APS: Fall 2022 Boundary Changes will be Limited due to low enrollment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love all the...if people would just cooperate with boundary adjustments.

1. Pay attention when they do boundary adjustments that do not directly impact you and speak up and say the things you are saying and advocate for bigger-picture thinking. So few people do this. Which is why...

2. Wait until these changes affect your school. Because somehow in the history of these boundary changes (and I've been hanging around this stuff for too long due to the age of my kids), no school community behaves well. The loudest parents and in particular the PTAs are self-interested, loud, and atrociously obnoxious.

It would be one thing if APS made sensible recommendations. Their proposals often border on nuts. The last round proposed moving Glebe from 110% capacity to 145% capacity while Nottingham and Discovery were below 90%. At Glebe this would have meant classes in hallways and covering the small basketball court with more trailers. It was a ridiculous proposal. If a school community sits quietly by then the have to deal with the consequences of APS not having one shred of common sense.

This is not accurate. From APS's initial presentations for Glebe posted October 2020:

2019-20 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 113% (including 4 existing relocatables 95%)
Estimated 2021-22 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 128% (including 4 existing relocatables 108%)
Estimated 2023-24 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 122% (including 4 existing relocatables 103%)

The same presentation references that one planning unit already assigned to Glebe could be designated walkable to Reed (and eventually was designated as such) so that would have further alleviated pressure at Glebe and made sense from a transportation perspective. The process wasn't allowed to play out in any way that made sense. It was just immediate freak outs and APS shut the whole thing down.

These numbers aren't the original APS proposal. Glebe is one of four elemtary schools in APS that is over capacity even with the COVID decrease in enrollment. APS wasn't proposing to move any kids out, only busing many more kids to Glebe.

APS may have designated part of the Glebe zone as walkable to Cardinal, but APS wasn't going to move any kids there. Cardinal was already full in the APS plan. Those kids were staying at Glebe and have stayed at Glebe. The question was whether Glebe was going to pick up a chunk of McKinley (keeping all of their existing students and despite already being overcrowded) so Nottingham students could attend Cardinal, leaving Nottingham significantly over enrolled.

So the way the process works is APS puts out an original proposal and then always tweaks it. It's a starting point, not the end point. Cardinal was not full in the initial APS plan. It was only pretty near full by the end when APS went with the option of putting nearly all of McKinley at Cardinal (minus the 3 planning units that went to Ashlawn plus and the one Tuckahoe unit that got the option to attend). There could have been plenty of room in a sensible world to move some of those Glebe kids to Cardinal and move Madison Manor to Tuckahoe instead of Cardinal. That probably would have made a lot of sense in terms of continuing to bus kids that were already bused and maximize walks and even out enrollment.

BUT....the point is people FREAK OUT at the first proposal that yes, might affect their school or them personally negatively. So yes, the Glebe parents freaked out and the Ashlawn parents freaked out and some of the former McKinley parents freaked out. Oh and the Tuckahoe and Nottingham parents freaked out with threats they would be option schools once left under enrolled.

It's a lot of self-involved freaking out.

"Advocacy" in light of the ridiculous and expensive musical chair school moves (key to ATS, ATS to McKinley, McKinley to Cardinal) was entire appropriate. By then the School Board was exhausted by the controversy and agreed to allow McKinley to move (almost) in its entirety to Cardinal. Hopefully, the amount to advocacy by local parents was enough to kill and bury other such insane school moves in the future.

Yes to planning unit adjustments, a big fat unequivocal NO to moving whole schools. Sheesh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love all the...if people would just cooperate with boundary adjustments.

1. Pay attention when they do boundary adjustments that do not directly impact you and speak up and say the things you are saying and advocate for bigger-picture thinking. So few people do this. Which is why...

2. Wait until these changes affect your school. Because somehow in the history of these boundary changes (and I've been hanging around this stuff for too long due to the age of my kids), no school community behaves well. The loudest parents and in particular the PTAs are self-interested, loud, and atrociously obnoxious.

It would be one thing if APS made sensible recommendations. Their proposals often border on nuts. The last round proposed moving Glebe from 110% capacity to 145% capacity while Nottingham and Discovery were below 90%. At Glebe this would have meant classes in hallways and covering the small basketball court with more trailers. It was a ridiculous proposal. If a school community sits quietly by then the have to deal with the consequences of APS not having one shred of common sense.

This is not accurate. From APS's initial presentations for Glebe posted October 2020:

2019-20 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 113% (including 4 existing relocatables 95%)
Estimated 2021-22 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 128% (including 4 existing relocatables 108%)
Estimated 2023-24 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 122% (including 4 existing relocatables 103%)

The same presentation references that one planning unit already assigned to Glebe could be designated walkable to Reed (and eventually was designated as such) so that would have further alleviated pressure at Glebe and made sense from a transportation perspective. The process wasn't allowed to play out in any way that made sense. It was just immediate freak outs and APS shut the whole thing down.

These numbers aren't the original APS proposal. Glebe is one of four elemtary schools in APS that is over capacity even with the COVID decrease in enrollment. APS wasn't proposing to move any kids out, only busing many more kids to Glebe.

APS may have designated part of the Glebe zone as walkable to Cardinal, but APS wasn't going to move any kids there. Cardinal was already full in the APS plan. Those kids were staying at Glebe and have stayed at Glebe. The question was whether Glebe was going to pick up a chunk of McKinley (keeping all of their existing students and despite already being overcrowded) so Nottingham students could attend Cardinal, leaving Nottingham significantly over enrolled.

