Aps fall boundaries

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Making Drew a 'Community School' will provide the resources those children need. South Fairlington isn't the right fit for that.

Please go tell the board that MC white kids aren’t the “right fit” for this school. I dare you.

[Anonymous]

Built on red lining

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MONA and everyone with a BLM or ALM sign ought to be calling it out.

Wishful thinking that anyone in Arlington cares at this point.

There shouldn’t be ANY school in Arlington over 40% poverty and/ or ESL.

Isn't concentrating wraparound services best for the students? Wouldn't the Carlin Springs model be best for Drew?

What wraparound services are they offering at Carlin Springs?

It is called a "Community School" pretty neat stuff.

https://carlinsprings.apsva.us/about-us/community-school/

Carlin Springs is Arlington’s model “community school.” Our school facility is used as a base to support students and their families by addressing not only academic needs, but also social, emotional, and health needs through linkages to community partners. By addressing the needs of the “whole child,” we enhance student success in school and in the larger community. Most of the opportunities associated with the community school model occur before and after school, and in the evenings. Examples of opportunities include:

Engaging after-school enrichment activities designed to reinforce and enhance what is learned during the school day.

Parenting workshops, monthly Coffee with the Principal events, weekly parent volunteer activities.

Academic Parent Teacher Teams, called “Teamwork”

Family library nights, curriculum nights, and author visits

Weekly developmental playgroups for toddlers and their parents or caregivers

Computer and language classes for parents, with enrichment activities for children while parents are in class

A student-run savings branch of the Arlington VA Federal Credit Union

Monthly Family Markets (hosted by the Capital Area Food Bank)

Arlington Department of Human Services (DHS) provides resources for families who need access to mental health, health and dental services.

Our full time Public Health Nurse manages medical, dental, hearing, vision, and other referrals, assists with health insurance, provides health education and coordinates other health related programs.

So why do the teachers at Carlin Springs counsel the gifted kids to transfer to option schools with better resources? Riddle me that. “Neat stuff” my ass. It’s not a recipe for student success alone. If they were provided those resources AND an economically balanced school, it would be better. It shouldn’t be either/or. But it’s not that relevant to the Drew boundary discussion, because it’s just not that feasible to make Drew a balanced school, given the adjacent neighborhoods. It should never have been made a neighborhood school with the expectation that it could be balanced, or even filled without having to pull other neighborhoods in. It’s size and demographics should have been part of the consideration on whether or not to return it to a neighborhood school.

Did they ever consider leaving Montessori at Drew, eliminating the neighborhood portion of Drew, but giving all Green Valley kids preference for Montessori or option to attend neighboring school? Essentially every Green Valley kid could attend as their neighborhood school and fill the rest with lottery since so many people want Montessori.

[Anonymous]

Yes but the GV residents fought forever for a pure neighborhood school. The loudest GV residents on this don't even have kids anymore, they just want a neighborhood school to correct the, perceived or not, wrong of their childhood APS education.

So the board finally was like ok blah blah blah equity and capitulated even though the people screaming for the school did not have any skin in the game.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Making Drew a 'Community School' will provide the resources those children need. South Fairlington isn't the right fit for that.

Please go tell the board that MC white kids aren’t the “right fit” for this school. I dare you.

This is what Duran, Equity Officer & Staff want. Kind of like wolves in sheeps' clothing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MONA and everyone with a BLM or ALM sign ought to be calling it out.

Wishful thinking that anyone in Arlington cares at this point.

There shouldn’t be ANY school in Arlington over 40% poverty and/ or ESL.

Isn't concentrating wraparound services best for the students? Wouldn't the Carlin Springs model be best for Drew?

What wraparound services are they offering at Carlin Springs?

It is called a "Community School" pretty neat stuff.

https://carlinsprings.apsva.us/about-us/community-school/

Carlin Springs is Arlington’s model “community school.” Our school facility is used as a base to support students and their families by addressing not only academic needs, but also social, emotional, and health needs through linkages to community partners. By addressing the needs of the “whole child,” we enhance student success in school and in the larger community. Most of the opportunities associated with the community school model occur before and after school, and in the evenings. Examples of opportunities include:

Engaging after-school enrichment activities designed to reinforce and enhance what is learned during the school day.

Parenting workshops, monthly Coffee with the Principal events, weekly parent volunteer activities.

