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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]
Anonymous wrote:
Is this good or bad for Kenmore (for the non-immersion crowd)?

[b]I think it’s a non-issue as long as it doesn’t mean they take a lot of the higher SES planning units out of the Kenmore boundary[/b] to make room for the program. I think they shouldn’t redo the Kenmore boundary by much, unless and until the new location proves itself as more desirable, necessitating more seats. I remember when they talked about moving immersion previously, and they didn’t think it required a simultaneous boundary tweak. Kenmore is still below capacity, so seems like they shouldn’t need to move many or any PUs at this time, especially since we have no idea how this will affect people’s plans for immersion in MS.[/quote]
 
Whelp buried on page 154 of the Pre-CIP report they have a draft map and they are in fact moving about 2/3rds of the planning units north of Rt. 50 to Swanson. So basically moving most of the higher SES units out.  And splitting Arlington Forest. Probably doesn't bode well for the non-immersion kids.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2023/06/Pre-CIP-Report-2024-2033-Finalv2.pdf
[/quote]

This is freaking terrible. They’re splitting up a bunch of neighborhoods and even taking the walk zone to move the program in? Or is it to “fill” the N MS more? Damn it, Kenmore has to take it on the chin for others with all those extra buses and making their disadvantaged population even more so? F*** this! Leave the current Kenmore boundary alone and move Immersion to one of the schools with space. [/quote]

Would it really kill the program to move it to WMS? That seems like the obvious solution. Move Montessori there too while they are at it. [/quote]

I don’t see why it would. And maybe there’d be a smidge more diversity, too. It’s an option, not a right. If people will travel to Gunston, I don’t see why they wouldn’t travel to WMS. And it would stop some of these large cascading boundary changes, or make them less drastic. But it’s too easy a solution. Same as why Immersion or ATS wasn’t just moved rather instead of sending all McKinley to Cardinal. [/quote]

Good point on adding more diversity to WMS, that school is lily white and could use it. Also, if Kenmore couldn't handle more buses traffic back when they considered it for a HS site, how could it take the added traffic that the immersion program will bring.

Put immersion and montessori and WMS, and that may take care of the numbers altogether, or at least it will minimize the balancing/rezoning needed. [/quote]

NP, not Immersion. But I do understand how a program gets severely harmed if you move it too far from its population. In immersion's case, they need to keep half the population Spanish native and those folks don't live near WMS and can't get there easily. Also, I know from a transportation viewpoint they like to keep options as centrallly located in county because in the end it really doesn't help cap the costs and need for busses.
Finally I have to say, someone here snarked about when will APS stop favoring options over neighborhood schools, or something like that. It's a risible comment and blatantly far from the truth - options are the red headed stepchildren in APS planning. The system will build an entirely unneeded new Neighborhood ES (Cardinal) but move the Arlington Community HS program around a half-dozen times or shove Montessori into maybe the most dilipated structure (Henry), which was so bad APS built a new ES for that community (Fleet). Immersion has a right to equal treatment under APS, because there is demand for it, and it should not get something lesser because local neighborhoods want to sacrifice it for their parochial interests. [/quote]

Hmm...you may not be immersion but you sound like Montessori. Fleet wasn't built because Henry was dilapidated. They built Fleet because Oakridge and Henry and Abingdon were overcrowded and projections were making Oakridge ludicrously over-overcrowded. Montessori WANTED out of Drew and the DREW kids NEEDED Montessori out. Montessori wanted that new school to be built for them and they still want a new school built for them.

Secondly and similarly, Cardinal was needed for capacity. Tuckahoe and McKinley had their days of severe overcrowding and McKinley got an addition. The new school was supposed to relocate an option program but (1) the neighborhood insisted it be neighborhood, of course and no surprise; and (2) Reid Goldstein stupidly - and without authority - promised them it would be.

I would hardly call option programs red-headed (or any other hair color) step-children. If they were, they'd all be shoved into the least-favored or suited locations and would be on the budget chopping block every year. If ATS is an ill-treated stepchild, put me in that family - please![/quote]

Totally agree Montessori would probably love a new school building, but like ATS, Immersion and everyone but HB they will never get one. Would any of the options not love a new school building? You're helping me prove my point that options are seen as second-class schools within the school system, only to receive leftovers from the neighborhoods, and never a new. They are seen as chess pieces to help solve "real" issues like seat capacity - but they are rarely valued on their own merit. Take your example of Drew - it took a desire by both sides to make the change. Also, someone else's here is asking aloud if this is the end of Immersion...nobody ever asks that of neighborhoods, so you can imagine how decades of having to defend your existence while watching other schools get built unnecessarily makes everyone in options assume the worst. I know this because I was on IPP task force years ago. It was eye opening. [/quote]

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