APS middle school boundary process

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think that we can solve the problems of income inequality that fall along racial lines by fixing middle school boundaries. If we were living in a place where there's white flight or crosses on the lawn at the first sign of a brown person, you've got systemic issues. But the reality is you have to have money to live in the northern parts (actually all the parts, but you need even more in the north) so trying to force some ridiculous gerrymandering in order to maintain the idea that you will have socioeconomic diversity one of the richest counties in the nation is a pretty futile exercise. No matter how you slice it, the prime real estate is statistically not likely to be filled with Central American immigrants.

And those of you thinking that what's happening in S. Arlington schools because of the FARMS and ESL kids clearly continue to live in a bubble and have never seen what truly sh*t schools are like. There was a PBS documentary called "180 Days: A Year in an American High School" that looked at one of DC's charter schools that shows what truly bad environments look like. It's not that your snowflake has to possibly sit still for five minutes because the teacher has to address someone else. The Arlington school system is exactly what anyone who ever dealt with economically disadvantaged students hope they would get.

Stop it with this racist name calling BS. If you think this is what terrible racism looks like, you really live in a fairy princess world.

Any plan that puts Kenmore or TJ at or over 50% poverty is completely irresponsible. That’s no fairy tale. We don’t need to force the far north into compliance, but central Arlington needs to pitch in.

So "North North" Arlington gets to keep their walk zones, South Arlington gets to keep their walk zones, but "Central Arlington" has to give up their walk zones and break up their neighborhoods to solve all of the County's segregation problems? Its a county-wide problem- it needs a county-wide solution. If we aren't willing to do that, then we just need to admit that we don't really want to "fix" anything-- at least not with busing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think that we can solve the problems of income inequality that fall along racial lines by fixing middle school boundaries. If we were living in a place where there's white flight or crosses on the lawn at the first sign of a brown person, you've got systemic issues. But the reality is you have to have money to live in the northern parts (actually all the parts, but you need even more in the north) so trying to force some ridiculous gerrymandering in order to maintain the idea that you will have socioeconomic diversity one of the richest counties in the nation is a pretty futile exercise. No matter how you slice it, the prime real estate is statistically not likely to be filled with Central American immigrants.

And those of you thinking that what's happening in S. Arlington schools because of the FARMS and ESL kids clearly continue to live in a bubble and have never seen what truly sh*t schools are like. There was a PBS documentary called "180 Days: A Year in an American High School" that looked at one of DC's charter schools that shows what truly bad environments look like. It's not that your snowflake has to possibly sit still for five minutes because the teacher has to address someone else. The Arlington school system is exactly what anyone who ever dealt with economically disadvantaged students hope they would get.

Stop it with this racist name calling BS. If you think this is what terrible racism looks like, you really live in a fairy princess world.

Any plan that puts Kenmore or TJ at or over 50% poverty is completely irresponsible. That’s no fairy tale. We don’t need to force the far north into compliance, but central Arlington needs to pitch in.

So "North North" Arlington gets to keep their walk zones, South Arlington gets to keep their walk zones, but "Central Arlington" has to give up their walk zones and break up their neighborhoods to solve all of the County's segregation problems? Its a county-wide problem- it needs a county-wide solution. If we aren't willing to do that, then we just need to admit that we don't really want to "fix" anything-- at least not with busing.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think that we can solve the problems of income inequality that fall along racial lines by fixing middle school boundaries. If we were living in a place where there's white flight or crosses on the lawn at the first sign of a brown person, you've got systemic issues. But the reality is you have to have money to live in the northern parts (actually all the parts, but you need even more in the north) so trying to force some ridiculous gerrymandering in order to maintain the idea that you will have socioeconomic diversity one of the richest counties in the nation is a pretty futile exercise. No matter how you slice it, the prime real estate is statistically not likely to be filled with Central American immigrants.

And those of you thinking that what's happening in S. Arlington schools because of the FARMS and ESL kids clearly continue to live in a bubble and have never seen what truly sh*t schools are like. There was a PBS documentary called "180 Days: A Year in an American High School" that looked at one of DC's charter schools that shows what truly bad environments look like. It's not that your snowflake has to possibly sit still for five minutes because the teacher has to address someone else. The Arlington school system is exactly what anyone who ever dealt with economically disadvantaged students hope they would get.

Stop it with this racist name calling BS. If you think this is what terrible racism looks like, you really live in a fairy princess world.

Any plan that puts Kenmore or TJ at or over 50% poverty is completely irresponsible. That’s no fairy tale. We don’t need to force the far north into compliance, but central Arlington needs to pitch in.

So "North North" Arlington gets to keep their walk zones, South Arlington gets to keep their walk zones, but "Central Arlington" has to give up their walk zones and break up their neighborhoods to solve all of the County's segregation problems? Its a county-wide problem- it needs a county-wide solution. If we aren't willing to do that, then we just need to admit that we don't really want to "fix" anything-- at least not with busing.

This sounds a lot like, "if I have to suffer, everyone should have to suffer."

This whole "break up neighborhoods" issue is silly. Boundary lines have to be drawn somewhere. There's no way to avoid "break ups" for everyone. Someone has to live on the boundary line--with people across the street or two houses over going to a different school.

[Anonymous]

So "North North" Arlington gets to keep their walk zones, South Arlington gets to keep their walk zones, but "Central Arlington" has to give up their walk zones and break up their neighborhoods to solve all of the County's segregation problems? Its a county-wide problem- it needs a county-wide solution. If we aren't willing to do that, then we just need to admit that we don't really want to "fix" anything-- at least not with busing.

