Would looming N. Arlington school boundary changes prevent you from moving there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are sticking with Arlington. We are just about to enter the APS school system with our first entering K this fall. There are definitely some problems with the school board, but overall, I'm confident my kids will get a great education in APS. There are too many parents actively invested in their kids education in Arlington County for that not to happen.

I enjoy the urban feel of Arlington compared to the outer suburbs. Close to DC and diversity. All those contribute to my satisfaction

Yeah, I wouldn't read too much into "the sky is falling!" posts.

I have a kid in APS elementary and one in middle, both in technically overcrowded schools, and they are both thriving. Lunch times aren't ideal and the no-cut sports have huge teams, but classes are small, teachers are great, and they have awesome peer groups. We are very happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are sticking with Arlington. We are just about to enter the APS school system with our first entering K this fall. There are definitely some problems with the school board, but overall, I'm confident my kids will get a great education in APS. There are too many parents actively invested in their kids education in Arlington County for that not to happen.

I enjoy the urban feel of Arlington compared to the outer suburbs. Close to DC and diversity. All those contribute to my satisfaction

There have been lots of actively involved APS parents for many years, and they haven't been able to keep APS from dragging its heels to address the high school overcrowding or making boundary changes that increase rather than mitigates the de facto segregation in the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are sticking with Arlington. We are just about to enter the APS school system with our first entering K this fall. There are definitely some problems with the school board, but overall, I'm confident my kids will get a great education in APS. There are too many parents actively invested in their kids education in Arlington County for that not to happen.

I enjoy the urban feel of Arlington compared to the outer suburbs. Close to DC and diversity. All those contribute to my satisfaction

There have been lots of actively involved APS parents for many years, and they haven't been able to keep APS from dragging its heels to address the high school overcrowding or making boundary changes that increase rather than mitigates the de facto segregation in the county.

This. My family has an opportunity to move out state. I was surprised how excited I was by that prospect of leaving APS. I'm sure my kids would have been fine, but I'm tired of worrying. We'd have kids heading into high school 2030...
Shift schedules?
Internships?
Online learning?

No thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are sticking with Arlington. We are just about to enter the APS school system with our first entering K this fall. There are definitely some problems with the school board, but overall, I'm confident my kids will get a great education in APS. There are too many parents actively invested in their kids education in Arlington County for that not to happen.

I enjoy the urban feel of Arlington compared to the outer suburbs. Close to DC and diversity. All those contribute to my satisfaction

There have been lots of actively involved APS parents for many years, and they haven't been able to keep APS from dragging its heels to address the high school overcrowding or making boundary changes that increase rather than mitigates the de facto segregation in the county.

This. My family has an opportunity to move out state. I was surprised how excited I was by that prospect of leaving APS. I'm sure my kids would have been fine, but I'm tired of worrying. We'd have kids heading into high school 2030...
Shift schedules?
Internships?
Online learning?

No thanks.

It doesn't matter what those active parents want. Murphy & Van Doren are pushing their own plan forward despite community objections.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are sticking with Arlington. We are just about to enter the APS school system with our first entering K this fall. There are definitely some problems with the school board, but overall, I'm confident my kids will get a great education in APS. There are too many parents actively invested in their kids education in Arlington County for that not to happen.

I enjoy the urban feel of Arlington compared to the outer suburbs. Close to DC and diversity. All those contribute to my satisfaction

There have been lots of actively involved APS parents for many years, and they haven't been able to keep APS from dragging its heels to address the high school overcrowding or making boundary changes that increase rather than mitigates the de facto segregation in the county.

+1 From one of those parents who has been active in APS for almost 15 years and has watched this whole mess unfold.

[Anonymous]

I have a toddler and the mommies on the playground are largely clueless. They also don't seem worried or even particularly interested.
"Arlington is wonderful! We have such great county services and such well regarded schools."
They truly have no clue.
They don't know the student projections.
They don't know the history of miscalculated student growth.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't we projected to grow from 26,000 students today
To 40,000 by 2030?


