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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Here's a thought.  ATS, Claremont and Key are choice schools and they are already mixed in terms of demographics.  If ASFS being a "special" school is causing so many problems, why don't you take away the extra science education and just have it be the regular neighborhood school that it mostly is.  Most people at this point probably aren't buying there for the science; they're buying there because the test scores are high and it's close-in to DC and Clarendon, and they're not interested in Key immersion.

Then you could put another "choice" school in South Arlington, giving preference to South Arlington addresses.    Then put a science/tech magnet program into one of the South Arlington middles and into Wakefield.

That, plus more affordable housing along Lee Hwy or wherever else, should help balance things a bit.  But you're never going to get a truly integrated county.  Wherever you go in this country (and others), there are richer and poorer areas.  In my Kansas hometown, there are richer, whiter schools and poorer schools with more FARMS and more minorities.  The real estate in the richer school boundaries is expensive for the area and almost solely SFH.  The poorer schools include lots of apartments, townhouses and smaller, older homes in their boundaries. [b] I think it's just harder for people here to accept that even if they're spending $500K on a house, that doesn't put them in the richer school boundary[/b], because anywhere else, $500K is a lot of money.[/quote]

That may be part of it, but I think there's also the fact that the county is such a geographically small area.  Many of the higher SES families in the South are acutely aware of the stark differences between schools that are, in some instances, less than 1.5 miles apart because our kids play sports with and have friends just on the other side of the boundaries.  And Arlington, even South Arlington, has a very educated population with a lot of money.  Maybe not enough money for a $1.3-$1.7 million new build in a "good" neighborhood, but enough to have choices about where to live and where to send our kids to school.  The avg. SFH is selling for around $700,000 in my neighborhood, and we are zoned for a school where almost 70% of the students are eligible to receive free or reduced meals.  And unless something changes, we're going to wind up with a school system that more closely resembles Alexandria or DC in terms of both disparity and buy-in.

It's easier to obscure that in a larger county, but not in one like ours.  I don't think you want a mass exodus of higher SES from South Arlington.  Because there is a finite budget, and there are certainly many people who feel that since they pay more, they deserve more.  How long will it be before that comes at the expense of those who do not have power and influence? And how much harder will it become for someone who was born into a less ideal situation escape that situation if we pull the ladder up behind us?

I say all of this as someone who has choices.  If I ever feel like my child's education is suffering, you can bet I will make a different choice.  But I'm trying to stick it out, because I do care about other children living in my community, and if those of us with the means and time to devote to making our neighborhoods and schools better places to live and learn, all of our community will suffer. 
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