So the way the process works is APS puts out an original proposal and then always tweaks it. It's a starting point, not the end point. Cardinal was not full in the initial APS plan. It was only pretty near full by the end when APS went with the option of putting nearly all of McKinley at Cardinal (minus the 3 planning units that went to Ashlawn plus and the one Tuckahoe unit that got the option to attend). There could have been plenty of room in a sensible world to move some of those Glebe kids to Cardinal and move Madison Manor to Tuckahoe instead of Cardinal. That probably would have made a lot of sense in terms of continuing to bus kids that were already bused and maximize walks and even out enrollment.

BUT....the point is people FREAK OUT at the first proposal that yes, might affect their school or them personally negatively. So yes, the Glebe parents freaked out and the Ashlawn parents freaked out and some of the former McKinley parents freaked out. Oh and the Tuckahoe and Nottingham parents freaked out with threats they would be option schools once left under enrolled.

It's a lot of self-involved freaking out.

"Advocacy" in light of the ridiculous and expensive musical chair school moves (key to ATS, ATS to McKinley, McKinley to Cardinal) was entire appropriate. By then the School Board was exhausted by the controversy and agreed to allow McKinley to move (almost) in its entirety to Cardinal. Hopefully, the amount to advocacy by local parents was enough to kill and bury other such insane school moves in the future.

Yes to planning unit adjustments, a big fat unequivocal NO to moving whole schools. Sheesh.

Except people don't say "yes" to moving THEIR planning units and sometimes moving a school (actually a program) makes sense for various reasons.

[Anonymous]

Making the McKinley site optional with Cardinal coming online made a lot of sense and so did making the Key site neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Making the McKinley site optional with Cardinal coming online made a lot of sense and so did making the Key site neighborhood.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love all the...if people would just cooperate with boundary adjustments.

1. Pay attention when they do boundary adjustments that do not directly impact you and speak up and say the things you are saying and advocate for bigger-picture thinking. So few people do this. Which is why...

2. Wait until these changes affect your school. Because somehow in the history of these boundary changes (and I've been hanging around this stuff for too long due to the age of my kids), no school community behaves well. The loudest parents and in particular the PTAs are self-interested, loud, and atrociously obnoxious.

It would be one thing if APS made sensible recommendations. Their proposals often border on nuts. The last round proposed moving Glebe from 110% capacity to 145% capacity while Nottingham and Discovery were below 90%. At Glebe this would have meant classes in hallways and covering the small basketball court with more trailers. It was a ridiculous proposal. If a school community sits quietly by then the have to deal with the consequences of APS not having one shred of common sense.

This is not accurate. From APS's initial presentations for Glebe posted October 2020:

2019-20 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 113% (including 4 existing relocatables 95%)
Estimated 2021-22 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 128% (including 4 existing relocatables 108%)
Estimated 2023-24 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 122% (including 4 existing relocatables 103%)

The same presentation references that one planning unit already assigned to Glebe could be designated walkable to Reed (and eventually was designated as such) so that would have further alleviated pressure at Glebe and made sense from a transportation perspective. The process wasn't allowed to play out in any way that made sense. It was just immediate freak outs and APS shut the whole thing down.

These numbers aren't the original APS proposal. Glebe is one of four elemtary schools in APS that is over capacity even with the COVID decrease in enrollment. APS wasn't proposing to move any kids out, only busing many more kids to Glebe.

APS may have designated part of the Glebe zone as walkable to Cardinal, but APS wasn't going to move any kids there. Cardinal was already full in the APS plan. Those kids were staying at Glebe and have stayed at Glebe. The question was whether Glebe was going to pick up a chunk of McKinley (keeping all of their existing students and despite already being overcrowded) so Nottingham students could attend Cardinal, leaving Nottingham significantly over enrolled.

So the way the process works is APS puts out an original proposal and then always tweaks it. It's a starting point, not the end point. Cardinal was not full in the initial APS plan. It was only pretty near full by the end when APS went with the option of putting nearly all of McKinley at Cardinal (minus the 3 planning units that went to Ashlawn plus and the one Tuckahoe unit that got the option to attend). There could have been plenty of room in a sensible world to move some of those Glebe kids to Cardinal and move Madison Manor to Tuckahoe instead of Cardinal. That probably would have made a lot of sense in terms of continuing to bus kids that were already bused and maximize walks and even out enrollment.

BUT....the point is people FREAK OUT at the first proposal that yes, might affect their school or them personally negatively. So yes, the Glebe parents freaked out and the Ashlawn parents freaked out and some of the former McKinley parents freaked out. Oh and the Tuckahoe and Nottingham parents freaked out with threats they would be option schools once left under enrolled.

It's a lot of self-involved freaking out.

"Advocacy" in light of the ridiculous and expensive musical chair school moves (key to ATS, ATS to McKinley, McKinley to Cardinal) was entire appropriate. By then the School Board was exhausted by the controversy and agreed to allow McKinley to move (almost) in its entirety to Cardinal. Hopefully, the amount to advocacy by local parents was enough to kill and bury other such insane school moves in the future.

Yes to planning unit adjustments, a big fat unequivocal NO to moving whole schools. Sheesh.

