Arlington school boundary petition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What if Taylor were the LV default for parents who don't want immersion? Would that make people happy?

Taylor's operating at around 120% capacity already. there's no room. they need a neighborhood school for the LV/southeastern portion of the taylor boundary.

A lot of the current Taylor kids used to go to Woodmont. I was at Taylor in the 80s when the schools merged and Woodmont was closed because both were so small. Hard to imagine, isn't it?

I have friends that went to Cherrydale and Page Elementary schools in the early 70s. In addition to Woodmont, all those schools were merged into Taylor.

Page didn't merge with Taylor, it was actually Page Traditional which became Arlington Traditional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What if Taylor were the LV default for parents who don't want immersion? Would that make people happy?

Taylor's operating at around 120% capacity already. there's no room. they need a neighborhood school for the LV/southeastern portion of the taylor boundary.

A lot of the current Taylor kids used to go to Woodmont. I was at Taylor in the 80s when the schools merged and Woodmont was closed because both were so small. Hard to imagine, isn't it?

I have friends that went to Cherrydale and Page Elementary schools in the early 70s. In addition to Woodmont, all those schools were merged into Taylor.

Page didn't merge with Taylor, it was actually Page Traditional which became Arlington Traditional.

It did merge with Taylor. Before Page Traditional, it was Page Elementary School. A regular neighborhood elementary school. One of many in the center of Arlington that were closed. The traditional choice school moved in after the neighborhood school was closed.

[Anonymous]

Um...isnt a major factor for the current boundaries along the Orange line to try to balance socioeconomics groups? If you look at the Yorktown district, it seems that must be the reason for grouping Rosslyn kids with country club hills. And the fact that Rosslyn / courthouse /clarendon didnt have as many school age kids as they do now. With the growth in $1 million + homes, mcmansions popping up on top of pre-war housing, and more families in high SES staying in the corridor to raise their kids, isnt this dramatic shift in demographics an overlooked argument here?

Also, the petition says that Key doesnt function properly as a choice school. My understanding was you could lottery in from outside the neighborhood. Maybe only from the team, but its certainly not just limited to being a neighborhood school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Um...isnt a major factor for the current boundaries along the Orange line to try to balance socioeconomics groups? If you look at the Yorktown district, it seems that must be the reason for grouping Rosslyn kids with country club hills. And the fact that Rosslyn / courthouse /clarendon didnt have as many school age kids as they do now. With the growth in $1 million + homes, mcmansions popping up on top of pre-war housing, and more families in high SES staying in the corridor to raise their kids, isnt this dramatic shift in demographics an overlooked argument here?

Also, the petition says that Key doesnt function properly as a choice school. My understanding was you could lottery in from outside the neighborhood. Maybe only from the team, but its certainly not just limited to being a neighborhood school.

It may be an overlooked argument for the people posting here, but not the county. The county is fully aware of its current rosslyn/clarendon demographics. They have the property tax records to tell them so. I live in rosslyn and I am quite amused by the assumptions of some of the posters here. To assume clarendon/rosslyn neighborhoods could so easilly be overlooked is truly clueless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Um...isnt a major factor for the current boundaries along the Orange line to try to balance socioeconomics groups? If you look at the Yorktown district, it seems that must be the reason for grouping Rosslyn kids with country club hills. And the fact that Rosslyn / courthouse /clarendon didnt have as many school age kids as they do now. With the growth in $1 million + homes, mcmansions popping up on top of pre-war housing, and more families in high SES staying in the corridor to raise their kids, isnt this dramatic shift in demographics an overlooked argument here?

Also, the petition says that Key doesnt function properly as a choice school. My understanding was you could lottery in from outside the neighborhood. Maybe only from the team, but its certainly not just limited to being a neighborhood school.

It may be an overlooked argument for the people posting here, but not the county. The county is fully aware of its current rosslyn/clarendon demographics. They have the property tax records to tell them so. I live in rosslyn and I am quite amused by the assumptions of some of the posters here. To assume clarendon/rosslyn neighborhoods could so easilly be overlooked is truly clueless.

Im the PP. thats exactly my point. Obviously the demographic issue is a huge factor for the county. So surprised that it isnt a factor at all in arguments for/against the current districting scheme for rosslyn/clarendon/courthouse, both for and against. Seems to be an element that cant be ignored.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Um...isnt a major factor for the current boundaries along the Orange line to try to balance socioeconomics groups? If you look at the Yorktown district, it seems that must be the reason for grouping Rosslyn kids with country club hills. And the fact that Rosslyn / courthouse /clarendon didnt have as many school age kids as they do now. With the growth in $1 million + homes, mcmansions popping up on top of pre-war housing, and more families in high SES staying in the corridor to raise their kids, isnt this dramatic shift in demographics an overlooked argument here?

