Anonymous wrote:Not the PP, but obvious to me to make options bigger. Henry and Oakridge are so overcrowded for one reason: parents have been packing I to those zones to avoid the surrounding neighborhood schools. Making neighborhood schools like them bigger just worsens that problem and will lead to more frequent rezonings, lobbying, etc. make the option schools bigger and you give more people more choices. It's nice to have choices. Which behavior do you wa t to support, more self segregation, or more countywide integration?

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Anonymous wrote:This is probably going to get me flamed, but how about moving ATS to a bigger site like Reed? The waiting list for ATS is ridiculously long -- its almost like HB in demand. ATS is a good location for a neighborhood school for shorter bus times for the Ballston/VA square (that currently goes to Ashlawn) and you could either relieve crowding at glebe or have it shoot east and relieve crowding without having to move key. Again not sure if there is the political will to do it.
All do fairness, I live in Rosslyn, so I'd prefer that they make Key into a neighborhood school or move the immersion program to the ATS site, but I'd pick going to ATS (which is as metro accessible as ASFS) over trying to navigate buses to get to Taylor.

The problem with that is that NW is also overcrowded and needs more neigborhood seats. If they take what will be by far the largest school in that region as an option school they will actually make the boundaries up there even worse trying to relieve overcrowding. If an option school goes into NW, it has to be one of the smaller schools (but not Nottingham, because that school can take the most trailers to help cope with future overcrowding in the region).

They aren't going to revisit the decision to make Reed neighborhood. The question is whether another school becomes an option school, and if so, which option? I think they could make a good case for any of them.

That's kind of a backwards way to look at it because the schools are very differently situated in many of the relevant respects. We shouldn't decide on the school and then make the case to fit it, we should set out our needs and priorities for site selection and then choose the best sites based on that.

In a perfect world, yes. But this is APS. They are trying to clean up a mess. The only reason they're even looking at this quadrant for an option program is because they are projecting an excess of neighborhood seats once Reed comes online, and have no good way to draw boundaries to fill the schools. All the school sites that were discussed as potential places for an option program are equally poor for one reason or another. So, to my mind, they could make an equally poor case for any of them. None make sense for Immersion or for a countywide option since none are centrally located. But, here we are.

Come on, you can do better than that. Surely you could, at the very least, take a position on whether the schools with the greatest ability to flex their capacity via trailers should be option programs (giving APS the ability to increase program size as demand increases) or neighborhood schools (giving APS the ability to increase neighborhood capacity as needed between boundary reviews to address unexpected overcrowding).

Not the PP, but obvious to me to make options bigger. Henry and Oakridge are so overcrowded for one reason: parents have been packing I to those zones to avoid the surrounding neighborhood schools. Making neighborhood schools like them bigger just worsens that problem and will lead to more frequent rezonings, lobbying, etc. make the option schools bigger and you give more people more choices. It's nice to have choices. Which behavior do you wa t to support, more self segregation, or more countywide integration?

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Anonymous wrote:This is probably going to get me flamed, but how about moving ATS to a bigger site like Reed? The waiting list for ATS is ridiculously long -- its almost like HB in demand. ATS is a good location for a neighborhood school for shorter bus times for the Ballston/VA square (that currently goes to Ashlawn) and you could either relieve crowding at glebe or have it shoot east and relieve crowding without having to move key. Again not sure if there is the political will to do it.
All do fairness, I live in Rosslyn, so I'd prefer that they make Key into a neighborhood school or move the immersion program to the ATS site, but I'd pick going to ATS (which is as metro accessible as ASFS) over trying to navigate buses to get to Taylor.

The problem with that is that NW is also overcrowded and needs more neigborhood seats. If they take what will be by far the largest school in that region as an option school they will actually make the boundaries up there even worse trying to relieve overcrowding. If an option school goes into NW, it has to be one of the smaller schools (but not Nottingham, because that school can take the most trailers to help cope with future overcrowding in the region).

They aren't going to revisit the decision to make Reed neighborhood. The question is whether another school becomes an option school, and if so, which option? I think they could make a good case for any of them.

That's kind of a backwards way to look at it because the schools are very differently situated in many of the relevant respects. We shouldn't decide on the school and then make the case to fit it, we should set out our needs and priorities for site selection and then choose the best sites based on that.

