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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]So when these PUs push back can we call them racist?[/quote]
Call them whatever you want.  Who cares?  APS needs to get a backbone and just make boundaries that suit APS' needs and goals and the interests of the students.[/quote]

I think it's pretty clear that making Drew very high FRL and Abingdon a lower (but still not low, frankly) FRL school is the situation that suits APS best. Is it best for the students? There will be some whose needs aren't met, but there is an argument to be made for having a community school with wrap around social services for families at Drew like they do at Carlin Springs. That's not going to be a popular argument with the "equity" lens we are supposedly using, but it's certainly expedient. I don't know what the right answer is. [/quote]

Isn’t this proposal a pretty good idea, though, in that it sends Claremont, which is almost entirely SFHs, to Drew? They’re keeping the APAH property at Abingdon, along with Fairlington. Am I missing something? At worst, the kids don’t ever materialize at Drew and all go option or private, but that still solves the capacity problem for Abingdon without exacerbating the poverty at Drew.[/quote]

They conveniently leave the FRL rate out of the proposal info. They gave us K-3 demographics and EL status. At 68% English learner and 75% non-white (which is somewhat correlated to income in Arlington) it's not looking like a particularly affluent bunch. https://www.apsva.us/engage/fall-2021-boundary-process-abingdon-drew/

[img]https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Abingdon-PU-Table-1-Race-768x373.jpg[/img]
[img]https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Abingdon-PU-Table-2-EL-1024x313.jpg[/img][/quote]

Only 65 students? If none of those kids opt out, Drew will still be only at 73% capacity.

There’s really only one way to fill Drew. And that is to zone one or more large CAF developments to Drew - either Columbia Grove (Abington) or the Apex (Oakridge). And that is exactly what will happen the next time those schools get crowded. Neither development is in a walk zone and it will be politically very easy. Overcrowding will be the excuse they need. What a shame.[/quote]

Following up on my earlier post with some data points, I would point out that according to the planning unit data APS has posted on the boundaries information page, the Apex has 142 students (40 more than were predicted prior to its opening), and that Columbia Grove isn’t listed on the data table. Not sure why it has been omitted, but it’s got at least as many kids as the Apex. Both developments are just outside of the proposed boundary for Drew, and not in a walk zone. Oakridge and Abingdon are at 93 and 98 percent capacity, and moving 65 students isn’t going to change that much. In the near future, it’ll be necessary to actually fill Drew past 70 percent. I don’t see a way to do it that doesn’t involve moving at least one of those two buildings to a school that is significantly more disadvantaged school — either Drew, Randolph or Barcroft. Those schools are all in the 70 percent FRL range. Oakridge and Abingdon are much lower and will go lower still if and when those developments are moved. This is why I save my ire for the Arlington County Board. Housing policy is school policy, and the county board members see absolutely nothing wrong with encouraging segregated housing. They care only about the numbers: where can the most be built the cheapest. APS planners have the thankless and impossible job of trying to make schools less segregated than the neighborhoods these children live in. [/quote]

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