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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My understanding of why Discovery had as many bells and whistles as it has was that the cost of construction when it was contracted was very low.  (And maybe Ashlawn as well?)  So that they were able to get some pretty nice things under good market conditions.  Then the market changed, so that when McKinley's addition was bid out they were expecting to get more than they were able to, thinking the market was the same, but then the bids came back very high and they had to cut a bunch of things.[/quote]

This is why you don't splurge on bells and whistles when construction costs are low.  You raise expectations and then people feel they aren't being treated equally later when construction costs increase. All APS cared about was showing how fancy their new school could be.[/quote]

That's because they aren't being treated equally.  The new additions and whatever is built in S. Arlington won't have the bells & whistles.  Instead of being conservative with their money by bringing in Discovery at a lower cost, APS put in a school that, facility-wise, outshines the rest to the point where the disparity is obvious to all.  It would be easier to stomach if APS put the bells & whistles in schools with higher capacity and enrollment, but that's not the case.  [/quote]

This has been a county issue over the last decade in general, and south Arlington has gotten a small ( and pathetic ) taste of it as well. Million dollar dog parks, and bus stops... Do you know that a good portion of the curbs around existing bus stops aren't ADA compliant? Do you know our fire stations have been understaffed? I'm happy to say our teachers are being paid better than most in the region, and that's good... But we have water mains that are a  century old. We also have a huge student boom that the county decided  it didn't really want to deal with. We have no upgraded transportation on a major thorough fare, that they have engineered to be overwhelmed by poverty for the next 50 years. We are only 26 square miles, and parkland is precious - but the county board continue to revisit putting projects on it.  We are at 20k a head on student spending and students got iPads, but teachers weren't given training on implementation. 
I'm not anti government in the least. We need good, strong leadership. We need to pay taxes for services. Absolutely...
We also need people In charge that are willing to ask deeper questions about the ramifications of spending and long term benefits. We need people who are willing to connect the dots.[/quote]

As part of the freedom invested by our constitution, you are free to move to north arlington. That's freedom![/quote]

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