APS: I can't keep up! (ASFS)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wasn't familiar with Dawson's Terrace, so I googled it. Given the description on the interwebs, someone (and we know who she is, will ask for it to be protected for historic reasons. "Dawson Terrace provides space for numerous martial arts programs and is the only surviving stone structure in the county dating to the 18th or 19th century. It’s a unique, recognizable and tangible piece of Arlington’s past. The home belonged to Thomas B. Dawson."

Keep that cute little building and put the school behind it. Hold the project until the county does some long-term facilities planning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:5. Fear that they will be rezoned out of ASFS. If the boundaries are adjusted to actually include the closeby neighborhoods, someone will have to go.

We have to move away from strict zoning, and ASFS has been a gateway for that to happen. Losing Abby from the School Board has hurt us immensely.

It's time to adopt the "skin in the game" model people talk about the President and Secretary DeVos talk about, and link school choice to tax base. Each kid gets scored on what tax value they bring into the community. Homeowners in Lyon Village trump owners of Cape Cods in McKinley, who trump townhouse owners along Columbia Pike, who trump renters along Lee Highway, who trump FARMS and AH kids.

We set a normal day, at 95% capacity, for each school. Families rank their choices like the Medical Residency "match" process.

If you live in a $3 million-plus home by Jamestown, then you're set. Your older daughter attends HB, and your son attends ATS.

If you own a $1.5 million home, you have to think just a bit more. Maybe you go ahead and lock in a spot at Discovery, rather than hoping for ATS. Perhaps you go for ideal teachers at Yorktown, rather than taking a chance on being at the bottom of the barrel at HB or in W-L IB.

If you own a $900k house, maybe your best bet is to go for Wakefield if you can get that customized course load with the best teachers.

In any event, the traditional school day at all schools will be for the givers. They'll get a traditional day slot in SOME school, and enjoy 95% capacity and an absence of FARMS.

The takers will get shift scheduling, with evening classes. They'll have to give up the gym for travel and rec teams, but they'll get an equal education with no consideration of race.

There are still a few wrinkles to iron out. But this is happening. We can't let people who don't commit to Arlington mess up everyone's education. This plan will skyrocket property values, eliminate the need for construction, and enhance public safety.

You've been writing this crap for a while. It's supposed to be satire?

You know what? It sounds great. Me and my friends bought sfh's in south Arlington. I'm sitting on close to a million dollar home now, so go ahead, see what we care. I've got the same property value as many in north Arlington, just with a bigger lot and nicer home. So I say go right ahead. I'm guessing people who squeezed into a shack in Bluemont won't be pleased, but have at it.

Don't take the bait and sound defensive. A lesson for life as well as dcum. You're welcome.

Uh oh... looks like someone bought a crap shack in Westover.

[Anonymous]

^^ I just sold my "crapshack" in Westover for $950,000.
Crap is good!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ I just sold my "crapshack" in Westover for $950,000.
Crap is good!!

Man, are there any deals to be had anymore? Wish I had a time machine.

[Anonymous]

Rezoning is going to happen. With Reed coming online in three years, there will absolutely have to be a wholesale rezoning, even if it has some choice component to it. Personally, I can see a shift in units clockwise across north Arlington -- McKinley, Reed, Tuckahoe, Nottingham, Glebe, Discovery, Jamestown, Taylor, ASFS, and maybe even Long Branch and Ashlawn around the edges. Yes, ASFS will absorb some Taylor units when it becomes a neighborhood school, but nothing that says those Rosslyn units couldn't also be bussed to Taylor as easily as to Science Focus. ASFS would lose some diversity, but not all. And Taylor, who has some of the most vocal and pearl-clutching parents around, would gain some much needed diversity.

http://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/ES_PU_2016.pdf

[Anonymous]

Funny, looking at the map, it would make sense to put a choice program at Nottingham when Reed opens. It's underenrolled and the boundary shifts would be easy.

[Anonymous]

Dumb question- Is this whole thing being triggered by not enough kids having access to immersion?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dumb question- Is this whole thing being triggered by not enough kids having access to immersion?

