Replicating ATS success — what are exact differences

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Doesn't ATS already have a VPI program and don't those VPI students get priority entrance into ATS?

Yes. Non VPI students have very low chance of getting in. After VPI and siblings, I think it’s like 8% chance.

91 seats offered in Kindergarten for 2023/2024 school year. 45 VPI students admitted and 39 siblings only leaves 7 spots for nonVPI with no sibling.

ARe you sure your numbers are right? There are 45 VPI students each year but they are pk3, and 4 so only 20something. Also the student numbers for siblings is for all siblings, not VPI siblings. My 2nd kid got in through lottery and we took a sibling spot in a higher grade. We were number 4 on the sibling waitlist and got in so no non-siblings got into that grade. We are not VPI.

DP. 91 k seats at ATS, 45 went to VPI students. 39 were siblings. Maybe those 39 could be sibling and vpi but not sure. 320 applicants. Very few seats available after vpi and siblings.

PP said earlier that vpi was expanded at ATS. When did that happen? Could ATS be title I at some point?

Sure. I am not an expert but I think Title I threshold is 40%. ATS is almost 35%.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2023/05/FREE-REDUCED-OCTOBER-31-2022-V3.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS should mandate 2/3rds of slots for lower socioeconomic and minority students, similar to how Montessori does their prek. I have no problem with ATS existing or being a home for attentive parents. But it should favor disadvantaged every step of the way. And, please don't tell me it's FRL rate is similar or better than other schools, that is truly irrelevant. It's FRL needs to be twice the worst neighborhood school, and it's student demographics needs to flip the stats of U.S. public. Then you know it's really serving those who need it in our society.

ATS parent. I support setting aside more K-5 slots for FRL families.

Btw Montessori pre-k uses that model but the elementary school has a lower FRM rate than ATS.

Colleges can’t even set aside spots based on race. But public elementary schools can?

Who said race? This is FRL.

There are white kids in the VPI classes.

Right, but PP said minorities. Reading comprehension, people. No wonder our kids are struggling.

Oh sorry, did that disadvantaged argument strike a nerve? You people smell of fear. Like maybe your free country day school might actually get redirected to people who really need it. Love it.

Huh? My kids don’t even go to ATS. Just saying you can’t fill a school based on race.

Well, that’s not true. How do you think our schools became (and remain) so segregated? It’s not an accident.

Housing policy (historically) and home prices (currently).

I’m not saying they aren’t segregated. I’m saying APS can’t make a policy that states certain schools must be x percent POC. Universities can’t even do that.

Should there be a greater mix demographically in our schools? I want there to be. Though realistically, how do they do that? Bus kids all over town? And what happens when even more families leave for private school? Take a look at Alexandria. It isn’t so pretty.

The Ashlawn boundary is contiguous to Carlin Springs and Barrett. Innovation has been “picked” to be the North Arlington future school for massive amounts of affordable housing, yet you have Science Focus about a mile up the road and one metro stop away. Would you consider adjusting those boundaries too radical? It wouldn’t require a “bus all over town.” I don’t think most people are aware how blatantly segregated the boundaries are in some instances. It cannot be reasonably explained away.

Are you in favor of eliminating the wrap-around services some of these title I schools offer? Spread the poor kids out between different high-performing schools, dropping them at the door and saying “good luck”?

I’m not sure what the answer is, but I know APS doesn’t have the resources to offer some of those services at EVERY school.

APS and Title 1 aren’t funding those services. The county pays for most of the wraparound services, the stuff like free glasses and social workers. The funding follows the kids, so move them around and the $$ and services follow them. PTAs offer some of the other resources, like donations to holiday or food drives and scholarships to after school activities, so a wealthier PTA with fewer needy kids could provide more for each individual student. There’s a lot of research out there if you want to learn about the affects of poverty on schools, and about how it’s really detrimental for poor kids to be in majority low income schools and neighborhoods. It’s neither here nor there. APS will never do anything about it and often they make it worse when they “adjust” contiguous boundaries because it’s the last consideration on their list, when it should be first. It’s the thing that has the most bearing on education, with tons of evidence and research out there. I am not aware of the same level of research into how alignment affects student outcomes (hint: it doesn’t).

Thank you. And I just want to add that some CAF buildings already require buses to get the kids to elementary school, so those kids are getting bused anyway whether it’s to their current high-poverty school, or another nearby school. There are schools within 1-3 miles of each other that aren’t high-poverty where these kids could go. This isn’t something APS couldn’t fix if it actually cared.

Are the other nearby schools under enrolled? And if not, are you expecting some of their students to swap places into the high-poverty school? That’s a hard sell, and would lead to many families fleeing APS. Again, look at Alexandria.

I have no idea why you keep repeating this statement. Alexandria City High School is a 4400 student high school with similar demographics to Wakefield. Wakefield is ranked over 5000 spots higher than ACHS. We are talking about making the schools even LESS segregated, not more. If we shuffle things around, there will be fewer high-poverty schools in Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS should mandate 2/3rds of slots for lower socioeconomic and minority students, similar to how Montessori does their prek. I have no problem with ATS existing or being a home for attentive parents. But it should favor disadvantaged every step of the way. And, please don't tell me it's FRL rate is similar or better than other schools, that is truly irrelevant. It's FRL needs to be twice the worst neighborhood school, and it's student demographics needs to flip the stats of U.S. public. Then you know it's really serving those who need it in our society.

ATS parent. I support setting aside more K-5 slots for FRL families.

Btw Montessori pre-k uses that model but the elementary school has a lower FRM rate than ATS.

Colleges can’t even set aside spots based on race. But public elementary schools can?

Who said race? This is FRL.

There are white kids in the VPI classes.

Right, but PP said minorities. Reading comprehension, people. No wonder our kids are struggling.

Oh sorry, did that disadvantaged argument strike a nerve? You people smell of fear. Like maybe your free country day school might actually get redirected to people who really need it. Love it.

Huh? My kids don’t even go to ATS. Just saying you can’t fill a school based on race.

Well, that’s not true. How do you think our schools became (and remain) so segregated? It’s not an accident.

Housing policy (historically) and home prices (currently).

I’m not saying they aren’t segregated. I’m saying APS can’t make a policy that states certain schools must be x percent POC. Universities can’t even do that.

Should there be a greater mix demographically in our schools? I want there to be. Though realistically, how do they do that? Bus kids all over town? And what happens when even more families leave for private school? Take a look at Alexandria. It isn’t so pretty.

The Ashlawn boundary is contiguous to Carlin Springs and Barrett. Innovation has been “picked” to be the North Arlington future school for massive amounts of affordable housing, yet you have Science Focus about a mile up the road and one metro stop away. Would you consider adjusting those boundaries too radical? It wouldn’t require a “bus all over town.” I don’t think most people are aware how blatantly segregated the boundaries are in some instances. It cannot be reasonably explained away.

Are you in favor of eliminating the wrap-around services some of these title I schools offer? Spread the poor kids out between different high-performing schools, dropping them at the door and saying “good luck”?

