction came from their own reconsideration or was prompted by APS Facilities Planning recommendations. One Board member actually mentioned how ugly the process would get and stated that they don't want to go there. Adding capacity for high school is still a major priority. APS facilities staff reported to the Board that a fourth, new comprehensive high school facility is not feasible (no available land large enough and cost-prohibitive). The Board had an interesting discussion on other ways to address high school overcrowding such as dual enrollment options using local college facilities and programs (kind of like School without Walls in DC - that's my understanding, no one mentioned this school!) and leasing existing County facilities for space for special programs, etc.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Maybe people really will start to look at the under-enrolled South Arlington schools more favorably if the alternative is vastly overcrowded schools in North Arlington.

N. Arlington school here (Jamestown). Our school isn't "vastly" overcrowded and there are no problems related to overcrowding. What are you going on about?

Have you seen the projections for Yorktown and W-L in a few years? W-L is expected to be almost 40% over capacity in a few years. The magnet programs need to be at Wakefield.

I don't know about that, but it seems plainly obvious that they'll push more of the W-L district into Wakefied eventually. But there's no reason to put magnet programs in the district's worst performing school.

[Anonymous]

And back to the original question.... Arlington parents complain about overcrowding b/c that's what we have to complain about. People will always complain about something and overcrowding at schools.... Well, the are far worse things to complain about. So my kid eats at 10:50 lunch? I'd rather that than a class size of 30.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I heard the school board has put off studying any new boundary adjustments. The boundaries will not change anytime soon.

In SOUTH Arlington, or potentially WRT high schools. Rezoning has already occurred for 7 schools in N Arlington and will take effect in the fall of 2015.

Wait, the middle and high school rezoning was to be decided Feb 2014. Has that been delayed or tabled?

I was at last week's Board meeting and the Board expressed no desire to change boundaries for high school so it won't happen. I wasn't clear if this change in direction came from their own reconsideration or was prompted by APS Facilities Planning recommendations. One Board member actually mentioned how ugly the process would get and stated that they don't want to go there. Adding capacity for high school is still a major priority. APS facilities staff reported to the Board that a fourth, new comprehensive high school facility is not feasible (no available land large enough and cost-prohibitive). The Board had an interesting discussion on other ways to address high school overcrowding such as dual enrollment options using local college facilities and programs (kind of like School without Walls in DC - that's my understanding, no one mentioned this school!) and leasing existing County facilities for space for special programs, etc.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Maybe people really will start to look at the under-enrolled South Arlington schools more favorably if the alternative is vastly overcrowded schools in North Arlington.

N. Arlington school here (Jamestown). Our school isn't "vastly" overcrowded and there are no problems related to overcrowding. What are you going on about?

Am guessing that this Jamestown parent is conveniently overlooking that the overcrowding doesn't exist because the school's 5th graders are in trailers ... Signed, Another Jamestown parent (albeit one with her eyes open)