Barcroft elementary/ south Arlington crisis

[Anonymous]

The previous post was sarcasm. Of course your child should be receiving a great education. Of course you should speak up against over crowding. You shouldn't have to move, you've invested into a community. You should benefit from it. The only thing horrible here is that you are being pressured to consider moving.

[Anonymous]

It is a breaking point and the county better realize it. Or there will be "white flight" out of south arlington and that is not good for anyone.


I wonder about that. I don't think they are concerned with that. Will it matter if the younger middle class families leave? Seems like they assume they will be replaced by DINKS. Or perhaps hope that they are. Someone mentioned up thread the county had projected south Arlington would populated mostly by childless couples. They are working to create the south Arlington they wanted.

I don't think the families are going to move--millenials do not have the same wish for the big yard and the white picket fence and are not moving out to Fairfax the way previous generations have. The county does need to be concerned and do something.

[Anonymous]

Oh boy, a whole thread of people who should have moved to Fairfax, but wanted to feel hip and urban.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh boy, a whole thread of people who should have moved to Fairfax, but wanted to feel hip and urban.

No,we wanted to live 8 miles from our DC office and have a 30 minute commute, including a coffee stop.

Nice try.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The previous post was sarcasm. Of course your child should be receiving a great education. Of course you should speak up against over crowding. You shouldn't have to move, you've invested into a community. You should benefit from it. The only thing horrible here is that you are being pressured to consider moving.

Here's the thing. We were in a similar position with similar HHI as the poster you're responding to. When you go over to the real estate and finance forums you've got people scratching their heads over why people with that level of income take on big mortgages to live in good school districts. And this is why. The poster says she's priced out of N Arl, but she's probably not. She just doesn't feel comfortable borrowing so much to buy a house. But it's the reality around here. I agree it's a shame people feel they have to leave a great community because the schools don't meet their standards, but seriously - we're all facing this. It happens in DC. It happens in parts of montgomery county, and it happens in arlington. It sucks and life is not fair, but in the short term it is what it is.

Signed, someone who reluctantly left a great community because the school board didn't care that our school was a mess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is NIMBYism for the most part. We all value our property values. We all want to give our kids the best shot at success. But we also know that for the most part "we" are very privileged and fortunate, so much more so than many who live around here. So we support affordable housing so long as we don't see it, our property values are not impacted and our kids are not disadvantaged. It isn't a partisan issue.

And yes, arlington county has not learned from the experiences of so many other cities. Why? Because the county is run by north Arlington people. Because it is easier to cram poorer people in one area so that most of the county is the pride of economic development. Because human beings never learn from history. Because people want to say they are helping the poor as long as they don't see them. Because it is more expensive to do things right and the decisions are hard and wealthy areas push back.

The problem is that north Arlington is too expensive even for people who are making a lot of money. So those people moved to south arlington and they are not impressed with the schools. They want to invest in their homes and build their families here, but the schools are no longer diverse, they are overwhelmingly minority. And the color of other kids' skin isn't even important, it is SES. Only a few years ago scores were moing up, but now on the downturn and parents are freaking out and want change. They see the only change is lots of new buildings dedicated to affordable housing and expansion of other low rent units


It is a breaking point and the county better realize it. Or there will be "white flight" out of south arlington and that is not good for anyone.

I agreed with you up until the last sentence. White flight has come and gone and is still going on. The county doesn't care. They will put up low income housing and then housing to attract DINKS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It is a breaking point and the county better realize it. Or there will be "white flight" out of south arlington and that is not good for anyone.


I wonder about that. I don't think they are concerned with that. Will it matter if the younger middle class families leave? Seems like they assume they will be replaced by DINKS. Or perhaps hope that they are. Someone mentioned up thread the county had projected south Arlington would populated mostly by childless couples. They are working to create the south Arlington they wanted.

I don't think the families are going to move--millennials do not have the same wish for the big yard and the white picket fence and are not moving out to Fairfax the way previous generations have. The county does need to be concerned and do something.

I'm a millennial, in the upper reaches, and we decided to buy in South Arlington because we wanted a house and a yard. We bought based on the fact that Barcroft, while economically poorer preformed well and the availability of choice schools in the county. I've posted before and have reach this thread from time to time. All this does is make me worry for a moment, come up for air, and just decide to get involved. I've had a presence in Arlington for 10 years and I would hope that stuff like this doesn't drive my family away, but I don't want to move North either. I like my Thai food too much!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:can SB reduce class size only for low-performing schools? make them significantly smaller so kids get enough attentions?

