APS/SA boundary redrawing - meeting tonight
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Anonymous
I mean, I don't think you were dumb or naive, except perhaps to think that a county that has to provide schools for everyone would commit to keeping a certain school zone the same no matter what. |
Anonymous
Why not? APS bends over backwards for some groups, and lies through their teeth to others. The Henry community FOUGHT moving in the first working group. Henry never wanted to move. You PPs who say Henry parents just wanted a richer, nicer school are disgusting. The first working group was disbanded because it wouldn't cave to APS's demands to move Henry. And then APS cherry-picked members for a second working group (SAWG). Yes, I know SAWG didn't vote on boundaries--that wasn't its job. But APS sold the move as a domino pattern: Henry moves to Fleet, Montessori moves to Henry, Drew becomes neighborhood (because that was the right thing to do), and HB gets rezoned to Drew and some of Oakridge gets zoned to Drew, and Oakridge is no longer bursting at the seams. Sounds great, right? Check the notes--this is exactly what Chadwick said in 2016. Then, last spring/summer, the new proposed boundaries come out and Henry is trying to figure out what happened. It's naivety, pure and simple. |
Anonymous
That’s a good plan and it would elevate a lot of the problems but that’s a BIG community that would NOT let that happen in a million years. |
Anonymous
The Berkeley. |
Anonymous
Bingo. Poor schools don't have PTAs. Yet another reason not to intentionally create them. |
Anonymous
They have the exact number of economically disadvantaged students as the VPI admission allows. As of last year, they had 18 ED students per grade level, K-5, plus two current VPI classes of 17 students each, totalling 142 ED students at the school. That's either a coincidence wherein the same number of VPI students leave and different ED students win a spot in the genes lottery, or I am right. I haven't done the math for the other option schools, because it's harder to tell with the others because admission policies have been in flux. But I think you are vastly over-stating the number of ED kids who leave the schools where they attend VPI. This is why APS has adopted the admission policy and why the options schools each have VPI classrooms as policy. |
Anonymous
18 ED per grade level but 2 VPI classes with 17 each wan almost half of them leave unless I’m reading that wrong? |
Anonymous
I don't think Henry wanted to move or wanted a nicer school per se. But you did demand that any school built in your CA be a neighborhood school before you would support building at TJ. So they had to have a second working group to fight off the crazy parks loons who want nothing new built anywhere or EVAR, and to get your neighborhood on board by promising it would be a neighborhood school. Since there was already a school in your CA, one had to be an option and AMAC saw their opportunity. Frankly, it's better than them tearing down a school building when we desperately need seats (which I believe they did consider), but it does leave the new Drew in a less than ideal position. Anyway, I do think you misunderstood that the new school was "yours," meaning every single home within the 2016 boundary was promised to move into the new school. That was never what was said or what they meant. They meant Henry staff and the majority of the students would move to the new location. I haven't had the time to do the math yet, but this proposal may actually be the best they can do with what tools they have, which truly sucks and is evidence of a completely effed up housing policy. But you're really not winning hearts and minds with the t-shirts and the filling out of questionnaires with identical answers. Just cool your jets, and maybe we will come to this conclusion rather than suspecting you guys of stacking the deck against Drew. |
Anonymous
No, to clarify there are 142 students w/meal benefits at the school. That's two classrooms of 17 VPI (34), plus 18 each in K-5. Last year was the first year they had 2 VPI classes. Every other grade level had just one of 18 students each. That's (18x6)+34=142. |
Anonymous
Oh ok! Although that is still proves my other point about choice schools only attracting non-ED kids. It means no other ED kid applied to the school and just the VPI kids moved on. You didn’t say what school this is but I think you’re Claremont and it has a few ED neighborhoods surrounding it. Did none of those kids apply? |
Anonymous
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No, I’m not upset. Just trying to say that it’s too bad that now south Arlington is fighting each other when we should be a solid front. Honestly though, I now get how north Arlington gets tired of us. I guess it’s all relative. And I'm saying don't expect any solidarity from Drew when you print matching tshirts to avoid being rezoned to Drew. Gotcha. FWIW, I’m 3 blocks from Fleet, so rezoning wouldn’t have personally affected me. Just supporting keeping my community together when we feel that that was promised to us. Although I see how your view that differently. Everyone knows that the parents and homeowners in the PUs south of the pike zoned to Henry were scared and angry about the possibility of going to Drew because of its demographics. "Keep Henry