I’m not sure what the answer is, but I know APS doesn’t have the resources to offer some of those services at EVERY school.

APS and Title 1 aren’t funding those services. The county pays for most of the wraparound services, the stuff like free glasses and social workers. The funding follows the kids, so move them around and the $$ and services follow them. PTAs offer some of the other resources, like donations to holiday or food drives and scholarships to after school activities, so a wealthier PTA with fewer needy kids could provide more for each individual student. There’s a lot of research out there if you want to learn about the affects of poverty on schools, and about how it’s really detrimental for poor kids to be in majority low income schools and neighborhoods. It’s neither here nor there. APS will never do anything about it and often they make it worse when they “adjust” contiguous boundaries because it’s the last consideration on their list, when it should be first. It’s the thing that has the most bearing on education, with tons of evidence and research out there. I am not aware of the same level of research into how alignment affects student outcomes (hint: it doesn’t).

Thank you. And I just want to add that some CAF buildings already require buses to get the kids to elementary school, so those kids are getting bused anyway whether it’s to their current high-poverty school, or another nearby school. There are schools within 1-3 miles of each other that aren’t high-poverty where these kids could go. This isn’t something APS couldn’t fix if it actually cared.

Are the other nearby schools under enrolled? And if not, are you expecting some of their students to swap places into the high-poverty school? That’s a hard sell, and would lead to many families fleeing APS. Again, look at Alexandria.

I have no idea why you keep repeating this statement. Alexandria City High School is a 4400 student high school with similar demographics to Wakefield. Wakefield is ranked over 5000 spots higher than ACHS. We are talking about making the schools even LESS segregated, not more. If we shuffle things around, there will be fewer high-poverty schools in Arlington.

No. Take a look at Alexandria’s elementary and middle schools, not ACHS. A lot of Alexandria residents refuse to use the public schools, choosing private school starting at K, which is why their schools are so 💩 at ALL levels.

Which is my point: No one with means is swapping spaces into a high-poverty school. They’d rather flee APS. And as much as it sucks, we need some of those privileged families to stay. Or YES, we turn into Alexandria, where only disadvantaged families use the public schools at ANY level.

I’m not saying it’s right. But do you really think people would willingly send their kids to a failing school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS should mandate 2/3rds of slots for lower socioeconomic and minority students, similar to how Montessori does their prek. I have no problem with ATS existing or being a home for attentive parents. But it should favor disadvantaged every step of the way. And, please don't tell me it's FRL rate is similar or better than other schools, that is truly irrelevant. It's FRL needs to be twice the worst neighborhood school, and it's student demographics needs to flip the stats of U.S. public. Then you know it's really serving those who need it in our society.

ATS parent. I support setting aside more K-5 slots for FRL families.

Btw Montessori pre-k uses that model but the elementary school has a lower FRM rate than ATS.

Colleges can’t even set aside spots based on race. But public elementary schools can?

Who said race? This is FRL.

There are white kids in the VPI classes.

Right, but PP said minorities. Reading comprehension, people. No wonder our kids are struggling.

Oh sorry, did that disadvantaged argument strike a nerve? You people smell of fear. Like maybe your free country day school might actually get redirected to people who really need it. Love it.

Huh? My kids don’t even go to ATS. Just saying you can’t fill a school based on race.

Well, that’s not true. How do you think our schools became (and remain) so segregated? It’s not an accident.

Housing policy (historically) and home prices (currently).

I’m not saying they aren’t segregated. I’m saying APS can’t make a policy that states certain schools must be x percent POC. Universities can’t even do that.

Should there be a greater mix demographically in our schools? I want there to be. Though realistically, how do they do that? Bus kids all over town? And what happens when even more families leave for private school? Take a look at Alexandria. It isn’t so pretty.

The Ashlawn boundary is contiguous to Carlin Springs and Barrett. Innovation has been “picked” to be the North Arlington future school for massive amounts of affordable housing, yet you have Science Focus about a mile up the road and one metro stop away. Would you consider adjusting those boundaries too radical? It wouldn’t require a “bus all over town.” I don’t think most people are aware how blatantly segregated the boundaries are in some instances. It cannot be reasonably explained away.

Are you in favor of eliminating the wrap-around services some of these title I schools offer? Spread the poor kids out between different high-performing schools, dropping them at the door and saying “good luck”?

I’m not sure what the answer is, but I know APS doesn’t have the resources to offer some of those services at EVERY school.

APS and Title 1 aren’t funding those services. The county pays for most of the wraparound services, the stuff like free glasses and social workers. The funding follows the kids, so move them around and the $$ and services follow them. PTAs offer some of the other resources, like donations to holiday or food drives and scholarships to after school activities, so a wealthier PTA with fewer needy kids could provide more for each individual student. There’s a lot of research out there if you want to learn about the affects of poverty on schools, and about how it’s really detrimental for poor kids to be in majority low income schools and neighborhoods. It’s neither here nor there. APS will never do anything about it and often they make it worse when they “adjust” contiguous boundaries because it’s the last consideration on their list, when it should be first. It’s the thing that has the most bearing on education, with tons of evidence and research out there. I am not aware of the same level of research into how alignment affects student outcomes (hint: it doesn’t).

Thank you. And I just want to add that some CAF buildings already require buses to get the kids to elementary school, so those kids are getting bused anyway whether it’s to their current high-poverty school, or another nearby school. There are schools within 1-3 miles of each other that aren’t high-poverty where these kids could go. This isn’t something APS couldn’t fix if it actually cared.

Are the other nearby schools under enrolled? And if not, are you expecting some of their students to swap places into the high-poverty school? That’s a hard sell, and would lead to many families fleeing APS. Again, look at Alexandria.

I have no idea why you keep repeating this statement. Alexandria City High School is a 4400 student high school with similar demographics to Wakefield. Wakefield is ranked over 5000 spots higher than ACHS. We are talking about making the schools even LESS segregated, not more. If we shuffle things around, there will be fewer high-poverty schools in Arlington.

No. Take a look at Alexandria’s elementary and middle schools, not ACHS. A lot of Alexandria residents refuse to use the public schools, choosing private school starting at K, which is why their schools are so 💩 at ALL levels.

Which is my point: No one with means is swapping spaces into a high-poverty school. They’d rather flee APS. And as much as it sucks, we need some of those privileged families to stay. Or YES, we turn into Alexandria, where only disadvantaged families use the public schools at ANY level.

I’m not saying it’s right. But do you really think people would willingly send their kids to a failing school?

DP, and nope, we’re definitely not sending our kids to APS unless they get into ATS. We will move if they don’t get in. We’re in S Arlington. I don’t care if this is an unpopular opinion, but I expect high test scores in the schools my kids attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there public data on how many students applied to ATS in last year or year before ? Also, is data on current (or last year’s) student enrollment numbers for each APS elementary school available ?

If so, it would be kind to post the URL.

