APS: Think the "no move" campaign is going to work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Neighborhood Key will be integrated because of the neighborhood, Immersion at ATS will be integrated because of the location and program, and ATS at McKinley will be waaay more diverse than neighborhood McKinley. Moving schools creates an additional diverse neighborhood school vs no moves.

Escuela Key is already diverse, ATS is already diverse. Drawing boundaries across Rt 50 could make McKinley diverse. No need to do this "lego block" shuffling and move 3 schools in the process.

No, it won’t. This is how I know you’re a NA parent. Do you even know how far S those boundaries would have to go to get any kids who aren’t UMC? Past Campbell ES, 8 city blocks S of Rt. 50. And, you’d have to bypass the entirety of PUs around Kenmore and N of Campbell, because there isn’t any income diversity there. If it were this simple, staff would’ve done it long ago (look at their representative map, is that a reasonable boundary?!?). Same problems exist as you move E along Rt. 50. The neighborhoods just south of Rt. 50 are some of the higher income PUs in SA. You can’t scoop them up and send them N without negatively affecting the income diversity for SA neighborhood schools. If anything, you’d need to send NA kids just N of 50 to SA in order to move towards more similar demographics, with the exception of the PUs in and around Buckingham.

I agree. Also, did you hear all the crying about how there's no bus service to McKinley so lower income ATS parents wouldn't be able to make it there? Is that somehow NOT a problem if the McKinley neighborhood boundary is drawn way down to scoop up some of the low income western Pike units? GTF out of here. Bunch of hypocrites.

I heard that crying and don't get it. McKinley is just 1/3 of a mile from Wilson Blvd. Aren't there plenty of buses on Wilson?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am APS staffer and was at the hearing last night to support some colleagues. I have to say that I am utterly shocked and disappointed in how the Key community reacted when someone dissed the planning staff. They were doing that silent knocking thing and waiving their signs every single time. That community is vile and I hope that the School Board moves them out of spite. I am also ashamed that a Key teacher is leading this charge. She needs to go!

If their goal is to erode general support for options programs in Arlington County... it's working.

Option parent here who supports the moves. Not all of us agree with what Key is doing. I'm appalled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So assuming the vote is yes, they make the decisions on the boundaries in the fall?

Why can't Madison Manor & Dominion Hills be bused to Reed?

If you look at the actual Reed walkzone, many of the PUs near Lee Highway could continue to to go Tuckahoe and Nottingham leaving room for almost all of Save McKinley to ride a bus to Reed?

It’s not about staying with their friends (b/c without a move, McKinely is torn asunder anyways) it’s about walking to the school right next door to the house they bought and that ease of lifestyle.

This.

Also, there isn't room for all of them. When Reed takes the Tuckahoe units it their backyard and nearby (closer than either MM or DH), there isn't room for the other two neighborhoods.

That's not true. Only two Tuckahoe planning units are in Reed's walk shed, and there are less than 100 kids between the two of them, even if you count the three additional Tuckahoe PUs that possibly could be included in an expanded walk zone, that's only another 90 or so kids. Reed's capacity will be well over 700. The majority of kids in Reed's walk shed are currently zoned to McKinley or Glebe. Reed is technically within Tuckahoe's current boundary, but along its easternmost edge, and Reed is surrounded by McKinley planning units to the north, east, and south.

What you're right about is how hard it is to keep all of MM / DH together in the move to Reed. One of their planning units is especially large, and also very close to Ashlawn. If you fill Reed with the PUs in its walk shed plus the three big MM / DH units, that almost fills the school, and probably means keeping a nearby Glebe PU at Glebe and busing several McKinley PUs down Washington Blvd to Ashlawn (though they'd be bused regardless).

Actually the the units to the north of Reed are also Tuckahoe. The other Tuckahoe units you mention in the expanded walkshed are much more part of the neighborhood around Reed than MM/DH. This is low stakes stuff, but they should just rip off the bandaid and assign units where it makes sense rather than trying to preserve ephemeral communities of elementary students.

This the right path forward. Ashlawn would pull from South of 50 - aligning mostly to the Kenmore boundary south of Wilson (except for those walkable DH) - helping provide relief for western Columbia Pike. We need every bit of relief and if Ashlawn can pull a few hundred students from South of 50 that will have a domino effect. It makes sense for Madison Manor and the Dominion Hills bus riders to go to Reed.

Don't give Data Dude any ideas...he is still fighting the current battle.

Is he? Other than the speakers at the hearing last night, they all seem to have gone silent the past several days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So assuming the vote is yes, they make the decisions on the boundaries in the fall?

Why can't Madison Manor & Dominion Hills be bused to Reed?

If you look at the actual Reed walkzone, many of the PUs near Lee Highway could continue to to go Tuckahoe and Nottingham leaving room for almost all of Save McKinley to ride a bus to Reed?

It’s not about staying with their friends (b/c without a move, McKinely is torn asunder anyways) it’s about walking to the school right next door to the house they bought and that ease of lifestyle.

This.

