How is HB still allowed to exist given the overcrowding?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, the point isn't that HB is causing the problem. The problem is that HB winners don't have to live with the problems the rest of us do... overcrowding. Thats not fair.

They are adding 100 kids to HB, which increases their student population by 10 percent, which is a lot (not as much as the other schools, but not nothing, either). And they have kids in trailers, their kids share lockers, etc.

Considering the absolute numbers of students who are being squeezed into Wakefield, Yorktown, and W-L, it's close enough to nothing to make no difference.

I love the idea of HB, but it has become a luxury we can't afford.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, the point isn't that HB is causing the problem. The problem is that HB winners don't have to live with the problems the rest of us do... overcrowding. Thats not fair.

They are adding 100 kids to HB, which increases their student population by 10 percent, which is a lot (not as much as the other schools, but not nothing, either). And they have kids in trailers, their kids share lockers, etc.

Considering the absolute numbers of students who are being squeezed into Wakefield, Yorktown, and W-L, it's close enough to nothing to make no difference.

I love the idea of HB, but it has become a luxury we can't afford.

That really is it then. Ten years ago we either chose to be in the lottery or didn't. We made a choice based on the philosophy of the school. We didn't worry about us and them. Now it is all about crowding, and HB really does look like a luxury good paid for by all of us. Not sure about the solution, but once "golden ticket" is an applicable metaphor, there's a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even an an HB parent, I admit its unfair that my DS won the lottery to attend HB and his best friend is just as talented a student but is getiing lost at Yorktown.

Thank you for this. You sound like a nice person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even an an HB parent, I admit its unfair that my DS won the lottery to attend HB and his best friend is just as talented a student but is getiing lost at Yorktown.

Thanks for this. You sound like a nice person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Swanson... but all APS schools are full to bursting. Except HB.

But what are the class sizes like at Swanson?

Look at my post at 23:06. I am describing Swanson where my DD is a 7th grader. Yes, the teachers are generally handling the overcrowding the best they can but do you want your child in that far from ideal atmosphere at the same time other students have HB????

I have a 7th grader at Swanson. He LOVES it there. I think the teams approach is a good one in that it keeps the kids rotating in their core classes in smaller groups. He gets to meet up with his friends at lunch. He doesn't complain or feel that the school is overcrowded. I get the feeling it is the PARENTS who are freaking out about 'oh the overcrowding' whereas the kids are doing just fine.

I have had 2 kids at Swanson; DC2 is there now. Agree that this is a problem much more for parents than for students. But it's also true that there is a limit to how many kids they can squeeze in there.

23:06 again. My DD is happy and thriving at Swanson as well. That is a testament to my daughter's personality and hard how the teachers and administration are working to make a difficult situation tolerable rather than claiming that overcrowding is only a problem for the parents. My DD is an outspoken, loud, bright and very outgoing kid. But she still complains about the overcrowding. I have two sons in college who attended Swanson and I guarantee you it was a better place to go to middle school when they were there. There are no doubt students at all of the overcrowded schools who find it very difficult to navigate is such an environment and, in fact, my DD has had four friends leave Swanson for private for this very reason. Lucky for those kids that the parents could afford private and even luckier for those kids who get to attend HB at the taxpayers' expense.

[Anonymous]

The problem here is not HB. The problem is a failure of the school board and county board to adequately plan for growth among young families in Arlington between 2000 and the present. HB is a convenient target, but neither the cause nor the solution to the overcrowding problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem here is not HB. The problem is a failure of the school board and county board to adequately plan for growth among young families in Arlington between 2000 and the present. HB is a convenient target, but neither the cause nor the solution to the overcrowding problems.

And it's not getting better. When my youngest started Kindergarten in 2011, the school board said they had no idea enrollment was going to get that big that people leave when kids are school aged. The parents at that School Board meeting challenged them on this and mentioned the cranes, the housing boom and the sheer number of strollers and kids all over the County.

They kept saying over.and.over. that it will die off. Here we are in 2017 and the over-crowding problem gets worse with each in-coming class. They have to be incredibly stupid or they knew and lied. I tend to think it's a little of both.

The post and arlnow recently had an article about the severe daycare shortage in the County. These are future APS students---but don't worry we can count on them leaving the County before K, right ?

[Anonymous]

HB parents be like "Nope, nothing to see here folks...."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem here is not HB. The problem is a failure of the school board and county board to adequately plan for growth among young families in Arlington between 2000 and the present. HB is a convenient target, but neither the cause nor the solution to the overcrowding problems.

HB is not the only problem, but the SB's willingness to let it stay small is symptomatic of the inability to adopt realistic solutions to current and future problems.

The SB isn't alone in that. The Taylor parents who whined their way into the HB/Stratford building made things worse. There's plenty of blame to go around, and the bad decisions' being set in stone with the claim that a decision has been made and will not be revisited, no matter how bad the decision and how much new information has come to light since it was made, are pretty much a guarantee that nothing is going to get fixed.

