The 5th Grade events — Pre-Oscars Pool Party, Promotion/The Oscars, the Post-Oscars Party are coming soon. It should be a fun month!! See more…
School Boundary Update
On Wednesday, February 27 APS Staff presented a recommendation and an alternative for school boundary changes that would take effect in 2015-2016 when a new school opens on the Williamsburg campus. You may view the recommendation and alternative online by clicking on the links in the upper right corner of the More Seats website (http://www.apsva.us/moreseats). Both the recommendation and alternative plan move all 4 Jamestown planning units west of Old Dominion (2209-2212) to the new school. Taylor planning units 2302 (Bellevue Forest) and 2303 (the northeastern portion of 26th St.) are moved into the Jamestown school district in both plans. The proposed boundary changes are expected to reduce Jamestown’s projected enrollment from is 107.5% of capacity to 100.8% of capacity in 2015-2016 without considering the impact of grandfathering. APS Staff also recommended that 5th graders and younger siblings who are concurrently enrolled in grades k-4 be allowed to remain at their current school with transportation for that school year only.
APS Staff listened to feedback from attendees and plans to develop a third alternative based on feedback at the meeting. They will present these recommendations to the Superintendent who will in turn present his recommendation to the School Board later this month. The School Board is expected to vote on a boundary changes in April.
You may provide feedback on the recommendations at the meeting with Noah Simon on March 5 at 6:45 pm, the March 5 PTA meeting at 7:30 pm, or via e-mail to feedback@jamestownpta.org. The PTA leadership compiles feedback sent to the Feedback e-mail and passes it on to key players in the process.
Update on School Boundaries
At the last community meeting on school boundaries, APS Staff narrowed down the boundary options to 4 proposals (A-D). All 4 proposals move planning units 2209-2212 to the new elementary school and do not move planning unit 2207. The options differ in how many and which students from Taylor are moved into Jamestown. A, C, and D move planning units 2302 (Bellevue Forest) and 2303 (26th Street) to Jamestown, reducing our projected student population by a net of 30 students, while B moves only planning unit 2302 (Bellevue Forest) to Jamestown, reducing our projected population by a net of 93 students. They also differ in which planning units outside Jamestown go to the new school and other boundary moves to existing schools. The presentation with the boundary options can be found here.
APS Staff also presented a map showing a 0.5 mile walk zone around each school and proposed splits in the current boundaries. While current planning units may be less than ideal, APS is using them in the interest of time. The proposed splits are an attempt to correct any planning units that may be particularly poorly designed and could otherwise result in illogical changes being made. In some cases, the splits could divide a planning unit to ensure that the walking portion at a school (often designated as the portion within 0.5 mile even though the walk zone is currently 1 mile) or divide it more naturally around major roads. There were no proposed splits within the Jamestown boundary. The only split that might impact the Jamestown community directly is a proposed split of 2302 (Bellevue Forest), since this planning unit is moved to Jamestown in all 4 proposed boundary changes. Other proposed splits include 1701, the planning unit just west of Williamsburg. Click here to see a map of the proposed splits.
Please note that the proposed options and splits are just proposals. New or revised options, particularly with split planning units, are likely to be proposed and nothing will be final until the School Board votes on a proposed set of changes.
Enrichment Activities Update
The following classes have been cancelled for the Spring Enrichment Session because the classes did not meet the minimum enrollment: Mad Science, Guitar Club, WeDo Robotics, Advanced Robotics, Thinking Outside the Box, Modern Masters, and Zumba. Urban Dance and Pre-Ballet are seeking additional registrants or they will also be cancelled. All other classes will proceed as scheduled and all those who sought enrollment have been placed in the classes. If you are still hoping to register your child in one of the below classes please email jamestown.enrichment2012@
Details and Class Descriptions
Registration form
Room Assignments for the classes are as follows:
Perception Art: Miss Rekstad’s Room
Storybook Yoga: Room 406
Stop Motion Animation: Room 406
Scrapbooking (Thursday): Room 503
Scrapbooking (Monday): TBD
Basketball: The Gym
Ultimate Frisbee: The Back Field
American Girl Adventures: Room 509
Cheerleading: The Black Top
Piano Keys 4 Kids: Room 514
Chess Club: The Library
Lacrosse, Fit-4-Kidz, & Flag Football/Soccer: Will meet outside
Take the Jamestown PTA Survey on the APS Budget
The County Board and the School Board met in November 2012 to discuss the budget for the fiscal year beginning July 2013. At that time, the County Manager estimated that revenue growth would slow to approximately 1% for next year. Based on this level of revenue growth, Arlington Public Schools (APS) estimates a shortfall of approximately $23.5 million for continuing services only, including funding for the projected increase in enrollment and a pay step increase for APS employees. Without a pay step increase, the shortfall is expected to be $16.3 million.
The Jamestown PTA would like to know what choices parents would make in closing the budget gap in order to influence the School Board and County Board’s decision making process in a way that best serves our community. Please click here to participate in an online, 6-question survey.
Through Friday, February 1, you may also use an online budgeting tool supplied by APS to develop and recommend a budget plan. This tool may be found at http://budgetproposal.apsva.us/MyApps/index.htm.
This survey is open only to Jamestown parents. If you are not a Jamestown parent and would like to read the survey, please click here.
School Boundaries
At Wednesday night’s boundary meeting, APS staff unveiled a preliminary “core” set of planning units for the new school. The core is an attempt to gain consensus on a group of planning units for the new school based on the planning units that were assigned to the new school in most boundary options. The “core” set of planning units includes all Jamestown neighborhoods west of Old Dominion (planning units 2209 through 2212) and can be seen online.
