Reply to the Key/ASFS building switch...

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[quote=Anonymous][quote]Until then, this is all we definitively know: 
1. ASFS was 83% made up of kids from the Key/ASFS zone last year, and by 2020 or 2021 will be over 95% kids from the key/asfs zone. You can determine this by looking at the transfer reports, they don't have the exact numbers of students for the 2018-2019 school year which is why they used the 2017-2018 transfers numbers. The kids from the ASFS/Key zone are a different demographic than the area around ASFS by pretty much every measure. They live in apartments versus single family homes, they are mostly working families, and they don't all live in Lyon Village, and a significant number of them rely on public transit for commuting and do not regularly drive. 
2. APS could not figure out a way to draw boundaries around ASFS that would allow a majority of those kids to stay at ASFS without the school being incredibly over crowded. The planning units that would be the most likely to be re-zoned were the ones that had the highest farms rates, or the ones made up of actual current walkers to the school. Conversely, they have been talking for years about how they have trouble attracting native spanish speakers to apply to the immersion program at key, since the majority of the neighborhood does not choose it (even when they had neighborhood preference) and there is not a large concentration of native spanish speakers nearby. 
3. The school board mostly agreed with APS and requested that they make a direct announcement in hopes that they would lessen debate and angst. The school board was given two options for presenting this, they went with the most open and direct communication (as opposed to having them be options during the boundary revision). Postponing making key into a neighborhood school until 2020 or 2021 gives them time to figure out if there needs to be two neighborhood schools in the area, or if there is a better place for the immersion program. 
4. [i][b]The main concern both APS and the school board has is that the immersion program is too large for the current ASFS building. There were questions about how to build the building out as quickly as possible. Its interesting that building out asfs when it was a neighborhood school was never really discussed, but its being seriously considered since the building may house an option program. I think this speaks volumes to the commitment that APS has to maintaining the immersion program.[/b][/i] 
5. Most of the "Keep key on key" arguments were debunked by the memos they published. The swap was not recommended because lyon village is rich, but more because they didn't want to disrupt 3 other communities (that had apparently written in saying that they didn't want to move). There are only at most 13 native spanish speakers that are not provided bus service to key. The people who would most hurt from keeping the immersion program on key are the poorest kids in that neighborhood since the affordable housing planning units were the ones most likely to move. The only pocket of remotely walkable spanish speakers to key are in Woodbury park, which are currently bused and the added distance to asfs only adds 2 minutes to their bus ride. That planning unit is also within a mile walk of asfs, so parents would still be able to walk to school events if needed. 
6. Both the key and asfs buildings are really old and not particularly desirable compared to discovery or fleet, or even long branch or taylor. ASFS has a dirt field that's about to be converted to artificial turf and sits on 66. The "fancy lab" isn't really any nicer than the art room -- I'm not really sure what money was spent on there, but it sure doesn't look like it cost that much. Key has quite a few classrooms without any windows. This entire thing just centers around where the buildings are located, nothing more.[/quote]

Interesting that they are considering expanding the ASFS building.  This is the first I've heard that.  They completely renovated the building less than 15 years ago, so I'm surprised to hear that its a bit of dump.[/quote]

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