Reply to APS middle school boundary process

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I WANT to send my kids to a racially diverse school. The problem I have with Kenmore is all the studies showing poorer educational performance at schools at a poverty tipping point, usually around 40 to 45 percent. At 20, 30% percent, the other kids bring the poorer kids up with them, school has enough resources to deal. At 40% and higher levels of poverty in a school, school is just overwhelmed.

THAT, and the fact that Swanson is about a mile closer to us, is my objection to the move. But I'm not sure if I should object or let our family be used to help others in need. [/quote]

NP here.  I totally understand where the PP is coming from (and I live in South Arlington, have a child in a choice elementary school in North Arlington, and would not be zoned for Kenmore under any scenario, so I am not simiarly situated to PP).  Families shouldn't be put in a situation where they have to weigh what's best for their child versus what's best for the broader community.  No reasonable person is going to fault you for choosing what's best for your child, if given an option.

The problem here, as I see it, is the School Board.  (And the County Board, but that's another topic/post).  The School Board should be the entity that concerns itself with what's best for the whole county.  It should look at the big picture, even if that means getting blowback from parents in certain schools/ neighborhoods/planning units/streets.  But the School Board has abdicated this responsibility, and has established a pattern of capitulating to vocal groups of disgruntled parents looking to protect "their" status quo (e.g. the Nottingham contingent in the McKinley debacle and the Arlington Forest orange shirts).  All at the expense of the big picture, and the best interests of the county as a whole.  The School Board picks its favorites, and is left to tinker around the edges of what's left of the county map.  No wonder this is ineffective.  It also encourages obnoxious behavior from  the parents. It works!

I wish the School Board would grow a spine, and commit itself to some coherent big picture policies.  I may or may not like where they come out (and I understand that reasonable people can disagree on some of the tricky issues we are facing), but I would respect the process.  I would be more likely to "take one for the team" if I thought the School Board (a) had a plan; and (b) was applying it even-handedly. [/quote]

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