Reply to APS - new CIP proposal

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I ask again, how are MS seats desperately needed? Didn't we JUST open a new MS?[/quote]

Yes, but they opted to reduce the size by 300 seats after the original proposal, because then it would’ve been larger than the other MS. [b]So now we either build option seats, or make a less wealthy MS take on the burden of an additional 300 students. [/b]Painted ourselves into a corner with this one.

[b]So, for equity reasons, these have to be option seats.[/b] My concern is that they have chosen 1) a program that requires previous experience (Montessori, you bet their PAC won’t want the “integrity” of the program diluted by allowing kids without ES Montessori experience to be admitted) and hasn’t demonstrated growth or a desire that isn’t being met currently and 2) a program that has only existed as a HS to date. To me, the latter is less objectionable than the former, in terms of actually alleviating crowding at neighborhood MS, because it will be open to any ES applicant, and I can imagine that if they had nice facilities and not just a parking lot full of trailers this program would become as attractive as HB for 6-12. I see absolutely no benefit to the system or to addressing overcrowding by expanding the MS Montessori program, nor to expanding ES Montessori nor consolidating all Pre-K Montessori seats on this site. [/quote]

This is nonsense.
What is your logic that a less wealthy MS would have to take on the burden of an additional 300 seats instead of a wealthier one?!  Where does that idea even come from?
An addition could be managed at one of the wealthy middle schools just as well as at one of the others - but without the academic impacts on ELL and underprivileged students.
They can add on to Hamm to make it the 1300 seats they originally planned (and knew they needed at the time but - per usual weak "leadership" - caved to the community's crying foul)
Also, there is a significant difference between a wealthy (Hamm/Williamsburg type) middle school being 300 students larger than a poor (Kenmore/TJ type) middle school being 300 students larger.

Additional MS seats absolutely do NOT have to be option seats.  APS needs to accept the most obvious answer:  use the Kenmore site and create a MS/HS campus and move middle and high school immersion there.
[/quote]

Oh, but they will, and you and I both know it. If a MS has to grow, it’s not going to be one that has successfully fought it within the short term. They’ve already done design studies for Kenmore and Gunston, where the parents rarely fight back. If they make them neighborhood seats, it will be at one of these two schools. Easier for them to just declare them option. The STUPID part is making even a single one of them Montessori. Nobody wants Montessori MS seats. If they build it, they won’t come. It would make more sense and more space if they move Immersion seats from Gunston instead to the ATS campus and make it a Pre-K-8 Immersion site there. Move the one Montessori MS class to the Henry building, move out a Pre-K class to a satellite where they have excess space, and build Arl Tech to 800-1000 6-12th grade. Done. [/quote]

I agree this would be a much better, cheaper, and faster plan.  And then down the road, built out Kenmore to have an arts focused middle school / high school program within the school.  Not a single penny should be spent on Montessori middle school.  I think the program should be ended once Arlington Tech gets built out as a 6-12 program.  Montessori elementary and Campbell's program can both feed into Arlington Tech (if the students choose, but I don't think they should have preference).

How many acres is the ATS campus compared to the Career Center campus (not counting the MPSA side)?[/quote]

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