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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Why does Alexandria City (2017 estimates:155,810) not have a similarly robust discussion on ACPS schools like Arlington County (Population estimates, July 1, 2017, (V2017)234,965) residents do? What is wrong with us that we don't discuss ACPS with regularity?

12,341 replies here in Arlington Country:  "Who said there isn't a North-South divide"http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/736028.page

versus

8566  on Alexandria HSs 
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/709108.page
(which I'm glad and reassured to see is a significant increase in responses for Alexandria City).

Seriously, we need to have these same conversations, especially since [b]the mandate discussion for a new second high school has been released (by probable) new mayor Justin Wilson on July 1, 2018[/b].

[b]PP, can you provide a link to the highlighted item?  Or more information - was it posted by Wilson, or by City Council, or on ACPS's web site?  [/b]

The Council Connection
your connection to City Council by: 
Vice Mayor Justin M. Wilson
Alexandria, Virginia
July 1, 2018

http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?m=1109043704255&ca=922413a2-5727-4996-a5d9-06a78426eec0

[quote]High School Capacity
 
When Alexandria's students came back to school in the fall of 2009, there were 2,233 students at T. C. Williams High School's King Street campus (10th, 11th and 12th grades) and 688 students at the Minnie Howard campus (9th grade). The combined 2,921 students across four grades was after several years of stagnant enrollment numbers.

When school started this past fall, there were 3,949 students across the four grades at T. C. Williams High School. Not only is T. C. Williams High School the largest four grade high school in the Commonwealth of Virginia, the next largest school has a thousand less students!

The configuration of the future of high school capacity will be one of the most important issues that our City works through over the next few years. In approving the most recent 10-year Capital Improvement Program, the School Board included $124 million spread over 3 years to address high school capacity. This is a portion of the overall capital funding that the City Council provided for the School Board in our most recently approved budget.

The Board's approved Capital Improvement Program assumes an opening of a new high school facility during Fiscal Year 2023 (begins July 1, 2022). With the money in place, we must now determine the location and configuration of that new capacity.

The City's decision to allocate significant resources to high school capacity began several years ago with requests for resources to add classrooms to the Minnie Howard campus. Ultimately that request would have only been a stop-gap, as we would have spent tens of millions of dollars to add capacity to a building that was not intended for high school use and would not have resolved the capacity challenges.

With the funding now in place for a more comprehensive answer to high school capacity, the School Board is now commencing a process to develop options and explore alternatives as to how high school capacity might be accomodated in the future.

The City Council and School Board recently approved the second phase of the Long Range Educational Facilities Plan. This phase focused on high school and early childhood education facilities and provided a series of recommendations for addressing capacity challenges for both.

The Ad Hoc Joint City-Schools Facilities Investment Task Force included resources to address high school capacity in their recommendations, but paired the resources with policy recommendations.

The residents of our City have offered a variety of ideas for how we might configure this additional capacity. Some residents support a rebuild of Minnie Howard, with a transition from a 9th grade center to one that houses 9th and 10th grades. Others have suggested that additional capacity be built on the existing King Street campus: either the site of the existing stadium, in conjunction with a rebuild of the Chinquapin Recreation Center or on the Chinquapin Park circle. Other residents have advocated a totally separate four-grade high school elsewhere in the City. Some have suggested that we obtain capacity outside of the King Street and Minnie Howard campuses for discrete programs (STEM Academy, International Academy, etc) to relieve pressure.

As we enter a new era of joint collaboration and investment in partnership with the Alexandria City Public Schools, this project will be a crucial test of our ability to work together and work to satisfy multiple municipal needs on a single site.

While I do believe we must consider all options, I do begin the process skeptical that sufficient property could be identified for a separate four-grade high school, and the equity issues arising from such an effort would not be insignificant.

This is a project that will serve the students of our City for a few generations to come, and the process must reflect the importance of the investment.

Please let me know your thoughts! [/quote][/quote]

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