I'm still pissed about this. ES students had no idea what school they went to so cardinal/McK should have been right sized right then. We are all in pain; bring it! But not. School board should be fired.

Further proof rich white people get what they want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Making the McKinley site optional with Cardinal coming online made a lot of sense and so did making the Key site neighborhood.

+1

For you; not for the tax payer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love all the...if people would just cooperate with boundary adjustments.

1. Pay attention when they do boundary adjustments that do not directly impact you and speak up and say the things you are saying and advocate for bigger-picture thinking. So few people do this. Which is why...

2. Wait until these changes affect your school. Because somehow in the history of these boundary changes (and I've been hanging around this stuff for too long due to the age of my kids), no school community behaves well. The loudest parents and in particular the PTAs are self-interested, loud, and atrociously obnoxious.

It would be one thing if APS made sensible recommendations. Their proposals often border on nuts. The last round proposed moving Glebe from 110% capacity to 145% capacity while Nottingham and Discovery were below 90%. At Glebe this would have meant classes in hallways and covering the small basketball court with more trailers. It was a ridiculous proposal. If a school community sits quietly by then the have to deal with the consequences of APS not having one shred of common sense.

This is not accurate. From APS's initial presentations for Glebe posted October 2020:

2019-20 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 113% (including 4 existing relocatables 95%)
Estimated 2021-22 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 128% (including 4 existing relocatables 108%)
Estimated 2023-24 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 122% (including 4 existing relocatables 103%)

The same presentation references that one planning unit already assigned to Glebe could be designated walkable to Reed (and eventually was designated as such) so that would have further alleviated pressure at Glebe and made sense from a transportation perspective. The process wasn't allowed to play out in any way that made sense. It was just immediate freak outs and APS shut the whole thing down.

These numbers aren't the original APS proposal. Glebe is one of four elemtary schools in APS that is over capacity even with the COVID decrease in enrollment. APS wasn't proposing to move any kids out, only busing many more kids to Glebe.

APS may have designated part of the Glebe zone as walkable to Cardinal, but APS wasn't going to move any kids there. Cardinal was already full in the APS plan. Those kids were staying at Glebe and have stayed at Glebe. The question was whether Glebe was going to pick up a chunk of McKinley (keeping all of their existing students and despite already being overcrowded) so Nottingham students could attend Cardinal, leaving Nottingham significantly over enrolled.

So the way the process works is APS puts out an original proposal and then always tweaks it. It's a starting point, not the end point. Cardinal was not full in the initial APS plan. It was only pretty near full by the end when APS went with the option of putting nearly all of McKinley at Cardinal (minus the 3 planning units that went to Ashlawn plus and the one Tuckahoe unit that got the option to attend). There could have been plenty of room in a sensible world to move some of those Glebe kids to Cardinal and move Madison Manor to Tuckahoe instead of Cardinal. That probably would have made a lot of sense in terms of continuing to bus kids that were already bused and maximize walks and even out enrollment.

BUT....the point is people FREAK OUT at the first proposal that yes, might affect their school or them personally negatively. So yes, the Glebe parents freaked out and the Ashlawn parents freaked out and some of the former McKinley parents freaked out. Oh and the Tuckahoe and Nottingham parents freaked out with threats they would be option schools once left under enrolled.

It's a lot of self-involved freaking out.

"Advocacy" in light of the ridiculous and expensive musical chair school moves (key to ATS, ATS to McKinley, McKinley to Cardinal) was entire appropriate. By then the School Board was exhausted by the controversy and agreed to allow McKinley to move (almost) in its entirety to Cardinal. Hopefully, the amount to advocacy by local parents was enough to kill and bury other such insane school moves in the future.

Yes to planning unit adjustments, a big fat unequivocal NO to moving whole schools. Sheesh.

I'm still pissed about this. ES students had no idea what school they went to so cardinal/McK should have been right sized right then. We are all in pain; bring it! But not. School board should be fired.

Further proof rich white people get what they want.

They didn’t move as many kids out of McKinley during the move because of the pandemic. They were worried about mental health.
As a parent who was rezoned as part of the last boundary assignment, they were right to limit changes. We didn’t get moved to innovation because they were worried about overfilling innovation, and so we ended up at Taylor. My fourth grader knew no one and experienced pretty scary depression (we started seeing a therapist). You can argue maybe my child would have needed help regardless, but I think the pandemic plus the forced social changes exacerbated everything. Innovation ended up being empty, so it was unnecessary too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Making the McKinley site optional with Cardinal coming online made a lot of sense and so did making the Key site neighborhood.

+1

For you; not for the tax payer.

Actually, I'm the taxpayer. Don't live anywhere near Mckinley or Cardinal or Key or ASFS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love all the...if people would just cooperate with boundary adjustments.

1. Pay attention when they do boundary adjustments that do not directly impact you and speak up and say the things you are saying and advocate for bigger-picture thinking. So few people do this. Which is why...

2. Wait until these changes affect your school. Because somehow in the history of these boundary changes (and I've been hanging around this stuff for too long due to the age of my kids), no school community behaves well. The loudest parents and in particular the PTAs are self-interested, loud, and atrociously obnoxious.

