Neighbors,

I heartily support this petition and ask that you join in sending this message to the Arlington Public School Board.

http://petitions.moveon.org/si....em.cp&r_by=10703771

The petition wording follows:

"We oppose the School Board's recommendation to build a 1300-seat middle school as a neighborhood school at the Wilson School site. We oppose it because it will not create seats where they are most needed, it will be far from the communities it will serve, and will be located in one of the most urban parts of Arlington. It will require a large percentage of the students to be bused and will add recurring costs to the county. Further, this site fails to provide adequate green space for the large number of students it is intended to accommodate. We are also opposed to a process where feasibility studies and decisions on the use of the building would not occur until three weeks after the vote in November for issuance of the bond.

Mark Antell

Dear Neighbors:

Let us be clear. NRCA is excited by the prospect that APS has elected to retain the Wilson School site in its inventory and we would welcome a school on this site that would fit the needs of our residents, whether as a refurbishment of the existing facility or as a new school. Our objection to APS's current plan is the rush to build a very large urban school that may serve the needs of greater Arlington (though this is doubtful given the backlash APS's proposal received in other communities) but does little for our children here in Rosslyn. We believe that if APS slowed down a bit and analyzed the situation, it too would see that placing a 1,300 seat middle school on the Wilson site would not be the best use of this considerable asset.

Jennifer