Reply to APS 2021-2022 boundary-adjustments

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What would happen if we did it like everywhere else and had sensible feeder bounders? 2 MS to each HS.

So TJ and Gunston to Wakefield
Swanson and Kenmore to WL
Hamm and Williamsburg to Yorkdown

What are the demographics under that scenario?

Now that we have 6 MSs, that seems like the approach that would make sense, though APS is not big on that.[/quote]
[b]The neighborhood that WL is located in is zoned for Hamm.  I think maybe having Kenmore go to Yorktown, and having all of Hamm go to WL would make more sense.  
[/b]
These are bigger changes than what they should do this year though -- the projections are horrible.  Seriously ridiculously off.  They predicted that Innovation would be at 98% capacity (that was the justification for not moving all of ASFS there, which would have left a lot of flexibility for a future rezoning since then they could have said that innovation wasn't the new school but asfs was).  Innovation has less than 400 kids!  That's at 4/6th capacity.  ASFS is at 80% capacity.  They thought it was going to be over capacity this year.  Who knows if thats just COVID and the kids are coming back, but the projections are WRONG.  We should not be disrupting kids who have already had a tough time during the pandemic using numbers that are this off.  They should change as little as possible, and then kick it down the line at least two years until they figure out who is coming back from private.  [/quote]

I agree with you that a complete overhaul is needed.  APS knows it; but they've been kicking that can down the road for years already.  But I also agree that doing it now based on weird enrollment patterns from COVID and VL, etc. is a bad idea and will only cause more frustration and chaos in a few years.  They simply need to acknowledge that they should build a fourth high school and go ahead and build it for heaven's sake.  NOT a special program. NOT a virtual academy.  NOT another small option school.  Just build a friggin' comprehensive high school and give all of our kids reprieve from crowded, large high schools.

Nevertheless, I don't know that I agree with you re having all of Hamm go to WL and having Kenmore go to YHS.  Have you really thought about that and what that entails?  It entails hundreds of students south of 50 and on the west side of the County bussing up to YHS while most of the NE corner goes to centrally located WL.  Nice for you - I assume you're in that little Hamm area.  Though I honestly don't get why WL seems to be the holy grail of Arlington and everyone seems to prefer to be zoned there.[/quote]

We are never getting a 4th high school in our lifetime. They will point to current drop as justification to not build it and hold up DL and Tech as ways to manage any return of population growth. Imagine all Freshmen in a huge introductory English course via DL, lectured at like online university. That’s the fallback if they need space. Count on it. [/quote]

We all like to trash APS here; and sure APS makes it easy and gives us lots of material. But come on. "in our lifetime"? Either the system tanks and people withdraw until enrollment evens out, OR, they put it off as long as possible and try shift schedules or massive DL to avoid it. All those alternatives are going to be disastrous admissions of failure, and that will become apparent after a year or two. If that happens the system will find the political will to build the high school because the alternative would be to admit that APS is second-rate and more like ACPS than FFX. The central office and County Board can't abide that; their entire self-concept is based on Arlington being special and better. Now, I think recent years show us they are more concerned with the perception of being better than the actual reality, but reality has a way of catching up and breaking through perceptions like that. When that happens they'll decide to do something about it.  [/quote]

The problem with your theory is the fact that APS never admits failure.[/quote]

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