What do you expect from APS staff (option/neighborhood) on 4/30?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

....We should also keep in mind that these recommendations are, at least, informed by school Principals. Say what you will about Central Administration, but if the school Principals are saying it would be better for their students to be bused to a slightly further diverse school rather than walk to a more convenient but highly segregated one, maybe, just maybe, they have good reasons for their thinking and advocacy. Most of the Principals and administrators have worked at multiple schools within APS. They know what's working and what is not. Certainly they know more about how to ensure every child receives an equitable education within APS than do competing groups of myopic and self-interested parents.

great post. bravo!

Except that's not what the staff was asking the principals about, they were asking the principals what their student populations would need if they were to be bused elsewhere. It's a subtle, but huge, distinction.

Okay, well even if we believe that staff has some super secret agenda, do we think staff is doing this for sh**s and giggles? Because they are bored and don't have enough to do?

No, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that there is a difference between asking the principals "What do you think is in the best interest of your students?" and "If we turn this into a choice school location, is there anything you think we should consider about where to transfer the students?" Based on my conversation with our principal, it sounds like the conversation was about the latter with little interest in the former. And why would they ask the former anyway? It's not like any good principal is going to say their school community should be broken up and spread across other communities.

Well of course that's not what I'm saying either. Most principals and teachers love their students and would not want them to be moved to another school. Also, out of respect for their students, and for the idea that their role is to provide a quality education to any child who crosses their threshold, they would never comment on the demographics of their school. But I think if you asked any principal whether highly segregated schools provide the best possible opportunity for their students, what would they say? Ask them whether the most important thing for education is being able to walk to a highly segregated school, you think they will say yes? They will not.

[Anonymous]

A principal is never going to tell APS that a choice school in their location is going to be devastating, either, b/c they know who signs their paychecks.

[Anonymous]

The asfs principal is perfectly fine with the majority of her school population being sent to different communities. Just saying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The asfs principal is perfectly fine with the majority of her school population being sent to different communities. Just saying.

As a future Key parent, you don't speak for me. I want to be able to walk to Key school with my kids, not bus them to a school outside our walk zone. Sounds like the current asfs walk-zone parents want the same thing I do. This would be great if more of us have a walk-able school in the Rosslyn to VA Square area.

[Anonymous]

Anyone want to place bets on whether they'll get the questionnaire posted today or if they're just going to let that roll into next week? I swear, it's like APS goes out of its way to crush any confidence the community might have had in the process

Maybe that's the strategy, they'll make themselves look so incompetent that none of us will trust them to actually do this and will want the SB to stay with the status quo instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Original pp here, and I agree with this too. But the communications from APS around this issue have been terrible (for instance, they never actually sent a follow-up email letting people know the analysis had been posted on 5/1 after sending the email the day before saying it had been delayed). And skipping things like a meeting or a summary slideshow to breakdown what the analysis means left a lot of people uncertain or confused after reading a very dense analysis document. It sure has the appearance that APS is holding back on engaging with the community on this, because they know that if more people start really digging into what this could mean for themselves even though they're not at an option school or one of the short-listed neighborhood schools, they're going to have some serious concerns.

If all a PTA does is pass along notices when information is released, well, that's better than APS is doing but still not great. This is an incredibly complex process, it's difficult to understand all of the implications just from reading what APS posts, and the staff is not being forthcoming about their thought process here. If people want to really understand all of the implications, they need to be digging into the data, but it's too big a job for just one person. That's where PTAs should come in, organizing efforts to do their own analysis and figure out the implications now rather than being caught short later (see, e.g., Tuckahoe; whatever you may think about their PTA's motivations, they saw the writing on the wall and jumped in early rather than waiting until it was too late, although it's not clear that they're continuing to follow the issue anymore now that they're not short-listed). Anyone saying people at neighborhood schools that are likely to stay neighborhood schools shouldn't get worked up until the boundaries are released is a fool, because the location selection will ultimately dictate the boundaries, and by the time we see boundary proposals the staff will have finished its analysis and sent its recommendation to the board. There won't be an opportunity to revisit the location selection if you realize the boundaries in both options are bad for you.

Community meeting on May 9th, and they are answering some questions from what I can see.

My guess as to what will be happening this summer and is happening now is that they are absolutely already playing with proposed boundaries. If ATS goes here, how would we draw boundaries. If we put immersion there, how do boundaries look. They can't make a recommendation until they've done this, so people claiming they are being dishonest by doing it behind the scenes are off base. This is part of the process, they don't need to let us see every step in the sausage being made, but they are no doubt looking at it and considering an entire range of scenarios.

They are also still very open to receiving input because they know that there are smart people in the community taking time on this.

They are pre-screening the questions for the May 9th meeting so they don't have to answer anything they don't want to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone want to place bets on whether they'll get the questionnaire posted today or if they're just going to let that roll into next week? I swear, it's like APS goes out of its way to crush any confidence the community might have had in the process

Maybe that's the strategy, they'll make themselves look so incompetent that none of us will trust them to actually do this and will want the SB to stay with the status quo instead.

