Reply to ASFS Boundary Change -- Any insight

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Slightly OT, but can someone explain the origin of the team concept (Taylor, Jamestown, ASFS etc.) that is now being dismantled? What was it supposed to accomplish?[/quote]

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, when the team was created, APS was not overcrowded.  So when ASFS (and Key?) opened, the thought was that students within the four schools' boundaries could attend any of the schools as a way to populate ASFS and Key. Once all the team students were accommodated, any student from anywhere in Arlington could attend ASFS or Key.  And it was thought that Key boundary students would also enroll at Taylor or Jamestown if they did not want Spanish immersion.  But as it turned out, the Key students who didn't want immersion pretty much all enrolled in ASFS instead, and as ASFS's reputation grew and as the student population increased, it just became much more difficult for a Taylor or Jamestown student to "win" the lottery to attend ASFS.  So essentially, the team concept no longer functioned as envisioned.
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Thank you! That makes sense. It now just looks like the richest of the rich giving themselves more options/flexibility, so it's good to hear that wasn't the genesis of it.[/quote]

Np.  Choice between Key or ASFS because you can't compel someone to choose immersion.  No idea how the others schools got added into the mix.[/quote]

15:19 again.  Here is one reason the other schools were added to the mix:

Before ASFS moved into its building roughly 22 years ago, ATS briefly occupied it.  But before then, the building housed Page Elementary School for many years and was the ES for Cherrydale, parts of Lyon Village and I don't know what other neighborhoods.  I also don't know exactly when or why Page closed as an ES (maybe the 4 school team concept was already in the works?) but as a consequence, all of of the Page boundary lost their neighborhood ES and most were then shifted to Taylor.

Another consequence of Page closing as a neighborhood ES was that Taylor reached capacity and became overcrowded - not by today's APS standards, but nevertheless, it  became a concern because it had to absorb many of the former Page boundary students.  Meanwhile, Jamestown was also at capacity (obviously this was before Discovery was built). So when the team was created, Taylor and Jamestown were included as a way to help relieve capacity pressures at those two schools.

While it is true that at the time the team was created, Key was given automatic admission to ASFS due to the immersion issue, the school planners thought that many Key boundary families would also choose Taylor or Jamestown if they did not want a science focus either but rather just a "normal" ES.  That didn't happen.

So when ASFS's boundaries are redrawn and some Taylor planning units near it are shifted to ASFS, really part of what the SB will be doing is returning those planning units to their former neighborhood elementary school.  Kind of like with Stratford becoming a neighborhood middle school again.[/quote]

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