Here you go: https://www.apsva.us/school-transfer-data/

Had no idea how many people actually put in for ATS. WOW!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS should mandate 2/3rds of slots for lower socioeconomic and minority students, similar to how Montessori does their prek. I have no problem with ATS existing or being a home for attentive parents. But it should favor disadvantaged every step of the way. And, please don't tell me it's FRL rate is similar or better than other schools, that is truly irrelevant. It's FRL needs to be twice the worst neighborhood school, and it's student demographics needs to flip the stats of U.S. public. Then you know it's really serving those who need it in our society.

ATS parent. I support setting aside more K-5 slots for FRL families.

Btw Montessori pre-k uses that model but the elementary school has a lower FRM rate than ATS.

Colleges can’t even set aside spots based on race. But public elementary schools can?

Who said race? This is FRL.

There are white kids in the VPI classes.

Right, but PP said minorities. Reading comprehension, people. No wonder our kids are struggling.

Oh sorry, did that disadvantaged argument strike a nerve? You people smell of fear. Like maybe your free country day school might actually get redirected to people who really need it. Love it.

Huh? My kids don’t even go to ATS. Just saying you can’t fill a school based on race.

Well, that’s not true. How do you think our schools became (and remain) so segregated? It’s not an accident.

Housing policy (historically) and home prices (currently).

I’m not saying they aren’t segregated. I’m saying APS can’t make a policy that states certain schools must be x percent POC. Universities can’t even do that.

Should there be a greater mix demographically in our schools? I want there to be. Though realistically, how do they do that? Bus kids all over town? And what happens when even more families leave for private school? Take a look at Alexandria. It isn’t so pretty.

The Ashlawn boundary is contiguous to Carlin Springs and Barrett. Innovation has been “picked” to be the North Arlington future school for massive amounts of affordable housing, yet you have Science Focus about a mile up the road and one metro stop away. Would you consider adjusting those boundaries too radical? It wouldn’t require a “bus all over town.” I don’t think most people are aware how blatantly segregated the boundaries are in some instances. It cannot be reasonably explained away.

Are you in favor of eliminating the wrap-around services some of these title I schools offer? Spread the poor kids out between different high-performing schools, dropping them at the door and saying “good luck”?

I’m not sure what the answer is, but I know APS doesn’t have the resources to offer some of those services at EVERY school.

APS and Title 1 aren’t funding those services. The county pays for most of the wraparound services, the stuff like free glasses and social workers. The funding follows the kids, so move them around and the $$ and services follow them. PTAs offer some of the other resources, like donations to holiday or food drives and scholarships to after school activities, so a wealthier PTA with fewer needy kids could provide more for each individual student. There’s a lot of research out there if you want to learn about the affects of poverty on schools, and about how it’s really detrimental for poor kids to be in majority low income schools and neighborhoods. It’s neither here nor there. APS will never do anything about it and often they make it worse when they “adjust” contiguous boundaries because it’s the last consideration on their list, when it should be first. It’s the thing that has the most bearing on education, with tons of evidence and research out there. I am not aware of the same level of research into how alignment affects student outcomes (hint: it doesn’t).

Thank you. And I just want to add that some CAF buildings already require buses to get the kids to elementary school, so those kids are getting bused anyway whether it’s to their current high-poverty school, or another nearby school. There are schools within 1-3 miles of each other that aren’t high-poverty where these kids could go. This isn’t something APS couldn’t fix if it actually cared.

Are the other nearby schools under enrolled? And if not, are you expecting some of their students to swap places into the high-poverty school? That’s a hard sell, and would lead to many families fleeing APS. Again, look at Alexandria.

I have no idea why you keep repeating this statement. Alexandria City High School is a 4400 student high school with similar demographics to Wakefield. Wakefield is ranked over 5000 spots higher than ACHS. We are talking about making the schools even LESS segregated, not more. If we shuffle things around, there will be fewer high-poverty schools in Arlington.

No. Take a look at Alexandria’s elementary and middle schools, not ACHS. A lot of Alexandria residents refuse to use the public schools, choosing private school starting at K, which is why their schools are so 💩 at ALL levels.

Which is my point: No one with means is swapping spaces into a high-poverty school. They’d rather flee APS. And as much as it sucks, we need some of those privileged families to stay. Or YES, we turn into Alexandria, where only disadvantaged families use the public schools at ANY level.

I’m not saying it’s right. But do you really think people would willingly send their kids to a failing school?

DP, and nope, we’re definitely not sending our kids to APS unless they get into ATS. We will move if they don’t get in. We’re in S Arlington. I don’t care if this is an unpopular opinion, but I expect high test scores in the schools my kids attend.

Move where??? It would seem that either you can (a) afford to live in a fancier part of really any local town with better schools or (b) send your kid to private school. And only crazy people who can afford options a or b are actually waiting on the ATS lottery. Which is why it is filled with kids from less affluent parts of town.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS should mandate 2/3rds of slots for lower socioeconomic and minority students, similar to how Montessori does their prek. I have no problem with ATS existing or being a home for attentive parents. But it should favor disadvantaged every step of the way. And, please don't tell me it's FRL rate is similar or better than other schools, that is truly irrelevant. It's FRL needs to be twice the worst neighborhood school, and it's student demographics needs to flip the stats of U.S. public. Then you know it's really serving those who need it in our society.

ATS parent. I support setting aside more K-5 slots for FRL families.

Btw Montessori pre-k uses that model but the elementary school has a lower FRM rate than ATS.

Colleges can’t even set aside spots based on race. But public elementary schools can?

Who said race? This is FRL.

There are white kids in the VPI classes.

Right, but PP said minorities. Reading comprehension, people. No wonder our kids are struggling.

Oh sorry, did that disadvantaged argument strike a nerve? You people smell of fear. Like maybe your free country day school might actually get redirected to people who really need it. Love it.

Huh? My kids don’t even go to ATS. Just saying you can’t fill a school based on race.

Well, that’s not true. How do you think our schools became (and remain) so segregated? It’s not an accident.

Housing policy (historically) and home prices (currently).

I’m not saying they aren’t segregated. I’m saying APS can’t make a policy that states certain schools must be x percent POC. Universities can’t even do that.

Should there be a greater mix demographically in our schools? I want there to be. Though realistically, how do they do that? Bus kids all over town? And what happens when even more families leave for private school? Take a look at Alexandria. It isn’t so pretty.

The Ashlawn boundary is contiguous to Carlin Springs and Barrett. Innovation has been “picked” to be the North Arlington future school for massive amounts of affordable housing, yet you have Science Focus about a mile up the road and one metro stop away. Would you consider adjusting those boundaries too radical? It wouldn’t require a “bus all over town.” I don’t think most people are aware how blatantly segregated the boundaries are in some instances. It cannot be reasonably explained away.

Are you in favor of eliminating the wrap-around services some of these title I schools offer? Spread the poor kids out between different high-performing schools, dropping them at the door and saying “good luck”?

