Tuckahoe / Discovery / North Arlington elementary redistricting in 2026

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where do you all learn of these plans? I recognize this is a me problem, but I find it so hard to keep up with redistricting plans.

Sign up for APS emails.

[Anonymous]

If Nottingham is used as a swing space now, and if enrollment rises by a LOT (at the moment I don't see this, because new arrivals are moving into Central and Southern Arlington by the hundreds and thousands every year, but not into far Northern Arlington, except by the single digits or dozen at the most (Jamestown), then it will go back to being Nottingham again - at least that is what APS implies by using the term "swing space" aren't they?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where do you all learn of these plans? I recognize this is a me problem, but I find it so hard to keep up with redistricting plans.

Sign up for APS emails.

Eh, not really. The APS emails point people to the pre-CIP report and that's only if you really are paying attention. The info is buried (very much buried!) in that report. They aren't out there shouting about a full North Arlington redistricting because then people would pay attention and have opinions. APS doesn't like it when people have opinions.

[Anonymous]

This seems right, and like a reasonable plan.

You realize a school is designed to be at or near 100 percent capacity, correct?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where do you all learn of these plans? I recognize this is a me problem, but I find it so hard to keep up with redistricting plans.

Sign up for APS emails.

Eh, not really. The APS emails point people to the pre-CIP report and that's only if you really are paying attention. The info is buried (very much buried!) in that report. They aren't out there shouting about a full North Arlington redistricting because then people would pay attention and have opinions. APS doesn't like it when people have opinions.

I think they do a good job of summarizing what's happening in bullets that are in the email. It was immediately clear there would be a full middle school boundary process and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out if Nottingham closes those kids are going somewhere,

I think APS has good comms in general.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where do you all learn of these plans? I recognize this is a me problem, but I find it so hard to keep up with redistricting plans.

Sign up for APS emails.

Eh, not really. The APS emails point people to the pre-CIP report and that's only if you really are paying attention. The info is buried (very much buried!) in that report. They aren't out there shouting about a full North Arlington redistricting because then people would pay attention and have opinions. APS doesn't like it when people have opinions.

I think they do a good job of summarizing what's happening in bullets that are in the email. It was immediately clear there would be a full middle school boundary process and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out if Nottingham closes those kids are going somewhere,

I think APS has good comms in general.

Maybe not a rocket scientist but they did not send out a mass email saying nearly all North Arlington elementary schools would be rezoned. Most people didn’t realize it was happening, even if they were aware of the swing space discussion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This seems right, and like a reasonable plan.

You realize a school is designed to be at or near 100 percent capacity, correct?

You realize it's smart to build in a little wiggle room so it doesn't go over right?

[Anonymous]

After need for swing space is done, they will shutter a school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where do you all learn of these plans? I recognize this is a me problem, but I find it so hard to keep up with redistricting plans.

Sign up for APS emails.

Eh, not really. The APS emails point people to the pre-CIP report and that's only if you really are paying attention. The info is buried (very much buried!) in that report. They aren't out there shouting about a full North Arlington redistricting because then people would pay attention and have opinions. APS doesn't like it when people have opinions.

I think they do a good job of summarizing what's happening in bullets that are in the email. It was immediately clear there would be a full middle school boundary process and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out if Nottingham closes those kids are going somewhere,

I think APS has good comms in general.

Maybe not a rocket scientist but they did not send out a mass email saying nearly all North Arlington elementary schools would be rezoned. Most people didn’t realize it was happening, even if they were aware of the swing space discussion.

Everyone thinks this is Nottingham’s problem. However, kids at tuckahoe will be pushed out and same with discovery.

[Anonymous]

Question for us is where do you push my Tuckhaoe kids? In rezoning MS, APS seems very proud of themselves at gaining alignment and that all of Tuckahoe will go to Williamsburg.

The only option would be Cardinal or Discovery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question for us is where do you push my Tuckhaoe kids? In rezoning MS, APS seems very proud of themselves at gaining alignment and that all of Tuckahoe will go to Williamsburg.

The only option would be Cardinal or Discovery.

PUs south of Langston go to Cardinal would be my guess

[Anonymous]

After what happened to Iliana Gonzales at Taylor…and now she’s leading strategic planning for APS…she really should recuse herself
Otherwise it looks like she’s sticking it to the Taylor community that ousted her

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this has to be mothers who made all their friends through their kids' friends and are anxious about their grown up gaggle being broken up. I can see no other reason why people would be so over invested in this stuff. The kids are and will be fine. These are all great schools.

