the Key/ASFS building switch...

[Anonymous]

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It does when immersion lands at Carlin Springs.

how so?

Creates 2 neighborhood schools in the east where there is a seat shortage and breaks up the embarrassingly high poverty school at CS. Kids from CS can be pushed up to Ashlawn because of new seats at Reed and Ashlawn zone sending some to new Science Focus. Basically it does what they said they needed to do when they started the location conversation a year ago.

Yep. I’m shocked Ashlawn families haven’t gotten involved. If you are going To Ashlawn ( even after Moving boundaries ) your school is going to look different In a Couple years..
I’d be pulling up the farm rates on the pu’s likely to be scooped up...

Just when I think it can't get any uglier or crazier, you are there to surprise me. This is why the Superintendent has to get involved, because we are ugly and terrible and the processes that were in place are completely broken.

This is why we can't have nice things.

I can’t wait to pull this thread back up when the good people of north Arlington show up with their orange Ashlawn t shirts and do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because the plural of anecdote is clearly data: my kid is a kindergartner at Key, we walk, and at least half of the other parents at walker pickup are non-white. Probably more. To be fair, some may park nearby and pick up at the walker door instead of the car pickup line.

You have a car pickup line? Every school I've been to has you park and walk to walker door.

[Anonymous]

What does Cherrydale want out of this? I’m deeply skeptical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because the plural of anecdote is clearly data: my kid is a kindergartner at Key, we walk, and at least half of the other parents at walker pickup are non-white. Probably more. To be fair, some may park nearby and pick up at the walker door instead of the car pickup line.

I’m a walker parent and most would say I’m white, but I’m actually Latino.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools don’t just swap. This is conceptually and intellectually dishonest. Certain families want to be assigned to a different facility than the one they chose to enroll in. Seriously, in the history of boundary discussions, have you ever seen the mythical unicorn now being referred to as a swap? I don’t have skin in the game, but pretending this is normal and something one just does, is ridiculous.

Has there ever been a case of a neighborhood school located entirely outside of its boundary? No. Nobody is trying to take someone else's school. Key as an option school just doesn't make sense based on the criteria that staff was evaluating. Is ASFS the best location for the Immersion program? Probably not, but let's not pretend Key is either. I think if Key families could come to the table with a more favorable location in mind for a move in 2020 or 2021, they might be heard. But demanding to stay in their current location isn't going to work.

Agreed. I think they need to come to grips with the reality of a move for the greater good. And I’m a Key parent who is pleased with the school.

[Anonymous]

ASFS being a neighborhood school outside of its boundary is a problem that APS staff created for themselves when making ASFS the neighborhood school for the zone, rather than Key.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ASFS being a neighborhood school outside of its boundary is a problem that APS staff created for themselves when making ASFS the neighborhood school for the zone, rather than Key.

And now they have an opportunity to rectify that problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What does Cherrydale want out of this? I’m deeply skeptical.

ASFS, my precious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ASFS being a neighborhood school outside of its boundary is a problem that APS staff created for themselves when making ASFS the neighborhood school for the zone, rather than Key.

Right, which is why Immersion has to move. Option schools don't get to be hogged by specific neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

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Yep, keep pushing the issue this fall, it's the best way to accelerate the swap. If the ASFS/Key people sufficiently disrupt this fall's South Arlington boundary process with this issue, APS will do the swap for the 2020 school year and get it over with so that it doesn't totally derail the North Arlington boundary process that fall.

This isn't an off-the wall comment, but if those opposed let the issue sit for now, it will achieve an aura of inevitability. If they want a different outcome, I don't think they can afford to wait. They need to make their case now, while other options are still available.

Cherrydale should be pushing for two neighborhood schools rather than just fighting the building swap. I don't see how they can get what they want (a neighborhood school for Cherrydale and VA Square) without the kids from further east having a building to go to instead. The numbers don't work if immersion stays.

I believe that a neighborhood school I s always what they have wanted. When asfs turned into a neighborhood school, that was a step in the right direction. But before anyone in the neighborhood could access the school, they decided to swap it out. Two neighborhood schools regardless of where asfs ends up is the solution

‘I want a pony’ - Cherrydale

But where does Immersion go??? Near public transit (as it is county wide) and native populations seems preferred.

Rosslyn wants a neighborhood school, barring that a nearby bus ride would be appropriate, not halfway across the county.

Claremont is not "near public transit" but seems to do just fine. Yes, I'm sure you can get there by bus, like most schools across the County; but that's not what's envisioned when people talk about public transit to Key.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yep, keep pushing the issue this fall, it's the best way to accelerate the swap. If the ASFS/Key people sufficiently disrupt this fall's South Arlington boundary process with this issue, APS will do the swap for the 2020 school year and get it over with so that it doesn't totally derail the North Arlington boundary process that fall.

