Question about re zoning elementary schools in S. Arlington

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^ I've lived in South Arlington for 5 years and am plenty critical of APS, but the above is hyperbole and oddly offbase to the point of being trollish. Redistricting at the ES level is addressing overcrowding, by bringing new ES online and, therefore, rezoning to fill the new schools. The HS thing is an issue and has been poorly managed by APS, but odds are that all students will still be attending adequate comprehensive schools that are moderately overcrowded by the time OP's kids are there. The reality is that Arlington schools are still very good, the class sizes are smaller than in Fairfax, and OP's kids will be fine even in a Title I school. Not to mention, shorter commutes let OP spend more time with her kids.

There it is again. "Your kids will be fine". Maybe at Oakridge or Fleet. Anywhere else you'll have to spend a lot of time making sure and speaking up when things aren't fine.

Not any more time than parents at north Arlington schools do whether they need to or not.

A south Arlington parent making sure their kid isn't twiddling their thumbs without peers while the rest of Thebes's class drills on SOLs is not the same thing as north Arlington helicoptering.

I love how these comments always assume that NONE of the lower income kids or kids whose parents speak another language could be ahead or gifted or invested in school. Really , MO peers?

Where does your kid go?

Not the poster you're asking the question to; but I agree with the poster's comment - and my answer is that my kids go to Barcroft.
Regarding the previous comment about SA v NA parent involvement not being the same type - it doesn't matter. The point was spending "a lot of time making sure and speaking up." NA helicoptering in schools involves trying to influence or control things so that their child is challenged and having his needs met. Same as that SA parent who's "making sure their kids isn't twiddling their thumbs without peers." People who are so narrow-minded and stubbornly down on SA schools will grasp at anything to differentiate any point from NA - just won't admit north and south have anything at all in common.

Your decision to be super chill about your kids formative years does indeed make you the cool parent. No one is criticizing kids who need help, or saying they are from a different planet. Only that the schools geared to their needs tend to prioritize them.

[Anonymous]

Yeah. Former SA parent at one of the schools mentioned. Now in NA. I spent innumerable hours meeting with classroom teacher, RTG, and principal attempting to get appropriate differentiation for my child. I can only imagine how much harder that is for a parent with an advanced child new to the country with language barriers. But i moved to NA and I have not been involved one bit. My child is challenged by the teachers and peers. Night and day. There are crazy helicopters in NA and SA. But this is not that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah. Former SA parent at one of the schools mentioned. Now in NA. I spent innumerable hours meeting with classroom teacher, RTG, and principal attempting to get appropriate differentiation for my child. I can only imagine how much harder that is for a parent with an advanced child new to the country with language barriers. But i moved to NA and I have not been involved one bit. My child is challenged by the teachers and peers. Night and day. There are crazy helicopters in NA and SA. But this is not that.

Arlington Blvd is magic. Cross the golden road and all your child's problems disappear...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah. Former SA parent at one of the schools mentioned. Now in NA. I spent innumerable hours meeting with classroom teacher, RTG, and principal attempting to get appropriate differentiation for my child. I can only imagine how much harder that is for a parent with an advanced child new to the country with language barriers. But i moved to NA and I have not been involved one bit. My child is challenged by the teachers and peers. Night and day. There are crazy helicopters in NA and SA. But this is not that.

Arlington Blvd is magic. Cross the golden road and all your child's problems disappear...

Or stay and have everyone assume because your kids first language is English and they were born here that they have no problems of consequence compared to their poorer immigrant classmates and "will be fine" and can be ignored.

[Anonymous]

Not everyone can just move to North Arlington and I don't think we should have to. The same quality schools be available in the whole of the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not everyone can just move to North Arlington and I don't think we should have to. The same quality schools be available in the whole of the county.

The hard thing to acknowledge, publicly, is that what makes a school high quality is a matter of debate. IMHO, APS doesn't have a teacher quality problem. It has a distribution problem. As in, the UMC is unevenly distributed across the schools. Nothing - NOTHING - impacts school quality as much as engaged, educated parents who encourage their kids, support the school, socially and economically. These are people who show up, they are almost always UMC people with the means to do it, and there aren't enough of them in most SA schools, and never will be until the SB draws boundaries that aren't so segregated so as to run off what few UMC parents are willing to give a school a shot but bail after three years of exhaustion. UMC are a strategic resource and aps should act like it. Way more important than iPads and whatever bauble is next.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not everyone can just move to North Arlington and I don't think we should have to. The same quality schools be available in the whole of the county.

