Reply to Where is Carlin Springs in all of this?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I heard Barcroft is in the mix because they want to nix the year round calendar, and the school has one of the highest transfer rates. Wouldn't be surprised to see them relocate immersion there. They have a ton of field space for trailers. [/quote]

They still have ten trailers there now.  
Nobody seems to have heard the SB members say they want to see the analysis after other factors are considered....like the accessibility to the site for vehicular traffic.  Barcroft is not particularly accessible for a countywide program.  And, it is also a very highly walkable school.  I don't recall hearing them say a school's calendar is one of the factors for consideration of a change to an option program.[/quote]

DP. Of course "Calendar" isn't going to be one of the considerations for identifying promising candidates for option school locations. But if they're faced with deciding between a few sites including Barcroft that all have their pros and cons, eliminating an unpopular school calendar could end up in the pro column for Barcroft. Other schools will have their own unique pros and cons.[/quote]

The calendar seems to be unpopular by people who don't even attend the school and who have not even given it a try.  I have not heard any outcry about the calendar from the families enrolled there.  That does not necessarily mean the current enrolled families will fight to the death to keep it, or that all of them care strongly one way or the other. But while a school's instructional focus may not be popular among those who don't attend it, that doesn't mean it isn't popular among those who go there.  Same with Barcroft's calendar.

And, despite the calendar, it remains a highly walkable school and many of its current students walk there now.  Follow all the other discussions about how low-income families have to have walkable neighborhood schools?  Well, Barcroft apartments is chock full of low-income families who walk to their neighborhood schools.

It may be under-enrolled now; but that doesn't mean it will remain that way when additional CAF projects are complete and boundaries are readjusted.[/quote]

What CAF's are under construction in the Barcroft walk zone? None. It will be some crazy gerrymandered boundary of they pull the Columbia Hills kids over to Barcroft. And the Barcroft Apartments are neither in Barcroft nor in the walk zone. The majority of the Barcroft Apartments are zoned to Randolph. The majority of he Barcroft walk zone does not attend Barcroft and they don't want the calendar. [/quote]

Why do the CAFs have to be in the walk zone?  The point was about enrollment.   Point is, enrollment is likely to rise with the addition of new housing within the attendance zone and with boundary shifts to alleviate overcrowding at the other schools.  And, that even with a high number of transfers (not all of which are from the walk zone, by the way), it remains a highly walkable school and many of the currently enrolled students actually walk to and from every day.  And I indicated Barcroft apartments residents walk to their neighborhood schoolS, not just to Barcroft. The broader comment was how these communities supposedly need walkable neighborhood schools.  They currently have two.  Make Barcroft an option school, and they only have one (Randolph).  Make Carlin Springs an option school, and they still have two walkable neighborhood schools.  Carlin Springs is very low on the walkability scale and has better vehicular access for cars and buses than Barcroft.  Don't see why people think Barcroft would make a good option school site - the commenter seemed to be reaching for an easy rationale for eliminating a calendar that he/she personally would like to see eliminated.  And perhaps a neighborhood program he/she doesn't believe "well serves" him/her or his/her neighborhood......[/quote]

I don't think Barcroft is a good location for an option program. But that is why I also think it's not a good location for an alternative calendar.

My point about the CAFs was that the walk zone is really not being served if the point of the calendar is that it's better for low-income families, because there is only one CAF in the walk zone. If that is the point, this is not the right school for this calendar. And yes, I think the wishes and preferences of the actual neighborhood and walk zone should matter. They seem to matter every where else in Arlington. Can you imagine the outrage if APS pulled Buckingham into the Long Branch school boundary and then told Long Branch families they were getting an alternative calendar to better serve the students? It would never happen.

The communities south of Columbia Pike, if everyone thinks everyone needs to be able to walk to school, need a walkable neighborhood school. But it's not Barcroft, because it's not considered safe for Pre-K to 5th graders to cross Columbia Pike, and for good reason. They get bus service now. Maybe they should be rezoned to Randolph? They really need a neighborhood school S of the Pike but W of George Mason. [/quote]

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