South Arlington elementary school boundary adjustments 2019

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Montessori is moving to Henry. That is set in stone. Folks may think it would make more sense to move it to Tuckahoe, but the decision has been made. I'll never be surprised by craven things the Board does, but I really don't think they'll reconsider this one. The Staff has been very clear.

I'm not sure about the demand for Montessori. We are a Montessori family and I've always heard the demand drops off after PK. OTOH I've seen a lot of interest lately at meetings. Makes me wonder if it's due to Henry parents worried about getting zoned out of Fleet and trying to get into Montessori as an alternative. Total speculation on my part though.

IMO Key to ATS and ATS to Tuckahoe makes sense. ATS is a nice choice option for the county to have, I guess, but in reality it is just another elementary without a geographic "hook" like either immersion (better for it to be near the heavier Spanish-speaking populations) or Campbell (garden/nature center) that seems to require those schools have particular locations.

Demand is higher than supply (seats at Henry) such that only children who did preschool Montessori in APS are for sure able to continue at Henry. Those programs themselves have waitlists. It's a lottery for k and 1st graders who went to a private M preschool or otherwise didn't get into APS preschool program. Dunno if demand is enough to fill a second building.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If APS moves one of the option schools, which are the only sources of SES diversity in this segregated county, north of Lee Highway there is going to be a full scale revolution. That is absurd!

You are wrong. South Arlington parents have shown they will travel for a good program. THey want seats and a strong peer group. Being close to a school is an acceptable sacrifice. It’s a small county.

But the whole point of moving programs is so that there are fewer drivers, fewer buses, and shorter bus routes. Moving any option school over to Tuckahoe defeats the principle. The walk zone for the current location of ATS is, according the APS staff, very small because of the busy intersections. If their own reason for taking at look at program locations is increasing walkers and shortening or lessening bus routes they shouldn't move a choice program away from that particular spot. And moving Key there only to move ATS to Tuckahoe is a lot of disruption for what gain? So that the Taylor transfer parents who paid for the ASFS lab can get a neighborhood school in ASFS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If APS moves one of the option schools, which are the only sources of SES diversity in this segregated county, north of Lee Highway there is going to be a full scale revolution. That is absurd!

You are wrong. South Arlington parents have shown they will travel for a good program. THey want seats and a strong peer group. Being close to a school is an acceptable sacrifice. It’s a small county.

But the whole point of moving programs is so that there are fewer drivers, fewer buses, and shorter bus routes. Moving any option school over to Tuckahoe defeats the principle. The walk zone for the current location of ATS is, according the APS staff, very small because of the busy intersections. If their own reason for taking at look at program locations is increasing walkers and shortening or lessening bus routes they shouldn't move a choice program away from that particular spot. And moving Key there only to move ATS to Tuckahoe is a lot of disruption for what gain? So that the Taylor transfer parents who paid for the ASFS lab can get a neighborhood school in ASFS?

When Reed opens they don't think there will be enough kids to fill all the schools in that corner of the county. An option program induces demand for volunteers to travel over there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If APS moves one of the option schools, which are the only sources of SES diversity in this segregated county, north of Lee Highway there is going to be a full scale revolution. That is absurd!

You are wrong. South Arlington parents have shown they will travel for a good program. THey want seats and a strong peer group. Being close to a school is an acceptable sacrifice. It’s a small county.

But the whole point of moving programs is so that there are fewer drivers, fewer buses, and shorter bus routes. Moving any option school over to Tuckahoe defeats the principle. The walk zone for the current location of ATS is, according the APS staff, very small because of the busy intersections. If their own reason for taking at look at program locations is increasing walkers and shortening or lessening bus routes they shouldn't move a choice program away from that particular spot. And moving Key there only to move ATS to Tuckahoe is a lot of disruption for what gain? So that the Taylor transfer parents who paid for the ASFS lab can get a neighborhood school in ASFS?

When Reed opens they don't think there will be enough kids to fill all the schools in that corner of the county. An option program induces demand for volunteers to travel over there.

