Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS enrollment has declined due to the fact it blows.

APS enrollment has declined due to the fact that young families cannot afford to live here.

Multiple factors at play

You can look it up online, but APS enrollment has declined since COVID and they are predicting flat to negative growth in the next ten years. Agree that multiple factors are at play, but the district’s decisions during COVID did not help for student retention. We know many families that were all public, all the way until then.

yes the APEs and good riddance

We’re very liberal, always vote for Dems, and left APS during Covid.

a lot of APE's left

Thank god.

Too bad they still infest APS committees.

All I know about APE is that their existence is extremely polarizing on this board, as in people are strongly for APE or strongly against APE. Given that limited awareness of APE, I will say that I find it baffling that so many people get so riled up about parents....caring about public education and...advocating for its improvement. Disagreements about how to improve education are one thing, but some people seem to think your views are only relevant if you have a child in public schools. If a parent has their kids in private but still advocate for improvements in public schools, that sounds to me like someone who values public education enough to try to improve it, and would move their kids to public schools if they thought the public schools were better. Isn't that a level of engagement a good thing?

-signed a parent who is NOT part of APE (in case that wasn't clear)

You're assuming the best, which is noble, but not applicable in this case. You'd have to be around them in person to see who they really are. They are not nice people. Talented, yes, politically skilled, very, which is why many people mistakenly believe they are "just advocating for better schools." By the way, it's just 3-4 people.

Ok, friend. Based on the newsletters, I’m on board with their major issues. I want fewer screens and I want Arlington to think about educational outcomes first, not a distant sixth or seventh to the far left progressive issue du jour. I have my kids in these schools and I care about the quality of education they get. I guess that makes me a bad consrrvative - tell my voting record that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS enrollment has declined due to the fact it blows.

APS enrollment has declined due to the fact that young families cannot afford to live here.

Multiple factors at play

You can look it up online, but APS enrollment has declined since COVID and they are predicting flat to negative growth in the next ten years. Agree that multiple factors are at play, but the district’s decisions during COVID did not help for student retention. We know many families that were all public, all the way until then.

yes the APEs and good riddance

We’re very liberal, always vote for Dems, and left APS during Covid.

a lot of APE's left

Thank god.

Too bad they still infest APS committees.

All I know about APE is that their existence is extremely polarizing on this board, as in people are strongly for APE or strongly against APE. Given that limited awareness of APE, I will say that I find it baffling that so many people get so riled up about parents....caring about public education and...advocating for its improvement. Disagreements about how to improve education are one thing, but some people seem to think your views are only relevant if you have a child in public schools. If a parent has their kids in private but still advocate for improvements in public schools, that sounds to me like someone who values public education enough to try to improve it, and would move their kids to public schools if they thought the public schools were better. Isn't that a level of engagement a good thing?

-signed a parent who is NOT part of APE (in case that wasn't clear)

You're assuming the best, which is noble, but not applicable in this case. You'd have to be around them in person to see who they really are. They are not nice people. Talented, yes, politically skilled, very, which is why many people mistakenly believe they are "just advocating for better schools." By the way, it's just 3-4 people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS enrollment has declined due to the fact it blows.

APS enrollment has declined due to the fact that young families cannot afford to live here.

Multiple factors at play

You can look it up online, but APS enrollment has declined since COVID and they are predicting flat to negative growth in the next ten years. Agree that multiple factors are at play, but the district’s decisions during COVID did not help for student retention. We know many families that were all public, all the way until then.

yes the APEs and good riddance

We’re very liberal, always vote for Dems, and left APS during Covid.

a lot of APE's left

Thank god.

Too bad they still infest APS committees.

All I know about APE is that their existence is extremely polarizing on this board, as in people are strongly for APE or strongly against APE. Given that limited awareness of APE, I will say that I find it baffling that so many people get so riled up about parents....caring about public education and...advocating for its improvement. Disagreements about how to improve education are one thing, but some people seem to think your views are only relevant if you have a child in public schools. If a parent has their kids in private but still advocate for improvements in public schools, that sounds to me like someone who values public education enough to try to improve it, and would move their kids to public schools if they thought the public schools were better. Isn't that a level of engagement a good thing?

-signed a parent who is NOT part of APE (in case that wasn't clear)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS enrollment has declined due to the fact it blows.

APS enrollment has declined due to the fact that young families cannot afford to live here.

+1. They need to allow market rate multifamily housing. I understand why nobody who bought a SFH likes the idea of being sandwiched between 6-plexes of rentals, but they really ought to allow duplexes and 3 row townhouses everywhere. In reality, those will be sold to slightly less rich families. I think it would stabilize neighborhoods and schools. The choice between multimillion dollar SFHs or Affordable Housing is terrible for the County.

