Reply to What do you expect from APS staff (option/neighborhood) on 4/30?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm new to APS, but is there a reason that if there is going to be excess capacity at Jamestown, Discovery and Nottingham, they don't just allow kids zoned for Carlin Springs to opt in as an option school?  Most of the kids in Carlin Springs already take a bus and most are FRPL.  That way the N. Arlington neighborhoods could keep their local schools, economically disadvantaged kids could have a choice of a school with better test scores, and economic disparity amongst all of the schools could be reduced?[/quote]

I think you are getting confused by the terminology. First we have option programs, which are specially-designated schools that have no neighborhood zone but instead are filled by county-wide lottery. If you get into one of those schools are not within the walk zone, you are entitled to bus transportation to school.

Then there are neighborhood transfers, which is when someone applies to have their child attend a different neighborhood school than the one to which they are assigned, provided adequate space is available at that other school. In general, if you change schools via neighborhood transfer, APS provides no transportation for you, and you have to get your child to and from school yourself.

In your scenario, Jamestown, Discovery and Nottingham would all be neighborhood schools, which means that anyone who transferred from Carlin Springs or any other neighborhood school would have to provide their own transportation. Further, since it looks like Carlin Springs is likely to become an option school site, there will no longer be a neighborhood zone for Carlin Springs. All of the families there would have to be rezoned for other neighborhood schools around them, because APS must guarantee the availability of local neighborhood seats, even if they were to decide to transfer elsewhere.[/quote]I'm not confused.  I know how options programs currently work.  I am thinking of an option outside of the two existing buckets.  The transfer system alone isn't enough to fill Jamestown, Nottingham and Discovery.  So choose a section of S Arlington that is already being bussed to an elementary school and that is mostly FRPL and give them the option to be bussed north to schools with better test scores.  By sticking with a small geographic region, bussing wont cost a fortune.  The program wouldn't be mandatory and could be run like any of the other options programs, with the same staff to manage the waiting list and lotto.  Until recently there were several option schools with a neighborhood preference.  This would just be a preference plus bussing.[/quote]

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