Elementary Crowding and Capacity Committee (ECCC) Meeting #9 November 26, 2007

1. Elementary Crowding and Capacity Committee(ECCC)Meeting #9November 26, 2007

2. Meeting Agenda 7:00 Housekeeping 7:10 Glebe 7:25 Q & A 7:30 Nottingham 7:45 Q & A 7:50 McKinley 8:05 Q & A 8:10 ATS 8:25 Q & A 8:30 Jamestown 8:45 Q & A 8:50 Ashlawn 9:05 Q & A 9:10 Voting 9:25 Transfer Report Next Meeting: December 3

3. 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

4. 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 ECCC’s first meeting date in 2008.

5. 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 Committee’s 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.

6. ATS See PowerPoints and Handout

7. 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 Children’s 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 Children’s School; • In the event, Arlington Public Schools’ (APS’) enrollment decreases, Children’s 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

8. Ashlawn See Handout and PowerPoint

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. Previous Proposals

12. 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)

13. 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

14. Barrett Proposal • Barrett will continue to accept all incoming neighborhood students. • Barrett will continue to accept transfers from Barcroft as long as Barrett’s 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 schools—which include five of the schools identified as currently overcrowded or projected to be overcrowded—as long as Barrett’s 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 Barrett’s 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."

15. Hybrid Option for Alleviating Crowding at Tuckahoe and McKinley • Grandfather all currently enrolled kids • Discount all dual enrollees • Move Tuckahoe’s pre-K class • Move Nottingham’s 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 • Designate Long Branch – instead of Ashlawn – as a NCLB receiving school

16. Tuckahoe Boundary and Program moves (see following slide)

17. Jamestown Tuckahoe Nottingham McKinley Glebe Taylor Ashlawn Key/Science Focus Barrett Carlin Springs Barcroft Long Branch Henry Randolph Hoffman-Boston Oakridge Abingdon

18. Campbell Expand bus transportation to the entire county for students electing to attend Campbell Elementary

19. 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

20. 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.