In a perfect world, yes. But this is APS. They are trying to clean up a mess. The only reason they're even looking at this quadrant for an option program is because they are projecting an excess of neighborhood seats once Reed comes online, and have no good way to draw boundaries to fill the schools. All the school sites that were discussed as potential places for an option program are equally poor for one reason or another. So, to my mind, they could make an equally poor case for any of them. None make sense for Immersion or for a countywide option since none are centrally located. But, here we are.

Come on, you can do better than that. Surely you could, at the very least, take a position on whether the schools with the greatest ability to flex their capacity via trailers should be option programs (giving APS the ability to increase program size as demand increases) or neighborhood schools (giving APS the ability to increase neighborhood capacity as needed between boundary reviews to address unexpected overcrowding).

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Anonymous wrote:This is probably going to get me flamed, but how about moving ATS to a bigger site like Reed? The waiting list for ATS is ridiculously long -- its almost like HB in demand. ATS is a good location for a neighborhood school for shorter bus times for the Ballston/VA square (that currently goes to Ashlawn) and you could either relieve crowding at glebe or have it shoot east and relieve crowding without having to move key. Again not sure if there is the political will to do it.
All do fairness, I live in Rosslyn, so I'd prefer that they make Key into a neighborhood school or move the immersion program to the ATS site, but I'd pick going to ATS (which is as metro accessible as ASFS) over trying to navigate buses to get to Taylor.

The problem with that is that NW is also overcrowded and needs more neigborhood seats. If they take what will be by far the largest school in that region as an option school they will actually make the boundaries up there even worse trying to relieve overcrowding. If an option school goes into NW, it has to be one of the smaller schools (but not Nottingham, because that school can take the most trailers to help cope with future overcrowding in the region).

They aren't going to revisit the decision to make Reed neighborhood. The question is whether another school becomes an option school, and if so, which option? I think they could make a good case for any of them.

That's kind of a backwards way to look at it because the schools are very differently situated in many of the relevant respects. We shouldn't decide on the school and then make the case to fit it, we should set out our needs and priorities for site selection and then choose the best sites based on that.

In a perfect world, yes. But this is APS. They are trying to clean up a mess. The only reason they're even looking at this quadrant for an option program is because they are projecting an excess of neighborhood seats once Reed comes online, and have no good way to draw boundaries to fill the schools. All the school sites that were discussed as potential places for an option program are equally poor for one reason or another. So, to my mind, they could make an equally poor case for any of them. None make sense for Immersion or for a countywide option since none are centrally located. But, here we are.

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Anonymous wrote:This is probably going to get me flamed, but how about moving ATS to a bigger site like Reed? The waiting list for ATS is ridiculously long -- its almost like HB in demand. ATS is a good location for a neighborhood school for shorter bus times for the Ballston/VA square (that currently goes to Ashlawn) and you could either relieve crowding at glebe or have it shoot east and relieve crowding without having to move key. Again not sure if there is the political will to do it.
All do fairness, I live in Rosslyn, so I'd prefer that they make Key into a neighborhood school or move the immersion program to the ATS site, but I'd pick going to ATS (which is as metro accessible as ASFS) over trying to navigate buses to get to Taylor.

The problem with that is that NW is also overcrowded and needs more neigborhood seats. If they take what will be by far the largest school in that region as an option school they will actually make the boundaries up there even worse trying to relieve overcrowding. If an option school goes into NW, it has to be one of the smaller schools (but not Nottingham, because that school can take the most trailers to help cope with future overcrowding in the region).

They aren't going to revisit the decision to make Reed neighborhood. The question is whether another school becomes an option school, and if so, which option? I think they could make a good case for any of them.

That's kind of a backwards way to look at it because the schools are very differently situated in many of the relevant respects. We shouldn't decide on the school and then make the case to fit it, we should set out our needs and priorities for site selection and then choose the best sites based on that.

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Anonymous wrote:Interesting how many folks are concerned about adding onto their child’s commute (or theirs) when they chose to live in an area where they found their neighborhood/closest school unacceptable. Why was proximity not a high priority before? And why is Long Branch so unacceptable? Although Taylor would undoubtedly add to a commute from Rosslyn, Long Branch shouldn’t (or even be closer).

Long Branch is very much acceptable, but not likely to have room. Also, people who would have chosen Key under the previous neighborhood preference regime are now also stuck with whatever zoning changes are enacted. There are apparently some nutso people at ASFS right now, but the decisions made will hit those of us with toddlers who have nothing to do with it for much longer.

