Arlington school boundary petition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

ATS is slated to get those seats b/c they can fill them without the cascading boundary changes a new neighborhood school would cause. With waitlists of 100 per grade those seats will fill immediately and draw more kids out of the already over-crowded schools with no muss, no fuss. Makes perfect sense.

But there are already cascading boundary changes even with those seats filled. that's the entire point of the More Seats for More Students project.

Those seats haven't been built yet so, no, they aren't filled yet.

I'm pretty certain by the time the ATS addition is complete, the program will be moved elsewhere. So you get the entirety of 700+ seats for neighborhood kids. A victory for MSMS project, I'd say.

[Anonymous]

http://www.tbp.org/pubs/Features/W07Brown.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://www.tbp.org/pubs/Features/W07Brown.pdf

Science is like learning a foreign language. It is better and easier to learn when young. This is not how the US model works.

This is why science majors can easily float into liberal arts (I had an Engineering degree teaching my lit classes, etc.) and I minored in English as a Biochem major, but late in life it is very hard for somebody who focused on liberal arts with only the requiste math/science classes for 13-15 years to all the sudden make the switch from "English or Poly Sci or Sociology' into Biochem, Engineering, Chemistry, etc. It does happen (I have a friend that was an English major at UVA that is now an OB/GYN) but it is usually an anamoly.

Teaching scientific concepts and math young does not need to be done at the sacrifice of English, reading, etc. as the scores at STEM and specialized schools like ASFS show. In fact, it can help strengthen them. After all, reading is very much decoding. I agree that countries like China, etc. have swung too far the other way. There are no Steve Jobs or Bill Gates. It is rote learning in a specific model, but I don't think that is what anyone is suggesting here.

Look at the girls in science program in DC and try and tell me it is not beneficial to offer this type of learning at a young age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Read the thread: There is no place to put another school along the Orange Line. (I wish there were.) I think taking over Key for a plain vanilla school would be a mistake; the lower-income native Spanish speakers should not have to travel further to attend Key. Like the proposals to change Hoffman-Boston, it's pretty arrogant to decide that you're going to take a disadvantaged group's school away because you've decided something else should go there instead.

Ok, then substitute ASF for Key so we don't do anything that could be perceived as harming a Disadvantaged Group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Read the thread: There is no place to put another school along the Orange Line. (I wish there were.) I think taking over Key for a plain vanilla school would be a mistake; the lower-income native Spanish speakers should not have to travel further to attend Key. Like the proposals to change Hoffman-Boston, it's pretty arrogant to decide that you're going to take a disadvantaged group's school away because you've decided something else should go there instead.

What has happened to the Wilson School site that makes it no longer available?

good question. at the boundary meeting tonight, people asked for clarification as to why choice schools were off the table (so, for example, is it really impracticable so not worth considering?), but the speaker was unable to speak to even that question, much less any specifics re: the choice schools. for example, why ATS gets 220 extra seats when the boundary schools are so overcrowded. or why ASFS is still considered a "choice" school when it actually functions now as a boundary school given that scant few have or will get in via lottery in the future.

Kirkwood to Quincy the longest two block stretch in America. It's more like 5 blocks, the streets off 13th and 14th just don't all go through.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Read the thread: There is no place to put another school along the Orange Line. (I wish there were.) I think taking over Key for a plain vanilla school would be a mistake; the lower-income native Spanish speakers should not have to travel further to attend Key. Like the proposals to change Hoffman-Boston, it's pretty arrogant to decide that you're going to take a disadvantaged group's school away because you've decided something else should go there instead.

What has happened to the Wilson School site that makes it no longer available?

good question. at the boundary meeting tonight, people asked for clarification as to why choice schools were off the table (so, for example, is it really impracticable so not worth considering?), but the speaker was unable to speak to even that question, much less any specifics re: the choice schools. for example, why ATS gets 220 extra seats when the boundary schools are so overcrowded. or why ASFS is still considered a "choice" school when it actually functions now as a boundary school given that scant few have or will get in via lottery in the future.

ATS is slated to get those seats b/c they can fill them without the cascading boundary changes a new neighborhood school would cause. With waitlists of 100 per grade those seats will fill immediately and draw more kids out of the already over-crowded schools with no muss, no fuss. Makes perfect sense.

