APS: Wow, the SB meeting was a DOOZY

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know where this idea came that people in S Arlington and just living here gaming the system purposely only buying a "inexpensive" house and still getting good schools.

I mean don't get my wrong, I really like S. Arlington and am happy to be living here BUT I did not have money for N. Arlington or any place that close in place with "good schools" But you are right, obviously so I am not rich enough my kids should just take what they can get and I should shut up about it.

Do you not like your school? My friends at Oakridge and Drew Montessori are very happy.

[Anonymous]

Agree we could afford S Arlington and now that we could move don't want to join the N Arlington brigade. It just so happens our S Arlington elementary school is a GS 9, Henry, and our middle school is made up of half N Arlington. Also Wakefield demographics are changing. So many kids here in S Arlington now in the last 3 years! Not everyone wants to move!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree we could afford S Arlington and now that we could move don't want to join the N Arlington brigade. It just so happens our S Arlington elementary school is a GS 9, Henry, and our middle school is made up of half N Arlington. Also Wakefield demographics are changing. So many kids here in S Arlington now in the last 3 years! Not everyone wants to move!

Agreed! We're zoned for Barcroft, but hoping either to move to the new Patrick Henry if the boundaries shift or that we can choice. I hate that we have to count on choice or being redistricted, but I don't know how fast Barcroft will turn around. We had a chance to buy in N. Arlington, but we had lived in our area for years and didn't want to leave. I guess we are the cheapskates that hope to get a better deal for our money, but really, there should not be such a huge disparity in the quality of our schools in the same school district.

The choice schools shouldn't be an escape - they should complement good neighborhood schools. Even with all that, I am still happy with live in S Arlington. We've got great neighbors and a walkable community. We've got people who want to make a difference for everyone, not just project their own perks, so I appreciate that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree we could afford S Arlington and now that we could move don't want to join the N Arlington brigade. It just so happens our S Arlington elementary school is a GS 9, Henry, and our middle school is made up of half N Arlington. Also Wakefield demographics are changing. So many kids here in S Arlington now in the last 3 years! Not everyone wants to move!

The SAT scores at Wakefield declined last year and the School Board just moved some of the poorest parts of W-L to Wakefield. Wishing for something doesn't make it true. No one will bail you out here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I guess we are the cheapskates that hope to get a better deal for our money, but really, there should not be such a huge disparity in the quality of our schools in the same school district.

The choice schools shouldn't be an escape - they should complement good neighborhood schools. Even with all that, I am still happy with live in S Arlington. We've got great neighbors and a walkable community. We've got people who want to make a difference for everyone, not just project their own perks, so I appreciate that.

You're not the only one, but it is galling when someone who could afford a more modest house in NArl decides on something fancier in SArl and then games the system. Because no, there shouldn't be a huge disparity, but when people take their time and effort and invest it in a choice school instead of the neighborhood school, they're part of the problem. They're (meaning you're) protecting their/your own perks, not making a difference for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You're not the only one, but it is galling when someone who could afford a more modest house in NArl decides on something fancier in SArl and then games the system. Because no, there shouldn't be a huge disparity, but when people take their time and effort and invest it in a choice school instead of the neighborhood school, they're part of the problem. They're (meaning you're) protecting their/your own perks, not making a difference for everyone.

I'm curious what choice schools you are talking about and how someone applying to them is 'gaming the system'. I'm also curious what system you are referring to?

[Anonymous]

Yes, all of us in south Arlington be ballin' in our pimped out mansions...
You Mona's are clueless.
Well, I guess not totally clueless. I can tell people are getting really nervous about all of this diversity talk. Maybe you thought it was just going to go away, but nope. Now that we've dumped Lander, it's only going to intensify. Maybe you guys should start looking at McLean? I hear it's very nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I guess we are the cheapskates that hope to get a better deal for our money, but really, there should not be such a huge disparity in the quality of our schools in the same school district.

The choice schools shouldn't be an escape - they should complement good neighborhood schools. Even with all that, I am still happy with live in S Arlington. We've got great neighbors and a walkable community. We've got people who want to make a difference for everyone, not just project their own perks, so I appreciate that.

You're not the only one, but it is galling when someone who could afford a more modest house in NArl decides on something fancier in SArl and then games the system. Because no, there shouldn't be a huge disparity, but when people take their time and effort and invest it in a choice school instead of the neighborhood school, they're part of the problem. They're (meaning you're) protecting their/your own perks, not making a difference for everyone.