It would be one thing if APS made sensible recommendations. Their proposals often border on nuts. The last round proposed moving Glebe from 110% capacity to 145% capacity while Nottingham and Discovery were below 90%. At Glebe this would have meant classes in hallways and covering the small basketball court with more trailers. It was a ridiculous proposal. If a school community sits quietly by then the have to deal with the consequences of APS not having one shred of common sense.

This is not accurate. From APS's initial presentations for Glebe posted October 2020:

2019-20 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 113% (including 4 existing relocatables 95%)
Estimated 2021-22 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 128% (including 4 existing relocatables 108%)
Estimated 2023-24 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 122% (including 4 existing relocatables 103%)

The same presentation references that one planning unit already assigned to Glebe could be designated walkable to Reed (and eventually was designated as such) so that would have further alleviated pressure at Glebe and made sense from a transportation perspective. The process wasn't allowed to play out in any way that made sense. It was just immediate freak outs and APS shut the whole thing down.

These numbers aren't the original APS proposal. Glebe is one of four elemtary schools in APS that is over capacity even with the COVID decrease in enrollment. APS wasn't proposing to move any kids out, only busing many more kids to Glebe.

APS may have designated part of the Glebe zone as walkable to Cardinal, but APS wasn't going to move any kids there. Cardinal was already full in the APS plan. Those kids were staying at Glebe and have stayed at Glebe. The question was whether Glebe was going to pick up a chunk of McKinley (keeping all of their existing students and despite already being overcrowded) so Nottingham students could attend Cardinal, leaving Nottingham significantly over enrolled.

So the way the process works is APS puts out an original proposal and then always tweaks it. It's a starting point, not the end point. Cardinal was not full in the initial APS plan. It was only pretty near full by the end when APS went with the option of putting nearly all of McKinley at Cardinal (minus the 3 planning units that went to Ashlawn plus and the one Tuckahoe unit that got the option to attend). There could have been plenty of room in a sensible world to move some of those Glebe kids to Cardinal and move Madison Manor to Tuckahoe instead of Cardinal. That probably would have made a lot of sense in terms of continuing to bus kids that were already bused and maximize walks and even out enrollment.

BUT....the point is people FREAK OUT at the first proposal that yes, might affect their school or them personally negatively. So yes, the Glebe parents freaked out and the Ashlawn parents freaked out and some of the former McKinley parents freaked out. Oh and the Tuckahoe and Nottingham parents freaked out with threats they would be option schools once left under enrolled.

It's a lot of self-involved freaking out.

"Advocacy" in light of the ridiculous and expensive musical chair school moves (key to ATS, ATS to McKinley, McKinley to Cardinal) was entire appropriate. By then the School Board was exhausted by the controversy and agreed to allow McKinley to move (almost) in its entirety to Cardinal. Hopefully, the amount to advocacy by local parents was enough to kill and bury other such insane school moves in the future.

Yes to planning unit adjustments, a big fat unequivocal NO to moving whole schools. Sheesh.

I'm still pissed about this. ES students had no idea what school they went to so cardinal/McK should have been right sized right then. We are all in pain; bring it! But not. School board should be fired.

Further proof rich white people get what they want.

They didn’t move as many kids out of McKinley during the move because of the pandemic. They were worried about mental health.
As a parent who was rezoned as part of the last boundary assignment, they were right to limit changes. We didn’t get moved to innovation because they were worried about overfilling innovation, and so we ended up at Taylor. My fourth grader knew no one and experienced pretty scary depression (we started seeing a therapist). You can argue maybe my child would have needed help regardless, but I think the pandemic plus the forced social changes exacerbated everything. Innovation ended up being empty, so it was unnecessary too.

Why is Innovation so empty? What happened there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love all the...if people would just cooperate with boundary adjustments.

1. Pay attention when they do boundary adjustments that do not directly impact you and speak up and say the things you are saying and advocate for bigger-picture thinking. So few people do this. Which is why...

2. Wait until these changes affect your school. Because somehow in the history of these boundary changes (and I've been hanging around this stuff for too long due to the age of my kids), no school community behaves well. The loudest parents and in particular the PTAs are self-interested, loud, and atrociously obnoxious.

It would be one thing if APS made sensible recommendations. Their proposals often border on nuts. The last round proposed moving Glebe from 110% capacity to 145% capacity while Nottingham and Discovery were below 90%. At Glebe this would have meant classes in hallways and covering the small basketball court with more trailers. It was a ridiculous proposal. If a school community sits quietly by then the have to deal with the consequences of APS not having one shred of common sense.

This is not accurate. From APS's initial presentations for Glebe posted October 2020:

2019-20 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 113% (including 4 existing relocatables 95%)
Estimated 2021-22 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 128% (including 4 existing relocatables 108%)
Estimated 2023-24 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 122% (including 4 existing relocatables 103%)

The same presentation references that one planning unit already assigned to Glebe could be designated walkable to Reed (and eventually was designated as such) so that would have further alleviated pressure at Glebe and made sense from a transportation perspective. The process wasn't allowed to play out in any way that made sense. It was just immediate freak outs and APS shut the whole thing down.

These numbers aren't the original APS proposal. Glebe is one of four elemtary schools in APS that is over capacity even with the COVID decrease in enrollment. APS wasn't proposing to move any kids out, only busing many more kids to Glebe.

