Reply to APS DHMS walk zone nuclear option

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Why don’t they just let the Hamm walk zone stay at Hamm and bus everyone else to Williamsburg?  Wouldn’t this keep everyone happy? [/quote]Yes.  And it's consistent with APS diversity goals.  [/quote]

I don’t see how recreating the Rosslyn Island to Williamsburg is fine but moving immersion to Williamsburg is a nonstarter. It’s the exact same issues. [/quote]

No, it's not. Immersion is a countywide program and you need to get students to Williamsburg from all over the County. Rosslyn island to Williamsburg is just a few buses of kids from the NE quadrant to the NW quadrant. Also, those Rosslyn students would be assigned to WMS; whereas immersion students have to choose to continue in the program and many have a far more convenient default and therefore more likely to opt-out....defeating the purpose (alleviating crowding in south Arlington) of moving the program.[/quote]

Immersion runs busses all over the county no matter where it’s located. Also, why should we care that immersion students have to choose between an inconvenient special program and a more convenient neighborhood option? It’s optional! We should be prioritizing the default. It’s not like Gunston is convenient for people who live near Rosslyn and Courthouse but according to the map they still attend. Williamsburg is projected to be at 65% in a few years. We could just move immersion there and be done without adding bus runs for walk zone kids or creating islands. [/quote]

OK. Go ahead with that plan and see how it works. I'll put my money down on "it isn't going to play out the way you think it will."[/quote]

Yes, we already heard this. “Moving Key will kill the school. Families won’t be willing to travel to a new location.”

And yet. 92% of the students moved to the new location. Of the 49 that didn’t, 20 moved out of the county entirely. If the program is truly strong and valuable, people will follow it. 
[/quote]

It’s not just about current families moving to a new location.  It’s about needing native Spanish speakers for the model to work moving forward.  Been to Williamsburg lately?  How do you think that will work out?

For those of you rabid to put a stop to any change, this idea isn’t it.[/quote]

If Spanish speakers don’t want to enroll their children in Immersion, moving to closer won’t work either. I have heard exactly 0 parents IRL say the reason they don’t want Immersion is location. And even telling them that their children’s outcomes will be better isn’t doing the trick. Maybe they don’t want the program? And it’s a bit patronizing to try to make them want it because it’s for their own good.

Option programs need to go where there is space and that’s that. The rest of the county shouldn’t be shuffled around and disrupted for an OPTIONAL program. [/quote]

Hard disagree. What works best for any school also should be a top consideration. Options are just as real schools as neighborhood, no less. [/quote]

They moved around the ES to make space for neighborhood students, and it didn’t destroy any programs. Maybe made them less convenient, but I don’t think the convenience for kids in optional programs should be prioritized over, for instance, furthering the demographic disparity at Kenmore, and I say this as an option parent. [/quote]

DP. I don't think the convenience of any kids should be prioritized over demographic diversity in all of our schools. [/quote]

+1000.  And at a minimum those option schools should have spots allowed for a more representative portion of students receiving Free and Reduced Lunch. The HB Woodlawn stats are pitiful.  If they supposedly can’t work it out for the neighborhood schools, they must do it for the lottery schools.  Their diversity priority is a joke.[/quote]

I don't think you have a very good grasp of the legalities involved here. [/quote]

APS’s own policy requires them to consider demographics when creating school boundaries.  This isn’t illegal.[/quote]

That's very different from admissions to choice schools.[/quote]

What specifically do you think is illegal? APS used to allow neighborhood kids a preference at certain option schools.  It hasn’t always been a straight lottery.  I don’t think it’s as cut and dry as you think.[/quote]

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