Also, there isn't room for all of them. When Reed takes the Tuckahoe units it their backyard and nearby (closer than either MM or DH), there isn't room for the other two neighborhoods.

That's not true. Only two Tuckahoe planning units are in Reed's walk shed, and there are less than 100 kids between the two of them, even if you count the three additional Tuckahoe PUs that possibly could be included in an expanded walk zone, that's only another 90 or so kids. Reed's capacity will be well over 700. The majority of kids in Reed's walk shed are currently zoned to McKinley or Glebe. Reed is technically within Tuckahoe's current boundary, but along its easternmost edge, and Reed is surrounded by McKinley planning units to the north, east, and south.

What you're right about is how hard it is to keep all of MM / DH together in the move to Reed. One of their planning units is especially large, and also very close to Ashlawn. If you fill Reed with the PUs in its walk shed plus the three big MM / DH units, that almost fills the school, and probably means keeping a nearby Glebe PU at Glebe and busing several McKinley PUs down Washington Blvd to Ashlawn (though they'd be bused regardless).

Actually the the units to the north of Reed are also Tuckahoe. The other Tuckahoe units you mention in the expanded walkshed are much more part of the neighborhood around Reed than MM/DH. This is low stakes stuff, but they should just rip off the bandaid and assign units where it makes sense rather than trying to preserve ephemeral communities of elementary students.

This the right path forward. Ashlawn would pull from South of 50 - aligning mostly to the Kenmore boundary south of Wilson (except for those walkable DH) - helping provide relief for western Columbia Pike. We need every bit of relief and if Ashlawn can pull a few hundred students from South of 50 that will have a domino effect. It makes sense for Madison Manor and the Dominion Hills bus riders to go to Reed.

Ashlawn will not have room to take any new kids south of 50. With the school moves all of N Arlington schools will open at capacity. Most of the schools around Reed are currently over capacity. Reed will only be about 100 seats bigger than McKinley. Ashlawn’s tail can go to ASFS and that could open room at Ashlawn for DH, but that is it.

[Anonymous]

When Key opens, it’s going to shift ASFS and Ashlawn boundaries. DH will be going to Ashlawn. MM is a toss up since it goes back to Sycamore and could easily be Tuckahoe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Neighborhood Key will be integrated because of the neighborhood, Immersion at ATS will be integrated because of the location and program, and ATS at McKinley will be waaay more diverse than neighborhood McKinley. Moving schools creates an additional diverse neighborhood school vs no moves.

Escuela Key is already diverse, ATS is already diverse. Drawing boundaries across Rt 50 could make McKinley diverse. No need to do this "lego block" shuffling and move 3 schools in the process.

No, it won’t. This is how I know you’re a NA parent. Do you even know how far S those boundaries would have to go to get any kids who aren’t UMC? Past Campbell ES, 8 city blocks S of Rt. 50. And, you’d have to bypass the entirety of PUs around Kenmore and N of Campbell, because there isn’t any income diversity there. If it were this simple, staff would’ve done it long ago (look at their representative map, is that a reasonable boundary?!?). Same problems exist as you move E along Rt. 50. The neighborhoods just south of Rt. 50 are some of the higher income PUs in SA. You can’t scoop them up and send them N without negatively affecting the income diversity for SA neighborhood schools. If anything, you’d need to send NA kids just N of 50 to SA in order to move towards more similar demographics, with the exception of the PUs in and around Buckingham.

I agree. Also, did you hear all the crying about how there's no bus service to McKinley so lower income ATS parents wouldn't be able to make it there? Is that somehow NOT a problem if the McKinley neighborhood boundary is drawn way down to scoop up some of the low income western Pike units? GTF out of here. Bunch of hypocrites.

I heard that crying and don't get it. McKinley is just 1/3 of a mile from Wilson Blvd. Aren't there plenty of buses on Wilson?

https://www.arlingtontransit.com/art/assets/File/ART_Transit_Map_Aug2019.pdf
Looks like 1B is closest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are relatively new to Arlington and have a daughter who is not quite old enough for elementary school. All of this just seems like short term solutions to a long term problem. Is there ever stability or should we expect this turmoil year after year if no one is taking steps to address the long term problem of not having enough seats?

I’m not sure what you are asking. The move is the first step. It will be followed by redrawing certain boundaries in order to address the issue of distribution of seats.

[Anonymous]

There are plenty of arguments out there both for and against the moves, but saying that the PTAs of the schools NOT slated to move support the moves is silly. Of course they’re fine with it because they dodged the bullet. Wasn’t Nottingham originally supposed to be the neighborhood school that would be converted to an option school? I seem to recall a lot of opposition from Nottingham when the staff floated that idea!

[Anonymous]

Agree that the other schools’ PTA support is not surprising. But their willingness to write letters and speak at Board meetings about support for the Superintendent’s proposal is unusual. And I think the SB will and should take notice of that. That, to me, combined with the fact that none of the aggrieved schools have a better solution means that the Superintendent should prevail. Hope the Board sees this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are plenty of arguments out there both for and against the moves, but saying that the PTAs of the schools NOT slated to move support the moves is silly. Of course they’re fine with it because they dodged the bullet. Wasn’t Nottingham originally supposed to be the neighborhood school that would be converted to an option school? I seem to recall a lot of opposition from Nottingham when the staff floated that idea!

