Arlington school boundary petition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lyon Village residents should hold their fire and save their energy. Wait til the middle school/high school boundary discussions, when your special dispensation to bus your children miles away to Williamsburg/Yorktown is on the table. Prepare for some boundary changes.

Lyon Village is Swanson/W-L. I would be perfectly happy if my kids got moved to TJ Middle. Not so happy about getting moved to Wakefield, because W-L is walkable.

And I am sympathetic to parents who would rather their kids walked to ASFS than took the bus to Taylor, but the complaints of the signatories to the petition that ASFS provides a better education than Taylor or that their kids are taking bus rides of 45-60 minutes to get home are making me sneer.

In an admittedly convoluted scenario I could see Lyon Village being bused to Yorktown, because Courthouse and Rosslyn students are already bused there. But Yorktown is also overcrowded, and W-L is a five minute walk away from parts of the neighborhood. Wakefield is at the other end of the county so Lyon Village would never be bused there. That would make no logical sense.

I'd prefer to stay at W-L. My 7 year old already rides his bike there for swim lessons.

I'd prefer to stay walkable for HS. I think the educations kids would receive would be equivalent at either HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lyon Village residents should hold their fire and save their energy. Wait til the middle school/high school boundary discussions, when your special dispensation to bus your children miles away to Williamsburg/Yorktown is on the table. Prepare for some boundary changes.

Lyon Village is Swanson/W-L. I would be perfectly happy if my kids got moved to TJ Middle. Not so happy about getting moved to Wakefield, because W-L is walkable.

And I am sympathetic to parents who would rather their kids walked to ASFS than took the bus to Taylor, but the complaints of the signatories to the petition that ASFS provides a better education than Taylor or that their kids are taking bus rides of 45-60 minutes to get home are making me sneer.

In an admittedly convoluted scenario I could see Lyon Village being bused to Yorktown, because Courthouse and Rosslyn students are already bused there. But Yorktown is also overcrowded, and W-L is a five minute walk away from parts of the neighborhood. Wakefield is at the other end of the county so Lyon Village would never be bused there. That would make no logical sense.

I'd prefer to stay at W-L. My 7 year old already rides his bike there for swim lessons.
I'd prefer to stay walkable for HS. I think the educations kids would receive would be equivalent at either HS.

None of us can predict the future, but Lyon Village is a very short walk to W-L, and APS is ostensibly trying to cut down on busing. Moving LV to any other high school would likely be very controversial. On google maps LV is two blocks from W-L.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In an admittedly convoluted scenario I could see Lyon Village being bused to Yorktown, because Courthouse and Rosslyn students are already bused there. But Yorktown is also overcrowded, and W-L is a five minute walk away from parts of the neighborhood. Wakefield is at the other end of the county so Lyon Village would never be bused there. That would make no logical sense.

I could definitely see the Courthouse/Rosslyn HS boundaries change away from Yorktown, but I don't think APS would add to the island. However, there are several ES boundary scenarios that make me scratch my head, so maybe I shouldn't even try to figure out their master plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the most first-world-problem petition I have ever seen. Complaining that their kids can't get into one good school and (gasp!) have to go to another good school with less cache.

I did always think that whole team idea was stupid. The only part that made sense was the ASFS instead of Key if you didn't want to do immersion. Never made sense to have the other schools involved at all IMO.

The thing about APS is they have made decisions in the past that made sense at the time and then later on had to reverse course when they no longer made sense.

Key has existed a lot longer than Claremont so it doesn't shock me that the distracting is set up differently. Actually kids from a good number of schools have access to Key from outside the "team" including Barrett, Glebe, Henry, and Long Branch.

People have to remember a lot of this stuff is historical. A lot of the students who used to live in the Key district, before that area boomed, were Hispanic. Bilingual education was almost a necessity to keep them on track as second language learners. The other schools (not from the team) with access to Key also have large Hispanic populations. They also desired this kind of education. It wasn't until more recently that non-Hispanic families really got on the bandwagon of bilingual or immersion programs. By the time Claremont was open it was known to be as appealing to non-Hispanic families as to Hispanic families.

