Powerful Letter to the Arlington County School Board about Diversity

[Anonymous]

Why are all "whites" lumped together?

There's gotta be a lot of diversity of people of German, Italian, Irish, British, etc. origin.

Kind of tongue-in-check. I know when they mean diversity they just mean "not so many white people."

Why is the lack of white people good?

[Anonymous]

We've had some pretty intense thread about APS on this forumZ

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are all "whites" lumped together?

There's gotta be a lot of diversity of people of German, Italian, Irish, British, etc. origin.

Kind of tongue-in-check. I know when they mean diversity they just mean "not so many white people."

Why is the lack of white people good?

It's really more the converse - people wanting to spread the white kids (it would be white and Asian kids in FCPS) around so all the high schools were 30% FARMS, rather than having one school at 13%, a second at 30%, and a third at 47%. Under that scenario, which causes the least upheaval at W-L, each school is diverse yet none so FARMS-heavy as to send the affluent families running for the exits (or so it is assumed).

[Anonymous]

The diversity problem in APS has nothing to do with race - it has to do socioeconomics. I don't know anyone at any school in APS that has a problem with people of color; the issue is with the lower income families who tend to have lower levels of education and in most cases are also people of color. Wealthy, educated, professionally-employed people of color are not what makes people not want to send their kids to Wakefield -- it's the notion that their kids, white or otherwise, who they expect to go to college and to be high achievers, will be attending a school where many of the parents have not attended college, have blue collar jobs, and have kids that may not be achieving on as high a level as their own kids (who have had a lot of advantages) and may not ultimately be college bound. I don't think it's about race at all, it's about perceived atmosphere, and the fear that their kids will stand out if they are white and wealthy and advantaged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The diversity problem in APS has nothing to do with race - it has to do socioeconomics. I don't know anyone at any school in APS that has a problem with people of color; the issue is with the lower income families who tend to have lower levels of education and in most cases are also people of color. Wealthy, educated, professionally-employed people of color are not what makes people not want to send their kids to Wakefield -- it's the notion that their kids, white or otherwise, who they expect to go to college and to be high achievers, will be attending a school where many of the parents have not attended college, have blue collar jobs, and have kids that may not be achieving on as high a level as their own kids (who have had a lot of advantages) and may not ultimately be college bound. I don't think it's about race at all, it's about perceived atmosphere, and the fear that their kids will stand out if they are white and wealthy and advantaged.

PP again - also there is concern that a school with such a disadvantaged population will be more focused on the needs of these neediest kids, and not as focused on their own kids. And just to be clear, I'm just stating what I perceive to be the concerns. We've been perfectly happy with the education and atmosphere at our Title I school and would be glad to send our kids to any of the schools in Arlington, including Wakefield. I think we are lucky to have such good schools across the board. We have family in Florida and a lot of the public schools there are abysmal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The diversity problem in APS has nothing to do with race - it has to do socioeconomics. I don't know anyone at any school in APS that has a problem with people of color; the issue is with the lower income families who tend to have lower levels of education and in most cases are also people of color. Wealthy, educated, professionally-employed people of color are not what makes people not want to send their kids to Wakefield -- it's the notion that their kids, white or otherwise, who they expect to go to college and to be high achievers, will be attending a school where many of the parents have not attended college, have blue collar jobs, and have kids that may not be achieving on as high a level as their own kids (who have had a lot of advantages) and may not ultimately be college bound. I don't think it's about race at all, it's about perceived atmosphere, and the fear that their kids will stand out if they are white and wealthy and advantaged.

In APS, race and SES are strongly correlated. White kids are high SES and most non-whites are not.

