Reply to the Key/ASFS building switch...

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Also, any parent in the world of rec soccer has used the discovery playground!  It’s great and we use it often.  My child has never been invited to any science program at ASFS, so I don’t really know what it has to offer.  Again, private money offering unique educational opportunities in a public school not available to residents assigned to other schools.  Are they building crappy new schools elsewhere in the school district?  I think those are the only other facilities you can compare with discovery in a conversation about equity.[/quote]

[b]Fleet will nice, but not nearly as nice as Discovery. [/b]There are market reasons at play, but I don’t think APS should be let off the hook. They ignored/ cooked  enrollment projections. Anyone with half a brain would have used that opportunity to get a school built economically. Now we have more and more kids and a shrunken commercial real estate base. Chadwick should be shown the door. 
Also, this discussion is trivial compared to the crisis of SES diversity south Arlington is facing. Discovery was built. Bad decisions were made. Move on.[/quote]

Exactly. That is the inequality. On a much bigger scale than a "lab" with a mural and hanging planets.

[b][/quote]

The inequality that matters is the crunch south Arlington is facing. They are overwhelmed by poverty. This discussion is trivial. Fleet will be nice enough. Now balance enrollment.[/quote][/b]

But the discussing of ASFS and the Key swap is not trivial BECAUSE of the inequality between SA and NA.  The swap is a prime example of APS pandering to the wealthy few and/or making dumb decisions and trying to cover up such dumb decisions a few years down the road.   It sounds like the School Board should have voted before doing a $200K upgrade to one of APS' facilities, but no one bothered to follow the right protocols (I mean, after all, it's just a little PTA fundraiser!).  But it's not like the Board didn't know--Noah Simon was on the Board when his wife passed and the impetus to raise money in her honor for the lab was started .  So even if the School Board didn't officially approve it, they tacitly did because no one was going to say  hey, maybe it's not a wise decision to make such an extravagant upgrade when our enrollment is up and we're facing a capacity crisis and may need that space for classrooms.   Their colleague and friend had literally just lost his wife.  So now what does APS do? Instead of leaving the lab be, it wants to rip it out and try and recreate the lab in a new space-- causing extra and unnecessary expenses when we have a $43 million budget shortfall.  Any why is it doing this?  Some say to appease the Lyon Village parents who paid for the lab and want it in their new neighborhood school.  Others say because they need the lab space for classrooms which would never happen if ASFS stays where it is.  Either way, it's ridiculous that APS allowed the school to make this expensive upgrade (whether rightly or wrongly), and then just scrap the whole thing-- sure some parts can move but a lot of the money that went into the lab was for design and wiring for that specific space.  That's now all going to be nil.  It's all just such a waste-- a waste of the money raised, a waste of APS' time and resources dealing with the fallout of the swap, a waste of taxpayer dollars, etc.  Those is SA should absolutely be outraged by the time, money and energy spent by APS on these two schools.  Why, at the very least, has no one suggested that APS just leave the lab where it is-- everyone on this board says the lab ain't anything special and ASFS is not a "program" entitled to special consideration.  Why not let the immersion kids enjoy the lab? Maybe they don't want it, but maybe they do, or maybe they at least want the option when they move in to decide what to do with it.   [/quote]

They can't leave the lab. The Science Focus building is already too small for the Key enrollment so they need the 2 classrooms to be classrooms and not labs. I think its one of the reasons that the Superintendent is moving the schools as he's wanted to get rid of the lab for classrooms for awhile so this gives him the reason to do it. That said, I agree we can't afford as a community to pay to move this lab. Its not a cost we as taxpayers should allow- the same with the school name changes if these schools swap. We should be spending money that provides educational value for our kids- name changes do not and although the lab sounds cool thinking about this in the big picture that money could be better spent on trailers or building renovations to existing schools- both of which lead to more seats which we need desperately. I just hope the SB and APS do what they said they were going to do and balance out enrollment across schools. Its not fair to have some schools be over 100% and others under. They need to spread the wealth as class size does impact educational output. [/quote]

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