Reply to Discussion Boundary Map out for APS- elementary schools

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Full disclosure:  I think option schools should go away.  I feel like they are a relic of the past and don't make sense with our current enrollment issues.

I don't think option schools should ever get new buildings (I'm looking at you, HB).  They should be the ones that rely on older facilities and trailers b/c the families who send their kids there had a choice.

IF we have to have option schools, they should also be in areas with the lowest enrollment, assuming there are other schools nearby that can pick up the slack.  Building capacity matters, but total student body size has a significant impact on the school.  Since neighborhood schools can't turn people away, they should, unfortunately, be the ones with greatest capacity (all those 700+ seat schools).

Again, I think option schools should go away, but I realize that argument is never going to get me anywhere.  [/quote]

+1 I'm with you actually. Option schools are a relic of APS being a rich system. They are a luxury good. The only benefit I see to them is helping to spread demographics, but they would need to be done intentionally, which it's not. Right now they are mainly an escape valve for parents to avoid certain schools -- both schools that are too rich and schools that are too poor.

I think we need to start at the middle school level and create balanced schools with good demographics. Then we create feeder patterns of elem. schools into those middle schools. You can't get each elem. school balanced, but we can try to do somewhat better. Then we give the poorer schools extra resources. At the same time, we pay a lot of attention to county housing policies and put a stop to building affordable housing in the areas that already have poor schools. That's the best solution I can think of, and it doesn't matter, because we still won't do anything.[/quote]

Let me guess; you’re zoned one of the handful of integrated neighborhood schools. Not too rich, not too poor. Good for you. Too bad you would deny everyone that “luxury”. [/quote]

Right. Because it's worth it to have option schools that we can no longer afford, that mess up all the neighborhood boundaries with all the high opt out rates, that increase our transportation costs, and that in many ways mask our underlying problems or let people ignore them, so that the most motivated parents who know how to play the system, can buy a house in a neighborhood where they wouldn't want their kid to go to school.

It's nice that ATS is a nice mix, but what is the cost to Drew, Randolph, Barcroft of letting many of the UMC opt out of those schools?

But like I said it doesn't matter because APS doesn't care about any of this.[/quote]

You seem to be under the impression that absent option schools, UMC families would be “forced” to attend high poverty schools that are organized around providing social services and would therefore balance the poverty rate. The reality is that all schools are choice schools and many people will move or go private if the option schools weren’t around anymore. Just look at Alexandria if you doubt me.[/quote]

+1 I'm shaking my head at the twisted logic some of these anti-option school posters are using. [/quote]

That’s because it’s not logic, it’s just punitive, spiteful blathering. It goes like this: “these tricky UMC cheaters, they’re buying houses at a discount in neighborhoods we wouldn’t visit, and getting better (option) schools than they deserve. We paid more for our house in a “better” zone; so deserve the better school we “paid” for.” [/quote]

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