APS Closing Nottingham

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Agree. I think the 6th and 9th grades are where APS needs to be more alert and cautious, as those are the more likely/logical points of re-entry. Whether siblings in other grades return with them is more difficult to predict.

[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.

I don't think ACDC has ANY agenda for schools other than getting their candidates elected as an entry-point for future higher offices.
What do you think its agenda is for schools??

[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.

That's true; but is irrelevant as it doesn't pertain to any APS decisions in the past.

[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.

Oh, but they don't have space for a CAF building and it would bring too much traffic. A multi-story multi-family structure would disrupt the heartbeat of the community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

That's probably true. But Jamestown kids aren't in the walk zone for two other nearby elementary schools. Nottingham is. And why move multiple programs from multiple schools, into a different under-capacity school just to save that one and close the one that already houses a lot of those pre-K classes? If Jamestown were the school with overlapping walk zones, then it would make sense to move those prek classes to Nottingham. But it doesn't.

APS filled-up Jamestown instead of closing it because moving those preK programs to Jamestown alleviated crowding elsewhere and provided space for the preK classes that they didn't have space for elsewhere. In other words, they didn't close Jamestown as an ES because they needed it for classroom space. On the other hand, they are proposing to "close" nottingham because (1) it is well under-capacity (2) has overlapping walk zones with two other schools and (3) can be used for a temporary alternative use - swing space (and can be reopened as a neighborhood or option school later if needed).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Agree. I think the 6th and 9th grades are where APS needs to be more alert and cautious, as those are the more likely/logical points of re-entry. Whether siblings in other grades return with them is more difficult to predict.

Kids who went private and not coming back. Ever. They’ve seen the massive difference in education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Agree. I think the 6th and 9th grades are where APS needs to be more alert and cautious, as those are the more likely/logical points of re-entry. Whether siblings in other grades return with them is more difficult to predict.

Kids who went private and not coming back. Ever. They’ve seen the massive difference in education.

Anyone who thought kids were coming back en masse was delusional. Sure a few here and there return at the usual transition points and for other reasons. But bailing just to bail to come back to the mess that is APS? Nah. We reluctantly stayed. I regret it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Agree. I think the 6th and 9th grades are where APS needs to be more alert and cautious, as those are the more likely/logical points of re-entry. Whether siblings in other grades return with them is more difficult to predict.

Kids who went private and not coming back. Ever. They’ve seen the massive difference in education.

We'd think about coming back for HS ($$$) but elementary and Middle school. No way. Maybe if more of them were like ATS. And we used to make fun of ATS families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

But look at how fast a Nottingham parent is to point to Jamestown or some other elementary school as an alternative chopping block head to get them out of their problem. They do this every cycle, did it with McKinley a few times and Taylor or Tuckahoe when they didn’t want to take in excess kids and pointed them towards other schools instead. You guys are the worst.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

But look at how fast a Nottingham parent is to point to Jamestown or some other elementary school as an alternative chopping block head to get them out of their problem. They do this every cycle, did it with McKinley a few times and Taylor or Tuckahoe when they didn’t want to take in excess kids and pointed them towards other schools instead. You guys are the worst.

They don't want more buses that come from being used as swing space; yet it's fine to to add buses to move the programs out of crowded schools from other parts of the county. NES folks need to come up with an agreed argument and stick to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

But look at how fast a Nottingham parent is to point to Jamestown or some other elementary school as an alternative chopping block head to get them out of their problem. They do this every cycle, did it with McKinley a few times and Taylor or Tuckahoe when they didn’t want to take in excess kids and pointed them towards other schools instead. You guys are the worst.

You understand that most of the current Nottingham parents weren’t there during the last round of this, right? Time moves in only one direction - kids get older and graduate to middle and high schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

But look at how fast a Nottingham parent is to point to Jamestown or some other elementary school as an alternative chopping block head to get them out of their problem. They do this every cycle, did it with McKinley a few times and Taylor or Tuckahoe when they didn’t want to take in excess kids and pointed them towards other schools instead. You guys are the worst.

They don't want more buses that come from being used as swing space; yet it's fine to to add buses to move the programs out of crowded schools from other parts of the county. NES folks need to come up with an agreed argument and stick to it.

Haha. Good point.

[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.

Presumably some of them are in one of the other super close by APS elementary schools!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

But look at how fast a Nottingham parent is to point to Jamestown or some other elementary school as an alternative chopping block head to get them out of their problem. They do this every cycle, did it with McKinley a few times and Taylor or Tuckahoe when they didn’t want to take in excess kids and pointed them towards other schools instead. You guys are the worst.

Simmer down. Sheesh. I'm not even a Nottingham parent. It's downright weird how quick some of you are to cast stones at Nottingham. I raised the example of how APS filled up Jamestown with programs to use as an example for how they can use Nottingham.

I don't think they should shut down Jamestown or any elementary school. Given the growth and overcrowding in some parts of the county, they should keep all elem schools open, and adjust boundaries and move programs to balance enrollment. It's a ridiculously bad use of resources to close an elem school in North Arlington and build a new one in the South, when we can reallocate existing resources. Maybe this means moving an option school up North, or at least redoing boundaries and moving some of the countywide programs into the North where there's more capacity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

But look at how fast a Nottingham parent is to point to Jamestown or some other elementary school as an alternative chopping block head to get them out of their problem. They do this every cycle, did it with McKinley a few times and Taylor or Tuckahoe when they didn’t want to take in excess kids and pointed them towards other schools instead. You guys are the worst.

They don't want more buses that come from being used as swing space; yet it's fine to to add buses to move the programs out of crowded schools from other parts of the county. NES folks need to come up with an agreed argument and stick to it.

You don't see the difference between adding 1-2 programs to a mostly walking school vs switching a 90% walking school to a 100% driving school?