Who said there isn't a North-South divide?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HB does not draw primarily from Yorktown. Where do you see that data? HB slots are equally distributed by student population per attendance zone. If a kid does not attend, the spot is offered to the next kid in the attendance zone.
This may change slightly in the high school round of HB lottery because it may be double blind for a few spots.
If your child attends an option school, you compete for lottery spots with students in your neighborhood school attendance zone, not your option school group. For example there are 5 spots for discovery zone living students.

That's not exactly how it works. The number of slots are based on home school sizes. Historically, the NA elementaries have been larger and therefore have had more slots. Also, there are more ES in NA than in SA, so more spaces for NA kids.

As pp said, “slots are equally distributed by student population per attendance zone.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they moved there and then advocated for things to reduce the FARMS rate (e.g., no more AH in the area, relocating option programs to break up poverty clusters), I would respect that. But when you buy in a 70% FARMS school hoping you'll back-door into a "good" school via the option lottery or neighborhood transfer, don't throw a temper tantrum about the unfairness when it doesn't pan out and then demand that the county give you additional options for getting out of your own neighborhood. I have zero sympathy for that.

I really don't think this perspective is fair and I'm rather tired of hearing/reading it from so many posters on this forum and elsewhere. Not everyone who does not qualify for FRL can afford the most expensive neighborhoods in north Arlington. Or, they have a combination of priorities they want when purchasing a house and making a home for their family - not just the school. Like, size of house, condition of house, size of yard, availability at the time they are purchasing and budget, convenience to public transit, access to major roads for commute to work. Besides, not everyone was born and raised here and knows everything about every school before they buy a home; or have a naive understanding/vision of what academic sacrifices they might actually be making for their child. Not all of us bought here banking on option schools. We bought where we could find a home we like enough and could afford, under the impression that "all Arlington schools are good." And, with few exceptions, they are -- just not equally good.

Secondly, "they" ARE advocating but the SB doesn't give a crap and the AH advocates and providers have such a hold on the CB that "they" can't break through and everyone calls them racists when they try. South Arlington residents can't win no matter what - vitriol and accusations when they speak up, told they only have themselves to blame when they don't speak up.

What are "they" advocating for? What is "their" position on the upcoming boundary process? So far all I see is more elementary option programs and county-wide busing, neither of which is feasible at this point in time (or ever, in the case of the latter). Oh, and one person saying we should reopen the location review and move the immersion schools to Barcroft/Carlin Springs, which would be a good idea to look at further but it's kind of funny to be treating it as something "they" wanted all along considering that while the process was going on, "they" called the NA folks who also supported that plan racists who didn't want brown kids bused into 22207.

You have to admit, it's a little hard to figure out what "we're" supposed to be supporting "them" on here.

Not sure why you think there is one person, or even one group of people acting as a bloc, commenting in here. Who is calling for countywide busing? And as for increasing options, I haven't mentioned that yet, I only talked about placement and admissions policies. However, now that you mention it, if enrollment keeps going up, we may need to increase the number of option schools to keep pace and maintain the current level of access to those highly sought-after programs. Not sure that we're at that point yet, but we will be eventually. I think Key has to move. I have always said so. That area needs a neighborhood school and the program should be located closer the denser populations of native Spanish speakers. Carlin Springs makes more sense than Barcroft. That doesn't mean 22207 is off the hook. I think they're still going to get an option school, simply because there will be too many seats nearby. I don't think any school in that quadrant makes sense as an option program for any other reason.

So you think the Henry folks moving to Fleet will be totally cool with Fleet being 50% FARMS? Um, okay. Sure. Good luck with that.

Not all of the Henry folks are likely to move to Fleet. The likely boundary, based on walk zone, would actually move out the poorest Henry PUs and move in new UMC PUs to the new ES, which would also hurt Barcroft's balance. The current Henry parents don't want that. I think they'd be fine at around 50% fr/l, since they were there just a few short years ago, and were close to that level when they were named a Blue Ribbon school. 50% across South Arlington schools, plus or minus 10 percent, would be okay. Not perfect, but better for the majority of schools.

I don't think that's true. PH was decreasing in FRL% and lost Title I status the year after its Blue Ribbon recognition. It was not close to 50% at the time - unless you consider 40% "close." I don't believe 50% plus or minus 10 in either direction is ok. That means up to 60% is ok, and that's too high -- see Barcroft and Barrett. 50% is too high, for that matter. Plus or minus ten from the countywide average of 31% would be ok, though I think 20% is actually low. 30-40% range seems to be a very effective balance if you look at academic performance along with parents' comments about their experiences in schools like Oakridge, Henry, and Long Branch. And Key and Claremont. And W-L. I think 20 should be a minimum for an Arlington school with current demographics; 25% would be better; 30% would be ideal because it is most closely reflective of systemwide demographics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also if we live in S Arlington we really don’t want to be isolated at school with only N Arlington folk. Sorry I want my kid at a decent school but we chose S Arlington over N Arlington in part for the down to earth feel and economic and racial diversity.

