A few questions for City Council candidates.

April 18, 2012 by

The first City Council debate is tonight (Taylor Run).  I took a few minutes and wrote up the questions I’d love to see City Council candidates answer. Council debates rarely give time for real thoughtful answers and often become just sound-bite shows. So, if you see a Council candidate, here are some thoughts of things you can talk about.

Economic Development, Affordable Housing and Fiscal Policy

1) The City has had constrained budgets for the last 5 years. State and Federal budget cuts have taken away city services for the most vulnerable. City staff has not had a cost of living adjustment for five years. Economic growth is much slower than the rise in costs. Many programs and needs have been cut back or eliminated. How will you prioritize city spending and tackle these issues?

2) Do you agree with the current city tax rate? How would you change it?

3) Do you agree with the amount being dedicated to transportation funding?

4) A number of people are suggesting the city should abandon its AAA bond rating. Do you agree? Why or why not?

5) Do you agree with the amount of funding being dedicated to storm water management?

6) Do you think more money should be dedicated to preserve affordable housing?

7) Do you think more money should be spent preserving open space and securing park-land?

8) What areas of tax and fiscal policy would you change?

9) What is your economic development vision for the city? Should development decisions by the Council take into consideration fiscal concerns?

10) It has been shown that town homes and residential development cost the taxpayers more in terms of services than commercial development which is a net producer of tax revenues. Should this be a factor in land use decisions?

11) Over the last 10 years the Council has updated most small area plans in the city. The Mirant site and Eisenhower West are the last areas to complete. What is your view of these two sites and are there other areas of the city you’d like to open up for zoning review and why?

12) Do you oppose or support the public-private partnership planned for the waterfront, what would you change? Do you support the by-right residential uses on the waterfront? Do you prefer the city buy the warehouse sites? Would you use eminent domain to buy them? If you want to buy the private land, how would you pay for it?

13) The Council has spent millions of dollars over the last few years preserving affordable housing. By most counts, Alexandria uses every tool available to it in order to preserve and protect a range of housing options in the city. And state law prohibits the city from mandating that developers provide a specific amount of affordable housing. What else, if anything, would you do to make Alexandria affordable to a range of income groups?

14) As part of a new affordable housing master plan, what changes to city zoning would you make to make the city more affordable? Do you support granny flats? Do you support transfer of development rights to help preserve affordable housing and if so, where would you transfer the density to?

15) Alexandria has grown slower than the rest of the region over the last ten years. Some have argued that the lack of rental options has created higher rents and fewer affordable housing options. Others have suggested growth is what causes rents to go up and we should restrict growth to keep rents down. What is your view of city growth? What would you do to change it?

Transportation, Education, Human Services and the Environment

1) With the region expected to add millions of jobs over the next few decades it is fair to assume congestion will get worse. What should Alexandria do to address the growth in the region and its impact on the City?

2) Alexandria is one of the slowest growing areas of Northern Virginia but the jurisdictions around the City are growing faster and creating more traffic. What would you do about this?

3) Do you support the city Transportation Master plan and its call for more transit, walking and biking? What would you change and how would you pay for it?

4) Over the last 10 years the number of people walking and biking to work has doubled in the city. Do you support this trend? What would you do to keep it going?

5) Do you support the new Metro in Potomac Yard and what would you do, if anything, to ensure it happens or to stop it? If you want to stop it, what would you put in its place?

6) The bad economy has caused the city to fall behind on replacement of city busses. Would you support tax increases to help pay for more frequent and reliable bus service?

7) Do you support the current Council policy of moving to hybrid busses instead of diesel?

8) Human service programs have been severely constrained due to the recession and state and federal cuts are impacting programs like pre-k, Healthy Families, mental health services, job programs and food stamps. What would you do to address the growing needs for these services?

9) What is the proper relationship between the city and schools in regard to the school budget?

10) With growing student populations in the city, building more classrooms is a growing need. Do you support this spending? Is enough planned for in the city capital budget? What would you do differently?

11) What should the City Council do with regard to early childhood services in the city? Do you support the efforts over the last few years to increase pre-k classes?

12) What should the City Council do with regard to senior services in the city?