And I don't think white parents avoiding Wakefield worry that their kids will stand out, so much as that they'll be taken for granted in a school where the primary focus is helping other students meet basic competency goals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The diversity problem in APS has nothing to do with race - it has to do socioeconomics. I don't know anyone at any school in APS that has a problem with people of color; the issue is with the lower income families who tend to have lower levels of education and in most cases are also people of color. Wealthy, educated, professionally-employed people of color are not what makes people not want to send their kids to Wakefield -- it's the notion that their kids, white or otherwise, who they expect to go to college and to be high achievers, will be attending a school where many of the parents have not attended college, have blue collar jobs, and have kids that may not be achieving on as high a level as their own kids (who have had a lot of advantages) and may not ultimately be college bound. I don't think it's about race at all, it's about perceived atmosphere, and the fear that their kids will stand out if they are white and wealthy and advantaged.

In APS, race and SES are strongly correlated. White kids are high SES and most non-whites are not.

And I don't think white parents avoiding Wakefield worry that their kids will stand out, so much as that they'll be taken for granted in a school where the primary focus is helping other students meet basic competency goals.

Arlington is small enough that the boundaries could be drawn so that no school has more than 30 percent FARMS without significantly increasing travel time. I'm sure it will never happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are all "whites" lumped together?

There's gotta be a lot of diversity of people of German, Italian, Irish, British, etc. origin.

Kind of tongue-in-check. I know when they mean diversity they just mean "not so many white people."

Why is the lack of white people good?

Because they are the past, not the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The diversity problem in APS has nothing to do with race - it has to do socioeconomics. I don't know anyone at any school in APS that has a problem with people of color; the issue is with the lower income families who tend to have lower levels of education and in most cases are also people of color. Wealthy, educated, professionally-employed people of color are not what makes people not want to send their kids to Wakefield -- it's the notion that their kids, white or otherwise, who they expect to go to college and to be high achievers, will be attending a school where many of the parents have not attended college, have blue collar jobs, and have kids that may not be achieving on as high a level as their own kids (who have had a lot of advantages) and may not ultimately be college bound. I don't think it's about race at all, it's about perceived atmosphere, and the fear that their kids will stand out if they are white and wealthy and advantaged.

In APS, race and SES are strongly correlated. White kids are high SES and most non-whites are not.

And I don't think white parents avoiding Wakefield worry that their kids will stand out, so much as that they'll be taken for granted in a school where the primary focus is helping other students meet basic competency goals.

Yes, that could be the excuse/euphemism they use.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Best line:
Arlington is only 26 square miles but through negligence you’ve managed to become more racially segregated than all 406 square miles of Fairfax.

Boom. Mic dropped.

Not really. The School Board doesn't make housing policy. Schools are a reflection of where people live.

This article is far too strident and lacking in accuracy to be taken seriously. You can totally tell a high school student wrote it. I give is a B-minus.

People on this thread have been shrill about the inaccuracies, but no one has offered facts to dispute this article.

I think people have offered facts to point out some of the inaccuracies. It's unfortunate that you choose to label others "shrill" rather than acknowledge the errors.

The only fact I've seen is that Madison is outside the beltway. Not super compelling, or particularly undermining of the article.

still waiting on those facts.

Yorktown is not the third least diverse high school "inside the Beltway."

Why? Are there other schools in close-in Va less diverse? If so name them and their stats. That's how giving facts works.

We're not talking about close-in VA. We're talking about "inside the Beltway" -- i.e., the parameters given in the letter being discussed in this thread. I swear, you're positively Trumpian in your attempts to move the goalposts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The diversity problem in APS has nothing to do with race - it has to do socioeconomics. I don't know anyone at any school in APS that has a problem with people of color; the issue is with the lower income families who tend to have lower levels of education and in most cases are also people of color. Wealthy, educated, professionally-employed people of color are not what makes people not want to send their kids to Wakefield -- it's the notion that their kids, white or otherwise, who they expect to go to college and to be high achievers, will be attending a school where many of the parents have not attended college, have blue collar jobs, and have kids that may not be achieving on as high a level as their own kids (who have had a lot of advantages) and may not ultimately be college bound. I don't think it's about race at all, it's about perceived atmosphere, and the fear that their kids will stand out if they are white and wealthy and advantaged.

In APS, race and SES are strongly correlated. White kids are high SES and most non-whites are not.

