Reply to APS: New petition in support of 4th Comprehensive High School option / Kenmore

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[quote=Anonymous]Not sure how this post veered off onto Reed, but here it goes... I live in Westover and attended the debate where Lander made a lot of promises. Reed advocates need to understand though that APS needs a way to put more kids into the NW because that's the only place where new ES space exists. Spend some time looking at the numbers before you rush into your caucus vote. We've got capacity at Discovery and Nottingham this year. Arguably, you also have capacity at Jamestown and Ashlawn too-- the only reason those schools look "full" is because APS filled the spaces with a bunch of preschool kids who could go anywhere. The only NW schools that are truly overcapacity this year are Tuckahoe, McKinley, and Glebe. So, at surface level, it seems to make sense to open Reed as a neighborhood school because it takes care of the excess kids at those three schools. The only problem is that combined excess does not add up to 725 students (the capacity at Reed) and so you still end up with extra space in the NW-- only spread out among Reed, Discovery, Nottingham instead of concentrated at one school. Maybe you can fill those spots with NE and S Arlington kids via the liberalized transfer policy-- but that's a big gamble, esp if transportation will not be provided (which is the current plan). Also, making Reed a neighborhood school means-- once again-- the entire 22205 (and parts of 22213 and 22207) are going to be forced through massive redistricting. That's a lot of churn to eliminate (maybe) 5-6 school buses coming through Westover two times a day. Parents in those other areas who aren't paying attention now are going to go insane once they figure out their kids might be redistricted again. I supported Reed as a neighborhood ES before Discovery and the Ashlawn & McKinley additions were decided. But the seat situation is a lot more complicated now. My kids are going to be far past elementary school by the time Reed is opened, so I don't have a dog in this fight. But I think a lot of parents who currently have babies and toddlers are going to be really pissed off in 4 years when their kids are comfortably attending McKinley or Tuckahoe or Nottingham and APS comes in and rips those schools apart in order to appease a small number of Westover residents who don't like school buses in their neighborhood. So yes, I think Maura is correct that this is a really complicated situation and you can't make this call with all the population/projection unknowns at this point. Good for her for trying to make good policy decisions and being honest. And if James Lander loves Westover so much, then explain why he voted for the crappy 2015 boundary refinement that screwed over McKinley (half of who are Westover residents)? He was chair of the School Board at the time, if I recall. People in Westover are hearing what they want to hear from James and Monique because they don't want to face the complicated reality of this entire situation. Meanwhile everyone in 22205 is going to get screwed by Lander's decision to build the 1300 high school seats at WL-- because guess what Yorktown neighborhoods are going to be the first to get redistricted to WL when it grows to 4000 students? Westover and East Falls Church ones. The SALA moms on here are annoying, but they are totally correct that the Northside is going to implode into a big shitshow over who gets kicked out of Yorktown and moved to the WL ant farm in 2022. If you need a reason to vote AGAINST Lander, that should be your #1 reason.[/quote]

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