Reply to South Arlington elementary school boundary adjustments 2019

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]DP poster here. I chose S Arlington because of the commute to work and the idea that it seems to only be getting nicer. I didn't count on the entrenched affordable housing though. I just assumed that the schools would be getting better. And some are. It's just not as even. [/quote]

Yes, I've been here for 16 years and it took me awhile to understand the politics of affordable housing, and its disparate impact on north and south Arlington. It's an article of faith for wealthy north Arlington dems; its how they can sleep at night. I'm a liberal and I believe in integrated communities not just as a nice idea but as something that broadly produces better outcomes for all. I think north of 50 it's not a tangible, and if it was, we'd see more affordable housing there and a boundary process that valued diversity. It's laughable what was spent on HB and the new high schools only to be told that we must live with school segregation because busing students around the smallest county in America costs too much.[/quote]

The thing about busing is that no one wants their kids on the bus to the other side of the county. The county is small in miles but heavy in traffic. If you were told that your planning unit was going to be bused to Jamestown, would you be happy about that?[/quote]

I mean there are a ton of kids in my S. Arlington neighborhood that have a very long bus ride every day to ATS. So I don't think people really care about the bus ride. They care about the school. [/quote]

Actually, not true.  I am middle class and  live in S. Arlington and didn't apply to option schools for reasons related to long bus ride and logistics for extended day pickup.  This is also true for many kids who are low income and who would need extended day.  It can be very hard for their  families to come get them from extended day at a school across town.  Many of these families have every parent working 2 or more  jobs and some don't have cars.  Also, at my child's school many kids arrive 20 minutes early for breakfast.  I'm not sure how that works with buses.   [/quote]

Our bus gets kids there early enough for breakfast.

Okay, yes some people care about the bus ride, but I don't think it is every single parent (as made obvious by the 10 kids waiting for ATS in front of my house every morning). But I think folks are more inclined to complain about long bus rides if their kids are bused to a lower performing school than if they are bused to a higher performing one. [/quote]

Agreed.  Also the key is the kids getting bused to ATS all CHOSE to do that  (or their parents did) as opposed to being forced to take  a bus when there is a school 3 blocks away.   I hear what you are saying and obviously most families   would be happier to bus to a higher-performing school than a lower-performing one.  It's just sticky, because historically when busing was used to help desegregate it was chiildren of color and those with lesser resources that were forced to ride the bus.  [/quote]

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