APS/SA boundary redrawing - meeting tonight

[Anonymous]

I'm 12:48 and I absolutely agree with you on 2, 3, and 4.

#1 is a County Board issue. The travesty of a pool that we can't afford anymore is being built with county money. Until you have a county board that is willing to invest more in schools, won't happen. FWIW, even if the CB did provide more money, I do strongly disagree with you, and personally value walkability very highly.

#5 to me is a problem because regional clusters still protect the richest and whitest faux liberals. 22207 keeps their nice little enclaves. This is what many of us in the more central parts of Arlington pushed back against in the last round. If you're going to bus, then bus everyone. Jamestown, Discovery, Nottingham, they don't get to protect their pocket and say "but it's regional so it's fair". BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm 12:48 and I absolutely agree with you on 2, 3, and 4.

#1 is a County Board issue. The travesty of a pool that we can't afford anymore is being built with county money. Until you have a county board that is willing to invest more in schools, won't happen. FWIW, even if the CB did provide more money, I do strongly disagree with you, and personally value walkability very highly.

#5 to me is a problem because regional clusters still protect the richest and whitest faux liberals. 22207 keeps their nice little enclaves. This is what many of us in the more central parts of Arlington pushed back against in the last round. If you're going to bus, then bus everyone. Jamestown, Discovery, Nottingham, they don't get to protect their pocket and say "but it's regional so it's fair". BS.

I suggested these things but I'm sure unforeseen developments will make some of them as useful as the screen display at the million dollar bus stop. For example, the school bus itself already seems like something from another era. There were something like 35 small elementary schools here in the 50s. Everyone must have walked. I know there are many reasons why elementary kids today need to go to school with 700 other kids in fewer larger buildings, but certainly it's not for their benefit. I can imagine something different in my lifetime.

[Anonymous]

So, I figured out today something about my kid’s school. It is high farms, but not the highest. They often will group most of the white kids in one class, but not all of them. They leave a couple in the other classes. But, the kids switch around classrooms during the day, based on the topic. All the white kids somehow get into a single class, all the black, Asian and Hispanic kids in the others. Save the one white girl who is always with all the minorities.

So even within the school, rather than have different academic differentiating within the classroom, they move the kids around. Now, there is a huge presumption here that the white kids are in the more advanced class, but it is a correct presumption.

Is this common in other schools? I mean, the demographic groupings last year and now again this year are really obvious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, I figured out today something about my kid’s school. It is high farms, but not the highest. They often will group most of the white kids in one class, but not all of them. They leave a couple in the other classes. But, the kids switch around classrooms during the day, based on the topic. All the white kids somehow get into a single class, all the black, Asian and Hispanic kids in the others. Save the one white girl who is always with all the minorities.

So even within the school, rather than have different academic differentiating within the classroom, they move the kids around. Now, there is a huge presumption here that the white kids are in the more advanced class, but it is a correct presumption.

Is this common in other schools? I mean, the demographic groupings last year and now again this year are really obvious.

Which APS school is this?

[Anonymous]

Wow. So read all of the pages here and this is the thing -it seems like no one wants to send their kids to Drew. I don't think that calling neighbourhoods who don't want to send their kids there "racist" is particularly constructive when it's clear that nobody wants to do that. But Drew has space and somebody is going to get forced there, especially after all this Montessori business.

Whoever does get sent there is going to wear matching t-shirts and go to complain and camp outside of the school board office hours because that is the only thing that's been proven to work. We really ought to blame Arlington Forest for setting the precident in the first place in terms of not wanting to get redistricted by to "lesser" schools.

But the bigger problem is that the county has no interest in balancing demographics. They've made this clear time and time again. It's not like they're actually trying to make things right across 50. They're just looking for a couple of neighbourhoods to sacrifice here or there to make the numbers crunch correctly. If there is no overall plan to make education better for everyone how would anyone feel if they're the one street that gets hurt by the system? Why should anyone feel comfortable sending their kids to a high poverty school just because of the optics of it looking slightly better? what difference does it make? Why should we be at each other's throats over which neighbourhood should go somewhere so that they're 65% poverty instead of 75% poverty when Elementary schools less than 5 miles away are 3% poverty?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, I figured out today something about my kid’s school. It is high farms, but not the highest. They often will group most of the white kids in one class, but not all of them. They leave a couple in the other classes. But, the kids switch around classrooms during the day, based on the topic. All the white kids somehow get into a single class, all the black, Asian and Hispanic kids in the others. Save the one white girl who is always with all the minorities.

