Would looming N. Arlington school boundary changes prevent you from moving there?

[Anonymous]

The problem with Arlington for a family is that most people don't care about schools and those who do care only about their own personal situation and no one else (NVD being a prime example). So happy to have escaped the madness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would repurpose some parkland to build a new school. A couple large, dumpy sites come to mind. Greater good and all.

Office vacancy rate is 25% -- you can eminent domain some 60s office buildings and turn them into schools in no time. Or that old strip mall on Wilson Blvd which is losing businesses. Tear down a couple office buildings and you get at least the Wilson site.

Yeah. Getting the moms to accept vertical schools here will be tough, though. Too urban-ish for their tastes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would repurpose some parkland to build a new school. A couple large, dumpy sites come to mind. Greater good and all.

Office vacancy rate is 25% -- you can eminent domain some 60s office buildings and turn them into schools in no time. Or that old strip mall on Wilson Blvd which is losing businesses. Tear down a couple office buildings and you get at least the Wilson site.

Yeah. Getting the moms to accept vertical schools here will be tough, though. Too urban-ish for their tastes.

Put one in an office building in Clarendon, and rezone all of Clarendon, Lyon Village, Lyon Park, and the Rosslyn/Court House area there. These are the moms who won't shut up about how great their walkable neighborhood is, so let their children partake of urban living as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would repurpose some parkland to build a new school. A couple large, dumpy sites come to mind. Greater good and all.

Office vacancy rate is 25% -- you can eminent domain some 60s office buildings and turn them into schools in no time. Or that old strip mall on Wilson Blvd which is losing businesses. Tear down a couple office buildings and you get at least the Wilson site.

Yeah. Getting the moms to accept vertical schools here will be tough, though. Too urban-ish for their tastes.

Put one in an office building in Clarendon, and rezone all of Clarendon, Lyon Village, Lyon Park, and the Rosslyn/Court House area there. These are the moms who won't shut up about how great their walkable neighborhood is, so let their children partake of urban living as well.

You could do all of those things, but it will cost a lot of money. That is the crux of the issue, not the lack of space in the County. APS is forced to figure out how to make do with what land they already own, because they don't have their own taxing authority and have to live off the money the County Board designates to APS in the budget. Right now, almost half of County revenue goes to APS-- to do what you said, it means that an even larger portion would need to go to APS and/or we need to raise County taxes. The older/childless people in Arlington are not going to go for that-- attend any of the various County Board candidate debates going on right now if you don't believe me. The hard truth is that there is no easy answer here and all the alternatives suck to some degree. The best outcome (IMO) is to get the County to turn over that Carlin Springs parcel to APS. But even that is facing huge obstacles due to complaints from older residents about traffic on Carlin Springs Road.

Make the time to show up for the County and School Board caucus next week. Peter Fallon is the only candidate running for County Board who has expressed his full commitment to making sure APS gets the land and the money that it needs to deal with capacity. In the School Board race, we need to get Lander out-- he's been there for 8 years already and look at the mess we are in. Either McMahon or O'Grady would be an improvement-- write them in as #1 and #2. It is a run-off, so if none of the candidates get 50% of the vote, they drop the last place candidate and reallocate those votes to whoever got the #2 slot on those ballots. Make sure you show up though, or the baby boomers are going to continue to drive our County decisions and we'll have low taxes and great community centers, but our schools will continue to deteriorate.

[Anonymous]

I would never move to Arlington after reading all the garbage on DCUM. It sounds to me like it's a bunch of people who care more about their short commute than good schools for their kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would never move to Arlington after reading all the garbage on DCUM. It sounds to me like it's a bunch of people who care more about their short commute than good schools for their kids.

The problem is the many people in Arlington without kids - it's a combination of old empty nesters and millenials who only care about dog parks and craft beers. APS had an advantage when all these people were paying taxes that supported students at under-enrolled schools, but now that the enrollments have picked up that advantage is gone and APS is well behind the curve when it comes to planning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would never move to Arlington after reading all the garbage on DCUM. It sounds to me like it's a bunch of people who care more about their short commute than good schools for their kids.

