Can we spreadload FRL% across APS? Arlington / Education Newbie here

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So how would a county-wide all-school lottery system even be considered? Seems like everything gets stuck or doesn't progress if it's limited to the School Board. I for one would want to see this on an Arlington ballot for everyone to vote on. Sounds like Arlington has changed a lot in the last 30 years or so. I'm sure it will change even more in the next 30.... what wasn't pursued then might have broader county wide support as different solution sets appear.

Oh goody, direct democracy works so well in California. I love it when people who pay attention for like a week during election season decide to set education policy for years. This is why we elect a board whose job it is to evaluate solutions.

A county wide lottery? So eliminate busing like California? But VA requires busing. Destroy elementary neighborhood communities.

Come up with new material Op, these solutions have been tried and failed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So how would a county-wide all-school lottery system even be considered? Seems like everything gets stuck or doesn't progress if it's limited to the School Board. I for one would want to see this on an Arlington ballot for everyone to vote on. Sounds like Arlington has changed a lot in the last 30 years or so. I'm sure it will change even more in the next 30.... what wasn't pursued then might have broader county wide support as different solution sets appear.

I don't want this on the ballot unless someone has addressed how the increase transportation costs would be financed. The county has seemed totally disinclined to provide more funding for APS and is unconcerned with the effect its housing policies have on the school system, so I doubt APS is getting more money from them for such an initiative. The last thing APS needs is a voter-imposed requirement to provide this program without the means to pay for it.

What do you plan to cut?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look at how many Nauck Green valley families chose Hoffman Boston or Montessori for their kids. FRL don’t all want to stay at their high poverty over 60-80% FRL school. Offer busing to any kid in Randolph or Carlin Springs willing to go to Nottingham or Tuckahoe, Hamm or Williamsburg, Yorktown. Bet you’d find some takers. Bet MONA and NNA would freak out.

Would you only offer the bussing to kids on FRL? Because otherwise you're going to get a disproportionate number of non-FRL families taking up that offer. It would just be another option school escape valve.

At least it would be the low-income students fleeing instead of the UMC fleeing and leaving even higher FRL% schools in the wake.

But if Arlington has created schools with unequal educational experiences or opportunities through their housing policy, why should anyone have to stay? Regardless of HHI? If the County offers people another option, anyone at those schools should be able to participate. If it’s really true that most of those people value walkability, it sounds like plenty of people will stay.

That basically describes S Arlington’s relationship with option schools. It worked fine until they became too crowded to get into.

[Anonymous]

Why all the hate for UMC and MC in SA? It makes no sense. They have just as much right to an equal, quality education. It’s one county. SA is less than 1/3 of Arlington yet comments like above are adamant about keeping those Southie cooties south.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why all the hate for UMC and MC in SA? It makes no sense. They have just as much right to an equal, quality education. It’s one county. SA is less than 1/3 of Arlington yet comments like above are adamant about keeping those Southie cooties south.

I made the comment above. It’s not hate, it’s just reality. I would do the same if I lived there. I didn’t want to roll the dice on options and chose to live in a smaller townhouse in a different area instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Explain it to me like I'm 5 and know nothing about APS, districting, education theory, etc. Why can't we set a standard FRL % at every school to guarantee the same education experience across Arlington? I'm new to this but Arlington is kinda small - why can't this happen for the good of everyone? Is it because the idea of bussing kids around has a history? I'm sure there's a way to do it equitably.

I read everyone being up in arms about school redistricting in Arlington and it just seems like this is the answer. Why have schools 70 to 80%FRL and others like 15%? Sure, north Arlington blah blah blah paid higher costs, but honestly south Arlington will probably catch up in costs because it's closer to Amazon and the airport. It's already getting pretty expensive and will one day will catch up. Why not catch up the schools ahead of time?

The lowest have less than 5%. Not trying to quibble, just want to highlight the extent of the disparity. It shocks the conscience, frankly, and I’m a political moderate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, really busing? Can you be more creative?

Arlington is a wealthy county. We should be making our own version of "Title 1" schools in Arlington, let's call them "Title Gondola" schools (because you want to raise the kids high in the sky). NA parents will happily pay a bit more in taxes if the overall school systems improves and stops spinning its wheels with boundary rezoning to try and address equity.

Also,, improving underperforming schools will help increase property values, so its a true investment in the county.