13) What should the City Council do to prevent gang activity and to improve the city graduation rates for students?

14) What should the City Council do with regard to adult education programs where recent budget cuts have reduced service levels?

15) What is your top environmental priority for the City? How would you fund it?

16) Do you support the Eco-City plan? What would you change?

17) Alexandria’s combined sewer in Old Town is likely to require hundreds of millions of dollars to fix in order to come into compliance with federal and state water quality regulations. How will you plan for and address this costly environmental need?

18) What will the city need to do to clean up the Mirant site? How does the environmental cost of clean up factor into any redevelopment on that site?

19) Is the city doing enough to support its parks and recreation needs? What would you change?

20) What do you think of Alexandria’s policy of not using Police to enforce immigration issues?

21) Alexandria has a historically low crime rate.  What, if anything, would you change about the city’s public safety strategy?

22) Do you agree the City needs new fire services on the West End to ensure the west gets the same level of response as the East?  If so, how would you accomplish this?

23) What do you think of Alexandria’s human rights policies?  What would you change?

24) How do you feel about community gardens and farmer’s markets?  What would you do, if anything, to make locally grown food available in the city?

General Question (and likely the most important one — if you can’t answer this, you shouldn’t be running)

1) What is the one thing you want to accomplish on the Council and how do you intend to do it?

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The Teaching Profession

February 28, 2012 by

As folks debate making it easier to fire teachers, adding in new accountability tools to identify teachers that need extra support (or to be let go) and adding in modest performance pay based on test scores (where there is no evidence it works), ask yourself this: How would you design the teaching profession in order to attract the best and brightest into the profession and to keep them in it? Which employers are we competing with for the top 10% of college and university grads? What do those employers do to attract the best and brightest? A lot of the debate around teaching has been about how to get rid of the “bad” teachers. And while there is a need to have in place a fair way to do that, the harder question is what will we change to attract the best and brightest teachers; the teachers with skills we need (science, math, ESL training, special-ed training etc.). The answer to that question is the answer to how we truly make our schools world class.

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Waterfront Thoughts

January 26, 2012 by
Thank you for contacting me to share your views regarding the City’s waterfront plan for over five acres of new parks, new art and history features, museums and the re-development of properties that presently block public access to the water.   Whether you supported the plan, had concerns or had mixed feelings about it, please know that I appreciate you taking the time to raise your concerns.  Your comments and thoughts and those of many others helped me ask better questions and seek out resolution to a range of issues from historic preservation, architecture quality, and increasing open space along our waterfront.  And public comments along with the citizen work group that has met the last six months helped us make a wide range of changes to the plan.
Your ongoing input will be needed as the approved plan moves towards implementation.  Implementation is where details get worked through, where public-private partnerships are explored for new arts and cultural features, where new parks get designed and built and much more.  In short, implementation is where the ideas get refined, improved upon and put into place.  And regardless of where you were on the plan’s adoption, I hope you’ll work with us to implement this plan thoughtfully.

I share the view of those who see this plan as an exciting opportunity to celebrate Alexandria’s arts and history and to open up the waterfront to greater public access and new parks.  As the City Council representative to our Arts Commission, I am particularly excited about the new arts and archeology features planned for the waterfront as well as having new parkland to visit with my family and a new promenade to run and walk along.

And I am particularly pleased that the National Park Service endorsed this plan.  For decades, the City has been working with the National Park Service to improve public access and the public experience along our waterfront.  The adopted plan is aligned with this multiple decades of work and is consistent with the Park Service’s expectations for public access to the waterfront.  I know the City is looking forward to working with the Park Service on implementation.

I’d like to take a moment to address a few of the concerns I heard in recent weeks and to share my view of the next steps for this plan.  This is a long letter, but it is not comprehensive.  If you want to discuss anything in more detail, please let me know.

The greatest area of disagreement in the plan was the proposal to change zoning along the waterfront.  The zoning changes had three components:  new zoning controls, new uses and changes to the density allowed on eleven different pieces of land that comprise four distinct warehouse areas.

