HPOK Meetings on Reed Project

Dear Friends and Neighbors – As you know, the Arlington School Board is working in partnership with Arlington County to transform the Reed School into a neighborhood elementary. So far, the set parameters are that: Reed School will have capacity for 725 students; will open in 2021; and will have a maximum project cost of $49M.
 
Mike O’Malley and Dianne Hasselman are the neighborhood representatives on the formal committee advising the school board and country, and attend meetings every other week starting last month. We want to make you are updated regularly with the latest information; understand key milestones and where decisions stand; and give us your input so that we can best represent our community. 
 
To do this, we will host two neighborhood meetings next week:
  • Wednesday, December 6, from 7 to 8 p.m. at Mike’s at 5822 N. 19th Street; and
  • Saturday, December 9, from 2 to 3 p.m. at Dianne’s at 5901 N. 18th Street
 
Please respond by email by Monday, Dec 4, if you will attend one of these so that we can plan accordingly. 
 
Also, please take a look at the link to the PDF below. These are the slides our committee discussed at the Nov 29 meeting. 
 
 
In a nutshell, to date, the architects have presented three high-level potential models for how the Reed School might be expanded.  Next, they will present initial cost estimates for these models at the December 13 meeting at 7 p.m. at the Discovery School. As a reminder, these meetings are open to the public, so if you are interested, please attend.
 
So, lots to think about and consider as a community. Please try to join us either Wednesday or Saturday next week. 
 
Thanks, 
Mike and Dianne

Reed School Schemes

Last night VMDO architects presented three very preliminary concepts for the Reed site.

The concept designs start on p. 35 of the pdf linked below.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/171129_REED_PFRCBLPC_FINAL.pdf

They have three concepts, a north concept, an east concept, and a south concept. The north and south concepts both include an A version, in which they DO NOT build on top of the existing building, and a B version in which they do. The east concept involves an entirely new building on the sled hill and divides the school into two buildings

Feedback sought! They hope to finalize the concepts and deliver them to the school board by February

Contact Mike O’Malley or Dianne Hasselman

Reed School Meeting tonight

Tonight at seven, in the Reed School MultiPurpose Room, the joint BLPC/FRPC committees will be meeting and VMDO, the architectural firm hired to design the new school, will be presenting three concepts for the site. The meeting is open to the public; public comment is typically solicited at the end of the meetings.
 
As I understand the process, the three proposals offered this evening will be considered and refined by the committees, who will then make a recommendation to APS. This would be a good meeting to attend if you want to have a voice in the design process. 
Mike OMalley and Diane Hasselman are HPOK’s representatives on the board. We will be reporting back via this website and will organize meetings to discuss the proposals as needed. If you cannot attend the meetings or were not able to speak at the meetings, you should feel free to contact Diane or myself for explanation  or to make your opinions known.
Mike O’Malley

Detailed accounts of the previous meetings, and a description of the committees  and the process, can be found in previous posts here and at the APS Reed School Project website

Reed School Process

The process to design a  new neighborhood Reed Elementary school continues, and is moving quickly. At the last joint meeting of the BLPC/PFRC, on November 15, committee members learned that it does indeed seem that the existing Reed building was designed to bear the weight of a second floor, which means at least one story may be added at relatively lower cost.

The Committee members were asked to participate in a design exercise in which they were presented with elevations of the Reed site and movable blocks to represent the physical spaces which might need to be added. The new school will require either a full or half size gymnasium, a library, administrative offices and classroom space in addition to the 12-14 classrooms already available. Participants were asked to consider where deliveries would be made, where parking might be added, and how and where bus/car drop off might be managed.

Details of the meeting and presentations can be fund at the Reed School Project website.

At the next meeting, on November 29, the VMDO architecture team will present three design options, and the committees will begin working to consider and refine the options.

The meetings are open to the public and pubic comment is typically solicited. The next meeting again is November 29 at seven o’clock, probably in the Reed School multipurpose room. If the room changes I’ll post it here.

 

Mike O’Malley

 

 

 

Reed School Process update

Citizen/Staff Advisory committees meet last night in an introductory session to discuss Reed school.

There are two committees involved. The BLPC (building level planning committee) is organized by the school board and includes member of local PTA’s and Civic Associations. The PFRC (public-facilities-review-committee) is organized by the County Board and includes many of the same people along with County staff.

The presentations and minutes will be available at the APS Reed School project website (https://www.apsva.us/design-and-construction/new-elementary-school-reed/).

APS informed the meeting that surveys of the Reed school neighborhood are currently underway: this may include surveys of properties near but not on the Reed School site. Do not be alarmed, these are routine surveys in a project of this size. Arlington County is also conducting a tree survey of the Reed Site and you may see trees being tagged with small gray metal labels.

The next meeting of the BLPC/PFRC will be November 15, at six o’clock at the Reed School. These meetings are open to the public.

 

HPOK’s representative to the BLPC/PFRC are Mike O’Malley and Dianne Hasselman

APS Moving ahead with Reed Site

At the October 5th Meeting, Arlington School Board committed to a plan to build a 725 seat neighborhood Elementary school on the Reed site. The School Board established a BLPC so that PTAs, civic association and other stakeholders could have input into the design process. HPOK’s representatives to the committee will be Mike O’Malley and Diane Hasselman.

APS has started a website for the Reed project, located here: https://www.apsva.us/design-and-construction/new-elementary-school-reed/

We will be updating this page as meeting occur

 

County Board Candidate Forum (co-sponsored by Madison Manor CA, Dominion Hills CA, Westover CA, Tara Leeway CA, Leeway Overlee CA, and Highland Park-Overlee Knolls CA)– Tuesday, April 18, from 7:30-9:15pm

On Tuesday, April 18, six Westover-area civic associations are co-sponsoring a candidates forum with the candidates currently running for the open county board seat that will be created by Jay Fisette’s retirement at the end of 2017. The County Board candidate forum will be held at 7:30pm at Resurrection Lutheran Church, 6201 Washington Blvd. Each candidate will give a 3 minute opening statement, and the remaining time will be spent answering written questions submitted by the audience. (Index cards will be provided at the forum to collect audience questions.)

School Board Candidates Forum on the Reed School, April 3

On Monday, April 3rd the three candidates for School Board, James Lander, Maura McMahon, and Monique O’Grady, will appear in a forum to discuss the fate of the Reed School. The meeting will be held at 7 o’clock at Resurrection Lutheran Church, 6201 Washington Blvd. 

The Reed School is slated to be dramatically expanded in the next five years. It is unclear whether it will be a walkable neighborhood school or a “choice” school. The forum will be a chance to hear the candidates opinions and to express your own.

If you have questions you would to see discussed submit them to momalle3@mac.com