APS middle school boundary process

[Anonymous]

Anyone who has time to spend a half hour on DCUM writing carry remarks about people they disagree with, without making a real contribution to the discussion and analysis of what's going on, is definitely living a better life than me right now. Kudos to you for having so much free time to waste without really accomplishing anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Really, really glad we moved to Fairfax County when we saw the APS writing on the wall (around the time APS was bragging about Discovery ES, yet had no good plans for the obvious overcrowding it would soon be facing at the MS/HS levels).

I will take a few additional kids in my kids' classes in exchange for getting away from a poorly managed school system with low academic expectations and way too many parents constantly bickering about being zoned for schools north or south of Route 50.

What school pyramid did you end up in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

There are multiple routes to Kenmore that are safe. A 20-30 min walk is nothing. Many of the people crying about busing would be walkers to Kenmore.

“Low performing”, “dangerous walk”, “unsafe neighborhood” all seem like code words.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

There are multiple routes to Kenmore that are safe. A 20-30 min walk is nothing. Many of the people crying about busing would be walkers to Kenmore.

“Low performing”, “dangerous walk”, “unsafe neighborhood” all seem like code words.

It’s not code at all. I hope the school board sees it for what it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

There are multiple routes to Kenmore that are safe. A 20-30 min walk is nothing. Many of the people crying about busing would be walkers to Kenmore.

“Low performing”, “dangerous walk”, “unsafe neighborhood” all seem like code words.

It's code for "I want my child to continue to have a 6min walk to the neighborhood school which by the way also has higher test scores than the school to which they will either be bussed or have a walk quadruple the length." Period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

There are multiple routes to Kenmore that are safe. A 20-30 min walk is nothing. Many of the people crying about busing would be walkers to Kenmore.

“Low performing”, “dangerous walk”, “unsafe neighborhood” all seem like code words.

It's code for "I want my child to continue to have a 6min walk to the neighborhood school which by the way also has higher test scores than the school to which they will either be bussed or have a walk quadruple the length." Period.

Why does one school have higher test scores? What makes a school "high performing"? Crickets?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

There are multiple routes to Kenmore that are safe. A 20-30 min walk is nothing. Many of the people crying about busing would be walkers to Kenmore.

“Low performing”, “dangerous walk”, “unsafe neighborhood” all seem like code words.

It's code for "I want my child to continue to have a 6min walk to the neighborhood school which by the way also has higher test scores than the school to which they will either be bussed or have a walk quadruple the length." Period.

Why does one school have higher test scores? What makes a school "high performing"? Crickets?

I started to reply earlier and got cut off. Is poverty a proximate cause? Yes, most likely. Are there plenty of poor (and immigrant, and non-English speaking) families who value education and push their children to succeed? Yes. For whatever reason, some families at all SES levels value and push education on their kids and some don't. The reasons behind it are irrelevant to me regardless of the particular race, ethnicity or socio-economic status. It doesn't make me racist, it doesn't make me classist. It makes me focused on the best possible educational setting for my child. YMMV, but for our family it is having our child at the walkable school with strong test scores a few blocks from our house, not being bused to a school further away with worse test scores all so that a bunch of rich white so-called liberals in the far reaches of Arlington can feel good about how diverse our community is while sending their kids to a school with a 4% FARMS rate and don't have to put their money where their mouth is.

I'm really unclear what is so complicated about this? We have a great school a less than half a mile from our front door. For most people, and across Arlington most people indicated in APS surveys a year or two ago that neighborhood schools were their greatest priority, that's enough. Why are you constantly looking for or presuming ill intent? I'm going to guess that it's because in your heart of hearts that's the reason why you're glad that your kid isn't seriously facing a move, and it makes you feel better to ascribe that to someone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

There are multiple routes to Kenmore that are safe. A 20-30 min walk is nothing. Many of the people crying about busing would be walkers to Kenmore.

“Low performing”, “dangerous walk”, “unsafe neighborhood” all seem like code words.

It's code for "I want my child to continue to have a 6min walk to the neighborhood school which by the way also has higher test scores than the school to which they will either be bussed or have a walk quadruple the length." Period.

Why does one school have higher test scores? What makes a school "high performing"? Crickets?

Yes. I would like someone to please explain to me:

School A: 40% FARMS, SOL scores = great schools rating of 5
School B: 10% FARMS, SOL scores = great schools rating of 9

redo boundaries, so now
School A: 25% FARMS, SOL scores = great schools rating of 7
School B: 20% FARMS, SOL scores = great schools rating of 8

Big improvement for School A, not much "harm" for School B, some additional kids get bused. Why are people fighting this so much?

[Anonymous]

Let's see if I get this right by abstracting from all these distance, building quality, blah blah blah issues.
Person N's kid currently goes to a school with a low FARMS rate and does not want to be transferred to a high FARMS rate school. Person S calls Person N a racist for this choice.
Person S would like person N's kid to be transferred to S's kids so that S's school's FARMS rate will be lower, thereby making S's school better. Why doesn't person S call him/herself a racist as well? After all, both are motivated by the desire to have their kids go to a school with a lower FARMS rate and both clearly think that FARMS rates are inversely correlated with school performance.

