Anonymous wrote:As gently as possible, let me say that those of you worried about MMH and the schools are clueless. Arlington is already on a trajectory for overcrowding under current zoning laws. High rise buildings and especially affordable housing have a much greater impact than any of these MM housing units. Your schools probably haven’t been impacted by these things, so you don’t know this. Welcome to what everyone else is already dealing with.

Yes, the large affordable housing projects are having a huge impact on certain schools, but it’s racist and nimby to say anything about that (sound familiar?). New MM housing will have some impact on school crowding, but not like the affordable housing where one 300 unit building drops 180 kids into the school system.

Anonymous wrote:As gently as possible, let me say that those of you worried about MMH and the schools are clueless. Arlington is already on a trajectory for overcrowding under current zoning laws. High rise buildings and especially affordable housing have a much greater impact than any of these MM housing units. Your schools probably haven’t been impacted by these things, so you don’t know this. Welcome to what everyone else is already dealing with.

Why don’t you think that people who live in new MM construction won’t have kids? Where is that idea coming from?

Anonymous wrote:We pulled my kids out of APS after elementary. The schools are overcrowded currently; all high schools are over 100% capacity. Now with MMH (or what ever the new name is since missing middle was a total misnomer) I can’t wait to move out of Arlington. Just a few more years and I’m out.

As a fact check, no. W-L is actually currently well under based on 600-seat addition. Yorktown is exactly 1 student over capacity with its senior class being the biggest class so will likely be under next year. Wakefield is over by about 130.

800+ seats are being added at the Career Center site. No, it's not the 4th high school many people wanted. There are also a lot of students in this community who are not looking for How We Do High School USA. Look at the popularity of H-B. With the early middle school set, APS has already started really talking up Arlington Tech and a lot of kids are interested.

Based on APS projections this really will meet needs. In fact, enrollment is projected to decline over the next 10 years. Of course, APS is stupid and the planners are stupid and they are all liars and no one believes anything they say. Or so it goes on DCUM and in heated PTA meetings across Arlington.

How awkward if they are correct though.

Anonymous wrote:As gently as possible, let me say that those of you worried about MMH and the schools are clueless. Arlington is already on a trajectory for overcrowding under current zoning laws. High rise buildings and especially affordable housing have a much greater impact than any of these MM housing units. Your schools probably haven’t been impacted by these things, so you don’t know this. Welcome to what everyone else is already dealing with.

I live in S Arlington and am well aware of this. What's new is that I may now be surrounded by 6-plexes which I did not count on when we spent so much $$$ for a house.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are older and almost out of APS. But I would not chose to stay in Arlington now if my kids were young. MM is just one of many problems here. I am feeling grouchy today, but that's the truth.

Arlington has no space to build a 4th HS and no money to do additions. Plus the planning process here takes decades. Not going to happen in the 8 years before your kid gets there.

So which district would you move into? I will find you an FCPS parent whose unhappy and will tell you about it.

FCPS takes excellent care of the Langley pyramid. The rest are mostly declining due to either overcrowding or declining academics.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are older and almost out of APS. But I would not chose to stay in Arlington now if my kids were young. MM is just one of many problems here. I am feeling grouchy today, but that's the truth.

Arlington has no space to build a 4th HS and no money to do additions. Plus the planning process here takes decades. Not going to happen in the 8 years before your kid gets there.

So which district would you move into? I will find you an FCPS parent whose unhappy and will tell you about it.

Private

I will never not laugh at those of you who think “I’m going private” is 100% up to you and not subject to the whims of an arbitrary admissions department.

But good luck!

Anonymous wrote:APS has many faults but you plan to send your kids to public schools, it's probably the best option in close-in DMV. My kids are in private but we live in Arlington for the school as a fallback.

+1.

There’s not a lot of money for construction. APS has been open about this in recent years. To my knowledge, they haven’t said “No 4th high school,” but they are sending strong signals that it’s never going to happen.

As gently as possible, let me say that those of you worried about MMH and the schools are clueless. Arlington is already on a trajectory for overcrowding under current zoning laws. High rise buildings and especially affordable housing have a much greater impact than any of these MM housing units. Your schools probably haven’t been impacted by these things, so you don’t know this. Welcome to what everyone else is already dealing with.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are older and almost out of APS. But I would not chose to stay in Arlington now if my kids were young. MM is just one of many problems here. I am feeling grouchy today, but that's the truth.

Arlington has no space to build a 4th HS and no money to do additions. Plus the planning process here takes decades. Not going to happen in the 8 years before your kid gets there.

So which district would you move into? I will find you an FCPS parent whose unhappy and will tell you about it.

Private

Anonymous wrote: School board has been clear that there's no land to build another comprehensive high school.

That's what eminent domain is for. Just take over some lobbyists' office spaces, even if lobbying is protected by the first amendment.

APS has many faults but you plan to send your kids to public schools, it's probably the best option in close-in DMV. My kids are in private but we live in Arlington for the school as a fallback.

What happened to Urban Villages and tapering density downhill from metro stops?

Why are we suddenly splattering the entire county with density?

https://www.carfreediet.com/urban-villages/

Schools were screwed no matter what happens OP, have you not been paying attention?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought a bunch of people actually did leave the public schools, which were becoming more and more overcrowded? But that now some kids were starting to return?

If you add even more kids without fixing the underlying overcrowding problems, where does that leave us?

(What is the solution to the high school overcrowding problem if you think it's fine to add more kids? School board has been clear that there's no land to build another comprehensive high school. School board has previously floated having virtual classes and having a two-schedule system where some kids come into school in the mornings and others come in in the afternoons. Does anyone actually WANT that? It's such a rich county and we're threatening our educational system with this ridiculousness wut?)

Missing middle isn't adding kids over night. So let's all take a deep breath.

Do you get this upset when new condo buildings are being built? Because those add MUCH more density, much faster than anything missing middle will add.

Last, absolutely bring your concerns to the county board, and ask them to work with APS to alleviate high school crowding. Complaining here does nothing.

I actually got more upset over condos being built and went to complain to the county board about it about 7 years ago -- that they weren't adequately accounting for kids being added to the schools. I don't really know how I feel about missing middle tbh - desegregating the county would be good honestly. But the schools are a problem and the county board is just ignoring the high school issue.

If they want to raise money for a new school, they could just auction a few HB seats. Equity, shmequity.