school board work session on enrollment and transfers in options schools(and also a new high school)

[Anonymous]

People who live near Reed can lottery into it. There won't be as much demand as ATS or anything initially. I think this makes sense. Also you can google the IB primary years program. This is a real thing.

[Anonymous]

People who live near Reed are assigned to McKinley, the most overcrowded school in N. Arl. for the foreseeable future. They need more than a lottery. They need relief.

[Anonymous]

Two points:

1. Sending Randolph to Barcroft will make Barcroft even poorer than it already is. Same for sending them to Drew. They need to send Randolph students to the new Henry if there's any hope of demographic change in Drew and Barcroft schools. I agree re: IB elementary by the way.

2. I also think they may be in trouble with Williamsburg if they make it immersion. That school is ALREADY the most overcrowded. If they are only going to peel off Taylor to be part of Stratford zone once Stratford opens, then Williamsburg will still have ALL the kids from the other elementary schools that go there currently in its zone PLUS all the current immersion kids from Claremont. Claremont is about the same size as Taylor. So, under this plan Williamsburg will get no enrollment relief from the new Stratford school. Absurd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Beyond this ES discussion, I was glad to see in the HS options under consideration that included a comprehensive school at the Kenmore site.

Wasn't a new school at this site rejected once before? What exactly is the proposal--to build an additional school, or to turn Kenmore into a high school? Or by "comprehensive," do you mean to turn Kenmore into a 6-12 school?

The suggestion is that they add the 1300 seats on the Kenmore site as a smaller comprehensive school for now. In one FAC meeting I attended it was suggested that they could then potentially in the future move the middle School and expand the HS on that site.

i believe the biggest pain point/rejection with Kenmore site was traffic disruption. the school is located in an awkward corner with only bad to terrible access points. if you expanded the school to a HS 1.5 of its current size - more walkers and more student cars, it'd be potentially disastrous in am rush hour. though location wise it's probably better than the VHC site few hundred yards down the street.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two points:

1. Sending Randolph to Barcroft will make Barcroft even poorer than it already is. Same for sending them to Drew. They need to send Randolph students to the new Henry if there's any hope of demographic change in Drew and Barcroft schools. I agree re: IB elementary by the way.

2. I also think they may be in trouble with Williamsburg if they make it immersion. That school is ALREADY the most overcrowded. If they are only going to peel off Taylor to be part of Stratford zone once Stratford opens, then Williamsburg will still have ALL the kids from the other elementary schools that go there currently in its zone PLUS all the current immersion kids from Claremont. Claremont is about the same size as Taylor. So, under this plan Williamsburg will get no enrollment relief from the new Stratford school. Absurd.

The will be looking at all the middle school boundaries when Stratford opens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two points:

1. Sending Randolph to Barcroft will make Barcroft even poorer than it already is. Same for sending them to Drew. They need to send Randolph students to the new Henry if there's any hope of demographic change in Drew and Barcroft schools. I agree re: IB elementary by the way.

2. I also think they may be in trouble with Williamsburg if they make it immersion. That school is ALREADY the most overcrowded. If they are only going to peel off Taylor to be part of Stratford zone once Stratford opens, then Williamsburg will still have ALL the kids from the other elementary schools that go there currently in its zone PLUS all the current immersion kids from Claremont. Claremont is about the same size as Taylor. So, under this plan Williamsburg will get no enrollment relief from the new Stratford school. Absurd.

The will be looking at all the middle school boundaries when Stratford opens.

The map with East-West might give the impression that only Taylor is getting moved out of Williamsburg.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two points:

1. Sending Randolph to Barcroft will make Barcroft even poorer than it already is. Same for sending them to Drew. They need to send Randolph students to the new Henry if there's any hope of demographic change in Drew and Barcroft schools. I agree re: IB elementary by the way.

2. I also think they may be in trouble with Williamsburg if they make it immersion. That school is ALREADY the most overcrowded. If they are only going to peel off Taylor to be part of Stratford zone once Stratford opens, then Williamsburg will still have ALL the kids from the other elementary schools that go there currently in its zone PLUS all the current immersion kids from Claremont. Claremont is about the same size as Taylor. So, under this plan Williamsburg will get no enrollment relief from the new Stratford school. Absurd.

The will be looking at all the middle school boundaries when Stratford opens.

The map with East-West might give the impression that only Taylor is getting moved out of Williamsburg.

If you listen to the discussion it was clear that this is a very early draft for an idea of how to create greater clarity in option schools and how those options could be paths up from ES-MS-HS. It's a long term idea and all the ES, MS, HS boundaries will need to be adjusted as different schools come on line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two points:

1. Sending Randolph to Barcroft will make Barcroft even poorer than it already is. Same for sending them to Drew. They need to send Randolph students to the new Henry if there's any hope of demographic change in Drew and Barcroft schools. I agree re: IB elementary by the way.

2. I also think they may be in trouble with Williamsburg if they make it immersion. That school is ALREADY the most overcrowded. If they are only going to peel off Taylor to be part of Stratford zone once Stratford opens, then Williamsburg will still have ALL the kids from the other elementary schools that go there currently in its zone PLUS all the current immersion kids from Claremont. Claremont is about the same size as Taylor. So, under this plan Williamsburg will get no enrollment relief from the new Stratford school. Absurd.

Sending Randolph to Henry would just tank Henry. Henry is already at almost 50 % free lunch. There is no answer to the south Arlington demographic problem, other than demolition of some of the old garden Apts. Not gonna happen.