Murphy and the SB are not interested in building a 4th comprehensive high school. Truly. Please wrap your heads around that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a toddler and the mommies on the playground are largely clueless. They also don't seem worried or even particularly interested.
"Arlington is wonderful! We have such great county services and such well regarded schools."
They truly have no clue.
They don't know the student projections.
They don't know the history of miscalculated student growth.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't we projected to grow from 26,000 students today
To 40,000 by 2030?


Murphy and the SB are not interested in building a 4th comprehensive high school. Truly. Please wrap your heads around that.

Their ultimate plan is to scare everyone with terrible ideas and get us to move away. It will work for us. But probably not enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a toddler and the mommies on the playground are largely clueless. They also don't seem worried or even particularly interested.
"Arlington is wonderful! We have such great county services and such well regarded schools."
They truly have no clue.
They don't know the student projections.
They don't know the history of miscalculated student growth.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't we projected to grow from 26,000 students today
To 40,000 by 2030?


Murphy and the SB are not interested in building a 4th comprehensive high school. Truly. Please wrap your heads around that.

Who wants to admit they were part of a bunch of lemmings whose kids are going to get royally screwed by a bunch of county officials who can't plan and don't much care? Easier to just wait it out and hope other people leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only high school will be rezoned according to the presentations and live discussions. If you had a kid in middle school, that might be worth considering, but younger kids have 10+ years before it matters. You are more likely to move in ten years again anyways.

so the elementary schools are all maintaining their boundaries? i read in a thread somewhere that parents were concerned about their ES kids being bussed away from their neighborhood school TO others further away? or maybe i misunderstood

Kids will not be bused away from neighborhood schools.

The only potential busing across county would be if you applied to have your child go to a choice school, like Spanish Immersion, Montessori, ATS, Campbell, IB (not a current option but proposed). The district is proposing an East/West division of the county for assignment to option schools for immersion and IB while county-wide schools remain for Campbell, ATS, Montessori. That would mean some families in N. Arlington that want immersion would have to send their kids to Claremont in S. Arlington (rather than current option of Key in N. Arlington) and actually share classrooms with more poor and/or brown-skinned children.

Boundaries for neighborhood schools may get adjusted but there is really very little difference between all the N. Arlington elementary schools. I wouldn't worry about it.

You may not realize this, but there are already large N. Arlington neighborhoods where Claremont is already the only choice for immersion. We would have liked it, but couldn't make the commuting or bus schedule work. It has nothing to do with sharing schools with "brown people" and snide comments about that on this board get very old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only high school will be rezoned according to the presentations and live discussions. If you had a kid in middle school, that might be worth considering, but younger kids have 10+ years before it matters. You are more likely to move in ten years again anyways.

so the elementary schools are all maintaining their boundaries? i read in a thread somewhere that parents were concerned about their ES kids being bussed away from their neighborhood school TO others further away? or maybe i misunderstood

Kids will not be bused away from neighborhood schools.

The only potential busing across county would be if you applied to have your child go to a choice school, like Spanish Immersion, Montessori, ATS, Campbell, IB (not a current option but proposed). The district is proposing an East/West division of the county for assignment to option schools for immersion and IB while county-wide schools remain for Campbell, ATS, Montessori. That would mean some families in N. Arlington that want immersion would have to send their kids to Claremont in S. Arlington (rather than current option of Key in N. Arlington) and actually share classrooms with more poor and/or brown-skinned children.

Boundaries for neighborhood schools may get adjusted but there is really very little difference between all the N. Arlington elementary schools. I wouldn't worry about it.

You may not realize this, but there are already large N. Arlington neighborhoods where Claremont is already the only choice for immersion. We would have liked it, but couldn't make the commuting or bus schedule work. It has nothing to do with sharing schools with "brown people" and snide comments about that on this board get very old.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You may not realize this, but there are already large N. Arlington neighborhoods where Claremont is already the only choice for immersion. We would have liked it, but couldn't make the commuting or bus schedule work. It has nothing to do with sharing schools with "brown people" and snide comments about that on this board get very old.

and those north arlington families- e.g. districted to Tuckahoe, Nottingham, Mckinley- have been effectively shut out of immersion for the last several years b/c Claremont fills with guaranteed admits from siblings and neighborhood. Families do get admitted to Key off the Claremont waiting list- but they get no bus service.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The district is proposing an East/West division of the county for assignment to option schools for immersion and IB while county-wide schools remain for Campbell, ATS, Montessori. That would mean some families in N. Arlington that want immersion would have to send their kids to Claremont in S. Arlington (rather than current option of Key in N. Arlington) and actually share classrooms with more poor and/or brown-skinned children.

