APS DHMS walk zone nuclear option

[Anonymous]

Last boundary change everyone flight to stay at Swanson. It ended up way overcrowded and with all sorts of fighting and discipline problems. Probably related. WMS did not have either issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m interested in other ways to relieve Gunston that don’t involve busing my kid to Williamsburg. And I understand that things may not work in my favor, but I want to be honest and open about trying other solutions that could work.

If I’m looking at the documents correctly, moving Immersion immediately solves Gunston’s overcrowding, correct? Sticking it at Kenmore (which has space but not enough for all of Immersion) means that some Kenmore kids need to go to other middle schools which creates this cascade effect, correct?

We need to not just say “don’t bus my kid when he can walk” but also “here’s what you can do instead.”

I also think high school alignment is an issue here.

If my child has to be bused, I can live with it as long as our planning units are not the only ones moved and he’s isolated from the majority of Taylor. If they’re going to split us up, they need to move a critical mass.

It looks like they could move Immersion to Williamsburg, tweak a few units with alignment issues, and then be done. No walk zones broken. Almost everyone moved with the school when Key moved despite dire warnings otherwise. People who are dedicated to the program will travel for it.

This is a dumb plan and I hope people speak out against this as an idea. It would kill the immersion program.

That’s exactly what you said about the Key move.

Key moved to a Central part of the county in an area with spanish speakers.

Do you remember the rhetoric? The move would destroy the program, families wouldn’t be able to move to the new building so the new neighborhood school would be crowded anyway, etc etc.

Williamsburg is a bad choice for location, but no one wants to be moved there. Why should neighborhood kids get moved instead of an option program that is optional?

It doesn't make any sense. The native Spanish speaking (majority low income) families in the southern part of the county aren't going to be able to get to Williamsburg. And it makes no sense to have a Williamsburg --> Wakefield feeder pattern. The kids moved to Williamsburg should be within the Yorktown boundary.

If your goal is to kill the Immersion program, then keep making this proposal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do not know why no one wants to go to WMS. It’s a great middle school. Fabulous teachers.

Maybe because I remember this: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1999/07/08/parents-are-alarmed-by-an-unsettling-new-fad-in-middle-schools-oral-sex/4130d1ef-5e0f-4078-99ec-faa75fe294c5/

But generally speaking, WMS is richer, whiter and meaner than Hamm and I’d like my children to avoid the Washington Golf crowd as long as I can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here we go again. Volunteering others for longer bus rides so that you could walk.

I'm not sure I get this comment. It's not much of a longer ride to be buses to Williamsburg over Hamm. Where were those kids bused before Hamm opened?

I'm not affected, but do think it's a pretty odd choice by APS not to take advantage of the walk zones for Hamm. For the kids in the Rosslyn corridor, I'm not sure the difference between Hamm and Williamsburg is that significant. They're already getting on a bus and Williamsburg isn't that much farther. It also would be great for diversity for Williamsburg to pull from more diverse zones.

You must be new to APS.

I'm not.

Then you should realize how ridiculous your comments are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do not know why no one wants to go to WMS. It’s a great middle school. Fabulous teachers.

Maybe because I remember this: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1999/07/08/parents-are-alarmed-by-an-unsettling-new-fad-in-middle-schools-oral-sex/4130d1ef-5e0f-4078-99ec-faa75fe294c5/

But generally speaking, WMS is richer, whiter and meaner than Hamm and I’d like my children to avoid the Washington Golf crowd as long as I can.

And it feeds into YHS which has had some vocal racists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here we go again. Volunteering others for longer bus rides so that you could walk.

I'm not sure I get this comment. It's not much of a longer ride to be buses to Williamsburg over Hamm. Where were those kids bused before Hamm opened?

I'm not affected, but do think it's a pretty odd choice by APS not to take advantage of the walk zones for Hamm. For the kids in the Rosslyn corridor, I'm not sure the difference between Hamm and Williamsburg is that significant. They're already getting on a bus and Williamsburg isn't that much farther. It also would be great for diversity for Williamsburg to pull from more diverse zones.

You must be new to APS.

I'm not.

Then you should realize how ridiculous your comments are.

Nevermind all those people on the thread who agree with me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m interested in other ways to relieve Gunston that don’t involve busing my kid to Williamsburg. And I understand that things may not work in my favor, but I want to be honest and open about trying other solutions that could work.

If I’m looking at the documents correctly, moving Immersion immediately solves Gunston’s overcrowding, correct? Sticking it at Kenmore (which has space but not enough for all of Immersion) means that some Kenmore kids need to go to other middle schools which creates this cascade effect, correct?

We need to not just say “don’t bus my kid when he can walk” but also “here’s what you can do instead.”

I also think high school alignment is an issue here.

If my child has to be bused, I can live with it as long as our planning units are not the only ones moved and he’s isolated from the majority of Taylor. If they’re going to split us up, they need to move a critical mass.

It looks like they could move Immersion to Williamsburg, tweak a few units with alignment issues, and then be done. No walk zones broken. Almost everyone moved with the school when Key moved despite dire warnings otherwise. People who are dedicated to the program will travel for it.
That's what they've been saying with the program at Gunston. Putting it at Williamsburg merely means more white Key students will continue on then drop out for high school because there's no way those kids will go to Wakefield for immersion. So this essentially decimates the high school program, while also making immersion far less accessible for native Spanish speaking students. Kenmore is the most logical location. It provides better access for north Arlington than Gunston does now and is more equally accessible from across the County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do not know why no one wants to go to WMS. It’s a great middle school. Fabulous teachers.

Maybe because I remember this: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1999/07/08/parents-are-alarmed-by-an-unsettling-new-fad-in-middle-schools-oral-sex/4130d1ef-5e0f-4078-99ec-faa75fe294c5/

But generally speaking, WMS is richer, whiter and meaner than Hamm and I’d like my children to avoid the Washington Golf crowd as long as I can.

The best way to solve that dynamic is to diversify the catchment area, so that the racists will move their kids to private. Adding more Taylor kids isn't going to add any diversity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do not know why no one wants to go to WMS. It’s a great middle school. Fabulous teachers.

Maybe because I remember this: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1999/07/08/parents-are-alarmed-by-an-unsettling-new-fad-in-middle-schools-oral-sex/4130d1ef-5e0f-4078-99ec-faa75fe294c5/

But generally speaking, WMS is richer, whiter and meaner than Hamm and I’d like my children to avoid the Washington Golf crowd as long as I can.

Then you should have moved to the Wakefield zone. You'll never see them there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m interested in other ways to relieve Gunston that don’t involve busing my kid to Williamsburg. And I understand that things may not work in my favor, but I want to be honest and open about trying other solutions that could work.

If I’m looking at the documents correctly, moving Immersion immediately solves Gunston’s overcrowding, correct? Sticking it at Kenmore (which has space but not enough for all of Immersion) means that some Kenmore kids need to go to other middle schools which creates this cascade effect, correct?

We need to not just say “don’t bus my kid when he can walk” but also “here’s what you can do instead.”

I also think high school alignment is an issue here.

If my child has to be bused, I can live with it as long as our planning units are not the only ones moved and he’s isolated from the majority of Taylor. If they’re going to split us up, they need to move a critical mass.

It looks like they could move Immersion to Williamsburg, tweak a few units with alignment issues, and then be done. No walk zones broken. Almost everyone moved with the school when Key moved despite dire warnings otherwise. People who are dedicated to the program will travel for it.

This is a dumb plan and I hope people speak out against this as an idea. It would kill the immersion program.

That’s exactly what you said about the Key move.

Key moved to a Central part of the county in an area with spanish speakers.

Do you remember the rhetoric? The move would destroy the program, families wouldn’t be able to move to the new building so the new neighborhood school would be crowded anyway, etc etc.

Williamsburg is a bad choice for location, but no one wants to be moved there. Why should neighborhood kids get moved instead of an option program that is optional?

It doesn't make any sense. The native Spanish speaking (majority low income) families in the southern part of the county aren't going to be able to get to Williamsburg. And it makes no sense to have a Williamsburg --> Wakefield feeder pattern. The kids moved to Williamsburg should be within the Yorktown boundary.

If your goal is to kill the Immersion program, then keep making this proposal.

Why shouldn’t that be the goal? What does immersion do for the County?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do not know why no one wants to go to WMS. It’s a great middle school. Fabulous teachers.

Maybe because I remember this: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1999/07/08/parents-are-alarmed-by-an-unsettling-new-fad-in-middle-schools-oral-sex/4130d1ef-5e0f-4078-99ec-faa75fe294c5/

But generally speaking, WMS is richer, whiter and meaner than Hamm and I’d like my children to avoid the Washington Golf crowd as long as I can.

An article from 24 years ago. I can see why you’d be concerned. . I can promise you that the WMS crowd is not one hit snootier than the Taylor/Hamm crowd. Cut from the very same cloth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m interested in other ways to relieve Gunston that don’t involve busing my kid to Williamsburg. And I understand that things may not work in my favor, but I want to be honest and open about trying other solutions that could work.

If I’m looking at the documents correctly, moving Immersion immediately solves Gunston’s overcrowding, correct? Sticking it at Kenmore (which has space but not enough for all of Immersion) means that some Kenmore kids need to go to other middle schools which creates this cascade effect, correct?

We need to not just say “don’t bus my kid when he can walk” but also “here’s what you can do instead.”

I also think high school alignment is an issue here.

If my child has to be bused, I can live with it as long as our planning units are not the only ones moved and he’s isolated from the majority of Taylor. If they’re going to split us up, they need to move a critical mass.

It looks like they could move Immersion to Williamsburg, tweak a few units with alignment issues, and then be done. No walk zones broken. Almost everyone moved with the school when Key moved despite dire warnings otherwise. People who are dedicated to the program will travel for it.

This is a dumb plan and I hope people speak out against this as an idea. It would kill the immersion program.

That’s exactly what you said about the Key move.

Key moved to a Central part of the county in an area with spanish speakers.

Do you remember the rhetoric? The move would destroy the program, families wouldn’t be able to move to the new building so the new neighborhood school would be crowded anyway, etc etc.

Williamsburg is a bad choice for location, but no one wants to be moved there. Why should neighborhood kids get moved instead of an option program that is optional?

It doesn't make any sense. The native Spanish speaking (majority low income) families in the southern part of the county aren't going to be able to get to Williamsburg. And it makes no sense to have a Williamsburg --> Wakefield feeder pattern. The kids moved to Williamsburg should be within the Yorktown boundary.

If your goal is to kill the Immersion program, then keep making this proposal.

Why shouldn’t that be the goal? What does immersion do for the County?

And that's a totally different conversation..... If you're going to kill the program, we should have that conversation. Don't halfway do it through some sneaky boundary move that ends up costing the district more to support a fading program.

[Anonymous]

Why don’t they just let the Hamm walk zone stay at Hamm and bus everyone else to Williamsburg? Wouldn’t this keep everyone happy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why don’t they just let the Hamm walk zone stay at Hamm and bus everyone else to Williamsburg? Wouldn’t this keep everyone happy?

Yes. And it's consistent with APS diversity goals.

[Anonymous]

We moved elementary schools recently with the redistributing. Our elementary school feeds to the same middle school (Hamm) but splits for high school. It would be nice for some continuity. Also, would be nice if my DS doesn’t have to change schools again. It’s probably not possible to prevent kids who have had to change schools recently due to redistributing from having to do it again in middle school, but it would be nice. Luckily the options are all acceptable, but its hard to roll with the changes every few years.