Title 1 schools are supposed to have small class sizes. That's partially why some of these school's scores started improving. That was the case at my local elementary. The crowding in all of Arlington is not good, but in these schools with high levels of poverty and English learners, it's much more dysfunctional.
If the county can keep the class sizes small, most people won't have as much of a problem.

can SB make it even smaller than what title 1 requires, like significantly smaller, say ~ 15 in lower grades?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:can SB reduce class size only for low-performing schools? make them significantly smaller so kids get enough attentions?

Title 1 schools are supposed to have small class sizes. That's partially why some of these school's scores started improving. That was the case at my local elementary. The crowding in all of Arlington is not good, but in these schools with high levels of poverty and English learners, it's much more dysfunctional.
If the county can keep the class sizes small, most people won't have as much of a problem.

can SB make it even smaller than what title 1 requires, like significantly smaller, say ~ 15 in lower grades?

It becomes a problem of classroom space. I suppose they could have classes as small as 5 or 6 if they were inclined, but where would each class be taught? We've got kids shoved into trailers as it is.

[Anonymous]

What room is the meeting in on Weds night?

[Anonymous]

I'm a millennial, in the upper reaches, and we decided to buy in South Arlington because we wanted a house and a yard. We bought based on the fact that Barcroft, while economically poorer preformed well and the availability of choice schools in the county. I've posted before and have reach this thread from time to time. All this does is make me worry for a moment, come up for air, and just decide to get involved. I've had a presence in Arlington for 10 years and I would hope that stuff like this doesn't drive my family away, but I don't want to move North either. I like my Thai food too much!

There's lots of good Thai food in Fairfax Co.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I'm a millennial, in the upper reaches, and we decided to buy in South Arlington because we wanted a house and a yard. We bought based on the fact that Barcroft, while economically poorer preformed well and the availability of choice schools in the county. I've posted before and have reach this thread from time to time. All this does is make me worry for a moment, come up for air, and just decide to get involved. I've had a presence in Arlington for 10 years and I would hope that stuff like this doesn't drive my family away, but I don't want to move North either. I like my Thai food too much!

There's lots of good Thai food in Fairfax Co.....

And school overcrowding too! Pick your poison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It is a breaking point and the county better realize it. Or there will be "white flight" out of south arlington and that is not good for anyone.


I wonder about that. I don't think they are concerned with that. Will it matter if the younger middle class families leave? Seems like they assume they will be replaced by DINKS. Or perhaps hope that they are. Someone mentioned up thread the county had projected south Arlington would populated mostly by childless couples. They are working to create the south Arlington they wanted.

I don't think the families are going to move--millennials do not have the same wish for the big yard and the white picket fence and are not moving out to Fairfax the way previous generations have. The county does need to be concerned and do something.

I'm a millennial, in the upper reaches, and we decided to buy in South Arlington because we wanted a house and a yard. We bought based on the fact that Barcroft, while economically poorer preformed well and the availability of choice schools in the county. I've posted before and have reach this thread from time to time. All this does is make me worry for a moment, come up for air, and just decide to get involved. I've had a presence in Arlington for 10 years and I would hope that stuff like this doesn't drive my family away, but I don't want to move North either. I like my Thai food too much!

I have never seen a big yard and white picket fence in Fairfax. I have, however, seen some of the worst sprawl imaginable. Not sure I understand the point about Thai food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It is a breaking point and the county better realize it. Or there will be "white flight" out of south arlington and that is not good for anyone.


I wonder about that. I don't think they are concerned with that. Will it matter if the younger middle class families leave? Seems like they assume they will be replaced by DINKS. Or perhaps hope that they are. Someone mentioned up thread the county had projected south Arlington would populated mostly by childless couples. They are working to create the south Arlington they wanted.

I don't think the families are going to move--millennials do not have the same wish for the big yard and the white picket fence and are not moving out to Fairfax the way previous generations have. The county does need to be concerned and do something.

I'm a millennial, in the upper reaches, and we decided to buy in South Arlington because we wanted a house and a yard. We bought based on the fact that Barcroft, while economically poorer preformed well and the availability of choice schools in the county. I've posted before and have reach this thread from time to time. All this does is make me worry for a moment, come up for air, and just decide to get involved. I've had a presence in Arlington for 10 years and I would hope that stuff like this doesn't drive my family away, but I don't want to move North either. I like my Thai food too much!

I have never seen a big yard and white picket fence in Fairfax. I have, however, seen some of the worst sprawl imaginable. Not sure I understand the point about Thai food.

There are three really great Thai restaurants on Columbia Pike, along with a host of other ethnic foods that are great. It's a great community and we'd like to see schools that are worthy of it.

[Anonymous]

Totally agree, we must have schools worthy of the great people who live in south Arlington of all socio economic backgrounds.

So, spread the word... Meet with the politicians. Let them know we count too. We all say the county does not care, if citizens start acting on the frustrations, then they WILL CARE.