Academic Parent Teacher Teams, called “Teamwork”

Family library nights, curriculum nights, and author visits

Weekly developmental playgroups for toddlers and their parents or caregivers

Computer and language classes for parents, with enrichment activities for children while parents are in class

A student-run savings branch of the Arlington VA Federal Credit Union

Monthly Family Markets (hosted by the Capital Area Food Bank)

Arlington Department of Human Services (DHS) provides resources for families who need access to mental health, health and dental services.

Our full time Public Health Nurse manages medical, dental, hearing, vision, and other referrals, assists with health insurance, provides health education and coordinates other health related programs.

Yeah....what every school could do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MONA and everyone with a BLM or ALM sign ought to be calling it out.

Wishful thinking that anyone in Arlington cares at this point.

There shouldn’t be ANY school in Arlington over 40% poverty and/ or ESL.

Isn't concentrating wraparound services best for the students? Wouldn't the Carlin Springs model be best for Drew?

What wraparound services are they offering at Carlin Springs?

It is called a "Community School" pretty neat stuff.

https://carlinsprings.apsva.us/about-us/community-school/

Carlin Springs is Arlington’s model “community school.” Our school facility is used as a base to support students and their families by addressing not only academic needs, but also social, emotional, and health needs through linkages to community partners. By addressing the needs of the “whole child,” we enhance student success in school and in the larger community. Most of the opportunities associated with the community school model occur before and after school, and in the evenings. Examples of opportunities include:

Engaging after-school enrichment activities designed to reinforce and enhance what is learned during the school day.

Parenting workshops, monthly Coffee with the Principal events, weekly parent volunteer activities.

Academic Parent Teacher Teams, called “Teamwork”

Family library nights, curriculum nights, and author visits

Weekly developmental playgroups for toddlers and their parents or caregivers

Computer and language classes for parents, with enrichment activities for children while parents are in class

A student-run savings branch of the Arlington VA Federal Credit Union

Monthly Family Markets (hosted by the Capital Area Food Bank)

Arlington Department of Human Services (DHS) provides resources for families who need access to mental health, health and dental services.

Our full time Public Health Nurse manages medical, dental, hearing, vision, and other referrals, assists with health insurance, provides health education and coordinates other health related programs.

So why do the teachers at Carlin Springs counsel the gifted kids to transfer to option schools with better resources? Riddle me that. “Neat stuff” my ass. It’s not a recipe for student success alone. If they were provided those resources AND an economically balanced school, it would be better. It shouldn’t be either/or. But it’s not that relevant to the Drew boundary discussion, because it’s just not that feasible to make Drew a balanced school, given the adjacent neighborhoods. It should never have been made a neighborhood school with the expectation that it could be balanced, or even filled without having to pull other neighborhoods in. It’s size and demographics should have been part of the consideration on whether or not to return it to a neighborhood school.

Did they ever consider leaving Montessori at Drew, eliminating the neighborhood portion of Drew, but giving all Green Valley kids preference for Montessori or option to attend neighboring school? Essentially every Green Valley kid could attend as their neighborhood school and fill the rest with lottery since so many people want Montessori.

I mean that is similar to what was there before. But I honestly don't remember if kids had neighborhood preference to Montessori. But we live in GV, our kind got into Claremont when there was neighborhood preference to there. But it used to be that you could pick Drew, Hoffman Boston or Claremont.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MONA and everyone with a BLM or ALM sign ought to be calling it out.

Wishful thinking that anyone in Arlington cares at this point.

There shouldn’t be ANY school in Arlington over 40% poverty and/ or ESL.

Isn't concentrating wraparound services best for the students? Wouldn't the Carlin Springs model be best for Drew?

What wraparound services are they offering at Carlin Springs?

It is called a "Community School" pretty neat stuff.

https://carlinsprings.apsva.us/about-us/community-school/

Carlin Springs is Arlington’s model “community school.” Our school facility is used as a base to support students and their families by addressing not only academic needs, but also social, emotional, and health needs through linkages to community partners. By addressing the needs of the “whole child,” we enhance student success in school and in the larger community. Most of the opportunities associated with the community school model occur before and after school, and in the evenings. Examples of opportunities include:

Engaging after-school enrichment activities designed to reinforce and enhance what is learned during the school day.