The hard thing to acknowledge, publicly, is that what makes a school high quality is a matter of debate. IMHO, APS doesn't have a teacher quality problem. It has a distribution problem. As in, the UMC is unevenly distributed across the schools. Nothing - NOTHING - impacts school quality as much as engaged, educated parents who encourage their kids, support the school, socially and economically. These are people who show up, they are almost always UMC people with the means to do it, and there aren't enough of them in most SA schools, and never will be until the SB draws boundaries that aren't so segregated so as to run off what few UMC parents are willing to give a school a shot but bail after three years of exhaustion. UMC are a strategic resource and aps should act like it. Way more important than iPads and whatever bauble is next.

I know. I just hope its not as bad as people say. Seriously not moving and can't afford private.

All my neighbors love the schools their kids are at, and they are all professionals.

That said, I spent my formative years in one of the worst elementary schools in the country. It was so bad, Bill Clinton went there to make it better, a couple of years after I left. I attended a gifted program once a week. I turned out fine, but I did go on to a private high school.

[Anonymous]

PP who moved. The NA/SA divide is real, and is not related to teacher quality. Income segregation and privilege are the issues. It is not "bad" in SA schools. It is just inferior to the experience in NA school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not everyone can just move to North Arlington and I don't think we should have to. The same quality schools be available in the whole of the county.

Why limit it to the county? How about the state? The country? The world?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Nothing - NOTHING - impacts school quality as much as engaged, educated parents who encourage their kids, support the school, socially and economically. These are people who show up, they are almost always UMC people with the means to do it, and there aren't enough of them in most SA schools, and never will be until the SB draws boundaries that aren't so segregated so as to run off what few UMC parents are willing to give a school a shot but bail after three years of exhaustion. UMC are a strategic resource and aps should act like it.\.

That's utterly ridiculous. I would say teacher quality is vastly more important. Supports given to students who are struggling are vastly more important. I could think of many other things that are vastly more important that being surrounded by UMC people. What an obnoxious statement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not everyone can just move to North Arlington and I don't think we should have to. The same quality schools be available in the whole of the county.

Why limit it to the county? How about the state? The country? The world?

Always. The betterment of all should be first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP who moved. The NA/SA divide is real, and is not related to teacher quality. Income segregation and privilege are the issues. It is not "bad" in SA schools. It is just inferior to the experience in NA school.

Could you divulge the school you moved from? I’m wondering whether all SA schools are necessarily inferior or just some. We are zoned Henry which I assumed would be just as good as NA schools, but your post makes me nervous if all NA schools are always going to be better than the “best” SA schools
Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not everyone can just move to North Arlington and I don't think we should have to. The same quality schools be available in the whole of the county.

Why limit it to the county? How about the state? The country? The world?

No reason to limit it. Yep, in that order, yes, that's the idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Nothing - NOTHING - impacts school quality as much as engaged, educated parents who encourage their kids, support the school, socially and economically. These are people who show up, they are almost always UMC people with the means to do it, and there aren't enough of them in most SA schools, and never will be until the SB draws boundaries that aren't so segregated so as to run off what few UMC parents are willing to give a school a shot but bail after three years of exhaustion. UMC are a strategic resource and aps should act like it.\.

That's utterly ridiculous. I would say teacher quality is vastly more important. Supports given to students who are struggling are vastly more important. I could think of many other things that are vastly more important that being surrounded by UMC people. What an obnoxious statement.

That's what I meant by difficult to acknowledge. You're not thinking about what are called positive externalities.

UMC people bring accountability and massive resources to every school where they predominate. For example: pta auctions in NA schools that raise more PTA funds in one night than a SA school might raise in 5 years. Parents who organize and fund extracurriculars that don't exist in south Arlington schools. Well manicured school grounds with the newest and nicest of everything. These and other resource dependent "extras" combine to attract and retain the best qualified teachers and administrators. Which in turn attracts more resources.That is what the UMC brings: measurable resources that benefit everyone at the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Nothing - NOTHING - impacts school quality as much as engaged, educated parents who encourage their kids, support the school, socially and economically. These are people who show up, they are almost always UMC people with the means to do it, and there aren't enough of them in most SA schools, and never will be until the SB draws boundaries that aren't so segregated so as to run off what few UMC parents are willing to give a school a shot but bail after three years of exhaustion. UMC are a strategic resource and aps should act like it.\.

That's utterly ridiculous. I would say teacher quality is vastly more important. Supports given to students who are struggling are vastly more important. I could think of many other things that are vastly more important that being surrounded by UMC people. What an obnoxious statement.

Not PP, but I think it's both. You really need both excellent teachers and a large group of engaged parents (who don't have to be high income necessarily, just able and willing to volunteer and to push their students at home; it's just more likely to find parents who are able to be that engaged at that level among higher income brackets because they are typically the ones who have the luxury of time, while many poorer families do not). You really don't need a school to be under 20% fr/l for every kid to have an optimal experience, but you might need it to be closer to 50%.