Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.arlnow.com/2017/02/10/aps-beginning-planning-process-for-new-high-school/

Having been following these issues for a couple months now, this does seem like progress. I'm relatively new here though.

It is very, very important for parents to get involved and provide feedback. Nancy Van Doren did not want this process implemented-- she wanted it to be entirely up to the School Board and APS to decide. Reid Goldstein fought hard to get a process set-up to solicit community feedback. However, behind the scenes, Van Doren and Chadwick are both saying that it will be a 1,300 "seat" extension of W-L at the Ed Center building regardless of input. (For those of you new to the discussion, the Ed Center building is the mid-rise office building next to the planetarium.) Two important points: (1) 1,300 seats is not enough high school seats to address longer-term capacity 10 years out. APS's own numbers show that we need closer to 2,000 high school seats by 2022; and (2) If the seats are located at the Ed Center building, it won't be comprehensive high school because that site is too small to even provide a separate gym, let alone fields, etc. We're essentially just super-sizing W-L (which is what Nancy wants... she is pushing to annex IB over to that building and add World Languages). If you are among the vast majority of parents who just want APS to build a fourth high school, you need to speak up! If not, Nancy will push through her plan and claim that it is what most parents wanted. She interprets parent silence as agreement with her positions.

How do we get involved? I just have a toddler, so am not in the schools on a day-to-day basis, but strongly think we need a fourth comprehensive high school. Does going to school board meetings actually make a difference?

PP, I'm not the poster you asked this question of but I wanted to respond because I'm in a similar situation as you are. My oldest will be in K next year. I started to pay attention and get involved during the high school boundary redrawing this fall, which was kind of an ugly and eye-opening process. I have lots of thoughts about that, but the upshot is there was a group of well-organized parents in a certain neighborhood who did not want to be re-zoned and they engaged in a lot of activity, including showing up at meetings en masse (I believe they even wore coordinated shirts) and working through their neighborhood civic association. I don't live in that neighborhood, but in my neighborhood there were petitions circulated and emails sent encouraging people to write school board and to fill out the online community survey. All of these are ways of making your voice heard, if you can't actually make a particular meeting. In particular, I would join your neighborhood civic association. Mine has monthly meetings and they send out the agenda ahead of time so you can see if the topics are of interest. You'll also find that your civic association does other things (neighborhood parks, business development and zoning, community events) and that, potentially to your surprise, a lot of the association members of other generations might not see things exactly the way you or I do as young mothers just starting out.

Anonymous wrote:11:08 - You can start here: https://arlingtonva.s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2017/01/CFS_WorkSession_Phase2Presentation_20170124.pdf

And here: http://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/APS-Enrollment-Report-Final_SY2016_web_singlepgs.pdf

Holy shit. Within 10 years, two of three high schools are projected to have 3,000 students in (what I presume are) 2,000 student capacity buildings. And we just went through the craziness of that boundary redrawing for.... 150 students?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.arlnow.com/2017/02/10/aps-beginning-planning-process-for-new-high-school/

Having been following these issues for a couple months now, this does seem like progress. I'm relatively new here though.

It is very, very important for parents to get involved and provide feedback. Nancy Van Doren did not want this process implemented-- she wanted it to be entirely up to the School Board and APS to decide. Reid Goldstein fought hard to get a process set-up to solicit community feedback. However, behind the scenes, Van Doren and Chadwick are both saying that it will be a 1,300 "seat" extension of W-L at the Ed Center building regardless of input. (For those of you new to the discussion, the Ed Center building is the mid-rise office building next to the planetarium.) Two important points: (1) 1,300 seats is not enough high school seats to address longer-term capacity 10 years out. APS's own numbers show that we need closer to 2,000 high school seats by 2022; and (2) If the seats are located at the Ed Center building, it won't be comprehensive high school because that site is too small to even provide a separate gym, let alone fields, etc. We're essentially just super-sizing W-L (which is what Nancy wants... she is pushing to annex IB over to that building and add World Languages). If you are among the vast majority of parents who just want APS to build a fourth high school, you need to speak up! If not, Nancy will push through her plan and claim that it is what most parents wanted. She interprets parent silence as agreement with her positions.

How do we get involved? I just have a toddler, so am not in the schools on a day-to-day basis, but strongly think we need a fourth comprehensive high school. Does going to school board meetings actually make a difference?

