Reply to Question about re zoning elementary schools in S. Arlington

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous] Nothing - NOTHING - impacts school quality as much as engaged, educated parents who encourage their kids, support the school, socially and economically. These are people who show up, they are almost always UMC people with the means to do it, and there aren't enough of them in most SA schools, and never will be until the SB draws boundaries that aren't so segregated so as to run off what few UMC parents are willing to give a school a shot but bail after three years of exhaustion. UMC are a strategic resource and aps should act like it.\.[/quote]

That's utterly ridiculous.  I would say teacher quality is vastly more important.  Supports given to students who are struggling are vastly more important.  I could think of many other things that are vastly more important that being surrounded by UMC people.  What an obnoxious statement.[/quote]

That's what I meant by difficult to acknowledge. You're not thinking about what are called positive externalities.

UMC people bring accountability and massive resources to every school where they predominate. For example: pta auctions in NA schools that raise more PTA funds in one night than a SA school might raise in 5 years. Parents who organize and fund extracurriculars that don't exist in south Arlington schools. Well manicured school grounds with the newest and nicest of everything. These and other resource dependent "extras" combine to attract and retain the best qualified teachers and  administrators. Which in turn attracts more resources.That is what the UMC brings: measurable resources that benefit everyone at the school. [/quote]

SA teachers are of equal caliber to NA teachers - in many instances, better.  When you consider the challenges and the quantity of challenges teachers face at 60+ FRL% and high ELL schools, even though the test scores are dismally low relative to NA Arlington schools, they do a helluva job.  Do the English-proficient kids who don't need extra help and aren't behind lose out to a certain degree?  Yes.  But they also gain in other ways and ultimately do as well as their cohorts come middle and high school.  I won't disagree that my kids' experience at Barcroft is less exciting and definitely slower-paced than they would have had elsewhere; but they've had some absolutely outstanding teachers and a team of administrators and specialists who provide what each of them have needed.

I absolutely believe there is a limit, however; and I would not be willing to go to a higher FRL school than Barcroft unless it were some rare star of a  "Stand and Deliver" type.  Like minorities fear isolation in north arlington schools, white MC kids experience isolation in the highest FRL south arlington schools.  One of my kids has had some challenges with that at Barcroft, but not because there aren't enough white kids.  Rather because most of them are of the opposite gender and those of my child's gender are mostly native Spanish speakers who group together and speak Spanish on the playground and at lunch.  And FLES doesn't help.

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