Also, the petition says that Key doesnt function properly as a choice school. My understanding was you could lottery in from outside the neighborhood. Maybe only from the team, but its certainly not just limited to being a neighborhood school.

It may be an overlooked argument for the people posting here, but not the county. The county is fully aware of its current rosslyn/clarendon demographics. They have the property tax records to tell them so. I live in rosslyn and I am quite amused by the assumptions of some of the posters here. To assume clarendon/rosslyn neighborhoods could so easilly be overlooked is truly clueless.

That's right. With the exception of Lyon Village, there weren't many school age kids in Rosslyn, Courthouse, and Clarendon when the Yorktown island was drawn. 20 years ago, the only school age kids in the neighborhood were low-icome Latino. That's why all of Clarendon through Rosslyn was sent to Yorktown, and Lyon Village stayed with W-L. And that's why neighborhoods within a five minute walk of Wakefield in the southern part of the county were transferred to W-L. The current elementary through high school boundaries were about balancing demographics and nothing else.

The Latino population has grown since then, in addition to a new population of wealthy urbanites who live in the new, fancy townhouses and condos. This new demographic shift cannot be ignored when the elementary through high boundaries are revisited for that part of the county.

[Anonymous]

This post is a few days late based on the ebb and flow of this thread.

I am one of the parents who can see ASFS from my yard and I am zoned to Taylor. Yes I signed the petition, and yes I did read the whole thing...every word. I do not agree with every word of it, but I agree with most of it. For me and my family the issue is not a question of Taylor being an inferior school to ASFS it all has to due with proximity. Can someone explain to me a rational reason why it makes sense that am zoned to a "neighborhood school" (Taylor) which requires busing and is 2 miles away from me, when I can walk to the ASFS in 2 minutes? I understand the history of the boundaries. That doesn't necessarily mean the boundary decision was the best decision 20 years ago and it doesn't mean it is right today. I would guess that the decision was a classic example of satisficing.

When I bought my house I knew it was not zoned to ASFS, but I also knew that government, in this case Arlington, needed to be adaptive and responsive to the needs and desires of its constituents. What you see now is that process in work. Clearly there is at least a moderate size group of people/parents who agree with me. I do not harbor any animosity towards those who are currently going there and I will listen to their points of view. I believe keeping the ASFS zoning out of the discussion is copout by the school board who would rather satisfice and make an easier half-measured decision, then make a harder, comprehensive, and better county-wide boundary decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Um...isnt a major factor for the current boundaries along the Orange line to try to balance socioeconomics groups? If you look at the Yorktown district, it seems that must be the reason for grouping Rosslyn kids with country club hills. And the fact that Rosslyn / courthouse /clarendon didnt have as many school age kids as they do now. With the growth in $1 million + homes, mcmansions popping up on top of pre-war housing, and more families in high SES staying in the corridor to raise their kids, isnt this dramatic shift in demographics an overlooked argument here?

Also, the petition says that Key doesnt function properly as a choice school. My understanding was you could lottery in from outside the neighborhood. Maybe only from the team, but its certainly not just limited to being a neighborhood school.

You absolutely can lottery in to Key from other schools outside the team. Key is the immersion option for many elementaries including Barrett, Glebe, Long Branch, and Henry (as well as Jamestown, Taylor, and Science Focus). Abingdon, Ashlawn, Barcroft, Carlin Springs, Drew, Hoffman-Boston, McKinley, Nottingham, Oakridge, Randolph and Tuckahoe are the immersion choice for Claremont.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This post is a few days late based on the ebb and flow of this thread.

I am one of the parents who can see ASFS from my yard and I am zoned to Taylor. Yes I signed the petition, and yes I did read the whole thing...every word. I do not agree with every word of it, but I agree with most of it. For me and my family the issue is not a question of Taylor being an inferior school to ASFS it all has to due with proximity. Can someone explain to me a rational reason why it makes sense that am zoned to a "neighborhood school" (Taylor) which requires busing and is 2 miles away from me, when I can walk to the ASFS in 2 minutes? I understand the history of the boundaries. That doesn't necessarily mean the boundary decision was the best decision 20 years ago and it doesn't mean it is right today. I would guess that the decision was a classic example of satisficing.