First, the plan adds new rules to control new development that:

  • increase the amount of open space any development provides, including increased public space along the waterfront;
  • require new, stringent design guidelines;
  • require any new development to provide funding for waterfront improvements (parks, flood control, museums, etc);
  • add unprecedented rules to manage and limit new restaurants so as to minimize their impact on residents;
  • add new rules to ensure new development makes its parking available for public and neighborhood use, and;
  • require that before any new development occurs, owners must first commit to the preservation of historic buildings on their property.

In the last few weeks, the Council expanded the plan’s development obligations on historic preservation and open space and clarified height restrictions on waterfront properties — properties in the Old Town historic district must follow already established Old Town height requirements.  All of these rules are significantly more stringent than existed under current zoning.  If the current zoning were allowed to stand, developers could have more easily removed historic buildings, would not have been required to make significant room for public open space,  would have been able to build closer to the shoreline, and would have had minimal obligations for helping us build parks and other features that improve the waterfront. These new rules give us more waterfront access, stronger tools to protect historic buildings and increase access to the waterfront.  And in my view, all of these will help the community manage any new development proposals that may be offered.

The second major zoning change is that hotels as well as arts & cultural institutions were specifically added as permitted uses in the zone.  Despite some comments to the contrary, the city does expect this plan to result in new cultural uses along the waterfront and changed the zoning to be clear that this is a use we want.  In response to concerns about hotels, the total number allowed has been reduced from four to two with under 150 rooms each.  And the Council changed the plan’s emphasis from hotels to mixed-use development that balances residential space with commercial space and buffers current residents in Old Town from any new, active uses that could create noise or other quality-of-life issues.

I understand that some would prefer no hotels.  And I know and respect that some also believe that town homes with less public water access or public open space under the previous zoning are preferred to hotels or to the new zoning controls described above.  While I respect that view, I don’t think creating private residential enclaves along the waterfront is in the best interest of providing quality public access and use.  Private residences will diminish our ability to host new festivals and events along the waterfront as residences will naturally have noise and other concerns about events right in their back-yard.

I also know that many would rather the City buy the warehouse buildings instead of allowing them to be developed at all.  Again, I understand the desire to increase parkland.  And I expect that the implementation of the Waterfront Plan may create opportunities to add additional open space.  But as a custodian of the City’s finances, I can’t subscribe to a plan to buy or take private warehouses at the expense of our need to build new schools and provide fire services, our requirement to manage and pay annually to keep Metro running, and our need to manage other aging City infrastructure like our sewers and roads.  The City is already spending millions of dollars to buy land along the waterfront for parks.  Old Town is getting a larger share of City park preservation dollars than any other area of the City.  The waterfront is important and deserves this investment, but we also have an obligation to look after the park needs of other areas of the City.  In the interest of balance and fairness to the whole community, we can’t spend all of our limited resources in just one place.  And I don’t believe the community is able to absorb the significant tax increases that would be needed to follow this approach.

Third, the new zoning includes an increase in square footage allowed on four warehouse sites in order to offset some of the costs of the new zoning controls and to help pay for the implementation of some (not all) aspects of the plan.  This density is consistent with National Park Service’s longstanding expectations for development on those sites and it will help us to implement the plan.  The plan does not expect that density will pay for all of the public improvements, but it is a component of making sure the parks and other features have a realistic chance of being implemented, especially given all of the other projects around the city that have need for resources.  This plan will allow us to balance public investment and private investment through thoughtful public-private partnerships.  But again, I understand that some would rather have town homes than public amenities that the density helps support.  Or they believe the City should pay for it all.  But that approach is not consistent with the way the City has worked to manage its AAA bond rating and financial stability over the decades. Throughout the City there are examples of fantastic park and infrastructure amenities paid for through partnerships with private property owners.  Brenman Park, the new park, fields, firestation and bridge in Potomac Yard, new parks in Eisenhower Valley and around the City new sewer infrastructure and much more have all been paid for this way.  Development done well and with proper design and height controls can be very compatible with Old Town and can bring significant public benefits.  But we have to do it well.  That is why I pushed for Board of Architectural review to have oversight over any new development along the waterfront.  And it is why the City will be putting together a citizen-led implementation committee to oversee the project.

