Reply to Another choice school in N Arlington?

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Reply to "Another choice school in N Arlington?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

I wrote the post about the different reasons a south Arlington child would benefit from being placed at ATS. I don't know about deep shame, but they should at least take a moment to [b]recognize that their privledged child has taken the place of child who has little resources and options[/b]. Even if all Arlington schools are good, we know there is a difference. That's why there is such extreme over crowding in certain zipcodes. Your child will not suffer from being taught in a trailer, or switching elementary school buildings at some point.[b] A disadvantaged child will suffer from not being exposed to a strong peer group.[/b] Plenty of research supports that. Certainly, not all of ATS can or should be poor. It needs a blend, but[b] if an affluent parent is considering the program, it should really be about what their family could bring to that program, not the other way around[/b].[/quote]

Does this include affluent parents in south Arlington?

Someone needs to provide the "strong peer group."  And that strong peer group is a necessary part of the equation, so who is taking what from whom?[/quote]

Yes. One important reason for the existence of choice schools is (or should be) to draw more advantaged children to schools that would otherwise be filled with disadvantaged children. ATS fails to meet this standard.[/quote]

But ATS is moving in the right direction, and will have greater SES diversity and will be more diverse than nearly every neighborhood school in north Arlington when the second VPI classroom opens up. Can we at least recognize and applaud that? And it's clear to me, just from reading this thread, that diversity for diversity's sake is a worthy goal. So many misconceptions and prejudices abound, on every side. Want to know how we end that? By desegregating our schools and neighborhoods. Everyone has something of value to contribute to our community, but our kids won't ever come to understand that if they grow up and are educated in segregated environments. Want to foster mistrust and intolerance and bigotry? Then by all means, let's keep plodding down the same path we're on.

I say this as someone who is perfectly happy with our Title 1 school in south Arlington that is probably not considered a top performing school by most. [/quote]

The additional VPI classroom is a wonderful change. I would also like to add that Patrick Henry in south Arlington is Approx 50% Farms and they are doing fantastic. ATS does need to have a majority of upper middle class kids to be a success. [/quote]

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