Parenting workshops, monthly Coffee with the Principal events, weekly parent volunteer activities.

Academic Parent Teacher Teams, called “Teamwork”

Family library nights, curriculum nights, and author visits

Weekly developmental playgroups for toddlers and their parents or caregivers

Computer and language classes for parents, with enrichment activities for children while parents are in class

A student-run savings branch of the Arlington VA Federal Credit Union

Monthly Family Markets (hosted by the Capital Area Food Bank)

Arlington Department of Human Services (DHS) provides resources for families who need access to mental health, health and dental services.

Our full time Public Health Nurse manages medical, dental, hearing, vision, and other referrals, assists with health insurance, provides health education and coordinates other health related programs.

So why do the teachers at Carlin Springs counsel the gifted kids to transfer to option schools with better resources? Riddle me that. “Neat stuff” my ass. It’s not a recipe for student success alone. If they were provided those resources AND an economically balanced school, it would be better. It shouldn’t be either/or. But it’s not that relevant to the Drew boundary discussion, because it’s just not that feasible to make Drew a balanced school, given the adjacent neighborhoods. It should never have been made a neighborhood school with the expectation that it could be balanced, or even filled without having to pull other neighborhoods in. It’s size and demographics should have been part of the consideration on whether or not to return it to a neighborhood school.

Did they ever consider leaving Montessori at Drew, eliminating the neighborhood portion of Drew, but giving all Green Valley kids preference for Montessori or option to attend neighboring school? Essentially every Green Valley kid could attend as their neighborhood school and fill the rest with lottery since so many people want Montessori.

I don’t think the neighboring schools had room for the Drew kids if they didn’t choose Montessori

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MONA and everyone with a BLM or ALM sign ought to be calling it out.

Wishful thinking that anyone in Arlington cares at this point.

There shouldn’t be ANY school in Arlington over 40% poverty and/ or ESL.

Isn't concentrating wraparound services best for the students? Wouldn't the Carlin Springs model be best for Drew?

What wraparound services are they offering at Carlin Springs?

It is called a "Community School" pretty neat stuff.

https://carlinsprings.apsva.us/about-us/community-school/

Carlin Springs is Arlington’s model “community school.” Our school facility is used as a base to support students and their families by addressing not only academic needs, but also social, emotional, and health needs through linkages to community partners. By addressing the needs of the “whole child,” we enhance student success in school and in the larger community. Most of the opportunities associated with the community school model occur before and after school, and in the evenings. Examples of opportunities include:

Engaging after-school enrichment activities designed to reinforce and enhance what is learned during the school day.

Parenting workshops, monthly Coffee with the Principal events, weekly parent volunteer activities.

Academic Parent Teacher Teams, called “Teamwork”

Family library nights, curriculum nights, and author visits

Weekly developmental playgroups for toddlers and their parents or caregivers

Computer and language classes for parents, with enrichment activities for children while parents are in class

A student-run savings branch of the Arlington VA Federal Credit Union

Monthly Family Markets (hosted by the Capital Area Food Bank)

Arlington Department of Human Services (DHS) provides resources for families who need access to mental health, health and dental services.

Our full time Public Health Nurse manages medical, dental, hearing, vision, and other referrals, assists with health insurance, provides health education and coordinates other health related programs.

So why do the teachers at Carlin Springs counsel the gifted kids to transfer to option schools with better resources? Riddle me that. “Neat stuff” my ass. It’s not a recipe for student success alone. If they were provided those resources AND an economically balanced school, it would be better. It shouldn’t be either/or. But it’s not that relevant to the Drew boundary discussion, because it’s just not that feasible to make Drew a balanced school, given the adjacent neighborhoods. It should never have been made a neighborhood school with the expectation that it could be balanced, or even filled without having to pull other neighborhoods in. It’s size and demographics should have been part of the consideration on whether or not to return it to a neighborhood school.

Did they ever consider leaving Montessori at Drew, eliminating the neighborhood portion of Drew, but giving all Green Valley kids preference for Montessori or option to attend neighboring school? Essentially every Green Valley kid could attend as their neighborhood school and fill the rest with lottery since so many people want Montessori.

I mean that is similar to what was there before. But I honestly don't remember if kids had neighborhood preference to Montessori. But we live in GV, our kind got into Claremont when there was neighborhood preference to there. But it used to be that you could pick Drew, Hoffman Boston or Claremont.

