Anonymous wrote:It seems obvious to me that the only way forward is to build a new high school on the VH land, and take back some of the old schools (now community centers) to expand elementary/middle school capacity. How can we make these things happen?

First, look into the costs of adapting old school buildings so they're suited to current requirements. Then explain to everyone who uses them currently that schools are much more important than whatever they were doing. If anyone suggests that all members of the community deserve to have programs to meet their needs, stick your fingers in your ears and sing la la la la.

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Anonymous wrote:All this won't be affecting me, I'm switching my kids to private. Y'all can have my % of the taxes.. you're welcome.

+1. I only see the schools when I vote.

We got out of the shit show that is APS this year. The $$$ for private school is so worth it on so many levels. We thought we might bring them back for HS, but it's not looking so good.

Thankfully their school has really strong high school outplacement.

Is it really worth $37K a year? Maybe it is. I'm not snarking, just curious.

I have two in Catholic HS - comes to about 40K/yr. Yes it's worth it. I read about the APS issues with interest since they will affect property taxes and home values. But my kids will not need to live through that.

If your kids are already in school they wouldn't be "living through" anything. There are 6 years between my oldest and my youngest. My youngest has experienced much more crowded schools but his experience hasn't been appreciably different from his brother's. And let's be honest: Catholic schools aren't known for small class sizes.

Also, your kids are already in HS? Way to be dramatic.

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The last few HB posts are by me. As I noted above, I'm not an HB parent. We have no more crisis today than we did many months back when the HB discussions were going on. I don't know why you think reopen in this discussion would solve the crisis. Let's say we decided to make HB a 1300-student school (doubling its size). Now what? Can it fit on the proposed site? And what do we do about the 1000+ seats we still need?

My kids are at W-L and Swanson, so trust me, I know from crowded schools.

The original plan was for a 1300 seat MS on the site, so yes, a 1300-seat HB would fit. And adding 600 seats is more than is being proposed for any other school addition.

Adding that many seats would mean adding about 340 high school seats and 260 middle school seats. It's not that different from the proposed additions at the MS and HS, but adding floors while you're building is a lot less expensive than putting additions on existing buildings, which APS is probably also going to do.

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Anonymous wrote:If the three comprehensive high schools are increasing their student populations by 50% in a decade than so should HB. It's absolutely ridiculous for that school to be in a protective bubble. I don't care if their program doesn't work if there are 50% more kids attending it. 3,000 students at a high school doesn't work either.

A PP mentioned that Arlington tech should have been another HB. But another HB would only put a small dent in the solving the high school overcrowding since HB only has 70-80 kids per grade. Need to find 1200 seats for high school in 4 years and double that in 9.

This ship has sailed. They are building a new school for HB. They aren't going to increase enrollment beyond that which is already planned, or it too will be an overcrowded building. Focus your energy elsewhere. (And no, I'm not an HB parent.)

The VH parcel is absolutely critical. Can there really be serious consideration of any other use for this land?

Who cares if HB's new building is overcrowded. So will be Wajefields new building and WL's not very old building and Yorktown's recently renovated building.

How many extra students do you think they could cram in there? A hundred? Two hundred? That won't even put a dent in the number of seats needed.

People, seriously. Stop tilting at windmills. The HB decision has been made. Period. We cannot solve this problem by pushing a few more students into HB. Let's focus on real solutions.

Once again the HB community shows itself to be the most selfish group around. Of course it's appropriate to reopen the discussion given the CRISIS that we are facing in APS and consider how additional students might be allowed to attend the school.

The last few HB posts are by me. As I noted above, I'm not an HB parent. We have no more crisis today than we did many months back when the HB discussions were going on. I don't know why you think reopen in this discussion would solve the crisis. Let's say we decided to make HB a 1300-student school (doubling its size). Now what? Can it fit on the proposed site? And what do we do about the 1000+ seats we still need?

My kids are at W-L and Swanson, so trust me, I know from crowded schools.

Well, I've been saying that HB should be slightly bigger from the beginning (and not just here on DCUM). But now that it's clear there is not only not a plan for a fourth comprehensive high schools, but that my kids might need to go to HS in in shifts, even though the community said LOUDLY and REPEATEDLY that this is a terrible idea that nobody except people who aren't going to be affected by the change want, I think it's valid for parents to demand that we scrap the new HB all together and use that $100 million for a school that will benefit more than 750 students. HB is a luxury that we don't have any longer. Nice to have, but in a crisis, it moves to the back of the line of priorities.

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Anonymous wrote:All this won't be affecting me, I'm switching my kids to private. Y'all can have my % of the taxes.. you're welcome.

+1. I only see the schools when I vote.

We got out of the shit show that is APS this year. The $$$ for private school is so worth it on so many levels. We thought we might bring them back for HS, but it's not looking so good.

Thankfully their school has really strong high school outplacement.

Is it really worth $37K a year? Maybe it is. I'm not snarking, just curious.

I have two in Catholic HS - comes to about 40K/yr. Yes it's worth it. I read about the APS issues with interest since they will affect property taxes and home values. But my kids will not need to live through that.

If your kids are already in school they wouldn't be "living through" anything. There are 6 years between my oldest and my youngest. My youngest has experienced much more crowded schools but his experience hasn't been appreciably different from his brother's. And let's be honest: Catholic schools aren't known for small class sizes.