Dp- So you were always planning to send jr to the neighborhood school? You are just advocating for a better mix through out the county and in south Arlington in particular?
If yes- I get that.
Someone up thread was saying that spreading out poverty through out sa ( all elementary schools farms % around 50) didn’t address NA- implying it wasn’t an acceptable solution. I think that’s a great way to keep Henry, Hoffman Boston, and Oakridge from being Tittle 1. If that’s your goal.... we get it.

Title I threshold is 40%. And why would anyone want to make all south Arlington schools Title I? Spreading out the poverty across just south Arlington has to be the stupidest comment I've ever seen on this forum. And there have been some doozies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So to dig more into this theory that option programs keep UMC kids in Wakefield, I decided to look at the transfer numbers a bit more closely. On their face, it seems like the argument may have merit. Comparing Wakefield to its feeder elementary schools, Wakefield has a transfer rate of 22%, while its Title I feeder schools have significantly higher transfer rates:

Abingdon - 41%
Barcroft - 47%
Drew - 41%
Hoffman Boston - 28%
Randolph - 32%
Weighted average - 39%

The weighted average transfer rate of all elementary schools feeding mostly/entirely into Wakefield, which also include Henry (17%) and Oakrigde (23%) is 33%.

But something interesting happens if you dig into where people are transferring to. A lot of the transfers from those Title I elementary schools are to *other* Title I schools, suggestings these transfers are not to avoid poverty/Title I status, but rather are for other reasons suggest as programmatic differences and logistics. If you back out the transfers between Title I schools and look only at the transfers between Title I and non-Title I schools, here are the revised transfer rates for those schools:

Abingdon - 32%
Barcroft - 29%
Drew - 19%
Hoffman Boston - 17%
Randolph - 19%
Weighted average - 25%

This change also brings down the weighted average for all of the elementary schools feeding mostly/entirely into Wakefield to 23%, only a point off from the Wakefield transfer rate. This difference in the transfer rates tends to undermine the idea that the ability to transfer out of a Title I elementary school keeps UMC kids in the area to eventually attend Wakefield in significant numbers (sure, I'm sure there are some for which this holds true, but it doesn't appear to be a substantial effect). It is, however, consistent with the theory that UMC families who transfer out of their Title I elementary schools to non-Title I schools tend to continue to transfer out of their Title I-equivalent high school.

I think the perspective shifts a bit when you consider how many of those Title I to Title I transfers have been to Montessori which has been located in a Title I school; but which is not likely to be Title I as an independent choice program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also if we live in S Arlington we really don’t want to be isolated at school with only N Arlington folk. Sorry I want my kid at a decent school but we chose S Arlington over N Arlington in part for the down to earth feel and economic and racial diversity.

Dp- So you were always planning to send jr to the neighborhood school? You are just advocating for a better mix through out the county and in south Arlington in particular?
If yes- I get that.
Someone up thread was saying that spreading out poverty through out sa ( all elementary schools farms % around 50) didn’t address NA- implying it wasn’t an acceptable solution. I think that’s a great way to keep Henry, Hoffman Boston, and Oakridge from being Tittle 1. If that’s your goal.... we get it.

Title I threshold is 40%. And why would anyone want to make all south Arlington schools Title I? Spreading out the poverty across just south Arlington has to be the stupidest comment I've ever seen on this forum. And there have been some doozies.

Au contraire, they clearly have it all figured out. I think the best thing we could do for them is to just step back and let them handle things their own way, reasonable expectations, sound grasp of facts, and all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also if we live in S Arlington we really don’t want to be isolated at school with only N Arlington folk. Sorry I want my kid at a decent school but we chose S Arlington over N Arlington in part for the down to earth feel and economic and racial diversity.

Dp- So you were always planning to send jr to the neighborhood school? You are just advocating for a better mix through out the county and in south Arlington in particular?
If yes- I get that.
Someone up thread was saying that spreading out poverty through out sa ( all elementary schools farms % around 50) didn’t address NA- implying it wasn’t an acceptable solution. I think that’s a great way to keep Henry, Hoffman Boston, and Oakridge from being Tittle 1. If that’s your goal.... we get it.

Title I threshold is 40%. And why would anyone want to make all south Arlington schools Title I? Spreading out the poverty across just south Arlington has to be the stupidest comment I've ever seen on this forum. And there have been some doozies.

