APS middle school boundary process

Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Is this the best APS can do for our Economically Disadvantaged? With some vague plan to attract diversity to Williamsburg with a Program? Sad!

I thought we had the best and brightest running our school system? A monkey could have done a better job.


Ya know what? Tough. I’m tired of hearing about getting the ED numbers spread around. People are self segregating. Quit blaming the school board. There are several beautiful homes sitting unsold in my South Arlington neighborhood. Nobody wants them. Upper middle class people won’t accept BARCROFT/RANDOLPH/DREW plus the middle and high school that go along with.
If you feel so strongly start pushing for multi family, low income housing along Lee highway.

Tell your big law colleagues that Wakefield is a perfectly great school.
You won’t. Nobody does.
So here we are.


Is this a guest post by NVD? If not you should definitely run for the SB.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Is this the best APS can do for our Economically Disadvantaged? With some vague plan to attract diversity to Williamsburg with a Program? Sad!

I thought we had the best and brightest running our school system? A monkey could have done a better job.


Ya know what? Tough. I’m tired of hearing about getting the ED numbers spread around. People are self segregating. Quit blaming the school board. There are several beautiful homes sitting unsold in my South Arlington neighborhood. Nobody wants them. Upper middle class people won’t accept BARCROFT/RANDOLPH/DREW plus the middle and high school that go along with.
If you feel so strongly start pushing for multi family, low income housing along Lee highway.

Tell your big law colleagues that Wakefield is a perfectly great school.
You won’t. Nobody does.
So here we are.


Is this a guest post by NVD? If not you should definitely run for the SB.


No, NVD likes to spout that all schools are equal while making policies to make them less equal. She's a fun one like that.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Is this the best APS can do for our Economically Disadvantaged? With some vague plan to attract diversity to Williamsburg with a Program? Sad!

I thought we had the best and brightest running our school system? A monkey could have done a better job.


Ya know what? Tough. I’m tired of hearing about getting the ED numbers spread around. People are self segregating. Quit blaming the school board. There are several beautiful homes sitting unsold in my South Arlington neighborhood. Nobody wants them. Upper middle class people won’t accept BARCROFT/RANDOLPH/DREW plus the middle and high school that go along with.
If you feel so strongly start pushing for multi family, low income housing along Lee highway.

Tell your big law colleagues that Wakefield is a perfectly great school.
You won’t. Nobody does.
So here we are.


Is this a guest post by NVD? If not you should definitely run for the SB.


No, NVD likes to spout that all schools are equal while making policies to make them less equal. She's a fun one like that.


FYI my spouse and I both have graduate degrees from selective institutions. We are successful professionally and grew up in the DC area. We are happy with Randolph and are actually less worried about Wakefield than we were about Randolph. So this does not hold true for everyone.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Did you guys even read the whole thing? They specifically said the plan is making room for future transfers and possibly a choice program at Williamsburg to alleviate the diversity problem. They simply can't improve diversity at Williamsburg through any rational boundary drawing, so they're giving themselves options to do it other ways. Assuming those plans move forward (and as a future Williamsburg parent, I hope they do), the ED and capacity numbers won't stay that way because people from other parts of the county will transfer in. This is a good compromise because those who believe busing is a good option for their kids will have a chance to do it, but kids won't be forced out of walk zones onto a bus if that's not what they want.


Sure they will. What a convenient solution to justify keeping Williamsburg so below capacity.

Signed a North Arlington parent.


Do you think you get more credit for being a North Arlington parent? It's otherwise a pretty worthless label to give yourself here since it doesn't tell us anything about which schools you're in or what your priorities are.


We are completely happy with our new MS. All I'm saying is that the SB is pretty tone deaf to also allow williamsburg to be below capacity by that much when other schools will be so overcrowded. you think they could at least attempt to fix that situation. And then of course the amount of economically disadvantaged students drops to 1%, which is also absurd.