The problem is the many people in Arlington without kids - it's a combination of old empty nesters and millenials who only care about dog parks and craft beers. APS had an advantage when all these people were paying taxes that supported students at under-enrolled schools, but now that the enrollments have picked up that advantage is gone and APS is well behind the curve when it comes to planning.

It has been well behind the curve for over 15 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would never move to Arlington after reading all the garbage on DCUM. It sounds to me like it's a bunch of people who care more about their short commute than good schools for their kids.

Enjoy Ashburn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would never move to Arlington after reading all the garbage on DCUM. It sounds to me like it's a bunch of people who care more about their short commute than good schools for their kids.

Enjoy Ashburn.

Loudoun builds new schools on schedule. 1650-student high schools are typical and no one worries about 4000 kids crammed into one site. And South Ashburn schools are good, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would never move to Arlington after reading all the garbage on DCUM. It sounds to me like it's a bunch of people who care more about their short commute than good schools for their kids.

Enjoy Ashburn.

Loudoun builds new schools on schedule. 1650-student high schools are typical and no one worries about 4000 kids crammed into one site. And South Ashburn schools are good, too.

Sounds like you are indeed enjoying it, then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would never move to Arlington after reading all the garbage on DCUM. It sounds to me like it's a bunch of people who care more about their short commute than good schools for their kids.

Seriously? Traffic on Carlin Springs? From high school buses and students? That barely aligns with any rush hour and north-south routes are generally pretty light compared to east-west. Do these residents still consider Arlington an exurb or something???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would repurpose some parkland to build a new school. A couple large, dumpy sites come to mind. Greater good and all.

Office vacancy rate is 25% -- you can eminent domain some 60s office buildings and turn them into schools in no time. Or that old strip mall on Wilson Blvd which is losing businesses. Tear down a couple office buildings and you get at least the Wilson site.

Yeah. Getting the moms to accept vertical schools here will be tough, though. Too urban-ish for their tastes.

Put one in an office building in Clarendon, and rezone all of Clarendon, Lyon Village, Lyon Park, and the Rosslyn/Court House area there. These are the moms who won't shut up about how great their walkable neighborhood is, so let their children partake of urban living as well.

You could do all of those things, but it will cost a lot of money. That is the crux of the issue, not the lack of space in the County. APS is forced to figure out how to make do with what land they already own, because they don't have their own taxing authority and have to live off the money the County Board designates to APS in the budget. Right now, almost half of County revenue goes to APS-- to do what you said, it means that an even larger portion would need to go to APS and/or we need to raise County taxes. The older/childless people in Arlington are not going to go for that-- attend any of the various County Board candidate debates going on right now if you don't believe me. The hard truth is that there is no easy answer here and all the alternatives suck to some degree. The best outcome (IMO) is to get the County to turn over that Carlin Springs parcel to APS. But even that is facing huge obstacles due to complaints from older residents about traffic on Carlin Springs Road.

Make the time to show up for the County and School Board caucus next week. Peter Fallon is the only candidate running for County Board who has expressed his full commitment to making sure APS gets the land and the money that it needs to deal with capacity. In the School Board race, we need to get Lander out-- he's been there for 8 years already and look at the mess we are in. Either McMahon or O'Grady would be an improvement-- write them in as #1 and #2. It is a run-off, so if none of the candidates get 50% of the vote, they drop the last place candidate and reallocate those votes to whoever got the #2 slot on those ballots. Make sure you show up though, or the baby boomers are going to continue to drive our County decisions and we'll have low taxes and great community centers, but our schools will continue to deteriorate.

Can you repost these directions in concise form (I would try but afraid I would mis-transcribe on phone). Also what are exact dates of caucus??? We need to make this was for parents to act (I am doing this while holding a baby on my phone while rocking -- all of us have situational ADD )