Specifically on-topic contributors to the Drew boundary issue only please -

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No posts were deleted. That poster or posters are spewing falsehoods.

I think some people may not realize Facebook has made it easier to see what comments people have liked in a group as well as what they’ve actually posted. If you’ “like” a comment by someone else that they don’t want their kid moved to Drew because the parents there don’t have as many resources as the parents at Henry/Fleet, I’m going to assume you feel the same way.

[Anonymous]

Allow me to speak to the parents who have no kids at Drew point. Currently the total # of students in the traditional non-Montessori program at Drew is under 200. The current Drew boundary is very small b/c of co-located Montessori, and is further reduced because some within that area attend Hoffman-Boston (and may not even understand that they will be Drew next year). The PTA has just been formed and, for whatever reason, is not currently very active or responsive to parents trying to join. In sum, there are very few people to advocate for Drew who meet what apparently is the standard for naked self-interest of having their kids currently enrolled in graded Drew. I don't think that changes the points about the ways in which the proposed map is unfair to Drew based on APS's own criteria.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No posts were deleted. That poster or posters are spewing falsehoods.

I think some people may not realize Facebook has made it easier to see what comments people have liked in a group as well as what they’ve actually posted. If you’ “like” a comment by someone else that they don’t want their kid moved to Drew because the parents there don’t have as many resources as the parents at Henry/Fleet, I’m going to assume you feel the same way.

Sorry-but I just went through all 84 posts and no post says anything about the parents at drew having fewer resources than henry/fleet parents. Not one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are literally six public schools closer to Columbia Forest than Drew Model School: Abingdon, Barcroft, Campbell, Carlin Springs, Claremont & Randolph. (For that matter, according to Google Maps, even Henry is closer at 2.2 miles away vice 2.5 miles to Drew Model!) So tell me why Columbia Forest kids should go to Drew, while neighborhood kids 7/10th a mile away will not?

Campbell and Claremont aren’t neighborhood schools. You could have had a decent argument there but instead you tanked your credibility by including them.

I know they aren't neighborhood schools - I know exactly which schools are lottery schools and which aren't. But why should my kids be denied the ability to attend any of seven schools closer to them geographically? Give us a choice....

First, proximity doesn't give you priority for choice schools, nor should it. That's a lousy argument. Second, how did we get from six to seven? What's the seventh school?

Oh good grief, quit the nit-picking! OK - FOUR other closer schools. Now what's your point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No posts were deleted. That poster or posters are spewing falsehoods.

I think some people may not realize Facebook has made it easier to see what comments people have liked in a group as well as what they’ve actually posted. If you’ “like” a comment by someone else that they don’t want their kid moved to Drew because the parents there don’t have as many resources as the parents at Henry/Fleet, I’m going to assume you feel the same way.

Sorry-but I just went through all 84 posts and no post says anything about the parents at drew having fewer resources than henry/fleet parents. Not one.

Down to 82 now, so someone’s deleting their comments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No posts were deleted. That poster or posters are spewing falsehoods.

I think some people may not realize Facebook has made it easier to see what comments people have liked in a group as well as what they’ve actually posted. If you’ “like” a comment by someone else that they don’t want their kid moved to Drew because the parents there don’t have as many resources as the parents at Henry/Fleet, I’m going to assume you feel the same way.

Sorry-but I just went through all 84 posts and no post says anything about the parents at drew having fewer resources than henry/fleet parents. Not one.

It was a different thread, the call for civility on boundaries.

[Anonymous]

Ugh, I think it's entirely fair for people to have mixed feelings and strong emotions about all of this.

I know people don't believe this, but the Henry community decided not to fight the move to Fleet due in large part to APS' promise that it would keep the Henry boundaries. Everyone knew by giving up its central location the south of the Pike sections were more likely to get cut off, and no one wanted that to happen. The assumption was that the people wanting to get into the new school would be the people N of 50 and the northern part of Alcova Heights, both assumed to be richer, whiter neighborhoods.

