APS Sinking Ship

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Busing and teams will just subject some kids to long bus rides, and then you will have a white flight situation like ACPS.



This is a joke, right? Arlington is the smallest county in America. There is no such thing as a long bus ride in Arlington.


Actually there is one route that takes from 1:06-1:20 for drew elementary this year. That’s the longest route.

Thanks for proving my point!

That is an idiotically long ride for ES kids. Why put a kid on a bus at 7:30 when they don't need to be there until 8:50? On the flip side, they aren't getting home until close to 5! Ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Busing and teams will just subject some kids to long bus rides, and then you will have a white flight situation like ACPS.

This is a joke, right? Arlington is the smallest county in America. There is no such thing as a long bus ride in Arlington.

Actually there is one route that takes from 1:06-1:20 for drew elementary this year. That’s the longest route.

Why is there a bus route to Drew in the middle of the school day?

OMG people

One hour six minutes to one hour twenty minutes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Busing and teams will just subject some kids to long bus rides, and then you will have a white flight situation like ACPS.



This is a joke, right? Arlington is the smallest county in America. There is no such thing as a long bus ride in Arlington.


Actually there is one route that takes from 1:06-1:20 for drew elementary this year. That’s the longest route.

Thanks for proving my point!

That is an idiotically long ride for ES kids. Why put a kid on a bus at 7:30 when they don't need to be there until 8:50? On the flip side, they aren't getting home until close to 5! Ridiculous.

I’m not sure anyone actually rides it. Any route that long to Drew would be a Montessori student, and would have to live near Chain Bridge. My guess is such student doesn’t actually exist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. Academic research concluded that throwing money at poor schools will only do so much to close the achievement gap. Socio economic Integration does a much better job.

2. Amazon will only worsen the school inequality issues because affordable housing advocates are lobbying hard to use amazon money (where ever it is) to build more affordable housing, in south Arlington of course. The board agrees with them. They all seem to think amazon people will want to live along the western pike and push up prices.

I agree with that assessment. Amazon employees will be no different than your typical high income people around here. They’ll pack into the Fleet and Oakridge zones, like has been happening for years, but that’s it. Every other SA school has so many CAFs and market rate (Barcroft Apts, mostly) and it’s not mathematically possible to replicate the steady lowering of a high FRL rate like at Henry or Oakridge. Those schools were above 60 percent 15 years ago,
but because their boundaries have always consisted of mostly SFH, it was possible for them to become balanced, even integrated for a time, as new families bought former rental homes and homes from grannies. Amazon money will bring even more CAFs. It’ll probably underwrite an expansion of Barcroft Apts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. Academic research concluded that throwing money at poor schools will only do so much to close the achievement gap. Socio economic Integration does a much better job.

2. Amazon will only worsen the school inequality issues because affordable housing advocates are lobbying hard to use amazon money (where ever it is) to build more affordable housing, in south Arlington of course. The board agrees with them. They all seem to think amazon people will want to live along the western pike and push up prices.

I agree with that assessment. Amazon employees will be no different than your typical high income people around here. They’ll pack into the Fleet and Oakridge zones, like has been happening for years, but that’s it. Every other SA school has so many CAFs and market rate (Barcroft Apts, mostly) and it’s not mathematically possible to replicate the steady lowering of a high FRL rate like at Henry or Oakridge. Those schools were above 60 percent 15 years ago,
but because their boundaries have always consisted of mostly SFH, it was possible for them to become balanced, even integrated for a time, as new families bought former rental homes and homes from grannies. Amazon money will bring even more CAFs. It’ll probably underwrite an expansion of Barcroft Apts.

They can try, but all it will do is push some of them into another school, like Barcroft. There isn't room in the boundary for Fleet for another school, and despite what some people think, the school your house was zoned to when you bought it doesn't mean you have access to it in perpetuity.