I’m not sure what the answer is, but I know APS doesn’t have the resources to offer some of those services at EVERY school.

APS and Title 1 aren’t funding those services. The county pays for most of the wraparound services, the stuff like free glasses and social workers. The funding follows the kids, so move them around and the $$ and services follow them. PTAs offer some of the other resources, like donations to holiday or food drives and scholarships to after school activities, so a wealthier PTA with fewer needy kids could provide more for each individual student. There’s a lot of research out there if you want to learn about the affects of poverty on schools, and about how it’s really detrimental for poor kids to be in majority low income schools and neighborhoods. It’s neither here nor there. APS will never do anything about it and often they make it worse when they “adjust” contiguous boundaries because it’s the last consideration on their list, when it should be first. It’s the thing that has the most bearing on education, with tons of evidence and research out there. I am not aware of the same level of research into how alignment affects student outcomes (hint: it doesn’t).

Thank you. And I just want to add that some CAF buildings already require buses to get the kids to elementary school, so those kids are getting bused anyway whether it’s to their current high-poverty school, or another nearby school. There are schools within 1-3 miles of each other that aren’t high-poverty where these kids could go. This isn’t something APS couldn’t fix if it actually cared.

Are the other nearby schools under enrolled? And if not, are you expecting some of their students to swap places into the high-poverty school? That’s a hard sell, and would lead to many families fleeing APS. Again, look at Alexandria.

I have no idea why you keep repeating this statement. Alexandria City High School is a 4400 student high school with similar demographics to Wakefield. Wakefield is ranked over 5000 spots higher than ACHS. We are talking about making the schools even LESS segregated, not more. If we shuffle things around, there will be fewer high-poverty schools in Arlington.

No. Take a look at Alexandria’s elementary and middle schools, not ACHS. A lot of Alexandria residents refuse to use the public schools, choosing private school starting at K, which is why their schools are so 💩 at ALL levels.

Which is my point: No one with means is swapping spaces into a high-poverty school. They’d rather flee APS. And as much as it sucks, we need some of those privileged families to stay. Or YES, we turn into Alexandria, where only disadvantaged families use the public schools at ANY level.

I’m not saying it’s right. But do you really think people would willingly send their kids to a failing school?

DP, and nope, we’re definitely not sending our kids to APS unless they get into ATS. We will move if they don’t get in. We’re in S Arlington. I don’t care if this is an unpopular opinion, but I expect high test scores in the schools my kids attend.

But the idea some people are suggesting is to adjust the boundaries to create more mixed-income rather than high-poverty or significantly affluent schools. Wouldn’t this help your neighborhood school? Or are you only after the 22207 schools? Why didn’t you just move there? I’m not sure where you think you can go if you can’t afford that option unless you’re leaving the area.

It doesn’t have to be perfect but the boundaries could be improved. That’s all anyone here has suggested so far. This shouldn’t freak rationale people out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS should mandate 2/3rds of slots for lower socioeconomic and minority students, similar to how Montessori does their prek. I have no problem with ATS existing or being a home for attentive parents. But it should favor disadvantaged every step of the way. And, please don't tell me it's FRL rate is similar or better than other schools, that is truly irrelevant. It's FRL needs to be twice the worst neighborhood school, and it's student demographics needs to flip the stats of U.S. public. Then you know it's really serving those who need it in our society.

ATS parent. I support setting aside more K-5 slots for FRL families.

Btw Montessori pre-k uses that model but the elementary school has a lower FRM rate than ATS.

Colleges can’t even set aside spots based on race. But public elementary schools can?

Who said race? This is FRL.

There are white kids in the VPI classes.

Right, but PP said minorities. Reading comprehension, people. No wonder our kids are struggling.

Oh sorry, did that disadvantaged argument strike a nerve? You people smell of fear. Like maybe your free country day school might actually get redirected to people who really need it. Love it.

Huh? My kids don’t even go to ATS. Just saying you can’t fill a school based on race.

Well, that’s not true. How do you think our schools became (and remain) so segregated? It’s not an accident.

Housing policy (historically) and home prices (currently).

I’m not saying they aren’t segregated. I’m saying APS can’t make a policy that states certain schools must be x percent POC. Universities can’t even do that.

Should there be a greater mix demographically in our schools? I want there to be. Though realistically, how do they do that? Bus kids all over town? And what happens when even more families leave for private school? Take a look at Alexandria. It isn’t so pretty.

The Ashlawn boundary is contiguous to Carlin Springs and Barrett. Innovation has been “picked” to be the North Arlington future school for massive amounts of affordable housing, yet you have Science Focus about a mile up the road and one metro stop away. Would you consider adjusting those boundaries too radical? It wouldn’t require a “bus all over town.” I don’t think most people are aware how blatantly segregated the boundaries are in some instances. It cannot be reasonably explained away.

Are you in favor of eliminating the wrap-around services some of these title I schools offer? Spread the poor kids out between different high-performing schools, dropping them at the door and saying “good luck”?

I’m not sure what the answer is, but I know APS doesn’t have the resources to offer some of those services at EVERY school.

APS and Title 1 aren’t funding those services. The county pays for most of the wraparound services, the stuff like free glasses and social workers. The funding follows the kids, so move them around and the $$ and services follow them. PTAs offer some of the other resources, like donations to holiday or food drives and scholarships to after school activities, so a wealthier PTA with fewer needy kids could provide more for each individual student. There’s a lot of research out there if you want to learn about the affects of poverty on schools, and about how it’s really detrimental for poor kids to be in majority low income schools and neighborhoods. It’s neither here nor there. APS will never do anything about it and often they make it worse when they “adjust” contiguous boundaries because it’s the last consideration on their list, when it should be first. It’s the thing that has the most bearing on education, with tons of evidence and research out there. I am not aware of the same level of research into how alignment affects student outcomes (hint: it doesn’t).

Thank you. And I just want to add that some CAF buildings already require buses to get the kids to elementary school, so those kids are getting bused anyway whether it’s to their current high-poverty school, or another nearby school. There are schools within 1-3 miles of each other that aren’t high-poverty where these kids could go. This isn’t something APS couldn’t fix if it actually cared.

Are the other nearby schools under enrolled? And if not, are you expecting some of their students to swap places into the high-poverty school? That’s a hard sell, and would lead to many families fleeing APS. Again, look at Alexandria.

I have no idea why you keep repeating this statement. Alexandria City High School is a 4400 student high school with similar demographics to Wakefield. Wakefield is ranked over 5000 spots higher than ACHS. We are talking about making the schools even LESS segregated, not more. If we shuffle things around, there will be fewer high-poverty schools in Arlington.

No. Take a look at Alexandria’s elementary and middle schools, not ACHS. A lot of Alexandria residents refuse to use the public schools, choosing private school starting at K, which is why their schools are so 💩 at ALL levels.

Which is my point: No one with means is swapping spaces into a high-poverty school. They’d rather flee APS. And as much as it sucks, we need some of those privileged families to stay. Or YES, we turn into Alexandria, where only disadvantaged families use the public schools at ANY level.

