Reply to Discussion Boundary Map out for APS- elementary schools

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]People prefer to have their kids as close to home as possible because it makes life easier, especially since there are no aftercare opportunities available in most neighborhoods other than APS extended day. When you move kids to more distant schools in a congested county, you are adding a significant round trip commute to the day in the race for a 6pm pickup. To the person who will helpfully point out that school is not childcare and kids can ride the bus, you are essentially telling people to just hire a part time nanny or quit their job if they can't handle the logistics, which is a "let them eat cake" kind of solution. [/quote]

I've often wondered about this notion that sending kids to a slightly further afield school makes it hard for working parents to get to extended day pick up by 6 p.m.  Aren't most parents picking up from extended day coming from work rather than home?  If that's the case, the "further afield" school may be no less convenient to get to than the closest neighborhood school.  Note that I'm not talking about a county wide busing program here where kids from far south Arlington are sent to schools in the furthest reaches of north Arlington.  I'm talking about kids riding a bus to a school 2.5 miles away rather than one 1.5 miles away.  I grant that the drive from school to home, after extended day, would be a little bit longer.  But should that marginal inconvenience really be an important factor in redrawing boundaries?  I think not.  Full disclosure, though, I am an option school parent.  So perhaps I automatically discount small inconveniences in school transportation.  [/quote]

Moving kids one mile further away by car isn't going to do a heck of a lot for socioeconomic diversity in our schools.  If you want to make a meaningful difference, you're looking at differentials of more like 4+ miles in many cases, which can easily be 25+ minutes by car in rush hour, and over an hour if you take mass transit.

You're an option school parent because the additional distance isn't a meaningful burden for you for whatever reason.  Many people don't even apply for option schools because the burden is more than they can manage.[/quote]

PP again, to be clear, I'm a DP, not the pp you were responding to.[/quote]

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