Reply to South Arlington elementary school boundary adjustments 2019

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I just wanted to say I don’t think because S Arlington is not always represented on this website that people don’t care. My S Arlington neighborhood is filled with MC and IMC. We care. Yes we are busy but don’t let haters tell you we must not care about are kids if we don’t live in N Arlington. In fact, I care about my kids and myself that’s why we chose S Arlington got the down to earth vibe and commute. We are zoned Henry Jefferson/ Fleet Jefferson. I do admit to a slight concern about high school..., but in the 8 years I’ve lived on he South side our neighborhood has changed a lot. Do I am waiting to see on high school. I also think the bds enrollment numbers are way off and 2020/21 is going to be a crazy year for kindergarten [/quote]

No one thinks anything negative about Henry. It’s on par with the performance of the north Arlington Schools. These discussions are really about Randolph, Barcroft, Drew, and Carlin Springs.[/quote]

But why does Barcroft appear to be so bad? We live just across Glebe and the houses are just as nice.

Agree that 2020 is going to be nuts in S Arl.[/quote]

Barcroft has multiple projects zoned to it. Across the street has a lower number of crappy apts. it’s pretty simple.[/quote]

So really it's Buchanan Gardens we should be angry at? Fillmore Apts always seemed nice.[/quote]

It’s not about being angry with the apartments, is about holding people accountable for piss poor public policy.[/quote]

So I think there has to be more to this story of what happened to Barcroft and why their test scores have fallen in recent years. I mean, there are multiple schools with equivalent or even higher levels of poverty that have been doing better for every demographic. What is the particular issue at this school? Was it the former principal? Are there a higher number of SpEd students who don't test well? Ineffective teachers? What? Some other thing we don't know about? Because something is or was going on.

I still contend their year round calendar is a big negative for a lot of families living in the SFH who might have considered the school. I know a few who are at other Title 1 schools as transfers, so I have no reason to think they would not have enrolled at their neighborhood Title 1 school if the calendar hadn't presented an issue.

This neighborhood has houses that range from about $700,000 to $1.3 million. If even half of the kids from these houses went to Barcroft the school would be far more economically diverse and have more parental support. But it's asking for a lot of faith from them when the recent history has been so negative. [/quote]

Long time area resident here with kids in a different school  "(don't live in Barcroft boundary).  Please remember that the scores shown in great school etc. are still from 2016---there is a big lag.  Brief history as I understand it (take this with a grain of salt):

-School was starting to get a lot of neighborhood buy-in and had a long time (and I believe popular and successful principal) 
-Arlington Mill opened in the middle of a school year.  While it was being built it was unclear if the families there would be districted to Barcroft or Carlin Springs
-There was a pretty large influx mid-year of kids from Arlington Mill.  This was hard for the administration.  Lots of changes for kids and class sizes and teachers.  APAH has said they are going to handle things differently in terms of working with APS and when they open up to renters.
-At this time everything was coming together with Gilliam Place, also in the Barcoft boundary.
-People started getting angry and frustrated on all sides.  CARD became active. 
-Some  (or possibly many--I'm not sure) of the families with current students and older students began moving or applying for transfers or switching to private. 
-People began to actively post to this board and others complaining about all of the poor, non-English speaking kids
-Long-time principal retired
-More families lost confidence.  People talked. 
-New principal came in.  She wasn't that great.  Everything above continued to spiral. 
-during all of this time SFH prices in Barcroft continued, in general, to rise and more and more families were spending 900k to $1 million on houses.  They were unfamiliar with history and only heard recent stories.  Parents of toddlers scared away by people who had left (valid) or who had never even considered   (not valid) the school.  
-As more middle class families left, test scores seemed  worse.

I am not sure if Randolph and Barcroft and Carlin Springs saw a small uptick of enrollment from unaccompanied minors a few years ago, but it's possible that they did and a big influx of additional brand new English language learners could have turned more parents off (it wouldn't affect scores if they were brand new).

Can't speak to the year-round schedule at Barcroft.

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