Another choice school in N Arlington?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the parents patting themselves on the back for sending their kids to "diverse" ATS should spend some time looking at the actual ATS demographics. The black and hispanic numbers look remarkably like nearby Ashlawn and Glebe. In other words, while it may be more diverse than Discovery, it is not a particularly diverse school compared to most of the other Arlington elementary schools (including others in North Arlington). And in fact, if you look at the most recent transfer report posted on the APS website, it looks like Glebe and Ashlawn transfers alone make up about 20% of the ATS student body.

And this point is relevant if you are in those districts. It doesn't change anything if you're in Discovery, Nottingham, Jamestown etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the parents patting themselves on the back for sending their kids to "diverse" ATS should spend some time looking at the actual ATS demographics. The black and hispanic numbers look remarkably like nearby Ashlawn and Glebe. In other words, while it may be more diverse than Discovery, it is not a particularly diverse school compared to most of the other Arlington elementary schools (including others in North Arlington). And in fact, if you look at the most recent transfer report posted on the APS website, it looks like Glebe and Ashlawn transfers alone make up about 20% of the ATS student body.

Which parents were "patting themselves on the back?" Someone said they didn't understand why parents in top school zones would choose ATS and a PP gave a bunch of reasons. You may not like or agree with the answer but you shouldn't mis characterize it.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:not just those who sound, look, dress exactly like them.

Because if ATS is anything, it's a haven for free spirits.

HA!!!

Sure, that's what I meant. Tucking in your shirt = all same. But please, continue to deflect from your defense of neighborhood schools. You're not fooling anybody in 2016. We know why you love your "walkable neighborhood school." Same reason your parents did in 1974.

Not pp, but what is wrong with neighborhood schools? I don't see racism in liking your kids to be in school with their friends from the neighborhood, or liking being able to walk to school on a regular basis rather than having to drive a long way to get there.

Look, I get that. But our neighborhoods are very segregated, and while that may not be something you intentionally sought out, you are passively accepting this reality, which will damage us all in the long run. That's why I have a problem, in general, with the concept of "walkable" "neighborhood" schools. It doesn't help that those words are code that anyone who is old enough to remember the 1970's recognizes.

Anyway maybe making this new school a choice program, that could be open to anyone who wanted to apply, regardless of their zipcode, would be one step in the right direction. It's practical, because it could address overcrowding in both north and south. At the same time, this is not taking away YOUR neighborhood school. It's adding a school that does not yet exist. I don't care where they build it. But I'm tired of every neighborhood trying to extract their pound of flesh, when we should be thinking of the common good.

People take issue with choicing out of a 10 school for what they perceive as a weak reason. Yes, your kids were zoned to a very homogenized school. South Arlington kids are too. The difference is, your homogenized school can afford any field trip a teacher dreams up and all sorts of enrichment. That doesn't even take into account the amount of available volunteers and resources wealthy parents bring to the table. The kids at your neighborhood school are being groomed for college and having flyers for robotics camp tucked into their backpacks end of day. In the homogenized south Arlington school the flyer is for food assistance, and the PTA is weak at best , and being investigated by the authorities for embezzlement at worst.
There are enough bright kids south of 50 to keep ATS's scores very high. They don't need to be propped up by north Arlington students, Patrick Henry is proof of that. The economically disadvantaged students applying are self selecting and certain to have a greater chance of success.
So, you should be flippant about taking a spot from a child in south Arlington.

Who are you to judge what school is best for the PP's children or the reasons she may have for entering a lottery that SHE HAS EVERY RIGHT to enter???

I'm a tax paying Arlingtonian who doesn't agree with how the ATS lottery works. I think I summed up my judgement of her choices quite clearly.

In other words, nobody.

[Anonymous]

So, why doesn't APS just get rid of choice all together?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, why doesn't APS just get rid of choice all together?

How would that improve anything?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, setting aside the class wars...call me crazy but honestly it doesn't sound to me like they are talking about creating a new choice program. The CIP identifies the most pressing elementary need in the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor. The identified solution is a 725 seat school at Reed.

Of course a county wide lottery school like ATS would draw some kids from that area, but not a ton. However, moving one of the existing choice programs, and then using that building as a (possibly expanded) neighborhood school? That would respond to the problem identified in the CIP.

But would it really solve the problem? Take ASF-- it isn't a county-wide "choice" school like ATS. It is really a neighborhood school that is bundled into a team with Key, Jamestown, and Taylor. So moving the ASF program to Reed doesn't solve the overcrowding issue in the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor unless most of the current ASF kids move with the school to Westover-- and there is no indication that any of them want to do that. You could end up with the same overcrowded school building in Clarendon, just with a different program. On ArlNow, people are advocating to use the Buck site on Quincy St. instead for a new Ballston elementary school near W-L, which would make more sense as a location if you are targeting the Rosslyn-Ballston area. And by 2020/21, both Ashlawn and Nottingham are projected to be over-enrolled by over 100 students each-- and then you could still put Reed back on the table as a neighborhood elementary school and a potential solution to the west end overcrowding. Buck would be a more expensive investment up front, but realistically we're going to end up spending the money anyway in the next decade, so why not really adopt a 10 year plan? From what I understand, the issue is that the County Board has to okay the use of the Buck site as a school, which it hasn't done yet-- similar to the hang-ups over the VHC site as a potential new high school.