When parents of kids from Glebe say they don't want to go to Williamsburg to be the token minorities there and would rather stay with their classmates from elementary school, how is that tone deaf? How do you get the diversity? Bus kids from S. Arlington? That is just not the priority for most people - most want to stay with their neighborhood and school friends and be close to the schools they attend.


I never said to bus in diversity. Then move some planning unit's near Williamsburg from Donaldson run which will go to Stratford. I am talking about allocating more kids so the other schools aren't so over crowded.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Did you guys even read the whole thing? They specifically said the plan is making room for future transfers and possibly a choice program at Williamsburg to alleviate the diversity problem. They simply can't improve diversity at Williamsburg through any rational boundary drawing, so they're giving themselves options to do it other ways. Assuming those plans move forward (and as a future Williamsburg parent, I hope they do), the ED and capacity numbers won't stay that way because people from other parts of the county will transfer in. This is a good compromise because those who believe busing is a good option for their kids will have a chance to do it, but kids won't be forced out of walk zones onto a bus if that's not what they want.


Sure they will. What a convenient solution to justify keeping Williamsburg so below capacity.

Signed a North Arlington parent.


Do you think you get more credit for being a North Arlington parent? It's otherwise a pretty worthless label to give yourself here since it doesn't tell us anything about which schools you're in or what your priorities are.


We are completely happy with our new MS. All I'm saying is that the SB is pretty tone deaf to also allow williamsburg to be below capacity by that much when other schools will be so overcrowded. you think they could at least attempt to fix that situation. And then of course the amount of economically disadvantaged students drops to 1%, which is also absurd.


When parents of kids from Glebe say they don't want to go to Williamsburg to be the token minorities there and would rather stay with their classmates from elementary school, how is that tone deaf? How do you get the diversity? Bus kids from S. Arlington? That is just not the priority for most people - most want to stay with their neighborhood and school friends and be close to the schools they attend.


I never said to bus in diversity. Then move some planning unit's near Williamsburg from Donaldson run which will go to Stratford. I am talking about allocating more kids so the other schools aren't so over crowded.


If they allocate more kids to Williamsburg, there won't be room for transfers and a possible choice program for those who would prefer to get out of their neighborhood middle school. Given how much the Kenmore group bitches about their school, I have to think that some of them will be chomping at the bit for a transfer. Unless they're like everyone else who wants to stay at their neighborhood school while everyone else moves.
Anonymous
Even without a choice program, they should open Williamsburg up for transfers and provide busing for those that want it. That way those stuck in overcrowded Swanson (or elsewhere) because their neighbors complained about being switched to Williamsburg can transfer out if they want to.
Anonymous
The room for transfer line is utter BS. It's the same as at Jamestown that took on preschool classes (that use less resources) b/c they had room.........you know, so much room that they bragged about their trailer-free existence while neighboring schools were bursting at the seams.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:The room for transfer line is utter BS. It's the same as at Jamestown that took on preschool classes (that use less resources) b/c they had room.........you know, so much room that they bragged about their trailer-free existence while neighboring schools were bursting at the seams.


This preschool classes are being used by APS to cover up its hyper segregation. The kids in VPI and Montessori who qualify for fr/l are the ONLY kids at Jamestown and Discovery who do. Because there's no way anyone who can qualify for fr/l has a family who can afford to live within those school boundaries. Frankly, I am surprised that Williamsburg is projected to even have 1% ED students. Must be the kids who they think will live in the APAH Westover project.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The room for transfer line is utter BS. It's the same as at Jamestown that took on preschool classes (that use less resources) b/c they had room.........you know, so much room that they bragged about their trailer-free existence while neighboring schools were bursting at the seams.


This preschool classes are being used by APS to cover up its hyper segregation. The kids in VPI and Montessori who qualify for fr/l are the ONLY kids at Jamestown and Discovery who do. Because there's no way anyone who can qualify for fr/l has a family who can afford to live within those school boundaries. Frankly, I am surprised that Williamsburg is projected to even have 1% ED students. Must be the kids who they think will live in the APAH Westover project.