And I don't think white parents avoiding Wakefield worry that their kids will stand out, so much as that they'll be taken for granted in a school where the primary focus is helping other students meet basic competency goals.

Yes, that could be the excuse/euphemism they use.

It's not an unreasonable attitude when there is objective evidence that the white kids who go to Wakefield perform worse than white kids at other schools.

[Anonymous]

This is very sobering excerpt from one of the comments posted in response to the original article:

'The County forecasts a 27%, 60,000 person population increase by 2040, https://projects.arlingtonva.us/data-research/ but the School Board says enrollment growth is a “bubble” that will reverse even though children under 5 and adults entering parenting age are growing faster than the population as a whole. The School Board just approved a lease for all Ed Center staff to move to Syphax–a location few private sector firms would want– with no public discussion, no RFP to see if any of the many metro accessible empty office buildings in Rosslyn would offer a better deal with less traffic impact. No cost estimates whether refurbing the space and only leasing incremental growth space would have been cheaper. Sheer contempt for taxpayers and a breach of fiduciary duty. Moving staff to Rosslyn would at least reduce traffic and support the restaurants and shops needed to attract other commercial tenants. School Board members tell concerned citizens that the Ed Center, a fraction of the size of the Wilson lot, is the fait accompli home of 1000 to 1300 additional high school seats, blowing out the W&L campus to 3500, with no designs or alternate sites by fancy NYC architects before the decision is made, like happened for HB, Stratford and Discovery.

We have almost 8800 kids in grades 1-4. For over a decade, APS grad class sizes have grown by 12% from 7th to 10th grade. These already born and enrolled kids will grow to be 9,700 students in 8 years, but we will only have 7,200 seats at the three high schools and HB. APS and the School Board have issued a forecast that assumes unprecedented numbers of rising 6th graders disappear (almost 9% in 2025 when this year attrition was below 1%), counted adult ed seats at Langston and Arlington County High towards the future 9-12 need, and claimed they can take the 157 seat Career Center to a magnet tech program for 800-1000 for $12M when they can’t successfully add 240 seats to an elementary school for $20M. Many of us in the Yorktown zone who supported the chosen boundary plan did so because Yorktown has the smallest campus and building and were solely focused on the overcrowding impact. We want more diversity in our schools, but fear that the lack of a sound capacity plan will mean that Yorktown zone kids will opt for neither an underfunded ARLTech nor a 1300 seat office tower magnet on a 3500 seat W&L campus, and classes with 35 kids each will be the result.

The County Board approves 5-7000 new housing units per year, student yields from high rise apartments are rising, single family redevelopment is attracting larger families with more kids. No new land is being acquired for schools. The plan is in place to completely destroy the quality of Arlington middle and high schools outside of HB. What an outrage."

[Anonymous]

Guess I need to increase my savings to send my kids to privates and hit up my parents to get them to buy-in. Kinda pissed that I saved for 10 years to buy into Arlington to have the good schools (which make a shit shack worth $850,000) destroyed by illegal immigration and their never ending neediness. They are decimating test scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Guess I need to increase my savings to send my kids to privates and hit up my parents to get them to buy-in. Kinda pissed that I saved for 10 years to buy into Arlington to have the good schools (which make a shit shack worth $850,000) destroyed by illegal immigration and their never ending neediness. They are decimating test scores.

I'm reasonably sure that most of the people who are responsible for both the enrollment spike in APS, as well as the ongoing failure to address it, are privileged white Americans playing a game of chicken with each other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'll never understand the county system. While it is cheaper to run than township school systems, there are no boundary issues when you have a set town. If each town in Nova had its own school system (maybe something like Falls Church City), you wouldn't have these districting issues.

You live in Annandale, you got to Annandal ES, MS, and HS. You live in McLean, you go to McLean ES, MS and HS. You live in Burke, you go to Burke ES, MS and HS. Set the town lines and be done with it.

NJ has little bitty townships each with their own schools, and the property taxes to match.