What did you think of the APS email sent out today?

[Anonymous]

They says it's totally transparent and no decisions have been made. I don't believe this for one second. Here is the letter we received:

Dear APS Elementary School Families:

The end of the school year is just around the corner, and it’s a busy time for students and staff alike. Just as we’re working to prepare students for success in school and life, Arlington Public Schools (APS) is also planning ahead for our future as a school division. We’re experiencing growing pains with the challenges of managing limited resources and enrollment increases of about 1,000 new students each year. We need a collaborative community effort to ensure that our students—and those to come in the years ahead—can continue thriving in healthy, safe, and academically challenging learning environments.

We’re excited to open new elementary schools in 2019 and 2021, and recognize that many families throughout Arlington will feel the impact of this change. Staff is working to adjust school boundaries and, through the Elementary School Planning Initiative, will also recommend the strategic placement of neighborhood and option elementary schools. The School Board will vote in November 2018 to establish new attendance zones for many—possibly all—neighborhood elementary schools, and may also approve a proposal that results in a neighborhood school becoming an option school, and vice versa.

Any changes made to school locations would aim to achieve greater efficiencies and better serve our students across the county—namely, we seek to do the following:

Improve access to option schools and position all schools to maintain strong instruction
Fully use all available space possible in all elementary schools for student learning
Reduce escalating transportation costs so more funds can be kept in the classroom (yearly operating costs for 1 bus = 1 average annual teacher salary)
Balance enrollment across the county and resolve crowding and underutilization posed by neighborhood elementary schools in close proximity
Achieve greater efficiencies in meeting transportation, staff development and equity objectives
Change can be hard. We hear from some stakeholders that you’d like us to make no changes at all or just change someone else’s school. These are not viable options. The cost of doing nothing is too high—we cannot afford any inefficiencies that divert funds from classroom use and this is a rare opportunity to explore how APS can better serve our students. No decisions have been made at this time, but we will need to make some decisions before the end of the year. Please be assured of the following:

Student learning will always come first.
This process—and any resulting changes to schools—will continue to be done in an open and transparent manner, and in conjunction with the community.
We will keep working with you to do what is best for our students throughout the county. And we need you to work with us. Some of the discussion we are hearing around this initiative has been disrespectful to some school communities. This cannot continue. We are all in this together and we must find solutions that will position our school division to meet our students’ evolving needs and our fiscal realities. We may face limited funds and limited land, and challenges with growth, transportation and other issues, but our school community’s commitment to academic excellence remains strong.

You will receive a message later this week from your school principal. We are working closely together and APS will keep you informed every step of the way. We ask that you keep an open mind and work with us. We need new solutions now, so that our school division has a healthy future, and we are working to develop those. We ask that all community members commit to having a civil conversation and pull together to help APS find real solutions for the future of our schools and students.

Sincerely,

Dr. Barbara Kanninen, Dr. Patrick Murphy,
School Board Chair Superintendent

[Anonymous]

It’s being addressed in this thread:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/30/725003.page

[Anonymous]

After watching the CIP working group video from last night, in which they discussed so many different scenarios (careful to insist they were just "for discussion purposes" and not actual proposals), I'm ever more convinced that they have no idea what is going to happen.

[Anonymous]

Not a single reference to equity or closing achievement gaps in that long, scolding e-mail. I truly am starting to despise APS and its leadership.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s being addressed in this thread:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/30/725003.page

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I think APS is finally telling people to back-off; that some changes are going to have to happen and to accept that fact.

[Anonymous]

I think it was the school board and central administration trying to bully people into shutting up and not questioning them. They know this is a highly flawed process and are tired of people holding them accountable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not a single reference to equity or closing achievement gaps in that long, scolding e-mail. I truly am starting to despise APS and its leadership.

I agree. I feel like we just got told off by APS and we better be prepared to be told off again by our principals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a single reference to equity or closing achievement gaps in that long, scolding e-mail. I truly am starting to despise APS and its leadership.

I agree. I feel like we just got told off by APS and we better be prepared to be told off again by our principals.

Disagree. Unlike many school districts, APS does engage the community. It may not always change the outcomes, but I think they are at least willing to listen to potentially helpful input. The nastiness and winner-take-all attitude is appalling and this is their effort to say enough.