Nope. That would be Swanson, the MS in the Westover neighborhood.
Anonymous
You guys...
Democrats just swept the election. We all vote liberal! What more do you want from us. We would totally welcome low income housing in those areas. It’s so sad they haven’t moved forward with any.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The room for transfer line is utter BS. It's the same as at Jamestown that took on preschool classes (that use less resources) b/c they had room.........you know, so much room that they bragged about their trailer-free existence while neighboring schools were bursting at the seams.


This preschool classes are being used by APS to cover up its hyper segregation. The kids in VPI and Montessori who qualify for fr/l are the ONLY kids at Jamestown and Discovery who do. Because there's no way anyone who can qualify for fr/l has a family who can afford to live within those school boundaries. Frankly, I am surprised that Williamsburg is projected to even have 1% ED students. Must be the kids who they think will live in the APAH Westover project.


Nope. That would be Swanson, the MS in the Westover neighborhood.


Oh right. Okay, so they're projecting 1% so that the don't have to admit it will be 0%. Great job with zoning Arlington. Maintain that neighborhood character!
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:You guys...
Democrats just swept the election. We all vote liberal! What more do you want from us. We would totally welcome low income housing in those areas. It’s so sad they haven’t moved forward with any.


No one in the areas we are talking about (Discovery/Jamestown) welcomes affordable housing in their area. They ask for it on Lee Highway knowing full-well that those students will end up at Glebe.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:You guys...
Democrats just swept the election. We all vote liberal! What more do you want from us. We would totally welcome low income housing in those areas. It’s so sad they haven’t moved forward with any.


No one in the areas we are talking about (Discovery/Jamestown) welcomes affordable housing in their area. They ask for it on Lee Highway knowing full-well that those students will end up at Glebe.


Where else are you going to put affordable housing north of Lee Highway? Should they tear down a community center to do it? It's not like they can use eminent domain to take a bunch of SFH lots and turn them into apartment buildings.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:You guys...
Democrats just swept the election. We all vote liberal! What more do you want from us. We would totally welcome low income housing in those areas. It’s so sad they haven’t moved forward with any.


No one in the areas we are talking about (Discovery/Jamestown) welcomes affordable housing in their area. They ask for it on Lee Highway knowing full-well that those students will end up at Glebe.


Where else are you going to put affordable housing north of Lee Highway? Should they tear down a community center to do it? It's not like they can use eminent domain to take a bunch of SFH lots and turn them into apartment buildings.


They can just purchase lots as they are available and then rezone. If they can build hundreds of units on top of a polluted old gas station lot into a hillside next to another building on Columbia Pike, they can figure out how to build some on the north side of Lee Hwy in the Nottingham and Discovery zones.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:You guys...
Democrats just swept the election. We all vote liberal! What more do you want from us. We would totally welcome low income housing in those areas. It’s so sad they haven’t moved forward with any.


No one in the areas we are talking about (Discovery/Jamestown) welcomes affordable housing in their area. They ask for it on Lee Highway knowing full-well that those students will end up at Glebe.


Where else are you going to put affordable housing north of Lee Highway? Should they tear down a community center to do it? It's not like they can use eminent domain to take a bunch of SFH lots and turn them into apartment buildings.


They can just purchase lots as they are available and then rezone. If they can build hundreds of units on top of a polluted old gas station lot into a hillside next to another building on Columbia Pike, they can figure out how to build some on the north side of Lee Hwy in the Nottingham and Discovery zones.


You can't build an apartment building on a quarter of an acre, which is on the bigger side of the lots they might be able to get north of Lee Highway. And that assumes they'd be willing to pay more than the builders for the lot. Unless you're advocating for them paving over Chestnut Hills, I don't know what you think they're going to find. Other than the Williamsburg Shopping Center, I'm not even aware of any commercial areas that far north that they could tack a building onto like they did on the parcel you cited.
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