APS middle school boundary process

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does it do any good to send an email or express viewpoints, or is there realistically already a plan in place? Right now I'm 3/4 mile away from Swanson, yet my kids will need to be bussed all the way to Kenmore under many of these proposed plans. I understand bussing kids around if they're relatively equal distances away from two schools, but this makes no sense. Doesn't it seem weird to anyone else? When I grew up, you went to the schools that were closest to where you actually lived; this is crazy.

If you are 3/4 of a mile from Swanson- I suggest that before you complain about being 'bussed all the way to Kenmore" you put your address and Kenmore's address into Google maps. The school's are less than 2 miles apart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does it do any good to send an email or express viewpoints, or is there realistically already a plan in place? Right now I'm 3/4 mile away from Swanson, yet my kids will need to be bussed all the way to Kenmore under many of these proposed plans. I understand bussing kids around if they're relatively equal distances away from two schools, but this makes no sense. Doesn't it seem weird to anyone else? When I grew up, you went to the schools that were closest to where you actually lived; this is crazy.

They already have a plan (or, more precisely, the superintendent has a plan, and the SB will roll right over). The only thing e-mails might do is make more accommodations for white MC families.

Count me as one who is not giving another penny to the ACDC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The SB is going to raise the fr/l numbers at Kenmore for sure, Jefferson possibly. They did it with the high school boundary process, they will do it here too (at the last minute with maps no one has seen too). The SB will take the northern edge of Kenmore and send to Swanson. They may even take Buckingham and move to Kenmore. Moving all the poorer kids to the smallest number of schools is in their best interest: keeps the rest of the county happy and they don't have to worry about the lower income community speaking up (or speaking up enough). Unless someone is planning to file a lawsuit or report this to the feds (who now don't care) the SB does not have to worry about being sued for intentional segregation. And, they have a champion in this plan with Talento - she is already on the record saying that Latino families want to go to school with other Latino families.

So, the diversity option is just lip service, don't even waste your time worrying about it.

And if you think your snowflake in these high poverty schools is getting as good an education as they would in a wealthy north arlington school, talk to parents who have moved north. I am one of those parents. We moved from Kenmore zone to Swanson when my daughter was in 7th grade. OMG, it is like being in an entirely different county. School administration, time in the class devoted to disruption, cleanliness and just niceness of classrooms and school, attitude of peer groups, PTA resources and parent participation. No comparison, at all.

Sincere question here: I don't dispute your claims about more parental participation and PTA resources and perhaps less disruption, but the cleanliness and niceness of the classrooms are noticeably different? I've seen the brand new Wakefield building and it looks much nicer than the older WL building.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does it do any good to send an email or express viewpoints, or is there realistically already a plan in place? Right now I'm 3/4 mile away from Swanson, yet my kids will need to be bussed all the way to Kenmore under many of these proposed plans. I understand bussing kids around if they're relatively equal distances away from two schools, but this makes no sense. Doesn't it seem weird to anyone else? When I grew up, you went to the schools that were closest to where you actually lived; this is crazy.

It's not crazy. The schools aren't built in perfect locations, so the boundaries aren't ever going to have everyone going to their geographically closest school. Also, it's not the ONLY consideration. Can anyone tell me the current overall percentage of students who are bus riders to MS? I am still not convinced that most of these scenarios actually INCREASE the overall number of students on buses or buses needed. Anyone?

No they don't. The best I could find about current bus-rider eligibility is here-http://apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/MMTSSSC-Philosophy-Walk-Zone-022714_Final.pdf
which says that 54% of ms students are eligible for bus service, which means 46% are in a walk zone. All of the scenarios except for B keeps the walkzone at 47% or higher. And B is an alignment and efficiency scenario- not a diversity scenario.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The SB is going to raise the fr/l numbers at Kenmore for sure, Jefferson possibly. They did it with the high school boundary process, they will do it here too (at the last minute with maps no one has seen too). The SB will take the northern edge of Kenmore and send to Swanson. They may even take Buckingham and move to Kenmore. Moving all the poorer kids to the smallest number of schools is in their best interest: keeps the rest of the county happy and they don't have to worry about the lower income community speaking up (or speaking up enough). Unless someone is planning to file a lawsuit or report this to the feds (who now don't care) the SB does not have to worry about being sued for intentional segregation. And, they have a champion in this plan with Talento - she is already on the record saying that Latino families want to go to school with other Latino families.