It’s either Reed or McKinley and I don’t remember the save McKinley crowd offering up Reed... and the lottery only option schools don’t get to complain about location.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are plenty of arguments out there both for and against the moves, but saying that the PTAs of the schools NOT slated to move support the moves is silly. Of course they’re fine with it because they dodged the bullet. Wasn’t Nottingham originally supposed to be the neighborhood school that would be converted to an option school? I seem to recall a lot of opposition from Nottingham when the staff floated that idea!

It’s either Reed or McKinley and I don’t remember the save McKinley crowd offering up Reed... and the lottery only option schools don’t get to complain about location.

Reed was taken off the table by APS staff earlier citing bus parking challenges and walkability. There was no appealing their decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe a dumb question but will MS boundaries be revised too? We are in the Ashlawn tail and my older child will be in 6th for 21-22.

They should adjust middle s hook boundaries, but they haven’t committed yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So assuming the vote is yes, they make the decisions on the boundaries in the fall?

Why can't Madison Manor & Dominion Hills be bused to Reed?

If you look at the actual Reed walkzone, many of the PUs near Lee Highway could continue to to go Tuckahoe and Nottingham leaving room for almost all of Save McKinley to ride a bus to Reed?

It’s not about staying with their friends (b/c without a move, McKinely is torn asunder anyways) it’s about walking to the school right next door to the house they bought and that ease of lifestyle.

This.

Also, there isn't room for all of them. When Reed takes the Tuckahoe units it their backyard and nearby (closer than either MM or DH), there isn't room for the other two neighborhoods.

That's not true. Only two Tuckahoe planning units are in Reed's walk shed, and there are less than 100 kids between the two of them, even if you count the three additional Tuckahoe PUs that possibly could be included in an expanded walk zone, that's only another 90 or so kids. Reed's capacity will be well over 700. The majority of kids in Reed's walk shed are currently zoned to McKinley or Glebe. Reed is technically within Tuckahoe's current boundary, but along its easternmost edge, and Reed is surrounded by McKinley planning units to the north, east, and south.

What you're right about is how hard it is to keep all of MM / DH together in the move to Reed. One of their planning units is especially large, and also very close to Ashlawn. If you fill Reed with the PUs in its walk shed plus the three big MM / DH units, that almost fills the school, and probably means keeping a nearby Glebe PU at Glebe and busing several McKinley PUs down Washington Blvd to Ashlawn (though they'd be bused regardless).

Actually the the units to the north of Reed are also Tuckahoe. The other Tuckahoe units you mention in the expanded walkshed are much more part of the neighborhood around Reed than MM/DH. This is low stakes stuff, but they should just rip off the bandaid and assign units where it makes sense rather than trying to preserve ephemeral communities of elementary students.

This the right path forward. Ashlawn would pull from South of 50 - aligning mostly to the Kenmore boundary south of Wilson (except for those walkable DH) - helping provide relief for western Columbia Pike. We need every bit of relief and if Ashlawn can pull a few hundred students from South of 50 that will have a domino effect. It makes sense for Madison Manor and the Dominion Hills bus riders to go to Reed.

No, they should backfill Tuckahoe for the units they will lose which are adjacent to Reed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am APS staffer and was at the hearing last night to support some colleagues. I have to say that I am utterly shocked and disappointed in how the Key community reacted when someone dissed the planning staff. They were doing that silent knocking thing and waiving their signs every single time. That community is vile and I hope that the School Board moves them out of spite. I am also ashamed that a Key teacher is leading this charge. She needs to go!

If their goal is to erode general support for options programs in Arlington County... it's working.

Option parent here who supports the moves. Not all of us agree with what Key is doing. I'm appalled.

I hope you’ve written a letter of support. If the board decides to screw neighborhood school kids in favor of screaming option parents, it’s going to jeopardize any future option initiatives. People are already pissed off enough about HB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am APS staffer and was at the hearing last night to support some colleagues. I have to say that I am utterly shocked and disappointed in how the Key community reacted when someone dissed the planning staff. They were doing that silent knocking thing and waiving their signs every single time. That community is vile and I hope that the School Board moves them out of spite. I am also ashamed that a Key teacher is leading this charge. She needs to go!

If their goal is to erode general support for options programs in Arlington County... it's working.

Option parent here who supports the moves. Not all of us agree with what Key is doing. I'm appalled.

I hope you’ve written a letter of support. If the board decides to screw neighborhood school kids in favor of screaming option parents, it’s going to jeopardize any future option initiatives. People are already pissed off enough about HB.

Of course I did. I'm personally pissed at the Key folks who don't seem to get this reality.

I'm not sure what you mean about being pissed about HB. About what? HB was in a really old building and didn't want to move. But then when it became clear that HB needed to move to make way for a neighborhood school, HB accepted the move, and worked with staff on the new building. What is there to be pissed about? Would you rather HB had dug in like the Key folks are doing now?