Reply to High School Overcrowding 2024

Forum Index » VA Public Schools other than FCPS

Reply to "High School Overcrowding 2024"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Current projections don't really show us needing a 4th HS right now. All the classes in the pipeline (current K and up) are around 2000-2100 students, that means we need about 8200 HS seats.

That's:
W&L 2700
Wakefield 2100
Yorktown 2100
HB 450
CC  800 (assuming they add 300 or so in the next 4-5 years)
Shriver/Langston/New Directions 100

That's 8250.

So we have enough HS seats, but just barely. It probably would be smart to grow Tech to 800 not 600 to give us a bit more breathing room, but there's not a mad rush to build more than that.

By the same logic, MS seats are also fine. That's 6200 or so MS seats, which is 6 1000K MS + HB. So also fine.

All that said, the boundaries need to be done really well. Because we need to fill all the seats to make it work.[/quote]

You are using enrollment numbers, not seat capacity numbers.  The point is that our current buildings are overcrowded (except for HB).
[/quote]

Yes, these estimates aren't accurate looking ahead to when today's elementary kids are going to be in MS and HS (when we're going to gain at least 250 to 400 students per grade over what we have now).

APS has delayed and planned poorly for the past decade.  They were going to throw everything at the Career Center (a terrible plan and not thought out at all) but of course have discovered that it won't work within budget.  They will be making a final decision this week though based on absolutely no plan.  I guess they'll be winging it and hope for the best.

So, I would look elsewhere.  APS in the next decade is going to be pretty bad for secondary students.  At any rate, don't judge based solely on which school is the most overcrowded now.  APS will be re-drawing MS and HS boundaries again this fall, and will probably re-do them every 2 to 3 years for the foreseeable future.[/quote]

Here are the kids currently in the system:
https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/U-MEM_281_Membership_Summary_All.pdf

Biggest class is rising 3rd grade -- 2110. I do agree that all our seats are used to max with the kids in the system.

I didn't know they screwed the W&L design. Why APS? Why?[/quote] I don’t think that’s it exactly. I’ve been told that W-L was even a much bigger school 40 years ago. Also the PTA supported expanding the school. That’s all I know. The PTA and then [b]the BLPC had a lot of influence over the design of a W-L expansion at the Ed Center.[/b] I think the PTA was also bitter after losing a huge chunk of neighborhoods to Wakefield and Yorktown in the boundary change. [/quote]

Not really, and I am a member of the BLPC.  The budget was/is extremely tight and the directive was clear that the space had to be designed in such a way that it would be possible to use it as an ES in the future with minimal additional construction.[/quote]
 
[b]If they know there's a high likelihood of wanting it to be an elementary school, then they should just go ahead and make it an elementary school[/b] or a preschool center.  Wasting time and money to make it a "commons" that won't significantly relieve the experience of overcrowded classrooms and hallways for the high school kids is just stupid.[/quote]

During the next high school population decline the building could be repurposed as an elementary school. As I understand, the limited design work is a way of future-proofing the building. [/quote]

Yes, I get that.  But failing to optimize its use to alleviate the crowding in WL and just make it "commons" area is short-sisghted and a waste of money.  And who's to say there will be a huge high school enrollment decline or that it will coincide with the next urgent need for elementary seats?  Flexibility construction is fine.  Just use it now in the most effective way it can be for its current purpose.

I think it would be wiser to think about the space as permanent HS needs because they can easily make it the IB program.  It's not a great parcel for an elementary school.  Flexible use; but making something that can be suited to tiny 5 year olds as well as tall 18 year olds is difficult and limiting.[/quote]

Do most school districts in urban areas see huge decline in student populations?[/quote]

Public schools in the DC area saw a dramatic decline in the 80s due to the very low birth rate in the mid to late 70s. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics