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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Walkability is too important in a lot of Arlington.  That is why demographics came in last. [/quote]

Also, families want neighborhood schools.  One of the problems cited with Drew is that it is only a 1/3 neighborhood school and a lot of families that have resources to invest chose to transfer out.  Making schools part of the neighborhood is a good thing.[/quote]

I think this actually makes the opposite point. People don't value walkability or neighborhood schools -- they value (and I hate to use this shorthand) "high quality" schools. In north Arlington, where most of the families are high income and well educated, a neighborhood school will be full of the kind of kids other people want their kids to go to school with, so neighborhood=high quality and people support that model. Where there are high concentrations of low-income, non-English speaking kids and a lot of rentals where kids move in and out of the class all year, many families want to send their kids to better performing schools--walkability and being in the neighborhood is NOT the priority, compared to having a stronger peer group.

Tons of Nauck families have their kids in the Montessori program, and if it moves, there is no reason to think they wouldn't move with it -- they aren't going to send their kids to the regular program at Drew, because they are already making the choice not to do that. And there are lots of Nauck families who chose Hoffman-Boston (busing) over Drew (walkable). And all the people sending their kids to Claremont and ATS will of course continue to do so. Look at Abindgon--tons of people send their kids to Claremont and ATS. And so on and so forth.

If APS is going to set boundaries for neighborhood schools in a way that allows high concentrations of poor and ELL students, it has to give families choice school options. The alternative is forced busing, which no one seems to want. [/quote]

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