South Arlington and North Arlington Schools

[Anonymous]

13:26- thank you for such a thoughtful post. It's great to hear about some history and perspective from gen x!!

[Anonymous]

13:26 - read your post with great interest, thank you!

Re: your last paragraph(s) : Yes, absolutely agree!
Why does the County Board not get it?

(I'm determined to vote McMenamin, and lost as far as the second vote... Also was not happy about quotes from Dorsey, same as you mentioned.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:13:26 - read your post with great interest, thank you!

Re: your last paragraph(s) : Yes, absolutely agree!
Why does the County Board not get it?

(I'm determined to vote McMenamin, and lost as far as the second vote... Also was not happy about quotes from Dorsey, same as you mentioned.)

Check out the link from arl.now a couple of posts up. The guy is suggesting we only vote for McMenamin and cast no second vote. It makes sense statistically. I actually need to absentee vote this year and will be going over to the court house this week and doing just that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for your thoughtful post, pp.

BTW, for those who want to see independent candidate McMenamin elected to the Arlington Board, it is suggested that voters only chose one candidate, not two, in November.
Full details here:

https://www.arlnow.com/2015/10/15/the-right-note-vote-mike-and-only-mike/

Reposting because I think it bears repeating.

[Anonymous]

What did Dorsey say that was scary?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What did Dorsey say that was scary?

I think they are referring to public land for public good. I could be wrong.
If you are unfamiliar - PLFPG- is about taking everyone's park land and putting commited affordable housing on it. They are saying it will be directly ontop of new community centers and shit like that.
Both he and Cristol have said they are willing to consider it.

That means county land that should be for all of us - is being taken for a few low income lottery winners.


Dorsey or Cristol WILL be elected.
If you want a more moderate voice to help temper the tenor of county business. One vote for McMenamin should be the way to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What did Dorsey say that was scary?

I think they are referring to public land for public good. I could be wrong.
If you are unfamiliar - PLFPG- is about taking everyone's park land and putting commited affordable housing on it. They are saying it will be directly ontop of new community centers and shit like that.
Both he and Cristol have said they are willing to consider it.

That means county land that should be for all of us - is being taken for a few low income lottery winners.


Dorsey or Cristol WILL be elected.
If you want a more moderate voice to help temper the tenor of county business. One vote for McMenamin should be the way to go.

Public land for public good is such a horrible idea. I'll vote for anyone who is against it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What did Dorsey say that was scary?

I think they are referring to public land for public good. I could be wrong.
If you are unfamiliar - PLFPG- is about taking everyone's park land and putting commited affordable housing on it. They are saying it will be directly ontop of new community centers and shit like that.
Both he and Cristol have said they are willing to consider it.

That means county land that should be for all of us - is being taken for a few low income lottery winners.


Dorsey or Cristol WILL be elected.
If you want a more moderate voice to help temper the tenor of county business. One vote for McMenamin should be the way to go.

Yes, this is what I found "scary" , I think the other PP was also referring to this. Appalling would be the better word though. Not only are we supposed to pay for the construction and yearly rent and upkeep of these subsidized units for the next decades with our tax money in addition to all other services the new subsidized renters will likely qualify for- no, on top of that they want to build these apartments on top of Arlington's green spaces and parks and on community center sites.....
That's "public land for public good" for ya!

[Anonymous]

THIS: "We were just FLOORED at how bad Abington actually was...moldy carpet, windowless dark halls, but above all, the children were months, if not years behind grade level....and they kicked my child under the desk for participating, since it made their non-participation look bad! The principal and other admin just gave me the BS lip service that "All Arlington schools are equally good"....and my child said it was heartbreaking that the other children truly were starving, and begging for food...."

We went to visit Abingdon and inasmuch as I wanted to like it, I couldn't get past how depressing it was. We decided to send our DD to private school. Then, when it became clear that she needed the services of APS, we went to look at it again, and it had gotten worse. We moved to N.Arl. It makes me sad to think that I am one of "those people," but we really had no choice. Yes, I could have stayed and tried to change things but was I really going to be able to make a difference in enough time to impact my child? At the end of the day, we make decisions that are best for our families first and then worry about our community. We elect officials that we hope will be able to do the latter for us. But they fail us again and again. No Cristol for me, that's for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What did Dorsey say that was scary?

I think they are referring to public land for public good. I could be wrong.
If you are unfamiliar - PLFPG- is about taking everyone's park land and putting commited affordable housing on it. They are saying it will be directly ontop of new community centers and shit like that.
Both he and Cristol have said they are willing to consider it.

That means county land that should be for all of us - is being taken for a few low income lottery winners.


Dorsey or Cristol WILL be elected.
If you want a more moderate voice to help temper the tenor of county business. One vote for McMenamin should be the way to go.

Public land for public good is such a horrible idea. I'll vote for anyone who is against it.

How sad, you are disgusting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What did Dorsey say that was scary?

