Reply to Who said there isn't a North-South divide?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]That's right. Every generation of SA parents have to learn this lesson. You always think it is on the verge of turning around. And in the meantime, your kids are stuck in these schools. [/quote]

To be fair it happened to Hoffman Boston. You just have to understand it’s not because of who moved in, it’s because of who moved out. I think UMC can make a difference AFTER there has been a meaningful shift around the 50% farms mark. So all these poster clutching their pearls at moving the frl rate of all elementary schools at or below 50% should relax. I believe all schools would benefit from more umc buy in from that, moving the needle further in the right direction.[/quote]

All schools would benefit, sure.  But you won't see drastic turnarounds or 180-perception changes from the outside community that still looks at those stats - [b]until those test scores top their own school's scores.[/b]  One thing to remember about Hoffman Boston is how small the enrollment is.  High poverty schools do better when they are small, which was one of the legitimate bases of complaints from some members of the Barcroft community when they were facing an addition to bring the school to 750 students.  Highly unlikely the additional 200 (at the time) students were going to all be wealthy and fluent English speakers.

The real turnarounds are Oakridge and Henry.  They have both the academic record and the public perception of high quality schools.  That happened because of commitment and buy-in of families and leadership; but also corresponded to their decreasing FRL% rates - and not at 50%, rather as they approached 40% and lower.  Abingdon is around 50% and is a fine school.  But it does not have the reputation and recognition of Oakridge or Henry.  And it's quite clear how people here feel about Barcroft, Randolph, and Carlin Springs at 60% and higher.  Interestingly, Barrett never gets ragged on and its FRL is now higher than Barcroft's.  But I still don't hear anyone angling to be redistricted to Barrett.[/quote]

At least this gets to the heart of it. Most people aren’t willing to see their school
Slide backwards even a tiny bit. If they paid for a GS 8, they will be damned before they see it slip to a 6, even if only for a couple of years. Not even amongst parents in south Arlington, who claim they care about integrated schools.[/quote]

To be honest, I don't think they should be willing to slide backwards; but I dearly hope they aren't willing to put up with continuing slipping FRL rates.  They've worked hard and have made it.  There's no reason people living in the south shouldn't get to enjoy top schools, too.  And I wouldn't blame them if they were willing to but fear that it won't just last a few years - what basis do you have to think it would be temporary, let alone so short-lived temporary?

There's a delicate balance.  Even the federal program policies reflect 40% as that tipping point because that's what it takes to qualify as a Title I school.  It's not purely random.  All the more reason that purposely making 8 neighborhood schools 50% isn't right.[/quote]

In APS, they only allocate full Title 1 funds to schools at or above 60% fr/l. Henry lost its Title 1 status before it dipped to under 40% fr/l. And they were scoring well before then, too.

To the previous points about option school locations, yes, yes, and yes! They need to game out any potential relocations and see what the implications for altering fr/l at neighboring schools would be. But it's not going to be a silver bullet. I've spent a fair amount of time looking at the possibilities, and there's no scenario where this magically results in every school at the countywide average and no school increasing over 40% fr/l. Its just not possible with the geography. To the point about option school admission policies, I believe they have done that already. There are VPI classrooms in every option school, and the fr/l level is within 10% of the countywide average except for Montessori (they need to remove the financial barrier to enter at the 3 year-old-level if they want to have any fr/l qualified kids in that program; it needs to be free for them and they should increase the sliding scale at the top end to make up the difference). [/quote]

Re:option schools. I think within 10% isn’t going to be good enough. The choice schools need to ( at more minimum) reflect the county average of ED students.[/quote]

But the Title I program recognizes 40% as a significant point at which extra resources from a federal program are needed.

If you re-do boundaries systemwide, you can incorporate north arlington schools in ways to help move the ED populations across schools without SA having to shoulder the entire responsibility for SED.  In combination with effective locations for choice programs, you can move boundaries up and over.  People are gonna have to move, that's all there is to it.  Schools are close together and crowded everywhere.

VPI policies allowing students to continue on at the school, regardless whether it is a choice or neighborhood (have they extended that to neighborhoods or is it just for choice?) is only one small drop in the admissions policy toolbox.  Seat set-asides of 25-30% in all option programs, including HB, can be much more impactful.  Outreach, awareness, and locations of programs will help ensure those seats are filled.  Montessori needs to ensure it aligns with the 2/3 ED of the program pedagogy.  It has not - and I believe, the Montessori definition does not align with FRL eligibility criteria and therefore can meet a 2/3 ED quota with families that have higher incomes than FRL eligible families.

Every school does not need to reflect the county average.  Steel bullets are a huge improvement, don't have to be silver.  [/quote]

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