APS DHMS walk zone nuclear option

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry but Hamm people getting mad about going to Williamsburg kinda reminds me of Nottingham people getting mad about going to Jamestown or Discovery.

There’s really no pleasing some people.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry but Hamm people getting mad about going to Williamsburg kinda reminds me of Nottingham people getting mad about going to Jamestown or Discovery.

There’s really no pleasing some people.

That is a stupid comparison. They are closing Nottingham, and this instance, they are leaving Hamm open and replacing walkers with other students who were being bussed elsewhere already

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry but Hamm people getting mad about going to Williamsburg kinda reminds me of Nottingham people getting mad about going to Jamestown or Discovery.

There’s really no pleasing some people.

That is a stupid comparison. They are closing Nottingham, and this instance, they are leaving Hamm open and replacing walkers with other students who were being bussed elsewhere already

Thanks for the recap. We got it. I think you missed the larger theme- these are the champagne problems of APS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do not know why no one wants to go to WMS. It’s a great middle school. Fabulous teachers.

Maybe because I remember this: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1999/07/08/parents-are-alarmed-by-an-unsettling-new-fad-in-middle-schools-oral-sex/4130d1ef-5e0f-4078-99ec-faa75fe294c5/

But generally speaking, WMS is richer, whiter and meaner than Hamm and I’d like my children to avoid the Washington Golf crowd as long as I can.

Don't worry they go private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry but Hamm people getting mad about going to Williamsburg kinda reminds me of Nottingham people getting mad about going to Jamestown or Discovery.

There’s really no pleasing some people.

That is a stupid comparison. They are closing Nottingham, and this instance, they are leaving Hamm open and replacing walkers with other students who were being bussed elsewhere already

Thanks for the recap. We got it. I think you missed the larger theme- these are the champagne problems of APS.

We have growing class size because of limited funds — burning money on additional busing is not champagne

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don’t they just let the Hamm walk zone stay at Hamm and bus everyone else to Williamsburg? Wouldn’t this keep everyone happy?

Yes. And it's consistent with APS diversity goals.

I don’t see how recreating the Rosslyn Island to Williamsburg is fine but moving immersion to Williamsburg is a nonstarter. It’s the exact same issues.

No, it's not. Immersion is a countywide program and you need to get students to Williamsburg from all over the County. Rosslyn island to Williamsburg is just a few buses of kids from the NE quadrant to the NW quadrant. Also, those Rosslyn students would be assigned to WMS; whereas immersion students have to choose to continue in the program and many have a far more convenient default and therefore more likely to opt-out....defeating the purpose (alleviating crowding in south Arlington) of moving the program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m interested in other ways to relieve Gunston that don’t involve busing my kid to Williamsburg. And I understand that things may not work in my favor, but I want to be honest and open about trying other solutions that could work.

If I’m looking at the documents correctly, moving Immersion immediately solves Gunston’s overcrowding, correct? Sticking it at Kenmore (which has space but not enough for all of Immersion) means that some Kenmore kids need to go to other middle schools which creates this cascade effect, correct?

We need to not just say “don’t bus my kid when he can walk” but also “here’s what you can do instead.”

I also think high school alignment is an issue here.

If my child has to be bused, I can live with it as long as our planning units are not the only ones moved and he’s isolated from the majority of Taylor. If they’re going to split us up, they need to move a critical mass.

It looks like they could move Immersion to Williamsburg, tweak a few units with alignment issues, and then be done. No walk zones broken. Almost everyone moved with the school when Key moved despite dire warnings otherwise. People who are dedicated to the program will travel for it.

This is a dumb plan and I hope people speak out against this as an idea. It would kill the immersion program.

That’s exactly what you said about the Key move.

Key moved to a Central part of the county in an area with spanish speakers.

Do you remember the rhetoric? The move would destroy the program, families wouldn’t be able to move to the new building so the new neighborhood school would be crowded anyway, etc etc.

Williamsburg is a bad choice for location, but no one wants to be moved there. Why should neighborhood kids get moved instead of an option program that is optional?

It doesn't make any sense. The native Spanish speaking (majority low income) families in the southern part of the county aren't going to be able to get to Williamsburg. And it makes no sense to have a Williamsburg --> Wakefield feeder pattern. The kids moved to Williamsburg should be within the Yorktown boundary.

If your goal is to kill the Immersion program, then keep making this proposal.

Why shouldn’t that be the goal? What does immersion do for the County?[/quote

It educates its children.
And it provides a better educational start for many non-English speaking students and first generation English speaking students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry but Hamm people getting mad about going to Williamsburg kinda reminds me of Nottingham people getting mad about going to Jamestown or Discovery.

There’s really no pleasing some people.

That is a stupid comparison. They are closing Nottingham, and this instance, they are leaving Hamm open and replacing walkers with other students who were being bussed elsewhere already

It's really the same thing. They are leaving Nottingham open, just using it for different students who will be bused there while sending kids who can walk to Nottingham elsewhere. They aren't shutting down the Nottingham building.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m interested in other ways to relieve Gunston that don’t involve busing my kid to Williamsburg. And I understand that things may not work in my favor, but I want to be honest and open about trying other solutions that could work.

If I’m looking at the documents correctly, moving Immersion immediately solves Gunston’s overcrowding, correct? Sticking it at Kenmore (which has space but not enough for all of Immersion) means that some Kenmore kids need to go to other middle schools which creates this cascade effect, correct?

