APS Closing Nottingham

[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 just brought our kids back for MS.

[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.

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.

Moving an option school North -- into Nottingham -- isn't much different than what APS is proposing, and seems to be less of a need to APS right now than having a swing space to relocate another school to temporarily while renovations are accomplished. Not sure why you're okay with moving an option school north into Nottingham's space but not with the current APS plan -- which doesn't even close the local Nottingham elementary forever as moving an option school into it would, just stick a pin in the decision for a while while numbers worked themselves out.

By the way, moving an option school north was proposed 5-10 years ago and guess which school APS wanted to convert? Nottingham. But Nottingham said no it just wouldn't work and that's how McKinley got converted into an option school. Something tells me Nottingham parents wouldn't suddenly find your plan acceptable now that it's Round 2, but what do I know?

[Anonymous]

I think there are other advantages to keeping Jamestown open as a local elementary, because it's all the way in the corner of the county. Bussing those kids to the next closes school would make their bus rides longer than those of most other kids. It's the geography that makes the site useful. Whereas Nottingham kids are walkable to several other schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think there are other advantages to keeping Jamestown open as a local elementary, because it's all the way in the corner of the county. Bussing those kids to the next closes school would make their bus rides longer than those of most other kids. It's the geography that makes the site useful. Whereas Nottingham kids are walkable to several other schools.

Of course you want to keep your school open, Mr/Mrs Jamestown parent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

Moving an option school North -- into Nottingham -- isn't much different than what APS is proposing, and seems to be less of a need to APS right now than having a swing space to relocate another school to temporarily while renovations are accomplished. Not sure why you're okay with moving an option school north into Nottingham's space but not with the current APS plan -- which doesn't even close the local Nottingham elementary forever as moving an option school into it would, just stick a pin in the decision for a while while numbers worked themselves out.

By the way, moving an option school north was proposed 5-10 years ago and guess which school APS wanted to convert? Nottingham. But Nottingham said no it just wouldn't work and that's how McKinley got converted into an option school. Something tells me Nottingham parents wouldn't suddenly find your plan acceptable now that it's Round 2, but what do I know?

I'm not trying to appeal to the Nottingham parents. I'm taking a system wide view, pointing out that it doesn't make sense for the system as a whole to close one elem school and build another new one. Far better to move students around and use our existing resources, and find another option, like a community center, for the swing space.

Can you explain why you think it's better to close an elem school AND build a brand new one as opposed to using what we have?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think there are other advantages to keeping Jamestown open as a local elementary, because it's all the way in the corner of the county. Bussing those kids to the next closes school would make their bus rides longer than those of most other kids. It's the geography that makes the site useful. Whereas Nottingham kids are walkable to several other schools.

Of course you want to keep your school open, Mr/Mrs Jamestown parent

Nah, I'm a prior McKinley parent who used to serve on some committees. Nottingham parents have not endeared themselves to me over the years, I'll just say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think there are other advantages to keeping Jamestown open as a local elementary, because it's all the way in the corner of the county. Bussing those kids to the next closes school would make their bus rides longer than those of most other kids. It's the geography that makes the site useful. Whereas Nottingham kids are walkable to several other schools.

Of course you want to keep your school open, Mr/Mrs Jamestown parent

We all do!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

Moving an option school North -- into Nottingham -- isn't much different than what APS is proposing, and seems to be less of a need to APS right now than having a swing space to relocate another school to temporarily while renovations are accomplished. Not sure why you're okay with moving an option school north into Nottingham's space but not with the current APS plan -- which doesn't even close the local Nottingham elementary forever as moving an option school into it would, just stick a pin in the decision for a while while numbers worked themselves out.

By the way, moving an option school north was proposed 5-10 years ago and guess which school APS wanted to convert? Nottingham. But Nottingham said no it just wouldn't work and that's how McKinley got converted into an option school. Something tells me Nottingham parents wouldn't suddenly find your plan acceptable now that it's Round 2, but what do I know?