I think what she is saying is - move ATS to Reed school, convert ATS back to a neighborhood school (with an addition). ATS' current location is located in the middle of the overcrowding.
My opinion is that the county is not saying Reed would be a new choice school, but rather moving an existing one there.

[Anonymous]

Putting ATS at Reed only delays the problem b/c won't help when the area around Reed needs a school YET AGAIN b/c Discovery did nothing to help it and McKinley, Tuckahoe & Glebe will still have trailer parks.

[Anonymous]

ATS should move to Madison. It's not ever going to be a neighborhood school again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Putting ATS at Reed only delays the problem b/c won't help when the area around Reed needs a school YET AGAIN b/c Discovery did nothing to help it and McKinley, Tuckahoe & Glebe will still have trailer parks.

But the current ATS location will pull current kids from McKinley and Glebe - a lot of them - alleviating the stress at McKinley and Glebe. Then some Tuckahoe kids would get moved to McKinley since it will be freed up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the parents patting themselves on the back for sending their kids to "diverse" ATS should spend some time looking at the actual ATS demographics. The black and hispanic numbers look remarkably like nearby Ashlawn and Glebe. In other words, while it may be more diverse than Discovery, it is not a particularly diverse school compared to most of the other Arlington elementary schools (including others in North Arlington). And in fact, if you look at the most recent transfer report posted on the APS website, it looks like Glebe and Ashlawn transfers alone make up about 20% of the ATS student body.

Which parents were "patting themselves on the back?" Someone said they didn't understand why parents in top school zones would choose ATS and a PP gave a bunch of reasons. You may not like or agree with the answer but you shouldn't mis characterize it.

I doubt there's any other reason that there was a tiny chance of "winning the lottery" and now they get to feel special. I still think all of those parents in great school districts should feel deep shame for taking those spots from others who are not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Putting ATS at Reed only delays the problem b/c won't help when the area around Reed needs a school YET AGAIN b/c Discovery did nothing to help it and McKinley, Tuckahoe & Glebe will still have trailer parks.

But the current ATS location will pull current kids from McKinley and Glebe - a lot of them - alleviating the stress at McKinley and Glebe. Then some Tuckahoe kids would get moved to McKinley since it will be freed up.

Not how it works. If it was not a true lottery, then maybe but it is so that is not it works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Putting ATS at Reed only delays the problem b/c won't help when the area around Reed needs a school YET AGAIN b/c Discovery did nothing to help it and McKinley, Tuckahoe & Glebe will still have trailer parks.

ATS and Reed need to be neighborhood schools.
ATS b/c of the overcrowding at all of the neighborhood schools near it and Reed b/c the location won't allow for busing without seriously messing up traffic. That said, I don't want more of my tax dollars going to re-doing a redone building.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Putting ATS at Reed only delays the problem b/c won't help when the area around Reed needs a school YET AGAIN b/c Discovery did nothing to help it and McKinley, Tuckahoe & Glebe will still have trailer parks.

ATS and Reed need to be neighborhood schools.
ATS b/c of the overcrowding at all of the neighborhood schools near it and Reed b/c the location won't allow for busing without seriously messing up traffic. That said, I don't want more of my tax dollars going to re-doing a redone building.

No one does, but that mistake was already made. Our land and building options are so few there really isn't a lot of choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Putting ATS at Reed only delays the problem b/c won't help when the area around Reed needs a school YET AGAIN b/c Discovery did nothing to help it and McKinley, Tuckahoe & Glebe will still have trailer parks.

But the current ATS location will pull current kids from McKinley and Glebe - a lot of them - alleviating the stress at McKinley and Glebe. Then some Tuckahoe kids would get moved to McKinley since it will be freed up.

moving ATS to Reed to make ATS a neighborhood school is silly. Those schools are just not that far apart. A neighborhood school at Reed would pull kids out of Tuckahoe and McKinley primarily. A neighborhood school at ATS would pull kids out of Ashlawn and McKinley primarily. In 2020 Ashlawn is expected to be short about 100 seats and Tuckahoe short 50- http://www.apsva.us/cms/lib2/VA01000586/Centricity/Domain/11/Capacity_Utilization_FallProjections16-25_Final_Revised_11172015.pdf

All in all not enough of a difference to justify the difficulty of moving a school.
I can see arguments on both sides of making Reed neighborhood and making it Choice. (And I say this as someone who would almost certainly be in the Reed district if it was a neighborhood school.)

[Anonymous]

Reed could also pull from Nottingham and Glebe. The pull from McKinley would allow them to take over Ahslawn planning units. Relief at Glebe could cascade to Taylor.