If I had a toddler in rosslyn I would move, bc shlepping out to Taylor, whether on a 45 minute bus ride or driving in rush hour to aftercare will completely eradicate any benefit to living in Rosslyn for its good commute to DC

You must be dense or something. Key will be a neighborhood school making for a short shlep. I would stay put for now.

I thought consensus was that there was no political will to move key Immersion?

PP is posturing. No one knows if it will happen or not.

DP- I'm not sure if Key will be moved or not. I think it is clearly the right decision for the good of the school system (and I am a Key parent and the move will present a hardship for us.) I think that APS gave up the fight b/c they decided they would be in a better position to move Key if they demonstrated what boundaries will look like without moving Key. Whether the school board will opt for crazy strange boundaries or moving Key remains to be seen. They will be better politically covered to move Key if they have the crazy strange boundaries in front of them. People who don't like the boundaries will support moving Key. Otherwise that were looking at moving Key when no one really supported the move.
Incidentally- the same logic applies to converting Nottingham, or one of other northwest corner schools to Option.

I think, and sincerely hope, this is exactly what they are doing.

You really think they're that clever? They didn't give up on it because of strategy. SB really is not that bright. They simply did not want to deal with all the angst from parents and school communities who didn't want anything to change.

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Anonymous wrote:Interesting how many folks are concerned about adding onto their child’s commute (or theirs) when they chose to live in an area where they found their neighborhood/closest school unacceptable. Why was proximity not a high priority before? And why is Long Branch so unacceptable? Although Taylor would undoubtedly add to a commute from Rosslyn, Long Branch shouldn’t (or even be closer).

Long Branch is very much acceptable, but not likely to have room. Also, people who would have chosen Key under the previous neighborhood preference regime are now also stuck with whatever zoning changes are enacted. There are apparently some nutso people at ASFS right now, but the decisions made will hit those of us with toddlers who have nothing to do with it for much longer.

If I had a toddler in rosslyn I would move, bc shlepping out to Taylor, whether on a 45 minute bus ride or driving in rush hour to aftercare will completely eradicate any benefit to living in Rosslyn for its good commute to DC

You must be dense or something. Key will be a neighborhood school making for a short shlep. I would stay put for now.

I thought consensus was that there was no political will to move key Immersion?

PP is posturing. No one knows if it will happen or not.

DP- I'm not sure if Key will be moved or not. I think it is clearly the right decision for the good of the school system (and I am a Key parent and the move will present a hardship for us.) I think that APS gave up the fight b/c they decided they would be in a better position to move Key if they demonstrated what boundaries will look like without moving Key. Whether the school board will opt for crazy strange boundaries or moving Key remains to be seen. They will be better politically covered to move Key if they have the crazy strange boundaries in front of them. People who don't like the boundaries will support moving Key. Otherwise that were looking at moving Key when no one really supported the move.
Incidentally- the same logic applies to converting Nottingham, or one of other northwest corner schools to Option.

I think, and sincerely hope, this is exactly what they are doing.

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Anonymous wrote:This is probably going to get me flamed, but how about moving ATS to a bigger site like Reed? The waiting list for ATS is ridiculously long -- its almost like HB in demand. ATS is a good location for a neighborhood school for shorter bus times for the Ballston/VA square (that currently goes to Ashlawn) and you could either relieve crowding at glebe or have it shoot east and relieve crowding without having to move key. Again not sure if there is the political will to do it.
All do fairness, I live in Rosslyn, so I'd prefer that they make Key into a neighborhood school or move the immersion program to the ATS site, but I'd pick going to ATS (which is as metro accessible as ASFS) over trying to navigate buses to get to Taylor.

The problem with that is that NW is also overcrowded and needs more neigborhood seats. If they take what will be by far the largest school in that region as an option school they will actually make the boundaries up there even worse trying to relieve overcrowding. If an option school goes into NW, it has to be one of the smaller schools (but not Nottingham, because that school can take the most trailers to help cope with future overcrowding in the region).

They aren't going to revisit the decision to make Reed neighborhood. The question is whether another school becomes an option school, and if so, which option? I think they could make a good case for any of them.

