APS Superintendent High School Overcrowding Plan

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With the vast amounts of construction along the Orange Line, you'd think the county would be flush with cash for new schools. If not, raise the tax rates. We'd still be nowhere near DC levels.

Money to build schools comes out of capital funds, not operating (tax) revenue, because you don't make today's taxpayers pay for something that is going to last 50 years, you spread the cost out. Tax revenue has gone up but so has cost for county services (not just schools), which is why the tax rate basically holds steady for the past several years. (For example--Metro repair costs.) The biggest constraints on school building are bonding capacity (we can only borrow so much and still maintain our credit rating) and land.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How real are these projected numbers? I know FCPS can be wildly wrong when predicting short-term and long-term numbers. Is APS really going to have that many additional high school students in just a couple years?

If those are real, reliable numbers, then just build the fourth high school. Expensive, yes, but needed.

The numbers seem pretty real to me and perhaps even too conservative. Last year's W-L graduating class had around 425 students. This year's W-L freshman class was projected to be 611 students. AS of March 2016, the freshman class at W-L is 681 students.

Just look at Swanson and Williamsburg - next year the entire 7th grade at Swanson and the entire 8th grade at Williamsburg will be in trailers.

Trailers? Single family homes are too expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With the vast amounts of construction along the Orange Line, you'd think the county would be flush with cash for new schools. If not, raise the tax rates. We'd still be nowhere near DC levels.

Money to build schools comes out of capital funds, not operating (tax) revenue, because you don't make today's taxpayers pay for something that is going to last 50 years, you spread the cost out. Tax revenue has gone up but so has cost for county services (not just schools), which is why the tax rate basically holds steady for the past several years. (For example--Metro repair costs.) The biggest constraints on school building are bonding capacity (we can only borrow so much and still maintain our credit rating) and land.

Implement a special tax on gym memberships and bars- hit the Clarendon bros where it hurts.

[Anonymous]

This overcrowding situation is perilously close to sending the schools off the rails. I am a huge fan of north Arlington, but I think it is a victim of its own, amazing success, which has made it one of the most sought after locations in the universe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With the vast amounts of construction along the Orange Line, you'd think the county would be flush with cash for new schools. If not, raise the tax rates. We'd still be nowhere near DC levels.

Money to build schools comes out of capital funds, not operating (tax) revenue, because you don't make today's taxpayers pay for something that is going to last 50 years, you spread the cost out. Tax revenue has gone up but so has cost for county services (not just schools), which is why the tax rate basically holds steady for the past several years. (For example--Metro repair costs.) The biggest constraints on school building are bonding capacity (we can only borrow so much and still maintain our credit rating) and land.

Implement a special tax on gym memberships and bars- hit the Clarendon bros where it hurts.

I'd throw in a tax on single women's dogs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds awful to me. We moved to Arlington for the more personal touch, not so our kids could attend high school factories with 2600-3000 students. The plans for Arlington Tech also make no sense. Is it supposed to be like TJ or is it just a plan to segregate kids on the non-college track?

I wouldn't worry about Arlington tech being for non-college kids only. The career center has fantastic programs for all kinds of kids, including some college bound ones. It is a great resource.

The Career Center is a place where college-bound kids take one or two classes, returning to their high schools for other classes, including AP classes. Arlington Tech won't have AP classes, and even in when I was in high school, 30ish years ago, that would have doomed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds awful to me. We moved to Arlington for the more personal touch, not so our kids could attend high school factories with 2600-3000 students. The plans for Arlington Tech also make no sense. Is it supposed to be like TJ or is it just a plan to segregate kids on the non-college track?

I wouldn't worry about Arlington tech being for non-college kids only. The career center has fantastic programs for all kinds of kids, including some college bound ones. It is a great resource.

The Career Center is a place where college-bound kids take one or two classes, returning to their high schools for other classes, including AP classes. Arlington Tech won't have AP classes, and even in when I was in high school, 30ish years ago, that would have doomed it.

+1. It's a joke of a solution right now. The incompetence of APS leadership is staggering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds awful to me. We moved to Arlington for the more personal touch, not so our kids could attend high school factories with 2600-3000 students. The plans for Arlington Tech also make no sense. Is it supposed to be like TJ or is it just a plan to segregate kids on the non-college track?

I wouldn't worry about Arlington tech being for non-college kids only. The career center has fantastic programs for all kinds of kids, including some college bound ones. It is a great resource.

The Career Center is a place where college-bound kids take one or two classes, returning to their high schools for other classes, including AP classes. Arlington Tech won't have AP classes, and even in when I was in high school, 30ish years ago, that would have doomed it.

+1. It's a joke of a solution right now. The incompetence of APS leadership is staggering.

I hope you're voting then. School board elections are coming up.