I do believe, however, that it is not fair for some members of a county to have access or to not have access to certain facilities based on where you live. Neighborhood schools are one thing but special programs like ATS, immersion, Montessori, etc. should be countywide and have lotteries so that everyone has an equal chance. I am surprised more people are not creating petitions over FLES and early release. If I were in one of the schools that still did not have FLES I wild be steamed.

Umm... ATS IS a county-wide school and is lottery entrance only. Research is your friend.

[Anonymous]

The ad hominem attacks against those who signed the petition are a bit unfair. Not all of us who signed are "lemmings" and while some of individual comments might have sounded "whiny," some of us signed the petition to raise serious issues of equity and efficiency. Even if it is too late, there's a value to raising these issues. I happen to live within a block of ASFS, but my kids will have to be bused to Taylor (which, according to the parents who've actually tested this by physically waiting in front of taylor, actually does take 45 minutes from pickup in the morning to dropoff at the school). And yes, it is true that I was fully aware that my kids would have to lottery into the school at the time we bought our house, back then the chances were actually quite good that we'd actually be able to get in. Now, there is effectively no more lottery because the school is over-subscribed. Fine. But just as my family must adapt to that regrettable change -- it seems that those who bought into the boundary should equally be expected to adapt to the changes that redrawing boundaries requires. This is an opportunity to create more rational boundaries for the entire APS system such that every area has an actual neighborhood school and that entry to the "choice" schools be by county-wide lottery. Taking those within the Key/ASFS boundary out of the boundary re-drawing process undermines that potential. Why not re-consider changing Key into a neighborhood school, and having a different school -- accessible by county-wide lottery -- be one that has Spanish immersion? That way spaces are freed up at both the new spanish immersion site and ASFS to be truly "choice" schools to which the entire county can have equal access via lottery?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The ad hominem attacks against those who signed the petition are a bit unfair. Not all of us who signed are "lemmings" and while some of individual comments might have sounded "whiny," some of us signed the petition to raise serious issues of equity and efficiency. Even if it is too late, there's a value to raising these issues. I happen to live within a block of ASFS, but my kids will have to be bused to Taylor (which, according to the parents who've actually tested this by physically waiting in front of taylor, actually does take 45 minutes from pickup in the morning to dropoff at the school). And yes, it is true that I was fully aware that my kids would have to lottery into the school at the time we bought our house, back then the chances were actually quite good that we'd actually be able to get in. Now, there is effectively no more lottery because the school is over-subscribed. Fine. But just as my family must adapt to that regrettable change -- it seems that those who bought into the boundary should equally be expected to adapt to the changes that redrawing boundaries requires. This is an opportunity to create more rational boundaries for the entire APS system such that every area has an actual neighborhood school and that entry to the "choice" schools be by county-wide lottery. Taking those within the Key/ASFS boundary out of the boundary re-drawing process undermines that potential. Why not re-consider changing Key into a neighborhood school, and having a different school -- accessible by county-wide lottery -- be one that has Spanish immersion? That way spaces are freed up at both the new spanish immersion site and ASFS to be truly "choice" schools to which the entire county can have equal access via lottery?

+100. The current plans are very short-sighted.

[Anonymous]

As soon as you have "choice" schools you are taking away a neighborhood school.

The parents who tell you their kids are on the bus for 45 minutes are wrong. They just are.

There is no overall advantage to going to ASFS rather than Taylor other than geography. Taylor is a fantastic school, and you are lucky if that is where you'll be going. If your kid will be going to the new school and thus will be on the same campus through 8th grade, again, that seems like a pretty sweet deal.

I didn't call the people who signed the petition whiny, but it seems apt to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As soon as you have "choice" schools you are taking away a neighborhood school.

The parents who tell you their kids are on the bus for 45 minutes are wrong. They just are.

