APS middle school boundary process

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of two kids in North Arlington who may be affected by this, I cannot think of worse news than “your kids are being bussed to Kenmore.” We will leave if that happens.

If you cannot think of any worse news than this- you have lived a fortunate life indeed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Put another way, people are saying its OK with them that kids two miles away go to schools where more than 50% of the kids are in poverty, as long as their kids get to sleep 30 minutes later each morning.

I’m just going to leave this here:

The straw man fallacy involves misrepresenting an opponent’s position to make it easier to refute. Straw man arguments often oversimplify opposing views or disregard inconvenient points in favor of points that are easy to argue against.

I'd argue that those likening the current proposals to "busing" are doing the same.

Unless you're putting forward another proposal that doesn't result in Kenmore going over 50% fr/l, the (possibly unintended) consequence of arguing strictly for proximity and arguing against the specific blended diversity option APS put forward could be Kenmore's fr/l rate increasing to over 50% (not to mention Jefferson and Gunston's rates going up, too). I also have to infer that you believe Kenmore is already too high in terms of fr/l, so what's another 7% point bump up? It's a lost cause in your mind, so it doens't matter if it's 45% fr/l or 100%. Increasing the fr/l rate may not be the reason that you're fighting being moved, but it will be the result. At the very least you accept the outcome of a susbstantially higher fr/l rate at Kenmore as the price of your children getting more sleep/keeping your "neighborhood" intact, walkabililty, or whatever.

I'm sure not every Trump voter was an outright bigot. However, they ignored all of his race baiting and unseemly personal and campaign relationships, not to mention his vast faults and shortcomings as a candidate, in order to get that ACA repeal/tax cut/supreme court nominee. I don't think they are all racists, but they certainly enabled and emboldened those who are racists in order to achieve their other goal(s).

In summary, intentions matter far less than outcomes.

I do not have a dog in the current fight, but laying all of that at the feet of a small number of parents, as if the concentrated poverty in areas of the county is their problem to fix, is b&llsh!t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I largely agree with this. There is not an overall increase in bus ridership. Dominion Hills and Madison Manor are in denial about how close Kenmore is. Yes- if this proposal goes through, or something like it, parts of Dominion Hills will have a longer walk to Kenmore as compared to their shorter walk to Swanson. Yes- parts of Madison Manor will be bused to Kenmore instead of a longish walk to Swanson.
But the proposal as a whole has less busing then is currently occurring- look at the statistics APS has put out about this. So it is simply false to say that we are breaking up neighborhood schools and busing across town- what have you.

It isn't just "a longer walk". I just typed my address into Google Maps. If my kids walk from our house to the front door of Swanson it's a 9min .5mi walk. It's .4mi if they go to the side entrance.

The walk to Kenmore is along the W&OD and Four Mile Run Trail, is 1.5mi, and 31min. More than three times as long. And it's along a trail that isn't exactly known as safe in the dark. Would you let your 11yr old girl walk that alone in the dark? I'm guessing not, so no, we aren't in denial. We are very much aware of the impact of such a move.

I’m very comfortable with that impact.

Because it's not your child, is my guess. SO easy to be holier than thou and throw around a race card when it isn't your children's lives in play. Their elementary school experience has been f'ed by a school system and parents at other schools that didn't give a damn that McKinley was going to be way too crowded despite warnings to the contrary. And now they may be forced to bus or walk a dangerous route rather than a few minutes in their own neighborhood for middle school. Oh and by the way, let's all not forget that the high school capacity problem still isn't solved, so they'll likely be screwed again then, too. It's exhausting and frustrating to feel like your kids don't matter. Or at least that they matter less than other kids, both richer and poorer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of two kids in North Arlington who may be affected by this, I cannot think of worse news than “your kids are being bussed to Kenmore.” We will leave if that happens.

As a parent of a North Arlington child who is a voluntary transfer to Kenmore from Williamsburg, I think you are completely nuts. Class sizes are small, there are enough seats in the lunch room, and I heard multiple times this year at BTS night how the 6th grade class is so nice / kind / caring to one another. My child is doing well academically and the block scheduling has been a nice way to adjust to middle school. The tide is shifting.

THANK YOU! Seriously, I don't understand why more parents aren't aware of how much better it is for kids to be at a smaller, less crowded, and more diverse school. Fear? What? I don't know why the families who might be affected wouldn't be jumping that the chance to be zoned to the newer school building that's going to be at 97% capacity and doesn't have trailers, let alone a rodent problem around said trailers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of two kids in North Arlington who may be affected by this, I cannot think of worse news than “your kids are being bussed to Kenmore.” We will leave if that happens.

As a parent of a North Arlington child who is a voluntary transfer to Kenmore from Williamsburg, I think you are completely nuts. Class sizes are small, there are enough seats in the lunch room, and I heard multiple times this year at BTS night how the 6th grade class is so nice / kind / caring to one another. My child is doing well academically and the block scheduling has been a nice way to adjust to middle school. The tide is shifting.

I love you! I hope you send an email to the School Board. I also hope you might speak at the School Board meeting!

The people who are balking at going probably have never even been to Kenmore. They just know there are more brown people and are freaking out.

