Reply to What do you expect from APS staff (option/neighborhood) on 4/30?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Original pp here, and I agree with this too. But the communications from APS around this issue have been terrible (for instance, they never actually sent a follow-up email letting people know the analysis had been posted on 5/1 after sending the email the day before saying it had been delayed). [b]And skipping things like a meeting [/b]or a summary slideshow to breakdown what the analysis means left a lot of people uncertain or confused after reading a very dense analysis document. It sure has the appearance that APS is holding back on engaging with the community on this, because they know that if more people start really digging into what this could mean for themselves even though they're not at an option school or one of the short-listed neighborhood schools, they're going to have some serious concerns.

If all a PTA does is pass along notices when information is released, well, that's better than APS is doing but still not great. This is an incredibly complex process, it's difficult to understand all of the implications just from reading what APS posts, and the staff is not being forthcoming about their thought process here. If people want to really understand all of the implications, they need to be digging into the data, but it's too big a job for just one person. That's where PTAs should come in, organizing efforts to do their own analysis and figure out the implications now rather than being caught short later (see, e.g., Tuckahoe; whatever you may think about their PTA's motivations, they saw the writing on the wall and jumped in early rather than waiting until it was too late, although it's not clear that they're continuing to follow the issue anymore now that they're not short-listed). Anyone saying people at neighborhood schools that are likely to stay neighborhood schools shouldn't get worked up until the boundaries are released is a fool, because the location selection will ultimately dictate the boundaries, and by the time we see boundary proposals the staff will have finished its analysis and sent its recommendation to the board. There won't be an opportunity to revisit the location selection if you realize the boundaries in both options are bad for you.[/quote]

Community meeting on May 9th, and they are answering some questions from what I can see.

My guess as to what will be happening this summer and is happening now is that they are absolutely already playing with proposed boundaries.  If ATS goes here, how would we draw boundaries.  If we put immersion there, how do boundaries look.  They can't make a recommendation until they've done this, so people claiming they are being dishonest by doing it behind the scenes are off base.  This is part of the process, they don't need to let us see every step in the sausage being made, but they are no doubt looking at it and considering an entire range of scenarios.

They are also still very open to receiving input because they know that there are smart people in the community taking time on this.  
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They are pre-screening the questions for the May 9th meeting so they don't have to answer anything they don't want to.[/quote]

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