Powerful Letter to the Arlington County School Board about Diversity

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the point about Arlington having one of the three least diverse schools inside the beltway. There are several DC and PG County schools that are even less diverse, aren't there?

This is the Va school forum sweetie pie.

Did you read the letter, honeybuns? There's a line in it that says Arlington has one of the three least diverse schools inside the beltway -- behind McLean and Langley.

It's not true.

Try keeping up, snookums.

Love ya.

The above post is referencing PG and DC sugar lump.
They aren't in Va.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the point about Arlington having one of the three least diverse schools inside the beltway. There are several DC and PG County schools that are even less diverse, aren't there?

This is the Va school forum sweetie pie.

Did you read the letter, honeybuns? There's a line in it that says Arlington has one of the three least diverse schools inside the beltway -- behind McLean and Langley.

It's not true.

Try keeping up, snookums.

Love ya.

The above post is referencing PG and DC sugar lump.
They aren't in Va.

PG and DC don't have the same history of segregation as VA. The student's letter was reasonably referring to Virginia inside the Beltway, the other school districts usually compared with Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the point about Arlington having one of the three least diverse schools inside the beltway. There are several DC and PG County schools that are even less diverse, aren't there?

This is the Va school forum sweetie pie.

Did you read the letter, honeybuns? There's a line in it that says Arlington has one of the three least diverse schools inside the beltway -- behind McLean and Langley.

It's not true.

Try keeping up, snookums.

Love ya.

The above post is referencing PG and DC sugar lump.
They aren't in Va.

PG and DC don't have the same history of segregation as VA. The student's letter was reasonably referring to Virginia inside the Beltway, the other school districts usually compared with Arlington.

Yeah, but the author weakened his case by not being clear that he was only referring to high schools in Virginia and then getting his facts wrong by incorrectly claiming Madison is inside the Beltway. Too bad because the ending of his letter was clever and threw quite a punch. It just goes to show that checking your work is always important.

[Anonymous]

So how do the Arlington Forest students else to have one of their classmates lecturing them on how they should have been the ones voted off the W-L island?

I mean, he makes some good points, but it's insulting to others as well. W-L people are usually like this - they think every other school should be a replica of W-L. It's an exercise in self-congratulations under the guise of criticizing the selection of one redistricting option rather than another.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So how do the Arlington Forest students else to have one of their classmates lecturing them on how they should have been the ones voted off the W-L island?

I mean, he makes some good points, but it's insulting to others as well. W-L people are usually like this - they think every other school should be a replica of W-L. It's an exercise in self-congratulations under the guise of criticizing the selection of one redistricting option rather than another.

I bet they feel embarrassed that their parents made such spectacles of themselves. The AF kids were not the ones freaking out about being moved. It was the parents, and more importantly, the former and future parents, who don't have kids in APS let alone W-L but who were worried about home values, who were some of the most vocal. The kids probably aren't crying over this. This wasn't a personal attack against them, and I am sure they understand this, even if you can't.

[Anonymous]

It's a great letter, and the main point is, that APS touts its "diversity" as their core value, while it is actually supporting segregation with every decision they make.
We don't have true elections - there was no choice on the ballots for school board members - only two names for two open slots.

[Anonymous]

Yorktown is falling in the ratings

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So how do the Arlington Forest students else to have one of their classmates lecturing them on how they should have been the ones voted off the W-L island?

I mean, he makes some good points, but it's insulting to others as well. W-L people are usually like this - they think every other school should be a replica of W-L. It's an exercise in self-congratulations under the guise of criticizing the selection of one redistricting option rather than another.

I bet they feel embarrassed that their parents made such spectacles of themselves. The AF kids were not the ones freaking out about being moved. It was the parents, and more importantly, the former and future parents, who don't have kids in APS let alone W-L but who were worried about home values, who were some of the most vocal. The kids probably aren't crying over this. This wasn't a personal attack against them, and I am sure they understand this, even if you can't.

