New APS Elem Boundaries (ASFS)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I also think I called it earlier when I said one of Discovery, Jamestown or Nottingham will become an option school, ATS or otherwise. They specifically said too many times that they'd look at areas with overlapping walk zones as places where you could move an option school. There are PUs that are within the walk zone for all three of those schools. My guess would be Jamestown, because so many of the students there are already bus riders, it really doesn't affect them to ride a bus to Discovery or Taylor instead. Plus it will give them an excuse to given Jamestown a much-needed renovation without it being prioritizing North Arlington students at the expense of others.

I can't stop laughing at the smug.

Moving a choice program so far from SArl eliminates attendance by parents who need to use public transportation and extended day. Talk about prioritizing the privileged.

Absolutely. And then people will say that ATS isn't diverse enough. Choice programs should be in the middle of the county wherever possible. ATS's location right now makes perfect sense.

+1. ATS is in a great spot right now for county-wide access. If it moves, it should be to somewhere in the central part of the county (north or south). Jamestown wouldn't work. The only other true county-wide program - Montessori - is moving closer to the center of the county (from Drew to Henry), not further away.

ATS IS NOT in a great location for county-wide access. It's about a 30 min. drive from the bottom of the county. It's convenient for N. ARL parents only. It would relive crowding at 4 overcrowded schools if converted to a neighborhood school and diversity would drastically increase if moved down county.

Did you know that there is a bus that busses N Arl white children .4 miles (about 4 blocks) to ATS? That is an absolute waste of taxpayer money since there is a walking path to the school and a few cross-walks with patrols at them.

Why the need to mention they really white kids? How is that relevant?

Signed, non white parent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Didn't read the whole thread -- was it decided whether they were rezoning ASFS borders before the broader elem rezoning?

Yes ASFS is decided by 2019 with s Arlington rezone. Any word on if there will be grandfathering (like is occurring at Key)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn't read the whole thread -- was it decided whether they were rezoning ASFS borders before the broader elem rezoning?

Yes ASFS is decided by 2019 with s Arlington rezone. Any word on if there will be grandfathering (like is occurring at Key)

Probably. I think it depends on just how the enrollment shakes out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn't read the whole thread -- was it decided whether they were rezoning ASFS borders before the broader elem rezoning?

Yes ASFS is decided by 2019 with s Arlington rezone. Any word on if there will be grandfathering (like is occurring at Key)

Probably. I think it depends on just how the enrollment shakes out.

I'm not sure how they can make a fair assessment of how crowded the school will be in 2019 since the enrollments and transfers policy wont be in effect until fall 2018, so the additional students won't even enroll until fall 2019. They should hold off and do one boundary change for all of north arlington rather than doing one for asfs and then doing another one for the rest of north arlington later in the year. Making the asfs boundary fixed makes balancing enrollment at taylor and glebe much harder -- they should leave it as is for another year and see what makes sense for the entire county.
Also, sorry but how does zoning people from the current boundary out but keeping the 20% of the school that are transfers (from Taylor or Jamestown) in any way seem fair?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn't read the whole thread -- was it decided whether they were rezoning ASFS borders before the broader elem rezoning?

Yes ASFS is decided by 2019 with s Arlington rezone. Any word on if there will be grandfathering (like is occurring at Key)

Probably. I think it depends on just how the enrollment shakes out.

I'm not sure how they can make a fair assessment of how crowded the school will be in 2019 since the enrollments and transfers policy wont be in effect until fall 2018, so the additional students won't even enroll until fall 2019. They should hold off and do one boundary change for all of north arlington rather than doing one for asfs and then doing another one for the rest of north arlington later in the year. Making the asfs boundary fixed makes balancing enrollment at taylor and glebe much harder -- they should leave it as is for another year and see what makes sense for the entire county.
Also, sorry but how does zoning people from the current boundary out but keeping the 20% of the school that are transfers (from Taylor or Jamestown) in any way seem fair?

Why do you think that’s an option? I don’t think everyone from the current boundary should be zoned elsewhere but I certainly think it’s fair in any new boundary to include the Taylor planning units that literally surround ASFS to attend ASFS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn't read the whole thread -- was it decided whether they were rezoning ASFS borders before the broader elem rezoning?

Yes ASFS is decided by 2019 with s Arlington rezone. Any word on if there will be grandfathering (like is occurring at Key)

Probably. I think it depends on just how the enrollment shakes out.

