APS Closing Nottingham

[Anonymous]

It seems obvious that Nottingham should be shut down. Less than 400 kids? Give me a break. Unless there us another school with even fewer kids it just makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Yep. That’s really where this begins and ends. Not enough kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yep. That’s really where this begins and ends. Not enough kids.

And the question is why. Are the kids here and temporarily riding out the post COVID chaos in private school? Here and gone to private for good? Moved to rural Ohio?

APS doesn’t know and doesn’t care, even though it matters a lot to their plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yep. That’s really where this begins and ends. Not enough kids.

And the question is why. Are the kids here and temporarily riding out the post COVID chaos in private school? Here and gone to private for good? Moved to rural Ohio?

APS doesn’t know and doesn’t care, even though it matters a lot to their plan.

COVID has been over for a while. If the kids were coming back they would’ve. Too bad. Maybe they’ll be back for middle school later, who cares. No one’s keeping a school open just in case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nottingham probably needs to close. They will also need to send additional kids from Central Arlington up to Williamsburg and Yorktown in the next 5ish years. This is what happens when the density in one part of the county is so wildly different than the density in the other parts of the county. I only hope we don’t waste too much time discussing it. And the Nottingham kids are going to land in another great place.

Yes, and this is also what happens if a County Board acts like its acts don't have paramount impact on school infrastructure.

This is the root cause, people. The school board is merely playing a terrible hand the best that they can. If you want better educational infrastructure/outcomes, the county board needs a philosophical change in how they deal with education.

I don’t think this is accurate. ACDC endorses the school board candidates, and that’s who always wins the election. ACDC controls the school board and the county board. These are all the people. The school board isn’t an independent board. And that’s a big problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see Nottingham moms posting in this thread that this plan is so unfair etc, and all are up in arms re trying to protect their school, but nobody is trying to solve the problem. Nottingham most of all, but the northern elementaries around it are all underenrolled. Nottingham has a capacity (without trailers) of 530 kids and had fewer than 400 kids last year and is expected to have fewer than 400 kids again this year. One of the underenrolled classes last year was kindergarten, so these low numbers can currently be expected to be a problem at Nottingham over the next five years at least.

When schools are underenrolled, they waste resources because the district is out laying money on resources for a smaller number of kids. You have a principal and assistant principal and countless other staff whose time should be divided over 500 kids that is instead getting divided over fewer than 400 kids. That is a luxury for Nottingham. We are paying money to heat and cool your school for less than 400 kids when it’s designed for 530.

You seem upset but your solution just seems to be to keep things as they are so you continue to benefit from this situation when APS needs to cut costs. Except for someone’s solution to bus some southern kids up, which Nottingham parents and APS will never go for, what is your solution, exactly? You don’t seem to see or care about the problem, and just want your school to stay the same. Your sense of privilege is so frustrating.

Honestly I don’t see any sense of privilege - what I see is parents trying to understand the reasoning of APS as to why it is happening and what will happen. It doesn’t seem to be just about a few years of under enrollment, but a wholesale change not only for the school site itself, but the larger neighborhood (yes including traffic and safety patterns!) and neighborhood schools.

This is a major plan and you all seem to just expect Nottingham to instantly acquiesce without any second guessing.

This.

[Anonymous]

^ typo- meant to say “These are all the same people.”

You’re dreaming of you don’t think ACDC has a unified agenda for both the county and the schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nottingham probably needs to close. They will also need to send additional kids from Central Arlington up to Williamsburg and Yorktown in the next 5ish years. This is what happens when the density in one part of the county is so wildly different than the density in the other parts of the county. I only hope we don’t waste too much time discussing it. And the Nottingham kids are going to land in another great place.

Yes, and this is also what happens if a County Board acts like its acts don't have paramount impact on school infrastructure.

This is the root cause, people. The school board is merely playing a terrible hand the best that they can. If you want better educational infrastructure/outcomes, the county board needs a philosophical change in how they deal with education.

+1

It’s the county board who is hell-bent on increasing density in perpetuity with no thought to schools at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nottingham probably needs to close. They will also need to send additional kids from Central Arlington up to Williamsburg and Yorktown in the next 5ish years. This is what happens when the density in one part of the county is so wildly different than the density in the other parts of the county. I only hope we don’t waste too much time discussing it. And the Nottingham kids are going to land in another great place.

