APS elementary planning initiative called off

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree -- option schools should not trump or detract quality from neighborhood schools. They offer a way to create a more integrated system, so maybe placing them more strategically makes sense.
Though maybe that's an argument for just making everything lottery only.

Suggesting lottery-only immediately discredits everything else you say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not the PP, but obvious to me to make options bigger. Henry and Oakridge are so overcrowded for one reason: parents have been packing I to those zones to avoid the surrounding neighborhood schools. Making neighborhood schools like them bigger just worsens that problem and will lead to more frequent rezonings, lobbying, etc. make the option schools bigger and you give more people more choices. It's nice to have choices. Which behavior do you wa t to support, more self segregation, or more countywide integration?

That's assuming that many/most people are choosing option schools because they believe they are best for their child, or if they are also an opportunity to escape a poor or overcrowded neighborhood school. Option schools can just as easily be a drain on neighborhood schools by providing an out for families who don't want to deal with problems. Meanwhile, solid neighborhood schools that families don't want to leave end up overcrowded if you make them the smaller facilities. Option schools are supposed to be the bonus in the school system, offering an additional educational option for families. Using them to instead as escape routes from undesirable schools is hurting matters, not helping.

DP. See, e.g., the Jefferson-Houston mess in ACPS right now.

[Anonymous]

In ARL there are no options, only luck schools. When less than 10% of applicants get into an "option" school, that thing only becomes a distraction and they should all be abolished.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In ARL there are no options, only luck schools. When less than 10% of applicants get into an "option" school, that thing only becomes a distraction and they should all be abolished.

Just apply to several options like many people do or get out of Arlington. Plenty of room in Alexandria, Fairfax and DC. Just put a sock in it lady.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In ARL there are no options, only luck schools. When less than 10% of applicants get into an "option" school, that thing only becomes a distraction and they should all be abolished.

Well, here's what happened when a segregated school district in Florida decided to abolish option/magnet schools:
http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tampabay.com%2Fprojects%2F2015%2Finvestigations%2Fpinellas-failure-factories%2F5-schools-segregation%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNG7iRD5isaC_w0DTi17JE_JktfrZw

We don't need to wonder how it would play out. We're not so special or evolved. Abolishing option schools would be the lighter fluid on the dumpster fire of Arlington segregation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In ARL there are no options, only luck schools. When less than 10% of applicants get into an "option" school, that thing only becomes a distraction and they should all be abolished.

Just apply to several options like many people do or get out of Arlington. Plenty of room in Alexandria, Fairfax and DC. Just put a sock in it lady.

After 40 pages of multiple threads. Get over it SA (and NA too). I wish the SB would start off the public comment sessions with "talk to the hand, girl, 'cos the face ain't listening".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In ARL there are no options, only luck schools. When less than 10% of applicants get into an "option" school, that thing only becomes a distraction and they should all be abolished.

Well, here's what happened when a segregated school district in Florida decided to abolish option/magnet schools:
http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tampabay.com%2Fprojects%2F2015%2Finvestigations%2Fpinellas-failure-factories%2F5-schools-segregation%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNG7iRD5isaC_w0DTi17JE_JktfrZw

We don't need to wonder how it would play out. We're not so special or evolved. Abolishing option schools would be the lighter fluid on the dumpster fire of Arlington segregation.

They're not going to abolish option schools, don't waste time responding to pp's trolling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In ARL there are no options, only luck schools. When less than 10% of applicants get into an "option" school, that thing only becomes a distraction and they should all be abolished.

Well, here's what happened when a segregated school district in Florida decided to abolish option/magnet schools:
http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tampabay.com%2Fprojects%2F2015%2Finvestigations%2Fpinellas-failure-factories%2F5-schools-segregation%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNG7iRD5isaC_w0DTi17JE_JktfrZw

We don't need to wonder how it would play out. We're not so special or evolved. Abolishing option schools would be the lighter fluid on the dumpster fire of Arlington segregation.

Did you read the article you posted. Because it is about a district that ended busing, not one that decided to abolish option/magnet schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In ARL there are no options, only luck schools. When less than 10% of applicants get into an "option" school, that thing only becomes a distraction and they should all be abolished.

Well, here's what happened when a segregated school district in Florida decided to abolish option/magnet schools:
http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tampabay.com%2Fprojects%2F2015%2Finvestigations%2Fpinellas-failure-factories%2F5-schools-segregation%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNG7iRD5isaC_w0DTi17JE_JktfrZw

We don't need to wonder how it would play out. We're not so special or evolved. Abolishing option schools would be the lighter fluid on the dumpster fire of Arlington segregation.

Did you read the article you posted. Because it is about a district that ended busing, not one that decided to abolish option/magnet schools.

It's also about a district that, after ending busing, slashed per-pupil funding to most of the low-SES schools to below that of the more affluent schools. APS does the opposite.

[Anonymous]

If Arlington got rid of option schools, a lot of parents would leave certain neighborhoods. Sorry, but it is true. I live in SA in a neighborhood surrounded by title I schools. Most parents try for an option school. Many of them get in, or at least used to. If they don't, they leave. Schools has been one of the largest drivers of home sales and non-renewal of rental leases. In the 8 years I have lived here, it has been the primary driver and I know of over a dozen who made a decision to leave because of schools.

For families moving in, they already have their kids in option schools.

