APS Closing Nottingham

[Anonymous]

Look, let’s be honest. That there have been a couple of truly tragic deaths near Nottingham in the past decade is awful. Just awful. But that’s NOT why Nottingham families don’t want to give up their neighborhood schools. It just isn’t.

[Anonymous]

Those traffic studies measured current traffic and patterns. What is being proposed will substantially change all of the traffic and pedestrian variables (more walkers, more drivers, more buses).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I’m very disappointed that’s all we’re going to get, in lieu of a proper study. Nottingham family.

As if there haven't been ANY recent studies of this issue across the county that they couldn't use instead of starting yet another study. In your world, Arlington taxpayers should have to pay yet again for studies because entitled parents like you can't handle it when you don't get your way. Do you realize this money could be used instead for more staff and resources across the county?

The other ESes in your area are perfectly good schools. Get over this or go private.

There have been transportation studies to study the impact on this particular deadly road? Really? Point me to them. I’m not even convinced APS got the demographics right with their half-baked methodology.

“Suck it up Buttercup” is not a model of good governance, even if it feels good to say.

“Go private” is also a crap thing to say, unless you want parents lobbying hard for charters and vouchers - which our current Governor and House is more than willing to provide.

Are Discovery and Tuckahoe that bad that you would go private if Nottingham closes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try talking to the people who live near ATS. Option schools / swing space result in families who mostly do not live in the neighborhood and seem to drive / park / act as if no one else does either. The ATS parents at the old McKinley building speed, block driveways, make illegal u turns and generally behave in ways that parents did not when it was a neighborhood school. Plenty of complaints have been made - APS and Arlington do not care.

I'm at ATS parent who was at McK when it was there. There are more ATS parents, that's for sure, but their a$$hole level is generally lower. A lot lower. I did pickup aftercare both schools and really, the McK ppl were far more aggressive.

Wasn’t that crazy screaming lady at a SB mtg from McK?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I’m Nottingham, I’m all over that. Why close it if they need a place for kids from that huge development. They can send those kids to Tuckahoe easily but not if they close Nottingham and move half of Tuckahoe there.

Of course, students from that development would be bus riders and drop offs, and EVERYONE WILL DIE if there’s more bus riders at Nottingham.

You're a horrible person you know making fun of the people who died, including a mom of three very young kids. Shame on you.

PP is making fun of the other PP who is being ridiculous.

Exploiting her death in this situation is actually kinda gross.

You've got to be kidding me. I guess you are ok with just letting more mothers die? Sit down and STFU.

“Letting more mothers die”?

Again, it is so gross to be exploiting her death over a school move. GFY.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look, let’s be honest. That there have been a couple of truly tragic deaths near Nottingham in the past decade is awful. Just awful. But that’s NOT why Nottingham families don’t want to give up their neighborhood schools. It just isn’t.

Exactly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:County projecting in 5 years we will have a surplus of over 1,000 elementary seats. That sounds...optimistic.

Based on what I wonder. There has been a lot of turnover and lots of new kids in the neighborhood. Pandemic dip was a blip driven by desperate parents who could afford alternatives. We’re coming back.

There’s absolutely no facts/data to support this one way or the other. It’s 1,000 kids going to private school and APS doesn’t know or care to know if they are ever coming back. And if they leave for good, what does that mean for other families in the neighborhood when it’s normal to send your kids to private schools?

I have zero confidence in APS planning/projections. I understand that as a member of the public school community we need to every once in a while deal with these adjustments. APS has convinced me that they are totally incompetent at predicting seats so why should we all run around like crazy people on an annual basis trying to fill seats that APS couldn’t accurately predict?

They need better, outside data before I believe that these moves actually need to be made. They have wasted our money long enough on poor planning and annual neighborhood fights over boundaries.

South Arl poster, our neighborhood has kids divided everywhere, especially private. The effect on the neighborhood has been ...just fine. We just had a real July 4th parade you probably have heard of and a neighborhood picnic at the community house. Having your young kids dispersed doesn't not kill your neighborhood, that is blatantly untrue and known by many county residents apparently outside of your neighborhood.
As for no confidence in APS planning, sure, you do your opinion. My opinion is APS is never allowed to make good strategic decisions because of having to give too much deference to neighborhood feedback. I just don't understand how a 26-square mile system allows itself to be handcuffed by a group of maybe a dozen streets at every decision.

I second that!! - different southern neighborhood. We don't have our own parade or community house but still have a vibrant neighborhood community with kids attending minimally 6 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, and 4 high schools that I can think of quickly off the top of my head.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try talking to the people who live near ATS. Option schools / swing space result in families who mostly do not live in the neighborhood and seem to drive / park / act as if no one else does either. The ATS parents at the old McKinley building speed, block driveways, make illegal u turns and generally behave in ways that parents did not when it was a neighborhood school. Plenty of complaints have been made - APS and Arlington do not care.

I'm at ATS parent who was at McK when it was there. There are more ATS parents, that's for sure, but their a$$hole level is generally lower. A lot lower. I did pickup aftercare both schools and really, the McK ppl were far more aggressive.

Wasn’t that crazy screaming lady at a SB mtg from McK?

Yes. McCrazy. She’s Cardinal’s problem now

[Anonymous]

If anyone cares, at Campbell (which is an option school), parents are not allowed to pick children up via car after school. So there are buses in the morning and afternoon, a car drop off line in the morning, and then cars picking kids up from extended day, plus the kids who walk.

