Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New Poster with a couple points:
- At the risk of outing myself, I personally spoke out publicly to increase the size of the HB program to align with percent overcrowding of APS. I know some HB people didn’t like it. I now don’t believe in the conspiracy theory on lottery, because my kid got in. Given what an awful situation the SB has created, we decided to enter the lottery. Believe me, I am not some well-connected person in that commmunkty - quite the opposite. At least 2 of the other kids accepted at our school have zero engagement in APS. The lottery was centrally run this year.

- On use of Wilson for a neighborhood school... doesn’t anyone remember how nasty people from Taylor and Glebe got when that idea was proposed a few years ago? Love that idea, but where were you guys a few years ago? If we hadn’t let the Westover bullies prevail, we could have put HB at Reed (very clear now that we have too many elementaries planned in that quadrant now and I can’t wait to see them advocate to optionize Tuckahoe); opened a neighborhood high school in Rosslyn (although the North haters would have screamed bloody murder) and still have Stratford as a neighborhood school.

I agree that HB should be bigger - and perhaps with the stupid design of the building they can relocate Stratford now and make it bigger -- but I remember the huge debate about what to do with the Wilson site. That is a small plot of land -- HB fought going there because it is so small and they didn't think they could fit a field there. IMO, it made sense as a location for a smaller program. You can't cram a full HS or a 1300 seat middle school there without creating a school that offers much less in facilities than any other regular MS/HS in the county.

Exactly. The incredibly acrid debate over putting a new school there wasn't that long ago and no one wanted their kids to go to that land because it's more urban and because it's such a small plot that there will be no fields and hardly any outdoor space. If they had proposed building a new high school there parents would have been up in arms because the kids zoned for that school wouldn't have and sports fields and would be in a high rise. HB can be bigger-- fine, but let's not pretend that building a new comprehensive high school would have ever happened on that site. There is no great site for a comprehensive high school in a good location. That's part of the problem.

But there is. You are correct that it's not considered to be in a "good location" however.

Where? (And by good location I only meant a place where people aren't already complaining about the traffic patterns.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New Poster with a couple points:
- At the risk of outing myself, I personally spoke out publicly to increase the size of the HB program to align with percent overcrowding of APS. I know some HB people didn’t like it. I now don’t believe in the conspiracy theory on lottery, because my kid got in. Given what an awful situation the SB has created, we decided to enter the lottery. Believe me, I am not some well-connected person in that commmunkty - quite the opposite. At least 2 of the other kids accepted at our school have zero engagement in APS. The lottery was centrally run this year.

- On use of Wilson for a neighborhood school... doesn’t anyone remember how nasty people from Taylor and Glebe got when that idea was proposed a few years ago? Love that idea, but where were you guys a few years ago? If we hadn’t let the Westover bullies prevail, we could have put HB at Reed (very clear now that we have too many elementaries planned in that quadrant now and I can’t wait to see them advocate to optionize Tuckahoe); opened a neighborhood high school in Rosslyn (although the North haters would have screamed bloody murder) and still have Stratford as a neighborhood school.

I agree that HB should be bigger - and perhaps with the stupid design of the building they can relocate Stratford now and make it bigger -- but I remember the huge debate about what to do with the Wilson site. That is a small plot of land -- HB fought going there because it is so small and they didn't think they could fit a field there. IMO, it made sense as a location for a smaller program. You can't cram a full HS or a 1300 seat middle school there without creating a school that offers much less in facilities than any other regular MS/HS in the county.

Exactly. The incredibly acrid debate over putting a new school there wasn't that long ago and no one wanted their kids to go to that land because it's more urban and because it's such a small plot that there will be no fields and hardly any outdoor space. If they had proposed building a new high school there parents would have been up in arms because the kids zoned for that school wouldn't have and sports fields and would be in a high rise. HB can be bigger-- fine, but let's not pretend that building a new comprehensive high school would have ever happened on that site. There is no great site for a comprehensive high school in a good location. That's part of the problem.

But there is. You are correct that it's not considered to be in a "good location" however.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Under this scenario, where would all the current HB and Stratford kids be?

HB students go to their neighborhood schools. I mean, there's nothing wrong with the neighborhood schools and that's why you think it's fine for other families to send their kids there, right?

Stratford gets the Ed Center, or at least some of the space. And Stratford kids get to be above ground, FFS.