I'm not sure how they can make a fair assessment of how crowded the school will be in 2019 since the enrollments and transfers policy wont be in effect until fall 2018, so the additional students won't even enroll until fall 2019. They should hold off and do one boundary change for all of north arlington rather than doing one for asfs and then doing another one for the rest of north arlington later in the year. Making the asfs boundary fixed makes balancing enrollment at taylor and glebe much harder -- they should leave it as is for another year and see what makes sense for the entire county.
Also, sorry but how does zoning people from the current boundary out but keeping the 20% of the school that are transfers (from Taylor or Jamestown) in any way seem fair?

ASFS can't wait until Reed is done and the next zoning kicks off (2021? 2023?) -- with the key zone population now fully allocated to ASFS rather than split between Key/ASFS, in a couple years their enrollment could double.

Does anyone know how Key/Clarement enrollment lottery zones will work? It used to be Key was North and Clarement was south, and that meant that Key had no waiting list (b/c demand was mostly from in-bounds anyway). if they rezone the lottery zones for 2019, then key will likely have a waitlist as more families apply from South/East Arlington; if they can wait to change lottery boundaries until 2023 when Reed comes along, they can probably handle the demographic bulge by dispersing Key boundary to neighboring schools more smoothly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn't read the whole thread -- was it decided whether they were rezoning ASFS borders before the broader elem rezoning?

Yes ASFS is decided by 2019 with s Arlington rezone. Any word on if there will be grandfathering (like is occurring at Key)

Probably. I think it depends on just how the enrollment shakes out.

I'm not sure how they can make a fair assessment of how crowded the school will be in 2019 since the enrollments and transfers policy wont be in effect until fall 2018, so the additional students won't even enroll until fall 2019. They should hold off and do one boundary change for all of north arlington rather than doing one for asfs and then doing another one for the rest of north arlington later in the year. Making the asfs boundary fixed makes balancing enrollment at taylor and glebe much harder -- they should leave it as is for another year and see what makes sense for the entire county.
Also, sorry but how does zoning people from the current boundary out but keeping the 20% of the school that are transfers (from Taylor or Jamestown) in any way seem fair?

Why do you think that’s an option? I don’t think everyone from the current boundary should be zoned elsewhere but I certainly think it’s fair in any new boundary to include the Taylor planning units that literally surround ASFS to attend ASFS.

They are redoing all boundaries for elementary school this spring. The south Arlington ones and asfs will be fixed this spring so they can plan for fleet opening. The other north Arlington boundaries will be in play until spring 2019, and then there will be potentially huge changes (e.g. Moving option programs) starting 2020. They laid it out at the last school board working meeting.
I just think they should wait to redo asfs until when they redo the neighboring schools in fall 2019. Since they originally said that was their plan before the asfs pta started lobbying, I'm not sure why rush it.
And sorry but it seems like transfers who don't live in the new boundary should have to go back to their home school. If the school is crowded to the point they need to adjust boundaries, why would you keep hundreds out of out of zone kids there (who don't necessarily live in the walk zone).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

NP to this thread. I don't think it makes sense to move a CW program to a less accessible place. Placing a CW program in an area like that makes it more difficult for disadvantaged families to even apply. It's a disproportionate burden for them. However, looking at the potential south side boundaries as they relate to the MS boundaries, I think maybe there is potential for an under capacity Barcroft to become a CW program. The school could use a renovation and a slight expansion would be feasible. It is a smaller property so would be good for an option program with a capped enrollment. That way they could use the larger parcel where ATS currently sits for neighborhood seats so there would be room for expansion. I think once they move Alcova Heights PU's to the new Fleet, Barcroft will be even less crowded. How will they fill it? Barcroft neighborhood could be zoned, split between Barrett and Randolph. . If they need a choice program in the N, maybe they should make a second ATS? Seems like it could fill based on the depth of their wait list.

This seems like a good option.

[Anonymous]

First they are going to look and see if their option schools are in the right place- of if the option schools need a neighborhood boundary. (This Spring) They have been very careful to say that this look will not include looking at which option schools should go where.
In doing so (my prediction) is that they will decide that Key should have a neighborhood boundary, and ASFS should be option.
They will then flip the schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First they are going to look and see if their option schools are in the right place- of if the option schools need a neighborhood boundary. (This Spring) They have been very careful to say that this look will not include looking at which option schools should go where.
In doing so (my prediction) is that they will decide that Key should have a neighborhood boundary, and ASFS should be option.
They will then flip the schools.