When I bought my house I knew it was not zoned to ASFS, but I also knew that government, in this case Arlington, needed to be adaptive and responsive to the needs and desires of its constituents. What you see now is that process in work. Clearly there is at least a moderate size group of people/parents who agree with me. I do not harbor any animosity towards those who are currently going there and I will listen to their points of view. I believe keeping the ASFS zoning out of the discussion is copout by the school board who would rather satisfice and make an easier half-measured decision, then make a harder, comprehensive, and better county-wide boundary decision.

Well-said. If this pisses off the usual Lyon Village crowd, tough.

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

When I bought my house I knew it was not zoned to ASFS, but I also knew that government, in this case Arlington, needed to be adaptive and responsive to the needs and desires of its constituents. What you see now is that process in work. Clearly there is at least a moderate size group of people/parents who agree with me. I do not harbor any animosity towards those who are currently going there and I will listen to their points of view. I believe keeping the ASFS zoning out of the discussion is copout by the school board who would rather satisfice and make an easier half-measured decision, then make a harder, comprehensive, and better county-wide boundary decision.

Well-said. If this pisses off the usual Lyon Village crowd, tough.

Thank you!

Being adaptive and responsive does not mean rolling over. Key needs to remain bilingual, and there appears to be no place between Kirkwood and the Potomac to put a new elementary school. So, given the buildings we've got, what do you propose: Turning ASFS back into Page Elementary, a neighborhood school with no trendy hook? Allowing families whose homes border ASFS to enroll in a school that is still ASFS, but busing the rest of the neighborhood to Taylor? ASFS can't hold all of Cherrydale and all the LV families that don't want or don't qualify for bilingual ed (you can't start at Key after a certain grade). Families that live across the street from ATS have to get bused elsewhere -- should APS just get rid of the magnets? (I would happily put ATS and ASFS on an ice floe, but I don't think that's going to happen.)

If this pisses off the families that live near ASFS but take a bus to Taylor, tough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Being adaptive and responsive does not mean rolling over. Key needs to remain bilingual, and there appears to be no place between Kirkwood and the Potomac to put a new elementary school. So, given the buildings we've got, what do you propose: Turning ASFS back into Page Elementary, a neighborhood school with no trendy hook? Allowing families whose homes border ASFS to enroll in a school that is still ASFS, but busing the rest of the neighborhood to Taylor? ASFS can't hold all of Cherrydale and all the LV families that don't want or don't qualify for bilingual ed (you can't start at Key after a certain grade). Families that live across the street from ATS have to get bused elsewhere -- should APS just get rid of the magnets? (I would happily put ATS and ASFS on an ice floe, but I don't think that's going to happen.)

If this pisses off the families that live near ASFS but take a bus to Taylor, tough.

So here's an idea. It might be good it might not. But it is surely is better than flaming others, and avoids the false-choices you presented.

It seems to me that Arlington County has been able to cough up $27M to buy an office building in a prime location to expand its offices (presumably so it can be more adaptive and responsive). http://www.arlnow.com/2012/11/20/county-closes-on-purchase-of-homeless-shelter-building/ So why couldn't it do something similar for a school? My suggestion is the county look to acquire the land that is currently used as the Red Top Cab lot (13th Street North and Hudson Street) and build a new neighborhood school for Lion Village/Clarendon/Orange Line area. This school would be much more a "neighborhood school" then ASFS is as no one (less those few who lottery in) who go to the school actually lives in the neighborhood. ASFS can then become a choice school for more schools zones as presumably several people who live in LV and vicinity would prefer to have their "own" neighborhood school.

[Anonymous]

The vitriol towards LV in this school debate is absolutely ridiculous. Like the pp, we are new to LV. We are one of the many families that have moved into LV in the past 5 years. When we moved in 2009, we were advised to be happy with our home school, e.g., key/asfs, because team transfers between asfs, Jamestown and Taylor were becoming obsolete due to the surge in population of the elementary school crowd.

Now all of these people at board meetings, with their petitions are mad about something that happened a decade or more ago---long before most of the young families moved into LV. It's absurd. Leave us the hell out of your fight. Key boundary is much more than LV, btw.

[Anonymous]

i know i will get flamed for this question, but why do we need two spanish immersion schools in the county?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i know i will get flamed for this question, but why do we need two spanish immersion schools in the county?

Not worth flaming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i know i will get flamed for this question, but why do we need two spanish immersion schools in the county?

My $0.02, is it absolutely worth having a language immersion program. Does it have to be spanish? No. Does it have to be at Key? No. But we should keep some immersion program in the county.