Exacatly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yorktown is falling in the ratings

What ratings are those? I'm unaware of any credible rating system for high schools...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a great letter, and the main point is, that APS touts its "diversity" as their core value, while it is actually supporting segregation with every decision they make.
We don't have true elections - there was no choice on the ballots for school board members - only two names for two open slots.

This really isn't an APS issue as much as it is a county board issue. They're the ones who make housing policy.

We tried busing in this country. It was an abject failure.

[Anonymous]

Someone, honestly, anyone needs to run for SB against James Lander this year. Give people a choice for once.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing is, this isn't even "white flight" from diverse schools. This is our crappy school board moving boundaries to make schools less diverse.

People say being on the school board is a thankless task. I can't think of anything ours has done to deserve thanks.

Yes, I agree. This letter is about the school board and their actions, but I see parents also contributing. Parents are scared away from neighborhoods that are zoned for areas that included diverse student bodies whether it is race or socioeconomic (FARMS) because often these schools have lower overall tests scores. When families avoid or pull their children out of these schools, it only causes the overall scores to fall even more exacerbating the problem. I see this in my own neighborhood. People love our neighborhood, but often say, "Your neighborhood is amazing, but I wouldn't move there because of the schools." Well, if those same people would just move here than the schools wouldn't have this segregation issue in the first place. The thing is--as this article points out (http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2016/01/white-kids-benefits-diverse-schools)--the kids in our neighborhood do great in our schools. My kids are passing and pass advancing their SOLS (if that is the type of thing you care about) and love their school and classmates. The main issue I see--at least in our elementary school--is that because of the high rate of FARMS kids, we don't have a very strong community or active PTA compared to other schools. The parents of many of the students don't have the money, time, or transportation to the school to be really engaged. Another issue has been that the administration was so focused on raising the SOLS scores, that a lot of the extracurricular activities fell by the wayside. The school is working on this, but they also need parents to be involved.

Yes and those are the exact same parents who are the first to rally for any kind of collection or drive to help the poors. They love their poors. Except they don't love them enough to actually do something that will benefit them and help them move beyond being poor like allowing them to access to schools that would help them achieve more.

They don't want those diverse kids with their behavior issues, poor attitudes, non-involved parents, gang joining, poor English, low achievement messing up their perfect snowflakes high school years so they don't fool with their snowflakes chances for the best colleges.

"Arlington County voters chose Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. In that race, Clinton has 76 percent, Trump has 17 percent" - These same voters would decry Trump as a terrible person and racist but had no issues making sure their schools remained lily white.

[Anonymous]

I'll never understand the county system. While it is cheaper to run than township school systems, there are no boundary issues when you have a set town. If each town in Nova had its own school system (maybe something like Falls Church City), you wouldn't have these districting issues.

You live in Annandale, you got to Annandal ES, MS, and HS. You live in McLean, you go to McLean ES, MS and HS. You live in Burke, you go to Burke ES, MS and HS. Set the town lines and be done with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'll never understand the county system. While it is cheaper to run than township school systems, there are no boundary issues when you have a set town. If each town in Nova had its own school system (maybe something like Falls Church City), you wouldn't have these districting issues.

You live in Annandale, you got to Annandal ES, MS, and HS. You live in McLean, you go to McLean ES, MS and HS. You live in Burke, you go to Burke ES, MS and HS. Set the town lines and be done with it.

And what town is arlington

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So how do the Arlington Forest students else to have one of their classmates lecturing them on how they should have been the ones voted off the W-L island?

I mean, he makes some good points, but it's insulting to others as well. W-L people are usually like this - they think every other school should be a replica of W-L. It's an exercise in self-congratulations under the guise of criticizing the selection of one redistricting option rather than another.

I bet they feel embarrassed that their parents made such spectacles of themselves. The AF kids were not the ones freaking out about being moved. It was the parents, and more importantly, the former and future parents, who don't have kids in APS let alone W-L but who were worried about home values, who were some of the most vocal. The kids probably aren't crying over this. This wasn't a personal attack against them, and I am sure they understand this, even if you can't.

Thank you for confirming that W-L people are the most sanctimonious around.