So, the diversity option is just lip service, don't even waste your time worrying about it.

And if you think your snowflake in these high poverty schools is getting as good an education as they would in a wealthy north arlington school, talk to parents who have moved north. I am one of those parents. We moved from Kenmore zone to Swanson when my daughter was in 7th grade. OMG, it is like being in an entirely different county. School administration, time in the class devoted to disruption, cleanliness and just niceness of classrooms and school, attitude of peer groups, PTA resources and parent participation. No comparison, at all.

Thanks for reminding us about Talento. Totally forgot about that nut job. She was the one who claimed that the use of a term (can't remember what now) was a micro-aggression. She's nuts. Signed, minority family in Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The SB is going to raise the fr/l numbers at Kenmore for sure, Jefferson possibly. They did it with the high school boundary process, they will do it here too (at the last minute with maps no one has seen too). The SB will take the northern edge of Kenmore and send to Swanson. They may even take Buckingham and move to Kenmore. Moving all the poorer kids to the smallest number of schools is in their best interest: keeps the rest of the county happy and they don't have to worry about the lower income community speaking up (or speaking up enough). Unless someone is planning to file a lawsuit or report this to the feds (who now don't care) the SB does not have to worry about being sued for intentional segregation. And, they have a champion in this plan with Talento - she is already on the record saying that Latino families want to go to school with other Latino families.

So, the diversity option is just lip service, don't even waste your time worrying about it.

And if you think your snowflake in these high poverty schools is getting as good an education as they would in a wealthy north arlington school, talk to parents who have moved north. I am one of those parents. We moved from Kenmore zone to Swanson when my daughter was in 7th grade. OMG, it is like being in an entirely different county. School administration, time in the class devoted to disruption, cleanliness and just niceness of classrooms and school, attitude of peer groups, PTA resources and parent participation. No comparison, at all.

Probably right about what the SB will do. I'm never giving the party another cent in donations if they can't even represent our ideals at the local level.

There has to be a wake up call at some point. There are logical consequences to the county's decisions about affordable housing. The families with students in the schools haven't been too involved but they'll be dealing with it.
Also, "Williamsburg- land" will eventually see this head their way. So don't feel too smug up there.
AH activists are looking to create duplexes and triplexes up there. Your farm's rates won't likely go up, but you are can expect extreme overcrowding in the next 10 years.
Why would a middle class family buy a TH zoned to 50% farms TJ? They'll be cramming into your formly dark, leafy school zone.
Consequences people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The SB is going to raise the fr/l numbers at Kenmore for sure, Jefferson possibly. They did it with the high school boundary process, they will do it here too (at the last minute with maps no one has seen too). The SB will take the northern edge of Kenmore and send to Swanson. They may even take Buckingham and move to Kenmore. Moving all the poorer kids to the smallest number of schools is in their best interest: keeps the rest of the county happy and they don't have to worry about the lower income community speaking up (or speaking up enough). Unless someone is planning to file a lawsuit or report this to the feds (who now don't care) the SB does not have to worry about being sued for intentional segregation. And, they have a champion in this plan with Talento - she is already on the record saying that Latino families want to go to school with other Latino families.

So, the diversity option is just lip service, don't even waste your time worrying about it.

And if you think your snowflake in these high poverty schools is getting as good an education as they would in a wealthy north arlington school, talk to parents who have moved north. I am one of those parents. We moved from Kenmore zone to Swanson when my daughter was in 7th grade. OMG, it is like being in an entirely different county. School administration, time in the class devoted to disruption, cleanliness and just niceness of classrooms and school, attitude of peer groups, PTA resources and parent participation. No comparison, at all.

Sincere question here: I don't dispute your claims about more parental participation and PTA resources and perhaps less disruption, but the cleanliness and niceness of the classrooms are noticeably different? I've seen the brand new Wakefield building and it looks much nicer than the older WL building.

