APS Boundary Changes - When is the Next Round and Which Schools?

[Anonymous]

I remember hearing that pre-COVID, the plan for this past year's boundary changes was to change more boundaries. Does anyone know which additional schools were/ are up for possible boundary changes and when this process will begin? We're trying to buy and just want to be aware of what is coming down the pike. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Everything. There are lots of open seats in the west. They will probably lose either Tuckahoe or nottingham to a choice school.

[Anonymous]

Elementary schools are in the next round due to a new school in Westover. Changes are scheduled scheduled to take place in the fall. The “engage” site in APS website is a good source.

https://www.apsva.us/engage/elementary-school-planning-for-2021/planning-for-school-moves-2021/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everything. There are lots of open seats in the west. They will probably lose either Tuckahoe or nottingham to a choice school.

Sorry this is untrue. Due to the pandemic, they pulled back. From APS engage site:

“On Dec. 3, the School Board approved elementary school boundary adjustments to create an attendance zone for the new neighborhood school at the Key site, place Arlington Science Focus School (ASFS) within its attendance zone, and create an adjusted attendance zone for McKinley Elementary School with most students moving with the school to the Reed site. The new boundaries will take effect in Fall 2021.

Due to the pandemic and stress on families, Superintendent Dr. Francisco Durán narrowed the scope of this boundary process from the initial countywide approach involving most neighborhood elementary schools to one that made minimal reassignments needed to ensure use of all school facilities in 2021-22.”

Schools impacted are here and include Ashlawn, McKinley, ASFS, Key, Taylor and tuckahoe.

https://www.apsva.us/post/school-board-adopts-new-elementary-school-boundaries-for-2021-22-school-year/

From Ashlawn to ASFS: 23220, 23230, 23231
From ASFS to new school at Key site: 24050, 24051, 24060, 24070, 24071, 24130, 24031, 24030, 24033, 24032, 24090, 24040, 24041, 24042, 24043, 24081, 24082
From ASFS to Taylor: 24010, 24011, 24020
From McKinley to Ashlawn: 14100, 14101, 14110
From Taylor to ASFS: 23170, 23190, 23180, 23200, 23210, 23211
From Tuckahoe to McKinley at Reed site: 16061

[Anonymous]

I hope they revise and don't send so much McK to Reed. That's too many and they will be back in trailers in 2 years, just in time for the fields to open back up (thanks storm water).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope they revise and don't send so much McK to Reed. That's too many and they will be back in trailers in 2 years, just in time for the fields to open back up (thanks storm water).

Revise when? The plan was already approved.

[Anonymous]

Elementary boundaries won’t be up for another four or five years. Next up will be high school review, I believe, and then middle school before they come back to elementary again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Elementary boundaries won’t be up for another four or five years. Next up will be high school review, I believe, and then middle school before they come back to elementary again.

Huh? Elementary is changing in the fall.

[Anonymous]

They are doing another full boundary look in two years (so boundaries will change again for fall 2023 and the process to decide them would be before that). All planning units in play. They have made a point of saying that repeatedly.

They punted doing anything real this last time after McKinley people freaked out and did basically nothing and kicked the can down the road. Which, in my opinion, was not the right move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope they revise and don't send so much McK to Reed. That's too many and they will be back in trailers in 2 years, just in time for the fields to open back up (thanks storm water).

That site is not supposed to have trailers. They have said it won’t/can’t. I think they are counting on Covid depressing enrollment until they can go back and fix the Reed boundary they put in place. So let’s hope that works out for them.

[Anonymous]

All elementary schools are on the table in the next round, which is coming up fast. From an APS press release from Dec 2020: “The motion adopted by the School Board on Dec. 3 directed APS to conduct a countywide process in Fall 2022 to manage elementary school enrollment that will take effect in 2023-24. In 2022, Planning Units that are walkable to a school will be considered for reassignment to that school and all Planning Units that require transportation to their neighborhood school will be considered for reassignment to another nearby school. While APS will seek to avoid reassigning Planning Units in the Fall 2022 process that were reassigned in the 2020 process, it is possible that any Planning Unit could be considered for reassignment.”
https://www.apsva.us/post/school-board-adopts-new-elementary-school-boundaries-for-2021-22-school-year/

Also, during the process of setting the boundary for Reed, APS signaled that they’re looking at moving a choice school to the NW part of the county in this next boundary process. I can’t remember if they specifically called them out, but Tuckahoe and Nottingham are likely on the list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All elementary schools are on the table in the next round, which is coming up fast. From an APS press release from Dec 2020: “The motion adopted by the School Board on Dec. 3 directed APS to conduct a countywide process in Fall 2022 to manage elementary school enrollment that will take effect in 2023-24. In 2022, Planning Units that are walkable to a school will be considered for reassignment to that school and all Planning Units that require transportation to their neighborhood school will be considered for reassignment to another nearby school. While APS will seek to avoid reassigning Planning Units in the Fall 2022 process that were reassigned in the 2020 process, it is possible that any Planning Unit could be considered for reassignment.”
https://www.apsva.us/post/school-board-adopts-new-elementary-school-boundaries-for-2021-22-school-year/

Also, during the process of setting the boundary for Reed, APS signaled that they’re looking at moving a choice school to the NW part of the county in this next boundary process. I can’t remember if they specifically called them out, but Tuckahoe and Nottingham are likely on the list.

I think that the direction to plan for another round of boundary change in 2022 was just political lip service. There is a good chance that with all of the uncertainty with COVID and if APS will be five days a week next year that a lot of people will stay private. Homeschoolers will come back, but kids thinking about private school or already in private will probably not be back in APS next year. I think APS was the only school over capacity this year. I don't think other schools will all of a sudden be overcapacity next year. Makes much less sense to redo boundaries if no school is extremely overcapacity.
I agree with the PP that boundaries won't likely be redone until 2024.

[Anonymous]

You are dreaming. They are doing the boundaries again when they say they are. What they did at Reed is not sustainable as a longer term option. Also they have current issues with south Arlington schools that are still unfixed.

[Anonymous]

If there's anything we can count on in this life, it's the SB punting on anything they possibly can.

[Anonymous]

The only reason to do boundary changes is if schools are over crowded. They aren’t currently, except for Asfs which was the only reason they did them this year.
There are lots of issues with what they did last year, and what they did the time before. But considering aps’s track record of making stellar boundaries, do you really want them to do a comprehensive boundary process the first year after the pandemic is “over”? The data will be bad, they will make bad decisions, and then we will be stuck with the bad decisions for the next five years.