APS middle school boundary process

[Anonymous]

Is it just going to affect Williamsburg and Swanson? Or will all middle school boundaries come into play?

[Anonymous]

Every single one of them. See the presentation here - it shows dates, the potential different boundary readjustments that are possible, and the factors they use in their criteria.

http://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/arlington/Board.nsf/files/AR6GKM44281D/$file/MS%20Boundaries%20WS%20Presentation%209-12-17.pdf

[Anonymous]

Thanks, pp. So are those the scenarios they're considering? If so, why are they thinking of linking them to hs boundaries given that those will likely change and have proven to have huge socioeconomic differences that lead to lower performance outcomes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, pp. So are those the scenarios they're considering? If so, why are they thinking of linking them to hs boundaries given that those will likely change and have proven to have huge socioeconomic differences that lead to lower performance outcomes?

These are excellent questions, and why you should try to attend one of the meetings, give feedback, email Board members, and so on.

My guess is that part of the linkage argument goes to the idea of not having a small group of kids at a middle school be split off to another high school from the majority of their MS classmates. Right now I'm pretty certain that kids at Swanson, Jefferson, and Kenmore all split for HS between at least two schools, but the percentages are large enough that each child has at least a few friends. What they don't want to happen is have one or two planning units that split off and go to a third HS with no one else from MS. I don't know that for certain, but it's how I read it.

[Anonymous]

I don't think they are considering these boundaries. I think this is meant to show you what boundaries would look like if you only considered a SINGLE factor--demographics, high school alignment, walkability, etc.. But the Board is charged with balancing all of the factors. So it should be some sort of hybrid of all those maps.

[Anonymous]

If you stream the meeting where that presentation was used, you'll hear that those are not the proposed boundaries. Those are examples of what boundaries would look like if only one of the 6 objectives was used (e.g. continuity or walk zones or other stuff). They explicitly said "these are not what we will suggest because they don't work." They can't simply assign 2 middle schools to each high school because the numbers don't work.

Watch the session.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think they are considering these boundaries. I think this is meant to show you what boundaries would look like if you only considered a SINGLE factor--demographics, high school alignment, walkability, etc.. But the Board is charged with balancing all of the factors. So it should be some sort of hybrid of all those maps.

Jinx! I posted the same thing right below you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, pp. So are those the scenarios they're considering? If so, why are they thinking of linking them to hs boundaries given that those will likely change and have proven to have huge socioeconomic differences that lead to lower performance outcomes?

These are excellent questions, and why you should try to attend one of the meetings, give feedback, email Board members, and so on.

My guess is that part of the linkage argument goes to the idea of not having a small group of kids at a middle school be split off to another high school from the majority of their MS classmates. Right now I'm pretty certain that kids at Swanson, Jefferson, and Kenmore all split for HS between at least two schools, but the percentages are large enough that each child has at least a few friends. What they don't want to happen is have one or two planning units that split off and go to a third HS with no one else from MS. I don't know that for certain, but it's how I read it.

Isn't this what happened with the latest HS boundary change? I believe there are a small number of students who are Ashlawn-Kenmore-YHS and aren't happy about it b/c all their cohorts got to WL.

[Anonymous]

This pisses me off. I will have a 6th and 8th grader in 2019.

Swanson is really far. Bus comes at 7am. Older travel teams (ms/HS) get late practice times.

I end up driving my child because we can leave the house at 7:30am. He sleeps until 7am.

Now I will have one child all the hell way out in Swanson and the other at Stratford. Two start times at two different MS will NOT work.

Draw a hard line and move everyone!! This is what happened to me in Fairfax County when my boundary was changed.

They let fricking twins get into HB under the same rationale--2 kids different places.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This pisses me off. I will have a 6th and 8th grader in 2019.

Swanson is really far. Bus comes at 7am. Older travel teams (ms/HS) get late practice times.

I end up driving my child because we can leave the house at 7:30am. He sleeps until 7am.

Now I will have one child all the hell way out in Swanson and the other at Stratford. Two start times at two different MS will NOT work.

Draw a hard line and move everyone!! This is what happened to me in Fairfax County when my boundary was changed.

They let fricking twins get into HB under the same rationale--2 kids different places.

Or they could always transfer both my kids into HB

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This pisses me off. I will have a 6th and 8th grader in 2019.

Swanson is really far. Bus comes at 7am. Older travel teams (ms/HS) get late practice times.