They did that to control the flow of cars into/out of the neighborhood in the afternoon.

The carpool drop off line still snarls traffic in the morning, so there is still room for improvement there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If anyone cares, at Campbell (which is an option school), parents are not allowed to pick children up via car after school. So there are buses in the morning and afternoon, a car drop off line in the morning, and then cars picking kids up from extended day, plus the kids who walk.

They did that to control the flow of cars into/out of the neighborhood in the afternoon.

The carpool drop off line still snarls traffic in the morning, so there is still room for improvement there.

Interesting. The fact that it’s a choice school probably gives them more flexibility to limit transportation options. If Nottingham becomes a swing school, it might be too much to ban the temporary occupants from the option of picking their kids up in the afternoon. If it were my kid, I could handle being displaced for renovations, but telling me I can’t pick my kid up from the new location would feel unreasonable. I might also raise the objection that Nottingham parents were allowed to pick up their kids, why can’t we?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look, let’s be honest. That there have been a couple of truly tragic deaths near Nottingham in the past decade is awful. Just awful. But that’s NOT why Nottingham families don’t want to give up their neighborhood schools. It just isn’t.

It 100% is in my case. I don’t care if my kid goes to another elementary. I had to change elementary schools growing up and it wasn’t a huge deal. I’m the one who posted about almost getting hit in the neighborhood- I don’t care about traffic that is just volume, but I care deeply about the safety of my kids, my elderly neighbors, and others who will be crossing all those streets.

[Anonymous]

Ugh, I find this thread tiresome because I just don’t think you’re going to prevent this change due to the awful traffic deaths. It’s not convincing anyone.

Dig into their numbers. APS is so inept and incompetent that they cannot possibly be on solid ground. They are almost universally wrong when it comes to these big changes. Every last one has been “wrong” in hindsight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, I find this thread tiresome because I just don’t think you’re going to prevent this change due to the awful traffic deaths. It’s not convincing anyone.

Dig into their numbers. APS is so inept and incompetent that they cannot possibly be on solid ground. They are almost universally wrong when it comes to these big changes. Every last one has been “wrong” in hindsight.

Oh, and one more suggestion. Get every single private school kid in Nottingham to register. That’s what everyone does to keep their class sizes below the god awful 27 or whatever. Once they have the teachers they don’t fire them at the last minute when there are no shows in day one. Do the same for Nottingham. You can probably get a whole other class for each grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, I find this thread tiresome because I just don’t think you’re going to prevent this change due to the awful traffic deaths. It’s not convincing anyone.

Dig into their numbers. APS is so inept and incompetent that they cannot possibly be on solid ground. They are almost universally wrong when it comes to these big changes. Every last one has been “wrong” in hindsight.

Oh, and one more suggestion. Get every single private school kid in Nottingham to register. That’s what everyone does to keep their class sizes below the god awful 27 or whatever. Once they have the teachers they don’t fire them at the last minute when there are no shows in day one. Do the same for Nottingham. You can probably get a whole other class for each grade.

What? I don’t think this is a thing that everyone does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:County projecting in 5 years we will have a surplus of over 1,000 elementary seats. That sounds...optimistic.

Based on what I wonder. There has been a lot of turnover and lots of new kids in the neighborhood. Pandemic dip was a blip driven by desperate parents who could afford alternatives. We’re coming back.

There’s absolutely no facts/data to support this one way or the other. It’s 1,000 kids going to private school and APS doesn’t know or care to know if they are ever coming back. And if they leave for good, what does that mean for other families in the neighborhood when it’s normal to send your kids to private schools?

I have zero confidence in APS planning/projections. I understand that as a member of the public school community we need to every once in a while deal with these adjustments. APS has convinced me that they are totally incompetent at predicting seats so why should we all run around like crazy people on an annual basis trying to fill seats that APS couldn’t accurately predict?

They need better, outside data before I believe that these moves actually need to be made. They have wasted our money long enough on poor planning and annual neighborhood fights over boundaries.

South Arl poster, our neighborhood has kids divided everywhere, especially private. The effect on the neighborhood has been ...just fine. We just had a real July 4th parade you probably have heard of and a neighborhood picnic at the community house. Having your young kids dispersed doesn't not kill your neighborhood, that is blatantly untrue and known by many county residents apparently outside of your neighborhood.
As for no confidence in APS planning, sure, you do your opinion. My opinion is APS is never allowed to make good strategic decisions because of having to give too much deference to neighborhood feedback. I just don't understand how a 26-square mile system allows itself to be handcuffed by a group of maybe a dozen streets at every decision.

I second that!! - different southern neighborhood. We don't have our own parade or community house but still have a vibrant neighborhood community with kids attending minimally 6 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, and 4 high schools that I can think of quickly off the top of my head.

Kudos to you. Nobody else wants this. You are the vast minority. We want our kids to walk to schools with their neighborhood friends. Hang out after school. Know the parents and families. Know what is happening in the classroom from the crazy moms who are there every other day. We want a little Mayberry. We take comfort in knowing that our neighbors around the corner are just as smart and just fancy elitists as we are and yet also choose to send their kid to this great public school. Seriously. I am not joking. That is why people move to North Arlington. You can delude yourself that others want what you have in terms of “community” but they don’t. What you have is what will happen to us in N Arlington when everyone sends their kids to private schools.