Reply to APS Superintendent High School Overcrowding Plan

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Reply to "APS Superintendent High School Overcrowding Plan"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
Right, I know.  What I meant, but didn't write out, is that it seems like the most valuable input will come from people who live near the parcel.  Because the parcel is in south Arlington, that's probably not going to include very many people on MONA.[/quote]

Imagine, if you can, a world in which the long-term needs of Arlington County and APS are considered as whole, not piecemeal, with available resources presented at the same time so all groups (parents, the elderly, the young and sporty, the low income, and all the other members of the community, complete with competing AND overlapping needs) could see what the tradeoffs for various decisions are. If you build a high-rise school here, it leaves the park here untouched. If you put a middle-school here, where do you put the senior center? The high school? The art center?

If people had to think about everything at once, maybe you wouldn't have a situation in which people shout down a solution because they don't want (or do want) something to happen in their neighborhood. Something is going to happen in every neighborhood. What does the most good for the largest number at the best cost?[/quote]

I'm not sure what you're responding to.  I wrote a bit above that about the fact that I'm on my neighborhood's board, and that it's important to understand that the vast majority of Arlington households do not have school aged kids at all.  My point was that parents can't simply expect to lay claim to any available parcel of land.

I don't disagree with your aspirations for the planning process.  I think the county has attempted to move toward more holistic planning in, for example, the Lee Highway roundtables they put together recently.  However, I can tell you from recent experience, when there is a specific land use proposal on the table, the County Board staff wants to hear from people who live near that land parcel.  And so I what I was trying to say is that if there are parents who live near the Carlin Springs parcel who want to see it used for a school, and who could articulate the positive effect such a school would have on their part of the community, that will be perhaps more persuasive than input from me, a north Arlington resident, saying "please put a school over there."[/quote]

Thanks, this is valuable input. I just want to say though, because I can't resist making a snide comment, that this north Arlington resident would be happy to say "please put a school right here near me" but the only available land in my neighborhood (that I know about) is the site next to W-L, which is already a possibility being discussed for school expansion. It's not *because* the VH site is far away from me that I think it should be used. It's because I can't see another viable option for a high school/middle school (and all the associated space needed for ball fields) anywhere else. I'm happy to point to another site if there is a viable one on the table.[/quote]

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