And Kenmore is the newest and nicest of the middle schools. This post makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does it do any good to send an email or express viewpoints, or is there realistically already a plan in place? Right now I'm 3/4 mile away from Swanson, yet my kids will need to be bussed all the way to Kenmore under many of these proposed plans. I understand bussing kids around if they're relatively equal distances away from two schools, but this makes no sense. Doesn't it seem weird to anyone else? When I grew up, you went to the schools that were closest to where you actually lived; this is crazy.

If you are 3/4 of a mile from Swanson- I suggest that before you complain about being 'bussed all the way to Kenmore" you put your address and Kenmore's address into Google maps. The school's are less than 2 miles apart.

I did...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does it do any good to send an email or express viewpoints, or is there realistically already a plan in place? Right now I'm 3/4 mile away from Swanson, yet my kids will need to be bussed all the way to Kenmore under many of these proposed plans. I understand bussing kids around if they're relatively equal distances away from two schools, but this makes no sense. Doesn't it seem weird to anyone else? When I grew up, you went to the schools that were closest to where you actually lived; this is crazy.

If you are 3/4 of a mile from Swanson- I suggest that before you complain about being 'bussed all the way to Kenmore" you put your address and Kenmore's address into Google maps. The school's are less than 2 miles apart.

I did...

which planning unit is less than 3/4 of a mile to Swanson, and is proposed to be moved to Kenmore where it would be eligible for bus service (e.g. more than 1.5 miles). The way I read the map- all of the Swanson units moving to Kenmore are less than 1.5 miles from Kenmore and thus walkers to Kenmore as well.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have an extra orange shirt I can borrow?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does it do any good to send an email or express viewpoints, or is there realistically already a plan in place? Right now I'm 3/4 mile away from Swanson, yet my kids will need to be bussed all the way to Kenmore under many of these proposed plans. I understand bussing kids around if they're relatively equal distances away from two schools, but this makes no sense. Doesn't it seem weird to anyone else? When I grew up, you went to the schools that were closest to where you actually lived; this is crazy.

If you are 3/4 of a mile from Swanson- I suggest that before you complain about being 'bussed all the way to Kenmore" you put your address and Kenmore's address into Google maps. The school's are less than 2 miles apart.

I did...

which planning unit is less than 3/4 of a mile to Swanson, and is proposed to be moved to Kenmore where it would be eligible for bus service (e.g. more than 1.5 miles). The way I read the map- all of the Swanson units moving to Kenmore are less than 1.5 miles from Kenmore and thus walkers to Kenmore as well.

Well then you read it wrong. Because my home is proposed to move to Kenmore in some of the scenarios, and it is 2 miles to Kenmore, less than a mile to Swanson. And yes, I know how to use Google maps. No, I won't give you my address.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does it do any good to send an email or express viewpoints, or is there realistically already a plan in place? Right now I'm 3/4 mile away from Swanson, yet my kids will need to be bussed all the way to Kenmore under many of these proposed plans. I understand bussing kids around if they're relatively equal distances away from two schools, but this makes no sense. Doesn't it seem weird to anyone else? When I grew up, you went to the schools that were closest to where you actually lived; this is crazy.

If you are 3/4 of a mile from Swanson- I suggest that before you complain about being 'bussed all the way to Kenmore" you put your address and Kenmore's address into Google maps. The school's are less than 2 miles apart.

I did...

which planning unit is less than 3/4 of a mile to Swanson, and is proposed to be moved to Kenmore where it would be eligible for bus service (e.g. more than 1.5 miles). The way I read the map- all of the Swanson units moving to Kenmore are less than 1.5 miles from Kenmore and thus walkers to Kenmore as well.

14010 is a mile from Swanson and 1.9 from Kenmore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have an extra orange shirt I can borrow?

Can we do More of a coral? It's better with my skin tone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These maps with the #s are so much more helpful. I'm in South Arl, zoned for Gunston under almost any scenario. Based on these maps/numbers, H is my preference. Honestly, I don't care about Williamsburg and its numbers. They have their own issues. Let's just do the best with the situation we have in the south, which appears to me to be H.