APS may have designated part of the Glebe zone as walkable to Cardinal, but APS wasn't going to move any kids there. Cardinal was already full in the APS plan. Those kids were staying at Glebe and have stayed at Glebe. The question was whether Glebe was going to pick up a chunk of McKinley (keeping all of their existing students and despite already being overcrowded) so Nottingham students could attend Cardinal, leaving Nottingham significantly over enrolled.

So the way the process works is APS puts out an original proposal and then always tweaks it. It's a starting point, not the end point. Cardinal was not full in the initial APS plan. It was only pretty near full by the end when APS went with the option of putting nearly all of McKinley at Cardinal (minus the 3 planning units that went to Ashlawn plus and the one Tuckahoe unit that got the option to attend). There could have been plenty of room in a sensible world to move some of those Glebe kids to Cardinal and move Madison Manor to Tuckahoe instead of Cardinal. That probably would have made a lot of sense in terms of continuing to bus kids that were already bused and maximize walks and even out enrollment.

BUT....the point is people FREAK OUT at the first proposal that yes, might affect their school or them personally negatively. So yes, the Glebe parents freaked out and the Ashlawn parents freaked out and some of the former McKinley parents freaked out. Oh and the Tuckahoe and Nottingham parents freaked out with threats they would be option schools once left under enrolled.

It's a lot of self-involved freaking out.

"Advocacy" in light of the ridiculous and expensive musical chair school moves (key to ATS, ATS to McKinley, McKinley to Cardinal) was entire appropriate. By then the School Board was exhausted by the controversy and agreed to allow McKinley to move (almost) in its entirety to Cardinal. Hopefully, the amount to advocacy by local parents was enough to kill and bury other such insane school moves in the future.

Yes to planning unit adjustments, a big fat unequivocal NO to moving whole schools. Sheesh.

I'm still pissed about this. ES students had no idea what school they went to so cardinal/McK should have been right sized right then. We are all in pain; bring it! But not. School board should be fired.

Further proof rich white people get what they want.

They didn’t move as many kids out of McKinley during the move because of the pandemic. They were worried about mental health.
As a parent who was rezoned as part of the last boundary assignment, they were right to limit changes. We didn’t get moved to innovation because they were worried about overfilling innovation, and so we ended up at Taylor. My fourth grader knew no one and experienced pretty scary depression (we started seeing a therapist). You can argue maybe my child would have needed help regardless, but I think the pandemic plus the forced social changes exacerbated everything. Innovation ended up being empty, so it was unnecessary too.

Why is Innovation so empty? What happened there?

1. People with kids moved out of apartments and condos during the pandemic
2. Key advocates insisted that most families wouldn't move with the program so space was left
3. Many new housing units (affordable and market rate) are coming online right now and it's not clear how many kids will live in them

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love all the...if people would just cooperate with boundary adjustments.

1. Pay attention when they do boundary adjustments that do not directly impact you and speak up and say the things you are saying and advocate for bigger-picture thinking. So few people do this. Which is why...

2. Wait until these changes affect your school. Because somehow in the history of these boundary changes (and I've been hanging around this stuff for too long due to the age of my kids), no school community behaves well. The loudest parents and in particular the PTAs are self-interested, loud, and atrociously obnoxious.

It would be one thing if APS made sensible recommendations. Their proposals often border on nuts. The last round proposed moving Glebe from 110% capacity to 145% capacity while Nottingham and Discovery were below 90%. At Glebe this would have meant classes in hallways and covering the small basketball court with more trailers. It was a ridiculous proposal. If a school community sits quietly by then the have to deal with the consequences of APS not having one shred of common sense.

This is not accurate. From APS's initial presentations for Glebe posted October 2020:

2019-20 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 113% (including 4 existing relocatables 95%)
Estimated 2021-22 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 128% (including 4 existing relocatables 108%)
Estimated 2023-24 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 122% (including 4 existing relocatables 103%)

The same presentation references that one planning unit already assigned to Glebe could be designated walkable to Reed (and eventually was designated as such) so that would have further alleviated pressure at Glebe and made sense from a transportation perspective. The process wasn't allowed to play out in any way that made sense. It was just immediate freak outs and APS shut the whole thing down.

These numbers aren't the original APS proposal. Glebe is one of four elemtary schools in APS that is over capacity even with the COVID decrease in enrollment. APS wasn't proposing to move any kids out, only busing many more kids to Glebe.

APS may have designated part of the Glebe zone as walkable to Cardinal, but APS wasn't going to move any kids there. Cardinal was already full in the APS plan. Those kids were staying at Glebe and have stayed at Glebe. The question was whether Glebe was going to pick up a chunk of McKinley (keeping all of their existing students and despite already being overcrowded) so Nottingham students could attend Cardinal, leaving Nottingham significantly over enrolled.

So the way the process works is APS puts out an original proposal and then always tweaks it. It's a starting point, not the end point. Cardinal was not full in the initial APS plan. It was only pretty near full by the end when APS went with the option of putting nearly all of McKinley at Cardinal (minus the 3 planning units that went to Ashlawn plus and the one Tuckahoe unit that got the option to attend). There could have been plenty of room in a sensible world to move some of those Glebe kids to Cardinal and move Madison Manor to Tuckahoe instead of Cardinal. That probably would have made a lot of sense in terms of continuing to bus kids that were already bused and maximize walks and even out enrollment.