I’m sure you have a genius and completely realistic scenario that spreads the poverty evenly into Jamestownland? Why don’t you have another drink...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also if we live in S Arlington we really don’t want to be isolated at school with only N Arlington folk. Sorry I want my kid at a decent school but we chose S Arlington over N Arlington in part for the down to earth feel and economic and racial diversity.

Dp- So you were always planning to send jr to the neighborhood school? You are just advocating for a better mix through out the county and in south Arlington in particular?
If yes- I get that.
Someone up thread was saying that spreading out poverty through out sa ( all elementary schools farms % around 50) didn’t address NA- implying it wasn’t an acceptable solution. I think that’s a great way to keep Henry, Hoffman Boston, and Oakridge from being Tittle 1. If that’s your goal.... we get it.

Title I threshold is 40%. And why would anyone want to make all south Arlington schools Title I? Spreading out the poverty across just south Arlington has to be the stupidest comment I've ever seen on this forum. And there have been some doozies.

I’m sure you have a genius and completely realistic scenario that spreads the poverty evenly into Jamestownland? Why don’t you have another drink...

If someone from NA actually came up with such a plan, you’d piss all over it anyway simply because it came from NA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also if we live in S Arlington we really don’t want to be isolated at school with only N Arlington folk. Sorry I want my kid at a decent school but we chose S Arlington over N Arlington in part for the down to earth feel and economic and racial diversity.

Dp- So you were always planning to send jr to the neighborhood school? You are just advocating for a better mix through out the county and in south Arlington in particular?
If yes- I get that.
Someone up thread was saying that spreading out poverty through out sa ( all elementary schools farms % around 50) didn’t address NA- implying it wasn’t an acceptable solution. I think that’s a great way to keep Henry, Hoffman Boston, and Oakridge from being Tittle 1. If that’s your goal.... we get it.

Title I threshold is 40%. And why would anyone want to make all south Arlington schools Title I? Spreading out the poverty across just south Arlington has to be the stupidest comment I've ever seen on this forum. And there have been some doozies.

I’m sure you have a genius and completely realistic scenario that spreads the poverty evenly into Jamestownland? Why don’t you have another drink...

If someone from NA actually came up with such a plan, you’d piss all over it anyway simply because it came from NA.

Oh so that’s why you’re keeping your incredible plan all to yourself! Talk about stupid comments on this thread...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also if we live in S Arlington we really don’t want to be isolated at school with only N Arlington folk. Sorry I want my kid at a decent school but we chose S Arlington over N Arlington in part for the down to earth feel and economic and racial diversity.

Dp- So you were always planning to send jr to the neighborhood school? You are just advocating for a better mix through out the county and in south Arlington in particular?
If yes- I get that.
Someone up thread was saying that spreading out poverty through out sa ( all elementary schools farms % around 50) didn’t address NA- implying it wasn’t an acceptable solution. I think that’s a great way to keep Henry, Hoffman Boston, and Oakridge from being Tittle 1. If that’s your goal.... we get it.

Title I threshold is 40%. And why would anyone want to make all south Arlington schools Title I? Spreading out the poverty across just south Arlington has to be the stupidest comment I've ever seen on this forum. And there have been some doozies.

I’m sure you have a genius and completely realistic scenario that spreads the poverty evenly into Jamestownland? Why don’t you have another drink...

If someone from NA actually came up with such a plan, you’d piss all over it anyway simply because it came from NA.

Oh so that’s why you’re keeping your incredible plan all to yourself! Talk about stupid comments on this thread...

No, the stupid comment was thinking pp was saying she actually had a plan instead of realizing it was commentary on your lousy attitude.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also if we live in S Arlington we really don’t want to be isolated at school with only N Arlington folk. Sorry I want my kid at a decent school but we chose S Arlington over N Arlington in part for the down to earth feel and economic and racial diversity.

Dp- So you were always planning to send jr to the neighborhood school? You are just advocating for a better mix through out the county and in south Arlington in particular?
If yes- I get that.
Someone up thread was saying that spreading out poverty through out sa ( all elementary schools farms % around 50) didn’t address NA- implying it wasn’t an acceptable solution. I think that’s a great way to keep Henry, Hoffman Boston, and Oakridge from being Tittle 1. If that’s your goal.... we get it.

Title I threshold is 40%. And why would anyone want to make all south Arlington schools Title I? Spreading out the poverty across just south Arlington has to be the stupidest comment I've ever seen on this forum. And there have been some doozies.

I’m sure you have a genius and completely realistic scenario that spreads the poverty evenly into Jamestownland? Why don’t you have another drink...