A number of people asked the City delay this plan until GenOn is ready to be planned and developed.  I don’t agree with that view for a few reasons.  First, the environmental clean-up costs of GenOn will be complicated and large.  They deserve a focus and care and time to do right.  The four warehouses at the center of the Waterfront Plan are not related to those issues at all.  Second, GenOn will have significant issues to integrate with the GW Parkway, North Old Town and the Northeast neighborhood.  Those neighbors should be at the center of that planning project.  The Waterfront Plan is predominantly a south Old Town plan and comes with a separate set of important traffic and neighborhood issues.  Third, I know some see GenOn as an opportunity to push all development north.  Figuring out a way to manage all of the environmental and neighborhood issues on that site will be hard enough without trying to make it the custodian of every other issue in Old Town.  And lastly, I want to see the city start work on the parks, public spaces, arts and other benefits in the Waterfront plan.  I don’t think we accomplish anything by putting off that work.

The plan calls for the creation of new flood controls to address nuisance flooding that now plagues Old Town 100-150 times a year.  This plan gives us a path forward to implement those improvements.  Some have correctly pointed out that there is complicated engineering work needed to get these systems right and to make sure new controls don’t unintentionally compound large flood events.  Everybody agrees with these concerns and as specific systems are designed, these and other engineering issues will be addressed.

Parking and traffic are big concerns with or without this new plan.  Union Street needs better traffic management, and the residents of Old Town need better parking help.  One of the first work products of the new plan will be the development of new traffic and parking systems to address these issues.  And I have and will continue to push for better neighborhood parking controls to help residents in Old Town.  While there is no silver bullet for any of these issues, we specifically added plans to look at residential parking hours and to add new community parking in any new development.  And I believe implementing the waterfront walkway will help move people off of Union Street by giving them a new, beautiful waterfront to walk along instead of Union Street.

A number of people wrote me to ask for more time.  In my view, the plan is a solid workplan for us to start implementing.  As with any plan, new issues and ideas will come up.  And plans do evolve through implementation.  But while I would love it if everybody could find consensus on the questions of residential, hotel or mixed use as well as on the right density, I didn’t see any benefit to debating those issues indefinitely.  With the divisiveness and hyperbole and attacks on the City and on community members on all sides of this issue in recent weeks, it has become clear to me that we had debated this plan thoroughly and that more time would make it even harder to work together.  More time, in my view, would have only compounded the divisiveness in our City without bringing any new information or facts to the debate.  I think there is a great opportunity for community collaboration as we work to implement this plan. I know there is more agreement than disagreement and that creative implementation can present more opportunities for common ground.

To that end, the City is going to create an implementation committee to oversee this plan.  And I have asked that we create a non-profit that can help raise private funds to help implement the arts, cultural and parks elements of the plan.   And it is my hope to play an active role in setting up that non-profit so we can get to work as quickly as possible.

Regardless of where you stand on the final plan, I am looking forward to working with all of you to make this a plan we can all be proud of.  If you are skeptical, your skepticism will help us make sure implementation is done well.  If you are excited, your energy will help us ensure we move forward.

Either way, I ask for your continued help  and input as we work to create a wonderful waterfront for all of us to use and enjoy.

Sincerely and Respectfully,

Rob Krupicka

More Information on the Waterfront Plan

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2011 Was a Good Year for Environmental Progress in Alexandria

January 11, 2012 by

From the closing of the old coal plant to higher recycling rates, new parks and new hybrid busses, Alexandria made some real environmental progress in 2011.  Despite the poor economy and related challenges, we keep moving forward with our Eco-City plan.  I’m looking forward to much more in 2012.

Alexandria’s Top Ten Environmental Achievements for 2011

Accomplishments include the agreement to retire the GenOn power plant in October 2012, the highest-ever solid waste recycling rate of 41.4% reported for 2010, purchase of new hybrid DASH buses and trolleys, several green initiatives completed under the EECBG program, projects to green the City’s facilities and promote green building construction, participation in the Capital Bikeshare program, several sustainable practices at ASA, and several successful community outreach events

1. GenOn PRGS Permanent Closure – The City and GenOn Energy reached an agreement in August 2011 to permanently close the company’s Potomac River Generating Station by October 1, 2012. PRGS has been the single largest source of air pollutant emissions in Northern Virginia, and its retirement will undoubtedly yield significant air quality improvement and health benefits to Alexandria citizens and those of neighboring jurisdictions.