1) FARMS rate over 40% or whatever you want to define.
2) Increase funding to those schools so that they lower the student teacher ratio to 17:1 or 16:1.
3) Staff extended day with credentialed/degreed tutors, open it to all students (not just working parents), and turn it into at least a 1 hr of small group or 1:1 tutoring/homework club.
4) All students must participate in a sport, with practices during gym time rather than the general ed PE, have each semester specialize in really developing that sports skill and rules, team sports would be especially helpful but that does get more complicated.
5) Weekly Friday night community events, with things like scrabble night, movie night with movies based on books, or cooking club where everyone learns how to make a new dish from scratch.

This is what already occurs at title 1 schools. They have wrap around services like free tutoring and community events aimed at promoting literacy. Charities organize additional enrichment (like reading after school programs,etc). Class sizes are considerably smaller. It’s one of the reason aps likes to create title 1 schools.
The sports thing is a strange idea though— rec leagues in general are free if you ask for a scholarship or have proof of frl, so there’s no barrier to entry there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, really busing? Can you be more creative?

Arlington is a wealthy county. We should be making our own version of "Title 1" schools in Arlington, let's call them "Title Gondola" schools (because you want to raise the kids high in the sky). NA parents will happily pay a bit more in taxes if the overall school systems improves and stops spinning its wheels with boundary rezoning to try and address equity.

Also,, improving underperforming schools will help increase property values, so its a true investment in the county.

1) FARMS rate over 40% or whatever you want to define.
2) Increase funding to those schools so that they lower the student teacher ratio to 17:1 or 16:1.
3) Staff extended day with credentialed/degreed tutors, open it to all students (not just working parents), and turn it into at least a 1 hr of small group or 1:1 tutoring/homework club.
4) All students must participate in a sport, with practices during gym time rather than the general ed PE, have each semester specialize in really developing that sports skill and rules, team sports would be especially helpful but that does get more complicated.
5) Weekly Friday night community events, with things like scrabble night, movie night with movies based on books, or cooking club where everyone learns how to make a new dish from scratch.

This is what already occurs at title 1 schools. They have wrap around services like free tutoring and community events aimed at promoting literacy. Charities organize additional enrichment (like reading after school programs,etc). Class sizes are considerably smaller. It’s one of the reason aps likes to create title 1 schools.
The sports thing is a strange idea though— rec leagues in general are free if you ask for a scholarship or have proof of frl, so there’s no barrier to entry there.

The sports thing is to make kids like coming to school more, build a skill and confidence -- not all kids are academic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why all the hate for UMC and MC in SA? It makes no sense. They have just as much right to an equal, quality education. It’s one county. SA is less than 1/3 of Arlington yet comments like above are adamant about keeping those Southie cooties south.

I think it's annoyance at people trying to upend the system. Can't afford a house in the school district they want, therefore they buy a house zoned to a school they don't want but then push to turn the whole county into lottery so that their kids can go to the school they want. You can't have it both ways. If you have $500K to spend on a house, buy a house in a location that has schooling acceptable to you. That might not be in Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why all the hate for UMC and MC in SA? It makes no sense. They have just as much right to an equal, quality education. It’s one county. SA is less than 1/3 of Arlington yet comments like above are adamant about keeping those Southie cooties south.

I think it's annoyance at people trying to upend the system. Can't afford a house in the school district they want, therefore they buy a house zoned to a school they don't want but then push to turn the whole county into lottery so that their kids can go to the school they want. You can't have it both ways. If you have $500K to spend on a house, buy a house in a location that has schooling acceptable to you. That might not be in Arlington.

By your logic, no one should try to improve education in Arlington across all schools period because obviously it's just a sham and they purchased their house with the wrong geographic decision criteria? Completely disagree with your statements. People can have other reasons for wanting to improve equality in schools in Arlington. Have you considered the people pushing for change probably wouldn't even see something demonstrable in their kids schoolage lifetime? See: apparently the last 30 years in Arlington School Board history.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why all the hate for UMC and MC in SA? It makes no sense. They have just as much right to an equal, quality education. It’s one county. SA is less than 1/3 of Arlington yet comments like above are adamant about keeping those Southie cooties south.

I think it's annoyance at people trying to upend the system. Can't afford a house in the school district they want, therefore they buy a house zoned to a school they don't want but then push to turn the whole county into lottery so that their kids can go to the school they want. You can't have it both ways. If you have $500K to spend on a house, buy a house in a location that has schooling acceptable to you. That might not be in Arlington.