Henry was a Title 1 school not too long ago. It's a wonderful diverse community. People wanted to keep that. That's what the keep Henry together stuff is about.

You can hate on it all you want, but that's the truth. No one said, "Let's screw over Drew." That was never the intention.

Personally, I was dismayed to see the proposal for Drew. But I also feel badly for the Henry families that might get bumped when it moves to Fleet, because they love their school, and want to stay there. And I'm tired of people assuming all the Henry families who feel this way are racist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are literally six public schools closer to Columbia Forest than Drew Model School: Abingdon, Barcroft, Campbell, Carlin Springs, Claremont & Randolph. (For that matter, according to Google Maps, even Henry is closer at 2.2 miles away vice 2.5 miles to Drew Model!) So tell me why Columbia Forest kids should go to Drew, while neighborhood kids 7/10th a mile away will not?

Campbell and Claremont aren’t neighborhood schools. You could have had a decent argument there but instead you tanked your credibility by including them.

I know they aren't neighborhood schools - I know exactly which schools are lottery schools and which aren't. But why should my kids be denied the ability to attend any of seven schools closer to them geographically? Give us a choice....

First, proximity doesn't give you priority for choice schools, nor should it. That's a lousy argument. Second, how did we get from six to seven? What's the seventh school?

Oh good grief, quit the nit-picking! OK - FOUR other closer schools. Now what's your point?

The point is just that - opening yourself up for nitpicking over exaggerations/misrepresentations so that people don’t have to respond to the substance of your argument. Like I said originally, if the post had only referred to the four neighborhood schools, then there would have been a good substantive discussion there. But by dragging in the option schools, it let me totally derail the discussion so your real point got lost. It was an unforced error, and you can’t do that if you want to effectively advocate for yourself. The staff would take one look at a comment like that, say, “this person fundamentally misunderstands the system and process,” and toss the whole comment aside unconsidered because the rest isn’t easy for them to address and you gave them an excuse not to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, I think it's entirely fair for people to have mixed feelings and strong emotions about all of this.

I know people don't believe this, but the Henry community decided not to fight the move to Fleet due in large part to APS' promise that it would keep the Henry boundaries. Everyone knew by giving up its central location the south of the Pike sections were more likely to get cut off, and no one wanted that to happen. The assumption was that the people wanting to get into the new school would be the people N of 50 and the northern part of Alcova Heights, both assumed to be richer, whiter neighborhoods.

Henry was a Title 1 school not too long ago. It's a wonderful diverse community. People wanted to keep that. That's what the keep Henry together stuff is about.

You can hate on it all you want, but that's the truth. No one said, "Let's screw over Drew." That was never the intention.

Personally, I was dismayed to see the proposal for Drew. But I also feel badly for the Henry families that might get bumped when it moves to Fleet, because they love their school, and want to stay there. And I'm tired of people assuming all the Henry families who feel this way are racist.

Going or not going to Fleet wasn’t a choice the Henry community ultimately got to decide for themselves, that was a school board determination. And Henry wasn’t promised they would all stay together, the school board couldn’t have promised that because boundaries. I know the SAWG did promote the idea that Henry could/should/would stay together, but they don’t speak for the board.

[Anonymous]

I think unless you also live in Columbia Heights and see how we are being used as pawns by both sides it is hard to understand why a lot of us are frustrated. Besides the other talking points Henry, understandably, wants to keep our PUs because we provide a lot of their diversity. Yet we are needed by Drew to provide a different type of diversity.

Btw, the worst thing I saw anyone say on those two AEM threads is “Don’t use my children as your social engineering experiment.” Would I have said it, no. That poster definitely shouldn’t have been so defensive but this is a tough situation for all of us who will potentially be moved (not just Henry parents).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, I think it's entirely fair for people to have mixed feelings and strong emotions about all of this.