2. Highest-Ever Solid Waste Recycling Rate – The City reported its highest ever recycling rate of 41.4% to the Virginia DEQ for CY 2010. This dramatic increase over last year’s reported 28.6% recycling rate was due primarily to significant increases in overall recycling collections.

3. New Hybrid DASH Buses and King Street Trolleys – DASH purchased and received seven 35-foot hybrid buses, three 40-foot hybrid buses and the City purchased five 30- foot hybrid trolleys.

4. EECBG Projects – Using funds received from the Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program, the City carried out several green initiatives including the following:

Alexandria Continued to Green Its Fleet –The purchase of 11 new Ford Fusion hybrid-electric cars, bringing the total number of hybrid vehicles in the City’s fleet to 30.

LED retrofits of the traffic lights, and a pilot project for replacement of street lights with energy saving LED lights

5. City Continued to Green Its Facilities and Promote Green Building Construction -

New Alexandria Police Department – the new Alexandria Police Department, a 124,000 square foot facility designed and built according to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. The facility is pursuing LEED Gold certification.

 Developed and launched an online Virtual Green Building Resource Center,

conducted six workshops and two internal training sessions, and completed 19 energy

assessments at residential, commercial, and City buildings.

City Hall Green Roof -

The installation of a vegetative “green” roofing on the East

and West courtyard structures of City Hall. Community Building at Four Mile Run Park – Completed in June, the former Duron Paint building, located at 4125 Mt. Vernon Avenue, that was converted using green building practices to a 4,700 square foot multi-use community building.

Green Building Policy – Applied the Green Building Policy approved by City Council in 2009 to some of the notable projects in 2011 that will obtain a green building certification include a 332-unit residential building (the Calvert), a 52,000 square-foot grocery store with 175 residential units (Old Town North Harris Teeter), and a 23,000 square-foot retail and office building (Yates Corner).

6. Alexandria Joins Capital Bikeshare – On October 11, the Alexandria City Council voted to authorize Alexandria to join the regional Capital Bikeshare network, beginning with implementing a pilot program providing six bikeshare stations with 54 bikes to the city. The Alexandria Bikeshare network is expected to be in place by the spring/summer of 2012.

7. Pocket Park Improvements – The City, in partnership with the community, enhanced two pocket parks acquired through open space funds:  Commonwealth/Reed Ave Park – The former Dominion VA Power site was

adopted by Arlandria volunteers who have cleaned up, re-planted, and maintained the

site throughout 2011.  Del Ray Avenue Pocket Park Phase 1 Site Improvements – Improvements at the

pocket park include a rain garden-designed to capture and filter stormwater, and a nature-inspired play area constructed from renewable/recycled materials such as recycled rubber, plastic bags, and other building materials. The park is adopted by the Del Ray Citizens Association.

8. Alexandria Sanitation Authority Strived to Enhance Sustainable Practices - In 2011, ASA reused more than a billion gallons of treated wastewater on the treatment plant site, thus minimizing the need to use potable water. It also reused 22,500 tons of biosolids produced on agricultural farmland in Virginia, reducing the need for commercial fertilizers. ASA also used over 118 million cubic feet of digester gas produced in its process to replace natural gas requirements and saved $150,000 in natural gas costs. In October, City Council approved plans for an expansion to the wastewater treatment plant.

9. Alexandria Recognized as Silver-Level Walk Friendly Community – Alexandria was recently recognized as a Walk Friendly Community by the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (PBIC), as one of ten communities recognized across the nation in the September 2011 awards. The City’s Silver Level “Walk Friendly” designation, evaluates success in working to improve a wide range of conditions related to walking, including safety, mobility, and access.

10. VML Platinum Certification – For the fourth straight year, the City earned Platinum level certification, the highest level, in Virginia Municipal League (VML) Green Government Challenge. The City received innovation points for its adoption of the Energy and Climate Change Action Plan and the development of a virtual Green Building Resources Center.

