APS: Elementary Walk Zone surveys out

[Anonymous]

I am a Barcroft parent with a kid in choice, and I agree that more choice will siphon off more parents like me.

That said, almost every parent I know in Barcroft moved to the neighborhood knowing they would not send their kid to Barcroft. They moved after their kids started attending choice, or they moved knowing their kid would apply and get into choice (which is no longer secure and it is hurting home sales and rentals). I know I don't know everyone, but I know a lot of parents and so many of them had their minds made up. And all the ones I know would not have moved to this neighborhood but for the secure choice option. None of them would send their kid to Barcroft, period.

I moved here because I have a Latino heritage and must child needed to be literate in Spanish or my mom would kill me.

There is a chicken and egg problem here. I have posted on this board opposing making Barcroft a choice school, perhaps by moving ATS. But, considering the almost total lack of buy in (not total though), perhaps this could be considered if the neighborhood could be divided up between randolph and barrett (which is very close to Barcroft anyways.)

[Anonymous]

So what?
The county keeps adding more low income housing to the same 2-3 neighborhoods. There is no way to balance the demographics. APS seems very pleased with the education they are providing our community’s least advantaged children. Talento wants those kids to families to feel comfy in their own communities and schools. So what if they don’t go to ATS? Staff is confident those kids are getting what they need at Barcroft/Randolph/Carlin Springs.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:And all those kids would have to buses because they can't walk across the Pike. What makes more sense is to move Immersion to Carlin Springs, because it's just not walkable and never will be, and turn Claremont back into a neighborhood school. Really, there will be hundreds of kids in the Frederick Street development and they can't all be bused into Barcroft. They could be walkers to Claremont if it were a neighborhood school.

Similar to Tuckahoe, CS could make sense if you look at it as a not very walkable school. However, Carlin Springs is unique in the way that it provides a huge amount of wrap around support services to its low income population that would be lost if those kids were dispersed to other schools.

Tuckahoe is very attractive as an option school because it has close Metro Rail and frequent Metro Bus / Art along Lee highway.

I'd say it'd be worth considering as a second option school of its kind, but not as a unique one. It's a b***h to get to you if live on the other side of the county. Fine when traffic is light but takes like 45 minutes in rush hour. Metro is unreliable.

Something’s gotta give. We have too many location restrictions already.

Probably, but we should be honest with ourselves that the idea of moving an option school to Tuckahoe s popular in this thread because it's ATS we're talking about, probably the most in demand option school, and Tuckahoe is a wealthy area. I understand that the other option schools have location requirements - native speakers, natural environment, etc. But moving ATS to the northwest corner of the county is going to result in a less diverse school. It's just really hard to get to from the more modest neighborhoods.

I’m pp and I agree. I wish that the board would consider another option school, and I wonder why they aren’t.

If nothing else, there isn't enough time to properly develop a new option school and open a lottery by the time they need to start moving boundaries.

I saw somewhere that another option school just draws more UMC kids out of schools and makes those schools worse. Like Barcroft would lose even more students, when its got the lowest capacity already.

But if the county added another choice option in South Arlington, plenty of us would show up.

The same effect would exist in South Arlington. No matter where the are located, choice schools will disproportionately draw from relatively more well-off families (because they're more likely to have the resources to accommodate the inconveniences of going to a choice school) and from families where parents are more actively engaged in their children's education. This will have the effect of drawing off a disproportionate number of the better-performing students from neighborhood schools in the region, and the overall performance of those neighborhood schools will drop for the students who remain.

I agree mostly, but I do think location matters.

I think removing option/choice might lead to more UMC in South Arlington neighborhood schools, but it seems just as likely those families would use their resources to move to fairfax or wherever. The downside to that is that poor kids who go to option schools, of which there are plenty, aren't as able to move to a higher performing district. So absent an option school they go to the segregated neighborhood school, and the segregation increases.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So what?
The county keeps adding more low income housing to the same 2-3 neighborhoods. There is no way to balance the demographics. APS seems very pleased with the education they are providing our community’s least advantaged children. Talento wants those kids to families to feel comfy in their own communities and schools. So what if they don’t go to ATS? Staff is confident those kids are getting what they need at Barcroft/Randolph/Carlin Springs.

Precisely. They don't cater to the middle, just the extremes.

[Anonymous]

ATS to Barcroft. Barcroft loses almost as many kids to choice school transfers as it has in the neighborhood. Alcova to Fleet. Divide Bacroft between Randolph and Barrett. Recapture the choice kids you are losing to those schools anyway! Also, encourages S Arl students (and disadvantaged families) to take advantage of ATS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what?
The county keeps adding more low income housing to the same 2-3 neighborhoods. There is no way to balance the demographics. APS seems very pleased with the education they are providing our community’s least advantaged children. Talento wants those kids to families to feel comfy in their own communities and schools. So what if they don’t go to ATS? Staff is confident those kids are getting what they need at Barcroft/Randolph/Carlin Springs.

Precisely. They don't cater to the middle, just the extremes.

Sure they can cater to the middle.
Just make plenty of choice options for south Arlington families.
Middle class homeowners in south Arlington will happily schlep across town for a better school.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:They have in staff's mind. Most of Alcova will go to Fleet, leaving Barcroft with Gillian Place and Columbia Pike.

The goal is to also expand Barcoft south to take seats from Abingdon.

Where did that come from??

Guess: they built an enormous CAF in Abingdon's current boundary. So, of course, the powers that be want to shove it into Barcroft.

And all those kids would have to buses because they can't walk across the Pike. What makes more sense is to move Immersion to Carlin Springs, because it's just not walkable and never will be, and turn Claremont back into a neighborhood school. Really, there will be hundreds of kids in the Frederick Street development and they can't all be bused into Barcroft. They could be walkers to Claremont if it were a neighborhood school.

Yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ATS to Barcroft. Barcroft loses almost as many kids to choice school transfers as it has in the neighborhood. Alcova to Fleet. Divide Bacroft between Randolph and Barrett. Recapture the choice kids you are losing to those schools anyway! Also, encourages S Arl students (and disadvantaged families) to take advantage of ATS.

APS wants more walkers, not less. I went to the meeting last night. Columbia Pike ant Rt 50 are not crossable roads for elem kids. You'd have to bus them. You might get that to work if all of Alcova walks to Fleet.

[Anonymous]

Barcroft can’t catch a break.
I’m sorry for homeowners in that neighborhood. They are screwed with high density low income housing no matter which way you slice it.
No wonder it’s the only neighborhood that saw their property values go down for a couple of years there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS to Barcroft. Barcroft loses almost as many kids to choice school transfers as it has in the neighborhood. Alcova to Fleet. Divide Bacroft between Randolph and Barrett. Recapture the choice kids you are losing to those schools anyway! Also, encourages S Arl students (and disadvantaged families) to take advantage of ATS.

APS wants more walkers, not less. I went to the meeting last night. Columbia Pike ant Rt 50 are not crossable roads for elem kids. You'd have to bus them. You might get that to work if all of Alcova walks to Fleet.

What else happened at the meeting?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what?
The county keeps adding more low income housing to the same 2-3 neighborhoods. There is no way to balance the demographics. APS seems very pleased with the education they are providing our community’s least advantaged children. Talento wants those kids to families to feel comfy in their own communities and schools. So what if they don’t go to ATS? Staff is confident those kids are getting what they need at Barcroft/Randolph/Carlin Springs.

Precisely. They don't cater to the middle, just the extremes.

Sure they can cater to the middle.
Just make plenty of choice options for south Arlington families.
Middle class homeowners in south Arlington will happily schlep across town for a better school.

They can, they just wont

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ATS to Barcroft. Barcroft loses almost as many kids to choice school transfers as it has in the neighborhood. Alcova to Fleet. Divide Bacroft between Randolph and Barrett. Recapture the choice kids you are losing to those schools anyway! Also, encourages S Arl students (and disadvantaged families) to take advantage of ATS.

No room at Randolph for all the low income kids at Barcroft - they're not going to enter the lottery for ATS. And would prob give Randolph a farms rate higher than carlin springs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS to Barcroft. Barcroft loses almost as many kids to choice school transfers as it has in the neighborhood. Alcova to Fleet. Divide Bacroft between Randolph and Barrett. Recapture the choice kids you are losing to those schools anyway! Also, encourages S Arl students (and disadvantaged families) to take advantage of ATS.

No room at Randolph for all the low income kids at Barcroft - they're not going to enter the lottery for ATS. And would prob give Randolph a farms rate higher than carlin springs.

Can't send half of Barcroft to Barrett either - you will upset the balance that exists at Barrett and keeps UMC families at the school. Don't want to undo 15 years of community buy-in and send Barrett parents scrambling for option schools as they did in the past before visionary former principal convinced Arlington Forest families that their kids would turn out fine. Barrett is one of the few high-FARMS schools that UMC families are happy with. It has a huge number of walkers and fairly balanced ethnic/racial/SES demographics. Not something to upset by playing the "where should we move ATS" game.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS to Barcroft. Barcroft loses almost as many kids to choice school transfers as it has in the neighborhood. Alcova to Fleet. Divide Bacroft between Randolph and Barrett. Recapture the choice kids you are losing to those schools anyway! Also, encourages S Arl students (and disadvantaged families) to take advantage of ATS.

No room at Randolph for all the low income kids at Barcroft - they're not going to enter the lottery for ATS. And would prob give Randolph a farms rate higher than carlin springs.

Can't send half of Barcroft to Barrett either - you will upset the balance that exists at Barrett and keeps UMC families at the school. Don't want to undo 15 years of community buy-in and send Barrett parents scrambling for option schools as they did in the past before visionary former principal convinced Arlington Forest families that their kids would turn out fine. Barrett is one of the few high-FARMS schools that UMC families are happy with. It has a huge number of walkers and fairly balanced ethnic/racial/SES demographics. Not something to upset by playing the "where should we move ATS" game.

Tell me more about Barrett. It's got nearly identical farms rate as Barcroft (60%). Does it really have buy in from SFH, Morris than Barcroft? What's different there, apart from the calendar?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS to Barcroft. Barcroft loses almost as many kids to choice school transfers as it has in the neighborhood. Alcova to Fleet. Divide Bacroft between Randolph and Barrett. Recapture the choice kids you are losing to those schools anyway! Also, encourages S Arl students (and disadvantaged families) to take advantage of ATS.

No room at Randolph for all the low income kids at Barcroft - they're not going to enter the lottery for ATS. And would prob give Randolph a farms rate higher than carlin springs.

Can't send half of Barcroft to Barrett either - you will upset the balance that exists at Barrett and keeps UMC families at the school. Don't want to undo 15 years of community buy-in and send Barrett parents scrambling for option schools as they did in the past before visionary former principal convinced Arlington Forest families that their kids would turn out fine. Barrett is one of the few high-FARMS schools that UMC families are happy with. It has a huge number of walkers and fairly balanced ethnic/racial/SES demographics. Not something to upset by playing the "where should we move ATS" game.

Tell me more about Barrett. It's got nearly identical farms rate as Barcroft (60%). Does it really have buy in from SFH, more so than Barcroft? What's different there, apart from the calendar?