There is no overall advantage to going to ASFS rather than Taylor other than geography. Taylor is a fantastic school, and you are lucky if that is where you'll be going. If your kid will be going to the new school and thus will be on the same campus through 8th grade, again, that seems like a pretty sweet deal.

I didn't call the people who signed the petition whiny, but it seems apt to me.

Agreed. Again--we live 0.5 miles from ASFS. The bus stop serves a Taylor and an ASFS bus. Both buses depart at the EXACT same time 8:19am for a 9 am departure. Both buses return at 4pm--from the two separate schools. The morning isn't actual bus time--they get hem there early, wait to go to classes--want coats off, packs hung up in desks by actual start time of 9--not just straggling thru door.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the issue about favoritism towards Lyon Village?

1/2 the neighborhood is Key/ASFS boundary. It is not subject to boundary changes now.

This is not favoritism. It is not an issue at hhis time or bursting at the sea like other N ARl schools.

I know several people that bought more square footage for less in different zones hoping to lottery into ASFS and then didn't get in due to space,

Should have taken the smaller house in-boundary for the school they wanted. Now they want to bitch about it.

+1

Don't go bitching now when you were well aware of your home school when you bought your house.

Unless your home school that you bought in is getting changed, and although you live a mere four blocks from ASFS, you don't have an option to lottery in, because your kids are already in school. I'm not in Taylor now, but it is ridiculous that people who live a few blocks away from Taylor are now being sent on a bus to Jamestown, because Taylor's district snakes all over NE Arlington because of no neighborhood schools in the Orange Line corridor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the most first-world-problem petition I have ever seen. Complaining that their kids can't get into one good school and (gasp!) have to go to another good school with less cache.

I did always think that whole team idea was stupid. The only part that made sense was the ASFS instead of Key if you didn't want to do immersion. Never made sense to have the other schools involved at all IMO.

The thing about APS is they have made decisions in the past that made sense at the time and then later on had to reverse course when they no longer made sense.

Key has existed a lot longer than Claremont so it doesn't shock me that the distracting is set up differently. Actually kids from a good number of schools have access to Key from outside the "team" including Barrett, Glebe, Henry, and Long Branch.

People have to remember a lot of this stuff is historical. A lot of the students who used to live in the Key district, before that area boomed, were Hispanic. Bilingual education was almost a necessity to keep them on track as second language learners. The other schools (not from the team) with access to Key also have large Hispanic populations. They also desired this kind of education. It wasn't until more recently that non-Hispanic families really got on the bandwagon of bilingual or immersion programs. By the time Claremont was open it was known to be as appealing to non-Hispanic families as to Hispanic families.

I do believe, however, that it is not fair for some members of a county to have access or to not have access to certain facilities based on where you live. Neighborhood schools are one thing but special programs like ATS, immersion, Montessori, etc. should be countywide and have lotteries so that everyone has an equal chance. I am surprised more people are not creating petitions over FLES and early release. If I were in one of the schools that still did not have FLES I wild be steamed.

How about if you're currently in a school with FLES, and you're now getting redistricted into one without the program. My kids have learned a TON of Spanish, and now this program will be stripped from beneath my younger child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you live in Key you get no traditional school choice. So blow me with your stupid petition .

It's science or Spanish. No you want to take those away so our kids have no school.

Half the idiots (based on their comments) didn't even know what they were signing.

I think the point was that ASFS or Key should be made a Neighborhood School and one of those programs could move to another facility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a little confused about the Arlington Science Focus issue...if you are in the ASFS boundary, you are guaranteed a spot? Are people complaining that they aren't in the boundary and therefore aren't getting spots? ???

Yep. They are in the team for Taylor or at other schools. They want guaranteed Key/ASFS boundary taken away yet those are neighborhood schools for in-boundary schools. They also want LV out of Taylor. The County already ruled there are new school options in Clarendon/Rosslyn so Key/ASFS is not being subject to boundary changes.

Ironically, their petition (which is too late anyway) would most likely backfire with all of LV taking Taylor spots and more of them being moved.