I’m not saying it’s right. But do you really think people would willingly send their kids to a failing school?

DP, and nope, we’re definitely not sending our kids to APS unless they get into ATS. We will move if they don’t get in. We’re in S Arlington. I don’t care if this is an unpopular opinion, but I expect high test scores in the schools my kids attend.

I mean there are plenty of schools with decent test scores in Arlington. Even the schools with bad test scores in Arlington are good compared to a lot of Virginia. Pretty much every school in APS scores higher than the state average in all categories and in all demographics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS should mandate 2/3rds of slots for lower socioeconomic and minority students, similar to how Montessori does their prek. I have no problem with ATS existing or being a home for attentive parents. But it should favor disadvantaged every step of the way. And, please don't tell me it's FRL rate is similar or better than other schools, that is truly irrelevant. It's FRL needs to be twice the worst neighborhood school, and it's student demographics needs to flip the stats of U.S. public. Then you know it's really serving those who need it in our society.

ATS parent. I support setting aside more K-5 slots for FRL families.

Btw Montessori pre-k uses that model but the elementary school has a lower FRM rate than ATS.

Colleges can’t even set aside spots based on race. But public elementary schools can?

Who said race? This is FRL.

There are white kids in the VPI classes.

Right, but PP said minorities. Reading comprehension, people. No wonder our kids are struggling.

Oh sorry, did that disadvantaged argument strike a nerve? You people smell of fear. Like maybe your free country day school might actually get redirected to people who really need it. Love it.

Huh? My kids don’t even go to ATS. Just saying you can’t fill a school based on race.

Well, that’s not true. How do you think our schools became (and remain) so segregated? It’s not an accident.

Housing policy (historically) and home prices (currently).

I’m not saying they aren’t segregated. I’m saying APS can’t make a policy that states certain schools must be x percent POC. Universities can’t even do that.

Should there be a greater mix demographically in our schools? I want there to be. Though realistically, how do they do that? Bus kids all over town? And what happens when even more families leave for private school? Take a look at Alexandria. It isn’t so pretty.

The Ashlawn boundary is contiguous to Carlin Springs and Barrett. Innovation has been “picked” to be the North Arlington future school for massive amounts of affordable housing, yet you have Science Focus about a mile up the road and one metro stop away. Would you consider adjusting those boundaries too radical? It wouldn’t require a “bus all over town.” I don’t think most people are aware how blatantly segregated the boundaries are in some instances. It cannot be reasonably explained away.

Are you in favor of eliminating the wrap-around services some of these title I schools offer? Spread the poor kids out between different high-performing schools, dropping them at the door and saying “good luck”?

I’m not sure what the answer is, but I know APS doesn’t have the resources to offer some of those services at EVERY school.

APS and Title 1 aren’t funding those services. The county pays for most of the wraparound services, the stuff like free glasses and social workers. The funding follows the kids, so move them around and the $$ and services follow them. PTAs offer some of the other resources, like donations to holiday or food drives and scholarships to after school activities, so a wealthier PTA with fewer needy kids could provide more for each individual student. There’s a lot of research out there if you want to learn about the affects of poverty on schools, and about how it’s really detrimental for poor kids to be in majority low income schools and neighborhoods. It’s neither here nor there. APS will never do anything about it and often they make it worse when they “adjust” contiguous boundaries because it’s the last consideration on their list, when it should be first. It’s the thing that has the most bearing on education, with tons of evidence and research out there. I am not aware of the same level of research into how alignment affects student outcomes (hint: it doesn’t).

Thank you. And I just want to add that some CAF buildings already require buses to get the kids to elementary school, so those kids are getting bused anyway whether it’s to their current high-poverty school, or another nearby school. There are schools within 1-3 miles of each other that aren’t high-poverty where these kids could go. This isn’t something APS couldn’t fix if it actually cared.

Are the other nearby schools under enrolled? And if not, are you expecting some of their students to swap places into the high-poverty school? That’s a hard sell, and would lead to many families fleeing APS. Again, look at Alexandria.

I have no idea why you keep repeating this statement. Alexandria City High School is a 4400 student high school with similar demographics to Wakefield. Wakefield is ranked over 5000 spots higher than ACHS. We are talking about making the schools even LESS segregated, not more. If we shuffle things around, there will be fewer high-poverty schools in Arlington.

No. Take a look at Alexandria’s elementary and middle schools, not ACHS. A lot of Alexandria residents refuse to use the public schools, choosing private school starting at K, which is why their schools are so 💩 at ALL levels.

Which is my point: No one with means is swapping spaces into a high-poverty school. They’d rather flee APS. And as much as it sucks, we need some of those privileged families to stay. Or YES, we turn into Alexandria, where only disadvantaged families use the public schools at ANY level.

I’m not saying it’s right. But do you really think people would willingly send their kids to a failing school?

DP, and nope, we’re definitely not sending our kids to APS unless they get into ATS. We will move if they don’t get in. We’re in S Arlington. I don’t care if this is an unpopular opinion, but I expect high test scores in the schools my kids attend.

I mean there are plenty of schools with decent test scores in Arlington. Even the schools with bad test scores in Arlington are good compared to a lot of Virginia. Pretty much every school in APS scores higher than the state average in all categories and in all demographics.

This is definitely not true. APS as a whole is above the state average. Some schools are way above, but our lower at performing schools are definitely under.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS should mandate 2/3rds of slots for lower socioeconomic and minority students, similar to how Montessori does their prek. I have no problem with ATS existing or being a home for attentive parents. But it should favor disadvantaged every step of the way. And, please don't tell me it's FRL rate is similar or better than other schools, that is truly irrelevant. It's FRL needs to be twice the worst neighborhood school, and it's student demographics needs to flip the stats of U.S. public. Then you know it's really serving those who need it in our society.

ATS parent. I support setting aside more K-5 slots for FRL families.

Btw Montessori pre-k uses that model but the elementary school has a lower FRM rate than ATS.

Colleges can’t even set aside spots based on race. But public elementary schools can?

Who said race? This is FRL.

There are white kids in the VPI classes.

Right, but PP said minorities. Reading comprehension, people. No wonder our kids are struggling.

Oh sorry, did that disadvantaged argument strike a nerve? You people smell of fear. Like maybe your free country day school might actually get redirected to people who really need it. Love it.

Huh? My kids don’t even go to ATS. Just saying you can’t fill a school based on race.

Well, that’s not true. How do you think our schools became (and remain) so segregated? It’s not an accident.

Housing policy (historically) and home prices (currently).

I’m not saying they aren’t segregated. I’m saying APS can’t make a policy that states certain schools must be x percent POC. Universities can’t even do that.

Should there be a greater mix demographically in our schools? I want there to be. Though realistically, how do they do that? Bus kids all over town? And what happens when even more families leave for private school? Take a look at Alexandria. It isn’t so pretty.