So even within the school, rather than have different academic differentiating within the classroom, they move the kids around. Now, there is a huge presumption here that the white kids are in the more advanced class, but it is a correct presumption.

Is this common in other schools? I mean, the demographic groupings last year and now again this year are really obvious.

Which APS school is this?

I’m leaning toward this being a troll. But I do have friends in ACPS where when they group by ability groups are quite segregated, particularly during the early elementary school years.

[Anonymous]

What about taking the side of Fairlington on the other side of 395 and send them to Drew?

That way the Middle schools are better kept in tact since that area is going to Gunston already. Plus that area is like zero FARMS with a lot of kids so it would help boost the ratio at the school without making crazy borders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow. So read all of the pages here and this is the thing -it seems like no one wants to send their kids to Drew. I don't think that calling neighbourhoods who don't want to send their kids there "racist" is particularly constructive when it's clear that nobody wants to do that. But Drew has space and somebody is going to get forced there, especially after all this Montessori business.

Whoever does get sent there is going to wear matching t-shirts and go to complain and camp outside of the school board office hours because that is the only thing that's been proven to work. We really ought to blame Arlington Forest for setting the precident in the first place in terms of not wanting to get redistricted by to "lesser" schools.

But the bigger problem is that the county has no interest in balancing demographics. They've made this clear time and time again. It's not like they're actually trying to make things right across 50. They're just looking for a couple of neighbourhoods to sacrifice here or there to make the numbers crunch correctly. If there is no overall plan to make education better for everyone how would anyone feel if they're the one street that gets hurt by the system? Why should anyone feel comfortable sending their kids to a high poverty school just because of the optics of it looking slightly better? what difference does it make? Why should we be at each other's throats over which neighbourhood should go somewhere so that they're 65% poverty instead of 75% poverty when Elementary schools less than 5 miles away are 3% poverty?

Just so we have our facts straight and since others have referenced Tuckahoe being 3%, Drew is 6.3 miles from Tuckahoe and would currently take 22 minutes by car. At 7:25 on a Friday night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

APS uses the term "shifting demographics" to describe the now annual opening of very large 100% CAF buildings with hundreds of units that swamp local schools.. To name a few: Arlington Mill, gilliam, the Berkeley and now also Columbia Hills, a 229 unit 100% CAF building opening next year in Columbia Forest (140 units are 2 and 3 bedroom) and will be zoned to abingdon. It's across the street from the Drew zoned portion of CF So that leads me to believe that APS is maybe trying to spread around these giant complexes to various elementary schools as best they can, even when the powers that be cram them into the same half mile stretch of Columbia pike.

If APS would actually treat the entire district like one school system, they could "spread around these giant complexes" to more elementary schools and not concentrate poverty in a handful of schools. But they refuse to do boundaries across Route 50 or in a north/south direction instead of east/west.

It is unfathomable that APS has decided to prioritize proximity above all else in this time of overcrowding and continued growth. We don't have this luxury to continue catering to people's "preferences" and alleged "needs" and clear prejudices and sense of entitlements to go to the school closest to their home - poor or rich, I don't care. This whole approach is a complete disservice to our kids, to our schools, to Arlington County. APS doesn't give a sh** that has been identified as a highly segregated school system - one of the wealthiest and THE smallest county in the COUNTRY - but OMG did we jump and fight to make sure we weren't classified as hyper-segregated! It's perfectly fine to miss that cut-off by a point or two; but god forbid we technically meet the definition. Well how about changing your boundary policies to get off that list insteaof teetering on the category edge and justifying it?

Get over yourself. Yes the county is small but traffic sucks. In our two working parent household, every minute counts. As it is now we are racing to pick up kids before extended day closes, get them home, fed and to bed at a decent time. So yes, proximity is my number one prioroity. If diversity is so important, then the county board has to address it through housing policy. Not bussing my kids around.

Get over your self. Everyone lives in a working parent household. You know whether the school is 1 mile or 2 miles away is immaterial. You just don't want to go to a school that has more poor kids. Don't hide behind traffic woes.

To truly balance demographics, we aren't talking about busing kids to a school that is 2 miles away instead of 1. Instead you need to be moving kids between, say, Randolph and Discovery. That's a 15-20 minute trip right now, and it's not rush hour. It's not an insignificant additional trip for parents trying to make evening pickup/dinner/bedtime work. Seriously, this all goes back to housing policy.

We don't have to have a perfect balance across all schools. All that's needed is the elimination of schools over 50% FRL, preferably eliminating schools over 45% FRL. But you can't do that by only including one part of the County at a time - and everyone knows it. That's why everyone is proclaiming "proximity" is critical. What if you didn'tHAVE a school less than a mile from your home? or two miles? You'd be sent to one farther and that's where your kid would go. So everyone needs to get over themselves and stop being such entitled crybabies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

APS uses the term "shifting demographics" to describe the now annual opening of very large 100% CAF buildings with hundreds of units that swamp local schools.. To name a few: Arlington Mill, gilliam, the Berkeley and now also Columbia Hills, a 229 unit 100% CAF building opening next year in Columbia Forest (140 units are 2 and 3 bedroom) and will be zoned to abingdon. It's across the street from the Drew zoned portion of CF So that leads me to believe that APS is maybe trying to spread around these giant complexes to various elementary schools as best they can, even when the powers that be cram them into the same half mile stretch of Columbia pike.

If APS would actually treat the entire district like one school system, they could "spread around these giant complexes" to more elementary schools and not concentrate poverty in a handful of schools. But they refuse to do boundaries across Route 50 or in a north/south direction instead of east/west.

It is unfathomable that APS has decided to prioritize proximity above all else in this time of overcrowding and continued growth. We don't have this luxury to continue catering to people's "preferences" and alleged "needs" and clear prejudices and sense of entitlements to go to the school closest to their home - poor or rich, I don't care. This whole approach is a complete disservice to our kids, to our schools, to Arlington County. APS doesn't give a sh** that has been identified as a highly segregated school system - one of the wealthiest and THE smallest county in the COUNTRY - but OMG did we jump and fight to make sure we weren't classified as hyper-segregated! It's perfectly fine to miss that cut-off by a point or two; but god forbid we technically meet the definition. Well how about changing your boundary policies to get off that list insteaof teetering on the category edge and justifying it?

Get over yourself. Yes the county is small but traffic sucks. In our two working parent household, every minute counts. As it is now we are racing to pick up kids before extended day closes, get them home, fed and to bed at a decent time. So yes, proximity is my number one prioroity. If diversity is so important, then the county board has to address it through housing policy. Not bussing my kids around.

Get over your self. Everyone lives in a working parent household. You know whether the school is 1 mile or 2 miles away is immaterial. You just don't want to go to a school that has more poor kids. Don't hide behind traffic woes.

No -- everyone doesn't live in a TWO working parent household. And as someone else said, we aren't talking 1 versus 2 miles. Stop your undertones of calling me racist because I want my kids in a school close to home, with other kids who live nearby and in the community where we live. I didn't buy in to your social engineering. And I'm sure you are one of those who just sings the praises of diversity, but what you really mean is diversity of skin color and background -- not political views. And once you hear someone like me say they support the 2nd amendment or something like that, you want to shut me up. So take your whining liberal views and open up to what you really want -- a community that may not LOOK like you but THINKS exactly like you.

DP. No, not everyone lives in a TWO working parent household. Some live in a one parent household period. Some bounce between two homes that may have one or two parents in each. And still others live in shelters or bounce around form place to place or just don't have a home at all. But regardless of where your planning unit is assigned, your kids ARE going to school with other kids who live nearby from "your" community. God forbid they meet and become friends with some kid somewhere else in the County.

