Barcroft elementary/ south Arlington crisis

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For as many people as you know who choose to stay in SA and are ok with the schools, there are just as many who move when their kids are about to got to k or middle school. I know many who have left. I also know several families with kids in 5 who are not happy to send their kids to kenmore. Thst is probably the worst school in the county as far as scores, safety etc.

Kenmore draw from both N and S Arlington.

[Anonymous]

can anyone attend the meeting next week? Open to the public?

[Anonymous]

18:54 here. we are in the barcroft boundary. Lots of younger families leaving, they lived here when childless, rented or just saved their money and moved up in careers and can afford to move to north Arlington, mc lean or fairfax. The sole reason for the move is schools.

Not everyone of course. i would move in a heartbeat, but cannot afford to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:can anyone attend the meeting next week? Open to the public?

It is and I encourage you to spread the word!

[Anonymous]

Yes, kenmore draws from north Arlington, but it als has all the low income housing in the western pike, and a big complex south of the pike. The issues facing the poorer kids dominate the school, not only academically, but wow that place has discipline problems.

I wonder, if they lose accreditation, where will those kids go? Can families chose? Unreal to me that arlington county touts its schools when for the most part, the lower half of the county is a mess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It continues to puzzle me: why has such a dichotomy developed between n and s arlington over the past few years?

Publication of SOL scores for the last 10 years has made it much easier for people to identify the "good" schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It continues to puzzle me: why has such a dichotomy developed between n and s arlington over the past few years?

Publication of SOL scores for the last 10 years has made it much easier for people to identify the "good" schools.

Some posters make it sound like it's the worst area around here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:18:54 here. we are in the barcroft boundary. Lots of younger families leaving, they lived here when childless, rented or just saved their money and moved up in careers and can afford to move to north Arlington, mc lean or fairfax. The sole reason for the move is schools.

Not everyone of course. i would move in a heartbeat, but cannot afford to.

The problem, though, is that unless I'm misunderstanding your earlier post, none of the people you are saying left actually had kids in the schools they "left." (Before kindergarten and then before middle school.) I don't understand why their opinions carry weight. I know nothing about Barcroft. My kids go to Oakridge. You wouldn't take my word about Barcroft or Kenmore - and you shouldn't- so why listen to your neighbors who also never went to Barcroft or Kenmore? I really don't get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: but wow that place has discipline problems.

Source?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is Campbell, not randolf that is going to get a lot of the new affordable housing. And it is in and shape just like Barcroft and randolf, and not to mention I think carlin springs! These schools are a mess!

You don't know what you're talking about. Campbell is 100% lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:18:54 here. we are in the barcroft boundary. Lots of younger families leaving, they lived here when childless, rented or just saved their money and moved up in careers and can afford to move to north Arlington, mc lean or fairfax. The sole reason for the move is schools.

Not everyone of course. i would move in a heartbeat, but cannot afford to.

The problem, though, is that unless I'm misunderstanding your earlier post, none of the people you are saying left actually had kids in the schools they "left." (Before kindergarten and then before middle school.) I don't understand why their opinions carry weight. I know nothing about Barcroft. My kids go to Oakridge. You wouldn't take my word about Barcroft or Kenmore - and you shouldn't- so why listen to your neighbors who also never went to Barcroft or Kenmore? I really don't get it.

Because when you live in a neighborhood and talk to other parents with kids in a school, you get a lot of information about the school from people with kids in the school, so you're able to make an informed decision. If most everything you hear is negative, why would you make your kids guinea pigs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For as many people as you know who choose to stay in SA and are ok with the schools, there are just as many who move when their kids are about to got to k or middle school. I know many who have left. I also know several families with kids in 5 who are not happy to send their kids to kenmore. Thst is probably the worst school in the county as far as scores, safety etc.

Kenmore draw from both N and S Arlington.

That doesn't mean it's not a bad school.

[Anonymous]

PP who mentioned disciple problems at kenmore. My source(s). Several parents (both n and s arlington families) with at least one kids there now. 2 teachers and one person who works in the front office.

The new facility is nice, but research shows thst just throwing money at the problem doesn't solve it when it comes to education. It's demographics baby, and we've known it since the 70s. Both the school board and the county have for the most part engineered arlington demographics exactly how the experts say not to do it.

If this continues, parts of s arlington (and not all parts) are going to have even more white flight

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP who mentioned disciple problems at kenmore. My source(s). Several parents (both n and s arlington families) with at least one kids there now. 2 teachers and one person who works in the front office.

The new facility is nice, but research shows thst just throwing money at the problem doesn't solve it when it comes to education. It's demographics baby, and we've known it since the 70s. Both the school board and the county have for the most part engineered arlington demographics exactly how the experts say not to do it.

If this continues, parts of s arlington (and not all parts) are going to have even more white flight

I think you mean more middle class/professional class flight. The way you have it makes white people sound flighty, and I don't know if that's what you mean. Other there are middle class professionals from other ethnic groups that might care just as much. People forget that white flight was also accompanied by middle class minority flight too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP who mentioned disciple problems at kenmore. My source(s). Several parents (both n and s arlington families) with at least one kids there now. 2 teachers and one person who works in the front office.

The new facility is nice, but research shows thst just throwing money at the problem doesn't solve it when it comes to education. It's demographics baby, and we've known it since the 70s. Both the school board and the county have for the most part engineered arlington demographics exactly how the experts say not to do it.

If this continues, parts of s arlington (and not all parts) are going to have even more white flight

I think you mean more middle class/professional class flight. The way you have it makes white people sound flighty, and I don't know if that's what you mean. Other there are middle class professionals from other ethnic groups that might care just as much. People forget that white flight was also accompanied by middle class minority flight too.

I agree with the above. Funny, I had almost written about white flight earlier as well but rethought it for the very same reasons you stated. This is an SES issue. That is still a very unpopular and unattractive thing to speak openly about. Seems the thinking was that any middle class persons who moved south of 50 must 100 % support whatever the county throws our way. Many of us have been ok with it until now. Many of us had seen our local schools slowly improving, and felt good about sending or children there, until now. Columbia Pike was supposedly getting some needed transportation upgrades, and we felt pretty good about the direction things were going. It's unreal how drastically things have changed in a year. Certainly the Pike is gentrifying, but now it appears to lack any real vision.