The point is that the HB kids would then just be contributing to the overcrowding at their neighborhood schools. The Roslyn land would never have become a comprehensive high school. It's just too small.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New Poster with a couple points:
- At the risk of outing myself, I personally spoke out publicly to increase the size of the HB program to align with percent overcrowding of APS. I know some HB people didn’t like it. I now don’t believe in the conspiracy theory on lottery, because my kid got in. Given what an awful situation the SB has created, we decided to enter the lottery. Believe me, I am not some well-connected person in that commmunkty - quite the opposite. At least 2 of the other kids accepted at our school have zero engagement in APS. The lottery was centrally run this year.

- On use of Wilson for a neighborhood school... doesn’t anyone remember how nasty people from Taylor and Glebe got when that idea was proposed a few years ago? Love that idea, but where were you guys a few years ago? If we hadn’t let the Westover bullies prevail, we could have put HB at Reed (very clear now that we have too many elementaries planned in that quadrant now and I can’t wait to see them advocate to optionize Tuckahoe); opened a neighborhood high school in Rosslyn (although the North haters would have screamed bloody murder) and still have Stratford as a neighborhood school.

I agree that HB should be bigger - and perhaps with the stupid design of the building they can relocate Stratford now and make it bigger -- but I remember the huge debate about what to do with the Wilson site. That is a small plot of land -- HB fought going there because it is so small and they didn't think they could fit a field there. IMO, it made sense as a location for a smaller program. You can't cram a full HS or a 1300 seat middle school there without creating a school that offers much less in facilities than any other regular MS/HS in the county.

Exactly. The incredibly acrid debate over putting a new school there wasn't that long ago and no one wanted their kids to go to that land because it's more urban and because it's such a small plot that there will be no fields and hardly any outdoor space. If they had proposed building a new high school there parents would have been up in arms because the kids zoned for that school wouldn't have and sports fields and would be in a high rise. HB can be bigger-- fine, but let's not pretend that building a new comprehensive high school would have ever happened on that site. There is no great site for a comprehensive high school in a good location. That's part of the problem.

So in general, parents want smaller schools, but only if they are full of homogeneously "high achieving" students. With a few exceptions, parents would rather be in their crowded neighborhood schools than have their kids in smaller and less crowded schools if they aren't in the right part of Arlington or full of the right kind of student. I think that's the problem I have with this general complaint. You want small schools, but only if they are "conveniently" located for you, and only if the student body is getting high average test scores. And THAT is why they aren't building a 4th comprehensive HS. Not because of HB. Because the place they have land to build it would mean a LOT of families would be zoned into a school with the kids they currently avoid.

Anonymous wrote:I'm thinking of making it my mission to take down HB. It is so unfair. Shouldn't be funding this "lucky 75" stuff with public funds. Cue the HB parents now calling me bitter .... 3, 2, 1. What's wrong with being bitter over this?

Well, aren't most good public school seats filled with luck -- those lucky enough to have parents who can afford to live in that school district?

Anonymous wrote:New Poster with a couple points:
- At the risk of outing myself, I personally spoke out publicly to increase the size of the HB program to align with percent overcrowding of APS. I know some HB people didn’t like it. I now don’t believe in the conspiracy theory on lottery, because my kid got in. Given what an awful situation the SB has created, we decided to enter the lottery. Believe me, I am not some well-connected person in that commmunkty - quite the opposite. At least 2 of the other kids accepted at our school have zero engagement in APS. The lottery was centrally run this year.

- On use of Wilson for a neighborhood school... doesn’t anyone remember how nasty people from Taylor and Glebe got when that idea was proposed a few years ago? Love that idea, but where were you guys a few years ago? If we hadn’t let the Westover bullies prevail, we could have put HB at Reed (very clear now that we have too many elementaries planned in that quadrant now and I can’t wait to see them advocate to optionize Tuckahoe); opened a neighborhood high school in Rosslyn (although the North haters would have screamed bloody murder) and still have Stratford as a neighborhood school.

I agree that HB should be bigger - and perhaps with the stupid design of the building they can relocate Stratford now and make it bigger -- but I remember the huge debate about what to do with the Wilson site. That is a small plot of land -- HB fought going there because it is so small and they didn't think they could fit a field there. IMO, it made sense as a location for a smaller program. You can't cram a full HS or a 1300 seat middle school there without creating a school that offers much less in facilities than any other regular MS/HS in the county.

Anonymous wrote:

Under this scenario, where would all the current HB and Stratford kids be?

HB students go to their neighborhood schools. I mean, there's nothing wrong with the neighborhood schools and that's why you think it's fine for other families to send their kids there, right?

Stratford gets the Ed Center, or at least some of the space. And Stratford kids get to be above ground, FFS.