Huh? You think separating kids from their friend groups every 2 years, reshuffling commute patterns, and battling for extended day slots is no big deal? If I wanted to have that kind of life I’d have signed up for a military or consulting gig, both of which pay better or have better benefits than the stable job I chose for myself because I wanted stability.

1. It's not every 2 years. Exaggeration. Some of their friends go with them and some don't. In the end, these are good life skills. You don't live in a place where the same group of kids moves through K-12. Most kids in that type of setting are not friends with the same exact same kids year in and year out anyway. Shifting friendships in childhood is normal. They will need the skills to make new friends. In fact, I promise you when the time comes you will be thrilled they are getting away from some kids in their friend group!

2. Reshuffling commute patterns? These schools are all so close to each other.

3. Extended day slots I can see. So focus on that and argue they should expand extended day or transfer slots or something. Productive thing to think about.

If you think this is like a military lifestyle I don't even know what to say. So far off the mark it's embarrassing you said it. Those kids really go through it.

+1 no kid is getting shuffled every two years, that is ridiculous. If your kid is moved at some point they basically guarantee to not do it again during their elementary years (this has come up before and when a group who had already moved was at risk they changed course to make sure that didn't happen). Changing to a neighboring (also wonderful) school one time in six years WITH many of their classmates is not an issue for your child. Kids are very able to go through changes like this with the support of their parents and community. Re: commute I went to Nottingham. Getting yourself to Nottingham in the morning vs getting yourself to Discovery, that is not a new commute pattern. Come on. As the other poster said, extended day slots is a valid issue. I would put energy to that.

It's ok to be like this is annoying and in my ideal world wouldn't be necessary, and be disappointed without exaggerating the impact so vastly. When you live in a community things need to be done to benefit the whole community sometimes. Also, this does happen in Fairfax and MCPS and most districts as well.

These redistricting attempts are taking place ALL THE TIME. APS is very unique in the amount of time and resources they spend reshuffling enrollment. This is because their projections are always wrong by an order of magnitude and they are not leaving themselves any grace in their planning factors.

The fact that kids “survive” this is not a justification to keep doing it. We spend way too much money to be planning for chaos and mediocrity. Reshuffle once a decade- that’s it.

This. Tired of the annual drama by people with too much time on their hands.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this has to be mothers who made all their friends through their kids' friends and are anxious about their grown up gaggle being broken up. I can see no other reason why people would be so over invested in this stuff. The kids are and will be fine. These are all great schools.

Huh? You think separating kids from their friend groups every 2 years, reshuffling commute patterns, and battling for extended day slots is no big deal? If I wanted to have that kind of life I’d have signed up for a military or consulting gig, both of which pay better or have better benefits than the stable job I chose for myself because I wanted stability.

1. It's not every 2 years. Exaggeration. Some of their friends go with them and some don't. In the end, these are good life skills. You don't live in a place where the same group of kids moves through K-12. Most kids in that type of setting are not friends with the same exact same kids year in and year out anyway. Shifting friendships in childhood is normal. They will need the skills to make new friends. In fact, I promise you when the time comes you will be thrilled they are getting away from some kids in their friend group!

2. Reshuffling commute patterns? These schools are all so close to each other.

3. Extended day slots I can see. So focus on that and argue they should expand extended day or transfer slots or something. Productive thing to think about.

If you think this is like a military lifestyle I don't even know what to say. So far off the mark it's embarrassing you said it. Those kids really go through it.

+1 no kid is getting shuffled every two years, that is ridiculous. If your kid is moved at some point they basically guarantee to not do it again during their elementary years (this has come up before and when a group who had already moved was at risk they changed course to make sure that didn't happen). Changing to a neighboring (also wonderful) school one time in six years WITH many of their classmates is not an issue for your child. Kids are very able to go through changes like this with the support of their parents and community. Re: commute I went to Nottingham. Getting yourself to Nottingham in the morning vs getting yourself to Discovery, that is not a new commute pattern. Come on. As the other poster said, extended day slots is a valid issue. I would put energy to that.

It's ok to be like this is annoying and in my ideal world wouldn't be necessary, and be disappointed without exaggerating the impact so vastly. When you live in a community things need to be done to benefit the whole community sometimes. Also, this does happen in Fairfax and MCPS and most districts as well.