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Anonymous wrote:This is probably going to get me flamed, but how about moving ATS to a bigger site like Reed? The waiting list for ATS is ridiculously long -- its almost like HB in demand. ATS is a good location for a neighborhood school for shorter bus times for the Ballston/VA square (that currently goes to Ashlawn) and you could either relieve crowding at glebe or have it shoot east and relieve crowding without having to move key. Again not sure if there is the political will to do it.
All do fairness, I live in Rosslyn, so I'd prefer that they make Key into a neighborhood school or move the immersion program to the ATS site, but I'd pick going to ATS (which is as metro accessible as ASFS) over trying to navigate buses to get to Taylor.

The problem with that is that NW is also overcrowded and needs more neigborhood seats. If they take what will be by far the largest school in that region as an option school they will actually make the boundaries up there even worse trying to relieve overcrowding. If an option school goes into NW, it has to be one of the smaller schools (but not Nottingham, because that school can take the most trailers to help cope with future overcrowding in the region).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is probably going to get me flamed, but how about moving ATS to a bigger site like Reed? The waiting list for ATS is ridiculously long -- its almost like HB in demand. ATS is a good location for a neighborhood school for shorter bus times for the Ballston/VA square (that currently goes to Ashlawn) and you could either relieve crowding at glebe or have it shoot east and relieve crowding without having to move key. Again not sure if there is the political will to do it.
All do fairness, I live in Rosslyn, so I'd prefer that they make Key into a neighborhood school or move the immersion program to the ATS site, but I'd pick going to ATS (which is as metro accessible as ASFS) over trying to navigate buses to get to Taylor.

I hope they have the courage to make Key neighborhood too. I live in the area you describe and this area should be at ASFS as it's 0.4 mile from my house; while Ashlawn is 1.8 miles away so I'll take my short walk to ASFS.

I'm interested to see what they come to the next meeting with for Nancy Van Doren's request for a county wide solution. I don't think it's going to be possible to draw contiguous boundaries, no matter how convoluted, to balance capacity without moving Key. Without creating that capacity in the NE area, they are going to need islands or to send kids from the Glebe, Taylor, and Reed walkzones to schools in the west. There's basically a wall of walkzone boxing in the western schools: https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/expanded-WZ-current-boundary.pdf

Anonymous wrote:This is probably going to get me flamed, but how about moving ATS to a bigger site like Reed? The waiting list for ATS is ridiculously long -- its almost like HB in demand. ATS is a good location for a neighborhood school for shorter bus times for the Ballston/VA square (that currently goes to Ashlawn) and you could either relieve crowding at glebe or have it shoot east and relieve crowding without having to move key. Again not sure if there is the political will to do it.
All do fairness, I live in Rosslyn, so I'd prefer that they make Key into a neighborhood school or move the immersion program to the ATS site, but I'd pick going to ATS (which is as metro accessible as ASFS) over trying to navigate buses to get to Taylor.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is probably going to get me flamed, but how about moving ATS to a bigger site like Reed? The waiting list for ATS is ridiculously long -- its almost like HB in demand. ATS is a good location for a neighborhood school for shorter bus times for the Ballston/VA square (that currently goes to Ashlawn) and you could either relieve crowding at glebe or have it shoot east and relieve crowding without having to move key. Again not sure if there is the political will to do it.
All do fairness, I live in Rosslyn, so I'd prefer that they make Key into a neighborhood school or move the immersion program to the ATS site, but I'd pick going to ATS (which is as metro accessible as ASFS) over trying to navigate buses to get to Taylor.

I hope they have the courage to make Key neighborhood too. I live in the area you describe and this area should be at ASFS as it's 0.4 mile from my house; while Ashlawn is 1.8 miles away so I'll take my short walk to ASFS.

Anonymous wrote:This is probably going to get me flamed, but how about moving ATS to a bigger site like Reed? The waiting list for ATS is ridiculously long -- its almost like HB in demand. ATS is a good location for a neighborhood school for shorter bus times for the Ballston/VA square (that currently goes to Ashlawn) and you could either relieve crowding at glebe or have it shoot east and relieve crowding without having to move key. Again not sure if there is the political will to do it.
All do fairness, I live in Rosslyn, so I'd prefer that they make Key into a neighborhood school or move the immersion program to the ATS site, but I'd pick going to ATS (which is as metro accessible as ASFS) over trying to navigate buses to get to Taylor.