Reply to How is HB still allowed to exist given the overcrowding?!

Forum Index » Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)

Reply to "How is HB still allowed to exist given the overcrowding?!"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The problem here is not HB. The problem is a failure of the school board and county board to adequately plan for growth among young families in Arlington between 2000 and the present. HB is a convenient target, but neither the cause nor the solution to the overcrowding problems.  [/quote]

HB is not the only problem, but the SB's willingness to let it stay small is symptomatic of the inability to adopt realistic solutions to current and future problems.

The SB isn't alone in that. The Taylor parents who whined their way into the HB/Stratford building made things worse. There's plenty of blame to go around, and the bad decisions' being set in stone with the claim that a decision has been made and will not be revisited, no matter how bad the decision and how much new information has come to light since it was made, are pretty much a guarantee that nothing is going to get fixed.

I'm just hoping my kids graduate before the roof caves in.[/quote]

If a decision were made to double the size of HB, WHERE WOULD THE SCHOOL GO?

Again, this is not about HB. It is about a lack of will to acquire and designate space for a 4th high school.

When you argue that HB needs to take more students, what you are saying is that we need a 4th comprehensive high school. Dramatically increasing the size of HB will effectively kill that program.

But now, instead of fighting one fight (4th high school!), you are fighting two (4th high school! and Save HB!). By doing this you needlessly burn political capital and you make enemies among people who could have been allies. School board members get lobbied hard from both sides. It looks like constituents disagree wildly, so the SB has trouble figuring out where consensus lies.

Forget about HB. Focus on the end game. Getting rid of HB doesn't get you what we need. We could kill HB tomorrow, and we still don't have what we need.[/quote]

THIS!!!!!!! Let's focus. I have been guilty of hating on HB, for its public/private-like qualities, for the misuse of this schools as a selective/elite program, but if we had a fourth comprehensive HS, then HB could go back to being the program it was intended to be: an alternative HS. And the families whose kids need a school like HB could have that program, and we could have equitable experiences for all the rest of our kids, who will thrive and do well in traditional HS settings. I really don't like the school board's plan to build more small specialized programs, like Arl Tech and whatever they want to put at the Ed Center. Are there really two thousand students who'd be better served in a highly specialized tech program or language/arts program rather than having access to a reasonably-sized comprehensive HS? I doubt it.

Also, there is no point spending time whining about HB. That ship sailed, and there is nothing that is going to stop that school from being built at Wilson. It's done and over. Let it go and look forward to how we can best plan for the rest of the students who will not be admitted to HB. Say the serenity prayer if you must. And then vote in the upcoming elections. There are challengers to an incumbent school board member and there's a vacancy on the county board. Don't just complain. Educate yourself about the candidates and then VOTE. Last time there was a caucus, I was the only person of child-bearing years there. You want someone to listen to you? Then you need to make your voice heard by voting. No excuses.

[/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