2024/25 Boundary Map APS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a long thread about this recently if you search.

In summary, APS is doing nothing while Williamsburg sits under enrolled and several other middle schools are bursting. People have varying opinions about this, which you can read.

So move Immersion to Williamsburg from Gunston.

Because then it places immersion at the furthest school in the county from a large percentage of the native Spanish speakers and/or low income families, so APS views that as an equity problem.

This is the cycle they get caught in. Not being able to settle on what their real priorities are and then making decisions. They did the survey years ago about the six components of the decision and overwhelmingly proximity came out first. Around the edges there will always be units for which that won't work out, but it makes it very hard for them to do major overhauls if they want to be responsive to what the large majority of APS families want.

Right, people complain Williamsburg is not diverse and is too empty, but they also complain that something like moving Immersion there (which would add students and diversity) is inequitable. What are our actual goals here? To be fair, I wouldn't want to be moved there either if I was in the Immersion program, that school is terrible to get to.

I know some are consigned to a future reality where we have two overwhelmingly caucasian schools, Williamsburg and Yorktown, since it’s not equitable to bus socio-economically diverse students to those schools. And instead focus on evening the demographic balance and disparities between Wakefield and W-L.

In other words let Yorktown and Williamsburg just be themselves for better or worse, even if APS will continue on the trajectory of the most segregated district in the region. Focus demographic balance on the other school pyramids.

The solution is to have Yorktown cut down deeper into the western part of the county (Swanson/Kenmore) and WL to stick to the eastern side (Hamm/TJ). Guston stays with Wakefield. Fill Wakefield with the kids in the southern most parts and split the rest between Yorktown and WL. Split WMS to balance enrollment between Yorktown and WL.

If that’s workable, on the surface that sounds good.

This was one option proposed a few years ago. It was rejected due to the community priority on proximity. I posted above, this is where the APS staff and board can’t win unless it identifies the priorities it seems best for the county and sticks with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a long thread about this recently if you search.

In summary, APS is doing nothing while Williamsburg sits under enrolled and several other middle schools are bursting. People have varying opinions about this, which you can read.

So move Immersion to Williamsburg from Gunston.

Because then it places immersion at the furthest school in the county from a large percentage of the native Spanish speakers and/or low income families, so APS views that as an equity problem.

This is the cycle they get caught in. Not being able to settle on what their real priorities are and then making decisions. They did the survey years ago about the six components of the decision and overwhelmingly proximity came out first. Around the edges there will always be units for which that won't work out, but it makes it very hard for them to do major overhauls if they want to be responsive to what the large majority of APS families want.

Right, people complain Williamsburg is not diverse and is too empty, but they also complain that something like moving Immersion there (which would add students and diversity) is inequitable. What are our actual goals here? To be fair, I wouldn't want to be moved there either if I was in the Immersion program, that school is terrible to get to.

I know some are consigned to a future reality where we have two overwhelmingly caucasian schools, Williamsburg and Yorktown, since it’s not equitable to bus socio-economically diverse students to those schools. And instead focus on evening the demographic balance and disparities between Wakefield and W-L.

In other words let Yorktown and Williamsburg just be themselves for better or worse, even if APS will continue on the trajectory of the most segregated district in the region. Focus demographic balance on the other school pyramids.

The solution is to have Yorktown cut down deeper into the western part of the county (Swanson/Kenmore) and WL to stick to the eastern side (Hamm/TJ). Guston stays with Wakefield. Fill Wakefield with the kids in the southern most parts and split the rest between Yorktown and WL. Split WMS to balance enrollment between Yorktown and WL.

If that’s workable, on the surface that sounds good.

This was one option proposed a few years ago. It was rejected due to the community priority on proximity. I posted above, this is where the APS staff and board can’t win unless it identifies the priorities it seems best for the county and sticks with it.

It’s a shame APS didn’t continue to develop that proposal. Wow. Missed opportunity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a long thread about this recently if you search.

In summary, APS is doing nothing while Williamsburg sits under enrolled and several other middle schools are bursting. People have varying opinions about this, which you can read.

So move Immersion to Williamsburg from Gunston.

Because then it places immersion at the furthest school in the county from a large percentage of the native Spanish speakers and/or low income families, so APS views that as an equity problem.

This is the cycle they get caught in. Not being able to settle on what their real priorities are and then making decisions. They did the survey years ago about the six components of the decision and overwhelmingly proximity came out first. Around the edges there will always be units for which that won't work out, but it makes it very hard for them to do major overhauls if they want to be responsive to what the large majority of APS families want.