[Anonymous]

This argument is premised on the idea that the boundaries process is designed to move homes from overcrowded schools and into the undercrowded ones. The most recent round in South Arlington showed the exact opposite of that happening. Neighborhoods fought to stay in Oakridge, Abingdon, and Fleet (even under plans where Fleet was instantly oversubscribed) in order to avoid Barcroft and Drew. And all but one of those neighborhoods got their way.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. Academic research concluded that throwing money at poor schools will only do so much to close the achievement gap. Socio economic Integration does a much better job.

2. Amazon will only worsen the school inequality issues because affordable housing advocates are lobbying hard to use amazon money (where ever it is) to build more affordable housing, in south Arlington of course. The board agrees with them. They all seem to think amazon people will want to live along the western pike and push up prices.

I agree with that assessment. Amazon employees will be no different than your typical high income people around here. They’ll pack into the Fleet and Oakridge zones, like has been happening for years, but that’s it. Every other SA school has so many CAFs and market rate (Barcroft Apts, mostly) and it’s not mathematically possible to replicate the steady lowering of a high FRL rate like at Henry or Oakridge. Those schools were above 60 percent 15 years ago,
but because their boundaries have always consisted of mostly SFH, it was possible for them to become balanced, even integrated for a time, as new families bought former rental homes and homes from grannies. Amazon money will bring even more CAFs. It’ll probably underwrite an expansion of Barcroft Apts.

They can try, but all it will do is push some of them into another school, like Barcroft. There isn't room in the boundary for Fleet for another school, and despite what some people think, the school your house was zoned to when you bought it doesn't mean you have access to it in perpetuity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This argument is premised on the idea that the boundaries process is designed to move homes from overcrowded schools and into the undercrowded ones. The most recent round in South Arlington showed the exact opposite of that happening. Neighborhoods fought to stay in Oakridge, Abingdon, and Fleet (even under plans where Fleet was instantly oversubscribed) in order to avoid Barcroft and Drew. And all but one of those neighborhoods got their way.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. Academic research concluded that throwing money at poor schools will only do so much to close the achievement gap. Socio economic Integration does a much better job.

2. Amazon will only worsen the school inequality issues because affordable housing advocates are lobbying hard to use amazon money (where ever it is) to build more affordable housing, in south Arlington of course. The board agrees with them. They all seem to think amazon people will want to live along the western pike and push up prices.

I agree with that assessment. Amazon employees will be no different than your typical high income people around here. They’ll pack into the Fleet and Oakridge zones, like has been happening for years, but that’s it. Every other SA school has so many CAFs and market rate (Barcroft Apts, mostly) and it’s not mathematically possible to replicate the steady lowering of a high FRL rate like at Henry or Oakridge. Those schools were above 60 percent 15 years ago,
but because their boundaries have always consisted of mostly SFH, it was possible for them to become balanced, even integrated for a time, as new families bought former rental homes and homes from grannies. Amazon money will bring even more CAFs. It’ll probably underwrite an expansion of Barcroft Apts.

They can try, but all it will do is push some of them into another school, like Barcroft. There isn't room in the boundary for Fleet for another school, and despite what some people think, the school your house was zoned to when you bought it doesn't mean you have access to it in perpetuity.

Yes, but at some point, APS would have to stop capitulating. Frankly, Drew didn't want those families at first. The original plan turned it into a UMC school, but the history there won out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This argument is premised on the idea that the boundaries process is designed to move homes from overcrowded schools and into the undercrowded ones. The most recent round in South Arlington showed the exact opposite of that happening. Neighborhoods fought to stay in Oakridge, Abingdon, and Fleet (even under plans where Fleet was instantly oversubscribed) in order to avoid Barcroft and Drew. And all but one of those neighborhoods got their way.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. Academic research concluded that throwing money at poor schools will only do so much to close the achievement gap. Socio economic Integration does a much better job.

2. Amazon will only worsen the school inequality issues because affordable housing advocates are lobbying hard to use amazon money (where ever it is) to build more affordable housing, in south Arlington of course. The board agrees with them. They all seem to think amazon people will want to live along the western pike and push up prices.

