Elementary Crowding and Capacity Committee ECCC Meeting

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Elementary Crowding and Capacity
Committee(ECCC)Meeting 9November 26, 2007
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Meeting Agenda
700 Housekeeping 710 Glebe 725 Q
A 730 Nottingham 745 Q A 750 McKinley 8
05 Q A 810 ATS 825 Q A 830 Jamestown 8
45 Q A 850 Ashlawn 905 Q
A 910 Voting 925 Transfer Report Next
Meeting December 3
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Glebe

• Move planning unit 1609 from Tuckahoe to Glebe
  (grandfather rising Grades 3, 4, and 5)
• Do not move any programs, planning units, or
  classes out of Glebe
• Place two relocatables on site for Spanish
  classes

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Nottingham

• Recommend to Dr. Smith that he ask the School
  Board to
• Make no boundary changes for school year
  2008- 2009.
• Make immediate plans for increased classroom
  capacity amongst the schools that demonstrate
  the most need.
• Provide to the ECCC a clearly defined objective
  and process as well as facilitation and decision
  making tools, to include an outside facilitator
  by the ECCCs first meeting date in 2008.

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McKinley
The ECCC hereby recommends the creation of a
permanent, standing committee tentatively
referred to here as the APS Capacity and
Enrollment Committee. The Capacity and
Enrollment Committee will serve in an ongoing,
fulltime capacity to review the status of APS
countywide enrollment, and capacity. This
Committees purview will include but not be
limited to the review and analysis of facilities
capacities and practical usage, school-by-school
enrollment and projection data, location of
programs, transfers, school boundaries and
admissions policies. The goal of the Committee
will be to review and monitor the above
information to assist APS in managing fluctuating
enrollments while making certain that APS follows
appropriate and relevant written policies.
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ATS
See PowerPoints and Handout
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Jamestown

• Option No. 1
• Build a 2nd floor to the former Walter Reed
  Elementary School (Reed School) with 13
  classrooms
• Permanently house Kindergarten Classes of two
  elementary schools that face severe
  overcrowding (possibly McKinley and
  Nottingham total of 8 or 9 classrooms) on the
  2nd floor of the Reed School
• Use remaining 2nd floor classrooms or classroom
  space for other uses such as art, music,
  special ed, English for Speakers of Other
  Languages (ESOL)/ High Intensity Language
  Training (HILT), gifted and talented pull out,
  as well as space for counselors
• Retain Teen Parenting and the Childrens School
  on the 1st floor of the Reed School and
• Build a gym, cafeteria at the Reed School to
  accommodate both the students of the
  elementary school as well as kids at the
  Childrens School
• In the event, Arlington Public Schools (APS)
  enrollment decreases, Childrens School can
  absorb any unused space in the 2nd floor
• Option No. 2
• At the request of individual elementary
  schools, redefine capacity to include some or all
  of trailer space towards the capacity of an
  elementary school and
• Individual elementary schools must revaluate
  their capacity regularly (possibly every 3
  years).
• Option No. 3
• Ask APS to conduct a feasibility study to
  determine whether it is less expensive to build
  new space at existing elementary schools or to
  build a new elementary school in northwest
  Arlington
• Have APS act on the least expensive option.
• Long Term
  Solution

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Ashlawn
See Handout and PowerPoint
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From School Board Policy 25-2.2 Enrollment in
Neighborhood Schools, Preschools, Area and
Countywide Schools and Programs, and Transfers
Every student is guaranteed admission to the
elementary and secondary neighborhood schools
serving the area in which he or she resides. The
School Board is responsible for establishing
attendance areas for all schools. Although all
Arlington public schools use the same curriculum
and are held to the same state and national
standards, many schools have developed
instructional emphases, unique curriculum
delivery methods, or additional programs designed
to bolster student achievement. The School Board
provides a number of additional educational
options in which students may enroll recognizing
that individual students may thrive in a variety
of educational settings. Some schools enroll
students throughout the county others give
preference to identified geographic areas within
the county.
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From School Board Policy 30-2.2 Boundaries

• Assign students to a school who reside in
  proximity to that school including those who
  live in safe walk zones.
• Keep neighborhoods together.
• Avoid creating elementary school boundaries
  that do not contain the school to which students
  are assigned.
• Minimize transportation times.
• Minimize future capital and operating budget
  costs.
• Promote demographic diversity.
• Avoid causing students who have continued to
  reside in a particular geographic area to be
  affected by boundary change more than once at a
  particular school level, (e.g. elementary,
  middle, high).
• Avoid separating small numbers of students from
  their classmates when they move to a school at
  the next level.

