Arlington Public Schools staff update the School Board on Sept. 26 on the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) and the alternative plans for elementary seats.
Community meetings to discuss elementary and secondary seat capacity are scheduled at various locations on Oct. 6, Oct. 16, Oct. 20 and Nov. 13. A complete schedule of meetings, with full details is available online at www.apsva.us/moreseats/calendar.
Although the Thomas Jefferson site is the School Board’s preferred site for elementary capacity as noted in the CIP, the board requested an alternative elementary school plan for additions. Staff presented the alternative plan to provide additional seats through additions at other elementary schools in the southern part of the county if a new elementary school is not approved at the Thomas Jefferson site. Staff noted that the alternate locations should meet three requirements to be considered for an addition. Those requirements include:
The additions must be located in areas of critical capacity need (in the southern part of County)
The site must allow school capacity to increase by at least 225 seats without exceeding preferred maximum school capacity of 725 students.
The school should be a neighborhood school to have maximum impact for relieving overcrowding.