Reply to Can we spreadload FRL% across APS? Arlington / Education Newbie here

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Reply to "Can we spreadload FRL% across APS? Arlington / Education Newbie here"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It's not going to happen. Everyone is ok with the status quo except for the people who bought SFHs zoned to Drew, Barcroft, Randolph, or Carlin Springs and didn't get into an option school. [/quote]

This is the shortest, best answer to the original question. Arlington has always been dividing between a wealthy, mostly white North in which nearly every neighborhood had discriminatory real estate covenants, and a blue collar, more diverse South. The South is bifurcating. It’s both gentrifying but huge committed affordable housing complexes are concentrating poverty ina a handful of schools at their highest levels ever. These developments are mostly built in South Arlington because land is cheaper and lacks the organized resistance of North Arlington.

Another thing to know is that South Arlington is not half of the county, it’s about a third. Historically, it’s had almost no clout; for the first 50 years of its history, there weren’t many, if any board members from SA. That’s how we got all the good stuff, like the water treatment plant and no Metro. Even now that there are members from SA, they are elected by NA. That’s where the votes are. There’s just more people there and more of them are eligible to vote. And they are wealthier, so more likely to have resources and be engaged in politics. The south is less well off, has fewer resources, fewer people, and more ineligible voters (immigrants).

Which brings us back to the quoted comment. The local Dems DGAF about pursuing segregationist housing policy. They think they are on the side of the angels and anyway, they key to their staying in power is to not piss off the north Arlington majority. Showing any deference to SA on school demographics would do that. It’s been true forever, but the early 90s attempt to address the issue crashed and burned after a year of effort. Same old story: white north Arlington parents wouldn’t accept more poor kids. What emerged was the current grand bargain: the local dems build affordable housing, but only in SA. That lets them sleep at night and feel clean in their cozy NA enclaves. Option schools are offered to placate the SA middle class (and a significant number of actual NA liberals who don’t want to be hypocrites when it comes to diversity, classism, antiracism.) but, there’s not enough option school slots to totally suppress the issue, so it comes up now and then. That’s why a previous poster assumed you were SA and zoned to a high poverty school.[/quote]

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