I’m a SFH owner in Arlington (bought a smaller, older place pre-COVID that we’ve renovated). I would love for duplexes and triplexes to be allowed. It’s kind of depressing that the new families who move in all make big law level salaries (FWIW I couldn’t afford my own neighborhood today as a dual fed GS-14 couple).

Also a duplex or triplex can’t possibly be worse than the giant box houses being put up now. 6000k + sq ft for a family of 4 in a zip code with limited land close to transit and under-enrolled schools is just stupid.

Sure our property value has gone up a ton over the past decade, which is nice, but I’d rather not pull up the ladder behind me. Also it makes me sad my kids will unlikely be able to buy a home nearby if they decide to stay.

The triplex is worse because it generates at least triple the cars (or more if it becomes a group home) and triple the strain on sewar and water. Perhaps the schools could handle it right now with current under enrollment as families went to private

Only if you build triplexes exclusively in far North Arlington at the few schools that may be temporarily having flat or slightly less enrollment, because they are the only ones. The rest of the schools are bursting at the seams. So if they want to multiplex there, be my guest. The rest of the County is full and the infrastructure cannot support hundreds of additional families.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think people are not having as many children, nationwide, in general.

It depends. Recent projection was that within ~10 years over 40% of HS grads in the U.S. will have Hispanic background. However all children born in the Americas will be outnumbered 10:1 by the children born in India and China. Locally there will not be any low enrollment numbers, as long as Arlington builds more and more condos and apartments. Doesn’t matter whom they’re geared to, there are many single parents with kids moving in, especially if they’re subsidized.

A lot of people who live in single family homes think no one with a family would live in an apartment, but we know many, many families that do. And they are market rate apartments. These are people that could buy a single family further out, but choose to live in Arlington in an apartment.

We were a middle class family living in a market rate apartment, and we were the oddballs at our Arlington school. And no one wanted to come over for playdates because parking was a nightmare and logistics were just so complicated. Plus no outdoor space to play.

Family orientated apartments would at least have an onsite playground and green space, usually a community room for foul weather play, etc -- these are common in Europe but don't exist in the US except maybe NYC.

The vast vast majority of families in apartments in Arlington are there because they have housing assistance and those units qualify.

I think it's an untapped market here--condos and apartments for middle class and upper middle class families. Even townhomes should be designed and marketed to families and not just empty nesters or young professionals. Families are drawn to Arlington for various reasons, not just for the single family homes and subsidized apartments.

We ran into two issues.

1) smells like cigarettes and pot from neighboring units

2) neighbors (DINKS often who landlords want) complained about the noise our kids playing

Not sure how that is handled in Europe or NYC

I can answer for NYC. The skyscrapers are very thick walled. My direct neighbor had a baby and a toddler and I never heard them at all! Btw they were almost all 1-Br apartments. Also Manhattan has all sizes of apartments/condos. Many are so large they’ve got more space than most of the older single family homes here, and then there’s every size in between. You choose the building and with that your neighbors. It’s not replicable here though imo.

I'm curious why you feel that isn't replicable? It sounds like a building standard (thick walls). Maybe the large variety of apartment housing is unique to NYC?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think people are not having as many children, nationwide, in general.

It depends. Recent projection was that within ~10 years over 40% of HS grads in the U.S. will have Hispanic background. However all children born in the Americas will be outnumbered 10:1 by the children born in India and China. Locally there will not be any low enrollment numbers, as long as Arlington builds more and more condos and apartments. Doesn’t matter whom they’re geared to, there are many single parents with kids moving in, especially if they’re subsidized.

A lot of people who live in single family homes think no one with a family would live in an apartment, but we know many, many families that do. And they are market rate apartments. These are people that could buy a single family further out, but choose to live in Arlington in an apartment.

We were a middle class family living in a market rate apartment, and we were the oddballs at our Arlington school. And no one wanted to come over for playdates because parking was a nightmare and logistics were just so complicated. Plus no outdoor space to play.

Family orientated apartments would at least have an onsite playground and green space, usually a community room for foul weather play, etc -- these are common in Europe but don't exist in the US except maybe NYC.

The vast vast majority of families in apartments in Arlington are there because they have housing assistance and those units qualify.

I think it's an untapped market here--condos and apartments for middle class and upper middle class families. Even townhomes should be designed and marketed to families and not just empty nesters or young professionals. Families are drawn to Arlington for various reasons, not just for the single family homes and subsidized apartments.

We ran into two issues.

1) smells like cigarettes and pot from neighboring units

2) neighbors (DINKS often who landlords want) complained about the noise our kids playing

Not sure how that is handled in Europe or NYC

I can answer for NYC. The skyscrapers are very thick walled. My direct neighbor had a baby and a toddler and I never heard them at all! Btw they were almost all 1-Br apartments. Also Manhattan has all sizes of apartments/condos. Many are so large they’ve got more space than most of the older single family homes here, and then there’s every size in between. You choose the building and with that your neighbors. It’s not replicable here though imo.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think people are not having as many children, nationwide, in general.