Yes, and this is also what happens if a County Board acts like its acts don't have paramount impact on school infrastructure.

This is the root cause, people. The school board is merely playing a terrible hand the best that they can. If you want better educational infrastructure/outcomes, the county board needs a philosophical change in how they deal with education.

+1

It’s the county board who is hell-bent on increasing density in perpetuity with no thought to schools at all.

The school board and the county board are the same people. That’s what many of us are concerned about. ACDC runs both boards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see Nottingham moms posting in this thread that this plan is so unfair etc, and all are up in arms re trying to protect their school, but nobody is trying to solve the problem. Nottingham most of all, but the northern elementaries around it are all underenrolled. Nottingham has a capacity (without trailers) of 530 kids and had fewer than 400 kids last year and is expected to have fewer than 400 kids again this year. One of the underenrolled classes last year was kindergarten, so these low numbers can currently be expected to be a problem at Nottingham over the next five years at least.

When schools are underenrolled, they waste resources because the district is out laying money on resources for a smaller number of kids. You have a principal and assistant principal and countless other staff whose time should be divided over 500 kids that is instead getting divided over fewer than 400 kids. That is a luxury for Nottingham. We are paying money to heat and cool your school for less than 400 kids when it’s designed for 530.

You seem upset but your solution just seems to be to keep things as they are so you continue to benefit from this situation when APS needs to cut costs. Except for someone’s solution to bus some southern kids up, which Nottingham parents and APS will never go for, what is your solution, exactly? You don’t seem to see or care about the problem, and just want your school to stay the same. Your sense of privilege is so frustrating.

Honestly I don’t see any sense of privilege - what I see is parents trying to understand the reasoning of APS as to why it is happening and what will happen. It doesn’t seem to be just about a few years of under enrollment, but a wholesale change not only for the school site itself, but the larger neighborhood (yes including traffic and safety patterns!) and neighborhood schools.

This is a major plan and you all seem to just expect Nottingham to instantly acquiesce without any second guessing.

This.

Right. If this was your school, you’d just accept the closure without asking any questions? Of course you wouldn’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ typo- meant to say “These are all the same people.”

You’re dreaming of you don’t think ACDC has a unified agenda for both the county and the schools.

Assuming they have a “unified” agenda is giving ACDC entirely too much credit. They don’t know much about APS and frankly don’t care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ typo- meant to say “These are all the same people.”

You’re dreaming of you don’t think ACDC has a unified agenda for both the county and the schools.

Assuming they have a “unified” agenda is giving ACDC entirely too much credit. They don’t know much about APS and frankly don’t care.

Haha that may be true actually. But they ARE the same people. It’s not like we have an independent school board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems obvious that Nottingham should be shut down. Less than 400 kids? Give me a break. Unless there us another school with even fewer kids it just makes sense.

Fewer than 400 kids !!! I remember when the community was up in arms about leaving drew so underenrolled after MPSA left. Drew is now larger than Nottingham.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems obvious that Nottingham should be shut down. Less than 400 kids? Give me a break. Unless there us another school with even fewer kids it just makes sense.

Fewer than 400 kids !!! I remember when the community was up in arms about leaving drew so underenrolled after MPSA left. Drew is now larger than Nottingham.

But the housing policies that filled up Drew don’t apply to Nottingham. Unless the community is asking the county to build a CAF up in that neighborhood to fill up the school. One building would do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems obvious that Nottingham should be shut down. Less than 400 kids? Give me a break. Unless there us another school with even fewer kids it just makes sense.

Fewer than 400 kids !!! I remember when the community was up in arms about leaving drew so underenrolled after MPSA left. Drew is now larger than Nottingham.

But the housing policies that filled up Drew don’t apply to Nottingham. Unless the community is asking the county to build a CAF up in that neighborhood to fill up the school. One building would do it.

I remember a few years ago Jamestown was so under enrolled that they had to fill it with pre school and sped programs. Is that still the case? Maybe Nott isn’t really the lowest enrollment if you compare the number of neighborhood kids across schools, and don’t take into account the other programs that don’t have to be in any particular place.

And why did APS fill up Jamestown with these other programs instead of closing it, but now wants to close Nott? Nott isn’t that underenrolled. APS could move some of the programs out of the overcrowded schools and get it right back up to 100.