BUT....the point is people FREAK OUT at the first proposal that yes, might affect their school or them personally negatively. So yes, the Glebe parents freaked out and the Ashlawn parents freaked out and some of the former McKinley parents freaked out. Oh and the Tuckahoe and Nottingham parents freaked out with threats they would be option schools once left under enrolled.

It's a lot of self-involved freaking out.

"Advocacy" in light of the ridiculous and expensive musical chair school moves (key to ATS, ATS to McKinley, McKinley to Cardinal) was entire appropriate. By then the School Board was exhausted by the controversy and agreed to allow McKinley to move (almost) in its entirety to Cardinal. Hopefully, the amount to advocacy by local parents was enough to kill and bury other such insane school moves in the future.

Yes to planning unit adjustments, a big fat unequivocal NO to moving whole schools. Sheesh.

I'm still pissed about this. ES students had no idea what school they went to so cardinal/McK should have been right sized right then. We are all in pain; bring it! But not. School board should be fired.

Further proof rich white people get what they want.

They didn’t move as many kids out of McKinley during the move because of the pandemic. They were worried about mental health.
As a parent who was rezoned as part of the last boundary assignment, they were right to limit changes. We didn’t get moved to innovation because they were worried about overfilling innovation, and so we ended up at Taylor. My fourth grader knew no one and experienced pretty scary depression (we started seeing a therapist). You can argue maybe my child would have needed help regardless, but I think the pandemic plus the forced social changes exacerbated everything. Innovation ended up being empty, so it was unnecessary too.

Why is Innovation so empty? What happened there?

An empty Innovation is what allowed the County to green light all of the Affordable Housing projects in Rosslyn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FFS they are predicting and counting on a decline AGAIN. That's what got us into our current pickle.

"Not that long ago, Arlington school leaders were projecting an almost never-ending arc of student growth for the system. In 2017, the reported student body of just under 27,000 had surpassed the previous high, set at the apex of the Baby Boom in 1963.

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But pre-pandemic prognostications that enrollment would surmount 32,000 by 2026 have now been scaled back, with the student population now expected to peak at just under 28,000 in 2025 and then begin to decline."

How are demographics changing to have less children in the system?

Are you joking? The pandemic happened.

Yet housing is exploding in value under high demand, and new apartment are coming online.

+1. This decision is completely divorced from the reality of the housing market and the approved construction. Not to mention the missing middle study and Plan Langston Blvd or whatever we are calling the upzoning efforts these days. They have a ton of Affordable Housing coming online in 5 years and they are going to be caught with their pants down. As usual.

This is the Arlington way. Glad to be out of APS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love all the...if people would just cooperate with boundary adjustments.

1. Pay attention when they do boundary adjustments that do not directly impact you and speak up and say the things you are saying and advocate for bigger-picture thinking. So few people do this. Which is why...

2. Wait until these changes affect your school. Because somehow in the history of these boundary changes (and I've been hanging around this stuff for too long due to the age of my kids), no school community behaves well. The loudest parents and in particular the PTAs are self-interested, loud, and atrociously obnoxious.

It would be one thing if APS made sensible recommendations. Their proposals often border on nuts. The last round proposed moving Glebe from 110% capacity to 145% capacity while Nottingham and Discovery were below 90%. At Glebe this would have meant classes in hallways and covering the small basketball court with more trailers. It was a ridiculous proposal. If a school community sits quietly by then the have to deal with the consequences of APS not having one shred of common sense.

This is not accurate. From APS's initial presentations for Glebe posted October 2020:

2019-20 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 113% (including 4 existing relocatables 95%)
Estimated 2021-22 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 128% (including 4 existing relocatables 108%)
Estimated 2023-24 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 122% (including 4 existing relocatables 103%)

The same presentation references that one planning unit already assigned to Glebe could be designated walkable to Reed (and eventually was designated as such) so that would have further alleviated pressure at Glebe and made sense from a transportation perspective. The process wasn't allowed to play out in any way that made sense. It was just immediate freak outs and APS shut the whole thing down.

These numbers aren't the original APS proposal. Glebe is one of four elemtary schools in APS that is over capacity even with the COVID decrease in enrollment. APS wasn't proposing to move any kids out, only busing many more kids to Glebe.

APS may have designated part of the Glebe zone as walkable to Cardinal, but APS wasn't going to move any kids there. Cardinal was already full in the APS plan. Those kids were staying at Glebe and have stayed at Glebe. The question was whether Glebe was going to pick up a chunk of McKinley (keeping all of their existing students and despite already being overcrowded) so Nottingham students could attend Cardinal, leaving Nottingham significantly over enrolled.

So the way the process works is APS puts out an original proposal and then always tweaks it. It's a starting point, not the end point. Cardinal was not full in the initial APS plan. It was only pretty near full by the end when APS went with the option of putting nearly all of McKinley at Cardinal (minus the 3 planning units that went to Ashlawn plus and the one Tuckahoe unit that got the option to attend). There could have been plenty of room in a sensible world to move some of those Glebe kids to Cardinal and move Madison Manor to Tuckahoe instead of Cardinal. That probably would have made a lot of sense in terms of continuing to bus kids that were already bused and maximize walks and even out enrollment.

BUT....the point is people FREAK OUT at the first proposal that yes, might affect their school or them personally negatively. So yes, the Glebe parents freaked out and the Ashlawn parents freaked out and some of the former McKinley parents freaked out. Oh and the Tuckahoe and Nottingham parents freaked out with threats they would be option schools once left under enrolled.