[Anonymous]

And, I hope you are writing to the School Board. Complaining over here won't get anything done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This overcrowding situation is perilously close to sending the schools off the rails. I am a huge fan of north Arlington, but I think it is a victim of its own, amazing success, which has made it one of the most sought after locations in the universe.

Not too many will care how good the elementary and middle schools are if by the time your child gets to high school s/he is lost in a sea of 2,600 - 3,000 students at their neighborhood high school or goes to school in double shifts and cannot participate in school sponsored extracurricular activities because there is no space or time for them. Yes, all years of school matter but how and what a student does in high school often plays a significant role in the opportunities that are available to them as they shape their lives at least as a young adult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in Bluemont. DS is 8. We are zoned for W-L. What are the chances that we will be rezonednl for Wakefield? Need to know whether to start saving for private school.

curious about this too.

This makes no sense whatsoever. If your neighborhood and others like it get rezoned to Wakefield, then Wakefield's demographics increasingly look like...W-L. But sure, save your pennies. Ba-bye.

Shhh.....if they don't figure it out on their own, you have no obligation to clue them in

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This overcrowding situation is perilously close to sending the schools off the rails. I am a huge fan of north Arlington, but I think it is a victim of its own, amazing success, which has made it one of the most sought after locations in the universe.

Not too many will care how good the elementary and middle schools are if by the time your child gets to high school s/he is lost in a sea of 2,600 - 3,000 students at their neighborhood high school or goes to school in double shifts and cannot participate in school sponsored extracurricular activities because there is no space or time for them. Yes, all years of school matter but how and what a student does in high school often plays a significant role in the opportunities that are available to them as they shape their lives at least as a young adult.

They had an option to turn Kenmore into a HS. The building is newer, so it's easy to convert and they have enough land. Then, they would build a MS elsewhere. I don't understand why Patrick Murphy and John Chadwick don't seem to give a d*mn about the kids who are in ES and MS right now! These are the kids that they KNOW are coming. Idiots!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds awful to me. We moved to Arlington for the more personal touch, not so our kids could attend high school factories with 2600-3000 students. The plans for Arlington Tech also make no sense. Is it supposed to be like TJ or is it just a plan to segregate kids on the non-college track?

I wouldn't worry about Arlington tech being for non-college kids only. The career center has fantastic programs for all kinds of kids, including some college bound ones. It is a great resource.

The Career Center is a place where college-bound kids take one or two classes, returning to their high schools for other classes, including AP classes. Arlington Tech won't have AP classes, and even in when I was in high school, 30ish years ago, that would have doomed it.

+1. It's a joke of a solution right now. The incompetence of APS leadership is staggering.

I hope you're voting then. School board elections are coming up.

And the school board elections are a joke. Whoever wins the democratic primary is the new member of the school board. There is no real choice and anyone who is not a democrat has no chance. So the incompetence of the leadership continues because they know they have no real opposition.

[Anonymous]

They need to use the Madison Community Center as a school. Maybe that could be a 9th grade academy feeding into Yorktown?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This overcrowding situation is perilously close to sending the schools off the rails. I am a huge fan of north Arlington, but I think it is a victim of its own, amazing success, which has made it one of the most sought after locations in the universe.

Not too many will care how good the elementary and middle schools are if by the time your child gets to high school s/he is lost in a sea of 2,600 - 3,000 students at their neighborhood high school or goes to school in double shifts and cannot participate in school sponsored extracurricular activities because there is no space or time for them. Yes, all years of school matter but how and what a student does in high school often plays a significant role in the opportunities that are available to them as they shape their lives at least as a young adult.

They had an option to turn Kenmore into a HS. The building is newer, so it's easy to convert and they have enough land. Then, they would build a MS elsewhere. I don't understand why Patrick Murphy and John Chadwick don't seem to give a d*mn about the kids who are in ES and MS right now! These are the kids that they KNOW are coming. Idiots!

And where do we put the kids who attend Kenmore in the meantime? It makes no sense to turn one school that is currently utilized by 1,000 or so kids (and many more in the near future) into a different school. If you need to build a HS, build it elsewhere, new, to the proper size/specs from the beginning. You can't take a MS offline just before the population explosion is about to hit it.

We might have the land, if the county acquires VHC on Carlin Springs and then grows a pair and tells that neighborhood that they can't whine about not wanting another school because of traffic (which can be mitigated with proper planning). There's no where else to put it. And unless the county starts accepting offers of land in exchange for up-zoning rights from private developers, we won't have an opportunity like this again.

Also, Arlington Tech is not ever going to attract kids who are college-bound. There is no way that this school doesn't become the "track" that certain kids are "encouraged" to follow. It may grow to hundreds of students, but they aren't going to be kids from SFH's.