View the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on the recommendation to repurpose Nottingham Elementary School as swing space, which includes questions that were submitted by the Nottingham PTA to staff and questions from School Board Members and the public. View the Pre-CIP Report FAQ for general information about the report. As new information becomes available, the questions will be updated.
If your question is not answered in the FAQ, please contact engage@apsva.us.
At APS, our mission is to ensure that all students learn and thrive in safe, healthy, and supportive learning environments. Our commitment to excellence, equity, inclusivity, integrity, collaboration, innovation, and stewardship is at the heart of everything we do, including decisions related to school facilities and educational resources.
The swing space decision-making process involves a comprehensive understanding of our schools’ needs and limited resources. The FY2023-32 Capital Improvement Plan will allocate significant funding for renovations, and repurposing a school as swing space allows us to maximize these resources, ensuring that vital upgrades are made across our school system.
Turning a neighborhood school into swing space is a carefully considered decision, aligned with our core values and mission, for the following reasons:
Ultimately, repurposing a school for swing space aligns with our core values by focusing on long-term benefits, equity in resource allocation, and innovative solutions to maintain the quality of education we are committed to providing all students here at APS.
The policy considerations are evaluated in each boundary process, there is always a trade off on what considerations take priority. All of these items will be answered in the 2025 Elementary Boundary process based on the schools that will serve neighborhood students in 2026-27. See Pre-CIP Appendix H Draft Fall 2023 Middle School Boundary Recommendation report to see the approach that will be used to address each of the policy considerations.
APS will work with the school staff to ensure that student and family concerns are addressed in the lead up to the process.
If directed by the SB in October, APS will assess the costs for other swing space options.
This topic is covered in a yearly 10-page report that explains the data, assumptions, trends and methodology used by grade, by school level and by program. Please visit the website for the full report: https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/APS-Fall-2022-10-Year-Enrollment-Projections.pdf.
The boundary process will include surrounding schools. Based on the 2022 projections, zone 1 has the capacity to serve projected elementary neighborhood school enrollment, with Nottingham’s capacity. In a boundary process, some kids from the receiving schools may also shift to a nearby school. No school is expected to be above its permanent facility capacity, and this does not depend on the use of relocatable classrooms.
The data we are monitoring shows that while births continue, the rate of births has been declining for the last seven years.
Based on the 2022 projections, APS has sufficient middle school capacity over the next decade.
This could be explored; however, it will likely impact staffing and concerns raised about staff morale. This is an area that we could work more closely with the community on to figure out solutions that balance competing demands, after a decision on swing space is clear.
During the period of growth from 2009 to 2019, APS had to react to enrollment growth. APS added two new schools, Discovery and Cardinal, and two school additions at Ashlawn and ATS (McKinley). Enrollment growth is now falling in the Northwest area, and it’s increasing in areas where more density is allowed, As a result, student distribution in the County has changed. Now we have sufficient capacity, and we must be responsive to where the current needs are. Reassigning students is an industry best-practice, non-capital tool to manage enrollment.
APS is prioritizing neighborhood schools and will continue to have six other neighborhood schools surrounding the Nottingham site. Each option school is filled to capacity and option schools and programs are moving when needed to make space for more densely populated neighborhoods. For example, Escuela Key moved making room for Innovation E.S., a new neighborhood school in the high growth Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor. McKinley moved to the Cardinal building, doubling the number of students who reside within walking distance of the neighborhood school, and allowing ATS to accept more students as it moved into a bigger facility. The current recommendation to relocate middle school immersion will allow for fewer boundary changes at the neighborhood schools than a boundary-only proposition.
There has been no speculation about future uses of Nottingham if the capacity is required. Any recommendation will depend upon the district’s needs at the time of this decision and this will be reassessed every other year in the Pre-CIP Report.
In the Pre-CIP Report Appendix K: Swing Space School Site Recommendation Report (p. A-217 or PDF p.259), the reassignments in the recommendation to repurpose Nottingham are estimates based on total projected enrollment at Nottingham and surrounding schools. They also include additional reassignments of students from Discovery to Taylor so that schools are able to manage their enrollment. Actual numbers may vary between now and Fall 2025 when the elementary boundary process will be conducted.