Right, people complain Williamsburg is not diverse and is too empty, but they also complain that something like moving Immersion there (which would add students and diversity) is inequitable. What are our actual goals here? To be fair, I wouldn't want to be moved there either if I was in the Immersion program, that school is terrible to get to.

I know some are consigned to a future reality where we have two overwhelmingly caucasian schools, Williamsburg and Yorktown, since it’s not equitable to bus socio-economically diverse students to those schools. And instead focus on evening the demographic balance and disparities between Wakefield and W-L.

In other words let Yorktown and Williamsburg just be themselves for better or worse, even if APS will continue on the trajectory of the most segregated district in the region. Focus demographic balance on the other school pyramids.

The solution is to have Yorktown cut down deeper into the western part of the county (Swanson/Kenmore) and WL to stick to the eastern side (Hamm/TJ). Guston stays with Wakefield. Fill Wakefield with the kids in the southern most parts and split the rest between Yorktown and WL. Split WMS to balance enrollment between Yorktown and WL.

If that’s workable, on the surface that sounds good.

This was one option proposed a few years ago. It was rejected due to the community priority on proximity. I posted above, this is where the APS staff and board can’t win unless it identifies the priorities it seems best for the county and sticks with it.

I feel for the Board because they can decide on priorities in a public process and vote on them (they have done this) and no one is really paying attention or agrees in theory until it impacts them. And then some of the parents and communities are bloody awful to deal with when it comes time to engage with them.

[Anonymous]

What are you people talking about? A few years ago APS moved three[i] schools for crying out loud (Key to ATS, ATS to McKinley, McKinley to Cardinal). Planners faced down angry parents and gave the supine School Board one choice: these school moves or the apocalypse. It was unnecessary and expensive. They dug in their heels and no argument would dissuade them.
Anyone who thinks that APS is overly captive to advocates is nuts.

[Anonymous]

Is there any chance immersion moves to Kenmore?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are you people talking about? A few years ago APS moved three[i] schools for crying out loud (Key to ATS, ATS to McKinley, McKinley to Cardinal). Planners faced down angry parents and gave the supine School Board one choice: these school moves or the apocalypse. It was unnecessary and expensive. They dug in their heels and no argument would dissuade them.
Anyone who thinks that APS is overly captive to advocates is nuts.

How do you think things would be going now with no neighborhood school in the Courthouse area and two mega-size neighborhood schools on top of each other in N Arlington and very close to other under enrolled schools?

That move is literally the one example of the School Board doing anything that made sense and they've apparently been too exhausted since then to bother to do anything else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are you people talking about? A few years ago APS moved three[i] schools for crying out loud (Key to ATS, ATS to McKinley, McKinley to Cardinal). Planners faced down angry parents and gave the supine School Board one choice: these school moves or the apocalypse. It was unnecessary and expensive. They dug in their heels and no argument would dissuade them.
Anyone who thinks that APS is overly captive to advocates is nuts.

How do you think things would be going now with no neighborhood school in the Courthouse area and two mega-size neighborhood schools on top of each other in N Arlington and very close to other under enrolled schools?

That move is literally the one example of the School Board doing anything that made sense and they've apparently been too exhausted since then to bother to do anything else.

DP. I thought the neighborhood schools were Innovation and/or Science Focus and/or Taylor for that part of Arlington. So those who did not want immersion could choose the other neighborhood schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are you people talking about? A few years ago APS moved three[i] schools for crying out loud (Key to ATS, ATS to McKinley, McKinley to Cardinal). Planners faced down angry parents and gave the supine School Board one choice: these school moves or the apocalypse. It was unnecessary and expensive. They dug in their heels and no argument would dissuade them.
Anyone who thinks that APS is overly captive to advocates is nuts.

But those are really easy to sell moves.

McKinley to Cardinal was basically the same neighborhood, they just got to move into a brand new school.

The other two programs are option schools, and they really have a little argument about location, they can always go to their neighborhood school if proximity is the most important thing. So they just didn’t have leverage to fight back. Neighborhood schools are different matter entirely especially if you go from walking to busing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a long thread about this recently if you search.

In summary, APS is doing nothing while Williamsburg sits under enrolled and several other middle schools are bursting. People have varying opinions about this, which you can read.

So move Immersion to Williamsburg from Gunston.

Because then it places immersion at the furthest school in the county from a large percentage of the native Spanish speakers and/or low income families, so APS views that as an equity problem.

This is the cycle they get caught in. Not being able to settle on what their real priorities are and then making decisions. They did the survey years ago about the six components of the decision and overwhelmingly proximity came out first. Around the edges there will always be units for which that won't work out, but it makes it very hard for them to do major overhauls if they want to be responsive to what the large majority of APS families want.

