Reply to Barcroft elementary/ south Arlington crisis

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Totally agree, we must have schools worthy of the great people who live in south Arlington of all socio economic backgrounds.

So, spread the word... Meet with the politicians. Let them know we count too. We all say the county does not care, if citizens start acting on the frustrations, then they WILL CARE.[/quote]

What are the politicians supposed to do? I mean, really? Elementary schools in south Arlington have, until very recently, been way less crowded than north Arlington schools and had smaller class sizes because they haven't all been at the max, but their scores are lower. The traditional program at Drew has 14 kids in a class and the lowest SOL scores in the county. They have additional staff through Title I. APS added preschool 10 years ago and continues to fund it despite the overcrowding issues. They have very low teacher ratios for kids learning English, which is a lot of the kids in several schools. Given the underlying demographics, what do people want the county to do to make the schools better? (I get that not adding more affordable housing in areas that already have a lot of it will help keep the problems from getting worse, but doesn't solve the problems with the status quo.) [/quote]

The status quo was actually improving. Many moved here because it was improving. People say, " south Arlington is cheap because it's cheap"
Well, it's not cheap anymore. People say, "'the apartments on the Pike are cheap because they are cheap" Well, the buildings that are market rate that have been built in the last 5 years are not affordable. That's the market at work. The pressure to maintain old, crumbling buildings and loans doled out to build 100 % affordable high rises comes from the board and the policies they enact. This area had been turning around, and the county won't allow it. People have remained quiet, because the class sizes were small, and it was clear gentrification was coming. Apparently the board sees it coming too and it actively trying to stop it.[/quote]

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