Honestly, the idea of schools operating in shifts is so ridiculous on its face that I can't imagine APS seriously thinks it is an option. I think they are just laying the cards on the table: this is how many students we think we are going to have. This is the only way we are going to be able to house them unless we build more schools. They've got to be hoping that laying out the worst case scenario will be galvanizing.

Well, I feel galvanized but I'm not sure what to do about it. What's the best way to effect change here? It seems obvious to me that the only way forward is to build a new high school on the VH land, and take back some of the old schools (now community centers) to expand elementary/middle school capacity. How can we make these things happen?

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Anonymous wrote:All this won't be affecting me, I'm switching my kids to private. Y'all can have my % of the taxes.. you're welcome.

+1. I only see the schools when I vote.

We got out of the shit show that is APS this year. The $$$ for private school is so worth it on so many levels. We thought we might bring them back for HS, but it's not looking so good.

Thankfully their school has really strong high school outplacement.

Is it really worth $37K a year? Maybe it is. I'm not snarking, just curious.

I have two in Catholic HS - comes to about 40K/yr. Yes it's worth it. I read about the APS issues with interest since they will affect property taxes and home values. But my kids will not need to live through that.

The building cost for a new HB is crazy expensive. Scrap it altogether, and go back for the drawing board. That money would be better spent on an 4th high school.
We can't afford a tiny private school on the tax payer dime at this time.

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Anonymous wrote:If the three comprehensive high schools are increasing their student populations by 50% in a decade than so should HB. It's absolutely ridiculous for that school to be in a protective bubble. I don't care if their program doesn't work if there are 50% more kids attending it. 3,000 students at a high school doesn't work either.

A PP mentioned that Arlington tech should have been another HB. But another HB would only put a small dent in the solving the high school overcrowding since HB only has 70-80 kids per grade. Need to find 1200 seats for high school in 4 years and double that in 9.

This ship has sailed. They are building a new school for HB. They aren't going to increase enrollment beyond that which is already planned, or it too will be an overcrowded building. Focus your energy elsewhere. (And no, I'm not an HB parent.)

The VH parcel is absolutely critical. Can there really be serious consideration of any other use for this land?

Who cares if HB's new building is overcrowded. So will be Wajefields new building and WL's not very old building and Yorktown's recently renovated building.

How many extra students do you think they could cram in there? A hundred? Two hundred? That won't even put a dent in the number of seats needed.

People, seriously. Stop tilting at windmills. The HB decision has been made. Period. We cannot solve this problem by pushing a few more students into HB. Let's focus on real solutions.

Once again the HB community shows itself to be the most selfish group around. Of course it's appropriate to reopen the discussion given the CRISIS that we are facing in APS and consider how additional students might be allowed to attend the school.

The last few HB posts are by me. As I noted above, I'm not an HB parent. We have no more crisis today than we did many months back when the HB discussions were going on. I don't know why you think reopen in this discussion would solve the crisis. Let's say we decided to make HB a 1300-student school (doubling its size). Now what? Can it fit on the proposed site? And what do we do about the 1000+ seats we still need?

My kids are at W-L and Swanson, so trust me, I know from crowded schools.

I'm sorry. Have they broken ground on the new HB? Seems to me we can reverse course and make changes, if they haven't started construction.
Total bullshit that we are talking about doing shifts, but HB isn't part of the discussion.

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Anonymous wrote:All this won't be affecting me, I'm switching my kids to private. Y'all can have my % of the taxes.. you're welcome.

+1. I only see the schools when I vote.

We got out of the shit show that is APS this year. The $$$ for private school is so worth it on so many levels. We thought we might bring them back for HS, but it's not looking so good.

Thankfully their school has really strong high school outplacement.

Is it really worth $37K a year? Maybe it is. I'm not snarking, just curious.

Not right now it's not worth it (though there are definite benefits), says a parent with one in private high school and two who very recently graduated from WL. Five-ten years from now it may be worth it, depending on how high school overcrowding is handled.

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Anonymous wrote:How far along are they in building the new Wilson building?

I think it's BS that they're allowed to keep the program so small. It is entirely possible to have a 1300-student secondary program that is collectively run. If the current population doesn't want to stick around, fine. Plenty of other people would take their places.

Having attended a 600-student high school, I think you are dead wrong. But again, it doesn't matter because THIS SHIP HAS SAILED.

Adding students to the HB program in proportion to the overcrowding at the 3 high schools is not THE solution but it definitely should be PART of the solution. I just hope that HB has to operate in double shifts if the 3 high schools have to.

Have a lottery for every high school seat and eliminate the boundaries.

That alone could easily reduce the high school population by 50% in the next 10 years.

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Anonymous wrote:All this won't be affecting me, I'm switching my kids to private. Y'all can have my % of the taxes.. you're welcome.

+1. I only see the schools when I vote.

We got out of the shit show that is APS this year. The $$$ for private school is so worth it on so many levels. We thought we might bring them back for HS, but it's not looking so good.

Thankfully their school has really strong high school outplacement.

Is it really worth $37K a year? Maybe it is. I'm not snarking, just curious.

Anonymous wrote:Cover a portion of 66 and build up.

This is not that far fetched. W-L already has 2 acres of parking/tennis courts over 66. You would probably need a site adjacent to 66 and then use the over 66 space for athletic fields, parking, etc.