I end up driving my child because we can leave the house at 7:30am. He sleeps until 7am.

Now I will have one child all the hell way out in Swanson and the other at Stratford. Two start times at two different MS will NOT work.

Draw a hard line and move everyone!! This is what happened to me in Fairfax County when my boundary was changed.

They let fricking twins get into HB under the same rationale--2 kids different places.

These decisions aren't fully made. Weigh in with the SB that they either require all 6-8 move, or allow one year of grandfathering for younger sibs of 8th graders. The down side, keep in mind, would be that your 6th grader would have to move in 7th grade and might not love that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This pisses me off. I will have a 6th and 8th grader in 2019.

Swanson is really far. Bus comes at 7am. Older travel teams (ms/HS) get late practice times.

I end up driving my child because we can leave the house at 7:30am. He sleeps until 7am.

Now I will have one child all the hell way out in Swanson and the other at Stratford. Two start times at two different MS will NOT work.

Draw a hard line and move everyone!! This is what happened to me in Fairfax County when my boundary was changed.

They let fricking twins get into HB under the same rationale--2 kids different places.

You could request an administrative transfer for one of them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This pisses me off. I will have a 6th and 8th grader in 2019.

Swanson is really far. Bus comes at 7am. Older travel teams (ms/HS) get late practice times.

I end up driving my child because we can leave the house at 7:30am. He sleeps until 7am.

Now I will have one child all the hell way out in Swanson and the other at Stratford. Two start times at two different MS will NOT work.

Draw a hard line and move everyone!! This is what happened to me in Fairfax County when my boundary was changed.

They let fricking twins get into HB under the same rationale--2 kids different places.

Take a deep breath. When they've done these kinds of changes in the past, they have allowed exceptions to allow families to send their children to the same school during the years they have multiple children in that level. If they're not planning to have an 8th grade at Stratford that first year, it may mean that your 6th grader can stay in Swanson for 6th and then transfer to Stratford for 7th.

No matter what policy the school board selects for moving students, it will create a problem for someone. Given that the worst case solution for you is to have your kids get up 30 minutes earlier and take the bus, I think your potential impact is far from the worst.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This pisses me off. I will have a 6th and 8th grader in 2019.

Swanson is really far. Bus comes at 7am. Older travel teams (ms/HS) get late practice times.

I end up driving my child because we can leave the house at 7:30am. He sleeps until 7am.

Now I will have one child all the hell way out in Swanson and the other at Stratford. Two start times at two different MS will NOT work.

Draw a hard line and move everyone!! This is what happened to me in Fairfax County when my boundary was changed.

They let fricking twins get into HB under the same rationale--2 kids different places.

You could request an administrative transfer for one of them?

its the beginning of the process. Don't get angry- provide feedback. I have found that at early stages, they are open to feedback. I watched the work session- the SB is particularly looking for feedback on whether to grandfather or move. Or you can ask that they allow 6th graders to stay with 8th grade siblings.
They can't let just a few 8th graders move- they either move all the 8th graders or none of them. A lot of people are opposed to kids moving for their 8th grade year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This pisses me off. I will have a 6th and 8th grader in 2019.

Swanson is really far. Bus comes at 7am. Older travel teams (ms/HS) get late practice times.

I end up driving my child because we can leave the house at 7:30am. He sleeps until 7am.

Now I will have one child all the hell way out in Swanson and the other at Stratford. Two start times at two different MS will NOT work.

Draw a hard line and move everyone!! This is what happened to me in Fairfax County when my boundary was changed.

They let fricking twins get into HB under the same rationale--2 kids different places.

You could request an administrative transfer for one of them?

its the beginning of the process. Don't get angry- provide feedback. I have found that at early stages, they are open to feedback. I watched the work session- the SB is particularly looking for feedback on whether to grandfather or move. Or you can ask that they allow 6th graders to stay with 8th grade siblings.
They can't let just a few 8th graders move- they either move all the 8th graders or none of them. A lot of people are opposed to kids moving for their 8th grade year.

There was a new high school in Gainesville. They gave the OPTION of currently enrolled kids zoned for new school to move to new one or stay in current one. It worked out. My nephews were a Junior and Senior both stayed. Their brother 6 years younger started at the new one since he is 6 years behind.

They can most definitely move a portion and they have shown they already have capacity for those that want to stay. Lower class sizes for those kids is a bonus. They can have the HB experience for one year. They have ti have staff in the new school anyways.