Reply to S/O - What’s up with AEM?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][/quote]

That all gets lost with comments like: “whi.....I mean elitist"

[/quote]

Sorry, I disagree a bit here.  Every community in Arlington says what it wants; but does not necessarily get it.  Yeah, the wealthy white communities in the north get it more than not.  However, the Black community of Nauck wants its own neighborhood school.  They don't want anyone from outside their neighborhood coming to "their promised neighborhood school."  Again, sorry; but no neighborhood gets that.  Randolph ES is probably the closest thing to it; but even the majority of those students are technically from outside the Douglas Park neighborhood.  I don't believe the Black community around Drew said it specifically wanted an 80% FRL neighborhood school.  Even if they did, I don't think it's right to let them have that.[/quote]

The issue that was specifically the subject of the comment was whether Drew would be a neighborhood school or some sort of hybrid, arguably akin to what it previously had with Montessori. It is true that not every community gets what it wants, but typically that plays out as everyone else saying, you can't have that b/c it's not best for Arlington, and not, you can't have that b/c it's not best for YOU.

There is zero basis to say that the black community and/or Nauck didn't want anyone outside the neighborhood going to "their" school. Zero. The boundary process was about figuring out how to fill Drew, and about all the other nearby communities fighting to stay out of Drew. To the extent there was a coherent Drew voice or movement, it generally just wanted a reasonable boundary. (If you're one of those conspiracy theory folks about how Drew "didn't want" SF or something, nonsense. I was there and that is not true.) [/quote]

Talk to some of the "old timer" Black residents directly - they specifically have complained about other people coming into their neighborhood to attend their neighborhood school. And they ARE getting their neighborhood school and not another hybrid.  So if that's the only point, what's the problem?[/quote]

I expect those comments were based on Montessori being located there and dominating the neighborhood program in size, resources, attention, and performance for years.

There is no problem. I was trying to explain the context of the "whitesplaining" comment and why I believe it was a mostly correct observation, if provocative. [/quote]

I understand why black residents of Nauck felt like there was whitesplaining. But I also understand why that comment would discourage residents of other races from wanting to attend Drew. Are white parents of kids at Drew allowed to express opinions about what is best for the school? Are they allowed to have any say when it comes to school policies? I wouldn’t feel welcomed or encouraged to join the Drew community if I were another race. The message received was this is the long promised neighborhood school for black residents, and everyone else zoned in is there to fill seats but shut up because this school is not actually for them. [/quote]

Oh and you’re racist for not wanting to be zoned to a historically underperforming school or a school with a high FARMS rate. But also, if minorities don’t want to attend a school with those characteristics, those concerns are totally legitimate and we should fix that!  It’s only racist to care about school qualities when you’re white. [/quote]

Yeah, I think it was hard for some of the Montessori posters to see what is/was at stake because those who live in Nauck choiced out themselves but insisted they were told to do so by the former principal, etc. Understandably there were a lot of emotions involved from those who were coming from Henry - but I don’t think they did a great job of articulating their concerns either. No one was really trying to listen to each other and it was tough to watch. [/quote]

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