To: Arlington County School Board
Support for a new APS Choice School at the Wilson Site
I support the building of a cost-efficient, state-of-the-art facility at the Wilson site that would add up to 1300 new secondary school student seats in one or more new choice programs (STEM, language, etc.).
(Note: If you are a parent, or likely future APS parent, please indicate in the notes section and include your middle school boundary area.)
(Note: If you are a parent, or likely future APS parent, please indicate in the notes section and include your middle school boundary area.)
Why is this important?
The School Board aims to finalize a secondary school site by November 18.
A choice school at the Wilson site would relieve over-crowding at Swanson and Williamsburg middle schools, while fulfilling community interest in a STEM school feeder to the Thomas Jefferson Science and Technology High School (currently only about 15 of the hundreds of APS students that apply each year are admitted) and/or a language immersion program.
APS enrollment has grown by 19 percent in the last five years and is expected to grow at 2.7 percent every year for the next ten years. The Wilson site is just one piece of the puzzle, but preliminary APS analysis found it was likely to be the fastest place to add new seats with best construction value and least disruption to students during construction. Regardless of the first site chosen, APS will continue to plan for renovations and additions at other sites to meet the growing student population.
A choice school at the Wilson site would relieve over-crowding at Swanson and Williamsburg middle schools, while fulfilling community interest in a STEM school feeder to the Thomas Jefferson Science and Technology High School (currently only about 15 of the hundreds of APS students that apply each year are admitted) and/or a language immersion program.
APS enrollment has grown by 19 percent in the last five years and is expected to grow at 2.7 percent every year for the next ten years. The Wilson site is just one piece of the puzzle, but preliminary APS analysis found it was likely to be the fastest place to add new seats with best construction value and least disruption to students during construction. Regardless of the first site chosen, APS will continue to plan for renovations and additions at other sites to meet the growing student population.