Key is already about 50-50 Hispanic kids and non-Hispanic kids. That's on purpose, to try to have half the kids be primary-language Spanish and half the kids primary-language English, for true dual immersion. Parents who send kids to Key aren't trying to avoid having their kids in classrooms with poorer and/or Hispanic kids. Some parents (though certainly not all) who send kids to ASFS from the Key zone are trying to avoid that, I know from conversations we had before sending our kid to Key. Changing this zone to Claremont instead of Key won't affect that (though I don't have a big problem with sending this zone to Claremont as part of an all-over East-West realignment, other than the fact that Key is far closer to us and therefore more convenient).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The district is proposing an East/West division of the county for assignment to option schools for immersion and IB while county-wide schools remain for Campbell, ATS, Montessori. That would mean some families in N. Arlington that want immersion would have to send their kids to Claremont in S. Arlington (rather than current option of Key in N. Arlington) and actually share classrooms with more poor and/or brown-skinned children.

Key is already about 50-50 Hispanic kids and non-Hispanic kids. That's on purpose, to try to have half the kids be primary-language Spanish and half the kids primary-language English, for true dual immersion. Parents who send kids to Key aren't trying to avoid having their kids in classrooms with poorer and/or Hispanic kids. Some parents (though certainly not all) who send kids to ASFS from the Key zone are trying to avoid that, I know from conversations we had before sending our kid to Key. Changing this zone to Claremont instead of Key won't affect that (though I don't have a big problem with sending this zone to Claremont as part of an all-over East-West realignment, other than the fact that Key is far closer to us and therefore more convenient).

I thought Key was more like 35 percent non-Hispanic. Not sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are sticking with Arlington. We are just about to enter the APS school system with our first entering K this fall. There are definitely some problems with the school board, but overall, I'm confident my kids will get a great education in APS. There are too many parents actively invested in their kids education in Arlington County for that not to happen.

I enjoy the urban feel of Arlington compared to the outer suburbs. Close to DC and diversity. All those contribute to my satisfaction

There have been lots of actively involved APS parents for many years, and they haven't been able to keep APS from dragging its heels to address the high school overcrowding or making boundary changes that increase rather than mitigates the de facto segregation in the county.

The active parents aren't interested in mitigating the de facto segregation of the schools. The are interested in making sure the segregation remains firmly entrenched in the schools. Look at the Arlington Forest parents who threw a fit about potentially having their kids rezoned from WL to Wakefield. OP, there are plenty of parents like the Arlington Forest ones who will ensure that the boundary changes maintain the status quo. You may face overcrowding, but not forced integration with the poors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
The active parents aren't interested in mitigating the de facto segregation of the schools. The are interested in making sure the segregation remains firmly entrenched in the schools. Look at the Arlington Forest parents who threw a fit about potentially having their kids rezoned from WL to Wakefield. OP, there are plenty of parents like the Arlington Forest ones who will ensure that the boundary changes maintain the status quo. You may face overcrowding, but not forced integration with the poors.

Exactly. There are a lot of "active parents" who are very concerned about their own kids, but not interested in kids in general or the good of the community as a whole. And by "good," I mean "stuff that feels familiar and comfortable, or cutting edge so let's do that without in-depth research or plan to assess its success." So no high-rise schools, but plenty of devices. And fuck enough recess for little kids or diversity for kids generally.

My kids will have graduated by the time the shit really hits the fan, and thank goodness. I am hoping for a day when PKM retires and his replacement (not Nattrass, please please please) has actual classroom experience. And the SB gets some people who are more interested in doing the right thing for students and teachers than in backing each other up.