together" is just messaging because the truth is unpalatable and embarassing. Other schools are going to lose a chunk of students that have been going there for years, why should Henry be different? I don't disagree at all that nobody wanted to be sent to Drew. Nevertheless, why can't you believe that current Henry people simply wanted to stay with their school because -- like all you northern folks -- they really love their school. It's a high-performing school and a diverse community in an active civic association. And why aren't you harassing the Oakridge people? You don't think they've been fighting tooth and nail not to go to Drew (or to Hoffman Boston, though that is more palatable to them - and look where they're going: Hoffman Boston). BTW, Hoffman Boston is only going to be 98% capacity - so what's in the next round for them? No one is "harassing" anyone. Oakridge was a nonentity with regard to Drew. The schools and their walk zones are separated by an 8 lane freeway. Of course you want to stay at Henry. Henry's zone has shed most of its affordable housing over the last 10 years and in the process has achieved a concentration of wealth that has produced a strong well resources pta, and home values beginning to approach 1 million in Arlington heights. Your school used to be 65% farms. Today, your school having an abundance of those resources really does mean other south Arlington schools lose out. It is a zero sum game and you really screwed everyone else with your self interested lobbying. Especially Columbia Forest. You pulled he ladder up behind you, plain and simple. I'm not at Henry. Never was at Henry. Never will be at Henry. 8 lane highway? You've heard of buses, right? And those buses don't even have to cross 395 - they can drive right under it. And don't tell me families in Arlington Ridge can't get to Drew because they don't have transportation. So stop assuming you know who I am and who you're responding to. I don't believe Columbia Forest should be sent to Drew. People on this forum have cited the "tearing apart" of the Henry community by moving a few PUs to Drew, and how they get to stay in tact. Well that just means somebody else's community gets "torn apart" instead. Get over it, people. Kids pass through schools and are part of the community no matter which school they're in. I also can't believe nobody is bashing Oakridge parents who have had their strong advocacy efforts going on behind the scenes this whole time. I'd like to know that they were advocating to retain the diversity they have left and going to Hoffman Boston instead of Drew - rather than what everyone else is doing and advocating not to go to Drew. Oakridge knows people have to be moved - so they probably opted for a less undesirable scenario....like their kids getting bussed under 395. Hey, for what it's worth, at least they didn't rezoned the 200+ 2 and 3 bedroom CAFs under construction at the Berkeley to Drew ... yet. That's going to be 100 kids right there, at least, that APS isn't even counting in this proposal. They'll move in next year. God help Drew, which will be under capacity and poor as a churchmouse when that happens. Right - they haven't zoned the Berkeley to Drew YET. How much do you want to bet they will "hear the cries of the community" and leave Columbia Forest where it is and exchange their PUs for the Berkeley? |
Anonymous
Only if it stays in the Oakridge zone. |
Anonymous
But you left without knowing who would be coming to Drew. Before anyone else knew they would be coming and therefore could get involved to start building the new Drew community. You left Drew without experienced leadership in place, while it was still a majority FRL 200-student community with limited parental engagement. Why the big rush? Why couldn't you slowly transition and start-up your new PTA in January after the boundary decision was made, after guiding new leadership from the Drew side into their new roles, and after the new families knew who they were and could start getting involved? You left Drew PTA "in the lurch" merely by prematurely draining it of its experienced leadership. Montessori could have been doing more last year to recruit and engage and motivate Drew parents to get involved, shadow them in their roles, etc. Or even done so this fall. But you didn't. And you will not convince me that Montessori was not going to establish its own PTA even if they had been expecting carlin Springs to backfill their seats. |
Anonymous
Totally agree. Notice that I said involved in the previous PTA. Montessori only cares about Montessori. |
Anonymous
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New to this discussion. So, part of what I see is this - the county sees that once Gillian Place comes on board, Barcroft will not only be insanely overcrowded, again, but it will jump well above 80%FRL. So, Barcroft needs to shed some poor folks, so hey send the kids south of the Pike away to Drew since there is no other place with seats.
Drew is already in a poor neighborhood, so who cares! Barcroft parents have become just a tad more vocal over the years, especially after Arlington Mill was assigned to Barcroft instead of Carlin Springs. Remember, Barcroft used to be one of the most overcrowded schools in the county, second only to Oakridge. Relief at Barcroft was one of reasons Fleet was built in the first place. |