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Water Water Everywhere

January 10, 2012 by

After a nearly four year process and a very careful recent 6 month review, the Council is again preparing to take up the waterfront plan.  The extra time has improved the plan and allowed many new ideas to come forward.  As with any plan, the implementation means a lot.  That is where the arts, culture and history called for in the plan come to life.  It is where the architecture and care we expect get implemented.  And it is where our parks and open spaces get created and maintained.  Implementation can kill a great plan and save a bad one.  I am still looking at the proposals before the Council and evaluating some additional changes to ensure citizens get the public improvements they expect and to ensure we get them early in the implementation process.  Any zoning changes should come with clear expectations for public benefits.   I won’t support a plan that does not hold developers accountable for helping to build the waterfront and features we expect.  I also won’t support a plan that calls on the City to spend millions and millions of dollars that we don’t have.  There are those that want the City and private foundations to pay for the waterfront improvements.  And there are those that want to leverage private property owners to help us do it.  As I wrote last month, I am in the latter camp.  I have seen projects sit for decades with no action because they could not compete with basic needs in the city budget.  Basic needs like schools, safety and transit.  I’d like the waterfront plan to be different.  I’d like it to have a real chance of being implemented.  I don’t want to wait decades for an art walk or new parks.

And as it relates to GenOn, I don’t think the southern waterfront should be put on hold for the work needed on that site.  It is an enormous site with significant environmental issues.  Development there will have a huge impact on North Old Town, the GW Parkway and much more.  It deserves the time, care and attention that it needs and the neighborhoods next to it in Northeast and North Old Town deserve the chance to be involved.  We didn’t put off the King Street retail plan until the Waterfront was done.  We didn’t put off the southern Potomac Yard plan until the Northern plan was done.  We didn’t put off Landmark Mall planning until Eisenhower West planning was done, even though all of those plans had more need for transportation and planning integration than GenOn and the Waterfront.  We take careful and thoughtful looks at areas of the city and then as we add new plans we make sure they integrate and reflect what is around them, and we also make sure each plan gets the focused, unique attention they deserve.

I am looking forward to the discussion over the next few weeks.  And I am eager to hear more ideas. I have been disappointed by the name calling and allegations of corruption by those that want the City to help buy the three private warehouses instead of the proposed plan.  I’d like to think we live in a City where differences of opinion don’t have to lead to personal attacks on people’s character.  There have been huge efforts to listen to and integrate the ideas of a wide range of people.  Not everybody will get everything they want.  And there is a fundamental difference between those that want the city to buy the three warehouses and those that want to use those sites to help implement the overall plan.  Those are real differences.  And I’d be surprised if there were not different opinions in our city.  What I am surprised by is when folks don’t appreciate that people can disagree respectfully.

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Gov Takes on Kings Dominion

January 10, 2012 by

Its about time.  I am glad to see the Governor propose we scrap the law that forces school districts located near 95 and beaches to start school after labor day.  I wrote about this a few months ago.

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Waterfront Thoughts?

June 13, 2011 by

With so much debate about the Waterfront, I want a chance to hear from you.  Over the weekend, the City Council was presented with two visions of the waterfront. You can read all the information here.  The primary difference between the two approaches is what happens to the privately owned land on the waterfront; is it developed under current or modified zoning both of which allow for 5 story buildings, or is the land purchased by the city to be turned into parks.

The first plan recommended by city staff calls for 5 acres of new parkland, new flood control systems, continuous public access along the waterfront and new art and history features.  It also includes new rules to control parking and to closely manage through design and zoning controls any development that would occur on the private land along the waterfront.  This plan costs over $50 million and would take 25 years to fully implement and pay for and is designed to be paid for by tax revenues raised off of any new development.

The alternative plan presented Saturday includes the same flood controls, art and history concepts, but calls on the city to buy the private land on the waterfront and turn it into parks.  This plan would add about 10 acres of new parkland.  This proposal would cost over $200 million dollars and does not directly create tax revenue to pay for it so would require the City to raise taxes on every household by about $400 per home.  Supporters of this approach believe they could raise some private money to help offset some of this cost.

