Reply to Discussion Boundary Map out for APS- elementary schools

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The problem with the option school parents- those that say things like 'moving ATS north would be inequitable' and 'you don't understand immersion- we have to stay in Courthouse'- is that they generally think of themselves as 'better' more diverse people than the rest of us plebes at neighborhood schools.  They are for the most part social justice minded.  Thus, they can't admit even to themselves that they are really promoting their own interests in their current locations- so they come up with specious arguments like the above, then get a lot of validation of the arguments from other option school parents.  The reasoning does sound good at first- but when you probe it you realize both that it is not really true, or doesn't hold up to competing reasoning.
e.g. some version of options schools have to be centrally located to be accessible to everyone.  That's great in theory- and if we had a multitude of centrally located school sites I don't think anyone would object.  But surely you can't think it is more 'equitable' to keep ATS centrally located, and bus kids who are currently west of the Pike past 1) Campbell; 2) Carlin Springs; 3)Ashlawn;4) ATS; 5)Barrett- all the way to McKinley so as to keep the option schools centrally located?

Or alternatively- surely APS can do a better job of finding school sites that are centrally located.  I have a pipe dream of building another school on top of Key- pursue that at the cost of a bizillian dollars and several additional years of suffocating overcrowding rather than making me leave the Key school site.

Obviously, this self interest disguised as others interest is not limited to option school parents- see the flip out in Westover over the map as the Westover residents realize that they are going to have to use the Reed school site for kids other than their own.[/quote]

I am not a choice school parent; but I wholeheartedly agree with thoughtful placement of choice programs to ensure as reasonable accessibility by as many students as possible.  That is not a self-interest argument.  The Key community is just another community that doesn't want its school moved - like everyone else at all the neighborhood schools.

There's a big difference between placing an option program like ATS at McKinley, for example, and placing it at Nottingham.  Part of the complaint from immersion middle school parents is how distant Gunston MS is at the southern border.  Those are the parents who would love to see MS immersion at Williamsburg.  
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