Comments on APS CIP FY23

 First email to school.board@apsva.us (Just opposing the CIP with ACC)


Good morning,


Last summer, I appreciated when the School Board wisely decided to not include significant funding for building on the Career Center site in the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP).

I was concerned to see that a planning process for this site started up a few months ago, but was hopeful that more planning work had been done that I was unaware of. Unfortunately, it seems that APS still does not have a long term plan.

We do have capital needs. Some of our schools are widely known to be in serious disrepair - Hoffman-Boston, Swanson, Barcroft, for example. Other schools have facilities issues that impact the daily life of students and staff - unworking HVAC, bathrooms that don't work, water quality issues. 

So I was extremely concerned that APS has proposed a CIP that spends the majority of its available capital funding for the next decade on the Career Center while leaving these basic facilities needs unaddressed. 

APS should ensure that every school building is in good working order before building a new school. We do not have the capacity deficit that we had projected prepandemic. We have time to (1) fix all facilities, and (2) develop a well thought out plan for capacity expansion.

Please, do not adopt the proposed CIP. Instead, adopt a CIP that addresses needs and use the next 2 years to develop a long term plan for APS growth. 

Thank you for your time and your service

Gillian Burgess



Second email to school.board@apsva.us and countyboard@arlingtonva.us

Good afternoon,

On Tuesday, I emailed the esteemed members of the School Board about my serious concerns about the outsized investment in the proposed CIP for the Career Center property, despite the lack of a long term plan for APS facilities' needs.

Yesterday morning, I listened to County Board Chair Katie Cristol discuss the huge growth in technology and innovation jobs coming to National Landing, as well as the historic partnership that has led to the Arlington Community High School moving to the PenPlace at the National Landing BID's annual meeting.

Then it struck me: National Landing would provide an ENORMOUS opportunity to the students of Arlington Tech and the Arlington Career Center. 

Clearly, building a new school in this currently-school-less segment of the County would require a lot of coordination and may not be possible. Fortunately, after the pandemic, we are not projected to need as many seats in schools as previously projected. We have time to develop a long term plan, which includes seizing the opportunity to have a truly world-class technical high school situated steps away from the headquarters of multiple truly world-class tech companies. 

I have been very excited to see what the increased coordination between the County Board and School Board has brought to Arlington so far. I know with your combined leadership, we can make more great things happen. I hope bringing Arlington Tech to the tech center of National Landing is one of them.

Thank you for your time and for your service,
Gillian

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

To APS School Board Re: Staff moving immersion to Kenmore

 Date: June 29, 2023 To:  school.board@apsva.us Subject:  Please OPPOSE the efforts of staff to move the Immersion MS program to Kenmore with zero engagement Good afternoon, As you know, I've been an involved immersion parent, with students are Key and Gunston, for the past seven years. The immersion program is a jewel. I find the email below, which presents the decision to move the Immersion middle school program to Kenmore as a done deal (there will be information sessions on the relocation, APS will start a boundary process assuming the relocation), deeply troubling.  There has been no engagement with immersion families, with Kenmore families or with the public about this change. Moreover, it seems, from earlier discussions about moving the immersion middle school program, that this change would be ill-advised. Kenmore is NOT centrally located and is, in fact, our least accessible middle school for all transportation modes. There is no space available at Kenmore and putting imme
Read more

VA House: Bike Safety Bills January 2024

 I enthusiastically support these changes which will improve the safety for people people biking and make our entire transportation system safer. I often ride to get around Northern Virginia and my children, who are too young to drive, also use bikes to get around. - Safety Stop - People that riding heavier, kid-carrying bikes and children riding bikes often take extra time to start from a full stop. Allowing the safety stop allows these people to get through an intersection - and out of danger - more quickly. It also keeps the flow on the street moving. Finally, it just makes sense that people on bikes - who have a better sense of their surroundings because they are not inside a car and who are far less likely to kill someone in a crash - have less of a need to come to a complete stop at every stop sign. - Riding Two Abreast (aka side-by-side) - When riding with kids, I want the kids beside me to my right so that anyone approaching from behind can see us, so that the kid does not swer
Read more

Support for Automated Speed Enforcement in Innovations subcommittee in VA House - 2/1/2024

 I am writing today to enthusiastically support the expansion of authority to use automated speed enforcement in Virginia. We know that driving over the speed limit is not only illegal, it leads to more serious injuries and deaths on our streets. Automated speed enforcement is a proven tool to stop driving over the speed limit. These bills provide more than adequate safeguards to ensure that automated speed enforcement is implemented fairly. The dangers of speeding are particularly acute for children - who both cannot drive themselves to get around and are more vulnerable to serious injury while walking and biking. We need more automated speed enforcement in Virginia to enable our children to  get around independently and safely - not only near schools but throughout our communities.
Read more