Holding APS Leadership, Staff and School Board Accountable for the Boundary Mess

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just have to say how I love that this post started out about how to hold the Staff and School Board accountable and devolved into a post blaming NA parents for the woes of the SA boundary process. A process NA had zero to do with.

NA bashing is getting so old, and clearly isn't getting SA anywhere.

I wouldn't say NA had NOTHING to do with it. It's the attitudes and perceptions that drove people to NA to avoid the "problem" and thereby exacerbated the situation. And NA pushback against APAH-like projects in THEIR neighborhoods, exacerbating the saturation of low-income housing in SA neighborhoods.

Kind of reaching here but I admire the effort to still blame NA!

OK, then. What has NA done to HELP?

There were several posts early on in this process from NA people asking how they could help SA here. Some responses were constructive, but an awful lot were basically telling them to sit down and shut up. Nonetheless, if you look at the public comments posted by APS, you'll see quite a few comments from people in NA advocating for SA communities with no reference to their own schools or interests. NA schools are generally net contributors to the CCPTA, which allows the CCPTA to give grants to lower-income SA schools that need them. They voted for Vihstadt, who would have been much better for schools than deFerranti.

But really it's pretty rich to trash them left and right here and then whine about why they're not doing anything for you. Or when they do try to advocate for you, accuse them of using you as a prop for their own self-interest (see, for instance, the location review, where NA people argued that option programs should be placed in more accessible location so as to not create greater hurdles for low-income families, and then were accused to just wanting to keep low-income kids out of their neighborhoods).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You guys
If umc parents would just send their kids to schools
Like Randolph, we wouldn’t have 70%+ farms schools...
We’d have 64% farms schools!
Hooray! What a great solution!

#shiphassailed
#tankedbyAH

It might actually work if we allowed tracking....oh, but that's racist.

Indeed. much MUCH less racist to run screaming from majority ELL/poor schools.

"No no, that's not it. We moved to country club hills because it's pretty there and we like trees! Also, our commute into DC is 20 minutes instead of the 25 that it would be from South Arlington. That extra five minutes was the deal breaker!"

It’s funny to me that there are so many posts across various threads that imply that: A. all people who live in north Arlington weighed the pros and cons of living there vs. south Arlington, and B. made a morally suspect choice in choosing the north.

Why? Only a moron wouldn't wonder why the same house costs twice as much in NA. No one buys a house in either place with the intention of raising children without being aware of these differences. It's only morally suspect when NA parents tell SA parents to send their children to a segregated neighborhood schools they themselves wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.

It's not much to wonder about. You can generally get larger/nicer houses in neighborhoods that are more attractive overall (more houses that have been improved, landscaped, etc., because people have the money for it) that have higher-ranked schools and are near higher-end retail. If you're not terribly familiar with the region when you buy and aren't digging too far into the underlying dynamics of the area, it's not hard to understand people making the decision to buy in NA rather than SA with a genuine ignorance of the segregation that exists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You guys
If umc parents would just send their kids to schools
Like Randolph, we wouldn’t have 70%+ farms schools...
We’d have 64% farms schools!
Hooray! What a great solution!

#shiphassailed
#tankedbyAH

It might actually work if we allowed tracking....oh, but that's racist.

Indeed. much MUCH less racist to run screaming from majority ELL/poor schools.

"No no, that's not it. We moved to country club hills because it's pretty there and we like trees! Also, our commute into DC is 20 minutes instead of the 25 that it would be from South Arlington. That extra five minutes was the deal breaker!"

It’s funny to me that there are so many posts across various threads that imply that: A. all people who live in north Arlington weighed the pros and cons of living there vs. south Arlington, and B. made a morally suspect choice in choosing the north.

Why? Only a moron wouldn't wonder why the same house costs twice as much in NA. No one buys a house in either place with the intention of raising children without being aware of these differences. It's only morally suspect when NA parents tell SA parents to send their children to a segregated neighborhood schools they themselves wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.

We were only looking at places walkable to the metro, so the only place we looked in SA was Oakridge zone by default. I really didn’t think much about schools other than vaguely hearing they were “good”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just have to say how I love that this post started out about how to hold the Staff and School Board accountable and devolved into a post blaming NA parents for the woes of the SA boundary process. A process NA had zero to do with.

NA bashing is getting so old, and clearly isn't getting SA anywhere.

I wouldn't say NA had NOTHING to do with it. It's the attitudes and perceptions that drove people to NA to avoid the "problem" and thereby exacerbated the situation. And NA pushback against APAH-like projects in THEIR neighborhoods, exacerbating the saturation of low-income housing in SA neighborhoods.

Kind of reaching here but I admire the effort to still blame NA!

OK, then. What has NA done to HELP?