It's a lot of self-involved freaking out.

"Advocacy" in light of the ridiculous and expensive musical chair school moves (key to ATS, ATS to McKinley, McKinley to Cardinal) was entire appropriate. By then the School Board was exhausted by the controversy and agreed to allow McKinley to move (almost) in its entirety to Cardinal. Hopefully, the amount to advocacy by local parents was enough to kill and bury other such insane school moves in the future.

Yes to planning unit adjustments, a big fat unequivocal NO to moving whole schools. Sheesh.

I'm still pissed about this. ES students had no idea what school they went to so cardinal/McK should have been right sized right then. We are all in pain; bring it! But not. School board should be fired.

Further proof rich white people get what they want.

They didn’t move as many kids out of McKinley during the move because of the pandemic. They were worried about mental health.
As a parent who was rezoned as part of the last boundary assignment, they were right to limit changes. We didn’t get moved to innovation because they were worried about overfilling innovation, and so we ended up at Taylor. My fourth grader knew no one and experienced pretty scary depression (we started seeing a therapist). You can argue maybe my child would have needed help regardless, but I think the pandemic plus the forced social changes exacerbated everything. Innovation ended up being empty, so it was unnecessary too.

Why is Innovation so empty? What happened there?

An empty Innovation is what allowed the County to green light all of the Affordable Housing projects in Rosslyn.

The County doesn't consider schools or school enrollment when approving AH projects. Certainly not when those AH units are in areas like Rosslyn and the the Pike where it already is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love all the...if people would just cooperate with boundary adjustments.

1. Pay attention when they do boundary adjustments that do not directly impact you and speak up and say the things you are saying and advocate for bigger-picture thinking. So few people do this. Which is why...

2. Wait until these changes affect your school. Because somehow in the history of these boundary changes (and I've been hanging around this stuff for too long due to the age of my kids), no school community behaves well. The loudest parents and in particular the PTAs are self-interested, loud, and atrociously obnoxious.

It would be one thing if APS made sensible recommendations. Their proposals often border on nuts. The last round proposed moving Glebe from 110% capacity to 145% capacity while Nottingham and Discovery were below 90%. At Glebe this would have meant classes in hallways and covering the small basketball court with more trailers. It was a ridiculous proposal. If a school community sits quietly by then the have to deal with the consequences of APS not having one shred of common sense.

This is not accurate. From APS's initial presentations for Glebe posted October 2020:

2019-20 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 113% (including 4 existing relocatables 95%)
Estimated 2021-22 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 128% (including 4 existing relocatables 108%)
Estimated 2023-24 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 122% (including 4 existing relocatables 103%)

The same presentation references that one planning unit already assigned to Glebe could be designated walkable to Reed (and eventually was designated as such) so that would have further alleviated pressure at Glebe and made sense from a transportation perspective. The process wasn't allowed to play out in any way that made sense. It was just immediate freak outs and APS shut the whole thing down.

These numbers aren't the original APS proposal. Glebe is one of four elemtary schools in APS that is over capacity even with the COVID decrease in enrollment. APS wasn't proposing to move any kids out, only busing many more kids to Glebe.

APS may have designated part of the Glebe zone as walkable to Cardinal, but APS wasn't going to move any kids there. Cardinal was already full in the APS plan. Those kids were staying at Glebe and have stayed at Glebe. The question was whether Glebe was going to pick up a chunk of McKinley (keeping all of their existing students and despite already being overcrowded) so Nottingham students could attend Cardinal, leaving Nottingham significantly over enrolled.

So the way the process works is APS puts out an original proposal and then always tweaks it. It's a starting point, not the end point. Cardinal was not full in the initial APS plan. It was only pretty near full by the end when APS went with the option of putting nearly all of McKinley at Cardinal (minus the 3 planning units that went to Ashlawn plus and the one Tuckahoe unit that got the option to attend). There could have been plenty of room in a sensible world to move some of those Glebe kids to Cardinal and move Madison Manor to Tuckahoe instead of Cardinal. That probably would have made a lot of sense in terms of continuing to bus kids that were already bused and maximize walks and even out enrollment.

BUT....the point is people FREAK OUT at the first proposal that yes, might affect their school or them personally negatively. So yes, the Glebe parents freaked out and the Ashlawn parents freaked out and some of the former McKinley parents freaked out. Oh and the Tuckahoe and Nottingham parents freaked out with threats they would be option schools once left under enrolled.

It's a lot of self-involved freaking out.

"Advocacy" in light of the ridiculous and expensive musical chair school moves (key to ATS, ATS to McKinley, McKinley to Cardinal) was entire appropriate. By then the School Board was exhausted by the controversy and agreed to allow McKinley to move (almost) in its entirety to Cardinal. Hopefully, the amount to advocacy by local parents was enough to kill and bury other such insane school moves in the future.

Yes to planning unit adjustments, a big fat unequivocal NO to moving whole schools. Sheesh.

I'm still pissed about this. ES students had no idea what school they went to so cardinal/McK should have been right sized right then. We are all in pain; bring it! But not. School board should be fired.

Further proof rich white people get what they want.