I understand that. But, it's because they didn't make a big picture plan before building an addition onto McKinley, building Discovery, and then to open a large new school so close by. Turning Tuckahoe into an option program is going to be a long-term solution to a short-term problem. It may not have an optimal walk zone ever, but they can certainly fill it by redoing boundaries and allowing transfers. They shouldn't make another permanent decision about option school locations, because once it's an option school, it will be really difficult to change it back.

[Anonymous]

Yes. They better be sure the numbers support what they are doing. Not the 2017 numbers. The 2021 and beyond numbers. And they better hope that whatever school they move brings its students with them. That could really screw up capacity of if kids drop out of the options because they don't want to ride out the McLean border. Because once they move an option program, they won't put it back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If APS moves one of the option schools, which are the only sources of SES diversity in this segregated county, north of Lee Highway there is going to be a full scale revolution. That is absurd!

You are wrong. South Arlington parents have shown they will travel for a good program. THey want seats and a strong peer group. Being close to a school is an acceptable sacrifice. It’s a small county.

But the whole point of moving programs is so that there are fewer drivers, fewer buses, and shorter bus routes. Moving any option school over to Tuckahoe defeats the principle. The walk zone for the current location of ATS is, according the APS staff, very small because of the busy intersections. If their own reason for taking at look at program locations is increasing walkers and shortening or lessening bus routes they shouldn't move a choice program away from that particular spot. And moving Key there only to move ATS to Tuckahoe is a lot of disruption for what gain? So that the Taylor transfer parents who paid for the ASFS lab can get a neighborhood school in ASFS?

When Reed opens they don't think there will be enough kids to fill all the schools in that corner of the county. An option program induces demand for volunteers to travel over there.

I understand that. But, it's because they didn't make a big picture plan before building an addition onto McKinley, building Discovery, and then to open a large new school so close by. Turning Tuckahoe into an option program is going to be a long-term solution to a short-term problem. It may not have an optimal walk zone ever, but they can certainly fill it by redoing boundaries and allowing transfers. They shouldn't make another permanent decision about option school locations, because once it's an option school, it will be really difficult to change it back.

Option schools are all transfers, so making it an option school is incentivizing people to transfer. Why would people transfer there otherwise? I don't think busing is provided for administrative transfers to neighborhood schools, so parents would have to transport.

[Anonymous]

So, all this fuss because APS didn't really think about the consequences of making Reed a neighborhood school, as opposed to an option school? Because they succumbed to pressure from westover parents who wanted their "own" school even though they have some of the best APS schools to chose from and bought homes in the community knowing that kids go to different schools? Geez, as a south arlington parent, next time anyone says "you bought your school zone" I am going to bring this one up.

We seem to have a county short on school money (except for when they build schools like HB), land and seats, yet this same county decides to place too many schools in one area. Great. Didn't anyone examine the walk zones BEFORE deciding to make Reed a neighborhood school? Isn't that part of the planning process? I guess not. Is Reed even going to be at capacity in the near future?

Instead of trying to uproot families who attend an option school (and yes, families consider distance and bus times when making option school decisions), maybe rethink the scope of the "walk zone." Just because it is feasible for a kid to walk a mile, doesn't mean they do. Do a quick study on how many kids ACTUALLY walk, even on a nice day. Count the kids, it isn't hard. Then decide whether the EFFECTIVE walk zone is realistic and stop moving existing schools around. This is insane.

[Anonymous]

Yep. They want to rearrange all the option schools and trek your kids all across the county because Westover got its way for a neighborhood school. That's just about the truth of it.

[Anonymous]

You'll note that no one made those points when they made that decision. They just made it behind the scenes. That's how true influence in this county works.

[Anonymous]

Goldstein made an effort to have Reed considered IB.

He is literally the only one thinking anything through.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, all this fuss because APS didn't really think about the consequences of making Reed a neighborhood school, as opposed to an option school? Because they succumbed to pressure from westover parents who wanted their "own" school even though they have some of the best APS schools to chose from and bought homes in the community knowing that kids go to different schools? Geez, as a south arlington parent, next time anyone says "you bought your school zone" I am going to bring this one up.

We seem to have a county short on school money (except for when they build schools like HB), land and seats, yet this same county decides to place too many schools in one area. Great. Didn't anyone examine the walk zones BEFORE deciding to make Reed a neighborhood school? Isn't that part of the planning process? I guess not. Is Reed even going to be at capacity in the near future?

