has anyone been able to locate or access the documents that the board was supposed to disclose after the meeting last night?

Anonymous wrote:Is there any chance this "over crowding" situation at the elementary level could be temporary, over the next 4-5 years? I guess this is an unknown, but I'm concerned drastic changes will be made when the surplus of kids is not long-term. Is it possible Arlington will continue to grow at the rate it has been, when it comes to families with young children?

They have not built any new elementary schools--it's all been managed with trailers so far, and there are enough trailers around to fill six schools. (For real.) Enrollment would have to *drop* by 25% just to get rid of the trailers and return to the building use levels we had ten years ago. APS enrollment may not grow as fast five or ten years from now, but I really doubt it is going to stop growing and then shrink by 25% anytime soon.

Anonymous wrote:There is a continuing baby boom. More houses are being sold to builders and families with lots of little kids move in. The number of kids going to storytime at my library has tripled in the past 5 years! If there is a slow down it's WAY in the future.

Well, although this seems like a big pain in the tush, ultimately as long as our children continue to receive a superb education as APS is known for, this is really good news for our kids and property values. We are just in the midst of a bit of turmoil while figuring this out, but in the end hopefully it will all be worth it.

There is a continuing baby boom. More houses are being sold to builders and families with lots of little kids move in. The number of kids going to storytime at my library has tripled in the past 5 years! If there is a slow down it's WAY in the future.

Anonymous wrote:*banging head against the wall*

+1

so then maybe the streetcar can be re-directed to pass through north of lee highway

Anonymous wrote:Is there any chance this "over crowding" situation at the elementary level could be temporary, over the next 4-5 years? I guess this is an unknown, but I'm concerned drastic changes will be made when the surplus of kids is not long-term. Is it possible Arlington will continue to grow at the rate it has been, when it comes to families with young children?

I think that many people agree that the overcrowding will end at some point, but I think 4-5 years is low. Current infants and toddlers will just be entering elementary school in 4-5 years. At least in my neighborhood, there seems to be a continuing baby boom. Of course, it would be helpful if APS could get a better handle on the number of future students.

Leasing space could create capacity in a less permanent way, but I understand that they are prohibited from using bond money to renovate leased space. So I guess that's a non-starter.

Anonymous wrote:Is there any chance this "over crowding" situation at the elementary level could be temporary, over the next 4-5 years? I guess this is an unknown, but I'm concerned drastic changes will be made when the surplus of kids is not long-term. Is it possible Arlington will continue to grow at the rate it has been, when it comes to families with young children?

maybe but surplus capacity is much easier problem then overcrowding.

Is there any chance this "over crowding" situation at the elementary level could be temporary, over the next 4-5 years? I guess this is an unknown, but I'm concerned drastic changes will be made when the surplus of kids is not long-term. Is it possible Arlington will continue to grow at the rate it has been, when it comes to families with young children?

*banging head against the wall*

Either way, the school system is re-opening the boundary discussions tomorrow -
http://www.apsva.us/moreseats

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard that some people recently received letters re changed school assignments. I can't remember what the situation was - if they were being moved from the new elementary to Nottingham, or vice versa. These people lived in Tara/Leeway. Sorry, that's probably not very helpful.

Helpful in the sense that it re-affirms that the school board is completely botching this. I also heard that they're making a contingency plan because it looks like the new school won't open on time?

What?!?

I don't know, that's why I'm trying to find out. I confess, I was eavesdropping on a conversation at school pick-up and heard one of the moms say she heard the school board was planning to use the Wilson School as a back-up location until the new school opens if it doesn't happen on time. Can you imagine people having to drive all the way from north west Arlington into Rosslyn during rush hour every morning to take their kids to school? I hope this isn't true!

You do know that all the Nottingham kids went to school in the Wilson building when Nottingham was rebuilt, right?

The New School isn't behind anymore. It's going to open on time.

If the Board ends up adding capacity to Barcroft and Randolph instead of building a new school at TJ, some boundaries will probably change because those will stay neighborhood schools, whereas TJ might have been a choice school.

Anonymous wrote:shifting elementary kids to a "temporary" school, even for a couple months, seems extremely disruptive to a successful educational year.

I believe that the Wilson building has been used for this multiple times -- I've heard about Glebe using it during renovations as well as Drew.