I've heard Lander say that...but is that true? Did Key and Claremont have long waiting lists?

[Anonymous]

I think it's being triggered because some parents see the word "science" in the name and think it's more of a thing than it really is and get pissed off because they don't have it as a choice school. 1 hour more science per week doesn't really seem like a big deal to me. Change the name of the school, make it a neighborhood school and be done with the whole thing.

frankly, the people who don't have access to immersion because Claremont is effectively a neighborhood school should be more pissed than people who want an extra hour of science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dumb question- Is this whole thing being triggered by not enough kids having access to immersion?

I've heard Lander say that...but is that true? Did Key and Claremont have long waiting lists?

They do have long wait lists. All the choice programs do. But that's not what this is about, though I'm not surprised to hear that Lander was trying to paint this as a small group of people with a narrow focus/interest rather than admitting that the policies were never meant to remain static and should've been updated years ago because they no longer made sense nor functioned as they were intended. Much like the capacity issue, the SB kicked the can on updating the policies. The update is long overdue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's being triggered because some parents see the word "science" in the name and think it's more of a thing than it really is and get pissed off because they don't have it as a choice school. 1 hour more science per week doesn't really seem like a big deal to me. Change the name of the school, make it a neighborhood school and be done with the whole thing.

frankly, the people who don't have access to immersion because Claremont is effectively a neighborhood school should be more pissed than people who want an extra hour of science.

This. It's the name that's the problem. A PP mentioned that some people there think it's super-special and others think it's just a neighborhood school with some extra science. I'd guess the super-special people are also those who are very invested in the brand name and it making them/their kids look like they are super-special too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's being triggered because some parents see the word "science" in the name and think it's more of a thing than it really is and get pissed off because they don't have it as a choice school. 1 hour more science per week doesn't really seem like a big deal to me. Change the name of the school, make it a neighborhood school and be done with the whole thing.

frankly, the people who don't have access to immersion because Claremont is effectively a neighborhood school should be more pissed than people who want an extra hour of science.

This. It's the name that's the problem. A PP mentioned that some people there think it's super-special and others think it's just a neighborhood school with some extra science. I'd guess the super-special people are also those who are very invested in the brand name and it making them/their kids look like they are super-special too.

Or just add "Science" to the name of every school, given that almost all of them are going to be STEMish now. Maybe that would make people see how stupid it is to create a focus for elementary schools, or at least to impose it on all of them. I want my kids to have recess and hands-on experiences (not necessarily PBL) and unstructured time. I don't want everything filtered through science.

[Anonymous]

I wish I could get a clearer picture of ASFS. On one hand, you have people saying it's just a neighborhood school (not for it's own neighborhood - ha!) that has one extra hour of science. It's really no different that any other school.

On the other hand, you have people who talk about how it's special & award winning and that the science lab makes it "better" than other schools.

Aren't a lot of Arl. elementary schools award winning? Mine is. I don't have kids going there, but I wish I could understand this situation a little better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish I could get a clearer picture of ASFS. On one hand, you have people saying it's just a neighborhood school (not for it's own neighborhood - ha!) that has one extra hour of science. It's really no different that any other school.

On the other hand, you have people who talk about how it's special & award winning and that the science lab makes it "better" than other schools.

Aren't a lot of Arl. elementary schools award winning? Mine is. I don't have kids going there, but I wish I could understand this situation a little better.

I don't get the history on the science lab there. I hear it was something that parents did extensive fundraising to put in. However, parent fundraising is not supposed to be for things that are integral to instruction or will create an ongoing obligation for the district. Which it sounds like this lab is both. The reason for those rules is to limit inequity due to wealth across the district. Is that a new rule? Or just completely ignored in this case?

[Anonymous]

I am vindictive enough to relish the idea of ASFS becoming a neighborhood school for its actual neighborhood and all the striver parents who raised funds for the science lab having to bid it farewell.

And we're in Key/ASFS. There are some nice/normal ASFS parents, but there are also quiet a few who need to be hosed down.