Reply to APS Boundary tool--anyone get it to work yet?

Forum Index » Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)

Reply to "APS Boundary tool--anyone get it to work yet? "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]

Somebody did it upthread without creating an island by connecting PUs on the west all the way down to Columbia Pike, if I'm ot mistaken.[/quote]

It didn't quite work. I was one who tried. The Western Pike PUs with the high FARMs rates just weren't allowed to go to Yorktown. I got error messages about splitting attendance zones. Someone suggested it was probably because to build a continuous zone required picking up multiple PUs north of the Pike, and then adding the Western Pike units just became too many kids moving and I guess would then overcrowd YHS. But in any event, doesn't seem it can be done in the current exercise. [/quote]

Then shouldn't you take it up with the SB/APS who hired the consultants to create that tool?  Obviously, demographics may have not been in the forefront of their minds when trying to deal with this immediate overcrowding issue facing HS students in the 2017-2021 classes?  They need to balance the other factors as well, for example, not needing to pay for more bussing in an already strained system.

But some of the folks on this thread have been freely flinging insults at an entire zip code just b/c some of the threads may have argued for other considerations.  They may not have even been from Yorktown parents.  Maybe they were from WL parents?  And then you'll just say, but wait until they do get impacted, then they'll care.  Yeah, of course.  That's generally how it is.  When you are not directly impacted, you tend to tune out things more.  At some point they will voice their opinions (i.e., county-wide rezoning for HS) and at that point you'll probably have alienated any of the more sympathetic parents.  You can then brush that off with the refrain that we were all secretly racist anyway and so  we would never have joined any movement to balance demographics more throughout all 3 schools.  I know I am definitely feeling less sympathetic to your cause now.  [/quote]

Excuse me. It's obviously impossible to tell on an anonymous board, but I have flung no insults. There are a lot of posters and at least one of us is trying to be civil and frank. Perhaps I should have clarified that I was a new poster to the immediately preceding exchange and was just weighing in to correct the idea that a West Pike island could be created. The tone of my post was perfectly civil and I was making no complaints, but rather was simply stating the way things are. I agree with you that if I would want to be able to create a West Pike island, then my complaint should be with the makers of the tool. I don't care about creating a West Pike island right now. I care about protecting Wakefield from absorbing those Western Pike PUs that are currently at W-L, and I am concerned that the emphasis on walkability will make that look like an attractive option for folks who, for whatever reason, are not as concerned by concentrated low-income at Wakefield.

I personally think busing is a straw man. Both the Eastern Pike and Western Pike PUs are over 2 miles from W-L right now, so I assume they are bused and therefore keeping those units where they are will not increase busing. There are plenty of neighborhoods in this county that can't walk to any of the high schools. Busing is a fact of life. I'm not necessarily pro additional busing, but I certainly would favor it over other outcomes that I view as detrimental to the whole student body.

I do agree with a recent PP though: if your sympathies are based on being treated nicely by anonymous strangers on the internet as opposed to values and convictions, I'm not sure how much they help anyway. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics