Arlington Zoning Changes Likely

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know whether there are plans to change Key from Spanish immersion to a "regular" neighborhood elementary school?

My take is the majority of the school is spanish-speaking parents/kids. I know it is billed as immersion--but the reality is it is a good fit for kids learning English as a second language. I don't think county will ever change it to regular elementary. They like offering the choices.

I think they were the majority when the program first started. But not today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know whether there are plans to change Key from Spanish immersion to a "regular" neighborhood elementary school?

My take is the majority of the school is spanish-speaking parents/kids. I know it is billed as immersion--but the reality is it is a good fit for kids learning English as a second language. I don't think county will ever change it to regular elementary. They like offering the choices.

I think they were the majority when the program first started. But not today.

Key has been about 50% Hispanic for the past decade.

[Anonymous]

Could they put immersion in the new school at Williamsburg and let Key become a plain old elementary school, then have ASFS be all lottery? It makes no sense to give LV automatic access to two special programs (and I live in LV, so no resentment here, just logic).

[Anonymous]

Key makes sense for immersion because of the very high Hispanic population. Williamsburg MS used to be the immersion middle school because Key was the feeder. And Yorktown used to have the immersion high school program. Now I think Gunston is the only MS with immersion, and then Wakefield for the high school immersion.

The new school at Williamsburg has already been designated as a neighborhood school, so there is no debate there.

[Anonymous]

To aswer the PP who asked if folks in the Nottingham/Jamestown districts would be unhappy if they were redistricted...

In the fall of 2015 I'll have a 6th grader at Williamsburg and a 3rd grader at Nottingham (or the new school - we live in between the two). I would rather my 3rd grader not be moved as he has an IEP and, even though we're only in K now, the SpEd team at Nottingham already knows us and I trust them (my older DC also has an IEP). I don't want to learn the idiosynchracies and quirks of a new SpEd/Administration team if I don't have to. That said, if my Kindergartner is off the IEP by then (possible) then I wouldn't mind. My sister was a teacher at her school (in FFX county) when it opened and she told me often about how great the excitement, energy, and enthusiasum at the school was. If that is typical of a "new" school, then that seems like a really positive environment to me.