Don't ask for something when you don't know the consequences. Most of us have been in these boundary talks for ages this is way too late.

This about sums it up. The rules around Clarendon/Courthouse/Rosslyn are so screwy that even when someone who apparently knows what they're talking about tries to explain it, it makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think people don't want a neighborhood school for Key folks. I *think* they was the Science Focus curriculum moved elsewhere and the building that houses ASFS become a regular elementary school. At least, that's the way it seemed from all the Taylor people who've been at the meetings I've attended. It's pretty clear that their efforts are in vain, but it doesn't mean it doesn't come up every time there is a group discussion.

Others want it to. (i.e. Glebe families who live in walking distance of ASFS and will now be on a bus to Taylor)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That must be the most poorly worded petition I've ever seen. Arlington County doesn't "must" have to do anything. A petition ASKS. It doesn't TELL.

Typical of certain Arlingtonians. Wow.

I do not even get why they are trying to throw this is so late in the game. I agree wholeheartedly with the posts that came before me--these people have no idea what they are asking for. They also appear to have hate/animosity towards one neighborhood. The few clueless ones that signed it because that thought they were protecting their spots at Taylor have no idea that what they were signing was asking for those in Key boundary to essentially have no school. Try telling that to people that paid a lot of frickin' money for a particular school.

The people I have met that are the most steamed up about this issue are the people that purchased a home outside of boundary for a specific school assuming they could just lottery into the one they wanted later. That assumption was a giant mistake. You always keep abreast of school zoning issues when purchasing and you should only buy into a school district you are satisfied with. I have seen the same mistake with DC residents that figure they will just go to X Charter school and then are astounded when their kid becomes school age and realize it is not an option.

I get the people living next door to one school and being zoned to one farther away. I also would not like that, but again you knew that when you bought your house.

Well yes, my read is "hate/animosity" is definitely the tone of the petition. The petitioners assume they know what's going on in Rosslyn/Clarendon. They're completely oblivious to the changes happening right under their noses and so they've taken a superior attitude towards people living in those neighborhood. But the county is aware of it's demographic. My 200+ unit building is considered a neighborhood in and of itself by the county with a price range of $900K to $9million per unit. Currently, about 10-15% of my building's unit owners have school age or will have school age children in the near future. We definitely bought with the school pyramid in mind and would never have made the mistake of thinking we could simply petition into the school district we'd like. Even the empty nesters, picked the area and building considering the school pyramid. We are also assessed a special luxury tax which goes to the neighborhood. Lion Village, CC Hills notwithstanding, I doubt the county would consider any boundary changes that would adversely affect Rosslyn. Now days, there are a lot of people in Rosslyn whom the county couldn't easily ignore, despite what the tone of the petition implies. I am surprised the petitioners are clueless of and assume they have the muscle to affect the kind of wrong minded changes they're seeking.

What exactly are the wrong-minded changes? Adding a neighborhood school closer to Rosslyn, so that we don't end up busing kids several miles to Taylor-- which is then compounded by needing to add more buses to bus kids who live within close walking distance to the north of Taylor who will now be on buses to Jamestown. This is simply not good for the environment. The county should be trying to encourage walking wherever possible. Busing kids from Rosslyn and points due west to Taylor requires APS to push all population north, which exacerbates the problems at the already overcrowded schools in far north arlington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in Key, and we would actually be happy not to get involved with the hyper competitive momzilla rat-race which is ASFS. But we don't like immersion programs, so this is where we'll wind up because we have the option of one specialty school or the other and not a regular school.

I am in the same boat. I wish I had another option.

That's what the petition wants too- maybe you should sign it. It was not the best worded petition I've ever seen, but it was pretty clear to me that they thought that a facility closer to the Orange Line (ASFS/Key) should be converted to a neighborhood school, and the corresponding program be moved elsewhere. If ASFS were converted to a neighborhood school, wouldn't people nearby simply be happy to go there?