What do you expect from APS staff (option/neighborhood) on 4/30?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"There may not be 18 kids per class, that's the max. They could have fewer, and many could be younger siblings, so they aren't eating up "sibling" spots since they are already in the VPI pool. I don't think it's unreasonable to reserve a significant portion of seats for diadvantaged students at the option schools. In particular if it helps them stay true to their educational models."

VPI is in high demand, the classrooms at Campbell are full. It is not unreasonable to reserve a portion of seats for disadvantaged kids. It IS unreasonable to reserve the majority of seats, for disadvantaged kids and non-disadvantaged kids. If the majority of seats are not available via lottery (for what ever reason), then it is not an option school. If we were talking about ATS, people on this website accuse the county of offering a private school to the few on the county's dime. Yet, somehow that doesn't happen with Campbell?

In the end, the SB will require lots of trailers at Campbell to get the school as close to 725 as possible. Unless the school merely fills those new seats with more VPI students, Campbell will eventually lose its Title I status and enough kids will get it for it to be a true option school.

Oh, and statements about having diversity as part of the curriculum, please, that is done to make the best out of the situation at Campbell. If you don't embrace your diversity, what do you do, reject it?

Google EL education. Diversity is a tenet and foundational principle of the curriculum. If that bothers you, there are many other schools in Arlington to choose from. And more trailers are coming to Campbell no matter what, which seems appropriate given what the majority of our neighbors have been dealing with for years now. This has nothing to do with how many VPI students there are or are not at Campbell.

[Anonymous]

Well, using that logic, once the school size is 725 students and disadvantaged students comprise a small percentage of the school, will Campbell still celebrate its diversity?

[Anonymous]

But is Campbell really diverse of its 60% free and reduced lunch and 60% Hispanic? I would argue that’s not what diversity looks like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But is Campbell really diverse of its 60% free and reduced lunch and 60% Hispanic? I would argue that’s not what diversity looks like.

It's not 60% Hispanic nor is it 60% fr/l. This data is publicly available but I guess you're too lazy to check, so FYI, Campbell is 54% fr/l and 43% Hispanic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But is Campbell really diverse of its 60% free and reduced lunch and 60% Hispanic? I would argue that’s not what diversity looks like.

It's not 60% Hispanic nor is it 60% fr/l. This data is publicly available but I guess you're too lazy to check, so FYI, Campbell is 54% fr/l and 43% Hispanic.

Exactly.. not every student who qualifies for FRL is Hispanic....

[Anonymous]

Why can’t we discuss this without the insults? (i.e. “you’re clearly too lazy”...

I am going off the data that I found online. Clearly you found different data. That doesn’t make either of us lazy. I’m not here to have a fight. Just to discuss topics related to education in APS in a civil manner with others who also are interested in education.

Also nobody ever said that all Hispanic students are free and reduced lunch. That’s totally ridiculous. I don’t think that at all so not sure why you are suggesting I said that.

I sense a lot of anger from you on the topic of diversity at Campbell. Are you concerned that the school will change for the worse with the county wide lottery. It seems like you are quite defensive about that topic and ready to assume the worst of what people say about it here.

We are all adults. Can we please speak to each other the way we would if this was face to face and not anonymous and as if our kids were watching.

Geez.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t we discuss this without the insults? (i.e. “you’re clearly too lazy”...

I am going off the data that I found online. Clearly you found different data. That doesn’t make either of us lazy. I’m not here to have a fight. Just to discuss topics related to education in APS in a civil manner with others who also are interested in education.

Also nobody ever said that all Hispanic students are free and reduced lunch. That’s totally ridiculous. I don’t think that at all so not sure why you are suggesting I said that.

I sense a lot of anger from you on the topic of diversity at Campbell. Are you concerned that the school will change for the worse with the county wide lottery. It seems like you are quite defensive about that topic and ready to assume the worst of what people say about it here.

We are all adults. Can we please speak to each other the way we would if this was face to face and not anonymous and as if our kids were watching.

Geez.

I apologize for getting short with you, but it sounded to me that you were conflating Hispanic and fr/l, since you used the same percentage point. I will take you at your word that you were not doing that.

May I ask where you found the numbers? The data I cited is directly from the APS website.

[Anonymous]

New PP here - whether the percentage of kids on FR/L is 54% or 60% does not matter - it is still a very high number that reduces, as they say, educational outcomes for most of those kids (not all). Campbell is not economically diverse at 54% or 60% or what ever the number is in any given year. Barcroft has similar demographics (but please don't get mad if I didn't go to the APS website to get the exact number) and I can't recall anyone on this website saying Barcroft is a great school.

[Anonymous]

To the N. Arlington poster(s) who asked how they can (genuinely) help, I think the simplest way is to please lobby against the building of additional Committed Affordable Housing (CAFs) on the western end of Columbia Pike.

Affordable housing is a noble goal, but the concentration of poverty is absolutely detrimental to the schools and largely hamstrings what the school board can do. It also has secondary effects on overcrowding, as eventually many S. Arlington families flee north.