Yes, it used to be that GV kids had preference for Montessori at Drew and GV was a preferred neighborhood for Claremont. The neighborhood program portion at Drew amounted to only about 200 or so students. They could also choose the neighborhood program at Drew or transfer to Hoffman Boston. I'm not sure why they could transfer to Hoffman Boston.

Retaining preferences was not considered because APS - rightfully - dropped the neighborhood preference policy for admission to Claremont. There shouldn't be any geographical preferences for admission to option programs, though I don't think that changed for Campbell until recently. Also, new boundaries were drawn so Hoffman Boston could relieve crowding at Oakridge; so no neighboring schools would be able to absorb students districted to Drew who want to opt out of Montessori.

Montessori probably would have accepted staying at Drew and having the whole facility for itself; but (1) the building would have been significantly under-utilized at that point because it's a relatively large facility and Montessori program wasn't large enough to fill it; and (2) GV wouldn't hear of not having a neighborhood school in their neighborhood and (3) Montessori really always wanted, and still wants, a brand new building of its own to accommodate a full preK-12 Montessori program. I think the Drew building would still be under utilized even if Montessori merged its middle school program with the ES. Montessori likes to think it's prime for increasing its program at the higher grade levels. But it's not. Maybe they could have centralized all the prek classes from across the county with the K-5 and 6-8 grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MONA and everyone with a BLM or ALM sign ought to be calling it out.

Wishful thinking that anyone in Arlington cares at this point.

There shouldn’t be ANY school in Arlington over 40% poverty and/ or ESL.

Isn't concentrating wraparound services best for the students? Wouldn't the Carlin Springs model be best for Drew?

What wraparound services are they offering at Carlin Springs?

It is called a "Community School" pretty neat stuff.

https://carlinsprings.apsva.us/about-us/community-school/

Carlin Springs is Arlington’s model “community school.” Our school facility is used as a base to support students and their families by addressing not only academic needs, but also social, emotional, and health needs through linkages to community partners. By addressing the needs of the “whole child,” we enhance student success in school and in the larger community. Most of the opportunities associated with the community school model occur before and after school, and in the evenings. Examples of opportunities include:

Engaging after-school enrichment activities designed to reinforce and enhance what is learned during the school day.

Parenting workshops, monthly Coffee with the Principal events, weekly parent volunteer activities.

Academic Parent Teacher Teams, called “Teamwork”

Family library nights, curriculum nights, and author visits

Weekly developmental playgroups for toddlers and their parents or caregivers

Computer and language classes for parents, with enrichment activities for children while parents are in class

A student-run savings branch of the Arlington VA Federal Credit Union

Monthly Family Markets (hosted by the Capital Area Food Bank)

Arlington Department of Human Services (DHS) provides resources for families who need access to mental health, health and dental services.

Our full time Public Health Nurse manages medical, dental, hearing, vision, and other referrals, assists with health insurance, provides health education and coordinates other health related programs.

So why do the teachers at Carlin Springs counsel the gifted kids to transfer to option schools with better resources? Riddle me that. “Neat stuff” my ass. It’s not a recipe for student success alone. If they were provided those resources AND an economically balanced school, it would be better. It shouldn’t be either/or. But it’s not that relevant to the Drew boundary discussion, because it’s just not that feasible to make Drew a balanced school, given the adjacent neighborhoods. It should never have been made a neighborhood school with the expectation that it could be balanced, or even filled without having to pull other neighborhoods in. It’s size and demographics should have been part of the consideration on whether or not to return it to a neighborhood school.

Did they ever consider leaving Montessori at Drew, eliminating the neighborhood portion of Drew, but giving all Green Valley kids preference for Montessori or option to attend neighboring school? Essentially every Green Valley kid could attend as their neighborhood school and fill the rest with lottery since so many people want Montessori.

I mean that is similar to what was there before. But I honestly don't remember if kids had neighborhood preference to Montessori. But we live in GV, our kind got into Claremont when there was neighborhood preference to there. But it used to be that you could pick Drew, Hoffman Boston or Claremont.

