APS Boundary tool--anyone get it to work yet?
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Anonymous
Depends what you consider walking. I live in a planning unit currently zoned for W-L but that could move to wakefeild. My kids haven't started school yet so who knows what will be going on then. But the kids in my neighborhood bike to school together. There's no way they could do that from here to wakefeild. It would split our neighborhood (ashton heights/lyon park) in half. |
Anonymous
Look at all those PLs right north of W-L. All in play, and all walking distance. |
Anonymous
Mostly those units are protected, but some units that are in play have a portion that is in the walk zone. I have heard that kids who don't technically live in the walk zone do walk or bike anyway to W-L and could not do so safely if they were moved to one of the other schools, and that is upsetting to some. I get it, everyone wants their ideal situation and is used to getting it. And hopefully we can come up with a solution that avoids making walkers get on buses for the most part. But in a capacity crisis situation, when doing the easiest thing is also the one thing that will make our community look terrible, I suggest we not do the thing that will bring in the NAACP and the DOJ. |
Anonymous
Swanson has always been split between WL and Yorktown - at least it was since the time I was in middle school here in the 80s. The only middle schools where ALL the kids move on to the same high school are Williamsburg (I think) and Gunston. All the others (Swanson, Kenmore, and TJ) are split and yet decades of kids have survived. |
Anonymous
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Ideally they will look at the map in an entirely different light in a few years.
Instead of looking at the boundaries horizontally, look at them vertically. You could break up much of the economic segregation that way. That or build the 4th f¥€#ing high school at the VHC PARCEL. The location is great for slicing into some of the wealthiest and poorest parts of the county. It would solve capacity and demographic issues. Either way, this discussion isn't sliding under the radar. WL isn't going to get away with dumping all of their ESOL and disadvantaged kids. The SB will have to make some people upset. |
Anonymous
But Yorktown is going to be happy to increase its share? We're zoned for W-L, and I was surprised to see how how much the proportion of kids getting free lunch has dropped. When I was redistricting, I was trying to keep as many of the lower-income zones and I could, and moving some Wakefield to Yorktown if the kids weren't in the walk zone either. (Maybe some of the non-walkers ride their bikes, but I don't care -- if APS is putting you on a bus either way, it gets to decide where that bus goes.) |
Anonymous
Most of the middle schools split and I'd hope they'd limit the splits to only two HS (if you start moving some of the western units to Yorktown you end up with Kenmore splitting to all 3 HSs). The MS splits are hard to avoid so I'd prioritize not splitting up elementary schools. So for TJ, that means keeping the Henry and Hoffman-Boston units together -- right now they all go to TJ but split for HS -- but keep the Long Branch unit together -- it's currently all together for ES-HS but only part of the zone is currently in play for the boundary adjustment. |
Anonymous
| The more I look at this the more I like moving 2315, 4815, 4818, 4829, 4899 to Yorktown, and 1202, 4604, 4606, 4612, 4695 to Wakefield. That avoids moving planning districts with high farms rates to Wakefield and it does move some to Yorktown. It doesn't take anyone out of a walk zone. 2315 is currently Swanson, tons of Swanson already goes to Yorktown. The rest are Jefferson. Similarly the Wakefield moves are Kenmore and Jefferson. |
Anonymous
If you do that you still don't have all of TJ going to Wakefield. You just end up with a small set of Long Branch kids who go to W-L (because they are in part of the zone not open for change) after TJ. I'd keep that group together. |
Anonymous
| For those of you who are bridging the Yorktown island, why? I started off doing this, but realized I wasn't increasing diversity and I wasn't sure what I was accomplishing. |
Anonymous
We live within walking distance to W-L. So close, in fact, that we can hear the marching band when it plays. And our planning unit is in play. |
Anonymous
I like this too. One note on Swanson--most of the kids in the PLs you're moving to Yorktown probably won't be at Swanson once the new middle school is built at the old HBW site. Won't affect the first class to move, but I think we have to go through county-wide middle school rezoning next year. I'm willing to bet that the PLs that are east/southeast of the new middle school and are also diverse are a shoo-in for the new school. |
Anonymous
From a purely geographic standpoint, it makes sense. The island itself would be totally against the rules in the current exercise. Otherwise we could solve the whole diversity question by making a new Yorktown island out of the planning units around Columbia Pike. |
Anonymous
I did this as well. It makes sense but I'm sure there would be push back from the Lyon Park community. Wakefield is not good for property values. |
Anonymous
| 1502, 1407 & 1410 are staying Swanson, but get sent away from their friends. Those neighborhoods get split up. That makes a lot more sense than bridging the island. |