New Poster with a couple points:
- At the risk of outing myself, I personally spoke out publicly to increase the size of the HB program to align with percent overcrowding of APS. I know some HB people didn’t like it. I now don’t believe in the conspiracy theory on lottery, because my kid got in. Given what an awful situation the SB has created, we decided to enter the lottery. Believe me, I am not some well-connected person in that commmunkty - quite the opposite. At least 2 of the other kids accepted at our school have zero engagement in APS. The lottery was centrally run this year.

- On use of Wilson for a neighborhood school... doesn’t anyone remember how nasty people from Taylor and Glebe got when that idea was proposed a few years ago? Love that idea, but where were you guys a few years ago? If we hadn’t let the Westover bullies prevail, we could have put HB at Reed (very clear now that we have too many elementaries planned in that quadrant now and I can’t wait to see them advocate to optionize Tuckahoe); opened a neighborhood high school in Rosslyn (although the North haters would have screamed bloody murder) and still have Stratford as a neighborhood school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HB is an incredible program and a great size. Just because your kids didn't get in don't mess it up for those that are thriving here.

So my kid and many many others get to survive but not thrive in a massively overcrowded MS and a massively overcrowded HS so that relatively speaking a few kids can thrive by attending the equivalent of private school without paying tuition just because they got lucky? Because that’s exactly what is going on.

Signed,
Parent of 8th grader at Swanson whose HS is W-L and who is 150+ on the waitlist for HB

What would be different if HB didn't exist?

If HB didn’t exist, APS could have used the Wilson land and $$$$ to build a fourth HS - one that accomodates more than a couple hundred students. Great location for a HS with all of the public transportation options.

Under this scenario, where would all the current HB and Stratford kids be?

Really? You’re asking how we can possibly accommodate 249 MS and 440 HS students if we were to replace their building with an actual full sized school built to accommodate double or triple that number of students? We would be adding many more seats than the HB “philosophy “ currently allows....current HB students would fill those seats and we’d still have a lot more seats left than we currently have with the small HB size restrictions...

A lot more kids could fit not the Wilson Building if it weren’t held to a falsely low cap

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HB is an incredible program and a great size. Just because your kids didn't get in don't mess it up for those that are thriving here.

So my kid and many many others get to survive but not thrive in a massively overcrowded MS and a massively overcrowded HS so that relatively speaking a few kids can thrive by attending the equivalent of private school without paying tuition just because they got lucky? Because that’s exactly what is going on.

Signed,
Parent of 8th grader at Swanson whose HS is W-L and who is 150+ on the waitlist for HB

What would be different if HB didn't exist?

If HB didn’t exist, APS could have used the Wilson land and $$$$ to build a fourth HS - one that accomodates more than a couple hundred students. Great location for a HS with all of the public transportation options.

Under this scenario, where would all the current HB and Stratford kids be?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HB is an incredible program and a great size. Just because your kids didn't get in don't mess it up for those that are thriving here.

So my kid and many many others get to survive but not thrive in a massively overcrowded MS and a massively overcrowded HS so that relatively speaking a few kids can thrive by attending the equivalent of private school without paying tuition just because they got lucky? Because that’s exactly what is going on.

Signed,
Parent of 8th grader at Swanson whose HS is W-L and who is 150+ on the waitlist for HB

So give me an idea of what it is like at an overcrowded MS/HS. APS, the School Board and many parents have no issue with being over 100%. My children are younger so we haven't had to deal with this yet. Are we talking standing room only in the cafeteria and classrooms? Impossible to get into classes/sports/clubs? I don't have any perspective on what the real impact is because many people (APS/SB/Parents) seem to have no issues with it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HB is an incredible program and a great size. Just because your kids didn't get in don't mess it up for those that are thriving here.

So my kid and many many others get to survive but not thrive in a massively overcrowded MS and a massively overcrowded HS so that relatively speaking a few kids can thrive by attending the equivalent of private school without paying tuition just because they got lucky? Because that’s exactly what is going on.

Signed,
Parent of 8th grader at Swanson whose HS is W-L and who is 150+ on the waitlist for HB

What would be different if HB didn't exist?

If HB didn’t exist, APS could have used the Wilson land and $$$$ to build a fourth HS - one that accomodates more than a couple hundred students. Great location for a HS with all of the public transportation options.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HB is an incredible program and a great size. Just because your kids didn't get in don't mess it up for those that are thriving here.

So my kid and many many others get to survive but not thrive in a massively overcrowded MS and a massively overcrowded HS so that relatively speaking a few kids can thrive by attending the equivalent of private school without paying tuition just because they got lucky? Because that’s exactly what is going on.

Signed,
Parent of 8th grader at Swanson whose HS is W-L and who is 150+ on the waitlist for HB

What would be different if HB didn't exist?