Zone 1 is projected to have sufficient capacity, even if Nottingham is repurposed for swing space. The projections show Zone 1 neighborhood school capacity is 4,201. If Nottingham is to be repurposed as a swing space, Zone 1 capacity falls to 3,688 and there will be a surplus of 96 seats (excluding relocatable classroom capacity).
In Spring of 2025, APS will use the most current enrollment and projections to prepare for the elementary boundary process guided by Policy B-2.1 Boundaries.
Initial discussions with transportation are underway and several ideas will be considered.
In past planning processes, each bus was estimated at $100,000 to cover 3 runs. Updated costs can be requested by the School Board in their direction for the May 2024 Superintendent’s Proposed FY 2025-34 CIP.
The Swing Space study was completed in April, following the CIP 2023-2032. When the study recommended repurposing a neighborhood elementary school as swing space, a second study was needed and immediately followed to evaluate all neighborhood elementary schools and define a specific site recommendation. A transportation analysis was not conducted nor feasible at the time.
Traffic will be a concern at every school in every process. If the June 2024 CIP action directs APS to repurpose a neighborhood school and use Nottingham for swing space, APS will then address the concerns at the chosen site based on the anticipated changes.
Traffic studies were not required for the school moves which relocated several APS elementary schools including Key, ATS and Cardinal.
Nottingham students may be able to walk to their reassigned schools, and we won’t have that information until the elementary boundary process in 2025.
The ballpark estimate for a school with 500 kids, and assuming 60 kids fit on a bus, APS would need 9 buses to bring school under renovation to Nottingham.
APS would have preferred a central location, however the sites in central locations, including the W-L Annex, the Syphax Education Center, and the existing ACC building require a significant investment that would not be available for renovations.
Locations all over the County were considered and alternative options were presented for comparison to the school board. See page A-159 in Appendix J for more information. APS recommends repurposing Nottingham for Swing Space.
Location is an attribute that was noted for swing space options. Evaluations were holistic and sought to optimize the mix of location, cost, project scope, timing, implementation feasibility and minimizing impacted families.
Travel times have not been estimated. While not ideal, some students currently have long travel times to and from school.
APS has not produced this information and it was not part of the evaluation of sites.
Plans will be put in place to encourage families to have most students ride the bus each day to and from the site so that traffic for pick up and drop off is limited.
Plans will be put in place to encourage families to have most students ride the bus each day to and from the site so that traffic for pick up and drop off is limited. This information will accompany the Superintendent’s Proposed FY2025-34 CIP in May.
APS will not be able to solve all the problems that exist today at the site. With creative solutions, we believe the transportation impacts can be reduced and may improve upon the pickup and drop off for the neighborhood schools using the swing space.
Many schools have been asking for renovations for some time. Swing space won’t be optional if needed. We hope families understand the short-term inconvenience results in their school being renovated faster and brought up to current standards.
In the past, APS has provided bus transportation to families for these events. If the recommendation is approved, then steps will be taken to provide transportation.
Following the 2023-32 CIP, the recommendation is to further explore plans to repurpose Nottingham Elementary School for elementary school swing space in support of the Long-Range Plan to Renovate Existing Facilities.
Swing Space is defined as a facility that can be used by a school while its building is undergoing extensive renovations. The space must consider the needs of elementary-aged students and ensure they have access to all the resources necessary for teaching and learning.
Following the 2023-32 CIP where the School Board directed the Superintendent to identify and develop swing space to support the Long-Range Renovation projects, APS evaluated 61 potential sites against educational specifications and additional requirements.
You can find the full rationale for using swing space and the analysis in the Pre-CIP Report Appendix J: Swing Space Project Report.
The Long-Range Plan to Renovate Existing Facilities includes an evaluation of each school, identifies schools with the greatest need for renovation, and will provide the Superintendent and School Board with a prioritized list of schools. It will be available in October 2023, before the School Board CIP Direction, to prepare cost estimates for top priority schools and include as many renovations as possible in the proposed FY 2025-34 CIP.
