Reply to APS: Elementary Walk Zone surveys out

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]So maybe then some of this choice schools shouldn't exist anymore. Aren't some of them a relic of a past era when Arlington needed to retain students rather than having too many? Aren't neighborhood schools what everyone wants now?[/quote]

Neighborhood schools? My sense is that it breaks down like this:

North Arlington by and large wants neighborhood schools, because they can afford to live there, high income students produce high test scores which in turn support high property values. And its a means to keep lower income students out and their lower test scores out. Sorry, it's the truth.

Old timers in Nauck - the civic association -- wants a neighborhood school because when bussing happened in the 1970s it put the burden on Nauck residents, making them bus out rather than bussing white students in. Now the neighborhood is only a third African American and that's probably including recent African immigrants, which don't have that history. Still, it's a big reason Montessori is leaving Drew and the entire reason that Drew is off the table for consideration as an option school going forward.

People who claim to speak for low income Hispanic families say they want neighborhood schools too, for cultural familiarity and convenience.

The middle and upper middle class in south Arlington (me) would like to send our kids to schools that aren't overwhelmingly poor, because common sense tells you that absent tracking, a student body that is 80% disadvantaged and needs all the help it can get will come first every time in terms of resources, classroom pacing. If that's neighborhood schools like Oakridge great. If its option schools, also great. The travel hassle is worth it. Option schools like Campbell and Claremont  (which are still 40% disadvantaged) are what keeps those families in Arlington. If one says, good riddance, go to fairfax, fine, but there's no moral difference between them and north Arlington parents. The latter are just wealthy enough to avoid such dilemmas. At least south Arlington parents are willing to live among people different than themselves.

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