Reply to the Key/ASFS building switch...

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Swap in 2020. The rest of us can't take a whole additional year of these temper tantrums.[/quote]
Seriously!  I don’t even understand while aps felt the need to publish the memos that prompted this thread!  Let’s just accept this and move on, I’m really sick of neighborhoods being pitted against one another.  Though I guess in this case it’s different people in the same neighborhood.[/quote]

oh I'm really glad they published it.  It laid out a rational coherent explanation for why they are planning the swap.  It had a lot of information to counter the disinformation that I'm sure they knew was coming.  It provides a counter to the 'lyon village is rich and has to much sway with the staff' rhetoric we are hearing.  It showed transparency.  I actually can't imagine how it would be better if they hadn't published it.[/quote]

It's going to be nothing but a headache for the next three years-- the whole "this keeps most of the ASFS together" line that APS is feeding everyone is such a misnomer.  There are already more students currently attending ASFS than the Key building can hold after you take out the two classrooms needed to try and recreate the science lab. That doesn't include all the current Key folks who will stay at the current building (b/c they can walk/familiarity, etc.) regardless of which program is there.  More importantly,  the 200 Lyon Village kids who currently go to Taylor are within 1/2 mile with no major streets to cross-- APS cannot justify bussing those kids to Taylor when they can easily walk to the Key building.  So what does this mean?  It means that the "new" ASFS at the Key building will be nothing more than Lyon Village's neighborhood school -- and many of the fringe folks (who believe this swap was their savoir) will still be bussed to Taylor and Long Branch.  And why move the "whole program" before the boundary change-- all that is going to do is royally piss off the over 1/3 ASFS  population that has to move to the Key building in 2020 and then move to their new "neighborhood" school in 2021.  So again, great for Lyon Village but sucky for everyone else. [/quote]

Every elementary school is going to deal with some people being zoned out and others being zoned in over the next few years. You are not so special that you should be exempt. The swap reduces the number of students who will be rezoned out or in.[/quote]

Absolutely agree that no one is that special that they should be exempt from the boundary process/having to move schools.  However, I haven't seen any thorough analysis or support that the swap will actually reduce the number of kids that will be rezoned out or in.  Yes, on paper it looks like the swap will put the school closer to 80% of the current ASFS population.  But after adjustments are made to account for (i) losing class space for the science lab; (ii) adding in the Taylor Lyon Village students; (iii) adding in the current Key students who leave Immersion to stay with the building; (iv) adding in new folks who move/live in the attendance area, then (iv) subtracting out the current 20% of ASFS who are not in the Key zone, it is likely that the ASFS in 2021 will have only half, at best, of its current population or families.   And the swap does nothing to address that all of Key has to move-- yes, on paper you can argue that the whole program will move together but there will be losses for those who can and do opt to stay at the Key building-- did APS even attempt to realistically figure those numbers out?  And while on paper the swap may reduce the number of schools involved (i.e., the Ashlawn and Taylor units near ASFS can continue with their current boundaries when the swap occurs), that entire area is going to be subject to rezoning in 2021--- so the swap doesn't do much but give many at ASFS a false sense of security that they are keeping their school community together and getting a bigger school to grow (although wait until they figure out that the Key cafeteria is smaller so they'll have extended lunchtimes and a quarter of their classrooms will now be open!).

It seems as if APS is throwing anything out there that it thinks will appease the most and, again, on paper, the swap does this.  But in reality, it will be a logistical nightmare, an expensive (taxpayer) burden, and, at the end of the day, most of the kids living in that area are all going to be rezoned anyway-- Lyon Village Taylor will go to new ASFS, Cherrydale Taylor/Ashlawn will end up at Glebe, Rosslyn/Courthouse will end up at Taylor or Long Branch, and many of the current and local Key may end up at new ASFS.    So the swap doesn't really help keep "current" communities together as Dr. Murphy touted.  Maybe for one year, but then come 2021, all bets are off.

So, is wasting all the time and taxpayer money on the swap worth the return?  You might think this is just an ASFS/Key issue so who cares, no one should be exempt from moving but everyone in Arlington should care because we are going to PAY for this swap.  And we're doing it under the guise that its the least disruptive for all those who attend or live around ASFS/Key-- which, I do not think is necessarily true and, for those who don't live in the area, seems like a slap in the face that APS is going to extraordinary lengths and spending money it doesn't have to keep the "current" ASFS community happy.  As you say, none of us are that special that we should be exempt from the changes that are coming.  I just don't understand why we are going to spend so many resources on moving schools just to lessen the pain of the boundary changes on a small subset of taxpayers. [/quote]

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