By your logic, no one should try to improve education in Arlington across all schools period because obviously it's just a sham and they purchased their house with the wrong geographic decision criteria? Completely disagree with your statements. People can have other reasons for wanting to improve equality in schools in Arlington. Have you considered the people pushing for change probably wouldn't even see something demonstrable in their kids schoolage lifetime? See: apparently the last 30 years in Arlington School Board history.

OP I am sorry you have buyers regret. No one is opposed to improving underperforming schools. They are opposed to inane bus routes and wasted time on the bus. Become involved in an underperforming school, start a tutor club, be the change you want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, really busing? Can you be more creative?

Arlington is a wealthy county. We should be making our own version of "Title 1" schools in Arlington, let's call them "Title Gondola" schools (because you want to raise the kids high in the sky). NA parents will happily pay a bit more in taxes if the overall school systems improves and stops spinning its wheels with boundary rezoning to try and address equity.

Also,, improving underperforming schools will help increase property values, so its a true investment in the county.

1) FARMS rate over 40% or whatever you want to define.
2) Increase funding to those schools so that they lower the student teacher ratio to 17:1 or 16:1.
3) Staff extended day with credentialed/degreed tutors, open it to all students (not just working parents), and turn it into at least a 1 hr of small group or 1:1 tutoring/homework club.
4) All students must participate in a sport, with practices during gym time rather than the general ed PE, have each semester specialize in really developing that sports skill and rules, team sports would be especially helpful but that does get more complicated.
5) Weekly Friday night community events, with things like scrabble night, movie night with movies based on books, or cooking club where everyone learns how to make a new dish from scratch.

This is what already occurs at title 1 schools. They have wrap around services like free tutoring and community events aimed at promoting literacy. Charities organize additional enrichment (like reading after school programs,etc). Class sizes are considerably smaller. It’s one of the reason aps likes to create title 1 schools.
The sports thing is a strange idea though— rec leagues in general are free if you ask for a scholarship or have proof of frl, so there’s no barrier to entry there.

The sports thing is to make kids like coming to school more, build a skill and confidence -- not all kids are academic.

Do you have kids at aps? What you are describing is what the pe curriculum currently is— they have units in sports that rotate through the seasons. You don’t have what we would think of as pe (sit ups, etc) until middle school. I guess the curriculum has been kind of different in Covid, but what you are describing was what my two eldest had through elementary school. You could make pe every day but it would probably come at the expense of recess.
You should take a look at the ptas/websites for the title 1 schools— they pretty much match what you are trying to make them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why all the hate for UMC and MC in SA? It makes no sense. They have just as much right to an equal, quality education. It’s one county. SA is less than 1/3 of Arlington yet comments like above are adamant about keeping those Southie cooties south.

I think it's annoyance at people trying to upend the system. Can't afford a house in the school district they want, therefore they buy a house zoned to a school they don't want but then push to turn the whole county into lottery so that their kids can go to the school they want. You can't have it both ways. If you have $500K to spend on a house, buy a house in a location that has schooling acceptable to you. That might not be in Arlington.

So you're against lottery because you want to protect your home value that you so valiantly purchased in the right school district. Got it. Screw everyone else trying to improve the community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why all the hate for UMC and MC in SA? It makes no sense. They have just as much right to an equal, quality education. It’s one county. SA is less than 1/3 of Arlington yet comments like above are adamant about keeping those Southie cooties south.

I think it's annoyance at people trying to upend the system. Can't afford a house in the school district they want, therefore they buy a house zoned to a school they don't want but then push to turn the whole county into lottery so that their kids can go to the school they want. You can't have it both ways. If you have $500K to spend on a house, buy a house in a location that has schooling acceptable to you. That might not be in Arlington.

So you're against lottery because you want to protect your home value that you so valiantly purchased in the right school district. Got it. Screw everyone else trying to improve the community.

I’m against driving cross county during rush hour for aftercare pickup because the county continues to systematically concentrate poverty. I’m open to middle and high school lotteries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why all the hate for UMC and MC in SA? It makes no sense. They have just as much right to an equal, quality education. It’s one county. SA is less than 1/3 of Arlington yet comments like above are adamant about keeping those Southie cooties south.

I think it's annoyance at people trying to upend the system. Can't afford a house in the school district they want, therefore they buy a house zoned to a school they don't want but then push to turn the whole county into lottery so that their kids can go to the school they want. You can't have it both ways. If you have $500K to spend on a house, buy a house in a location that has schooling acceptable to you. That might not be in Arlington.

The school district is APS. We are all a part of APS. Nobody owns any of the public schools. And no, I don’t live in South Arlington.