I agree with that assessment. Amazon employees will be no different than your typical high income people around here. They’ll pack into the Fleet and Oakridge zones, like has been happening for years, but that’s it. Every other SA school has so many CAFs and market rate (Barcroft Apts, mostly) and it’s not mathematically possible to replicate the steady lowering of a high FRL rate like at Henry or Oakridge. Those schools were above 60 percent 15 years ago,
but because their boundaries have always consisted of mostly SFH, it was possible for them to become balanced, even integrated for a time, as new families bought former rental homes and homes from grannies. Amazon money will bring even more CAFs. It’ll probably underwrite an expansion of Barcroft Apts.

They can try, but all it will do is push some of them into another school, like Barcroft. There isn't room in the boundary for Fleet for another school, and despite what some people think, the school your house was zoned to when you bought it doesn't mean you have access to it in perpetuity.

Yes, but at some point, APS would have to stop capitulating. Frankly, Drew didn't want those families at first. The original plan turned it into a UMC school, but the history there won out.

The original plan moved Columbia Forest to drew and created an 85 percent school. It was appalling and rightly slammed as a terrible plan.

The truth is that the only kind of additional housing capacity being built in SA is subsidized apartments for high poverty families and market rate apartments for single professionals. Unless you believe UMC families will start packing themselves into recently built two bedroom apts, in order to have the privilege of attending a school that is almost 80 percent FRL, the only place these SA schools FRL rates are going is up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Busing and teams will just subject some kids to long bus rides, and then you will have a white flight situation like ACPS.

This is a joke, right? Arlington is the smallest county in America. There is no such thing as a long bus ride in Arlington.

Actually there is one route that takes from 1:06-1:20 for drew elementary this year. That’s the longest route.

Why is there a bus route to Drew in the middle of the school day?

OMG people

One hour six minutes to one hour twenty minutes

Sorry. That's not the notation for "minutes" and hours.
At any rate, that route is being tweaked next year with hubs. APS knows it's an excessively long ride and they're trying to address it. Much of the length is due to traffic volume; not the fact that it's a ridiculously long route.

[Anonymous]

You can't fix traffic and it's only getting worse. This one of the reasons busing is a non-starter in the "small" county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This argument is premised on the idea that the boundaries process is designed to move homes from overcrowded schools and into the undercrowded ones. The most recent round in South Arlington showed the exact opposite of that happening. Neighborhoods fought to stay in Oakridge, Abingdon, and Fleet (even under plans where Fleet was instantly oversubscribed) in order to avoid Barcroft and Drew. And all but one of those neighborhoods got their way.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. Academic research concluded that throwing money at poor schools will only do so much to close the achievement gap. Socio economic Integration does a much better job.

2. Amazon will only worsen the school inequality issues because affordable housing advocates are lobbying hard to use amazon money (where ever it is) to build more affordable housing, in south Arlington of course. The board agrees with them. They all seem to think amazon people will want to live along the western pike and push up prices.

I agree with that assessment. Amazon employees will be no different than your typical high income people around here. They’ll pack into the Fleet and Oakridge zones, like has been happening for years, but that’s it. Every other SA school has so many CAFs and market rate (Barcroft Apts, mostly) and it’s not mathematically possible to replicate the steady lowering of a high FRL rate like at Henry or Oakridge. Those schools were above 60 percent 15 years ago,
but because their boundaries have always consisted of mostly SFH, it was possible for them to become balanced, even integrated for a time, as new families bought former rental homes and homes from grannies. Amazon money will bring even more CAFs. It’ll probably underwrite an expansion of Barcroft Apts.

They can try, but all it will do is push some of them into another school, like Barcroft. There isn't room in the boundary for Fleet for another school, and despite what some people think, the school your house was zoned to when you bought it doesn't mean you have access to it in perpetuity.

Yes, but at some point, APS would have to stop capitulating. Frankly, Drew didn't want those families at first. The original plan turned it into a UMC school, but the history there won out.

