APS - questions about Key / ASFS building swap
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Anonymous
| Actually, I think the case against moving Key to the ASFS building is extremely compelling. That’s good because the ASFS site is cramped, inaccesible, and undesirable. Immersion will win out and get to stay put. |
Anonymous
What’s the plan for courthouse and rosslyn in this scenario? I think the case to get immersion out of Key is more compelling since they did away with the neighborhood preference. |
Anonymous
I don’t think they have much choice but to make Key a neighborhood school. There are just too many kids close to it and that area needs more seats. The problem is where to move it. And whether that solution involves moving multiple schools. |
Anonymous
I think that PP absolutely has a basis. Proximity matters to parents. Some students zoned to Taylor are practically walking distance to Key, the Long Branch zone is adjacent as well. As far as Claremont- you wrote yourself that the largest block of attendees are Abington, they live right there. And Claremont started out gaining popularity when a lot of people chose it to get away from their neighborhood school. Self segregation to a more engaged parent body. And as far as Oakridge - again the zone is adjacent, secondly, Oakridge has been overcrowded with 6K classes for a long, long time, before Claremont became crowded. You are likely to stay at a school, once you are there, with younger siblings that enter the system. |
Anonymous
| There’s just not enough room in ASFS for Key. So I have no idea what will happen. |
Anonymous
+1 Obviously we need changes but not sure how they are going to handle this unless they drastically shrink the Key program. |
Anonymous
Well if they do nothing, ASFS is currently zoned for MORE students than attend key (800+) b/c they removed the lottery preference. |
Anonymous
Exactly. We need to do something. It’s not clear what the best solution is though. Make both Key and ASFS neighborhood schools? Move immersion somewhere else? |
Anonymous
It is going to take a few years for it to play out. It's not like all the existing Key students are going to be thrown out and the entire school shifts to full lottery with no neighborhood preferences. Siblings will also remain. I really don't think there will be a mass exodus of existing families who are already invested in the program and the school community, should it swap with ASFS. It will start with kindergarten - just kindergarten. And since it is a choice program, the admissions can be controlled. |
Anonymous
Controlling the population of students in immersion, without neighborhood preference, will have negligible impact on the overcrowded school system that is now the "neighborhood" school population of Key. No way around it. It used to feed essentially 1.5 schools (450 at ASFS, 300 at Key). Saying to wait a few years is folly, as they are drawing the plans now for when Reed opens in 2021 -- so will they go back to the boundary bucket in 2023 when the Key neighborhood school is at critical mass? |
Anonymous
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So will it be a neighborhood school swap and prune planning units on the edges (hello Page Immersion School) or will RB corridor get another neighborhood school and boot immersion points west??
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Anonymous
| Why don't families around Key and ASFS want to do immersion? Why not keep Key there and just apply in large numbers. The data show that the surrounding neighborhoods tend to have the most students at option schools anyway, right? |
Anonymous
I don’t live in the area but I probably wouldn’t do immersion even if it were close. One of my kids is overly anxious and has very slight hearing loss. It wouldn’t be a good fit. Some may speak a second language other than Spanish at home and feel three languages would get too confusing. I can see lots of reasons. |
Anonymous
I would apply if it were expeditionary learning or ATS or Montessori, but I really don’t want to throw my child who doesn’t know any Spanish at all into immersion. It’s a niche program. I want a neighbor school like everyone else has. |
Anonymous
Why don’t YOU want to do immersion? What a dumb question! For any number of reasons such as: 1. My child has an iep and would not do well in immersion 2. I have no interest in my child learning Spanish in elementary school 3. I moved into the neighborhood with a kid older than kindergarten and I don’t speak Spanish 4. I thought our neighborhood was zoned for science focus when I bought my house because that’s what aps told me |