Cramming all the affordable housing in the same neighborhoods is social engineering; so stop calling efforts to diversify the demographics in schools social engineering like it's a crime against humanity. Every policy we make is social engineering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

APS uses the term "shifting demographics" to describe the now annual opening of very large 100% CAF buildings with hundreds of units that swamp local schools.. To name a few: Arlington Mill, gilliam, the Berkeley and now also Columbia Hills, a 229 unit 100% CAF building opening next year in Columbia Forest (140 units are 2 and 3 bedroom) and will be zoned to abingdon. It's across the street from the Drew zoned portion of CF So that leads me to believe that APS is maybe trying to spread around these giant complexes to various elementary schools as best they can, even when the powers that be cram them into the same half mile stretch of Columbia pike.

If APS would actually treat the entire district like one school system, they could "spread around these giant complexes" to more elementary schools and not concentrate poverty in a handful of schools. But they refuse to do boundaries across Route 50 or in a north/south direction instead of east/west.

It is unfathomable that APS has decided to prioritize proximity above all else in this time of overcrowding and continued growth. We don't have this luxury to continue catering to people's "preferences" and alleged "needs" and clear prejudices and sense of entitlements to go to the school closest to their home - poor or rich, I don't care. This whole approach is a complete disservice to our kids, to our schools, to Arlington County. APS doesn't give a sh** that has been identified as a highly segregated school system - one of the wealthiest and THE smallest county in the COUNTRY - but OMG did we jump and fight to make sure we weren't classified as hyper-segregated! It's perfectly fine to miss that cut-off by a point or two; but god forbid we technically meet the definition. Well how about changing your boundary policies to get off that list insteaof teetering on the category edge and justifying it?

Get over yourself. Yes the county is small but traffic sucks. In our two working parent household, every minute counts. As it is now we are racing to pick up kids before extended day closes, get them home, fed and to bed at a decent time. So yes, proximity is my number one prioroity. If diversity is so important, then the county board has to address it through housing policy. Not bussing my kids around.

Get over your self. Everyone lives in a working parent household. You know whether the school is 1 mile or 2 miles away is immaterial. You just don't want to go to a school that has more poor kids. Don't hide behind traffic woes.

To truly balance demographics, we aren't talking about busing kids to a school that is 2 miles away instead of 1. Instead you need to be moving kids between, say, Randolph and Discovery. That's a 15-20 minute trip right now, and it's not rush hour. It's not an insignificant additional trip for parents trying to make evening pickup/dinner/bedtime work. Seriously, this all goes back to housing policy.

We don't have to have a perfect balance across all schools. All that's needed is the elimination of schools over 50% FRL, preferably eliminating schools over 45% FRL. But you can't do that by only including one part of the County at a time - and everyone knows it. That's why everyone is proclaiming "proximity" is critical. What if you didn'tHAVE a school less than a mile from your home? or two miles? You'd be sent to one farther and that's where your kid would go. So everyone needs to get over themselves and stop being such entitled crybabies.

What’s your point? Reality is most people have a ES within 1.5 miles of their house. And while not entitled as you put it to go to the closest school, seems the preference is to prioritize proximity over deversity. Elections matter. The people we have elected to the SB have decided to prioritize proximity. Either find people who will do what you want and get three on the SB who will do it or realize your view is the minority and move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm 12:48 and I absolutely agree with you on 2, 3, and 4.

#1 is a County Board issue. The travesty of a pool that we can't afford anymore is being built with county money. Until you have a county board that is willing to invest more in schools, won't happen. FWIW, even if the CB did provide more money, I do strongly disagree with you, and personally value walkability very highly.

#5 to me is a problem because regional clusters still protect the richest and whitest faux liberals. 22207 keeps their nice little enclaves. This is what many of us in the more central parts of Arlington pushed back against in the last round. If you're going to bus, then bus everyone. Jamestown, Discovery, Nottingham, they don't get to protect their pocket and say "but it's regional so it's fair". BS.

DP. Fine! All-choice system it is. Locate the immersion programs at Carlin Springs and ATS. Cite your top three preferences and have an 80% chance of getting your first choice, 90% chance of getting your first or second choice. Enroll students based on preferences cited, proximity, and economic status. Boom. Done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm 12:48 and I absolutely agree with you on 2, 3, and 4.