It depends. Recent projection was that within ~10 years over 40% of HS grads in the U.S. will have Hispanic background. However all children born in the Americas will be outnumbered 10:1 by the children born in India and China. Locally there will not be any low enrollment numbers, as long as Arlington builds more and more condos and apartments. Doesn’t matter whom they’re geared to, there are many single parents with kids moving in, especially if they’re subsidized.

A lot of people who live in single family homes think no one with a family would live in an apartment, but we know many, many families that do. And they are market rate apartments. These are people that could buy a single family further out, but choose to live in Arlington in an apartment.

Interesting. I don't believe APS factors market rate apartments and condos into their enrollment projections. In the past, few if any families with kids lived in those buildings, since they were not developed nor marketed for families. And, many townhouse developments along the Orange Line have 2 bedrooms (the large ones have 3) and were never marketed for families.

They did several years back for a new building going up near VA Square.

I believe they use a percentage for multifamily that is much lower than single family home neighborhoods. It’s a funny mismatch bc the County pushes multi family at all costs and the school district likes to pretend that it’s all single family homes.

They use different rates for different schools and types of housing since any given unit of market rate multifamily is going to be far less likely to have a school age child than any given unit of Committed Affordable (CAF) housing or a single family home. If you are at a school like Innovation or ASFS you are still going to know a lot of people who live in market rate buildings just because there are so many of them in the zone.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2026/01/StudentGenerationRates_2025-SGR-2025.pdf

It sounds like some of the posters here are at ASFS, which is over capacity once again because many people move into the apartments zoned there vs elsewhere based on reputation of the school and the fact it has Science in the name.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think people are not having as many children, nationwide, in general.

It depends. Recent projection was that within ~10 years over 40% of HS grads in the U.S. will have Hispanic background. However all children born in the Americas will be outnumbered 10:1 by the children born in India and China. Locally there will not be any low enrollment numbers, as long as Arlington builds more and more condos and apartments. Doesn’t matter whom they’re geared to, there are many single parents with kids moving in, especially if they’re subsidized.

A lot of people who live in single family homes think no one with a family would live in an apartment, but we know many, many families that do. And they are market rate apartments. These are people that could buy a single family further out, but choose to live in Arlington in an apartment.

Interesting. I don't believe APS factors market rate apartments and condos into their enrollment projections. In the past, few if any families with kids lived in those buildings, since they were not developed nor marketed for families. And, many townhouse developments along the Orange Line have 2 bedrooms (the large ones have 3) and were never marketed for families.

They did several years back for a new building going up near VA Square.

I believe they use a percentage for multifamily that is much lower than single family home neighborhoods. It’s a funny mismatch bc the County pushes multi family at all costs and the school district likes to pretend that it’s all single family homes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think people are not having as many children, nationwide, in general.

It depends. Recent projection was that within ~10 years over 40% of HS grads in the U.S. will have Hispanic background. However all children born in the Americas will be outnumbered 10:1 by the children born in India and China. Locally there will not be any low enrollment numbers, as long as Arlington builds more and more condos and apartments. Doesn’t matter whom they’re geared to, there are many single parents with kids moving in, especially if they’re subsidized.

A lot of people who live in single family homes think no one with a family would live in an apartment, but we know many, many families that do. And they are market rate apartments. These are people that could buy a single family further out, but choose to live in Arlington in an apartment.

We were a middle class family living in a market rate apartment, and we were the oddballs at our Arlington school. And no one wanted to come over for playdates because parking was a nightmare and logistics were just so complicated. Plus no outdoor space to play.

Family orientated apartments would at least have an onsite playground and green space, usually a community room for foul weather play, etc -- these are common in Europe but don't exist in the US except maybe NYC.

The vast vast majority of families in apartments in Arlington are there because they have housing assistance and those units qualify.

I think it's an untapped market here--condos and apartments for middle class and upper middle class families. Even townhomes should be designed and marketed to families and not just empty nesters or young professionals. Families are drawn to Arlington for various reasons, not just for the single family homes and subsidized apartments.

We ran into two issues.

1) smells like cigarettes and pot from neighboring units

2) neighbors (DINKS often who landlords want) complained about the noise our kids playing

Not sure how that is handled in Europe or NYC

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS enrollment has declined due to the fact it blows.

APS enrollment has declined due to the fact that young families cannot afford to live here.

+1. They need to allow market rate multifamily housing. I understand why nobody who bought a SFH likes the idea of being sandwiched between 6-plexes of rentals, but they really ought to allow duplexes and 3 row townhouses everywhere. In reality, those will be sold to slightly less rich families. I think it would stabilize neighborhoods and schools. The choice between multimillion dollar SFHs or Affordable Housing is terrible for the County.