We need to not just say “don’t bus my kid when he can walk” but also “here’s what you can do instead.”

I also think high school alignment is an issue here.

If my child has to be bused, I can live with it as long as our planning units are not the only ones moved and he’s isolated from the majority of Taylor. If they’re going to split us up, they need to move a critical mass.

It looks like they could move Immersion to Williamsburg, tweak a few units with alignment issues, and then be done. No walk zones broken. Almost everyone moved with the school when Key moved despite dire warnings otherwise. People who are dedicated to the program will travel for it.

This is a dumb plan and I hope people speak out against this as an idea. It would kill the immersion program.

That’s exactly what you said about the Key move.

Key moved to a Central part of the county in an area with spanish speakers.

Do you remember the rhetoric? The move would destroy the program, families wouldn’t be able to move to the new building so the new neighborhood school would be crowded anyway, etc etc.

Williamsburg is a bad choice for location, but no one wants to be moved there. Why should neighborhood kids get moved instead of an option program that is optional?

It doesn't make any sense. The native Spanish speaking (majority low income) families in the southern part of the county aren't going to be able to get to Williamsburg. And it makes no sense to have a Williamsburg --> Wakefield feeder pattern. The kids moved to Williamsburg should be within the Yorktown boundary.

If your goal is to kill the Immersion program, then keep making this proposal.

Why shouldn’t that be the goal? What does immersion do for the County?[/quote

It educates its children.
And it provides a better educational start for many non-English speaking students and first generation English speaking students.

+1. Most US public schools start foreign language way too late. Immersion isn’t for everyone but it’s really the only option school that I think is actually worthy/useful/sufficiently unique to justify the cost (sorry HBW).

If it matters, no, we aren’t an Immersion family. But I see tremendous value in educating students in Spanish and English if they are willing to commit to Immersion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry but Hamm people getting mad about going to Williamsburg kinda reminds me of Nottingham people getting mad about going to Jamestown or Discovery.

There’s really no pleasing some people.

That is a stupid comparison. They are closing Nottingham, and this instance, they are leaving Hamm open and replacing walkers with other students who were being bussed elsewhere already

It's really the same thing. They are leaving Nottingham open, just using it for different students who will be bused there while sending kids who can walk to Nottingham elsewhere. They aren't shutting down the Nottingham building.

They are shutting down the school that is Nottingham. You are being willfully ignorant.

[Anonymous]

It is unlikely that they will reintroduce noncontiguous island again for Rosslyn just to accommodate Hamm walk zone. Some posters are self advocating their own convenience in disguise of diversity, but don't forget that continuity is another primary factor in the boundary process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is unlikely that they will reintroduce noncontiguous island again for Rosslyn just to accommodate Hamm walk zone. Some posters are self advocating their own convenience in disguise of diversity, but don't forget that continuity is another primary factor in the boundary process.

I may be an outlier but my kid is on a bus either way, so it’s really immaterial to me whether it’s Hamm or a few mins up the road to Williamsburg. I just want APS to rip the band aid off with these boundary processes and get it done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is unlikely that they will reintroduce noncontiguous island again for Rosslyn just to accommodate Hamm walk zone. Some posters are self advocating their own convenience in disguise of diversity, but don't forget that continuity is another primary factor in the boundary process.

Okay so they will run WMS boundary from Rosslyn up along GW parkway to Dover Crystal and Old Glebe -- no island but the narrowest peninsula.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m interested in other ways to relieve Gunston that don’t involve busing my kid to Williamsburg. And I understand that things may not work in my favor, but I want to be honest and open about trying other solutions that could work.

If I’m looking at the documents correctly, moving Immersion immediately solves Gunston’s overcrowding, correct? Sticking it at Kenmore (which has space but not enough for all of Immersion) means that some Kenmore kids need to go to other middle schools which creates this cascade effect, correct?

We need to not just say “don’t bus my kid when he can walk” but also “here’s what you can do instead.”

I also think high school alignment is an issue here.

If my child has to be bused, I can live with it as long as our planning units are not the only ones moved and he’s isolated from the majority of Taylor. If they’re going to split us up, they need to move a critical mass.

It looks like they could move Immersion to Williamsburg, tweak a few units with alignment issues, and then be done. No walk zones broken. Almost everyone moved with the school when Key moved despite dire warnings otherwise. People who are dedicated to the program will travel for it.

I’m not sure about this. They can’t run Immersion at all without enough native Spanish speakers. Williamsburg seems like the worst middle school to pick for Immersion, based on geography and where people are likely to live.

But it's okay because Ethan will still get to walk to Hamm this way.

Immersion is an OPTION not an ENTITLEMENT. If you want the option, get on a bus. If you want the run of the mill school, go walk to it and stop spending everyone’s time and money busing kids all over the county for these ridiculous programs. I mean, APS values language so much they do not offer it in in public schools for children until 7TH GRADE. If you desire it so much and APS will pay for it, the cost may be you have to get on a bus. And if not enough kids join, then what the heck are we doing? Why are we doing this?? For a handful of kids? Nuts.

[Anonymous]

It is insane to me that they’re considering so many buses when we don’t have anyplace to park them or anyone to drive them. All so some walkers can be busses elsewhere and some new kids busses in!