11:08 - You can start here: https://arlingtonva.s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2017/01/CFS_WorkSession_Phase2Presentation_20170124.pdf

And here: http://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/APS-Enrollment-Report-Final_SY2016_web_singlepgs.pdf

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm no fan of Barbara, but I think she might be able to listen to reason.
I do believe we need to get one of them out and show the board we mean business.
It's the only way they listen. Take the street car as an example.

Also: time to start fighting against "programs". They are schools. No more coming back to Wakefield or wherever for Track or basketball.
You want to go to the special school? You got it, but no more double dipping.
It seems punitive I know, but it is the only way to make the community face the reality of our stressed system. No more shell games with students and seats.
All of this shuffling around is masking a problem we need to be solving.

Arlington doesn't have the land for more fields. Lots of places share facilities--stadiums, theaters, etc.--among schools. Makes sense to have three comprehensive facilities and then satellite programs--Arlington Tech/Career Center, H-B, another program somewhere, and let them share the comprehensive facilities. We don't have the money or land to build another comprehensive school.

Yes we do. We have Carlin Springs. We have Kenmore (moving MS to a smaller parcel). We can have the "option" school form their own teams and not use other fields.

a) "We" do not have Carlin Springs
b) What smaller parcel for Kenmore?
c) Building a new comprehensive school costs more money than we have in the capital budget, which requires either exceeding the 10% bond ceiling or taking money away from county capital investments (Metro, parks) AND adding tens of millions in annual debt service payments, which far outweighs the cost of busing kids back to home schools for sports

Not on the school board, but paying attention to facilities and budget issues. It's not JUST about capacity. Big picture, people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.arlnow.com/2017/02/10/aps-beginning-planning-process-for-new-high-school/

Having been following these issues for a couple months now, this does seem like progress. I'm relatively new here though.

It is very, very important for parents to get involved and provide feedback. Nancy Van Doren did not want this process implemented-- she wanted it to be entirely up to the School Board and APS to decide. Reid Goldstein fought hard to get a process set-up to solicit community feedback. However, behind the scenes, Van Doren and Chadwick are both saying that it will be a 1,300 "seat" extension of W-L at the Ed Center building regardless of input. (For those of you new to the discussion, the Ed Center building is the mid-rise office building next to the planetarium.) Two important points: (1) 1,300 seats is not enough high school seats to address longer-term capacity 10 years out. APS's own numbers show that we need closer to 2,000 high school seats by 2022; and (2) If the seats are located at the Ed Center building, it won't be comprehensive high school because that site is too small to even provide a separate gym, let alone fields, etc. We're essentially just super-sizing W-L (which is what Nancy wants... she is pushing to annex IB over to that building and add World Languages). If you are among the vast majority of parents who just want APS to build a fourth high school, you need to speak up! If not, Nancy will push through her plan and claim that it is what most parents wanted. She interprets parent silence as agreement with her positions.

I'm the PP and thanks. I've become familiar with these issues, having started to follow this board and the Arlington Education facebook group. Where can I find the data regarding the need for 2,000 seats? I know it's out there but I'm not that familiar with where to find it or how to read it. I want to get involved. I even signed up for a county committee at the urging of folks on this board!

Anonymous wrote:https://www.arlnow.com/2017/02/10/aps-beginning-planning-process-for-new-high-school/

Having been following these issues for a couple months now, this does seem like progress. I'm relatively new here though.

It is very, very important for parents to get involved and provide feedback. Nancy Van Doren did not want this process implemented-- she wanted it to be entirely up to the School Board and APS to decide. Reid Goldstein fought hard to get a process set-up to solicit community feedback. However, behind the scenes, Van Doren and Chadwick are both saying that it will be a 1,300 "seat" extension of W-L at the Ed Center building regardless of input. (For those of you new to the discussion, the Ed Center building is the mid-rise office building next to the planetarium.) Two important points: (1) 1,300 seats is not enough high school seats to address longer-term capacity 10 years out. APS's own numbers show that we need closer to 2,000 high school seats by 2022; and (2) If the seats are located at the Ed Center building, it won't be comprehensive high school because that site is too small to even provide a separate gym, let alone fields, etc. We're essentially just super-sizing W-L (which is what Nancy wants... she is pushing to annex IB over to that building and add World Languages). If you are among the vast majority of parents who just want APS to build a fourth high school, you need to speak up! If not, Nancy will push through her plan and claim that it is what most parents wanted. She interprets parent silence as agreement with her positions.

https://www.arlnow.com/2017/02/10/aps-beginning-planning-process-for-new-high-school/

Having been following these issues for a couple months now, this does seem like progress. I'm relatively new here though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm no fan of Barbara, but I think she might be able to listen to reason.
I do believe we need to get one of them out and show the board we mean business.
It's the only way they listen. Take the street car as an example.