#1 is a County Board issue. The travesty of a pool that we can't afford anymore is being built with county money. Until you have a county board that is willing to invest more in schools, won't happen. FWIW, even if the CB did provide more money, I do strongly disagree with you, and personally value walkability very highly.

#5 to me is a problem because regional clusters still protect the richest and whitest faux liberals. 22207 keeps their nice little enclaves. This is what many of us in the more central parts of Arlington pushed back against in the last round. If you're going to bus, then bus everyone. Jamestown, Discovery, Nottingham, they don't get to protect their pocket and say "but it's regional so it's fair". BS.

NP--I am so sick of everyone just washing their hands of any potential solutions by dumping it on the CB, like there's nothing that can be done. Get the f-in CB to do its part, too - you asked for the plan, that's part of the f-in plan!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

APS uses the term "shifting demographics" to describe the now annual opening of very large 100% CAF buildings with hundreds of units that swamp local schools.. To name a few: Arlington Mill, gilliam, the Berkeley and now also Columbia Hills, a 229 unit 100% CAF building opening next year in Columbia Forest (140 units are 2 and 3 bedroom) and will be zoned to abingdon. It's across the street from the Drew zoned portion of CF So that leads me to believe that APS is maybe trying to spread around these giant complexes to various elementary schools as best they can, even when the powers that be cram them into the same half mile stretch of Columbia pike.

If APS would actually treat the entire district like one school system, they could "spread around these giant complexes" to more elementary schools and not concentrate poverty in a handful of schools. But they refuse to do boundaries across Route 50 or in a north/south direction instead of east/west.

It is unfathomable that APS has decided to prioritize proximity above all else in this time of overcrowding and continued growth. We don't have this luxury to continue catering to people's "preferences" and alleged "needs" and clear prejudices and sense of entitlements to go to the school closest to their home - poor or rich, I don't care. This whole approach is a complete disservice to our kids, to our schools, to Arlington County. APS doesn't give a sh** that has been identified as a highly segregated school system - one of the wealthiest and THE smallest county in the COUNTRY - but OMG did we jump and fight to make sure we weren't classified as hyper-segregated! It's perfectly fine to miss that cut-off by a point or two; but god forbid we technically meet the definition. Well how about changing your boundary policies to get off that list insteaof teetering on the category edge and justifying it?

Get over yourself. Yes the county is small but traffic sucks. In our two working parent household, every minute counts. As it is now we are racing to pick up kids before extended day closes, get them home, fed and to bed at a decent time. So yes, proximity is my number one prioroity. If diversity is so important, then the county board has to address it through housing policy. Not bussing my kids around.

Get over your self. Everyone lives in a working parent household. You know whether the school is 1 mile or 2 miles away is immaterial. You just don't want to go to a school that has more poor kids. Don't hide behind traffic woes.

To truly balance demographics, we aren't talking about busing kids to a school that is 2 miles away instead of 1. Instead you need to be moving kids between, say, Randolph and Discovery. That's a 15-20 minute trip right now, and it's not rush hour. It's not an insignificant additional trip for parents trying to make evening pickup/dinner/bedtime work. Seriously, this all goes back to housing policy.

We don't have to have a perfect balance across all schools. All that's needed is the elimination of schools over 50% FRL, preferably eliminating schools over 45% FRL. But you can't do that by only including one part of the County at a time - and everyone knows it. That's why everyone is proclaiming "proximity" is critical. What if you didn'tHAVE a school less than a mile from your home? or two miles? You'd be sent to one farther and that's where your kid would go. So everyone needs to get over themselves and stop being such entitled crybabies.

What’s your point? Reality is most people have a ES within 1.5 miles of their house. And while not entitled as you put it to go to the closest school, seems the preference is to prioritize proximity over deversity. Elections matter. The people we have elected to the SB have decided to prioritize proximity. Either find people who will do what you want and get three on the SB who will do it or realize your view is the minority and move on.