This statement is not only inaccurate but nonsensical. There was no plan that made Drew UMC, lol. And there were no families that Drew didn't "want."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Busing and teams will just subject some kids to long bus rides, and then you will have a white flight situation like ACPS.



This is a joke, right? Arlington is the smallest county in America. There is no such thing as a long bus ride in Arlington.


Actually there is one route that takes from 1:06-1:20 for drew elementary this year. That’s the longest route.

Thanks for proving my point!

That is an idiotically long ride for ES kids. Why put a kid on a bus at 7:30 when they don't need to be there until 8:50? On the flip side, they aren't getting home until close to 5! Ridiculous.

I’m not sure anyone actually rides it. Any route that long to Drew would be a Montessori student, and would have to live near Chain Bridge. My guess is such student doesn’t actually exist.

Yep, must be Montessori and if that ride exists, it was your CHOICE to have your child in Montessori and thus not on a much shorter bus ride to your neighborhood school. The boundary for the Drew neighborhood program is tiny and no one rides the bus very far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Busing and teams will just subject some kids to long bus rides, and then you will have a white flight situation like ACPS.



This is a joke, right? Arlington is the smallest county in America. There is no such thing as a long bus ride in Arlington.


Actually there is one route that takes from 1:06-1:20 for drew elementary this year. That’s the longest route.

Thanks for proving my point!

That is an idiotically long ride for ES kids. Why put a kid on a bus at 7:30 when they don't need to be there until 8:50? On the flip side, they aren't getting home until close to 5! Ridiculous.

I’m not sure anyone actually rides it. Any route that long to Drew would be a Montessori student, and would have to live near Chain Bridge. My guess is such student doesn’t actually exist.

Yep, must be Montessori and if that ride exists, it was your CHOICE to have your child in Montessori and thus not on a much shorter bus ride to your neighborhood school. The boundary for the Drew neighborhood program is tiny and no one rides the bus very far.

This chain is about the idea of teams to desegregate, right? That would have to include non-optional busing or else nothing would change. APS would also have to do some creative and gerrymandered drawing of team boundaries, and even then I can't see how you get Nottingham, Discovery, and Jamestown into a group with any low income schools without making islands.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Busing and teams will just subject some kids to long bus rides, and then you will have a white flight situation like ACPS.



This is a joke, right? Arlington is the smallest county in America. There is no such thing as a long bus ride in Arlington.


Actually there is one route that takes from 1:06-1:20 for drew elementary this year. That’s the longest route.

Thanks for proving my point!

That is an idiotically long ride for ES kids. Why put a kid on a bus at 7:30 when they don't need to be there until 8:50? On the flip side, they aren't getting home until close to 5! Ridiculous.

I’m not sure anyone actually rides it. Any route that long to Drew would be a Montessori student, and would have to live near Chain Bridge. My guess is such student doesn’t actually exist.

Yep, must be Montessori and if that ride exists, it was your CHOICE to have your child in Montessori and thus not on a much shorter bus ride to your neighborhood school. The boundary for the Drew neighborhood program is tiny and no one rides the bus very far.

This chain is about the idea of teams to desegregate, right? That would have to include non-optional busing or else nothing would change. APS would also have to do some creative and gerrymandered drawing of team boundaries, and even then I can't see how you get Nottingham, Discovery, and Jamestown into a group with any low income schools without making islands.

I don't have time to create the actual map, but I think you could draw boundaries such that the teams are a little more balanced and palpable.
Something like:
Abingdon, Drew, Oakridge, Hoffman-Boston
Fleet, Long Branch, Barcroft, Randolph
Ashlawn, Carlin Springs, Mckinley, Tuckahoe
ASFS, Taylor, Jamestown, new neighborhood school at Key if that ever happens
Glebe, Barrett, Discovery, Nottingham

[Anonymous]

PP, interesting grouping of schools. Kudos to you for doing some thinking. Develop it - and maybe some of us will join you to present to the school board.