Before enrollment growth started spiking and driving CIPs and School Bonds APS had a renovation plan that was cycling through all buildings, bringing each up to current standards. Nottingham was one of the schools that was renovated, and the school relocated to the Wilson swing space site to facilitate the renovation. Now that enrollment is leveling off and expected to decrease, we need to get back to maintaining our investment in our existing facilities, preparing each to be on par with newer facilities while also preparing for increases and decreases in enrollment levels.
This is yet to be determined based on further evaluation of each school and their renovation needs. Planning & Evaluation expects that one swing space site could be used in succession by multiple schools for one to two years during each renovation. The building evaluations and cost studies will help determine how many renovations APS can undertake over time.
If an elementary school is repurposed as swing space and Arlington experiences higher than anticipated growth at the elementary level, the site could be returned to a neighborhood school in the future.
Smaller projects are scheduled during school breaks and may be done without using a swing space. Major renovations can be extremely disruptive to the school and community. APS believes it is more appropriate to use a swing space, if possible, during major renovations to limit academic disruptions to students, safety risks, and costs. Experience has shown it is in the best interest of the school community to be relocated during major renovation and this is an industry best practice.
The CIP directed APS to propose a plan for swing space, ready for 2026. The CIP timelines may adjust a bit, however, it’s critical that if APS has to repurpose an elementary school for swing space, it be done in conjunction with the fall 2025 elementary boundary process for the 2026-27 school year.
Yes, some renovations will require extensive work. Recent renovations at other schools including Abingdon and McKinley were made more complicated since they renovations had to be done while school was operating on the site.
The option to temporarily distribute students while their school is being renovated was evaluated. Appendix G of the Swing Space Project Report (p. A-198 or PDF p. 240) shows this solution was not recommended for several reasons, primarily because only a limited number of schools have open seats.
This idea was evaluated, not pursued for the following reasons.
We understand the difficulty in closing a school and dividing that community. All schools are loved by their communities. Nottingham students would still be able to attend APS schools in proximity to their neighborhood. Students would settle into their new school and become a part of their new community. The adjustment period would be limited to a single change.
We don’t see any notable growth from Arlington County’s Missing Middle or Plan Langston Boulevard planning processes in the next 10 years, and possibly beyond the projections window.
Read about planned projects in the FY 2023-32 CIP www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/FY-2023-32-CIP-Report-Final.pdf.
Swing space does not address capacity. It supports the good stewardship of existing facilities through major renovations. See more information regarding projections in the Pre-CIP Report Appendix B: Fall 2022 10-Year Enrollment Projections Report and Appendix D: Projected Capacity Utilization Tables for more information regarding utilization.
APS will have the prioritized list of renovation needs by this October, and we anticipate the need to renovate several schools. We cannot pick a swing space location based on a single project, because it is anticipated to be used repeatedly by different school communities as their buildings are renovated in turn.
Nottingham extended day staff will be redeployed to other schools and staffing will increase proportionately with enrollment.
We can explore if it is possible to guarantee spots for existing Nottingham extended day students, after a decision is made to repurpose Nottingham for swing space.
If the School Board’s October 2023 vote on the CIP Direction includes further consideration of Nottingham for swing space, we’ll ask that HR plan to provide an initial plan as part for teacher retention as part of the Superintendent’s Proposed FY 2025-34 CIP in May 2024.
No, this is a district-level recommendation, and the Nottingham staff were not consulted. Administrators at Nottingham and the other Zone 1 schools identified in the appendix were informed of the recommendation before it was shared with the community.
PTA presidents were contacted by the Chief of Staff prior to announcing the recommendation to the community. Information is also included in the weekly Engage message.
Teacher retention is a priority for APS and each teacher will be given priority for vacant positions in 2026-27.
This will be added to the HR plan that will accompany the May 2024 Superintendent’s proposed FY 2025-34 CIP
Staff members can be reassigned to another school in the system and the APS HR Department will give Nottingham staff priority to fill vacant positions at other schools.
The School Board’s motion on the FY 2023-34 CIP directed APS to find swing space and the timeline required that both the Long Range Renovation plan and swing space be identified ahead of the SB’s October vote on CIP direction. We felt that holding back this information on swing space would not be fair to the Nottingham community, and wanted to avoid a divisive community debate about which school would meet the educational specifications and have enough capacity in surrounding schools to work.