I think they are referring to public land for public good. I could be wrong.
If you are unfamiliar - PLFPG- is about taking everyone's park land and putting commited affordable housing on it. They are saying it will be directly ontop of new community centers and shit like that.
Both he and Cristol have said they are willing to consider it.

That means county land that should be for all of us - is being taken for a few low income lottery winners.


Dorsey or Cristol WILL be elected.
If you want a more moderate voice to help temper the tenor of county business. One vote for McMenamin should be the way to go.

Public land for public good is such a horrible idea. I'll vote for anyone who is against it.

How sad, you are disgusting

I don't see the point of view as disgusting. I have neighbors who support public land for public good in principal, and neighbors who are against it. I do think affordable housing should be more mixed-income, and perhaps we could build more affordable housing for seniors as well. But that's not in the works. From what I know the proposed housing is focused on families, so I understand parents' concerns about overcrowding and concentrations of poverty in certain schools. I'm voting the Democratic slate, but for those who vote for McMenamin, I understand their point of view. He may very well win one of the two seats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yep, barcroft is going to get even worse. The new school will be at TJ and the kids living in alcova heights million dollar homes won't have to go to barcroft in 2019.

Got news for you school board, if you don't zone some of the kids in barcroft apartments to the new school at TJ! Barcroft elementary will be about 80-90 percent FARMs. Barcroft only has a small area of single family homes, and most are modest in comparison to alcova heights. If you don't do the boundary right you just put another school even further into the poverty hole, albeit less crowded until more affordable housing goes up.

So, you think those of us who live in barcroft could maybe see our tax assessments go down since our property values are about to tank even further? That may be the only positive that comes out of this.

This is true. It has been publicly stated that the new ES at TJ will relieve crowding at Randolph and Barcroft. That's the purpose of the new school. The other options would've been to add on to Barcroft and Randolph.

The affluent single family home neighborhoods closer to TJ will go to the new ES, and the concentrations of poverty at Barcroft and Randolph will dramatically increase. And as other posters have stated, the local Latino community does not want to be bused. Socio-economic integration has always been a touchy subject, and one that the school board will likely want to stay clear of. The school board has stayed away from the issue of integration for years if not decades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yep, barcroft is going to get even worse. The new school will be at TJ and the kids living in alcova heights million dollar homes won't have to go to barcroft in 2019.

Got news for you school board, if you don't zone some of the kids in barcroft apartments to the new school at TJ! Barcroft elementary will be about 80-90 percent FARMs. Barcroft only has a small area of single family homes, and most are modest in comparison to alcova heights. If you don't do the boundary right you just put another school even further into the poverty hole, albeit less crowded until more affordable housing goes up.

So, you think those of us who live in barcroft could maybe see our tax assessments go down since our property values are about to tank even further? That may be the only positive that comes out of this.

This is true. It has been publicly stated that the new ES at TJ will relieve crowding at Randolph and Barcroft. That's the purpose of the new school. The other options would've been to add on to Barcroft and Randolph.

The affluent single family home neighborhoods closer to TJ will go to the new ES, and the concentrations of poverty at Barcroft and Randolph will dramatically increase. And as other posters have stated, the local Latino community does not want to be bused. Socio-economic integration has always been a touchy subject, and one that the school board will likely want to stay clear of. The school board has stayed away from the issue of integration for years if not decades.

Could you post the source? I've only seen it mentioned here. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

^^^ even without a link- I don't see how the new school doesn't drain primarily from market rate housing, if it's at the TJ site. Draining more middle class from the high poverty schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yep, barcroft is going to get even worse. The new school will be at TJ and the kids living in alcova heights million dollar homes won't have to go to barcroft in 2019.

Got news for you school board, if you don't zone some of the kids in barcroft apartments to the new school at TJ! Barcroft elementary will be about 80-90 percent FARMs. Barcroft only has a small area of single family homes, and most are modest in comparison to alcova heights. If you don't do the boundary right you just put another school even further into the poverty hole, albeit less crowded until more affordable housing goes up.

So, you think those of us who live in barcroft could maybe see our tax assessments go down since our property values are about to tank even further? That may be the only positive that comes out of this.

This is true. It has been publicly stated that the new ES at TJ will relieve crowding at Randolph and Barcroft. That's the purpose of the new school. The other options would've been to add on to Barcroft and Randolph.

The affluent single family home neighborhoods closer to TJ will go to the new ES, and the concentrations of poverty at Barcroft and Randolph will dramatically increase. And as other posters have stated, the local Latino community does not want to be bused. Socio-economic integration has always been a touchy subject, and one that the school board will likely want to stay clear of. The school board has stayed away from the issue of integration for years if not decades.

Could you post the source? I've only seen it mentioned here. Thanks.

It's been mentioned at SAWG meetings, and among school board members and staff. Maybe there is a PDF buried within the APS website on the various options. But the gist of the discussion was do we build additions at Randolph and Barcroft, or a brand new elementary school to relieve overcrowding at those schools. While a formal vote has not been taken by the shcool board, given the outcome of SAWG, it looks like we're getting a new ES at TJ.