The Ashlawn boundary is contiguous to Carlin Springs and Barrett. Innovation has been “picked” to be the North Arlington future school for massive amounts of affordable housing, yet you have Science Focus about a mile up the road and one metro stop away. Would you consider adjusting those boundaries too radical? It wouldn’t require a “bus all over town.” I don’t think most people are aware how blatantly segregated the boundaries are in some instances. It cannot be reasonably explained away.

Are you in favor of eliminating the wrap-around services some of these title I schools offer? Spread the poor kids out between different high-performing schools, dropping them at the door and saying “good luck”?

I’m not sure what the answer is, but I know APS doesn’t have the resources to offer some of those services at EVERY school.

APS and Title 1 aren’t funding those services. The county pays for most of the wraparound services, the stuff like free glasses and social workers. The funding follows the kids, so move them around and the $$ and services follow them. PTAs offer some of the other resources, like donations to holiday or food drives and scholarships to after school activities, so a wealthier PTA with fewer needy kids could provide more for each individual student. There’s a lot of research out there if you want to learn about the affects of poverty on schools, and about how it’s really detrimental for poor kids to be in majority low income schools and neighborhoods. It’s neither here nor there. APS will never do anything about it and often they make it worse when they “adjust” contiguous boundaries because it’s the last consideration on their list, when it should be first. It’s the thing that has the most bearing on education, with tons of evidence and research out there. I am not aware of the same level of research into how alignment affects student outcomes (hint: it doesn’t).

Thank you. And I just want to add that some CAF buildings already require buses to get the kids to elementary school, so those kids are getting bused anyway whether it’s to their current high-poverty school, or another nearby school. There are schools within 1-3 miles of each other that aren’t high-poverty where these kids could go. This isn’t something APS couldn’t fix if it actually cared.

Are the other nearby schools under enrolled? And if not, are you expecting some of their students to swap places into the high-poverty school? That’s a hard sell, and would lead to many families fleeing APS. Again, look at Alexandria.

I have no idea why you keep repeating this statement. Alexandria City High School is a 4400 student high school with similar demographics to Wakefield. Wakefield is ranked over 5000 spots higher than ACHS. We are talking about making the schools even LESS segregated, not more. If we shuffle things around, there will be fewer high-poverty schools in Arlington.

No. Take a look at Alexandria’s elementary and middle schools, not ACHS. A lot of Alexandria residents refuse to use the public schools, choosing private school starting at K, which is why their schools are so 💩 at ALL levels.

Which is my point: No one with means is swapping spaces into a high-poverty school. They’d rather flee APS. And as much as it sucks, we need some of those privileged families to stay. Or YES, we turn into Alexandria, where only disadvantaged families use the public schools at ANY level.

I’m not saying it’s right. But do you really think people would willingly send their kids to a failing school?

DP, and nope, we’re definitely not sending our kids to APS unless they get into ATS. We will move if they don’t get in. We’re in S Arlington. I don’t care if this is an unpopular opinion, but I expect high test scores in the schools my kids attend.

But the idea some people are suggesting is to adjust the boundaries to create more mixed-income rather than high-poverty or significantly affluent schools. Wouldn’t this help your neighborhood school? Or are you only after the 22207 schools? Why didn’t you just move there? I’m not sure where you think you can go if you can’t afford that option unless you’re leaving the area.

It doesn’t have to be perfect but the boundaries could be improved. That’s all anyone here has suggested so far. This shouldn’t freak rationale people out.

I’m the poster you’re responding to and yes, I wholeheartedly support this idea. My experience with this discussion (not necessarily this one but others) is that folks come out of the woodwork to vehemently argue against it for multiple reasons. It’s exhausting and made me apathetic that ANY positive change in APS will ever occur. If it does, great! We might stay. But there doesn’t seem to be any will to fix this. Wouldn’t School Board candidates run on this platform? I could be wrong but I haven’t seen it yet.

This is the older thread I was thinking about (I didn’t read everything in it): https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1015344.page

[Anonymous]

There weee comments on APS website for Nottingham change that SA and poor or ELL kids should bear the burdens not UMC mostly white Nottingham kids. Go check them out yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS should mandate 2/3rds of slots for lower socioeconomic and minority students, similar to how Montessori does their prek. I have no problem with ATS existing or being a home for attentive parents. But it should favor disadvantaged every step of the way. And, please don't tell me it's FRL rate is similar or better than other schools, that is truly irrelevant. It's FRL needs to be twice the worst neighborhood school, and it's student demographics needs to flip the stats of U.S. public. Then you know it's really serving those who need it in our society.

ATS parent. I support setting aside more K-5 slots for FRL families.

Btw Montessori pre-k uses that model but the elementary school has a lower FRM rate than ATS.

Colleges can’t even set aside spots based on race. But public elementary schools can?

Who said race? This is FRL.

There are white kids in the VPI classes.

Right, but PP said minorities. Reading comprehension, people. No wonder our kids are struggling.

Oh sorry, did that disadvantaged argument strike a nerve? You people smell of fear. Like maybe your free country day school might actually get redirected to people who really need it. Love it.

Huh? My kids don’t even go to ATS. Just saying you can’t fill a school based on race.

Well, that’s not true. How do you think our schools became (and remain) so segregated? It’s not an accident.

Housing policy (historically) and home prices (currently).

I’m not saying they aren’t segregated. I’m saying APS can’t make a policy that states certain schools must be x percent POC. Universities can’t even do that.

Should there be a greater mix demographically in our schools? I want there to be. Though realistically, how do they do that? Bus kids all over town? And what happens when even more families leave for private school? Take a look at Alexandria. It isn’t so pretty.

The Ashlawn boundary is contiguous to Carlin Springs and Barrett. Innovation has been “picked” to be the North Arlington future school for massive amounts of affordable housing, yet you have Science Focus about a mile up the road and one metro stop away. Would you consider adjusting those boundaries too radical? It wouldn’t require a “bus all over town.” I don’t think most people are aware how blatantly segregated the boundaries are in some instances. It cannot be reasonably explained away.

Are you in favor of eliminating the wrap-around services some of these title I schools offer? Spread the poor kids out between different high-performing schools, dropping them at the door and saying “good luck”?

I’m not sure what the answer is, but I know APS doesn’t have the resources to offer some of those services at EVERY school.

APS and Title 1 aren’t funding those services. The county pays for most of the wraparound services, the stuff like free glasses and social workers. The funding follows the kids, so move them around and the $$ and services follow them. PTAs offer some of the other resources, like donations to holiday or food drives and scholarships to after school activities, so a wealthier PTA with fewer needy kids could provide more for each individual student. There’s a lot of research out there if you want to learn about the affects of poverty on schools, and about how it’s really detrimental for poor kids to be in majority low income schools and neighborhoods. It’s neither here nor there. APS will never do anything about it and often they make it worse when they “adjust” contiguous boundaries because it’s the last consideration on their list, when it should be first. It’s the thing that has the most bearing on education, with tons of evidence and research out there. I am not aware of the same level of research into how alignment affects student outcomes (hint: it doesn’t).