They didn’t move as many kids out of McKinley during the move because of the pandemic. They were worried about mental health.
As a parent who was rezoned as part of the last boundary assignment, they were right to limit changes. We didn’t get moved to innovation because they were worried about overfilling innovation, and so we ended up at Taylor. My fourth grader knew no one and experienced pretty scary depression (we started seeing a therapist). You can argue maybe my child would have needed help regardless, but I think the pandemic plus the forced social changes exacerbated everything. Innovation ended up being empty, so it was unnecessary too.

Why is Innovation so empty? What happened there?

An empty Innovation is what allowed the County to green light all of the Affordable Housing projects in Rosslyn.

The County doesn't consider schools or school enrollment when approving AH projects. Certainly not when those AH units are in areas like Rosslyn and the the Pike where it already is.

Yes, everyone in Arlington has realized that point. Thanks. That's the whole problem.

[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:I love all the...if people would just cooperate with boundary adjustments.

1. Pay attention when they do boundary adjustments that do not directly impact you and speak up and say the things you are saying and advocate for bigger-picture thinking. So few people do this. Which is why...

2. Wait until these changes affect your school. Because somehow in the history of these boundary changes (and I've been hanging around this stuff for too long due to the age of my kids), no school community behaves well. The loudest parents and in particular the PTAs are self-interested, loud, and atrociously obnoxious.

It would be one thing if APS made sensible recommendations. Their proposals often border on nuts. The last round proposed moving Glebe from 110% capacity to 145% capacity while Nottingham and Discovery were below 90%. At Glebe this would have meant classes in hallways and covering the small basketball court with more trailers. It was a ridiculous proposal. If a school community sits quietly by then the have to deal with the consequences of APS not having one shred of common sense.

This is not accurate. From APS's initial presentations for Glebe posted October 2020:

2019-20 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 113% (including 4 existing relocatables 95%)
Estimated 2021-22 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 128% (including 4 existing relocatables 108%)
Estimated 2023-24 PreK-5 Capacity Utilization 122% (including 4 existing relocatables 103%)

The same presentation references that one planning unit already assigned to Glebe could be designated walkable to Reed (and eventually was designated as such) so that would have further alleviated pressure at Glebe and made sense from a transportation perspective. The process wasn't allowed to play out in any way that made sense. It was just immediate freak outs and APS shut the whole thing down.

These numbers aren't the original APS proposal. Glebe is one of four elemtary schools in APS that is over capacity even with the COVID decrease in enrollment. APS wasn't proposing to move any kids out, only busing many more kids to Glebe.

APS may have designated part of the Glebe zone as walkable to Cardinal, but APS wasn't going to move any kids there. Cardinal was already full in the APS plan. Those kids were staying at Glebe and have stayed at Glebe. The question was whether Glebe was going to pick up a chunk of McKinley (keeping all of their existing students and despite already being overcrowded) so Nottingham students could attend Cardinal, leaving Nottingham significantly over enrolled.

So the way the process works is APS puts out an original proposal and then always tweaks it. It's a starting point, not the end point. Cardinal was not full in the initial APS plan. It was only pretty near full by the end when APS went with the option of putting nearly all of McKinley at Cardinal (minus the 3 planning units that went to Ashlawn plus and the one Tuckahoe unit that got the option to attend). There could have been plenty of room in a sensible world to move some of those Glebe kids to Cardinal and move Madison Manor to Tuckahoe instead of Cardinal. That probably would have made a lot of sense in terms of continuing to bus kids that were already bused and maximize walks and even out enrollment.

BUT....the point is people FREAK OUT at the first proposal that yes, might affect their school or them personally negatively. So yes, the Glebe parents freaked out and the Ashlawn parents freaked out and some of the former McKinley parents freaked out. Oh and the Tuckahoe and Nottingham parents freaked out with threats they would be option schools once left under enrolled.

It's a lot of self-involved freaking out.

"Advocacy" in light of the ridiculous and expensive musical chair school moves (key to ATS, ATS to McKinley, McKinley to Cardinal) was entire appropriate. By then the School Board was exhausted by the controversy and agreed to allow McKinley to move (almost) in its entirety to Cardinal. Hopefully, the amount to advocacy by local parents was enough to kill and bury other such insane school moves in the future.

Yes to planning unit adjustments, a big fat unequivocal NO to moving whole schools. Sheesh.

I'm still pissed about this. ES students had no idea what school they went to so cardinal/McK should have been right sized right then. We are all in pain; bring it! But not. School board should be fired.

Further proof rich white people get what they want.

They didn’t move as many kids out of McKinley during the move because of the pandemic. They were worried about mental health.
As a parent who was rezoned as part of the last boundary assignment, they were right to limit changes. We didn’t get moved to innovation because they were worried about overfilling innovation, and so we ended up at Taylor. My fourth grader knew no one and experienced pretty scary depression (we started seeing a therapist). You can argue maybe my child would have needed help regardless, but I think the pandemic plus the forced social changes exacerbated everything. Innovation ended up being empty, so it was unnecessary too.

Why is Innovation so empty? What happened there?

An empty Innovation is what allowed the County to green light all of the Affordable Housing projects in Rosslyn.

The County doesn't consider schools or school enrollment when approving AH projects. Certainly not when those AH units are in areas like Rosslyn and the the Pike where it already is.

Yes, everyone in Arlington has realized that point. Thanks. That's the whole problem.

If you read the previous comment I was responding to, you will see that, apparently, not everyone gets that.