5:07, I'm thinking it's a no on a questionnaire today. But please believe them that your feedback is very important to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The asfs principal is perfectly fine with the majority of her school population being sent to different communities. Just saying.

As a future Key parent, you don't speak for me. I want to be able to walk to Key school with my kids, not bus them to a school outside our walk zone. Sounds like the current asfs walk-zone parents want the same thing I do. This would be great if more of us have a walk-able school in the Rosslyn to VA Square area.

I think you misread pp. I think that pp was saying that the asfs principal is a bad principal because she obviously has no attachment to her current student population.
I’m assuming you have a rising k that lotteried into key?
Because if you don’t have a rising k, then you should know that unless they change the status quo, you will not have a walkable school. Plain and simple.
And just so you know, there are 11 current kids from the asfs walk zone that go to asfs. Out of 653. Assuming siblings account for some of them, you are talking about 5 or 6 families.
I’m all for people walking to school, but those yellow shirt wearing jerks do not speak for the entire asfs community, and they should not have pretended like they did. And unless you are advocating for key staying where it is, you do not want the same as those people. Because they want a Lilly white school where all the poor kids who had the nerve to live in the key zone and go to their school get sent some place else like Taylor or long branch.

[Anonymous]

So now that the Superintendent's proposed CIP calls for tearing down the Henry building in a few years, shouldn't we be including the Montessori school in this planning process? If not, what are we doing with that program? Montessori to Nottingham?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The asfs principal is perfectly fine with the majority of her school population being sent to different communities. Just saying.

As a future Key parent, you don't speak for me. I want to be able to walk to Key school with my kids, not bus them to a school outside our walk zone. Sounds like the current asfs walk-zone parents want the same thing I do. This would be great if more of us have a walk-able school in the Rosslyn to VA Square area.

But you want Key to stay as an immersion school at the current location, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone want to place bets on whether they'll get the questionnaire posted today or if they're just going to let that roll into next week? I swear, it's like APS goes out of its way to crush any confidence the community might have had in the process

Maybe that's the strategy, they'll make themselves look so incompetent that none of us will trust them to actually do this and will want the SB to stay with the status quo instead.

5:07, I'm thinking it's a no on a questionnaire today. But please believe them that your feedback is very important to them.

They’ve had”tentative” next to the survey for some time. Is whether they are doing one in question? Or when they will do one?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone want to place bets on whether they'll get the questionnaire posted today or if they're just going to let that roll into next week? I swear, it's like APS goes out of its way to crush any confidence the community might have had in the process

Maybe that's the strategy, they'll make themselves look so incompetent that none of us will trust them to actually do this and will want the SB to stay with the status quo instead.

5:07, I'm thinking it's a no on a questionnaire today. But please believe them that your feedback is very important to them.

They’ve had”tentative” next to the survey for some time. Is whether they are doing one in question? Or when they will do one?

Yesterday's email, "APS School Talk - May 3 Engage Update," said "In addition, community members can share their input through a community questionnaire that will be available May 4-21 at www.apsva.us/elementary-school-boundary-change/."

So far, no questionnaire. Apparently the staff can't manage to projection anything even a day out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So now that the Superintendent's proposed CIP calls for tearing down the Henry building in a few years, shouldn't we be including the Montessori school in this planning process? If not, what are we doing with that program? Montessori to Nottingham?

Yes, and I think that is why staff has identified more sites thanks just the four option programs that are "in play."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The asfs principal is perfectly fine with the majority of her school population being sent to different communities. Just saying.

As a future Key parent, you don't speak for me. I want to be able to walk to Key school with my kids, not bus them to a school outside our walk zone. Sounds like the current asfs walk-zone parents want the same thing I do. This would be great if more of us have a walk-able school in the Rosslyn to VA Square area.

But you want Key to stay as an immersion school at the current location, right?

Different poster, I think most of us in Key zone with preschoolers would like to see it as neighborhood. The people who are already enrolled and invested in either Key Immersion or ASFS may feel differently, but for those of us who haven’t started Key as neighborhood is way better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The asfs principal is perfectly fine with the majority of her school population being sent to different communities. Just saying.

As a future Key parent, you don't speak for me. I want to be able to walk to Key school with my kids, not bus them to a school outside our walk zone. Sounds like the current asfs walk-zone parents want the same thing I do. This would be great if more of us have a walk-able school in the Rosslyn to VA Square area.

But you want Key to stay as an immersion school at the current location, right?

Different poster, I think most of us in Key zone with preschoolers would like to see it as neighborhood. The people who are already enrolled and invested in either Key Immersion or ASFS may feel differently, but for those of us who haven’t started Key as neighborhood is way better.

Figures that the commitment to immersion would be slipping. That’s a shame.