I'm not trying to appeal to the Nottingham parents. I'm taking a system wide view, pointing out that it doesn't make sense for the system as a whole to close one elem school and build another new one. Far better to move students around and use our existing resources, and find another option, like a community center, for the swing space.

Can you explain why you think it's better to close an elem school AND build a brand new one as opposed to using what we have?

I think this is a false choice since it's not actually what APS is proposing to do here. APS is proposing to close Nottingham TEMPORARILY and use it as a swing space for other kids while their local school gets necessary repairs that they can't accomplish over the summer break. Your plan isn't solving that problem.

I don't have a huge problem with reallocating the school numbers to balance out the schools more, unless it means that kids in the south are going to have significantly longer bus rides on a long term basis just so folks in the north can keep all of their schools. The North sure wouldn't stand for their kids getting bussed to southern schools for super long bus rides, if it came to that, but you seem to be saying that it's okay for southern kids to sit on busses for longer periods every day. That's not really equity. If 60% of the schools are in the north but 60% of the kids are in the south, it's not exactly fair to the kids in the south to make them travel longer just for school access, if you get me. But in a pinch and as a SHORT TERM solution, I'm okay with it and maybe it's the best APS can do on a temporary basis -- similar to my attitude towards using Nottingham as a short term solution for renovations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think there are other advantages to keeping Jamestown open as a local elementary, because it's all the way in the corner of the county. Bussing those kids to the next closes school would make their bus rides longer than those of most other kids. It's the geography that makes the site useful. Whereas Nottingham kids are walkable to several other schools.

Of course you want to keep your school open, Mr/Mrs Jamestown parent

Nah, I'm a prior McKinley parent who used to serve on some committees. Nottingham parents have not endeared themselves to me over the years, I'll just say.

Always amazing to me how people will blame other parents instead of APS or the School Board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

Moving an option school North -- into Nottingham -- isn't much different than what APS is proposing, and seems to be less of a need to APS right now than having a swing space to relocate another school to temporarily while renovations are accomplished. Not sure why you're okay with moving an option school north into Nottingham's space but not with the current APS plan -- which doesn't even close the local Nottingham elementary forever as moving an option school into it would, just stick a pin in the decision for a while while numbers worked themselves out.

By the way, moving an option school north was proposed 5-10 years ago and guess which school APS wanted to convert? Nottingham. But Nottingham said no it just wouldn't work and that's how McKinley got converted into an option school. Something tells me Nottingham parents wouldn't suddenly find your plan acceptable now that it's Round 2, but what do I know?

I'm not trying to appeal to the Nottingham parents. I'm taking a system wide view, pointing out that it doesn't make sense for the system as a whole to close one elem school and build another new one. Far better to move students around and use our existing resources, and find another option, like a community center, for the swing space.

Can you explain why you think it's better to close an elem school AND build a brand new one as opposed to using what we have?

I think this is a false choice since it's not actually what APS is proposing to do here. APS is proposing to close Nottingham TEMPORARILY and use it as a swing space for other kids while their local school gets necessary repairs that they can't accomplish over the summer break. Your plan isn't solving that problem.

I don't have a huge problem with reallocating the school numbers to balance out the schools more, unless it means that kids in the south are going to have significantly longer bus rides on a long term basis just so folks in the north can keep all of their schools. The North sure wouldn't stand for their kids getting bussed to southern schools for super long bus rides, if it came to that, but you seem to be saying that it's okay for southern kids to sit on busses for longer periods every day. That's not really equity. If 60% of the schools are in the north but 60% of the kids are in the south, it's not exactly fair to the kids in the south to make them travel longer just for school access, if you get me. But in a pinch and as a SHORT TERM solution, I'm okay with it and maybe it's the best APS can do on a temporary basis -- similar to my attitude towards using Nottingham as a short term solution for renovations.

No one is going to bus kids from Hoffman Boston all the way up to Nottingham. Shifts would be more incremental. They can also some programs out of the overcrowded schools into the ones with capacity.