I know people don't believe this, but the Henry community decided not to fight the move to Fleet due in large part to APS' promise that it would keep the Henry boundaries. Everyone knew by giving up its central location the south of the Pike sections were more likely to get cut off, and no one wanted that to happen. The assumption was that the people wanting to get into the new school would be the people N of 50 and the northern part of Alcova Heights, both assumed to be richer, whiter neighborhoods.

Henry was a Title 1 school not too long ago. It's a wonderful diverse community. People wanted to keep that. That's what the keep Henry together stuff is about.

You can hate on it all you want, but that's the truth. No one said, "Let's screw over Drew." That was never the intention.

Personally, I was dismayed to see the proposal for Drew. But I also feel badly for the Henry families that might get bumped when it moves to Fleet, because they love their school, and want to stay there. And I'm tired of people assuming all the Henry families who feel this way are racist.

Then I hope you didn’t whisper a word of anything but support for Nottingham when they didn’t want their school turned into an option program and their community divided between three different schools.

[Anonymous]

"Going or not going to Fleet wasn’t a choice the Henry community ultimately got to decide for themselves, that was a school board determination. And Henry wasn’t promised they would all stay together, the school board couldn’t have promised that because boundaries. I know the SAWG did promote the idea that Henry could/should/would stay together, but they don’t speak for the board."

True, but school board members came to Henry and told Henry families that the boundaries would get larger, not smaller, because they were building a bigger school. So that's not just something Henry made up. It happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No posts were deleted. That poster or posters are spewing falsehoods.

I think some people may not realize Facebook has made it easier to see what comments people have liked in a group as well as what they’ve actually posted. If you’ “like” a comment by someone else that they don’t want their kid moved to Drew because the parents there don’t have as many resources as the parents at Henry/Fleet, I’m going to assume you feel the same way.

Sorry-but I just went through all 84 posts and no post says anything about the parents at drew having fewer resources than henry/fleet parents. Not one.

It was a different thread, the call for civility on boundaries.

Sigh. Again went through all the posts in that thread and again there’s nothing of what you say. In fact, the author was speaking about a PTA meeting at OAKRIDGE. SOme people at that meeting were disparaging thE rezoning to Hoffman-Boston. I know this doesn’t fit your hate Henry narrative, but I’m getting tired of having to correct all your untruths.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No posts were deleted. That poster or posters are spewing falsehoods.

I think some people may not realize Facebook has made it easier to see what comments people have liked in a group as well as what they’ve actually posted. If you’ “like” a comment by someone else that they don’t want their kid moved to Drew because the parents there don’t have as many resources as the parents at Henry/Fleet, I’m going to assume you feel the same way.

Sorry-but I just went through all 84 posts and no post says anything about the parents at drew having fewer resources than henry/fleet parents. Not one.

It was a different thread, the call for civility on boundaries.

Sigh. Again went through all the posts in that thread and again there’s nothing of what you say. In fact, the author was speaking about a PTA meeting at OAKRIDGE. SOme people at that meeting were disparaging thE rezoning to Hoffman-Boston. I know this doesn’t fit your hate Henry narrative, but I’m getting tired of having to correct all your untruths.

There was more than one meeting at more than one school discussed. But like I said, I’m talking about who liked the comments, not just who said them. If you “like” a comment, I will assume you agree with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Going or not going to Fleet wasn’t a choice the Henry community ultimately got to decide for themselves, that was a school board determination. And Henry wasn’t promised they would all stay together, the school board couldn’t have promised that because boundaries. I know the SAWG did promote the idea that Henry could/should/would stay together, but they don’t speak for the board."

True, but school board members came to Henry and told Henry families that the boundaries would get larger, not smaller, because they were building a bigger school. So that's not just something Henry made up. It happened.

The process of developing Fleet started three years ago. Things have shifted a lot in the past three years, and lots of schools are having to adjust their expectations as a result. Henry is not more special than anyone else.