Not accurate. It draws some from overcrowded schools and more from schools at or below capacity (unless the lottery is rigged in favor of N. Arlington). Only 10 schools are currently above capacity. Assuming a fair lottery and sufficient demand from all parts of the county (which is a safe bet) 1/2 of the seats in the new addition would be filled by schools currently undercapacity. So in effect, the ATS addition only accomplished the goal of reducing overcrowding by half. Whereas a Glebe addition, would be right in the midst of 8 overcrowded schools and be far more beneficial to reducing overcrowding where it exists (in N. Arlington).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

ATS is slated to get those seats b/c they can fill them without the cascading boundary changes a new neighborhood school would cause. With waitlists of 100 per grade those seats will fill immediately and draw more kids out of the already over-crowded schools with no muss, no fuss. Makes perfect sense.

But there are already cascading boundary changes even with those seats filled. that's the entire point of the More Seats for More Students project.

Those seats haven't been built yet so, no, they aren't filled yet.

I'm pretty certain by the time the ATS addition is complete, the program will be moved elsewhere. So you get the entirety of 700+ seats for neighborhood kids. A victory for MSMS project, I'd say. Except for those who will get moved twice, i.e. 1510/1591, if we get sent to Taylor then back to the much closer ASFS. Put it all on the table now, with a smart phased implementation plan. Rather than reopening in one more year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Not accurate. It draws some from overcrowded schools and more from schools at or below capacity (unless the lottery is rigged in favor of N. Arlington).

It's not rigged, but it has more students from the nearby schools than from others (can't find the PDF), presumably because families that live close to it are more likely to apply because parents -- as you may have heard? -- don't want their children spending ages on a bus to get to and from school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Not accurate. It draws some from overcrowded schools and more from schools at or below capacity (unless the lottery is rigged in favor of N. Arlington).

It's not rigged, but it has more students from the nearby schools than from others (can't find the PDF), presumably because families that live close to it are more likely to apply because parents -- as you may have heard? -- don't want their children spending ages on a bus to get to and from school.

Well, hopefully it is not rigged, but I've read many times that it has way more kids from the north vs the south of Arlington, not 50-50.
Plus, it is very popular, so it makes perfect sense to add seats there. As far as the program moving physically , I don't think that is intended currently, or can you cite a source, PP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
ATS is slated to get those seats b/c they can fill them without the cascading boundary changes a new neighborhood school would cause. With waitlists of 100 per grade those seats will fill immediately and draw more kids out of the already over-crowded schools with no muss, no fuss. Makes perfect sense.

Anonymous wrote:
Not accurate. It draws some from overcrowded schools and more from schools at or below capacity (unless the lottery is rigged in favor of N. Arlington). Only 10 schools are currently above capacity. Assuming a fair lottery and sufficient demand from all parts of the county (which is a safe bet) 1/2 of the seats in the new addition would be filled by schools currently undercapacity. So in effect, the ATS addition only accomplished the goal of reducing overcrowding by half. Whereas a Glebe addition, would be right in the midst of 8 overcrowded schools and be far more beneficial to reducing overcrowding where it exists (in N. Arlington).

Where are you getting your information? It's well out of date and riddled with assumptions and conjecture. There are 12 schools over capacity now. ATS is one, at 107%. That's more over-crowded than Jamestown, ASFS and Key and only 1% less than Glebe. The ATS lottery is held in public and isn't rigged. (If it were, surely Arne Duncan's kids would be there.) You can go watch if you want. They pull more kids from the North because they get MANY more applicants from the North. If you look you can find the numbers, it's pretty significant how many kids ATS has kept out of the really over-crowded schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous The ATS lottery is held in public and isn't rigged. (If it were, surely Arne Duncan's kids would be there.) [/quote wrote:

[Anonymous]

PP -=- Why the eye rolling? It is well known in the ATS community that when Arne Duncan was appointed, he called the principal at ATS to find out how his kids could get in. She told him that they'd go at the bottom of the wait list for their grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP -=- Why the eye rolling? It is well known in the ATS community that when Arne Duncan was appointed, he called the principal at ATS to find out how his kids could get in. She told him that they'd go at the bottom of the wait list for their grade.

If I had a nickel for every APS/Arne Duncan reference....

Seriously, is there really no one else of any interest whose kids attend APS? What will you do when he leaves the area?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP -=- Why the eye rolling? It is well known in the ATS community that when Arne Duncan was appointed, he called the principal at ATS to find out how his kids could get in. She told him that they'd go at the bottom of the wait list for their grade.

If I had a nickel for every APS/Arne Duncan reference....

Seriously, is there really no one else of any interest whose kids attend APS? What will you do when he leaves the area?

Hi, I'm Arne Duncan and I approve of the above message.

Seriously, I am embarrased whenever I see the guy. I had no idea he was at our school until one of the moms was rambling on and I think I read it on here. Poor sucker.

[Anonymous]

"It is well known"