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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It’s official! They are moving the science lab. Praise Jesus.[/quote]

I just read that on arl news now.  [/quote]

If ASFS were still a semi-option program, they could probably justify hoarding a $200k facility perk that was privately funded, with the rationale that everyone in the county could theoretically seek admission to that school.  As a strictly neighborhood school, a $200k perk not made available to other elementary schools starts to feel very unequal.  I wonder if the board has fully considered the legal implications of this.[/quote]

You are welcome to fund a special lab for your school. Find corporate sponsors, etc.

Or just whine about it when other people took the effort to do it at their school. 
[/quote]

I’m pro swap and don’t care about the lab, but this is a pretty weak argument considering most of the funding for that lab came from families who are no longer even at the school.[/quote]

Not true but I'm guessing you didn't contribute if you are unaware that many contributors are still at the school.  I contributed and I live closer to Key than ASFS and I do not support the swap.  I can see through this plan and I fully realize we are all going to end up with crappier programs as a result of these moves.  [b]It took years to build what we have at ASFS (and would imagine the same holds for Key) and that is not going to be recreated any time during my children's time. [/b] I've had older ones go through ASFS and we value the program enough to know it needs to stay put in order to preserve what we have and not spend years trying to rebuild.  However, you do raise interesting point about many of these people that aps is so concerned about appeasing.  Many will be gone by the time any of this actually happens.  [/quote]

[b]How does the building have anything to do with this?  What makes a school is the teachers, leadership, curriculum, student population.  Those are staying the same for both schools.  The alternative is to keep ASFS where it is and draw new boundaries so you have a completely different student population.  That seems  lot more disruptive. [/quote][/b]

Disruptive for who? The teachers and faculty are used to getting a new crop of students every year, do you think it really matters if a second grade teacher sees her former students in the hallway on occasion?  As for leadership, if you mean the PTA and volunteers, there has always been (and continues to be) a good mix of neighborhood/transfer parents and Key zone parents who run most of the events.  I'm sure whatever happens with the location of the school, there will be others to take the roles that become vacant. As for the curriculum, yes, there will most certainly be a disruption because some of the fixtures that the teachers rely on for their lessons (the pond, the science lab, the habitat out front, etc.) will definitely be eliminated or changed once the move occurs.  And the students?  Yes, most of the students live in Key's old boundaries.  Even if ASFS stays put, many of those kids would still go to ASFS because there isn't really anywhere else to send them.  (No, not all of Rosslyn would automatically be dumped into Taylor!).  There are reasonable ways to draw a boundary around ASFS that includes at least half the current population.  But those types of boundaries weren't really explored by APS.   Rather, the move appears to be a way to either to appease the ASFS influencers who want the school near them, and/or APS' grand plan to eliminate NA's immersion program (or give it a reason to move to SA) and get rid of the science lab that is taking up much needed permanent seat space.

I'm not saying there aren't some upsides for making the move, but those upsides will only benefit a limited number of families.  Seems like a huge expense, headache, and (at least a) perceived inequity for the rest of the county-- the taxpayers have to pay for this move and all the resources and time that will be spent over the next few years to make it happen. What would happen if Murphy singled out and gave special consideration to every school community the way he did ASFS (and in the converse, gave no consideration to Key)?  All this "swap decision" did was tell everyone in Arlington that, if you bitch enough, bitch loud, rally and inundate APS with enough letters, request meetings, etc., they will cave to a select group of parents.  Seriously, read these threads-- no one at Key wants the move, most of ASFS (including all the staff and faculty) don't want the move but yet the move is happening to "keep the community together" (you know, the community that is currently at war with each other).   Every taxpayer should be up in arms that they have to foot the bill for this just because, god forbid, they draw new boundaries around the ASFS building.  [/quote]

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