Yes, it used to be that GV kids had preference for Montessori at Drew and GV was a preferred neighborhood for Claremont. The neighborhood program portion at Drew amounted to only about 200 or so students. They could also choose the neighborhood program at Drew or transfer to Hoffman Boston. I'm not sure why they could transfer to Hoffman Boston.

Retaining preferences was not considered because APS - rightfully - dropped the neighborhood preference policy for admission to Claremont. There shouldn't be any geographical preferences for admission to option programs, though I don't think that changed for Campbell until recently. Also, new boundaries were drawn so Hoffman Boston could relieve crowding at Oakridge; so no neighboring schools would be able to absorb students districted to Drew who want to opt out of Montessori.

Montessori probably would have accepted staying at Drew and having the whole facility for itself; but (1) the building would have been significantly under-utilized at that point because it's a relatively large facility and Montessori program wasn't large enough to fill it; and (2) GV wouldn't hear of not having a neighborhood school in their neighborhood and (3) Montessori really always wanted, and still wants, a brand new building of its own to accommodate a full preK-12 Montessori program. I think the Drew building would still be under utilized even if Montessori merged its middle school program with the ES. Montessori likes to think it's prime for increasing its program at the higher grade levels. But it's not. Maybe they could have centralized all the prek classes from across the county with the K-5 and 6-8 grades.

All the admission policies were changed to remove neighborhood preferences at the same time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MONA and everyone with a BLM or ALM sign ought to be calling it out.

Wishful thinking that anyone in Arlington cares at this point.

There shouldn’t be ANY school in Arlington over 40% poverty and/ or ESL.

Isn't concentrating wraparound services best for the students? Wouldn't the Carlin Springs model be best for Drew?

What wraparound services are they offering at Carlin Springs?

It is called a "Community School" pretty neat stuff.

https://carlinsprings.apsva.us/about-us/community-school/

Carlin Springs is Arlington’s model “community school.” Our school facility is used as a base to support students and their families by addressing not only academic needs, but also social, emotional, and health needs through linkages to community partners. By addressing the needs of the “whole child,” we enhance student success in school and in the larger community. Most of the opportunities associated with the community school model occur before and after school, and in the evenings. Examples of opportunities include:

Engaging after-school enrichment activities designed to reinforce and enhance what is learned during the school day.

Parenting workshops, monthly Coffee with the Principal events, weekly parent volunteer activities.

Academic Parent Teacher Teams, called “Teamwork”

Family library nights, curriculum nights, and author visits

Weekly developmental playgroups for toddlers and their parents or caregivers

Computer and language classes for parents, with enrichment activities for children while parents are in class

A student-run savings branch of the Arlington VA Federal Credit Union

Monthly Family Markets (hosted by the Capital Area Food Bank)

Arlington Department of Human Services (DHS) provides resources for families who need access to mental health, health and dental services.

Our full time Public Health Nurse manages medical, dental, hearing, vision, and other referrals, assists with health insurance, provides health education and coordinates other health related programs.

So why do the teachers at Carlin Springs counsel the gifted kids to transfer to option schools with better resources? Riddle me that. “Neat stuff” my ass. It’s not a recipe for student success alone. If they were provided those resources AND an economically balanced school, it would be better. It shouldn’t be either/or. But it’s not that relevant to the Drew boundary discussion, because it’s just not that feasible to make Drew a balanced school, given the adjacent neighborhoods. It should never have been made a neighborhood school with the expectation that it could be balanced, or even filled without having to pull other neighborhoods in. It’s size and demographics should have been part of the consideration on whether or not to return it to a neighborhood school.

Did they ever consider leaving Montessori at Drew, eliminating the neighborhood portion of Drew, but giving all Green Valley kids preference for Montessori or option to attend neighboring school? Essentially every Green Valley kid could attend as their neighborhood school and fill the rest with lottery since so many people want Montessori.

I mean that is similar to what was there before. But I honestly don't remember if kids had neighborhood preference to Montessori. But we live in GV, our kind got into Claremont when there was neighborhood preference to there. But it used to be that you could pick Drew, Hoffman Boston or Claremont.

Yes, it used to be that GV kids had preference for Montessori at Drew and GV was a preferred neighborhood for Claremont. The neighborhood program portion at Drew amounted to only about 200 or so students. They could also choose the neighborhood program at Drew or transfer to Hoffman Boston. I'm not sure why they could transfer to Hoffman Boston.