I'm just hoping my kids graduate before the roof caves in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem here is not HB. The problem is a failure of the school board and county board to adequately plan for growth among young families in Arlington between 2000 and the present. HB is a convenient target, but neither the cause nor the solution to the overcrowding problems.

HB is not the only problem, but the SB's willingness to let it stay small is symptomatic of the inability to adopt realistic solutions to current and future problems.

The SB isn't alone in that. The Taylor parents who whined their way into the HB/Stratford building made things worse. There's plenty of blame to go around, and the bad decisions' being set in stone with the claim that a decision has been made and will not be revisited, no matter how bad the decision and how much new information has come to light since it was made, are pretty much a guarantee that nothing is going to get fixed.

I'm just hoping my kids graduate before the roof caves in.

Ugh. The Taylor thing really pissed me off as my neighborhood was all-set for the Wilson MS. We aren't as busy-body or self-serving so we lost out to the bigger whiners.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even an an HB parent, I admit its unfair that my DS won the lottery to attend HB and his best friend is just as talented a student but is getiing lost at Yorktown.

Admission to HB has nothing to do with talent.

I think PP's point was that a kid she knows who would do well at HB did not win the lottery and is now NOT doing well at Yorktown.

But how would getting rid of HB help this kid? I'm not convinced that it would.

(I feel like I need to say: My kids are at W-L.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Swanson... but all APS schools are full to bursting. Except HB.

But what are the class sizes like at Swanson?

Look at my post at 23:06. I am describing Swanson where my DD is a 7th grader. Yes, the teachers are generally handling the overcrowding the best they can but do you want your child in that far from ideal atmosphere at the same time other students have HB????

I have a 7th grader at Swanson. He LOVES it there. I think the teams approach is a good one in that it keeps the kids rotating in their core classes in smaller groups. He gets to meet up with his friends at lunch. He doesn't complain or feel that the school is overcrowded. I get the feeling it is the PARENTS who are freaking out about 'oh the overcrowding' whereas the kids are doing just fine.

I have had 2 kids at Swanson; DC2 is there now. Agree that this is a problem much more for parents than for students. But it's also true that there is a limit to how many kids they can squeeze in there.

23:06 again. My DD is happy and thriving at Swanson as well. That is a testament to my daughter's personality and hard how the teachers and administration are working to make a difficult situation tolerable rather than claiming that overcrowding is only a problem for the parents. My DD is an outspoken, loud, bright and very outgoing kid. But she still complains about the overcrowding. I have two sons in college who attended Swanson and I guarantee you it was a better place to go to middle school when they were there. There are no doubt students at all of the overcrowded schools who find it very difficult to navigate is such an environment and, in fact, my DD has had four friends leave Swanson for private for this very reason. Lucky for those kids that the parents could afford private and even luckier for those kids who get to attend HB at the taxpayers' expense.

I'm the PP--I too have a college student who went to Swanson. His experience there wasn't better than DC2's. I don't really perceive that much difference TBH, but maybe I'm not paying close enough attention. Class sizes aren't appreciably bigger now, so it's not clear to me why kids would be more likely to get lost in the shuffle now than they were previously. Again, I wonder how much this is parents blaming the "overcrowding" for decisions they might have made anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem here is not HB. The problem is a failure of the school board and county board to adequately plan for growth among young families in Arlington between 2000 and the present. HB is a convenient target, but neither the cause nor the solution to the overcrowding problems.

This cannot be said too often. Closing HB tomorrow would not solve any problems. That's because the problem is not money per se, the problem is a lack of political will to acquire the space needed to build another comprehensive high school.

Focusing on HB dilutes attention from the real issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem here is not HB. The problem is a failure of the school board and county board to adequately plan for growth among young families in Arlington between 2000 and the present. HB is a convenient target, but neither the cause nor the solution to the overcrowding problems.

This cannot be said too often. Closing HB tomorrow would not solve any problems. That's because the problem is not money per se, the problem is a lack of political will to acquire the space needed to build another comprehensive high school.

Focusing on HB dilutes attention from the real issue.

Maybe your big issue. But another big issue for me and a lot of folks here is the unfairness of the HB golden ticket. Having some kids lottery their way into a private school education on my dime IS a big issue for me. I think it should be closed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem here is not HB. The problem is a failure of the school board and county board to adequately plan for growth among young families in Arlington between 2000 and the present. HB is a convenient target, but neither the cause nor the solution to the overcrowding problems.

This cannot be said too often. Closing HB tomorrow would not solve any problems. That's because the problem is not money per se, the problem is a lack of political will to acquire the space needed to build another comprehensive high school.

Focusing on HB dilutes attention from the real issue.

Your implication that there is just one "real issue" is questionable, especially because it seems to rely on a belief that the schools need to get everything before any other government service gets anything.

It's not a question of political will to do what you have decided is the solution. There is only so much land and money in Arlington, and schools are not the only need. Certainly, building schools that will satisfies the demands of the whiner parents is not only not an "only" need, but actually a want.

There is no political will to tell the entitled of Arlington that they don't get to have everything they want, and that we need to set priorities and learn to compromise.