What were we supposed to do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just have to say how I love that this post started out about how to hold the Staff and School Board accountable and devolved into a post blaming NA parents for the woes of the SA boundary process. A process NA had zero to do with.

NA bashing is getting so old, and clearly isn't getting SA anywhere.

I wouldn't say NA had NOTHING to do with it. It's the attitudes and perceptions that drove people to NA to avoid the "problem" and thereby exacerbated the situation. And NA pushback against APAH-like projects in THEIR neighborhoods, exacerbating the saturation of low-income housing in SA neighborhoods.

Kind of reaching here but I admire the effort to still blame NA!

OK, then. What has NA done to HELP?

What were we supposed to do?

Swoop in and be saviors without swooping in and being saviors.

But seriously, people like pp know NA couldn’t have changed the outcome here, they’re just looking for a punching bag.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You guys
If umc parents would just send their kids to schools
Like Randolph, we wouldn’t have 70%+ farms schools...
We’d have 64% farms schools!
Hooray! What a great solution!

#shiphassailed
#tankedbyAH

It might actually work if we allowed tracking....oh, but that's racist.

Indeed. much MUCH less racist to run screaming from majority ELL/poor schools.

"No no, that's not it. We moved to country club hills because it's pretty there and we like trees! Also, our commute into DC is 20 minutes instead of the 25 that it would be from South Arlington. That extra five minutes was the deal breaker!"

It’s funny to me that there are so many posts across various threads that imply that: A. all people who live in north Arlington weighed the pros and cons of living there vs. south Arlington, and B. made a morally suspect choice in choosing the north.

Why? Only a moron wouldn't wonder why the same house costs twice as much in NA. No one buys a house in either place with the intention of raising children without being aware of these differences. It's only morally suspect when NA parents tell SA parents to send their children to a segregated neighborhood schools they themselves wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.

It's not much to wonder about. You can generally get larger/nicer houses in neighborhoods that are more attractive overall (more houses that have been improved, landscaped, etc., because people have the money for it) that have higher-ranked schools and are near higher-end retail. If you're not terribly familiar with the region when you buy and aren't digging too far into the underlying dynamics of the area, it's not hard to understand people making the decision to buy in NA rather than SA with a genuine ignorance of the segregation that exists.

People who spend 750k on a 70 year old unrenovated home know exactly what they are getting: no poor people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You guys
If umc parents would just send their kids to schools
Like Randolph, we wouldn’t have 70%+ farms schools...
We’d have 64% farms schools!
Hooray! What a great solution!

#shiphassailed
#tankedbyAH

It might actually work if we allowed tracking....oh, but that's racist.

Indeed. much MUCH less racist to run screaming from majority ELL/poor schools.

"No no, that's not it. We moved to country club hills because it's pretty there and we like trees! Also, our commute into DC is 20 minutes instead of the 25 that it would be from South Arlington. That extra five minutes was the deal breaker!"

It’s funny to me that there are so many posts across various threads that imply that: A. all people who live in north Arlington weighed the pros and cons of living there vs. south Arlington, and B. made a morally suspect choice in choosing the north.

Why? Only a moron wouldn't wonder why the same house costs twice as much in NA. No one buys a house in either place with the intention of raising children without being aware of these differences. It's only morally suspect when NA parents tell SA parents to send their children to a segregated neighborhood schools they themselves wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.

It's not much to wonder about. You can generally get larger/nicer houses in neighborhoods that are more attractive overall (more houses that have been improved, landscaped, etc., because people have the money for it) that have higher-ranked schools and are near higher-end retail. If you're not terribly familiar with the region when you buy and aren't digging too far into the underlying dynamics of the area, it's not hard to understand people making the decision to buy in NA rather than SA with a genuine ignorance of the segregation that exists.

People who spend 750k on a 70 year old unrenovated home know exactly what they are getting: no poor people.

But they didn’t necessarily seek to avoid low-income people. One of the first rules of buying real estate is not to be the nicest house on the block. So if you’re looking to buy that I renovated house and improve it. If you’re concerned about he value of your greatest asset, are you going to buy among a whole bunch of other unrenovated houses, or are you going to move into the neighborhood where the houses around you are being renovated (or torn down/rebuilt)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You guys
If umc parents would just send their kids to schools
Like Randolph, we wouldn’t have 70%+ farms schools...
We’d have 64% farms schools!
Hooray! What a great solution!

#shiphassailed
#tankedbyAH

It might actually work if we allowed tracking....oh, but that's racist.

Indeed. much MUCH less racist to run screaming from majority ELL/poor schools.

"No no, that's not it. We moved to country club hills because it's pretty there and we like trees! Also, our commute into DC is 20 minutes instead of the 25 that it would be from South Arlington. That extra five minutes was the deal breaker!"