Retaining preferences was not considered because APS - rightfully - dropped the neighborhood preference policy for admission to Claremont. There shouldn't be any geographical preferences for admission to option programs, though I don't think that changed for Campbell until recently. Also, new boundaries were drawn so Hoffman Boston could relieve crowding at Oakridge; so no neighboring schools would be able to absorb students districted to Drew who want to opt out of Montessori.

Montessori probably would have accepted staying at Drew and having the whole facility for itself; but (1) the building would have been significantly under-utilized at that point because it's a relatively large facility and Montessori program wasn't large enough to fill it; and (2) GV wouldn't hear of not having a neighborhood school in their neighborhood and (3) Montessori really always wanted, and still wants, a brand new building of its own to accommodate a full preK-12 Montessori program. I think the Drew building would still be under utilized even if Montessori merged its middle school program with the ES. Montessori likes to think it's prime for increasing its program at the higher grade levels. But it's not. Maybe they could have centralized all the prek classes from across the county with the K-5 and 6-8 grades.

The school is huge. You know who they should have moved to the Drew building - ATS. That's the only school in Arlington that could have actually filled it! That or maybe Claremont.

No family is going to opt to send their kids to Drew if they don't have to. That school will never be fully filled if they leave it a neighborhood school. It's sad. I feel bad for the families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MONA and everyone with a BLM or ALM sign ought to be calling it out.

Wishful thinking that anyone in Arlington cares at this point.

There shouldn’t be ANY school in Arlington over 40% poverty and/ or ESL.

Isn't concentrating wraparound services best for the students? Wouldn't the Carlin Springs model be best for Drew?

What wraparound services are they offering at Carlin Springs?

It is called a "Community School" pretty neat stuff.

https://carlinsprings.apsva.us/about-us/community-school/

Carlin Springs is Arlington’s model “community school.” Our school facility is used as a base to support students and their families by addressing not only academic needs, but also social, emotional, and health needs through linkages to community partners. By addressing the needs of the “whole child,” we enhance student success in school and in the larger community. Most of the opportunities associated with the community school model occur before and after school, and in the evenings. Examples of opportunities include:

Engaging after-school enrichment activities designed to reinforce and enhance what is learned during the school day.

Parenting workshops, monthly Coffee with the Principal events, weekly parent volunteer activities.

Academic Parent Teacher Teams, called “Teamwork”

Family library nights, curriculum nights, and author visits

Weekly developmental playgroups for toddlers and their parents or caregivers

Computer and language classes for parents, with enrichment activities for children while parents are in class

A student-run savings branch of the Arlington VA Federal Credit Union

Monthly Family Markets (hosted by the Capital Area Food Bank)

Arlington Department of Human Services (DHS) provides resources for families who need access to mental health, health and dental services.

Our full time Public Health Nurse manages medical, dental, hearing, vision, and other referrals, assists with health insurance, provides health education and coordinates other health related programs.

So why do the teachers at Carlin Springs counsel the gifted kids to transfer to option schools with better resources? Riddle me that. “Neat stuff” my ass. It’s not a recipe for student success alone. If they were provided those resources AND an economically balanced school, it would be better. It shouldn’t be either/or. But it’s not that relevant to the Drew boundary discussion, because it’s just not that feasible to make Drew a balanced school, given the adjacent neighborhoods. It should never have been made a neighborhood school with the expectation that it could be balanced, or even filled without having to pull other neighborhoods in. It’s size and demographics should have been part of the consideration on whether or not to return it to a neighborhood school.

Did they ever consider leaving Montessori at Drew, eliminating the neighborhood portion of Drew, but giving all Green Valley kids preference for Montessori or option to attend neighboring school? Essentially every Green Valley kid could attend as their neighborhood school and fill the rest with lottery since so many people want Montessori.

I mean that is similar to what was there before. But I honestly don't remember if kids had neighborhood preference to Montessori. But we live in GV, our kind got into Claremont when there was neighborhood preference to there. But it used to be that you could pick Drew, Hoffman Boston or Claremont.

Yes, it used to be that GV kids had preference for Montessori at Drew and GV was a preferred neighborhood for Claremont. The neighborhood program portion at Drew amounted to only about 200 or so students. They could also choose the neighborhood program at Drew or transfer to Hoffman Boston. I'm not sure why they could transfer to Hoffman Boston.