[Anonymous]

It seems like every Swanson poster is less than 1/2 mile away across i66. Come on people, how many houses are really 1/2 mile away across I66 - 100 maybe 150? So maybe 50 kids that might have to sacrifice and go to Kenmore? Probably more kids in Buckingham who are bused to Swanson that are less than 1/2 mile away from TJ. Let's move on...and get these kids some headlamps so they can start marching under 50.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Put another way, people are saying its OK with them that kids two miles away go to schools where more than 50% of the kids are in poverty, as long as their kids get to sleep 30 minutes later each morning.

I’m just going to leave this here:

The straw man fallacy involves misrepresenting an opponent’s position to make it easier to refute. Straw man arguments often oversimplify opposing views or disregard inconvenient points in favor of points that are easy to argue against.

I'd argue that those likening the current proposals to "busing" are doing the same.

Unless you're putting forward another proposal that doesn't result in Kenmore going over 50% fr/l, the (possibly unintended) consequence of arguing strictly for proximity and arguing against the specific blended diversity option APS put forward could be Kenmore's fr/l rate increasing to over 50% (not to mention Jefferson and Gunston's rates going up, too). I also have to infer that you believe Kenmore is already too high in terms of fr/l, so what's another 7% point bump up? It's a lost cause in your mind, so it doens't matter if it's 45% fr/l or 100%. Increasing the fr/l rate may not be the reason that you're fighting being moved, but it will be the result. At the very least you accept the outcome of a susbstantially higher fr/l rate at Kenmore as the price of your children getting more sleep/keeping your "neighborhood" intact, walkabililty, or whatever.

I'm sure not every Trump voter was an outright bigot. However, they ignored all of his race baiting and unseemly personal and campaign relationships, not to mention his vast faults and shortcomings as a candidate, in order to get that ACA repeal/tax cut/supreme court nominee. I don't think they are all racists, but they certainly enabled and emboldened those who are racists in order to achieve their other goal(s).

In summary, intentions matter far less than outcomes.

I do not have a dog in the current fight, but laying all of that at the feet of a small number of parents, as if the concentrated poverty in areas of the county is their problem to fix, is b&llsh!t.

And so is doing nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems like every Swanson poster is less than 1/2 mile away across i66. Come on people, how many houses are really 1/2 mile away across I66 - 100 maybe 150? So maybe 50 kids that might have to sacrifice and go to Kenmore? Probably more kids in Buckingham who are bused to Swanson that are less than 1/2 mile away from TJ. Let's move on...and get these kids some headlamps so they can start marching under 50.

See my admittedly angry post at 9:37. These kids are already sacrificing at the hands of selfish parents at Nottingham. Like every other kid in town they're going to sacrifice because the SB refuses to act on finding sufficient and appropriate HS seats. We are not okay with sacrificing, to use your words, our kids again on the alter of The Arlington Way. Pick on someone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of two kids in North Arlington who may be affected by this, I cannot think of worse news than “your kids are being bussed to Kenmore.” We will leave if that happens.

As a parent of a North Arlington child who is a voluntary transfer to Kenmore from Williamsburg, I think you are completely nuts. Class sizes are small, there are enough seats in the lunch room, and I heard multiple times this year at BTS night how the 6th grade class is so nice / kind / caring to one another. My child is doing well academically and the block scheduling has been a nice way to adjust to middle school. The tide is shifting.

I love you! I hope you send an email to the School Board. I also hope you might speak at the School Board meeting!

The people who are balking at going probably have never even been to Kenmore. They just know there are more brown people and are freaking out.

You don’t know those people or their motivations. Again, I’ll leave this here:

The straw man fallacy involves misrepresenting an opponent’s position to make it easier to refute. Straw man arguments often oversimplify opposing views or disregard inconvenient points in favor of points that are easy to argue against.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems like every Swanson poster is less than 1/2 mile away across i66. Come on people, how many houses are really 1/2 mile away across I66 - 100 maybe 150? So maybe 50 kids that might have to sacrifice and go to Kenmore? Probably more kids in Buckingham who are bused to Swanson that are less than 1/2 mile away from TJ. Let's move on...and get these kids some headlamps so they can start marching under 50.

Exactly. This cry of breaking up neighborhood schools ignored the fact that 66 is between them and their precious Swanson.
And also apparently the trail that allows Madison manor to easily walk to Swanson becomes scary and dangerous if you cross Wilson Blvd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Put another way, people are saying its OK with them that kids two miles away go to schools where more than 50% of the kids are in poverty, as long as their kids get to sleep 30 minutes later each morning.

I’m just going to leave this here:

The straw man fallacy involves misrepresenting an opponent’s position to make it easier to refute. Straw man arguments often oversimplify opposing views or disregard inconvenient points in favor of points that are easy to argue against.

I'd argue that those likening the current proposals to "busing" are doing the same.