The SB’s October vote will tell APS where to focus efforts and spend money on planning for the May 2024 Superintendent’s Proposed FY 2025-34 CIP. Studies can be conducted once the list of potential sites is narrowed. Conducting studies of every possible site is cost prohibitive and not a good use of limited resources.
The costs of closing repurposing an elementary school building will be lower than the alternatives which would mean:
No, not at this time.
Most of the sites eliminated in the swing space study were too small to serve as an elementary school. No sites were big enough for a middle school instead, if a Middle School is renovated, we’ll need to work with the school administrators to consider if one or two grades should move out to facilitate a renovation.
If APS spends money on swing space, that will reduce the funds available to renovate our schools, and schools’ renovations have been deferred for over a decade in some cases.
Swing space is a separate issue from the renovation. Having both recommendations ahead of acting on their direction will help the SB understand if the recommendation makes sense.
Please see the Arlington Public Schools Fall 2022 10-Year Enrollment Projections Report, published December 2022 and updated annually: www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/APS-Fall-2022-10-Year-Enrollment-Projections.pdf.
Plan Langston Boulevard is a long-range plan. APS estimates suggest the only school that might get additional students in the next 10 years is Glebe and Glebe will be part of the elementary boundary process in 2025-26 for the 2026-27 school year. Plan Langston Boulevard is suggesting that if needed, APS could use the Langston and Lee Center sites for school needs. Both sites would add capacity in an area that today has excess capacity.
Staff searched the entire County for sites to evaluate.
Nearby schools did not have enough capacity to accept Drew and Randolph students through boundary changes.
Projections use historical data to estimate future patterns, it’s art and science. APS projections have been fairly accurate since the work was moved to P&E; however, accuracy was off when schools reopened virtually during the pandemics and our historical data did not account for this change.
Expanded Housing Options (Missing Middle):
APS follows the county’s guidance in developing its CIP. You can read more about this on the county’s website at https://www.arlingtonva.us/Government/Programs/Budget-Finance/Bonds.
In the swing space appendix and the review of alternative sites that included a relocatable village, building at the County Barcroft Center, and in previous considerations of Long Bridge Park environmental concerns were prominent.
There are no plans to add relocatable classrooms at Nottingham. The site has 5 relocatable classrooms adding capacity for about 120 additional students, which added to the building capacity of 513, means there is a capacity for 633 students if the school is repurposed for swing space.
The boundary process will make sure that the resulting population fits within the schools’ design capacity and the enrollment they are built to accommodate.
There are no plans to add relocatable classrooms at Nottingham or to change the existing green space.
Transportation plans will encourage families to have students use the bus to and from Nottingham, and may reduce the overall traffic to the site.
Students move every year and students moving within APS have transition meetings to ensure the change is successful. This same process would apply to students reassigned in a boundary process.
Students across APS have successfully navigated other processes, including school moves, boundary changes, overcrowding. APS staff and families set the tone for how students experience school even under adverse conditions and we will provide some supports to help staff prepare students for these transitions.
If this recommendation continues, in May the Superintendent’s Proposed CIP will include draft plans addressing many of the concerns that have been identified, and as we move closer to the actual time frame for repurposing the school, action plans will help the staff work through the transitions to their next APS school.
Students regularly make transitions from PreK to elementary school, elementary to middle school, middle to high school. The way families and staff talk about these changes and others with students will help them maintain their mental health. All of the considerations are outlined in the appendix, and APS also prioritizes using funds for renovations by reducing the costs to provide swing space.
This will be evaluated as part of the EMP www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Enrollment-Management-Plan-2023-Final.pdf to see where it can fit. For initial boundaries, the existing PreK programs are included in the students we are estimating to include in the 2025-26 boundary process, we’ll also review where the students receiving services reside. This will also be evaluated as part of the EMP www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Enrollment-Management-Plan-2023-Final.pdf to see if adjustments are appropriate.
This process will not impact the work of other departments and schools to meet this KPI.
June 27, 2023
The work session was originally scheduled for June 20; however, it was rescheduled due to School Board Member calendar conflicts.