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Science Education Should Start Early

May 16, 2011 by
Jason Pittman’s well deserved international award for teaching science at Hollin Meadows school reaffirms the importance of science education.  And it also reminds us that young kids can and should learn science; they just need great teachers and engaging, hands-on programs. 

Walk through Hollin Meadows elementary school in Fairfax County, and you’ll see the walls covered with pictures and details about student science projects and their outdoor gardens.  Walk around outside and you’ll see gardens, trees, solar powered equipment and students getting their hands dirty, measuring, digging, planning, taking notes and asking questions about all of it.

The school is attracting national attention — including a visit from Michelle Obama — for this hands-on program that includes a learning garden and talented science and math coordinators. Educators at Hollin Meadows have narrowed achievement gaps between economically disadvantaged and more affluent students over a short number of years, and reading and math scores have gone up.

There’s only one problem: Sustaining this success has been a huge chore. It shouldn’t be this way.

At Hollin Meadows, as at so many of our community’s schools, budget shortfalls in recent years have forced cutbacks of highly successful programs.  Fortunately, Hollin Meadows has put off the cuts thanks to an outpouring of community donations to help maintain their programs.  But the fact that parents have to put so much effort into maintaining an academic program that is working (and is relatively inexpensive) forces us to question the way we prioritize science and math education in our school funding as a state.  Parents should not have to raise $100,000 a year to support a public school program with proven results.  Programs like the one at Hollin Meadows should not be unique, they should be everywhere.  Hands-on science education helps students achieve and it helps prepare them for the future.  That is the kind of investment we should find a way to support.

It seems everywhere we look, there is talk about the importance of science and math education, specifically in middle or high school. At the recent Virginia Board of Education retreat, science education in middle and high school was a priority topic. Business leaders focus programs on high schools so that graduates are ready for technical jobs, and politicians focus on high school because it seems like the logical place to emphasize programs related to jobs and the economy.

But the almost exclusive emphasis on later grades misses a huge opportunity.  Young children, with their inquisitive minds and questions about the world around them are wired to learn the basics of science and math.  Younger grades are where the foundation for future academic success is set.  Waiting until the end is a huge missed opportunity.

The best time to start teaching science is in the earliest years, which is why places like the Center for Early Education in Science,Technology, Engineering and Mathematics at the University of Northern Iowa are hosting conferences on examining ways to build the foundations of science in earlier grades. And its why Virginia’s recently announced Science and Math Partnership Grants include a number of projects focused on elementary school.  In pre-school and elementary school, we can teach kids to ask questions, evaluate their surroundings, consider, ask “what if” and explore.  Inquisitiveness is the foundation of science. These skills will bring the innovation and progress our Commonwealth needs to prosper.

The success of schools like Hollin Meadows will dictate the economic progress of our state.  The students that come out of them are investments in the future job growth and innovation of Virginia.  It will be the creative work of engineers, mathematicians and scientists who find the solutions to our energy challenges, who create new ways to protect our air and water and who develop the machines and products that will keep us moving forward.   We need to help Hollin Meadows succeed and to make it possible for others emulate them. That will put us on the right path for long term success for our economy and our planet.

Policy approaches to help do this:

1) Modify state funding formula for education to increase support for elementary science and math education: both for staffing as well as staff training and professional development.

2) Move the Governor School model down to elementary school to encourage more innovative pre-k and up programs.

3) Work with teacher’s training colleges to enhance elementary science and math training for teachers.

 

What else would you add to this list?  Let us know at info@krupicka.com

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Great Walk to School

April 14, 2011 by

I had a chance to walk my girls to school today.  It is an amazing morning and it reminds me every time why we love our community and why we are running this campaign.  We’d love to have you walk and call with us.

 

Posted in Rob's Blog | Leave a Comment »

Good News

April 6, 2011 by

I’m happy to report that the legislature killed the Governor’s attempt to harm foster care and increase the costs to local government and local property tax payers.  I wrote about this a few days ago and am pleased to see that so many stood up and did the right thing.

Posted in Rob's Blog | Leave a Comment »

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