People will move, driving down real estate values and making south arlington SFH neighborhoods more affordable. So, if that is the goal, eliminating option schools will do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If Arlington got rid of option schools, a lot of parents would leave certain neighborhoods. Sorry, but it is true. I live in SA in a neighborhood surrounded by title I schools. Most parents try for an option school. Many of them get in, or at least used to. If they don't, they leave. Schools has been one of the largest drivers of home sales and non-renewal of rental leases. In the 8 years I have lived here, it has been the primary driver and I know of over a dozen who made a decision to leave because of schools.

For families moving in, they already have their kids in option schools.

People will move, driving down real estate values and making south arlington SFH neighborhoods more affordable. So, if that is the goal, eliminating option schools will do it.

When’s that happening? Cause I don’t know if you noticed, but neighborhoods zoned to the worst elementary schools were selling older homes for over 800K this past spring.

[Anonymous]

Not in my neighborhood. older homes are going for the 500-600s. Only big completely renovated 4 bedrooms are going over $800. That may seem like a lot for SA, but it pales in comparison to what the home would cost in a better school zone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not in my neighborhood. older homes are going for the 500-600s. Only big completely renovated 4 bedrooms are going over $800. That may seem like a lot for SA, but it pales in comparison to what the home would cost in a better school zone.

Would you please share the neighborhood. I have friends looking in that price point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:This is probably going to get me flamed, but how about moving ATS to a bigger site like Reed? The waiting list for ATS is ridiculously long -- its almost like HB in demand. ATS is a good location for a neighborhood school for shorter bus times for the Ballston/VA square (that currently goes to Ashlawn) and you could either relieve crowding at glebe or have it shoot east and relieve crowding without having to move key. Again not sure if there is the political will to do it.
All do fairness, I live in Rosslyn, so I'd prefer that they make Key into a neighborhood school or move the immersion program to the ATS site, but I'd pick going to ATS (which is as metro accessible as ASFS) over trying to navigate buses to get to Taylor.

The problem with that is that NW is also overcrowded and needs more neigborhood seats. If they take what will be by far the largest school in that region as an option school they will actually make the boundaries up there even worse trying to relieve overcrowding. If an option school goes into NW, it has to be one of the smaller schools (but not Nottingham, because that school can take the most trailers to help cope with future overcrowding in the region).

They aren't going to revisit the decision to make Reed neighborhood. The question is whether another school becomes an option school, and if so, which option? I think they could make a good case for any of them.

That's kind of a backwards way to look at it because the schools are very differently situated in many of the relevant respects. We shouldn't decide on the school and then make the case to fit it, we should set out our needs and priorities for site selection and then choose the best sites based on that.

In a perfect world, yes. But this is APS. They are trying to clean up a mess. The only reason they're even looking at this quadrant for an option program is because they are projecting an excess of neighborhood seats once Reed comes online, and have no good way to draw boundaries to fill the schools. All the school sites that were discussed as potential places for an option program are equally poor for one reason or another. So, to my mind, they could make an equally poor case for any of them. None make sense for Immersion or for a countywide option since none are centrally located. But, here we are.

Come on, you can do better than that. Surely you could, at the very least, take a position on whether the schools with the greatest ability to flex their capacity via trailers should be option programs (giving APS the ability to increase program size as demand increases) or neighborhood schools (giving APS the ability to increase neighborhood capacity as needed between boundary reviews to address unexpected overcrowding).

Not the PP, but obvious to me to make options bigger. Henry and Oakridge are so overcrowded for one reason: parents have been packing I to those zones to avoid the surrounding neighborhood schools. Making neighborhood schools like them bigger just worsens that problem and will lead to more frequent rezonings, lobbying, etc. make the option schools bigger and you give more people more choices. It's nice to have choices. Which behavior do you wa t to support, more self segregation, or more countywide integration?

Okay, so let's leave Henry as it is and move Montessori to Fleet instead to give more option opportunities. I'm sure the sibling families who didn't get a spot for next year would be thrilled.

Great idea. Keeps enry more diverse too, which current parents say they want

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not the PP, but obvious to me to make options bigger. Henry and Oakridge are so overcrowded for one reason: parents have been packing I to those zones to avoid the surrounding neighborhood schools. Making neighborhood schools like them bigger just worsens that problem and will lead to more frequent rezonings, lobbying, etc. make the option schools bigger and you give more people more choices. It's nice to have choices. Which behavior do you wa t to support, more self segregation, or more countywide integration?

That's assuming that many/most people are choosing option schools because they believe they are best for their child, or if they are also an opportunity to escape a poor or overcrowded neighborhood school. Option schools can just as easily be a drain on neighborhood schools by providing an out for families who don't want to deal with problems. Meanwhile, solid neighborhood schools that families don't want to leave end up overcrowded if you make them the smaller facilities. Option schools are supposed to be the bonus in the school system, offering an additional educational option for families. Using them to instead as escape routes from undesirable schools is hurting matters, not helping.

Sorry, but you're wrong here. Option schools are largely the only SES integrated schools we have. Over and over, posters here think that SA parents have two choices: neighborhood or option. Nope. It's a free country and they have those options, they can go private, they can move. You might as well blame north Arlington parents for br moving by to south arlington to "improve" the low SES schools there. Where you live is not some moral obligation to attend the local neighborhood school. For many UMC parents, a high farms school is simply not an option. It's not like if they didn't choice out they'd bite the bullet and send their kids there.