I agree. Part of the reason it is good to move Montessori out of Drew is to make more room and get people in the neighborhood to invest in their school. By choicing out, it pulls the more involved parents out, too. It's never going to get better unless families that have the time & resources in those S. Arl schools engage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, all of us in south Arlington be ballin' in our pimped out mansions...
You Mona's are clueless.
Well, I guess not totally clueless. I can tell people are getting really nervous about all of this diversity talk. Maybe you thought it was just going to go away, but nope. Now that we've dumped Lander, it's only going to intensify. Maybe you guys should start looking at McLean? I hear it's very nice.

I"m 8:14 - agreed. We don't live in a baller million dollar house. We live in the classic Arlington shitshack, though we are renovating it and adding on. In the end, we didn't want to spend the extra money to live in N. Arl, which felt really alien to us. We lived overseas before coming back to Arlington and I thought I really wanted to live there, in 22207 for the schools, but the neighborhoods just didn't appeal to us. Perfectly nice, but after living along Columbia Pike for 6 years, it was home and we wanted to go back home.

I would love to be part of the "solution" to send our kids to the neighborhood school and make it better, but its hard to want that when all I hear is how terrible it is. We're definitely touring the school before we decide, but we've got the draw the line somewhere on whether we would want other options. We aren't rich - we're government employees. There are compromises we had to make on where we live and what kind of life we can give our children. We're educated so I am not worried that we can't make up the difference - we are lucky because people in this area and on DCUM forget that there are plenty who don't have any type of choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I guess we are the cheapskates that hope to get a better deal for our money, but really, there should not be such a huge disparity in the quality of our schools in the same school district.

The choice schools shouldn't be an escape - they should complement good neighborhood schools. Even with all that, I am still happy with live in S Arlington. We've got great neighbors and a walkable community. We've got people who want to make a difference for everyone, not just project their own perks, so I appreciate that.

You're not the only one, but it is galling when someone who could afford a more modest house in NArl decides on something fancier in SArl and then games the system. Because no, there shouldn't be a huge disparity, but when people take their time and effort and invest it in a choice school instead of the neighborhood school, they're part of the problem. They're (meaning you're) protecting their/your own perks, not making a difference for everyone.

I agree. Part of the reason it is good to move Montessori out of Drew is to make more room and get people in the neighborhood to invest in their school. By choicing out, it pulls the more involved parents out, too. It's never going to get better unless families that have the time & resources in those S. Arl schools engage.

Most of the neighborhood kids at Drew live in rentals and their parents don't get involved in part because they aren't going to be living in the immediate area long enough to make it worth it--they just enroll their kids in the closest school and send them in each day.

If longer-term residents of the neighborhood have the option to send their kids to a choice school where they will be with mostly the same cohort of kids throughout elementary and where the parents are more invested, why shouldn't they be able to do that?

Economic segregation in Arlington is mirrored by differences in housing--majority rentals in 22204 and 22206, majority homeowners in 22207 and 22209. That's why boundary changes only get you so far. I don't see how anything other than lots more choice/lottery schools and busing from south to north and north to south is needed. (I don't know why everyone seems to think busing would only go one way. It's the schools in north Arlington that are overcrowded anyhow.)

[Anonymous]

https://interact.americanprogress.org/maps/2017/05/education-interactive/index.html#/district/5100270

[Anonymous]

I thought NVD was saying we weren't segregated. They had crunched the data and we were all good.

[Anonymous]

So people in N Arl should send their kids to Drew, but families who live nearby and aren't transient shouldn't? Huh

[Anonymous]

Heard a rumor through a pretty "in the know" source that APS was originally categorized as "red" (51% or more) in the CAP report. APS and the School Board got an advanced copy and negotiated some finer data points with CAP to put us at 50% so we appear in "orange" instead of red on that graph. I believe that is why Reid ruffled Nancy's feathers when he brought up the CAP report in his comments the other night (even though it had not been released yet). Nancy is hoping nobody will find out about it-- because CAP is probably the most liberal think tank in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Heard a rumor through a pretty "in the know" source that APS was originally categorized as "red" (51% or more) in the CAP report. APS and the School Board got an advanced copy and negotiated some finer data points with CAP to put us at 50% so we appear in "orange" instead of red on that graph. I believe that is why Reid ruffled Nancy's feathers when he brought up the CAP report in his comments the other night (even though it had not been released yet). Nancy is hoping nobody will find out about it-- because CAP is probably the most liberal think tank in DC.

This is how it appeared to me from watching the livestream. Originally APS was, and then they "asked for a recount," essentially, and "poof! No segregation here!"

Arlnewsnow has an article linking to the report as well, saying APS is just below the threshold of "hypersegregation."

https://www.arlnow.com/2017/06/06/morning-notes-1677/