Community members were asked to provide feedback on the core, and many questioned the inclusion of one planning unit and the exclusion of another, suggesting that there may be further revisions to the core. Please also note that the core only fills roughly 2/3 of the seats targeted for the new school, so a planning unit such as 2207 (the neighborhood between Williamsburg Blvd., Old Dominion, and Glebe Rd.) could still be moved to the new school even though it wasn’t included in the core.
Please note that there was an error in Tuesday’s e-mail about boundaries. There were only 3 community-proposed boundary options (#1, 10, 16) that move the neighborhood between Williamsburg Blvd., Old Dominion, and Glebe Rd. (planning unit 22207) to the new school. You may view all proposed boundary options online or find your planning unit using this map of the Jamestown school district.
As a reminder, the School Board plans to make decisions about the new boundaries by this April. We have already received lots of feedback on various school boundary proposals and encourage others with questions, suggestions, or concerns to e-mail us at feedback@jamestownpta.org. There are also several upcoming meetings where you may provide feedback, including a series of community meetings. The next one will be on February 6 at 7 pm at Williamsburg, and others are listed at the bottom of e-newsletter. We will also dedicate a portion of each upcoming PTA meeting (Tuesday, February 5 and Tuesday, March, 5 at 7:30 pm) to this topic and have our school ambassador on hand to answer questions and relay feedback to APS Staff.
Art Class Added to Winter/Spring Enrichment
Perception Art (a drawing, painting, and collage class) has been added to the Enrichment Schedule. The class will be held on Mondays, beginning FEBRUARY 4th. Enrollment can be completed through the PTA at Jamestown.enrichment2012@
Boundary Options Have Been Proposed and Will Be Discussed at Community Meeting on Wednesday, January 23 at 7 pm at Williamsburg
The school boundaries for Jamestown and nearby schools are currently being redesigned in anticipation of a new elementary school being opened on the Williamsburg campus in the fall of 2015. Some of the neighborhoods that currently attend Jamestown will likely be moved to the new school, and it is unlikely that younger students in these neighborhoods or their siblings will be allowed to continue attending Jamestown once the new school opens. (There may be some grandfathering, but grandfathering is not expected for all students who currently attend Jamestown.)
The community has proposed 18 options for redrawing the school boundaries, which you can view online. The boundary options are based on planning units, which are subdivisions of each school district. The majority of these options move all neighborhoods in the Jamestown school district that are west of Old Dominion (planning units 2209 through 2212) to the new school. There are 3 options (#1, 10, 16) that also move the neighborhood between Williamsburg Blvd., Old Dominion, and Glebe Rd. (planning unit 22207) to the new school. One option (#15) moves only the neighborhoods west of Old Dominion and north of Little Falls (planning units 2209 and 22010), and another option (#17) moves only the neighborhoods west of Old Dominion and north of 30th St. (planning units 2209 through 2210). If you are uncertain about the planning unit in which you reside, please look at this map of the Jamestown school district.
These options will be evaluated in the next couple of months, and the School Board is expected to make a final decision this April so that families have time to plan for the changes that will take place. If you have opinions about which options make most sense or concerns about specific options, it is very important that you express those views now before final decisions are made. APS is holding several meetings in the next couple of months to evaluate options and hear feedback from the community with the next one being held tomorrow, Wednesday, January 23 at 7 pm at Williamsburg. Our Executive Board and School Boundary Liaison would also like to know what you think so that we can express the views and concerns of our community to APS Staff and School Board members. You may provide feedback to us by e-mailing feedback@jamestownpta.org or by coming to the next two PTA meetings (Tuesday, February 5 and Tuesday, March, 5 at 7:30 pm).
Registration for Enrichment/After School Activities begins Tuesday, January 22nd
Registration for all programs will open on January 22nd at 4:00 pm and continue until February 1st at 5:00 pm. All classes are filled on a first-come, first-served basis and generally begin the week of February 11th (though some start earlier and some later). Further details and class descriptions are available here. Please be sure to register through the vendors own registration system (when applicable) or complete one registration form for each class and for each child and send to Jamestown.Enrichment2012@gmail.com.
New School Boundaries Coming into Focus
APS is moving forward with its process to set new boundaries for JES and six other elementary schools in order to determine which children will attend the new elementary school planned for the Williamsburg campus. APS has just posted a survey to take community opinion on the boundary choices. We encourage your participation in the APS survey. In addition, the APS “More Seats” website now shows 9 potential boundary arrangements here. We encourage JES community members to view these images. These are not official plans; they have been developed by citizens using the on-line planning tool provided by APS, but they are reasonably representative of the range of potential options that APS will consider. Parents who live in APS planning units 2209-2212 (all 4 planning units west of Old Dominion) should know that every one of the community-proposed options moves planning units 2209-2212 to the new school, and option #1 also moves 2207 (the planning unit between Glebe/Old Dominion/Williamsburg) to the new school.
If you have opinions about the options shown on the APS site or wish to offer your own options, keep in mind the upcoming steps in the planning process:
January 23: Community Meeting at WMS at 7pm where they are expected to present an analysis of the 9 community-proposed boundary options
January 28: APS Staff and Ambassadors present at Kindergarten Information Night at WL - Information Sharing
February 5: Ambassadors meet with PTAs of impacted schools
February 6: 7pm Community Meeting at Williamsburg for updates, feedback, and refinement of options
Also, please share your opinions with the JES PTA by emailing to feedback@jamestownpta.org. Our leadership will be attending many of these meetings and also regularly correspond with APS staff and School Board members about boundary issues, and we will communicate thoughts shared to us at those times.