| Also. Title 1 shouldn’t be the bar. Middle class buy in is the bar. Under 50. That’s what we need. Under 50. |
Right but I'm trying to figure out what the acceptable number is. If you use the 60% standard than Drew is already there according to their data. Between the schools being redistricted the average is 47% so if we can try to get all schools below like 50% or close to it than I would consider that acceptable. Moving South Fairlington wouldn't achieve that. Moving kids from other parts of Abingdon, Fleet and/or Oakridge will. I don't live in South Fairlington to be clear and I'm not trying to not get my kids moved with this argument. I just don't think making Abingdon above 60% Should be considered a success. |
I do not doubt that it would be hard to lose some of your community when a school is split up. I don't think that missing piece will last longer than a year and probably not even that. I don't think that you have to live in the same neighborhood as your classmates in order to have a tight knit community. Living in Nauck there are a lot of people that go to a lot of different schools. Guess what? We have a tight knit community at our school. We may not see friends walking around the neighborhood, but it isn't hard to call someone and have them meet you at the park. We also join sports teams and boyscouts with people from school. So between play dates and organized activities my kid hangs out with his school friends multiple days a week. Then we get the added bonus of having friends from the neighborhood . So we always have a buddy at the park. Granted this makes for HUGE birthday guest lists. But lack of community is something I have never felt. |
You are just proving PP’s point. One-third of our school community will no longer go to our school and do not live in the same neighborhood. So they will neither be classmates nor neighborhood friends. 50 years of community between north and south Columbia Pike gone. |
That argument would work a lot better for you if parts of your community hadn't spent months posting sample communications that highlighted issues like wanting to protect property values and not wanting to be zoned to lower performing schools. Not a great way to make friends with other neighborhoods that could be part of a future community. Did you really think that people not currently zoned to Henry wouldn't see those messages going out? |
If the only thing holding a community together is common attendance at an elementary school, which students only attend for six years and that many in the community have no children attending at all, I question how strong a community you have even with that common elementary school. |
My broader point was supposed to be that you don't have to be geographically close to people to be friends with them. If they have friends at the old school they can remain friends. For example, we are still friends with all the people my son went to daycare with. He doesn't go to school with any of them and none of them live in our neighborhood. We still hang out frequently. It is 2018 people do not need to live close to each other or go to school with each other to remain friends. If you want to keep the community together you will keep the community together. And if you don't want to do that then you can make new communities and your kids will be fine. |
I live north of Columbia Pike and have never seen anything remotely resembling what you say. I’ve never seen that on Patrick Henry Friends, moms of south Arlington or the 22204 listserve. In fact, the only messages I’ve seen like that are on Fairlington’s Facebook page. About how Columbia Heights is their “rival” in all this and how they need to team up with Nauck to bring in Columbia Heights and to keep out of Drew and how their property values will go down. I’ve screenshot the whole thread, by the way. |
You know, go away. Seriously. You’ve never been to our school. Never been to our standing room only Hispanic heritage night, or to our international night where you can hardly walk down the halls it’s so crowded. You weren’t there when our beloved principal died suddenly during spring break and the kids found out that Monday. You are there now when they are told only some of them might be moving. Really, you are a nasty person. |
+1 Some of the people in this group are the nastiest I've ever encountered. Seriously. |
But that isn't going to go away because some of the kids are moved out of the school. Your school will continue to have a great community that looks a little different. Then Drew would also have a chance to have an amazing community. |
+1 Henry's desire to maintain it's close community, which extends well beyond just the school day, remains a priority for most families involved. |
DP here. Henry is a great school. That community is fantastic. Other schools also have very crowded and fun international nights and very engaged and active hispanic parent groups. What happened to the Henry principal was tragic and I'm sure it was traumatic for all involved. I do not live in a Henry Zone or in any of the areas that could be moved to Drew. I would be very sad if my elementary school student had to change schools in the middle of his time there. But boundaries are long term. In 5 years the schools will be filled with different students and families. Someone is going to have to sacrifice and change. I am not the PP who mentioned negative communications, but I did see a message months ago urging parents to contact both boards saying that that they did not want to be moved from Henry which has strong ratings to adjacent schools that had inferior ratings and that they had paid a premium to live in the Henry zone. I do not know how far or how widely that message was spread--but it was out there. |
You are not the only parent attached to her child’s school. Boundaries have to change occasionally and seldom does anyone like it. Lots of families have gone through it, and lots of families will go through it. Throwing up examples of why “your” school is special and shouldn’t be touched does not endear your cause to anyone, and only serves to highlight how out of touch you are with boundary considerations as a whole. |
Look, I get it. Everyone loves their own school community and doesn’t want change. But I can’t stand by and listen to these vile, nasty, untrue comments about my community. Like I said, I’m not on every possible listserv but I’ve never seen that messaging from the Henry community. I’m not saying it didn’t happen on another listserve, but it certainly wasn’t on any school or PTA email. But also like I said, I’ve seen the same message on Fairlington’s Facebook page. I’m just saying that that type of message doesn’t represent our community as a whole, just like I’m sure Abington parents will say negative comments never went out on their listserve and that the comments on Fairlington’s Facebook page does not represent them as a whole. Somehow Henry has been made the bad guy in this and it is unfair and not deserved. Enough. |