ASFS/Key Swap Off . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the link from last year, interesting that all Spanish speakers got in - zero waitlist. The waitlist is for non-Spanish speakers.

Yep. What they’re not saying out loud when they talk about the high demand for immersion is that it’s really high demand for immersion from non-spanish speakers. There isn’t enough demand for it from spanish-speakers around Key to allow the program to grow without giving up on the 50/50 model entirely, so the best bet for expanding it to accommodate all the non-spanish speaking demand is to move it to a place where it might attract more spanish speakers.

Geography isn’t the only reason there isn’t waitlist for native Spanish speakers. APS doesn’t do nearly enough to promote immersion in every community. It would be interesting to see how many FRL eligible families apply to any of the lotteries. I know there’s a belief that the lottery is a great equalizer, and I’m sure that’s true for the families with the knowledge and resources to apply.

Agree, but geography is the big reason. Proximity to native Spanish speakers is critical. The program began at Key over 30 years ago because there were a lot of Spanish speakers in the neighborhood. Back then, the goal was to attract English speakers to the school. Time to move keys immersion program to carlin Springs and reboot.

No, move it to ATS and Claremont immersion to Carlin Springs.

So I don’t think they can make Claremont into a neighborhood school without redoing boundaries in south Arlington and potentially moving the same unit twice.
But they could do ats to Claremont and immersion at ats and calling springs.

South arlington will need another elementary school in the Oakridge area. Opening Claremont up for a neighborhood school would help eliminate the urgency of building a new school in that area. ATS can be eliminated entirely as a program.

[Anonymous]

Is there real momentum behind eliminating ATS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there real momentum behind eliminating ATS?

Ha! No! The SB love them some ATS.

[Anonymous]

If any part of the goal of moving key is to get it near more Spanish speakers, moving it to ats would not help much. Near Buckingham, but Barrett is right next door. Parents will chose Barrett.

Barcroft or Carlin springs would work. Ideally, move Claremont and key to both of those locations. Barcroft will have lots of buses deep into a neighborhood, but it already has buses of kids coming across Columbia pike.

Divide up the poverty along the pike among several schools and maybe there will be some chance at schools with less than 50% frl. The county needs to focus and recruit kids along the pike to go to these schools. If those poor kids come out of school literate in 2 languages, they have a great advantage that will help them in education and getting good paying jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If any part of the goal of moving key is to get it near more Spanish speakers, moving it to ats would not help much. Near Buckingham, but Barrett is right next door. Parents will chose Barrett.

Barcroft or Carlin springs would work. Ideally, move Claremont and key to both of those locations. Barcroft will have lots of buses deep into a neighborhood, but it already has buses of kids coming across Columbia pike.

Divide up the poverty along the pike among several schools and maybe there will be some chance at schools with less than 50% frl. The county needs to focus and recruit kids along the pike to go to these schools. If those poor kids come out of school literate in 2 languages, they have a great advantage that will help them in education and getting good paying jobs.

There are two buses that go to Barcroft. If you've ever witnessed them trying to turn out of the drive back onto Wakefield, you know it is not particularly conducive to buses. Also, there is very little parking and residents already loan staff parking passes for the nearby streets which are permit parking. It is not a suitable site for a choice program and families from all over driving for events. Carlin Springs has much more space and maneuverability for buses and cars.

Barcroft is also a very highly walkable and walked-to school.

Immersion at ATS would still help draw Spanish-fluent families, especially if APS actually reached out to them and encouraged them to apply. It's also situated so that it would draw the English-speaking families. Coupled with immersion at Carlin Springs and boundaries crossing Route 50, meaningful dents in the concentrations of poverty at Carlin Springs and Barcroft could happen.

[Anonymous]

I know Barcroft is "walkable", but all the south side of the pike and alcova kids take a bus, don't they? So, it may be walkable, but a large part of the school doesn't walk. The walkers are coming from the CAFs on the north side of the Pike. Presumably, a lot of those kids will be the ones going to Barcroft if it were immersion. And, they could expand the walk zone west up the north side of the Pike that is all CAFs. The kids from further away could be bused to Carlin Springs. It could work because there is a such a large number of Spanish speakers near Barcroft. A large number of Barcroft residents send their kids to Claremont and Key now, those kids would become walkers, not bus kids.

I do agree that ATS's site would draw English speaking families, but I don't think the Spanish speaking families would go there any more than they go to Claremont and Key. Too far. Nothing else around there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there real momentum behind eliminating ATS?

Ha! No! The SB love them some ATS.

No way! Those ATS parents are like the third rail of realignment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If any part of the goal of moving key is to get it near more Spanish speakers, moving it to ats would not help much. Near Buckingham, but Barrett is right next door. Parents will chose Barrett.

Barcroft or Carlin springs would work. Ideally, move Claremont and key to both of those locations. Barcroft will have lots of buses deep into a neighborhood, but it already has buses of kids coming across Columbia pike.

Divide up the poverty along the pike among several schools and maybe there will be some chance at schools with less than 50% frl. The county needs to focus and recruit kids along the pike to go to these schools. If those poor kids come out of school literate in 2 languages, they have a great advantage that will help them in education and getting good paying jobs.

Honestly, I think that’s just a pretext to justify the proposed swap, and trying to look at the logic and objectives of relocating Key as if it’s not just to justify the swap won’t get you very far.

[Anonymous]

Are all you white people seriously talking about what “Spanish speaking “ families will or will not do?
Do you see how racist this is? Any chance you are interested in asking the Key families or are you planning to rely on the website made by ASFS supporters posing as Key supporters?