Unless you're putting forward another proposal that doesn't result in Kenmore going over 50% fr/l, the (possibly unintended) consequence of arguing strictly for proximity and arguing against the specific blended diversity option APS put forward could be Kenmore's fr/l rate increasing to over 50% (not to mention Jefferson and Gunston's rates going up, too). I also have to infer that you believe Kenmore is already too high in terms of fr/l, so what's another 7% point bump up? It's a lost cause in your mind, so it doens't matter if it's 45% fr/l or 100%. Increasing the fr/l rate may not be the reason that you're fighting being moved, but it will be the result. At the very least you accept the outcome of a susbstantially higher fr/l rate at Kenmore as the price of your children getting more sleep/keeping your "neighborhood" intact, walkabililty, or whatever.

I'm sure not every Trump voter was an outright bigot. However, they ignored all of his race baiting and unseemly personal and campaign relationships, not to mention his vast faults and shortcomings as a candidate, in order to get that ACA repeal/tax cut/supreme court nominee. I don't think they are all racists, but they certainly enabled and emboldened those who are racists in order to achieve their other goal(s).

In summary, intentions matter far less than outcomes.

I do not have a dog in the current fight, but laying all of that at the feet of a small number of parents, as if the concentrated poverty in areas of the county is their problem to fix, is b&llsh!t.

And so is doing nothing.

Petitioning the only group that can fix the root of the problem- THE COUNTY BOARD- and voting against those who exacerbate the problem are not “doing nothing.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems like every Swanson poster is less than 1/2 mile away across i66. Come on people, how many houses are really 1/2 mile away across I66 - 100 maybe 150? So maybe 50 kids that might have to sacrifice and go to Kenmore? Probably more kids in Buckingham who are bused to Swanson that are less than 1/2 mile away from TJ. Let's move on...and get these kids some headlamps so they can start marching under 50.

Exactly. This cry of breaking up neighborhood schools ignored the fact that 66 is between them and their precious Swanson.
And also apparently the trail that allows Madison manor to easily walk to Swanson becomes scary and dangerous if you cross Wilson Blvd.

There's nothing to ignore. It's a wide sidewalk on the street that our neighborhood straddles. Our kids walk it to school every day. We all walk it to go to the library or farmer's market. We walk our dogs. It's a section of the street without houses, but it's not a crazy busy intersection like Lee and Glebe or something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems like every Swanson poster is less than 1/2 mile away across i66. Come on people, how many houses are really 1/2 mile away across I66 - 100 maybe 150? So maybe 50 kids that might have to sacrifice and go to Kenmore? Probably more kids in Buckingham who are bused to Swanson that are less than 1/2 mile away from TJ. Let's move on...and get these kids some headlamps so they can start marching under 50.

Exactly. This cry of breaking up neighborhood schools ignored the fact that 66 is between them and their precious Swanson.
And also apparently the trail that allows Madison manor to easily walk to Swanson becomes scary and dangerous if you cross Wilson Blvd.

You obviously have never been to Dominion Hills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems like every Swanson poster is less than 1/2 mile away across i66. Come on people, how many houses are really 1/2 mile away across I66 - 100 maybe 150? So maybe 50 kids that might have to sacrifice and go to Kenmore? Probably more kids in Buckingham who are bused to Swanson that are less than 1/2 mile away from TJ. Let's move on...and get these kids some headlamps so they can start marching under 50.

Exactly. This cry of breaking up neighborhood schools ignored the fact that 66 is between them and their precious Swanson.
And also apparently the trail that allows Madison manor to easily walk to Swanson becomes scary and dangerous if you cross Wilson Blvd.

You clearly have no idea what you’re talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of two kids in North Arlington who may be affected by this, I cannot think of worse news than “your kids are being bussed to Kenmore.” We will leave if that happens.

As a parent of a North Arlington child who is a voluntary transfer to Kenmore from Williamsburg, I think you are completely nuts. Class sizes are small, there are enough seats in the lunch room, and I heard multiple times this year at BTS night how the 6th grade class is so nice / kind / caring to one another. My child is doing well academically and the block scheduling has been a nice way to adjust to middle school. The tide is shifting.

I love you! I hope you send an email to the School Board. I also hope you might speak at the School Board meeting!

The people who are balking at going probably have never even been to Kenmore. They just know there are more brown people and are freaking out.

You don’t know those people or their motivations. Again, I’ll leave this here:

The straw man fallacy involves misrepresenting an opponent’s position to make it easier to refute. Straw man arguments often oversimplify opposing views or disregard inconvenient points in favor of points that are easy to argue against.

Then how do you explain posts like the one at 9:08:

Anonymous wrote:The people who are complaining the most are the ones who have managed through hard work to buy a house away from SA low performing schools, but who fell a little short of being able to buy North enough in Arlington to completely escape FARMS. These families feel like they had gotten over the wall but the SB is trying to drag them back down. I understand. I would be livid if this was happening to my children- sacrificed so that the SB can feel better about itself.

It does seem to be a pretty simple issue that they have. You can say "low performing schools" or you can say "schools with a lot of poors" or you can say "schools with brown kids" but it is all the same thing in the end, and a lot of people are dead set against sending their kids to them. They spend tons of money to live a mile or two north in a different boundary and then fight to keep that boundary. How is the issue more complex than not wanting to go to school with poor kids?