I’m a SFH owner in Arlington (bought a smaller, older place pre-COVID that we’ve renovated). I would love for duplexes and triplexes to be allowed. It’s kind of depressing that the new families who move in all make big law level salaries (FWIW I couldn’t afford my own neighborhood today as a dual fed GS-14 couple).

Also a duplex or triplex can’t possibly be worse than the giant box houses being put up now. 6000k + sq ft for a family of 4 in a zip code with limited land close to transit and under-enrolled schools is just stupid.

Sure our property value has gone up a ton over the past decade, which is nice, but I’d rather not pull up the ladder behind me. Also it makes me sad my kids will unlikely be able to buy a home nearby if they decide to stay.

The triplex is worse because it generates at least triple the cars (or more if it becomes a group home) and triple the strain on sewar and water. Perhaps the schools could handle it right now with current under enrollment as families went to private

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think people are not having as many children, nationwide, in general.

It depends. Recent projection was that within ~10 years over 40% of HS grads in the U.S. will have Hispanic background. However all children born in the Americas will be outnumbered 10:1 by the children born in India and China. Locally there will not be any low enrollment numbers, as long as Arlington builds more and more condos and apartments. Doesn’t matter whom they’re geared to, there are many single parents with kids moving in, especially if they’re subsidized.

A lot of people who live in single family homes think no one with a family would live in an apartment, but we know many, many families that do. And they are market rate apartments. These are people that could buy a single family further out, but choose to live in Arlington in an apartment.

We were a middle class family living in a market rate apartment, and we were the oddballs at our Arlington school. And no one wanted to come over for playdates because parking was a nightmare and logistics were just so complicated. Plus no outdoor space to play.

Family orientated apartments would at least have an onsite playground and green space, usually a community room for foul weather play, etc -- these are common in Europe but don't exist in the US except maybe NYC.

The vast vast majority of families in apartments in Arlington are there because they have housing assistance and those units qualify.

I think it's an untapped market here--condos and apartments for middle class and upper middle class families. Even townhomes should be designed and marketed to families and not just empty nesters or young professionals. Families are drawn to Arlington for various reasons, not just for the single family homes and subsidized apartments.

We ran into two issues.

1) smells like cigarettes and pot from neighboring units

2) neighbors (DINKS often who landlords want) complained about the noise our kids playing

Not sure how that is handled in Europe or NYC

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS enrollment has declined due to the fact it blows.

APS enrollment has declined due to the fact that young families cannot afford to live here.

+1. They need to allow market rate multifamily housing. I understand why nobody who bought a SFH likes the idea of being sandwiched between 6-plexes of rentals, but they really ought to allow duplexes and 3 row townhouses everywhere. In reality, those will be sold to slightly less rich families. I think it would stabilize neighborhoods and schools. The choice between multimillion dollar SFHs or Affordable Housing is terrible for the County.

I’m a SFH owner in Arlington (bought a smaller, older place pre-COVID that we’ve renovated). I would love for duplexes and triplexes to be allowed. It’s kind of depressing that the new families who move in all make big law level salaries (FWIW I couldn’t afford my own neighborhood today as a dual fed GS-14 couple).

Also a duplex or triplex can’t possibly be worse than the giant box houses being put up now. 6000k + sq ft for a family of 4 in a zip code with limited land close to transit and under-enrolled schools is just stupid.

Sure our property value has gone up a ton over the past decade, which is nice, but I’d rather not pull up the ladder behind me. Also it makes me sad my kids will unlikely be able to buy a home nearby if they decide to stay.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think people are not having as many children, nationwide, in general.

It depends. Recent projection was that within ~10 years over 40% of HS grads in the U.S. will have Hispanic background. However all children born in the Americas will be outnumbered 10:1 by the children born in India and China. Locally there will not be any low enrollment numbers, as long as Arlington builds more and more condos and apartments. Doesn’t matter whom they’re geared to, there are many single parents with kids moving in, especially if they’re subsidized.

A lot of people who live in single family homes think no one with a family would live in an apartment, but we know many, many families that do. And they are market rate apartments. These are people that could buy a single family further out, but choose to live in Arlington in an apartment.

We were a middle class family living in a market rate apartment, and we were the oddballs at our Arlington school. And no one wanted to come over for playdates because parking was a nightmare and logistics were just so complicated. Plus no outdoor space to play.

Family orientated apartments would at least have an onsite playground and green space, usually a community room for foul weather play, etc -- these are common in Europe but don't exist in the US except maybe NYC.

The vast vast majority of families in apartments in Arlington are there because they have housing assistance and those units qualify.

I think it's an untapped market here--condos and apartments for middle class and upper middle class families. Even townhomes should be designed and marketed to families and not just empty nesters or young professionals. Families are drawn to Arlington for various reasons, not just for the single family homes and subsidized apartments.