These redistricting attempts are taking place ALL THE TIME. APS is very unique in the amount of time and resources they spend reshuffling enrollment. This is because their projections are always wrong by an order of magnitude and they are not leaving themselves any grace in their planning factors.

The fact that kids “survive” this is not a justification to keep doing it. We spend way too much money to be planning for chaos and mediocrity. Reshuffle once a decade- that’s it.

No, that's wrong. I'm not APS but the real problem is the expectation of influence that any given neighborhood here thinks they should have. You've heard of the Arlington Way? Lots of public input, plan iterations. But it's only gotten worse as Arlington became home to SelfVIPs who feel it's a right to fight any boundary change because they recently bought a house with a big mortgage and didn't expect change. The mistake in this go-around will be the same in any past reboundary, which is the school board forces APS to pursue some frankensteinian middle ground that simply triggers the next round of boundary changes. And before you accuse me of being an APS-loving communist, I do think they've made boundary mistakes - but they aren't the ones that get talked about here because they have typically happened to lower income pops in SA who don't come here to complain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this has to be mothers who made all their friends through their kids' friends and are anxious about their grown up gaggle being broken up. I can see no other reason why people would be so over invested in this stuff. The kids are and will be fine. These are all great schools.

Huh? You think separating kids from their friend groups every 2 years, reshuffling commute patterns, and battling for extended day slots is no big deal? If I wanted to have that kind of life I’d have signed up for a military or consulting gig, both of which pay better or have better benefits than the stable job I chose for myself because I wanted stability.

1. It's not every 2 years. Exaggeration. Some of their friends go with them and some don't. In the end, these are good life skills. You don't live in a place where the same group of kids moves through K-12. Most kids in that type of setting are not friends with the same exact same kids year in and year out anyway. Shifting friendships in childhood is normal. They will need the skills to make new friends. In fact, I promise you when the time comes you will be thrilled they are getting away from some kids in their friend group!

2. Reshuffling commute patterns? These schools are all so close to each other.

3. Extended day slots I can see. So focus on that and argue they should expand extended day or transfer slots or something. Productive thing to think about.

If you think this is like a military lifestyle I don't even know what to say. So far off the mark it's embarrassing you said it. Those kids really go through it.

+1 no kid is getting shuffled every two years, that is ridiculous. If your kid is moved at some point they basically guarantee to not do it again during their elementary years (this has come up before and when a group who had already moved was at risk they changed course to make sure that didn't happen). Changing to a neighboring (also wonderful) school one time in six years WITH many of their classmates is not an issue for your child. Kids are very able to go through changes like this with the support of their parents and community. Re: commute I went to Nottingham. Getting yourself to Nottingham in the morning vs getting yourself to Discovery, that is not a new commute pattern. Come on. As the other poster said, extended day slots is a valid issue. I would put energy to that.

It's ok to be like this is annoying and in my ideal world wouldn't be necessary, and be disappointed without exaggerating the impact so vastly. When you live in a community things need to be done to benefit the whole community sometimes. Also, this does happen in Fairfax and MCPS and most districts as well.

These redistricting attempts are taking place ALL THE TIME. APS is very unique in the amount of time and resources they spend reshuffling enrollment. This is because their projections are always wrong by an order of magnitude and they are not leaving themselves any grace in their planning factors.

The fact that kids “survive” this is not a justification to keep doing it. We spend way too much money to be planning for chaos and mediocrity. Reshuffle once a decade- that’s it.

No, that's wrong. I'm not APS but the real problem is the expectation of influence that any given neighborhood here thinks they should have. You've heard of the Arlington Way? Lots of public input, plan iterations. But it's only gotten worse as Arlington became home to SelfVIPs who feel it's a right to fight any boundary change because they recently bought a house with a big mortgage and didn't expect change. The mistake in this go-around will be the same in any past reboundary, which is the school board forces APS to pursue some frankensteinian middle ground that simply triggers the next round of boundary changes. And before you accuse me of being an APS-loving communist, I do think they've made boundary mistakes - but they aren't the ones that get talked about here because they have typically happened to lower income pops in SA who don't come here to complain.

Your example about SA kind of proves why people fight so hard when it comes to their own kids. APS just can’t get it right when left to their own devices. At a minimum, they do a terrible job justifying their recommendations. If they did a better job, maybe the school board would feel more empowered to support them. As is, the school board is being asked to have blind faith in projections that parents have shot a million holes into.