Reply to South Arlington elementary school boundary adjustments 2019

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[quote=Anonymous]I agree that's the likely outcome (more economic segregation). But I think APS's "walkability" criteria it will actually put it under pressure to do some gerrymandering with the Drew/Oakridge boudaries, the optics of which would be pretty bad: bussing in lower-income students to school with an already high FARMs rate.

All of the Oakridge boundary closest to Drew (Arna Valley, Long Branch Creek) is within Oakridge's walk zone, and is not walkable to Drew because 395 is in the way. It seems to me that if walkability is the actual priority, under no circumstances would Arna Valley or Long Branch Creek be under consideration for being moved to Drew.

That means to relieve overcrowding at Oakridge and help fill Drew one of two things, or maybe both needs to happen:

1. Dip into the well-to-do parts of Aurora Highlands and Crystal City that are not in Oakridge's walk zone. I think these neighborhoods would raise a fuss and it would potentially create an "island" of students, which is a lower priority no-no.
2. Extend Drew's boundary in a long narrow strip along South Glebe Rd, out to the water treatment plant, which is predominantly low income and rentals, like the Berkeley apartments across from the Giant.

My money is on #2.

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The south Arlington working group said that economic diversity was going to be a top priority for redrawing boundaries. 
I don’t see how Henry ends up pulling their weight. It seems their Farm’s numbers will go down, but they should be taking in more. [/quote]

Look, the current Henry families, even those who live outside the new walk zone, are going to fight to stay there just like what happened with MS and HS boundaries. Except that this isn't just a small boundary adjustment. South Arlington has a school that needs to be filled entirely. Some PU's have to be pulled in to make that happen. We already know they're moving the South Arlington PU's at Long Branch to Fleet. The question is how many kids that is and who has to be moved out of Fleet to make space? Based on feedback from the last few adjustments, Staff is going to recommend that neighborhood cohesion, walk zone, and alignment be the prevailing considerations. Not diversity. If you're the odd PU in your neighborhood assigned to a more desirable school, prepare to be rezoned. [/quote]

Again.
The south Arlington working group has stated that economic diversity will be a top priority. This isn’t about  north Arlington priorities. This is about south Arlington. [b]The last 2 go arounds we’re not about south Arlington.[/quote][/b]

Except they were. Neighborhood Middle and Hish schools with higher poverty levels got higher; those with lower poverty levels got even lower. You think this time will be different? No. The working group is disbanded. They were only tasked with siting the school. It doesn't matter what they put in their report that APS buried. Short of some complete reversal of priorities, APS staff will be recommending boundaries that reinforce housing segregation in the name of proximity, efficiency, alignment, whatever and the SB will vote to approve. The ES boundaries are now countywide and not just about S Arlington. Are you surprised? You haven't lived here long enough. They're probably going to move the options programs further from poor families, too. They can ride the Streetcar to them if they really want. Oh, wait. [/quote][/quote]

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