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[quote=Anonymous]They says it's totally transparent and no decisions have been made. I don't believe this for one second. Here is the letter we received:

Dear APS Elementary School Families:

The end of the school year is just around the corner, and it’s a busy time for students and staff alike. Just as we’re working to prepare students for success in school and life, Arlington Public Schools (APS) is also planning ahead for our future as a school division. We’re experiencing growing pains with the challenges of managing limited resources and enrollment increases of about 1,000 new students each year. We need a collaborative community effort to ensure that our students—and those to come in the years ahead—can continue thriving in healthy, safe, and academically challenging learning environments.

We’re excited to open new elementary schools in 2019 and 2021, and recognize that many families throughout Arlington will feel the impact of this change. Staff is working to adjust school boundaries and, through the Elementary School Planning Initiative, will also recommend the strategic placement of neighborhood and option elementary schools. The School Board will vote in November 2018 to establish new attendance zones for many—possibly all—neighborhood elementary schools, and may also approve a proposal that results in a neighborhood school becoming an option school, and vice versa.

Any changes made to school locations would aim to achieve greater efficiencies and better serve our students across the county—namely, we seek to do the following:

Improve access to option schools and position all schools to maintain strong instruction
Fully use all available space possible in all elementary schools for student learning
Reduce escalating transportation costs so more funds can be kept in the classroom (yearly operating costs for 1 bus = 1 average annual teacher salary)
Balance enrollment across the county and resolve crowding and underutilization posed by neighborhood elementary schools in close proximity
Achieve greater efficiencies in meeting transportation, staff development and equity objectives
Change can be hard. We hear from some stakeholders that you’d like us to make no changes at all or just change someone else’s school. These are not viable options. The cost of doing nothing is too high—we cannot afford any inefficiencies that divert funds from classroom use and this is a rare opportunity to explore how APS can better serve our students. No decisions have been made at this time, but we will need to make some decisions before the end of the year. Please be assured of the following:

Student learning will always come first.
This process—and any resulting changes to schools—will continue to be done in an open and transparent manner, and in conjunction with the community.
We will keep working with you to do what is best for our students throughout the county. And we need you to work with us. Some of the discussion we are hearing around this initiative has been disrespectful to some school communities. This cannot continue. We are all in this together and we must find solutions that will position our school division to meet our students’ evolving needs and our fiscal realities. We may face limited funds and limited land, and challenges with growth, transportation and other issues, but our school community’s commitment to academic excellence remains strong.

You will receive a message later this week from your school principal. We are working closely together and APS will keep you informed every step of the way. We ask that you keep an open mind and work with us. We need new solutions now, so that our school division has a healthy future, and we are working to develop those. We ask that all community members commit to having a civil conversation and pull together to help APS find real solutions for the future of our schools and students.

Sincerely,

Dr. Barbara Kanninen,                        Dr. Patrick Murphy,
School Board Chair                            Superintendent[/quote]

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