[Anonymous]

If the principals are working on the same timeline as the staff, that message for "later this week" should arrive sometime around a week from Friday, or maybe in June.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a single reference to equity or closing achievement gaps in that long, scolding e-mail. I truly am starting to despise APS and its leadership.

I agree. I feel like we just got told off by APS and we better be prepared to be told off again by our principals.

Disagree. Unlike many school districts, APS does engage the community. It may not always change the outcomes, but I think they are at least willing to listen to potentially helpful input. The nastiness and winner-take-all attitude is appalling and this is their effort to say enough.

Disagree. Community engagement means more than a portal and some public hearings for people to express their views and then get completely ignored.

[Anonymous]

I think they are full of it.

At the beginning of this process, the SB specifically asked staff to present two recommendations, including one that would be for no changes to what buildings are neighborhood and option.

Now they are telling us it isn't viable to change nothing. And before anyone starts, I don't think she was referring to boundaries. I think they are talking straight to Key and saying it has to become a neighborhood school.

And don't spew out people are being disrespectful in this vague and condescending way. Where are they being disrespectful? In private meetings at SB office hours? If that is the case, tell them right then and there to stop it. Don't send an email to the entire community leaving them to wonder what is going on.

Are they being disrespectful on this board? Of course. That's just the way it is. But, there's no guarantee anyone posting on here is actually an APS parent.

Do they feel these change.org petitions are disrespectful? I will say some are ill-advised, but not disrespectful to others. People have been looking out for themselves since the beginning of time. It seems that is what APS is trying to stop. Nice in theory, but we know the SB has made incredibly stupid decisions in the past over and over again and no one trusts them to "do the right thing" or "do what will benefit the school system in the long run."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a single reference to equity or closing achievement gaps in that long, scolding e-mail. I truly am starting to despise APS and its leadership.

I agree. I feel like we just got told off by APS and we better be prepared to be told off again by our principals.

Disagree. Unlike many school districts, APS does engage the community. It may not always change the outcomes, but I think they are at least willing to listen to potentially helpful input. The nastiness and winner-take-all attitude is appalling and this is their effort to say enough.

Disagree. Community engagement means more than a portal and some public hearings for people to express their views and then get completely ignored.

Look, I know you're used to always getting your way, but that is just not sustainable. Welcome to the world that the majority of us having been living in all along.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think they are full of it.

At the beginning of this process, the SB specifically asked staff to present two recommendations, including one that would be for no changes to what buildings are neighborhood and option.

Now they are telling us it isn't viable to change nothing. And before anyone starts, I don't think she was referring to boundaries. I think they are talking straight to Key and saying it has to become a neighborhood school.

And don't spew out people are being disrespectful in this vague and condescending way. Where are they being disrespectful? In private meetings at SB office hours? If that is the case, tell them right then and there to stop it. Don't send an email to the entire community leaving them to wonder what is going on.

Are they being disrespectful on this board? Of course. That's just the way it is. But, there's no guarantee anyone posting on here is actually an APS parent.

Do they feel these change.org petitions are disrespectful? I will say some are ill-advised, but not disrespectful to others. People have been looking out for themselves since the beginning of time. It seems that is what APS is trying to stop. Nice in theory, but we know the SB has made incredibly stupid decisions in the past over and over again and no one trusts them to "do the right thing" or "do what will benefit the school system in the long run."

I actually disagree that they are implicitly acknowledging anything other than change. It could mean programs, but could also mean boundaries alone. They HAVE to change the ASFS and adjacent boundaries at the very least now that Key has no boundary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a single reference to equity or closing achievement gaps in that long, scolding e-mail. I truly am starting to despise APS and its leadership.

I agree. I feel like we just got told off by APS and we better be prepared to be told off again by our principals.

Disagree. Unlike many school districts, APS does engage the community. It may not always change the outcomes, but I think they are at least willing to listen to potentially helpful input. The nastiness and winner-take-all attitude is appalling and this is their effort to say enough.

Disagree. Community engagement means more than a portal and some public hearings for people to express their views and then get completely ignored.

Look, I know you're used to always getting your way, but that is just not sustainable. Welcome to the world that the majority of us having been living in all along.

And then to send out an imperious e-mail asking parents to tone it down, when they are as heavy-handed and sanctimonious as they can possibly be. Blech.