Also: time to start fighting against "programs". They are schools. No more coming back to Wakefield or wherever for Track or basketball.
You want to go to the special school? You got it, but no more double dipping.
It seems punitive I know, but it is the only way to make the community face the reality of our stressed system. No more shell games with students and seats.
All of this shuffling around is masking a problem we need to be solving.

Arlington doesn't have the land for more fields. Lots of places share facilities--stadiums, theaters, etc.--among schools. Makes sense to have three comprehensive facilities and then satellite programs--Arlington Tech/Career Center, H-B, another program somewhere, and let them share the comprehensive facilities. We don't have the money or land to build another comprehensive school.

total BS. the APS School Board needs to stop trolling this forum and get back to doing a people's job (i.e., serving the COMMUNITY) and stop pushing your own personal agenda.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm no fan of Barbara, but I think she might be able to listen to reason.
I do believe we need to get one of them out and show the board we mean business.
It's the only way they listen. Take the street car as an example.

Also: time to start fighting against "programs". They are schools. No more coming back to Wakefield or wherever for Track or basketball.
You want to go to the special school? You got it, but no more double dipping.
It seems punitive I know, but it is the only way to make the community face the reality of our stressed system. No more shell games with students and seats.
All of this shuffling around is masking a problem we need to be solving.

Arlington doesn't have the land for more fields. Lots of places share facilities--stadiums, theaters, etc.--among schools. Makes sense to have three comprehensive facilities and then satellite programs--Arlington Tech/Career Center, H-B, another program somewhere, and let them share the comprehensive facilities. We don't have the money or land to build another comprehensive school.

Yes we do. We have Carlin Springs. We have Kenmore (moving MS to a smaller parcel). We can have the "option" school form their own teams and not use other fields.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm no fan of Barbara, but I think she might be able to listen to reason.
I do believe we need to get one of them out and show the board we mean business.
It's the only way they listen. Take the street car as an example.

Also: time to start fighting against "programs". They are schools. No more coming back to Wakefield or wherever for Track or basketball.
You want to go to the special school? You got it, but no more double dipping.
It seems punitive I know, but it is the only way to make the community face the reality of our stressed system. No more shell games with students and seats.
All of this shuffling around is masking a problem we need to be solving.

Arlington doesn't have the land for more fields. Lots of places share facilities--stadiums, theaters, etc.--among schools. Makes sense to have three comprehensive facilities and then satellite programs--Arlington Tech/Career Center, H-B, another program somewhere, and let them share the comprehensive facilities. We don't have the money or land to build another comprehensive school.

Hi Nancy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Nancy Van Doren has overstayed her welcome.

Well where was that sentiment last spring when we could actually do something about her? She was literally just reelected.

Without being jerks about it, we could make her feel unwelcome/unappreciated. She runs on emotion, not logic, and tI think if she gets her feelings hurt, she might retreat.

Show up at her office hours and insist on a conversation that uses numbers, not soundbites. Speak at School Board meetings and acknowledge that she worked hard in school (she is very sensitive to anything that suggests she isn't perfect in every way, so credit what accomplishments you can), but her job now is to learn about facts and research, and that means being willing to drill down on data.

Anonymous wrote:We Do have land. That is just not true.

Where?

We Do have land. That is just not true.

Anonymous wrote:I'm no fan of Barbara, but I think she might be able to listen to reason.
I do believe we need to get one of them out and show the board we mean business.
It's the only way they listen. Take the street car as an example.

Also: time to start fighting against "programs". They are schools. No more coming back to Wakefield or wherever for Track or basketball.
You want to go to the special school? You got it, but no more double dipping.
It seems punitive I know, but it is the only way to make the community face the reality of our stressed system. No more shell games with students and seats.
All of this shuffling around is masking a problem we need to be solving.

Arlington doesn't have the land for more fields. Lots of places share facilities--stadiums, theaters, etc.--among schools. Makes sense to have three comprehensive facilities and then satellite programs--Arlington Tech/Career Center, H-B, another program somewhere, and let them share the comprehensive facilities. We don't have the money or land to build another comprehensive school.