Next, let us look at the blah blah blah issues.
Person A would rather his/her kid go to the overcrowded, rat-infested shithole school S over the newly constructed, Taj Mahal-like school K with smaller class sizes. Perhaps A's kid has a shorter walk to S or A thinks S's gym teacher is cute or some other reason. Person B, on the other hand, thinks that Person A is full of shit when coming up with his/her personal rankings between S and K's desirability as schools for his/her (that is A's) kid. So, person B petitions the School Board for boundaries that will force A's kid to school K for the good of A's kid over the wishes of A. Do we have a word for that? Perhaps it is "fascism."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

There are multiple routes to Kenmore that are safe. A 20-30 min walk is nothing. Many of the people crying about busing would be walkers to Kenmore.

“Low performing”, “dangerous walk”, “unsafe neighborhood” all seem like code words.

It's code for "I want my child to continue to have a 6min walk to the neighborhood school which by the way also has higher test scores than the school to which they will either be bussed or have a walk quadruple the length." Period.

Why does one school have higher test scores? What makes a school "high performing"? Crickets?

Yes. I would like someone to please explain to me:

School A: 40% FARMS, SOL scores = great schools rating of 5
School B: 10% FARMS, SOL scores = great schools rating of 9

redo boundaries, so now
School A: 25% FARMS, SOL scores = great schools rating of 7
School B: 20% FARMS, SOL scores = great schools rating of 8

Big improvement for School A, not much "harm" for School B, some additional kids get bused. Why are people fighting this so much?

Why would you expect anyone to acquiesce to any reduction in quality of the school they have to go to? Why would you expect anyone to support hurting (in their view) their child to benefit yours?
Furthermore, who gives a shit about great schools ratings?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Yes. I would like someone to please explain to me:

School A: 40% FARMS, SOL scores = great schools rating of 5
School B: 10% FARMS, SOL scores = great schools rating of 9

redo boundaries, so now
School A: 25% FARMS, SOL scores = great schools rating of 7
School B: 20% FARMS, SOL scores = great schools rating of 8

Big improvement for School A, not much "harm" for School B, some additional kids get bused. Why are people fighting this so much?

Because the kids they are proposing busing are from planning units that touch the Swanson unit, and a number of houses in those units are less than 1/2mi from Swanson. This is a big deal for those kids and their families. Also, make no mistake, this isn't bringing Kenmore down to 25% FARMS, so don't kid yourselves that everyone ends up all happy and well balanced.

If you've got kids on buses already, but already heading to 4% FARMS Williamsburg, why not bus them to Kenmore instead if we're so serious about mixing up diversity? And send the kids from Jefferson and Kenmore that would be bused to Swanson up to Williamsburg? With the opening of more affordable housing in Westover over the next 18mos, the FARMS rate of Swanson is going to rise already. Not to the levels of Kenmore or Jefferson, but higher than it is now. No need to artificially inflate by busing kids through Dominion Hills while at the same rate sending DH kids down to Kenmore.

[Anonymous]

For those who are throwing around “low performing” as a reason to not go to Kenmore, let’s look at facts. Non-economically disadvantaged kids are doing just as well on all SOLs as kids at Swanson.

http://schoolquality.virginia.gov/schools/kenmore-middle
http://schoolquality.virginia.gov/schools/swanson-middle

Change is hard, but the many kids who live in (safe) walkable distance from both schools will do fine at either school. APS must redone or else all schools will be severely overcrowded. This time, it is in the North. Soon, Parents in the South will face rezoning when the new Elementary School comes online. In a rapidly growing school system, we all must be prepared to have some movement.

[Anonymous]

None of the proposals that would make WMS 4% are viable. They will go with something similar to the two options that increase WMS from 10% to 12 or 17% (or hopefully more).

Swanson is only 13%, so let’s not act like Swanson is a bastion of diversity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

There are multiple routes to Kenmore that are safe. A 20-30 min walk is nothing. Many of the people crying about busing would be walkers to Kenmore.

“Low performing”, “dangerous walk”, “unsafe neighborhood” all seem like code words.

It's code for "I want my child to continue to have a 6min walk to the neighborhood school which by the way also has higher test scores than the school to which they will either be bussed or have a walk quadruple the length." Period.

Why does one school have higher test scores? What makes a school "high performing"? Crickets?

Yes. I would like someone to please explain to me:

School A: 40% FARMS, SOL scores = great schools rating of 5
School B: 10% FARMS, SOL scores = great schools rating of 9

redo boundaries, so now
School A: 25% FARMS, SOL scores = great schools rating of 7
School B: 20% FARMS, SOL scores = great schools rating of 8

Big improvement for School A, not much "harm" for School B, some additional kids get bused. Why are people fighting this so much?

Why would you expect anyone to acquiesce to any reduction in quality of the school they have to go to? Why would you expect anyone to support hurting (in their view) their child to benefit yours?
Furthermore, who gives a shit about great schools ratings?

DP poster. What I'm trying to ascertain is WHAT constitutes a reduction in quality in your mind? What make a school good/bad? How do you make that distinction? If GS ratings are just reflective of avg. test scores, and you think that's a garbage way to understand the quality of a school, by what metrics are you your judging? Serious question.

[Anonymous]

I want my kids to be surrounded by as smart and engaged kids as possible. Presumably that will motivate them to learn more. I don't know how to measure that, but test scores might be a good measure although they can be manipulated or irrelevant. It seems a reality that student motivation seems correlated with SES and certain other characteristics (Asian emphasis on academics, intact families, etc.) In addition, tracking tends to group kids by ability and likely improves performance.
I think teaching performance is probably fairly uniform throughout Arlington. There are some good and some bad teachers everywhere.