No, prioritizing proximity over diversity is the SB's political cop-out. People only cry proximity when they're facing potential changes. If proximity were all that mattered, we wouldn't have six guiding principles in the boundary policy. But you are right that the SB has decided to prioritize proximity - but not because proximity is the most important factor. They've made that decision because they're weak, thin-skinned, and entirely unharmed or negatively impacted by the status quo. Oh, and because they don't give a sh-- about the higher-performing kids in the high FRL/ELL schools not being equally served as their peers in the low FRL/ELL schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

APS uses the term "shifting demographics" to describe the now annual opening of very large 100% CAF buildings with hundreds of units that swamp local schools.. To name a few: Arlington Mill, gilliam, the Berkeley and now also Columbia Hills, a 229 unit 100% CAF building opening next year in Columbia Forest (140 units are 2 and 3 bedroom) and will be zoned to abingdon. It's across the street from the Drew zoned portion of CF So that leads me to believe that APS is maybe trying to spread around these giant complexes to various elementary schools as best they can, even when the powers that be cram them into the same half mile stretch of Columbia pike.

If APS would actually treat the entire district like one school system, they could "spread around these giant complexes" to more elementary schools and not concentrate poverty in a handful of schools. But they refuse to do boundaries across Route 50 or in a north/south direction instead of east/west.

It is unfathomable that APS has decided to prioritize proximity above all else in this time of overcrowding and continued growth. We don't have this luxury to continue catering to people's "preferences" and alleged "needs" and clear prejudices and sense of entitlements to go to the school closest to their home - poor or rich, I don't care. This whole approach is a complete disservice to our kids, to our schools, to Arlington County. APS doesn't give a sh** that has been identified as a highly segregated school system - one of the wealthiest and THE smallest county in the COUNTRY - but OMG did we jump and fight to make sure we weren't classified as hyper-segregated! It's perfectly fine to miss that cut-off by a point or two; but god forbid we technically meet the definition. Well how about changing your boundary policies to get off that list insteaof teetering on the category edge and justifying it?

Get over yourself. Yes the county is small but traffic sucks. In our two working parent household, every minute counts. As it is now we are racing to pick up kids before extended day closes, get them home, fed and to bed at a decent time. So yes, proximity is my number one prioroity. If diversity is so important, then the county board has to address it through housing policy. Not bussing my kids around.

Get over your self. Everyone lives in a working parent household. You know whether the school is 1 mile or 2 miles away is immaterial. You just don't want to go to a school that has more poor kids. Don't hide behind traffic woes.

To truly balance demographics, we aren't talking about busing kids to a school that is 2 miles away instead of 1. Instead you need to be moving kids between, say, Randolph and Discovery. That's a 15-20 minute trip right now, and it's not rush hour. It's not an insignificant additional trip for parents trying to make evening pickup/dinner/bedtime work. Seriously, this all goes back to housing policy.

We don't have to have a perfect balance across all schools. All that's needed is the elimination of schools over 50% FRL, preferably eliminating schools over 45% FRL. But you can't do that by only including one part of the County at a time - and everyone knows it. That's why everyone is proclaiming "proximity" is critical. What if you didn'tHAVE a school less than a mile from your home? or two miles? You'd be sent to one farther and that's where your kid would go. So everyone needs to get over themselves and stop being such entitled crybabies.

What’s your point? Reality is most people have a ES within 1.5 miles of their house. And while not entitled as you put it to go to the closest school, seems the preference is to prioritize proximity over deversity. Elections matter. The people we have elected to the SB have decided to prioritize proximity. Either find people who will do what you want and get three on the SB who will do it or realize your view is the minority and move on.

No, prioritizing proximity over diversity is the SB's political cop-out. People only cry proximity when they're facing potential changes. If proximity were all that mattered, we wouldn't have six guiding principles in the boundary policy. But you are right that the SB has decided to prioritize proximity - but not because proximity is the most important factor. They've made that decision because they're weak, thin-skinned, and entirely unharmed or negatively impacted by the status quo. Oh, and because they don't give a sh-- about the higher-performing kids in the high FRL/ELL schools not being equally served as their peers in the low FRL/ELL schools.

Or perhaps they don’t share your views. You assume they want to do what you want. And place weakness and politics as the reason. And we are back to the liberal left everyone thinks like me mentality. Take a moment and try to imagine that maybe, just maybe, they think when all is said and done proximity should be placed ahead of demographics. Proximity helps drive efficiency (another consideration) and keep contiguity (another consideration).