Mic
Drop

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are all you white people seriously talking about what “Spanish speaking “ families will or will not do?
Do you see how racist this is? Any chance you are interested in asking the Key families or are you planning to rely on the website made by ASFS supporters posing as Key supporters?



Mic
Drop

Honestly, my impression is that most of the native Spanish speaking families do not care about the immersion program because their whole lives are duel language immersion. It’s nice to have, but ultimately not a big deal and will happily attend the most convenient school possible. It’s the white people who care intensely about immersion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are all you white people seriously talking about what “Spanish speaking “ families will or will not do?
Do you see how racist this is? Any chance you are interested in asking the Key families or are you planning to rely on the website made by ASFS supporters posing as Key supporters?



Mic
Drop

No, the wypipo are pointing out where the majority of Hispanic families actually live. Hint: not near Key, not any longer. That seems to be a more significant point than what the current Key families, regardless of language/ethnicity, want right now. This is a question of what makes sense for the future of immersion and for equity. If the point of immersion is to benefit the maximum number of Spanish-dominant kids and families as well as Anglos, and to encourage equal applications and participation in the program, wouldn’t it stand to reason that the program should be located closer to Hispanic communities? I mean, that’s what all the Key parents have said at SB meetings. How vital and important the program is to them and how it benefits them, as well as their kids, by making them feel part of their child’s education, and included and accepted because they don’t need a translator for every meeting or activity and it puts them on equal footing with their Anglo counterparts. So, do we leave Key where it is so that a small subset of Hispanic parents has easy access, while the majority of Hispanics in Arlington have to take a long bus ride to access the same?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are all you white people seriously talking about what “Spanish speaking “ families will or will not do?
Do you see how racist this is? Any chance you are interested in asking the Key families or are you planning to rely on the website made by ASFS supporters posing as Key supporters?



Mic
Drop

It’s been awhile since the angry irrational pro-swap poster has been on here. Welcome back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are all you white people seriously talking about what “Spanish speaking “ families will or will not do?
Do you see how racist this is? Any chance you are interested in asking the Key families or are you planning to rely on the website made by ASFS supporters posing as Key supporters?



Mic
Drop

What on earth makes you think everyone on DCUM is "White?" Do I need to write in Spanish in order to post here so that you all know I am a native Spanish speaker? Do I need to identify myself? Oh, and btw, Spanish speakers come in all different colors so the seemingly "White" person you passed on the street may just be "Spanish speaking."

As a Spanish speaker, I completely support keeping Key where it is. There are lots of Spanish-speakers around the area now and more to come as APAH continues to build more low income housing in the neighborhood. Not that all Spanish speakers are poor - they are not. In fact, I dare to say as a former Claremont parent that many well off Spanish speaking families chose these schools because they recognize the value in having their kids literate in Spanish. All of these kids will end up bilingual because they have no choice if they live here. The value is that they can read and write in Spanish, which is culturally important and helpful in the job world. These well off Spanish speaking families were very active at Claremont and I know of several at Key now. What a great thing to have in school - other Spanish speaking kids and parents who have achieved the American dream. A cohort demonstrating that as an immigrant you can have economic mobility and are not set for a life of poverty.

The lack of Spanish speakers at Key and Claremont isn't so much the distance from the families, it is APS' lack of outreach. When my kid was at Claremont, we repeatedly told that to APS that they need to sell the benefits of a bilingual education to immigrant families who want their kids to learn English and may not want the hassle of dealing with a bus. Make it worth their while.... Until they do that, families who are struggling to make a life here have no incentive to send their kids to another school outside their neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are all you white people seriously talking about what “Spanish speaking “ families will or will not do?
Do you see how racist this is? Any chance you are interested in asking the Key families or are you planning to rely on the website made by ASFS supporters posing as Key supporters?



Mic
Drop

It’s been awhile since the angry irrational pro-swap poster has been on here. Welcome back.

Lol. She needs to drop the mic a little harder next time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are all you white people seriously talking about what “Spanish speaking “ families will or will not do?
Do you see how racist this is? Any chance you are interested in asking the Key families or are you planning to rely on the website made by ASFS supporters posing as Key supporters?



Mic
Drop

What on earth makes you think everyone on DCUM is "White?" Do I need to write in Spanish in order to post here so that you all know I am a native Spanish speaker? Do I need to identify myself? Oh, and btw, Spanish speakers come in all different colors so the seemingly "White" person you passed on the street may just be "Spanish speaking."

As a Spanish speaker, I completely support keeping Key where it is. There are lots of Spanish-speakers around the area now and more to come as APAH continues to build more low income housing in the neighborhood. Not that all Spanish speakers are poor - they are not. In fact, I dare to say as a former Claremont parent that many well off Spanish speaking families chose these schools because they recognize the value in having their kids literate in Spanish. All of these kids will end up bilingual because they have no choice if they live here. The value is that they can read and write in Spanish, which is culturally important and helpful in the job world. These well off Spanish speaking families were very active at Claremont and I know of several at Key now. What a great thing to have in school - other Spanish speaking kids and parents who have achieved the American dream. A cohort demonstrating that as an immigrant you can have economic mobility and are not set for a life of poverty.

The lack of Spanish speakers at Key and Claremont isn't so much the distance from the families, it is APS' lack of outreach. When my kid was at Claremont, we repeatedly told that to APS that they need to sell the benefits of a bilingual education to immigrant families who want their kids to learn English and may not want the hassle of dealing with a bus. Make it worth their while.... Until they do that, families who are struggling to make a life here have no incentive to send their kids to another school outside their neighborhood.

I'm going to call BS on this-- if you support keeping Key on Key then why the snarky comment about Key's website and ASFS? A Key parent put that together for their entire community.