Reply to Barcroft elementary/ south Arlington crisis

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]UGH.  I swear.  I am a "middle class" white woman and live in a neighborhood zoned for Barcroft.  My kids attend another APS elementary school with similar numbers of kids on free and reduced lunch and I am embarrassed that some of my neighbors are acting this way.  Maybe those folks should move to N. Arl. where they'll fit in better.

I have never, ever felt like APS or the county does not have my "middle class" children's best interest at heart.  It actually really pisses me off that someone would say this.

I'd like for that poster to give me some concrete examples of "middle class" white kids getting the shaft and all the ways that Barcroft is struggling more than other schools.  Is it because the test scores are low?  Well, if that's the case then you don't really know anything about education.

Are kids getting hurt?  Are their social and emotional needs not being met?  Are classrooms out of control so no learning can take place?  What exactly is going on?

My husband and I support affordable housing that is done right. I'm talking about communities built by APAH and AHC. They have the support systems in place to assist their residents both young and old because they team up with partners like Greenbrier Learning Center, The Reading Connection, Doorways for Women and Families, La Cocina Virginia, etc. It's the "market rate" affordable housing that I have a problem with. There are lots of problems in those communities and no support for residents.  The kids who live in APAH and AHC communities do far better (for the most part) than those who do not.

Are there problems in APS overall?

In my opinion, there are tons.  The overcrowding is a huge problem as is the focus on test scores as is the lack of free play and recess in elementary schools.  I could go on and on.  There are huge countywide problems.  Let's not blame the kids on free and reduced lunch and their families.

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The only bit of info relative in this post is that your kids don't attend Barcroft. [b]Boy, you are very generous when it comes to the education of other people's kids[/b]. That's not a very impressive stance. This year has been very frustrating to the parents at Barcroft, and it's putting a strain on everyone. The squeaky wheel gets the grease in this county and we need to start making some noise. The above meeting isn't about affordable housing, its about it's concentration on the western end of the Pike. The county had committed to spreading it out evenly everywhere, giving lower SES families the best chance of upward mobility. They are now discussing abandoning those plans, because they were hard. Well, that is not acceptable. They are essentially creating a ghetto, and it needs to be put in check. There is a wealth of data out there about why concentrated poverty is terrible. Please do some homework. This isn't about farms kids being bad. Of course they aren't, but when there are too many special needs kids, it overwhelms the schools. 
The few lower SES children in Norh Arlington score considerably better than their same peers at Barcroft. Oh, and guess what? There is gap between the upper middle class kids too, though not as dramatic.
No, testing isn't the end all be all. We all want our kids outside playing, and engaging in hands on learning. Not gonna happen while the school is stuffed to the gills and every inch of green space has a trailer on it.
These are very real problems, and calling me a racist or a classist isn't going to make them go away. It stops the coversation, and that's truly the ignorant stance. I'm a liberal, but I live in the real world. I believe in discussing real problems, and working to find solutions that benefit everyone- not just looking for political talking points and an easy way out for the board.
- S. Arl parent [/quote]

Precisely.  One of my neighbors who was casually accusing people, who are genuinely concerned about the challenges the school is facing, of racism and complaining about the "entitled" newcomers driving around in their Mercedes admitted to me that even the 70's she sent her children to parochial school and she has "a lot of guilt" about that.  So, the school wasn't good enough for your kids, but my kids should do just fine. [/quote]

Classic case of hypocrisy and/or projection.  Arlington needs group therapy.[/quote]

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