No admissions are necessary. Plenty of parents have been flat out saying no to busing as a diversity tool for years. It's not a shameful secret.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think that we can solve the problems of income inequality that fall along racial lines by fixing middle school boundaries. If we were living in a place where there's white flight or crosses on the lawn at the first sign of a brown person, you've got systemic issues. But the reality is you have to have money to live in the northern parts (actually all the parts, but you need even more in the north) so trying to force some ridiculous gerrymandering in order to maintain the idea that you will have socioeconomic diversity one of the richest counties in the nation is a pretty futile exercise. No matter how you slice it, the prime real estate is statistically not likely to be filled with Central American immigrants.

And those of you thinking that what's happening in S. Arlington schools because of the FARMS and ESL kids clearly continue to live in a bubble and have never seen what truly sh*t schools are like. There was a PBS documentary called "180 Days: A Year in an American High School" that looked at one of DC's charter schools that shows what truly bad environments look like. It's not that your snowflake has to possibly sit still for five minutes because the teacher has to address someone else. The Arlington school system is exactly what anyone who ever dealt with economically disadvantaged students hope they would get.

Stop it with this racist name calling BS. If you think this is what terrible racism looks like, you really live in a fairy princess world.

Any plan that puts Kenmore or TJ at or over 50% poverty is completely irresponsible. That’s no fairy tale. We don’t need to force the far north into compliance, but central Arlington needs to pitch in.

So "North North" Arlington gets to keep their walk zones, South Arlington gets to keep their walk zones, but "Central Arlington" has to give up their walk zones and break up their neighborhoods to solve all of the County's segregation problems? Its a county-wide problem- it needs a county-wide solution. If we aren't willing to do that, then we just need to admit that we don't really want to "fix" anything-- at least not with busing.

+1

what countywide solution are you proposing and why do you think that idea is better than the proposals currently on the table?

[Anonymous]

Yes by all means let those of us in "central Arlington" take all responsibility for diverse schools since after all we're of more modest means than the richy-rich to the north, few mcmansions in our PUs, so less impact if our home values decline, etc. Let's all sacrifice our kids' MS experiences (busing, less sleep, HS continuity) so the rest of Arlington can feel good about our diverse schools!! (Probably school board sentiment as well)

[Anonymous]

Louisville, Raleigh, and Charlotte have all tried to address segregation with County-wide busing. If people in Arlington are serious about desegregating, then include everyone. It is easy to tell someone else to bus-- you aren't a hero of diversity because you are singling out someone else to move instead of your own kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes by all means let those of us in "central Arlington" take all responsibility for diverse schools since after all we're of more modest means than the richy-rich to the north, few mcmansions in our PUs, so less impact if our home values decline, etc. Let's all sacrifice our kids' MS experiences (busing, less sleep, HS continuity) so the rest of Arlington can feel good about our diverse schools!! (Probably school board sentiment as well)

What are you talking about? Parts of "central" Arlington are in the walk zones of south Arlington middle schools. It's not some big conspiracy. Some of the scenarios only extend the current boundaries by a few PU's at the northern edges. Our schools aren't built in perfect locations. Look at Kenmore MS and Wakefield HS. For each, half of their walk zone is in a different county. The only way one can change these boundaries is by extending them further north, south, or east. Sometimes opting to extend the boundary in one of those directions instead of the others serves another priority at the same time. Previous School Boards decided that we should not be basing decisions solely on proximity. I tend to agree. It should be a factor, but not the only factor. As to your complaint about continuity, the scenario that moves more northern PU's into Kenmore serves that purpose, since the HS decision moved some Kenmore PU's into Yorktown's boundary. This would give those students the continuity they are currently lacking between MS and HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Louisville, Raleigh, and Charlotte have all tried to address segregation with County-wide busing. If people in Arlington are serious about desegregating, then include everyone. It is easy to tell someone else to bus-- you aren't a hero of diversity because you are singling out someone else to move instead of your own kids.

Well, is anyone stopping you from making that proposal? I've already done it.

[Anonymous]

The issue of Williamsburg being only 4% FRL with everyone else 20% and above. At least the scenario with the Rosslyn island for Williamsburg brings it to 12%.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, that comment about Williamsburg's 4% FRL should be in response to the poster who liked scenario J and asked about any issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The issue of Williamsburg being only 4% FRL with everyone else 20% and above. At least the scenario with the Rosslyn island for Williamsburg brings it to 12%.

But isn't that the scenario with everyone under 50% FRL and almost 50% walking? I don't care if Williamsburg stays richy rich as long as the other schools are reasonable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes by all means let those of us in "central Arlington" take all responsibility for diverse schools since after all we're of more modest means than the richy-rich to the north, few mcmansions in our PUs, so less impact if our home values decline, etc. Let's all sacrifice our kids' MS experiences (busing, less sleep, HS continuity) so the rest of Arlington can feel good about our diverse schools!! (Probably school board sentiment as well)

Go eff yourself. APS policy has been focused on the W-L neighborhoods for so long it's pathetic. Why should W-L be allowed to offer both AP and IB when Yorktown and Wakefield are not? Or pick and choose which neighborhoods or PUs get rezoned? If your kids have to ride a damn bus to ensure some demographic balance in the middle schools no one else will lose any sleep over it.

[Anonymous]

The 70s called and they want their school integration policies back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The 70s called and they want their school integration policies back.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic.

I think it's sad that we're complacent about segregation because it's de facto rather than de jure. The end result is still the same, and threatens our pluralistic democracy.