Instead of trying to uproot families who attend an option school (and yes, families consider distance and bus times when making option school decisions), maybe rethink the scope of the "walk zone." Just because it is feasible for a kid to walk a mile, doesn't mean they do. Do a quick study on how many kids ACTUALLY walk, even on a nice day. Count the kids, it isn't hard. Then decide whether the EFFECTIVE walk zone is realistic and stop moving existing schools around. This is insane.

If you read the APS Engage website, this is exactly what they are doing in the next six weeks. They are going to try and identify what the real effective walk zones are for every single school, neighborhood and choice, around the entire county before making recommendations to the Board as to what changes might be made. This will then also help in the boundary shifting process since they will hopefully start the movement with planning units that aren't walkers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, all this fuss because APS didn't really think about the consequences of making Reed a neighborhood school, as opposed to an option school? Because they succumbed to pressure from westover parents who wanted their "own" school even though they have some of the best APS schools to chose from and bought homes in the community knowing that kids go to different schools? Geez, as a south arlington parent, next time anyone says "you bought your school zone" I am going to bring this one up.

We seem to have a county short on school money (except for when they build schools like HB), land and seats, yet this same county decides to place too many schools in one area. Great. Didn't anyone examine the walk zones BEFORE deciding to make Reed a neighborhood school? Isn't that part of the planning process? I guess not. Is Reed even going to be at capacity in the near future?

Instead of trying to uproot families who attend an option school (and yes, families consider distance and bus times when making option school decisions), maybe rethink the scope of the "walk zone." Just because it is feasible for a kid to walk a mile, doesn't mean they do. Do a quick study on how many kids ACTUALLY walk, even on a nice day. Count the kids, it isn't hard. Then decide whether the EFFECTIVE walk zone is realistic and stop moving existing schools around. This is insane.

Not quite just that. Reed has over 600 students potentially in its walk zone. And the streets there are highly congested. The neighborhood pushed back hard at the amount of heavy traffic that a choice school would bring in terms of busses and cars in comparison to a neighborhood school. I believe one option floated was to make it a choice school, but neighborhood residents had first dibs on attendance. It wasn't just pressure from neighbors about wanting their own school, there's also some pretty valid infrastructure reasons not dissimilar to the reasons that the Carlin Springs area pushed back against a 4th high school at Kenmore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Goldstein made an effort to have Reed considered IB.

He is literally the only one thinking anything through.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, all this fuss because APS didn't really think about the consequences of making Reed a neighborhood school, as opposed to an option school? Because they succumbed to pressure from westover parents who wanted their "own" school even though they have some of the best APS schools to chose from and bought homes in the community knowing that kids go to different schools? Geez, as a south arlington parent, next time anyone says "you bought your school zone" I am going to bring this one up.

We seem to have a county short on school money (except for when they build schools like HB), land and seats, yet this same county decides to place too many schools in one area. Great. Didn't anyone examine the walk zones BEFORE deciding to make Reed a neighborhood school? Isn't that part of the planning process? I guess not. Is Reed even going to be at capacity in the near future?

Instead of trying to uproot families who attend an option school (and yes, families consider distance and bus times when making option school decisions), maybe rethink the scope of the "walk zone." Just because it is feasible for a kid to walk a mile, doesn't mean they do. Do a quick study on how many kids ACTUALLY walk, even on a nice day. Count the kids, it isn't hard. Then decide whether the EFFECTIVE walk zone is realistic and stop moving existing schools around. This is insane.

Not quite just that. Reed has over 600 students potentially in its walk zone. And the streets there are highly congested. The neighborhood pushed back hard at the amount of heavy traffic that a choice school would bring in terms of busses and cars in comparison to a neighborhood school. I believe one option floated was to make it a choice school, but neighborhood residents had first dibs on attendance. It wasn't just pressure from neighbors about wanting their own school, there's also some pretty valid infrastructure reasons not dissimilar to the reasons that the Carlin Springs area pushed back against a 4th high school at Kenmore.

Any many people in the walk zone would likely apply to be in the option school

[Anonymous]

Revisit the Reed neighborhood school decision. Very poor decision that wasn't vetted by the community.