It’s an option school. It’s not an equity problem if it changes location within the county.

It’s 7 miles from Gunston. Gunston to HB is almost 5 miles in a dense urban heavy traffic corridor with zero free street parking. How is HB not an equity problem based upon your fanciful concerns.

If they are committed to Immersion, then it can where capacity is. If not, it’s not worth the hassle of buying special texts, limiting hiring to bilingual teachers, etc that go along with the immersion program because people are choosing it for frivolous reasons and don’t value it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are you people talking about? A few years ago APS moved three[i] schools for crying out loud (Key to ATS, ATS to McKinley, McKinley to Cardinal). Planners faced down angry parents and gave the supine School Board one choice: these school moves or the apocalypse. It was unnecessary and expensive. They dug in their heels and no argument would dissuade them.
Anyone who thinks that APS is overly captive to advocates is nuts.

How do you think things would be going now with no neighborhood school in the Courthouse area and two mega-size neighborhood schools on top of each other in N Arlington and very close to other under enrolled schools?

That move is literally the one example of the School Board doing anything that made sense and they've apparently been too exhausted since then to bother to do anything else.

DP. I thought the neighborhood schools were Innovation and/or Science Focus and/or Taylor for that part of Arlington. So those who did not want immersion could choose the other neighborhood schools.

Innovation was the new school created by the moves. It did not exist before that because Key was in the building. Rosslyn to Courthouse were zoned to ASFS and kids in the neighborhoods around ASFS were zoned to Taylor. I agree the school moves were logical and cleared up a lot of historical weirdness in the neighborhood schools zones for that part of the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are you people talking about? A few years ago APS moved three[i] schools for crying out loud (Key to ATS, ATS to McKinley, McKinley to Cardinal). Planners faced down angry parents and gave the supine School Board one choice: these school moves or the apocalypse. It was unnecessary and expensive. They dug in their heels and no argument would dissuade them.
Anyone who thinks that APS is overly captive to advocates is nuts.

How do you think things would be going now with no neighborhood school in the Courthouse area and two mega-size neighborhood schools on top of each other in N Arlington and very close to other under enrolled schools?

That move is literally the one example of the School Board doing anything that made sense and they've apparently been too exhausted since then to bother to do anything else.

DP. I thought the neighborhood schools were Innovation and/or Science Focus and/or Taylor for that part of Arlington. So those who did not want immersion could choose the other neighborhood schools.

Hasn’t been that way since 2018. There used to be a team of elementary schools that worked like that, with guaranteed admission to Key based on neighborhood boundaries, and if you didn’t want immersion you could go to ASFS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there any chance immersion moves to Kenmore?

IMO, not for the foreseeable future. The idea popped up last year because some schools were overenrolled. Then APS went through an address verification process. As a result, Gunston was no longer overenrolled. So there really isn't a problem to fix anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are you people talking about? A few years ago APS moved three[i] schools for crying out loud (Key to ATS, ATS to McKinley, McKinley to Cardinal). Planners faced down angry parents and gave the supine School Board one choice: these school moves or the apocalypse. It was unnecessary and expensive. They dug in their heels and no argument would dissuade them.
Anyone who thinks that APS is overly captive to advocates is nuts.

This version of events is delusional and hilarious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there any chance immersion moves to Kenmore?

IMO, not for the foreseeable future. The idea popped up last year because some schools were overenrolled. Then APS went through an address verification process. As a result, Gunston was no longer overenrolled. So there really isn't a problem to fix anymore.

gunston is still over enrolled and so are other middle schools. there is still a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are you people talking about? A few years ago APS moved three[i] schools for crying out loud (Key to ATS, ATS to McKinley, McKinley to Cardinal). Planners faced down angry parents and gave the supine School Board one choice: these school moves or the apocalypse. It was unnecessary and expensive. They dug in their heels and no argument would dissuade them.
Anyone who thinks that APS is overly captive to advocates is nuts.

But those are really easy to sell moves.

McKinley to Cardinal was basically the same neighborhood, they just got to move into a brand new school.

The other two programs are option schools, and they really have a little argument about location, they can always go to their neighborhood school if proximity is the most important thing. So they just didn’t have leverage to fight back. Neighborhood schools are different matter entirely especially if you go from walking to busing

As someone who lived through this, this is not true at all. McKinley fought like holy hell to not get moved (and yes the biggest group pissed was Madison Manor and Dominion Hills people who were walkers to McKinely and were going to have to bus to Cardinal). The Key people also went completely nuts. ATS was fine, more or less.

APS had an interim super at the time. I don't know why the School Board actually did something hard. I remember being shocked at the time.