If someone from NA actually came up with such a plan, you’d piss all over it anyway simply because it came from NA.

Oh so that’s why you’re keeping your incredible plan all to yourself! Talk about stupid comments on this thread...

No, the stupid comment was thinking pp was saying she actually had a plan instead of realizing it was commentary on your lousy attitude.

You are the problem with Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
That's not exactly how it works. The number of slots are based on home school sizes. Historically, the NA elementaries have been larger and therefore have had more slots. Also, there are more ES in NA than in SA, so more spaces for NA kids.

As pp said, “slots are equally distributed by student population per attendance zone.”

It is not based on school size. It is based on student population. Even private school students can enter the lottery based on their attendance zone.

[Anonymous]

From HBW website:
I have heard that the HBW student body is not very diverse, that it does not mirror the County. Is that accurate?

HBW, as a county-wide program, does not draw students from only its local northern Arlington neighborhood, but from all over the county. South Arlington students are as likely to attend HBW as north Arlington students. HBW has students from all 5 middle schools and all 3 high schools, and the ratio of students enrolled from each school is roughly equal when compared to the overall number of students in each attendance zone. For example 7.4 percent of students who live in the Wakefield attendance zone attend HBW, and 7.0 percent of the students in the Yorktown attendance zone attend HBW, despite HBW’s location within the Yorktown boundary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also if we live in S Arlington we really don’t want to be isolated at school with only N Arlington folk. Sorry I want my kid at a decent school but we chose S Arlington over N Arlington in part for the down to earth feel and economic and racial diversity.

Dp- So you were always planning to send jr to the neighborhood school? You are just advocating for a better mix through out the county and in south Arlington in particular?
If yes- I get that.
Someone up thread was saying that spreading out poverty through out sa ( all elementary schools farms % around 50) didn’t address NA- implying it wasn’t an acceptable solution. I think that’s a great way to keep Henry, Hoffman Boston, and Oakridge from being Tittle 1. If that’s your goal.... we get it.

Title I threshold is 40%. And why would anyone want to make all south Arlington schools Title I? Spreading out the poverty across just south Arlington has to be the stupidest comment I've ever seen on this forum. And there have been some doozies.

I’m sure you have a genius and completely realistic scenario that spreads the poverty evenly into Jamestownland? Why don’t you have another drink...

If someone from NA actually came up with such a plan, you’d piss all over it anyway simply because it came from NA.

Oh so that’s why you’re keeping your incredible plan all to yourself! Talk about stupid comments on this thread...

No, the stupid comment was thinking pp was saying she actually had a plan instead of realizing it was commentary on your lousy attitude.

You are the problem with Arlington.

People who are tired of getting slapped down and insulted when they try to help others are the problem. Sure. Okay. You go with that, I'm sure it'll get you far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From HBW website:
I have heard that the HBW student body is not very diverse, that it does not mirror the County. Is that accurate?

HBW, as a county-wide program, does not draw students from only its local northern Arlington neighborhood, but from all over the county. South Arlington students are as likely to attend HBW as north Arlington students. HBW has students from all 5 middle schools and all 3 high schools, and the ratio of students enrolled from each school is roughly equal when compared to the overall number of students in each attendance zone. For example 7.4 percent of students who live in the Wakefield attendance zone attend HBW, and 7.0 percent of the students in the Yorktown attendance zone attend HBW, despite HBW’s location within the Yorktown boundary.

What an absolute non-answer! It doesn’t address the diversity question at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From HBW website:
I have heard that the HBW student body is not very diverse, that it does not mirror the County. Is that accurate?

HBW, as a county-wide program, does not draw students from only its local northern Arlington neighborhood, but from all over the county. South Arlington students are as likely to attend HBW as north Arlington students. HBW has students from all 5 middle schools and all 3 high schools, and the ratio of students enrolled from each school is roughly equal when compared to the overall number of students in each attendance zone. For example 7.4 percent of students who live in the Wakefield attendance zone attend HBW, and 7.0 percent of the students in the Yorktown attendance zone attend HBW, despite HBW’s location within the Yorktown boundary.

What an absolute non-answer! It doesn’t address the diversity question at all.

It doesn't answer the question directly because the real answer is that the HB student body does not reflect the county's diversity. It has a 18% FARMS rate while the county as a whole is at 31%. It's 64% white while the county is 46% white. Its rate of Former English Learners (students who finished receiving ESOL/HILT services in the past four years) this past year was 6% at the middle school level when the middle school average was 15%, and 1% at the high school level when the county was at 7%. Rather than admitting all of that, the county points to the fact that seats area available to everyone, even though it's predominantly affluent white people taking advantage, even in South Arlington.