Retaining preferences was not considered because APS - rightfully - dropped the neighborhood preference policy for admission to Claremont. There shouldn't be any geographical preferences for admission to option programs, though I don't think that changed for Campbell until recently. Also, new boundaries were drawn so Hoffman Boston could relieve crowding at Oakridge; so no neighboring schools would be able to absorb students districted to Drew who want to opt out of Montessori.

Montessori probably would have accepted staying at Drew and having the whole facility for itself; but (1) the building would have been significantly under-utilized at that point because it's a relatively large facility and Montessori program wasn't large enough to fill it; and (2) GV wouldn't hear of not having a neighborhood school in their neighborhood and (3) Montessori really always wanted, and still wants, a brand new building of its own to accommodate a full preK-12 Montessori program. I think the Drew building would still be under utilized even if Montessori merged its middle school program with the ES. Montessori likes to think it's prime for increasing its program at the higher grade levels. But it's not. Maybe they could have centralized all the prek classes from across the county with the K-5 and 6-8 grades.

The school is huge. You know who they should have moved to the Drew building - ATS. That's the only school in Arlington that could have actually filled it! That or maybe Claremont.

No family is going to opt to send their kids to Drew if they don't have to. That school will never be fully filled if they leave it a neighborhood school. It's sad. I feel bad for the families.

The idea of moving Claremont immersion to Drew and opening Claremont as a neighborhood school to relieve crowding at Oakridge was rejected in favor of building a new, less walkable neighborhood Fleet school.

[Anonymous]

Honestly neighborhood issues aside (and I live next door to Drew so I understand them) I don't think we have seen how Drew will be as a school. Their first year as a school was 19-20 so they only had half a year. Then last year was the dumpster fire that it was, but their test scores were similar to Abingdon (but lower than Hoffman Boston and Claremont). It will be interesting to see how they do this year, which will be their first full year of school.

Everyone just makes a lot of assumptions based on statistics, but we don't really know what scores will be like. They are already doing better than when they were a small neighborhood program within Drew Montessori.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So when these PUs push back can we call them racist?

Call them whatever you want. Who cares? APS needs to get a backbone and just make boundaries that suit APS' needs and goals and the interests of the students.

I think it's pretty clear that making Drew very high FRL and Abingdon a lower (but still not low, frankly) FRL school is the situation that suits APS best. Is it best for the students? There will be some whose needs aren't met, but there is an argument to be made for having a community school with wrap around social services for families at Drew like they do at Carlin Springs. That's not going to be a popular argument with the "equity" lens we are supposedly using, but it's certainly expedient. I don't know what the right answer is.

Isn’t this proposal a pretty good idea, though, in that it sends Claremont, which is almost entirely SFHs, to Drew? They’re keeping the APAH property at Abingdon, along with Fairlington. Am I missing something? At worst, the kids don’t ever materialize at Drew and all go option or private, but that still solves the capacity problem for Abingdon without exacerbating the poverty at Drew.

They conveniently leave the FRL rate out of the proposal info. They gave us K-3 demographics and EL status. At 68% English learner and 75% non-white (which is somewhat correlated to income in Arlington) it's not looking like a particularly affluent bunch. https://www.apsva.us/engage/fall-2021-boundary-process-abingdon-drew/

Only 65 students? If none of those kids opt out, Drew will still be only at 73% capacity.

There’s really only one way to fill Drew. And that is to zone one or more large CAF developments to Drew - either Columbia Grove (Abington) or the Apex (Oakridge). And that is exactly what will happen the next time those schools get crowded. Neither development is in a walk zone and it will be politically very easy. Overcrowding will be the excuse they need. What a shame.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly neighborhood issues aside (and I live next door to Drew so I understand them) I don't think we have seen how Drew will be as a school. Their first year as a school was 19-20 so they only had half a year. Then last year was the dumpster fire that it was, but their test scores were similar to Abingdon (but lower than Hoffman Boston and Claremont). It will be interesting to see how they do this year, which will be their first full year of school.

Everyone just makes a lot of assumptions based on statistics, but we don't really know what scores will be like. They are already doing better than when they were a small neighborhood program within Drew Montessori.

They've also had a principal change which typically comes with a bit of disruption in staff and transitioning to new leadership style/team.