Thank you. And I just want to add that some CAF buildings already require buses to get the kids to elementary school, so those kids are getting bused anyway whether it’s to their current high-poverty school, or another nearby school. There are schools within 1-3 miles of each other that aren’t high-poverty where these kids could go. This isn’t something APS couldn’t fix if it actually cared.

Are the other nearby schools under enrolled? And if not, are you expecting some of their students to swap places into the high-poverty school? That’s a hard sell, and would lead to many families fleeing APS. Again, look at Alexandria.

I have no idea why you keep repeating this statement. Alexandria City High School is a 4400 student high school with similar demographics to Wakefield. Wakefield is ranked over 5000 spots higher than ACHS. We are talking about making the schools even LESS segregated, not more. If we shuffle things around, there will be fewer high-poverty schools in Arlington.

No. Take a look at Alexandria’s elementary and middle schools, not ACHS. A lot of Alexandria residents refuse to use the public schools, choosing private school starting at K, which is why their schools are so 💩 at ALL levels.

Which is my point: No one with means is swapping spaces into a high-poverty school. They’d rather flee APS. And as much as it sucks, we need some of those privileged families to stay. Or YES, we turn into Alexandria, where only disadvantaged families use the public schools at ANY level.

I’m not saying it’s right. But do you really think people would willingly send their kids to a failing school?

DP, and nope, we’re definitely not sending our kids to APS unless they get into ATS. We will move if they don’t get in. We’re in S Arlington. I don’t care if this is an unpopular opinion, but I expect high test scores in the schools my kids attend.

But the idea some people are suggesting is to adjust the boundaries to create more mixed-income rather than high-poverty or significantly affluent schools. Wouldn’t this help your neighborhood school? Or are you only after the 22207 schools? Why didn’t you just move there? I’m not sure where you think you can go if you can’t afford that option unless you’re leaving the area.

It doesn’t have to be perfect but the boundaries could be improved. That’s all anyone here has suggested so far. This shouldn’t freak rationale people out.

I’m the poster you’re responding to and yes, I wholeheartedly support this idea. My experience with this discussion (not necessarily this one but others) is that folks come out of the woodwork to vehemently argue against it for multiple reasons. It’s exhausting and made me apathetic that ANY positive change in APS will ever occur. If it does, great! We might stay. But there doesn’t seem to be any will to fix this. Wouldn’t School Board candidates run on this platform? I could be wrong but I haven’t seen it yet.

This is the older thread I was thinking about (I didn’t read everything in it): https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1015344.page

I see, and I don’t blame you. If APS won’t do what’s best for all the kids, then you have to make the best choice for your family. You’re right, they will come out and argue EVERY excuse in the book. Usually under the guise of helping out “the poor kids.” A Nottingham parent actually publicly said the poor kids need to be in South Arlington near their immigration lawyers and food banks. She wasn’t even embarrassed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS should mandate 2/3rds of slots for lower socioeconomic and minority students, similar to how Montessori does their prek. I have no problem with ATS existing or being a home for attentive parents. But it should favor disadvantaged every step of the way. And, please don't tell me it's FRL rate is similar or better than other schools, that is truly irrelevant. It's FRL needs to be twice the worst neighborhood school, and it's student demographics needs to flip the stats of U.S. public. Then you know it's really serving those who need it in our society.

ATS parent. I support setting aside more K-5 slots for FRL families.

Btw Montessori pre-k uses that model but the elementary school has a lower FRM rate than ATS.

Colleges can’t even set aside spots based on race. But public elementary schools can?

Who said race? This is FRL.

There are white kids in the VPI classes.

Right, but PP said minorities. Reading comprehension, people. No wonder our kids are struggling.

Oh sorry, did that disadvantaged argument strike a nerve? You people smell of fear. Like maybe your free country day school might actually get redirected to people who really need it. Love it.

Huh? My kids don’t even go to ATS. Just saying you can’t fill a school based on race.

Well, that’s not true. How do you think our schools became (and remain) so segregated? It’s not an accident.

Housing policy (historically) and home prices (currently).

I’m not saying they aren’t segregated. I’m saying APS can’t make a policy that states certain schools must be x percent POC. Universities can’t even do that.

Should there be a greater mix demographically in our schools? I want there to be. Though realistically, how do they do that? Bus kids all over town? And what happens when even more families leave for private school? Take a look at Alexandria. It isn’t so pretty.

The Ashlawn boundary is contiguous to Carlin Springs and Barrett. Innovation has been “picked” to be the North Arlington future school for massive amounts of affordable housing, yet you have Science Focus about a mile up the road and one metro stop away. Would you consider adjusting those boundaries too radical? It wouldn’t require a “bus all over town.” I don’t think most people are aware how blatantly segregated the boundaries are in some instances. It cannot be reasonably explained away.

Are you in favor of eliminating the wrap-around services some of these title I schools offer? Spread the poor kids out between different high-performing schools, dropping them at the door and saying “good luck”?

I’m not sure what the answer is, but I know APS doesn’t have the resources to offer some of those services at EVERY school.

APS and Title 1 aren’t funding those services. The county pays for most of the wraparound services, the stuff like free glasses and social workers. The funding follows the kids, so move them around and the $$ and services follow them. PTAs offer some of the other resources, like donations to holiday or food drives and scholarships to after school activities, so a wealthier PTA with fewer needy kids could provide more for each individual student. There’s a lot of research out there if you want to learn about the affects of poverty on schools, and about how it’s really detrimental for poor kids to be in majority low income schools and neighborhoods. It’s neither here nor there. APS will never do anything about it and often they make it worse when they “adjust” contiguous boundaries because it’s the last consideration on their list, when it should be first. It’s the thing that has the most bearing on education, with tons of evidence and research out there. I am not aware of the same level of research into how alignment affects student outcomes (hint: it doesn’t).

Thank you. And I just want to add that some CAF buildings already require buses to get the kids to elementary school, so those kids are getting bused anyway whether it’s to their current high-poverty school, or another nearby school. There are schools within 1-3 miles of each other that aren’t high-poverty where these kids could go. This isn’t something APS couldn’t fix if it actually cared.

Are the other nearby schools under enrolled? And if not, are you expecting some of their students to swap places into the high-poverty school? That’s a hard sell, and would lead to many families fleeing APS. Again, look at Alexandria.

I have no idea why you keep repeating this statement. Alexandria City High School is a 4400 student high school with similar demographics to Wakefield. Wakefield is ranked over 5000 spots higher than ACHS. We are talking about making the schools even LESS segregated, not more. If we shuffle things around, there will be fewer high-poverty schools in Arlington.

No. Take a look at Alexandria’s elementary and middle schools, not ACHS. A lot of Alexandria residents refuse to use the public schools, choosing private school starting at K, which is why their schools are so 💩 at ALL levels.

Which is my point: No one with means is swapping spaces into a high-poverty school. They’d rather flee APS. And as much as it sucks, we need some of those privileged families to stay. Or YES, we turn into Alexandria, where only disadvantaged families use the public schools at ANY level.

