ACPS Redistricting Mess
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Anonymous
| Not surprisingly, the redistricting proposals are a disaster. There a SB member now on a popular page saying maps will change because data is changing. The petition to redraw CBES in the bane of equity is from families still zoned for CBES and hiding their biases and reality. No one wants to send their UMC kids to an impoverished school with a 75% ELL population. I get it but say that, don't try to say you're championing the 75%… |
Anonymous
| Nobody can screw up a boundary process like APS. That said, I'm going to watch this thread to see if you all can get as crazy as we can. |
Anonymous
| Arlington (APS) or Alexandria (ACPS) |
Anonymous
Alexandria is normally abbreviated ACPS. Separately, FCPS is looking pretty inept right now at executing its redistricting exercise. The FCPS thread on this is over 250 pages so far. |
Anonymous
I think FCPS has no choice but to redistrict since the newly expanded and renovated Falls Church HS is reopening soon. And probably some other related issues. |
Anonymous
Of. Course. They. Don’t. Yes, even reasonable, non-racist people. |
Anonymous
|
The shape maps really are not that bad.
The overarching point of the redistricting exercise is to fix over and under utilization problems. There are currently 9 schools outside of the range, 6 below and 3 above, and 2 of the above are wayyy above. The schools out of range shrink to 4 or so in the shape maps—especially square and triangle—and this is before transfers. William Ramsay is just outside of the range, J-H above but will fall back into range since kids transfer out, and the other 2 are schools getting new buildings (GMES and CK). All while achieving the stated goals of neighborhood schools, limiting bus need, etc. And several needed policy changes will hopefully be implemented. Yes, the demographics of Barrett and Mason got messed up. You shift a couple of the proposed Mason areas back to Barrett, boom, problem solved. ACPS does a lot of things poorly, but this one is likely to actually turn out okay. |
Anonymous
He didn’t say this. He said the maps would only change if any of the data is updated. |
Anonymous
| Maybe the area that had a mass gang shootout last night at 9pm will get switched to Mason? |
Anonymous
Well it’s actually currently zoned for Mason lol. But it’s set to be switched because it isn’t connected to the rest of the Mason zone and that area has closer schools. |
Anonymous
Great, let's keep it at Mason, and the students from that neighborhood will perform the same whether they are at Barrett, Mason, MVCS. I do think this redistricting controversy has revealed that we all know that teachers, admin, and school staff are relatively powerless to educate children who come from illiterate, impoverished homes; so we just need to ensure that the distract from the education of other kids all in the name of equity (aka a race to the bottom). Everyone knows that if Barrett becomes 75% ELL, impoverished and poor, the school will be a failed school with no hope to be anything but. And, yes, I just typed the quiet part out loud. The answer - according to progressives of Alexandria - is to then bring performance metrics of another school down and then an have two below average or mediocre performing schools. Rinse and repeat. |
Anonymous
Or you can just transfer back some of the other study areas that are currently Barrett, instead of forcing the poor kids to go to a school that is the third or fourth farthest from their homes. That will help shift the demographics back towards what they are now. Which, by the way, are not what you seem to think they are. The current Barrett boundary is 59% economically disadvantaged, 55% Hispanic. |
Anonymous
Yes, but then Mason would still be 72% white and "rich." It would then be by far and away the highest performing school in all of ACPS. Not because of the teachers, staff, and admin (who are amazing people), but because we all know kids from North Ridge with UMC, college-educated parents will out-perform kids from Arlandria with non-English-speaking, illiterate parents. And ACPS does not want any high-performing schools because that impedes the race to the bottom it is intent on. |
Anonymous
I’m not sure what the point is that you’re trying to make. You seem to be saying that ACPS would never allow Mason to become too wealthy and too white because it would become too good compared to the rest of the schools. Yet that’s exactly what the current maps propose, so clearly ACPS is willing to consider it. But ultimately Mason is already one of the highest performing schools. And its boundaries are currently 62/38 economically advantaged/disadvantaged and 57% white. While Barrett, also a good performer, is 41/59 and 35%. The current maps exacerbate the imbalance, so shifting some of the proposed areas back would mitigate it to some extent. But the new Mason building will be big, and it’s in a wealthy area. I don’t see a way you can get around it being a wealthier school. |