You don't think we should maximize our existing resources prior to building another shiny new $$$ school?

[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.

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.

And yet the neighborhood attitudes remain the same.

[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.

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.

And I guess none of them have younger siblings?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

As swing space, the 100% driving school would be mainly buses and probably not much more individual cars for pick-ups and such as you have as a neighborhood program. And probably a lot less independent drivers on those rainy or cold days when all those walkers don't actually walk. So, differences; but overall, not a tremendous increase in danger, no. As an option program, there would still be those same buses and maybe more drivers depending on the program and where most of the students come from.

Nevertheless, the other issue is the constant - or frequent - relocation of those programs. Instructional consistency is needed for special programs, too; and it isn't right to keep moving those around like second-class citizens. Sure, parents may only be involved in a preK program for a year or so; but the teachers also have to move with the program, schools have to re-arrange to accommodate, admin has to adapt, etc. personally, I think every single elementary school should have pre-K classrooms and all Montessori preK should be with Montessori (if we have to keep Montessori).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

Moving an option school North -- into Nottingham -- isn't much different than what APS is proposing, and seems to be less of a need to APS right now than having a swing space to relocate another school to temporarily while renovations are accomplished. Not sure why you're okay with moving an option school north into Nottingham's space but not with the current APS plan -- which doesn't even close the local Nottingham elementary forever as moving an option school into it would, just stick a pin in the decision for a while while numbers worked themselves out.

By the way, moving an option school north was proposed 5-10 years ago and guess which school APS wanted to convert? Nottingham. But Nottingham said no it just wouldn't work and that's how McKinley got converted into an option school. Something tells me Nottingham parents wouldn't suddenly find your plan acceptable now that it's Round 2, but what do I know?

I'm not trying to appeal to the Nottingham parents. I'm taking a system wide view, pointing out that it doesn't make sense for the system as a whole to close one elem school and build another new one. Far better to move students around and use our existing resources, and find another option, like a community center, for the swing space.

Can you explain why you think it's better to close an elem school AND build a brand new one as opposed to using what we have?

I think this is a false choice since it's not actually what APS is proposing to do here. APS is proposing to close Nottingham TEMPORARILY and use it as a swing space for other kids while their local school gets necessary repairs that they can't accomplish over the summer break. Your plan isn't solving that problem.

I don't have a huge problem with reallocating the school numbers to balance out the schools more, unless it means that kids in the south are going to have significantly longer bus rides on a long term basis just so folks in the north can keep all of their schools. The North sure wouldn't stand for their kids getting bussed to southern schools for super long bus rides, if it came to that, but you seem to be saying that it's okay for southern kids to sit on busses for longer periods every day. That's not really equity. If 60% of the schools are in the north but 60% of the kids are in the south, it's not exactly fair to the kids in the south to make them travel longer just for school access, if you get me. But in a pinch and as a SHORT TERM solution, I'm okay with it and maybe it's the best APS can do on a temporary basis -- similar to my attitude towards using Nottingham as a short term solution for renovations.

No one is going to bus kids from Hoffman Boston all the way up to Nottingham. Shifts would be more incremental. They can also some programs out of the overcrowded schools into the ones with capacity.

You don't think we should maximize our existing resources prior to building another shiny new $$$ school?

Just what shiny new elementary is being built? I haven't heard of any plans to build another school other than the redevelopment of the Career Center site.

[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.

There is no monolithic “they” and “you guys.” There never is. There are loud, often misguided, parents that get held up as the example every time. Last go-round, it was the Nottingham petition mom who wanted to call Beyer. Please stop with the broad brushing. Those people are all over and annoy everyone.

APS has repeatedly messed up when it comes to boundaries and population predictions. They’ve made terrible decisions and encourage tribal warfare with their idiotic decision making processes. They are neither honest nor competent. Yes, parents go off half-cocked out of frustration and annoyance. They’re not the real problem.