I have a hard time believing the Board would swap out all the students/staff/specific facilities of Key and ASFS. That's a much larger - and expensive - undertaking than what it seems on the surface. There's been years of discussion & planning to move the Montessori program into Patrick Henry. I haven't seen anywhere near that level of talk about Key.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First they are going to look and see if their option schools are in the right place- of if the option schools need a neighborhood boundary. (This Spring) They have been very careful to say that this look will not include looking at which option schools should go where.
In doing so (my prediction) is that they will decide that Key should have a neighborhood boundary, and ASFS should be option.
They will then flip the schools.

I have a hard time believing the Board would swap out all the students/staff/specific facilities of Key and ASFS. That's a much larger - and expensive - undertaking than what it seems on the surface. There's been years of discussion & planning to move the Montessori program into Patrick Henry. I haven't seen anywhere near that level of talk about Key.

Why? Montessori requires specific classroom configurations. Does immersion require that? Asfs is a run of the mill school, there isn't anything specific there other than the science lab and investigation station which wouldn't be movable anyways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First they are going to look and see if their option schools are in the right place- of if the option schools need a neighborhood boundary. (This Spring) They have been very careful to say that this look will not include looking at which option schools should go where.
In doing so (my prediction) is that they will decide that Key should have a neighborhood boundary, and ASFS should be option.
They will then flip the schools.

I've always thought this would be the best solution (plus expanding the space on existing Key School), but I highly doubt it will ever happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First they are going to look and see if their option schools are in the right place- of if the option schools need a neighborhood boundary. (This Spring) They have been very careful to say that this look will not include looking at which option schools should go where.
In doing so (my prediction) is that they will decide that Key should have a neighborhood boundary, and ASFS should be option.
They will then flip the schools.

I have a hard time believing the Board would swap out all the students/staff/specific facilities of Key and ASFS. That's a much larger - and expensive - undertaking than what it seems on the surface. There's been years of discussion & planning to move the Montessori program into Patrick Henry. I haven't seen anywhere near that level of talk about Key.

Why? Montessori requires specific classroom configurations. Does immersion require that? Asfs is a run of the mill school, there isn't anything specific there other than the science lab and investigation station which wouldn't be movable anyways.

What kind of structural classroom configurations does a Montessori school need that you couldn't simply relocate fixtures and materials to another building?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First they are going to look and see if their option schools are in the right place- of if the option schools need a neighborhood boundary. (This Spring) They have been very careful to say that this look will not include looking at which option schools should go where.
In doing so (my prediction) is that they will decide that Key should have a neighborhood boundary, and ASFS should be option.
They will then flip the schools.

I have a hard time believing the Board would swap out all the students/staff/specific facilities of Key and ASFS. That's a much larger - and expensive - undertaking than what it seems on the surface. There's been years of discussion & planning to move the Montessori program into Patrick Henry. I haven't seen anywhere near that level of talk about Key.

Why? Montessori requires specific classroom configurations. Does immersion require that? Asfs is a run of the mill school, there isn't anything specific there other than the science lab and investigation station which wouldn't be movable anyways.

What kind of structural classroom configurations does a Montessori school need that you couldn't simply relocate fixtures and materials to another building?

To do Montessori right you need to have big classroom that can fit large amount of kids. The furniture is supposed to be mostly wood. It's more than just telling people to go to a different school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First they are going to look and see if their option schools are in the right place- of if the option schools need a neighborhood boundary. (This Spring) They have been very careful to say that this look will not include looking at which option schools should go where.
In doing so (my prediction) is that they will decide that Key should have a neighborhood boundary, and ASFS should be option.
They will then flip the schools.

I have a hard time believing the Board would swap out all the students/staff/specific facilities of Key and ASFS. That's a much larger - and expensive - undertaking than what it seems on the surface. There's been years of discussion & planning to move the Montessori program into Patrick Henry. I haven't seen anywhere near that level of talk about Key.

Why? Montessori requires specific classroom configurations. Does immersion require that? Asfs is a run of the mill school, there isn't anything specific there other than the science lab and investigation station which wouldn't be movable anyways.

What kind of structural classroom configurations does a Montessori school need that you couldn't simply relocate fixtures and materials to another building?

To do Montessori right you need to have big classroom that can fit large amount of kids. The furniture is supposed to be mostly wood. It's more than just telling people to go to a different school.

Furniture can be moved between schools. I'd be surprised if the classrooms in the schools currently housing Montessori programs are meaningfully bigger than the classrooms in other schools. If they are, one of the solutions could be to move Montessori programs into current neighborhood schools that are long overdue for renovation and then renovate those schools to fit the Montessori programs. Sure, there might be some tough years for the Montessori programs while that's going on, but not unlike what some of the neighborhood schools have gone through with renovation and overcrowding.

Being in Montessori does not make you untouchable. You are no more important than anyone else in the school system.