This isn't an off-the wall comment, but if those opposed let the issue sit for now, it will achieve an aura of inevitability. If they want a different outcome, I don't think they can afford to wait. They need to make their case now, while other options are still available.

What other options do you think are available? What options are foreclosed by waiting until Spring?

The only option that is unavailable after this fall is leaving all the schools where they are and balancing enrollment by pushing overflow N. Arlington students south to Fleet. In the rezoning round for Reed, the re-balancing will have to involve either tentacles reaching east or school swap (or both), Fleet is not in play. Obviously the board and staff do not want to send students across 50 to Fleet, thus the swap plan.

I've had more than enough of people claiming Fleet to alleviate the north's problems. "Fleet" was supposed to be built to help problems in the south back when Discovery got built with the bond money instead. There - there's your "Fleet" solution to the north's problems. And THIS Fleet was to resolve overcrowding in SOUTH arlington. So stop tromping all over the south - putting it down, calling MC southies hypocrites, trashing our schools, etc. but using us when it suits you. You want the north/south divide, you got it. For decades you've reinforced the north/south divide to keep your ivory towers polished and the brown tarnish out, so now live with it and the consequences it creates for yourselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yep, keep pushing the issue this fall, it's the best way to accelerate the swap. If the ASFS/Key people sufficiently disrupt this fall's South Arlington boundary process with this issue, APS will do the swap for the 2020 school year and get it over with so that it doesn't totally derail the North Arlington boundary process that fall.

This isn't an off-the wall comment, but if those opposed let the issue sit for now, it will achieve an aura of inevitability. If they want a different outcome, I don't think they can afford to wait. They need to make their case now, while other options are still available.

What other options do you think are available? What options are foreclosed by waiting until Spring?

The ability to put the option schools in locations that would be best for the whole school district. Not that anyone actually believes that the current School Board or staff have the ability or desire to actually to it, but they are foreclosing on that ability because after they rezone South Arlington they are not moving those planning units for another five years.

Not necessarily. Most of what's W of Fleet won't be touched during this round and could be a possibility for 2020.

exactly- these are the schools who have current planning units involved in the fall 2018 boundary process- Abingdon,
Barcroft, Drew, Fleet (Henry), Hoffman-Boston, Long Branch, Oakridge, and Randolph.

To the extent people think that Long Branch was going to be rezoned to Fleet, thereby allowing east Rosslyn to be rezoned to Long Branch- yes this possibility is foreclosed, but that was never going to happen anyway.

Nor should it. Long branch will lose students, though - they will move the PUs south of 50 to Fleet. But instead of zoning Rosslyn to Long Branch, they SHOULD take some low-income units from Barrett also right along 50.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just received this invitation from the President of the Cherrydale Citizens Association. Looks like not everyone is on board with the proposed swap:

Sept. 24 Joint Mtg with the Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association to Discuss the APS proposal to swap Key Elementary and Arlington Science Focus Schools

Join us for a joint meeting of the Cherrydale Citizens Association and the Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association on September 24, 7pm, at Science Focus School, 1501 N. Lincoln St., to discuss Arlington Public Schools’ proposal to swap the Key Elementary and Science Focus Schools. APS staff proposed this switch in late August, and it proposes it take effect in fall 2020 or fall 2021. APS staff claims that they can make this switch without approval of our elected School Board.

This proposal leaves many unanswered questions. Key’s Spanish immersion program currently has more students than can fit into the ASFS building and trailers. APS proposes to either shrink the program or further reduce outdoor space. Additionally, APS has not addressed the impact on native speakers who live near Key School but whose families have indicated that they would not send their kids to the new location. Nor has APS addressed what would happen to Virginia Square and Cherrydale students who transferred to Science Focus based on location. Our goal in Cherrydale is to increase walkability to neighborhood schools. This does not seem like a step in the right direction. Come the meeting to learn more and make yourselves heard.

Jim Todd

President
Cherrydale Citizens Association

So, where's this survey APS took of native Spanish speakers indicating they would not send their kids to the ASFS location?
And isn't Virginia Square quite close and walkable to the Key building?
Gotta love the objectivity so evident by the superintendent "claiming" he can make the change without approval of elected officials.
"Elected officials" in Arlington is merely a cover term for "citizens" because apparently it's the citizens who have the sole-authority to make any decisions.

[Anonymous]

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Seriously, what is the terror for a smaller program — most parents prefer smaller schools.

Two issues: (1) people who believe in immersion want the program to be available to anyone who is interested. Shrinking the program risks excluding kids who want the program and would benefit.

(2) A bigger program means a louder voice when APS suggests changes which might be detrimental to it.