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Previous Proposals
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Revised Tuckahoe
Walking Zones. No planning units that are
currently in a walking zone are moved to a new
school. Moreover, four planning units that are
currently in bus zones are moved to schools where
they have a good chance to be included in the
official walking zone, in whole or in part.
Almost every planning unit that is moved goes to
a school that is physically closer than the one
to which it is presently assigned. Minimized
Disruption. This proposal is targeted
sufficiently that it moves planning units that
currently contain just 319 students. By
carefully selecting those planning units,
boundaries are changed at just 10 schools, rather
than the 14 schools boundaries that were changed
in our original proposal. Moreover, assuming we
grandfather rising third-graders and above, along
with their currently enrolled siblings, we
estimate that only about 70 currently enrolled
K-5 students would be required to move to a
different neighborhood elementary school than
they are presently attending. The original
proposal moved almost twice this
number. Flexibility. If a change does not
appear to be immediately necessary, this proposal
delays its implementation until it is needed. In
this way, the change might be avoided altogether
if enrollment and projections in the intervening
years no longer warrant the change. In the same
way, an entirely different course could be taken
should the data warrant. Greater Specificity.
Unlike our original iteration, this proposal
identifies specific homes for many of the
programs that we propose to move from their
current locations, so that they are clearly
accounted for. However, there remain four
programs that can contain up to 46 students that
we need additional guidance to place
appropriately. PreK Progress. As you all know,
in their charge to us, the APS board asked us to
accommodate at least one PreK program at each
school. Our original version still did not have
PreK programs at three schools this version as
PreK at all schools but two (Nottingham and
McKinley)
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Long Branch

• Relocates 3 pre-K classes (Tuckahoe, McKinley,
  and Glebe)
• Relocates 2 county wide programs (Life Skills
  Interlude)
• Move 2.5 planning units
• -- 1609 and half of 1608 to Glebe
  (Grandfathering rising 3rd, 4th, and 5th
  graders)
• -- 1410 to Ashlawn (Grandfathering all
  currently enrolled kids)
• Freezes transfers at 5 schools
• Allows for Tuckahoe and McKinley, as the most
  overcrowded schools in the county, to utilize 5
  seats a year for two years at both Key and ASF
• Designates Long Branch as the alternative to
  Key for all of Woodbury Park and as an NCLB
  receiving school instead of Ashlawn
• Supports a permanent citizen committee to
  assist the School Board in improving the
  management of elementary enrollments

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Barrett Proposal

• Barrett will continue to accept all incoming
  neighborhood students.
• Barrett will continue to accept transfers from
  Barcroft as long as Barretts total enrollment
  is at or below 95 of its capacity. Barcroft
  parents who wish to send their child to Barrett
  must submit a transfer application by April 15
  for the following school year untimely
  applicants will be put on a wait list and will
  only be accepted if slots become available.
• Barrett will continue to accept transfers from
  cluster schoolswhich include five of
  the schools identified as currently overcrowded
  or projected to be overcrowdedas long as
  Barretts total enrollment is at or below 95 of
  its capacity (including neighborhood attendees
  and Barcroft transfers that have been accepted).
  Cluster school transfers would continue to have
  to submit an application by April 15 for the
  following school year untimely applications
  will be put on a wait list and will only be
  accepted if slots become available.
• All students from schools outside of Barretts
  school boundary (Barcroft, cluster schools,
  etc.) currently enrolled at Barrett will continue
  attending Barrett. Siblings of non-neighborhood
  transfer students already attending Barrett
  would be automatically "grandfathered in."

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• Hybrid Option for Alleviating Crowding at
  Tuckahoe and McKinley
• Grandfather all currently enrolled kids
• Discount all dual enrollees
• Move Tuckahoes pre-K class
• Move Nottinghams Interlude program to a more
  central location
• Move Planning Unit 1609 (29 kids) to Glebe
• Move Life Skills classes from Glebe
• Freeze incoming transfers at Tuckahoe,
  McKinley, Glebe, and Nottingham
• Designate 15 seats (5 each at ASF, ATS, Key)
  for overcrowded schools Allot those seats for
  2008 to overcrowded schools (schools in excess of
  100 capacity) currently Tuckahoe and McKinley
• Designate Long Branch as the alternative to Key
  for all of Woodbury Park

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Tuckahoe
Boundary and Program moves (see following slide)
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Jamestown
Tuckahoe
Nottingham
McKinley
Glebe
Taylor
Ashlawn
Key/Science Focus
Barrett
Carlin Springs
Long Branch
Barcroft
Henry
Randolph
Hoffman-Boston
Oakridge
Abingdon
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Campbell
Expand bus transportation to the entire county
for students electing to attend Campbell
Elementary
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Randolph
Expand bus transportation to the entire county
for students electing to attend the Randolph
Elementary and remove cap on transfers in to
Randolph for the Primary Years IB
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Henry

• Remove the schools from the overcapacity list
  that can remain under capacity by controlling
  transfers in accordance with provisions of APS
  Policy 25-2.2.
• Remove schools from the overcapacity list that
  can remain under capacity by controlling
  enrollment and transfers in accordance with the
  provisions of APS Policy 25-2.2, but have long
  term concerns that should be addressed.
• Terminate all existing non-No Child Left Behind
  transfers at remaining overcapacity schools in
  accordance with the provisions of APS Policy
  25-2.2.
• Allocate at least 18 classrooms to K-5 at
  remaining schools on overcapacity list to
  minimize potential for crowding when near
  capacity.
• Address Nottingham and Tuckahoe, choosing either
  5.a or 5.b, but not both
• a. Remove four trailers in excess of need from
  Tuckahoe, leaving one due to size of current
  1st grade, and one due to size of current 3rd
  grade. Allocate one trailer to Nottingham if
  necessary due to size of current 1st grade. or
• b. Adjust planning units in Glebe, Nottingham,
  and Tuckahoe attendance areas if necessary
  after results of steps 3 and 4 are accounted for.
• Reinstate terminated, and permit new, non-NCLB
  transfers at all schools in accordance with the
  provisions of APS Policy 25-2.2.