This is the first time this report, formerly the AFSAP was presented this early in the year. Past reports were provided in the fall. The timeline was adjusted to allow review and input ahead of the SB’s CIP direction, and in response to complaints from FAC and JFAC on wanting to provide input on APS’s CIP. Providing input on the Superintendent’s spring CIP proposal is too late for APS to make adjustments since much of the work comes from the SB’s direction the prior fall.
No. In past years, this was released in the fall and had no clear recommendations. This report has been adjusted to align with the SB’s steps in building its CIP and in response to concerns raised by FAC and JFAC on addressing the CIP recommendations.
No group meetings were held with principals on the overall Pre-CIP Report. Principals are responsible for running schools. The swing space study included representatives for School Support Services. The elementary principal’s representative participated in the swing space project and communicated with her counterparts beginning last fall.
The recommendation is being made at this time with the goal of providing community stakeholders with several opportunities for direct feedback to staff, which are scheduled for this summer and fall.
The School Board will provide further direction for this recommendation in November 2023 and vote on it in June 2024.
This recommendation may disrupt the continuity of some students’ education, and we are working diligently to mitigate any potential challenges that may arise from this transition. Our priority is to ensure a seamless and positive experience for our students if they were to be reassigned to another school. We will provide the necessary resources, support, and open lines of communication to address any concerns or issues that may arise from the community and are assessing various options to accommodate families. Options will be shared with families after the School Board vote confirms plans for swing space.
This idea was thoroughly evaluated, but ultimately not pursued for several reasons.
APS believes that it is preferable to reassign students permanently and limit disruption to one school with each new project.
APS’ proposal conducts one boundary process in 2025-26 for all elementary schools that need adjustments and applies in the 2026-27 school year.
The suggestion to redistribute students to a nearby school would require a boundary process for every renovation and families already believe that APS changes boundaries change too often.
Neighboring counties have a larger inventory of facilities or have schools with larger properties where they can build temporary schools onsite that are used for swing space as in Fairfax which placed up to 55 relocatables on a parking lot. In another example, MCPS had sufficient capacity to delay opening a new school using it first as swing space to then open both the new and the renovated school at the same time.
Before enrollment growth started spiking and driving CIPs and School Bonds APS had a renovation plan that was cycling through all buildings, bringing each up to current standards. Nottingham was one of the schools that was renovated, and the school relocated to the Wilson swing space site to facilitate the renovation. Now that enrollment is leveling off and expected to decrease, we need to get back to maintaining our investment in our existing facilities, preparing each to be on par with newer facilities while also preparing for increases and decreases in enrollment levels.
Yes, the Pre-CIP Report Appendix J, Swing Space Project Report, and Appendix K, Swing Space School Site Recommendation Report, detail the process followed to identify a recommended swing space site. APS evaluated 61 potential sites against educational specifications and additional requirements. It also lists alternative swing space sites to consider if the board wanted to explore renovating multiple schools and using more than one swing space at a time.
The Pre-CIP Report Appendix J, Swing Space Project Report, and Appendix K, Swing Space School Site Recommendation Report, details the process followed to identify a recommended swing space site. The eight sites include:
APS evaluated 61 potential sites against educational specifications and additional requirements. This recommendation was made based on a number of considerations including enrollment projections, school capacities, and the goal of minimizing the number of impacted students.
The Pre-CIP Report Appendix K, Swing Space School Site Recommendation Report, shows the decision-making process behind this recommendation and other APS school sites.
We understand that this is a challenging situation and have incorporated time into this process for input and discussion with the community.
It was considered, addressed in the swing space appendix and remains on the list of possible alternatives.
It was considered, addressed in the swing space appendix and remains on the list of possible alternatives.
The FY 2023-32 CIP capped enrollment on the ACC campus at 2,570 students, the size of the new ACC building plus the repurposed ACC building. As part of the Use Permit approval for construction of the new facility APS committed to the cap of operating two schools on the campus and in the future adding green space where MPSA is located on the campus and will make the site more similar to other large campuses like Williamsburg and Discovery.
For additional information or questions, please contact engage@apsva.us.
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