The vast majority of people who want Immersion do so to avoid sub-par neighborhood schools, hence why so many non-native on the waitlist.

One look at the transfer report shows that to be mostly
false. The largest sending school to Key is Long Beach, followed by Taylor. 90 students each. The most "subpar" sending schools to key are Barrett and Glebe, I guess, which send a combined 90 students to key, and probably most of them Spanish speakers the school desperately needs. These four schools account for over half of the student body.

At Claremont, neighborhood preference and the fact that Spanish speakers aren't so segregated from English speakers by neighborhood makes it harder to analyze what portion of students are avoiding neighborhood schools. But 230 come from Abington and 92 came from Oakridge. That's about half the student body. Those schools don't have subpar performance, at least not relative to the other south Arlington elementaries nearby. Oakridge has a lower farms rate than claremont, in fact.

Barrett and Glebe do not have anywhere near test scores or resources of other no Arlington schools.

Again, read PPs : Long Branch and Taylor attndees are about proximity, both those schools are at the far end of their zone. If you are going to metro anyways, it’s a no-brained.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/ESZones_Letter_2018_web.pdf

Whoa, 19 from Discovery! Probably got vertigo from the slide.

What is more telling will be the long waitlist you are saying needs to be met.

You are correct about Barrett. You are incorrect about Glebe. Nobody is avoiding that school by going to Key.

True but fact remains most attend b/c it is close to their home — and it’s curious how PP combined Glebe and Barrett numbers (since Glebe is very different from barrett) to conflate the numbers.

Regardless it’s a nice program, but its location shouldn’t be constraining neighborhoods, people who are dedicated to immersion will follow.

And I believe it will end up in an office building style like upper baileys.

That's not going to happen in Arlington. It only happened in Bailey's because the building was in foreclosure. It's prohibitively expensive to buy and retrofit some of the priciest office space available (in Arlington) into a school. The Community Centers will be moved into vacant office space and the community centers will be turned back into schools first.

Lastly, your point about it being constrained to those nearby, DUH! Until this year you had an automatic in if you lived in the Key zone, and everybody else got what space was leftover. It can, and should, move, and people will follow. Or not, and then different families will apply. The program can survive just as well at ASFS as at Key, because Anglos will travel for it, and it's not going to be moving too far away from the Spanish-dominant households.

I was referring to the fact that transfers outside of key were largely (over 70%) from Taylor and Long Branch, who had no preference.

Didn't Taylor have some kind of preference because of the team concept? Not an auto-in like Key zone, but a leg up over other areas? I think many of the Long Branch transfers are native speakers, so they also had a "preference" in a way. There was a reason the transfer policy had to be re-written. It really wasn't giving people a fair chance of getting into option schools.

Pretty sure Taylor did not have any preference for Key at the Team, but possible. Didn't matter, there was NEVER a waitlist at Key until very recently, around 2015 -- and only because they started moving applicants from the Claremont wait list.

That was the point of the team - people at any of the schools could go to any of the team schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yep, keep pushing the issue this fall, it's the best way to accelerate the swap. If the ASFS/Key people sufficiently disrupt this fall's South Arlington boundary process with this issue, APS will do the swap for the 2020 school year and get it over with so that it doesn't totally derail the North Arlington boundary process that fall.

This isn't an off-the wall comment, but if those opposed let the issue sit for now, it will achieve an aura of inevitability. If they want a different outcome, I don't think they can afford to wait. They need to make their case now, while other options are still available.

What other options do you think are available? What options are foreclosed by waiting until Spring?

The only option that is unavailable after this fall is leaving all the schools where they are and balancing enrollment by pushing overflow N. Arlington students south to Fleet. In the rezoning round for Reed, the re-balancing will have to involve either tentacles reaching east or school swap (or both), Fleet is not in play. Obviously the board and staff do not want to send students across 50 to Fleet, thus the swap plan.

I've had more than enough of people claiming Fleet to alleviate the north's problems. "Fleet" was supposed to be built to help problems in the south back when Discovery got built with the bond money instead. There - there's your "Fleet" solution to the north's problems. And THIS Fleet was to resolve overcrowding in SOUTH arlington. So stop tromping all over the south - putting it down, calling MC southies hypocrites, trashing our schools, etc. but using us when it suits you. You want the north/south divide, you got it. For decades you've reinforced the north/south divide to keep your ivory towers polished and the brown tarnish out, so now live with it and the consequences it creates for yourselves.

Damn, feeling a bit triggered? For the record, I haven't been here for decades making policy decisions and I doubt you have either. I don't know why we continue to pretend that 50 is an uncrossable chasm, seems like that would perpetuate the divide that you claim to hate. We're here now, do you want things to change or not?