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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
The total budget line through the effective date of the division of TC is $124.2 million.  It's already in the budget.  
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Total budget line for two high schools? For high school expansion in general? For all new capacity? And what "effective date"?   Again, please link AND please specify the page number on which any fact you are citing to be found.  Until you do, I will assume you are misunderstanding any facts you claim to cite. [/quote]

Is anything being done to fight the division of the high schools in East vs. West.  I've seen letters online from a teacher group at TC and from a former school board member advocating for a Minnie Howard expansion (to 9 and 10).  The east/ west division of middle schools have a clear imbalance racially and socio-economically, which has been pointed out by at least one school board member publicly.  In terms of distance, TC is centrally located and just as close to the West End as the East end. I assume some of this could come out in a community dialogue, which I fear would take away from the capacity discussion. [/quote]

Nothing is being done to fight the TC split that is underway, in part because the school board only recently admitted that this is what they have been planning and implementing.  And those recent admissions have been in the press and not in official statements other than the educational specification regulations - those are formal, publicly released, and binding.  The school board’s intention is to have all final approvals in place so that the split is irreversible before conducting any formal public proceedings to bless their already-made decision.  [/quote]

can you cite to articles, would like to read more about it. [/quote]

There is no split underway.  For some reason one person (maybe two?) seem obsessed with the idea that there is. The only evidence is a stretched reading of a few lines in a technical specs doc for new high school capacity.  Dem Mayor nominee Wilson has said to one such individual (on FB) that they are reading the docs incorrectly.  While they have not yet determined where or how they will add capacity, I think maintaining a city wide school is the most likely outcome by far.  [/quote]

The split is actively underway.  It's four technical documents, the city has budgeted it, and now the school board has set it for implementation.  It's final.  The most recent one of the documents, which discusses the exact nature of the planning (a split is the only option under consideration) was posted at:  http://esbpublic.acps.k12.va.us/attachments/8b8b93f8-e13d-4d68-aa19-b48ccf65efe7.pdf and the staff presentation (which has the correct date) is at:   http://esbpublic.acps.k12.va.us/attachments/ac6ed749-8dc5-4cc8-9f62-36ba861900a2.pdf

School board contractors conducted a survey of exactly 16 TC Williams faculty, and 9 opposed.  They conducted the survey in November 2017, but the results were so contrary to what school board wanted that they buried it in the May 20, 2018 meeting.  See the last two pages in particular:   http://esbpublic.acps.k12.va.us/attachments/2e1aac3c-2b25-4ef6-9dd0-d5d3d219dc70.pdf - the report has more pages than survey participants.  The consultants that the school board hired were directed to recommend against any structure except for multiple high schools, and they complied.  See their summary, posted at:  http://esbpublic.acps.k12.va.us/attachments/30039e67-5330-432a-a853-e4b9aa706375.pdf

School board has never once entertained any proposal but for the creation of the new, lower-tier 9-12 high school.  There is not a single document that the school board has adopted that tees that option up.

[/quote]

The teacher comments are interesting b/c slightly more than half support things other than 2 comprehensive schools, but that wasn't what was conveyed to the board-- which is disappointing and frustrating.  [b]No surprisingly no one has considered the logistics or $ in throwing together a 2nd school.  Pressure to do the right thing (ie not resegregate the schools) may have to come from the City council in allocating funds[/b]. [/quote]

PP replying.  The city council only seems to be at the margin of understanding just how inept and dishonest the school board is.  The school board has not - just for example - shown anyone a comparison of how many square feet per student T.C. Williams has, compared to other high schools in the area - the result of a comparison would be that there is no real overcrowding, and no need for this massive project that will re-segregate the city.  There is a budget of $124 million for the re-segregation project (it's in the city manager's budget for that amount), and the new high school will open in 2022, assuming no substantial delays.  With non-tax interest, and even without change orders and assuming not one single delay, that would come to a total cost of about $200 million.

Remember that this is the school board that bought the office building elementary school before realizing that they couldn't use 1/3 of it.  Remember that this is the school board that bought the office building elementary school before checking to see if other consents to the purchase were contractually required.  Remember that this is the school board that just hired a principal (and publicly announced the hiring) before running a simple Google search, which would have revealed all the hostile litigation and job issues, and then had to withdraw the offer.  Remember that this is the school board that operates the Cora Kelly school, that is in violation of the building code, and that hasn't even put out a bid for comprehensive emergency work.  Remember that this is the school board that operates George Washington, which is about to physically cave in and has had to be shuttered several times this year.  A lot of people are betting, I think correctly, that the school board won't be able to complete the project on time and on budget anyway.  That means that the kids who will be removed from T.C. Williams by [b]the school board's re-segregation decision[/b] will probably get crammed in some abandoned warehouse building, while city council stands by congratulating itself on doing whatever the school board tells it to.

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Where do you see anything about re-segregation, either explicit or implicit?[/quote]

Definitely a socio-economic status segregation.  The plan is to have two or more separate high school zones.  The only high school locations that school board is considering are west of the current high school.  The west end will be separated into a new high school zone.  The T.C. Williams building will be for east/middle students.  The current building has all the extras - the planetarium, the large auditorium, the practice rooms, the multi-floor gym, the scholarship office, and everything else.  It's a geographic split and the school board is picking the winners and the losers, except that eventually everybody will lose.  [/quote]

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