It’s funny to me that there are so many posts across various threads that imply that: A. all people who live in north Arlington weighed the pros and cons of living there vs. south Arlington, and B. made a morally suspect choice in choosing the north.

Why? Only a moron wouldn't wonder why the same house costs twice as much in NA. No one buys a house in either place with the intention of raising children without being aware of these differences. It's only morally suspect when NA parents tell SA parents to send their children to a segregated neighborhood schools they themselves wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.

It's not much to wonder about. You can generally get larger/nicer houses in neighborhoods that are more attractive overall (more houses that have been improved, landscaped, etc., because people have the money for it) that have higher-ranked schools and are near higher-end retail. If you're not terribly familiar with the region when you buy and aren't digging too far into the underlying dynamics of the area, it's not hard to understand people making the decision to buy in NA rather than SA with a genuine ignorance of the segregation that exists.

People who spend 750k on a 70 year old unrenovated home know exactly what they are getting: no poor people.

But they didn’t necessarily seek to avoid low-income people. One of the first rules of buying real estate is not to be the nicest house on the block. So if you’re looking to buy that unrenovated house and improve it and you’re concerned about the value of your greatest asset, are you going to buy among a whole bunch of other unrenovated houses, or are you going to move into the neighborhood where the houses around you are being renovated (or torn down/rebuilt)?

Wow, that got garbled by autocorrect. Fixed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You guys
If umc parents would just send their kids to schools
Like Randolph, we wouldn’t have 70%+ farms schools...
We’d have 64% farms schools!
Hooray! What a great solution!

#shiphassailed
#tankedbyAH

It might actually work if we allowed tracking....oh, but that's racist.

Indeed. much MUCH less racist to run screaming from majority ELL/poor schools.

"No no, that's not it. We moved to country club hills because it's pretty there and we like trees! Also, our commute into DC is 20 minutes instead of the 25 that it would be from South Arlington. That extra five minutes was the deal breaker!"

It’s funny to me that there are so many posts across various threads that imply that: A. all people who live in north Arlington weighed the pros and cons of living there vs. south Arlington, and B. made a morally suspect choice in choosing the north.

Why? Only a moron wouldn't wonder why the same house costs twice as much in NA. No one buys a house in either place with the intention of raising children without being aware of these differences. It's only morally suspect when NA parents tell SA parents to send their children to a segregated neighborhood schools they themselves wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.

It's not much to wonder about. You can generally get larger/nicer houses in neighborhoods that are more attractive overall (more houses that have been improved, landscaped, etc., because people have the money for it) that have higher-ranked schools and are near higher-end retail. If you're not terribly familiar with the region when you buy and aren't digging too far into the underlying dynamics of the area, it's not hard to understand people making the decision to buy in NA rather than SA with a genuine ignorance of the segregation that exists.

People who spend 750k on a 70 year old unrenovated home know exactly what they are getting: no poor people.

But they didn’t necessarily seek to avoid low-income people. One of the first rules of buying real estate is not to be the nicest house on the block. So if you’re looking to buy that unrenovated house and improve it and you’re concerned about the value of your greatest asset, are you going to buy among a whole bunch of other unrenovated houses, or are you going to move into the neighborhood where the houses around you are being renovated (or torn down/rebuilt)?

Wow, that got garbled by autocorrect. Fixed it.

Folks, you can lie to yourselves about where you live and why, but spare the rest of please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You guys
If umc parents would just send their kids to schools
Like Randolph, we wouldn’t have 70%+ farms schools...
We’d have 64% farms schools!
Hooray! What a great solution!

#shiphassailed
#tankedbyAH

It might actually work if we allowed tracking....oh, but that's racist.

Indeed. much MUCH less racist to run screaming from majority ELL/poor schools.

"No no, that's not it. We moved to country club hills because it's pretty there and we like trees! Also, our commute into DC is 20 minutes instead of the 25 that it would be from South Arlington. That extra five minutes was the deal breaker!"

It’s funny to me that there are so many posts across various threads that imply that: A. all people who live in north Arlington weighed the pros and cons of living there vs. south Arlington, and B. made a morally suspect choice in choosing the north.

Why? Only a moron wouldn't wonder why the same house costs twice as much in NA. No one buys a house in either place with the intention of raising children without being aware of these differences. It's only morally suspect when NA parents tell SA parents to send their children to a segregated neighborhood schools they themselves wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.

It's not much to wonder about. You can generally get larger/nicer houses in neighborhoods that are more attractive overall (more houses that have been improved, landscaped, etc., because people have the money for it) that have higher-ranked schools and are near higher-end retail. If you're not terribly familiar with the region when you buy and aren't digging too far into the underlying dynamics of the area, it's not hard to understand people making the decision to buy in NA rather than SA with a genuine ignorance of the segregation that exists.