[Anonymous]

Randolph has something like 4 VPI classes mostly fed by kids from apartments right nearby. I'm sure those would stay and those kids would stay at Randolph. Many families like to have their kids close by and many would figure out the lottery process. I don't think anyone is going to "tank" any other school and this may be a creative solution. I also hate how disrespectful people are when speaking about low income populations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Randolph has something like 4 VPI classes mostly fed by kids from apartments right nearby. I'm sure those would stay and those kids would stay at Randolph. Many families like to have their kids close by and many would figure out the lottery process. I don't think anyone is going to "tank" any other school and this may be a creative solution. I also hate how disrespectful people are when speaking about low income populations.

Gimme a break and quit sugar coating this stuff. Henry is barely holding on at the percentage they are at. If they sent Randolph to Henry IT WOULD TANK THEIR SCORES. That's how it works.
We'd have to know what the percentage of FARMS is across all of south Arlington elementaries. There would be a good argument for working to have every school at the same percentage, but when you have multiple schools dealing with majority disadvantaged, it starts to look futile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two points:

1. Sending Randolph to Barcroft will make Barcroft even poorer than it already is. Same for sending them to Drew. They need to send Randolph students to the new Henry if there's any hope of demographic change in Drew and Barcroft schools. I agree re: IB elementary by the way.

2. I also think they may be in trouble with Williamsburg if they make it immersion. That school is ALREADY the most overcrowded. If they are only going to peel off Taylor to be part of Stratford zone once Stratford opens, then Williamsburg will still have ALL the kids from the other elementary schools that go there currently in its zone PLUS all the current immersion kids from Claremont. Claremont is about the same size as Taylor. So, under this plan Williamsburg will get no enrollment relief from the new Stratford school. Absurd.

Sending Randolph to Henry would just tank Henry. Henry is already at almost 50 % free lunch. There is no answer to the south Arlington demographic problem, other than demolition of some of the old garden Apts. Not gonna happen.

Henry isn't even Title 1 any more. The fr/l percentage is the lowest it's ever been, at like 35%, which is about half of other neighboring schools. I don't think they could send ALL Randolph kids to any one school. And it's not clear whether there'd be any neighborhood or VPI preference at any of the option schools, including IB. That said, I don't think many families far away from Randolph are going to enroll, at least not in the first few years. But maybe some of the families who live within the current boundary and who would have transferred out won't. That could be the beginning of some demographic change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two points:

1. Sending Randolph to Barcroft will make Barcroft even poorer than it already is. Same for sending them to Drew. They need to send Randolph students to the new Henry if there's any hope of demographic change in Drew and Barcroft schools. I agree re: IB elementary by the way.

2. I also think they may be in trouble with Williamsburg if they make it immersion. That school is ALREADY the most overcrowded. If they are only going to peel off Taylor to be part of Stratford zone once Stratford opens, then Williamsburg will still have ALL the kids from the other elementary schools that go there currently in its zone PLUS all the current immersion kids from Claremont. Claremont is about the same size as Taylor. So, under this plan Williamsburg will get no enrollment relief from the new Stratford school. Absurd.

Sending Randolph to Henry would just tank Henry. Henry is already at almost 50 % free lunch. There is no answer to the south Arlington demographic problem, other than demolition of some of the old garden Apts. Not gonna happen.

Henry isn't even Title 1 any more. The fr/l percentage is the lowest it's ever been, at like 35%, which is about half of other neighboring schools. I don't think they could send ALL Randolph kids to any one school. And it's not clear whether there'd be any neighborhood or VPI preference at any of the option schools, including IB. That said, I don't think many families far away from Randolph are going to enroll, at least not in the first few years. But maybe some of the families who live within the current boundary and who would have transferred out won't. That could be the beginning of some demographic change.

Henry is 47% Free and reduced lunch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two points:

1. Sending Randolph to Barcroft will make Barcroft even poorer than it already is. Same for sending them to Drew. They need to send Randolph students to the new Henry if there's any hope of demographic change in Drew and Barcroft schools. I agree re: IB elementary by the way.

2. I also think they may be in trouble with Williamsburg if they make it immersion. That school is ALREADY the most overcrowded. If they are only going to peel off Taylor to be part of Stratford zone once Stratford opens, then Williamsburg will still have ALL the kids from the other elementary schools that go there currently in its zone PLUS all the current immersion kids from Claremont. Claremont is about the same size as Taylor. So, under this plan Williamsburg will get no enrollment relief from the new Stratford school. Absurd.

Sending Randolph to Henry would just tank Henry. Henry is already at almost 50 % free lunch. There is no answer to the south Arlington demographic problem, other than demolition of some of the old garden Apts. Not gonna happen.

Henry isn't even Title 1 any more. The fr/l percentage is the lowest it's ever been, at like 35%, which is about half of other neighboring schools. I don't think they could send ALL Randolph kids to any one school. And it's not clear whether there'd be any neighborhood or VPI preference at any of the option schools, including IB. That said, I don't think many families far away from Randolph are going to enroll, at least not in the first few years. But maybe some of the families who live within the current boundary and who would have transferred out won't. That could be the beginning of some demographic change.

Henry is 47% Free and reduced lunch.

No, it's not. That's old data. It's 33.23%, which continues a steady downward trend. https://www.apsva.us/statistics/free-and-reduced-price-meals/

Again, they would not send all students to just one other school. Part of the Douglas Park neighborhood is already zoned Henry, and some is Hoffman-Boston I think. I have no idea where they plan to move the Randolph students to make way for this program, but I suspect at least some would be moved to Henry and it would not be the end of the world.

[Anonymous]

The Williamsburg people are already upset about immersion moving there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Williamsburg people are already upset about immersion moving there.

I am a "Williamsburg person". Really glad to see the new idea of East-West and hope they will redraw all boundaries to level out school capacity. Immersion in 2 middle schools seems great!