I’m not saying it’s right. But do you really think people would willingly send their kids to a failing school?

DP, and nope, we’re definitely not sending our kids to APS unless they get into ATS. We will move if they don’t get in. We’re in S Arlington. I don’t care if this is an unpopular opinion, but I expect high test scores in the schools my kids attend.

I mean there are plenty of schools with decent test scores in Arlington. Even the schools with bad test scores in Arlington are good compared to a lot of Virginia. Pretty much every school in APS scores higher than the state average in all categories and in all demographics.

This is definitely not true. APS as a whole is above the state average. Some schools are way above, but our lower at performing schools are definitely under.

Okay, yes sorry I take that back. I don't think I realized how low a lot of these schools are! I guess most of them aren't that far off from the state average, but the state average is horribly low. I mean I think overall the state of VA is failing to educate kids properly. I mean shouldn't a state be embarrassed when only 60ish percent of its elementary population is passing state testing. Either there is a failure in the schools or their is a failure in the testing (probably a bit of both).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There weee comments on APS website for Nottingham change that SA and poor or ELL kids should bear the burdens not UMC mostly white Nottingham kids. Go check them out yourself.

I mean there were comments saying that folks didn't want to go to school with Spanish speaking kids. It was pretty horrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS should mandate 2/3rds of slots for lower socioeconomic and minority students, similar to how Montessori does their prek. I have no problem with ATS existing or being a home for attentive parents. But it should favor disadvantaged every step of the way. And, please don't tell me it's FRL rate is similar or better than other schools, that is truly irrelevant. It's FRL needs to be twice the worst neighborhood school, and it's student demographics needs to flip the stats of U.S. public. Then you know it's really serving those who need it in our society.

ATS parent. I support setting aside more K-5 slots for FRL families.

Btw Montessori pre-k uses that model but the elementary school has a lower FRM rate than ATS.

Colleges can’t even set aside spots based on race. But public elementary schools can?

Who said race? This is FRL.

There are white kids in the VPI classes.

Right, but PP said minorities. Reading comprehension, people. No wonder our kids are struggling.

Oh sorry, did that disadvantaged argument strike a nerve? You people smell of fear. Like maybe your free country day school might actually get redirected to people who really need it. Love it.

Huh? My kids don’t even go to ATS. Just saying you can’t fill a school based on race.

Well, that’s not true. How do you think our schools became (and remain) so segregated? It’s not an accident.

Housing policy (historically) and home prices (currently).

I’m not saying they aren’t segregated. I’m saying APS can’t make a policy that states certain schools must be x percent POC. Universities can’t even do that.

Should there be a greater mix demographically in our schools? I want there to be. Though realistically, how do they do that? Bus kids all over town? And what happens when even more families leave for private school? Take a look at Alexandria. It isn’t so pretty.

The Ashlawn boundary is contiguous to Carlin Springs and Barrett. Innovation has been “picked” to be the North Arlington future school for massive amounts of affordable housing, yet you have Science Focus about a mile up the road and one metro stop away. Would you consider adjusting those boundaries too radical? It wouldn’t require a “bus all over town.” I don’t think most people are aware how blatantly segregated the boundaries are in some instances. It cannot be reasonably explained away.

Are you in favor of eliminating the wrap-around services some of these title I schools offer? Spread the poor kids out between different high-performing schools, dropping them at the door and saying “good luck”?

I’m not sure what the answer is, but I know APS doesn’t have the resources to offer some of those services at EVERY school.

APS and Title 1 aren’t funding those services. The county pays for most of the wraparound services, the stuff like free glasses and social workers. The funding follows the kids, so move them around and the $$ and services follow them. PTAs offer some of the other resources, like donations to holiday or food drives and scholarships to after school activities, so a wealthier PTA with fewer needy kids could provide more for each individual student. There’s a lot of research out there if you want to learn about the affects of poverty on schools, and about how it’s really detrimental for poor kids to be in majority low income schools and neighborhoods. It’s neither here nor there. APS will never do anything about it and often they make it worse when they “adjust” contiguous boundaries because it’s the last consideration on their list, when it should be first. It’s the thing that has the most bearing on education, with tons of evidence and research out there. I am not aware of the same level of research into how alignment affects student outcomes (hint: it doesn’t).

Thank you. And I just want to add that some CAF buildings already require buses to get the kids to elementary school, so those kids are getting bused anyway whether it’s to their current high-poverty school, or another nearby school. There are schools within 1-3 miles of each other that aren’t high-poverty where these kids could go. This isn’t something APS couldn’t fix if it actually cared.

Are the other nearby schools under enrolled? And if not, are you expecting some of their students to swap places into the high-poverty school? That’s a hard sell, and would lead to many families fleeing APS. Again, look at Alexandria.

I have no idea why you keep repeating this statement. Alexandria City High School is a 4400 student high school with similar demographics to Wakefield. Wakefield is ranked over 5000 spots higher than ACHS. We are talking about making the schools even LESS segregated, not more. If we shuffle things around, there will be fewer high-poverty schools in Arlington.

No. Take a look at Alexandria’s elementary and middle schools, not ACHS. A lot of Alexandria residents refuse to use the public schools, choosing private school starting at K, which is why their schools are so 💩 at ALL levels.

Which is my point: No one with means is swapping spaces into a high-poverty school. They’d rather flee APS. And as much as it sucks, we need some of those privileged families to stay. Or YES, we turn into Alexandria, where only disadvantaged families use the public schools at ANY level.

I’m not saying it’s right. But do you really think people would willingly send their kids to a failing school?

DP, and nope, we’re definitely not sending our kids to APS unless they get into ATS. We will move if they don’t get in. We’re in S Arlington. I don’t care if this is an unpopular opinion, but I expect high test scores in the schools my kids attend.

But the idea some people are suggesting is to adjust the boundaries to create more mixed-income rather than high-poverty or significantly affluent schools. Wouldn’t this help your neighborhood school? Or are you only after the 22207 schools? Why didn’t you just move there? I’m not sure where you think you can go if you can’t afford that option unless you’re leaving the area.

It doesn’t have to be perfect but the boundaries could be improved. That’s all anyone here has suggested so far. This shouldn’t freak rationale people out.

I’m the poster you’re responding to and yes, I wholeheartedly support this idea. My experience with this discussion (not necessarily this one but others) is that folks come out of the woodwork to vehemently argue against it for multiple reasons. It’s exhausting and made me apathetic that ANY positive change in APS will ever occur. If it does, great! We might stay. But there doesn’t seem to be any will to fix this. Wouldn’t School Board candidates run on this platform? I could be wrong but I haven’t seen it yet.

This is the older thread I was thinking about (I didn’t read everything in it): https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1015344.page

I’m one of the PPs. I’m not suggesting people SHOULD flee to private schools. I’ve just been around long enough to know that they will. The Alexandria comparison is spot on.