A PP who pointed out that the Alignment map would crush Jefferson was right on - not only would it be over 50% FARMS, it would be the second most over-capacity in just a few more years. Not a good solution. Plus that Arl Heights area is already getting hosed in the HS debate.

I disagree. Scenarios that leave one school both with low farms levels and highly under-enrolled seem ridiculous, when we're given the chance to fix these issues.

PP here. I appreciate your point, and I'm pro-diversity and pro-doing something about the demographics. However, there are legitimate countervailing factors, not least of which is that many families, including in both the north and south, don't want to take a long bus ride to a school very far away (understanding that "very far" is a relative term in Arlington). I don't think all of that is racist subterfuge. People are allowed to make choices about where they live and are allowed to prefer neighborhood schools. People are allowed to not prioritize diversity, whatever that means, when it comes to their own families. I personally don't live in the Williamsburg zone on purpose and I'm not going to force my penchant for diversity down everyone's throats when there are legitimately held preferences on the other side. If there are reasonable ways to achieve some fairness, taking the county's housing/AH history as an unfortunate given, then that's what I personally am in favor of.

So how can we reasonably do this? Do any of the scenarios come close?

Like I said, I support H. It evens out Kenmore without overburdening either TJ or Gunston. My conclusion from comparing all the maps is that fr/l rates are projected to rise in the south overall. That is a function of geography and of non-school policy choices made years before. This looks to me like the best we can do without some artificial island. It is certainly the best we can do of the proposals on the table. Whether the SB will swoop in with some made-up hybrid option at the last minute is a different story, of course.

H isn't without real costs - see the Swanson parent poster, who I genuinely feel for. I don't have a middle schooler so I can't say that this is a small thing to that small group of families. We aren't in the walk zone for any school, in fact. On balance, I'd vote to sacrifice the interests of that small group in walking in favor of what I believe to be best for about half the county's students. Not to say it's a free choice though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
These maps with the #s are so much more helpful. I'm in South Arl, zoned for Gunston under almost any scenario. Based on these maps/numbers, H is my preference. Honestly, I don't care about Williamsburg and its numbers. They have their own issues. Let's just do the best with the situation we have in the south, which appears to me to be H.

A PP who pointed out that the Alignment map would crush Jefferson was right on - not only would it be over 50% FARMS, it would be the second most over-capacity in just a few more years. Not a good solution. Plus that Arl Heights area is already getting hosed in the HS debate.


I disagree. Scenarios that leave one school both with low farms levels and highly under-enrolled seem ridiculous, when we're given the chance to fix these issues.


PP here. I appreciate your point, and I'm pro-diversity and pro-doing something about the demographics. However, there are legitimate countervailing factors, not least of which is that many families, including in both the north and south, don't want to take a long bus ride to a school very far away (understanding that "very far" is a relative term in Arlington). I don't think all of that is racist subterfuge. People are allowed to make choices about where they live and are allowed to prefer neighborhood schools. People are allowed to not prioritize diversity, whatever that means, when it comes to their own families. I personally don't live in the Williamsburg zone on purpose and I'm not going to force my penchant for diversity down everyone's throats when there are legitimately held preferences on the other side. If there are reasonable ways to achieve some fairness, taking the county's housing/AH history as an unfortunate given, then that's what I personally am in favor of.


So how can we reasonably do this? Do any of the scenarios come close?


Like I said, I support H. It evens out Kenmore without overburdening either TJ or Gunston. My conclusion from comparing all the maps is that fr/l rates are projected to rise in the south overall. That is a function of geography and of non-school policy choices made years before. This looks to me like the best we can do without some artificial island. It is certainly the best we can do of the proposals on the table. Whether the SB will swoop in with some made-up hybrid option at the last minute is a different story, of course.

H isn't without real costs - see the Swanson parent poster, who I genuinely feel for. I don't have a middle schooler so I can't say that this is a small thing to that small group of families. We aren't in the walk zone for any school, in fact. On balance, I'd vote to sacrifice the interests of that small group in walking in favor of what I believe to be best for about half the county's students. Not to say it's a free choice though.


What school are you zoned for?