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][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Oh look. We should have done a Rosslyn MS after all. [/quote]
+1[/quote]

Why do people keep talking about a Rosslyn middle school?  How would have helped this situation?  Truly don’t understand the point. [/quote]

Not sure because the kids who live near Hamm would have been bused there, so I am not sure how that would have been better for them than busing to WMS. Some ppl just like to complain. And also they don't get it. [/quote]

The PP who say we should have built at Rosslyn are NOT current Hamm/Taylor parents, that was clear from other parts of the post.

I just don’t see why anyone is lamenting that option, unless they mean abolish HBW so that middle schools would have more capacity (1100 sear Hamm, 1100 seat Heights), but no Taylor/Hamm parent would consider that?  So really confused who is advocating for Rosslyn?[/quote]

One take away I have from the Rosslyn point is that APS staff planners are really terrible.  How could they locate a “neighborhood”  MS so far away from the needed seats?  That is, they justified spending millions on building DHMS as a neighborhood school and just in a heartbeat APS is now saying, woops, we don’t need those seats there.

Same argument re: Cardinal/closing Nottingham.

Bottom line for me is they are wholly incompetent and so parents should fight for what they want.  This is not a do what’s best for the system when it’s comes to your own children/family.  And that’s Ok.  [/quote]

They need seats in S Arlington, so neither site was a fix[/quote]
 
Right, we get it.  But, the argument is the Rosslyn is a heck of a lot closer to where the needed seats are than the leafy SFH neighborhood off Lorcom.  It’s moot, though, because APS made its bed and now it has to lie in it. [/quote]

Rosslyn is closer to Gunston than DHMS?[/quote]

More or less, but it depends where the population distribution is within the Gunston/Kenmore /Jefferson zones.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2023/04/Map_Middle_School_2022_23-1.pdf

Probably what should have been done is to expand HBW when they had the new site.  If they had expanded to the 1100 seats as originally planned for a neighborhood school, HBW would have provided 150 more middle school seats and 250 more high school seats.  As an option program, anyone who didn't like the facilities would be welcome to head back to their home school.

I know HBW claims "small school" is part of its pedagogy, but that's a luxury we can ill afford in our urban out of space district.  I thought it was supposed to be about independence and self direction?
[/quote]

Independence and self direction don't work in a huge school. [/quote]

Why in the world not?  That’s essentially college. [/quote]

Adults go to college. Children in middle and high school go to HB. See the difference? [/quote]

How convenient that HB pedagogy is need a small school. [/quote]

HB used to be used as an outlet for specific kinds of kids, identified by teachers and parents — but mostly teachers when parents weren’t so involved.  It worked as an amazing outlet for kids who were really smart but struggled in a traditional classroom setting.  And the students were sort of similar in the respect — lot of dsylexia, pot smoking, artsy types.

Unfortunately, it also meant it was really really white.  And rightly APS fixed that with the lottery system. The result though is that it’s not a “type” of kid who gets sent there anymore, just parents who think smaller is better (which in education it often is).  Meaning that a consistent pedagogy is really not realistic with a bunch of random HS kids with different expectations/needs/abilities.  I can’t believe we still let it happen in light of the sheer numbers at the other HS. [/quote]

The lottery has been around for years. Before that it was first come first served which resulted in parents queuing several days in the early 1990s  to get their kids on the list. That is why they introduced the lottery. There are some kids who might be placed there for special reasons, but that is not the majority.[/quote]

Agreed about timeline.  Are you disagreeing with what I said?  Or do you just not know back that far?

I’m very curious about the kids “placed there for special reasons.”  New idea to me that there is a lottery workaround.  Fascinating, please explosive.   [/quote]

DP. Not sure if you're alleging some kind of conspiracy, but I believe APS admins always have reserved the right - nay, duty - to place a short list of kids wherever, whenever. You can imagine all kinds of scenarios: families break up, there was a bully situation, etc., and Johnny needs a new school ASAP. Which one is bet fit? Blah, blah. As you can tell I absolutely they can and should use that power. Yes, it needs to be done free from favor or bias, but I am counting on APS managers to do their jobs and this is part of it. [/quote]

Hahaha, the private school like highly coveted lottery school just happens to be the best fit and Johnny has bullies at the FIVE other middle schools?  I can't imagine any scenario where  family break up necessitates placing at the lottery school -- is the theory that the dad cheated on the mom with principles from the five other middle schools?

But we know its actually a kickback situation, but nice "scenarios"[/quote]

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