People who spend 750k on a 70 year old unrenovated home know exactly what they are getting: no poor people.

But they didn’t necessarily seek to avoid low-income people. One of the first rules of buying real estate is not to be the nicest house on the block. So if you’re looking to buy that unrenovated house and improve it and you’re concerned about the value of your greatest asset, are you going to buy among a whole bunch of other unrenovated houses, or are you going to move into the neighborhood where the houses around you are being renovated (or torn down/rebuilt)?

Wow, that got garbled by autocorrect. Fixed it.

Folks, you can lie to yourselves about where you live and why, but spare the rest of please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You guys
If umc parents would just send their kids to schools
Like Randolph, we wouldn’t have 70%+ farms schools...
We’d have 64% farms schools!
Hooray! What a great solution!

#shiphassailed
#tankedbyAH

It might actually work if we allowed tracking....oh, but that's racist.

Indeed. much MUCH less racist to run screaming from majority ELL/poor schools.

"No no, that's not it. We moved to country club hills because it's pretty there and we like trees! Also, our commute into DC is 20 minutes instead of the 25 that it would be from South Arlington. That extra five minutes was the deal breaker!"

It’s funny to me that there are so many posts across various threads that imply that: A. all people who live in north Arlington weighed the pros and cons of living there vs. south Arlington, and B. made a morally suspect choice in choosing the north.

Why? Only a moron wouldn't wonder why the same house costs twice as much in NA. No one buys a house in either place with the intention of raising children without being aware of these differences. It's only morally suspect when NA parents tell SA parents to send their children to a segregated neighborhood schools they themselves wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.

It's not much to wonder about. You can generally get larger/nicer houses in neighborhoods that are more attractive overall (more houses that have been improved, landscaped, etc., because people have the money for it) that have higher-ranked schools and are near higher-end retail. If you're not terribly familiar with the region when you buy and aren't digging too far into the underlying dynamics of the area, it's not hard to understand people making the decision to buy in NA rather than SA with a genuine ignorance of the segregation that exists.

Honestly, you can count on one hand the number of South Arlington neighborhoods that are, or will ever be, visually appealing. It’s no surprise that’s where the majority of low-income housing and low-performing schools is located.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You guys
If umc parents would just send their kids to schools
Like Randolph, we wouldn’t have 70%+ farms schools...
We’d have 64% farms schools!
Hooray! What a great solution!

#shiphassailed
#tankedbyAH

It might actually work if we allowed tracking....oh, but that's racist.

Indeed. much MUCH less racist to run screaming from majority ELL/poor schools.

"No no, that's not it. We moved to country club hills because it's pretty there and we like trees! Also, our commute into DC is 20 minutes instead of the 25 that it would be from South Arlington. That extra five minutes was the deal breaker!"

It’s funny to me that there are so many posts across various threads that imply that: A. all people who live in north Arlington weighed the pros and cons of living there vs. south Arlington, and B. made a morally suspect choice in choosing the north.

Why? Only a moron wouldn't wonder why the same house costs twice as much in NA. No one buys a house in either place with the intention of raising children without being aware of these differences. It's only morally suspect when NA parents tell SA parents to send their children to a segregated neighborhood schools they themselves wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.

It's not much to wonder about. You can generally get larger/nicer houses in neighborhoods that are more attractive overall (more houses that have been improved, landscaped, etc., because people have the money for it) that have higher-ranked schools and are near higher-end retail. If you're not terribly familiar with the region when you buy and aren't digging too far into the underlying dynamics of the area, it's not hard to understand people making the decision to buy in NA rather than SA with a genuine ignorance of the segregation that exists.

People who spend 750k on a 70 year old unrenovated home know exactly what they are getting: no poor people.

But they didn’t necessarily seek to avoid low-income people. One of the first rules of buying real estate is not to be the nicest house on the block. So if you’re looking to buy that unrenovated house and improve it and you’re concerned about the value of your greatest asset, are you going to buy among a whole bunch of other unrenovated houses, or are you going to move into the neighborhood where the houses around you are being renovated (or torn down/rebuilt)?

Wow, that got garbled by autocorrect. Fixed it.

Folks, you can lie to yourselves about where you live and why, but spare the rest of please.

Sorry you’re so bitter, that must suck.

[Anonymous]

Omg. Just go to the neighborhood school. They are pretty damn good in Arlington, even the schools loaded with FARMS. The teachers are well trained, staff believes in smart practices, and they give an actual shit.

[Anonymous]

I think my SA neighborhood is lovely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Folks, you can lie to yourselves about where you live and why, but spare the rest of please.

Rezoned to Drew?