Powerful Letter to the Arlington County School Board about Diversity

[Anonymous]

A very powerful letter written by a student at Washington and Lee High School. I'm in Fairfax, but we have similar issues here and "white" (or higher SES) flight from more diverse schools.

http://www.crossedsabres.org/opinion-2/2016/12/07/open-letter-to-the-school-board/

I also recommend this podcast:
https://m.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/562/the-problem-we-all-live-with

And these articles:
http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2016/01/white-kids-benefits-diverse-schools
http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/10/19/446085513/the-evidence-that-white-children-benefit-from-integrated-schools

[Anonymous]

The thing is, this isn't even "white flight" from diverse schools. This is our crappy school board moving boundaries to make schools less diverse.

People say being on the school board is a thankless task. I can't think of anything ours has done to deserve thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The thing is, this isn't even "white flight" from diverse schools. This is our crappy school board moving boundaries to make schools less diverse.

People say being on the school board is a thankless task. I can't think of anything ours has done to deserve thanks.

Area school boards don't follow a consistent pattern. Sometimes they will act to try to increase the number of high SES families at a school with a lot of FARMS/ESOL students (South Lakes 2008). Sometimes they will take actions that drive up those rates at such schools (Annandale 2011, Wakefield 2016). It usually is a function of responding to constituents who make a lot of noise and successfully engage SB members. Very few boundary shifts are popular and people can't assume that the School Board is going to move lower SES kids to Yorktown and Langley, or higher SES kids to Lee or Wakefield, just because someone thinks diversity is good.

You also have to ask why it's that important to spread white kids around when we are talking about jurisdictions that are majority minority already.

[Anonymous]

When more people (other than white) move North, then the schools will be diverse. Until then, be patient.

[Anonymous]

This is where that letter should go-
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[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The thing is, this isn't even "white flight" from diverse schools. This is our crappy school board moving boundaries to make schools less diverse.

People say being on the school board is a thankless task. I can't think of anything ours has done to deserve thanks.

Yes, I agree. This letter is about the school board and their actions, but I see parents also contributing. Parents are scared away from neighborhoods that are zoned for areas that included diverse student bodies whether it is race or socioeconomic (FARMS) because often these schools have lower overall tests scores. When families avoid or pull their children out of these schools, it only causes the overall scores to fall even more exacerbating the problem. I see this in my own neighborhood. People love our neighborhood, but often say, "Your neighborhood is amazing, but I wouldn't move there because of the schools." Well, if those same people would just move here than the schools wouldn't have this segregation issue in the first place. The thing is--as this article points out (http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2016/01/white-kids-benefits-diverse-schools)--the kids in our neighborhood do great in our schools. My kids are passing and pass advancing their SOLS (if that is the type of thing you care about) and love their school and classmates. The main issue I see--at least in our elementary school--is that because of the high rate of FARMS kids, we don't have a very strong community or active PTA compared to other schools. The parents of many of the students don't have the money, time, or transportation to the school to be really engaged. Another issue has been that the administration was so focused on raising the SOLS scores, that a lot of the extracurricular activities fell by the wayside. The school is working on this, but they also need parents to be involved.

[Anonymous]

I don't see a DOJ or DOE under Trump getting involved with this.

APS obviously ought to find it easier than larger jurisdictions to have schools with SES diversity, due its small size. If that is what people in Arlington want, they need to elect different School Board members. On the other hand, if the concentration of white kids at Yorktown is what really bothers the W-L student, the easiest fix is for APS to introduce an AAP program like in Fairfax that would attract more Asian kids.

[Anonymous]

They chose that option because they didn't want to piss off the people who live in Arlington Forest. That's why.

[Anonymous]

11:24 - people are scared to move their white kids into schools that are highly-majority hispanic, high ESL and high FARMs. Those schools aren't actually diverse - they are very homogeneous - they are just not white. People in Arlington actually seem pretty eager to move their kids into schools that are actually diverse. Look at how popular Washington-Lee is, or Oakridge, or Patrick Henry. Longbranch, Barrett and Ashlawn (and ATS) are popular and diverse. Having 75% of any one population is not diversity just because those kids aren't white.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand the point about Arlington having one of the three least diverse schools inside the beltway. There are several DC and PG County schools that are even less diverse, aren't there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the point about Arlington having one of the three least diverse schools inside the beltway. There are several DC and PG County schools that are even less diverse, aren't there?

This is the Va school forum sweetie pie.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the point about Arlington having one of the three least diverse schools inside the beltway. There are several DC and PG County schools that are even less diverse, aren't there?

This is the Va school forum sweetie pie.

Did you read the letter, honeybuns? There's a line in it that says Arlington has one of the three least diverse schools inside the beltway -- behind McLean and Langley.

It's not true.

Try keeping up, snookums.

Love ya.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the point about Arlington having one of the three least diverse schools inside the beltway. There are several DC and PG County schools that are even less diverse, aren't there?

This is the Va school forum sweetie pie.

Did you read the letter, honeybuns? There's a line in it that says Arlington has one of the three least diverse schools inside the beltway -- behind McLean and Langley.

It's not true.

Try keeping up, snookums.

Love ya.

NP here. The letter actually says Arlington has one of the three least diverse schools inside the Beltway, behind Langley and Madison.

The author of the letter is wrong because Madison is outside the Beltway, and PP is wrong because the letter did not refer to McLean (which has a higher percentage of minority students than Yorktown).

Best to hold off on the "snookums," etc unless you're prepared to read more carefully.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the point about Arlington having one of the three least diverse schools inside the beltway. There are several DC and PG County schools that are even less diverse, aren't there?

This is the Va school forum sweetie pie.

Did you read the letter, honeybuns? There's a line in it that says Arlington has one of the three least diverse schools inside the beltway -- behind McLean and Langley.

It's not true.

Try keeping up, snookums.

Love ya.

NP here. The letter actually says Arlington has one of the three least diverse schools inside the Beltway, behind Langley and Madison.

The author of the letter is wrong because Madison is outside the Beltway, and PP is wrong because the letter did not refer to McLean (which has a higher percentage of minority students than Yorktown).

Best to hold off on the "snookums," etc unless you're prepared to read more carefully.

and the author is wrong that Yorktown is the third least diverse school inside the beltway. That's only the really salient point. There are many, many other less diverse schools inside the beltway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the point about Arlington having one of the three least diverse schools inside the beltway. There are several DC and PG County schools that are even less diverse, aren't there?

This is the Va school forum sweetie pie.

Did you read the letter, honeybuns? There's a line in it that says Arlington has one of the three least diverse schools inside the beltway -- behind McLean and Langley.

It's not true.

Try keeping up, snookums.

Love ya.

NP here. The letter actually says Arlington has one of the three least diverse schools inside the Beltway, behind Langley and Madison.

The author of the letter is wrong because Madison is outside the Beltway, and PP is wrong because the letter did not refer to McLean (which has a higher percentage of minority students than Yorktown).

Best to hold off on the "snookums," etc unless you're prepared to read more carefully.

and the author is wrong that Yorktown is the third least diverse school inside the beltway. That's only the really salient point. There are many, many other less diverse schools inside the beltway.

In Virginia?