Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’ll find the same disparity in every one of the larger public school systems in the DMV, including DC itself. It’s because schools are largely neighborhood based. Nothing unique about Arlington.

The elementary schools are neighborhood based. They need to do away with the option schools and figure out a better way to do the middle and high school boundaries.

What do option schools have to do with middle and high school boundaries? I'm only aware of them being relevant to Spanish immersion, where N. Arlington kids from Escuela Key can stay in immersion at Gunston and Wakefield. If anything that would help improve the balance.

Clearly it doesn't.

Anonymous wrote:You’ll find the same disparity in every one of the larger public school systems in the DMV, including DC itself. It’s because schools are largely neighborhood based. Nothing unique about Arlington.

Except for its small geographical size, coupled with its significant wealth.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington should be ashamed of itself.

I may have misunderstood, but I’m pretty sure I heard advocates for low income parents saying it was better to concentrate kids needing services at certain schools because it’s easier to provide them at central locations. I don’t agree that the schools should be so wildly disparate, but I’m certain I have heard that opinion expressed.

You're (mostly) mistaken. Advocates for affordable housing make that argument. The County Board makes that argument. Parents at wealthy schools make that argument. APS has just never had the guts to oppose the loud wealthy communities opposing boundary changes or other efforts to "share the wealth" - or "share the poverty," depending on your perspective. A few actually from the low-income communities sometimes pushback as well, primarily when APS suggests their community will be all broken-up and bused across the county under boundary changes.

Anonymous wrote:The most embarrassing is HB Woodlawn at 12%. There’s no reason for that to be lower than the county average.

Here we go again with the HB bashing. We get it. Your kid didn’t get in and you’re jealous. I’ll bet your kid doesn’t qualify for reduced price meals either.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’ll find the same disparity in every one of the larger public school systems in the DMV, including DC itself. It’s because schools are largely neighborhood based. Nothing unique about Arlington.

The elementary schools are neighborhood based. They need to do away with the option schools and figure out a better way to do the middle and high school boundaries.

What do option schools have to do with middle and high school boundaries? I'm only aware of them being relevant to Spanish immersion, where N. Arlington kids from Escuela Key can stay in immersion at Gunston and Wakefield. If anything that would help improve the balance.

The middle and high schools are largely neighborhood based as well. Just bigger neighborhoods and therefore less disparity.

The most embarrassing is HB Woodlawn at 12%. There’s no reason for that to be lower than the county average.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’ll find the same disparity in every one of the larger public school systems in the DMV, including DC itself. It’s because schools are largely neighborhood based. Nothing unique about Arlington.

The elementary schools are neighborhood based. They need to do away with the option schools and figure out a better way to do the middle and high school boundaries.

What do option schools have to do with middle and high school boundaries? I'm only aware of them being relevant to Spanish immersion, where N. Arlington kids from Escuela Key can stay in immersion at Gunston and Wakefield. If anything that would help improve the balance.

Anonymous wrote:You’ll find the same disparity in every one of the larger public school systems in the DMV, including DC itself. It’s because schools are largely neighborhood based. Nothing unique about Arlington.

The elementary schools are neighborhood based. They need to do away with the option schools and figure out a better way to do the middle and high school boundaries.

You’ll find the same disparity in every one of the larger public school systems in the DMV, including DC itself. It’s because schools are largely neighborhood based. Nothing unique about Arlington.

Anonymous wrote:Arlington should be ashamed of itself.

I may have misunderstood, but I’m pretty sure I heard advocates for low income parents saying it was better to concentrate kids needing services at certain schools because it’s easier to provide them at central locations. I don’t agree that the schools should be so wildly disparate, but I’m certain I have heard that opinion expressed.

Anonymous wrote:I'm really surprised Williamsburg is so low. I know it draws from a very wealthy area, but 2.43% is so low - especially compared to Hamm and Swanson. Did Hamm take all the "poor" people from Williamsburg when it opened?

Also, my kids went to Glebe - they are in HS now. Their numbers are much lower than they used to be, too.

My kids are at Glebe and the boundary hasn't changed significantly in the 5 years my kid has gone there. I wonder if they just haven't signed up all the kids who qualify for FRPL yet? Have some kids been missed? The other possibility is that the low income portion of the Glebe boundary is largely apartments and I wonder if people found being in a small apartment with school aged kids to be untenable during the pandemic so they moved? I don't think it's just gentrification of houses, as they were already expensive pre-pandemic.

Anonymous wrote:I'm really surprised Williamsburg is so low. I know it draws from a very wealthy area, but 2.43% is so low - especially compared to Hamm and Swanson. Did Hamm take all the "poor" people from Williamsburg when it opened?

Also, my kids went to Glebe - they are in HS now. Their numbers are much lower than they used to be, too.

Yes, Williamsburg used to have a a FARMs rate in the low teens because of the Rosslyn island, but those kids go to Hamm now. I don't know what happened at Glebe, not sure if that was a boundary change or just gentrification.

I'm really surprised Williamsburg is so low. I know it draws from a very wealthy area, but 2.43% is so low - especially compared to Hamm and Swanson. Did Hamm take all the "poor" people from Williamsburg when it opened?

Also, my kids went to Glebe - they are in HS now. Their numbers are much lower than they used to be, too.

Arlington should be ashamed of itself.

APS has posted this year's free and reduced meals report: https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/FREE-REDUCED-OCTOBER-31-2022.pdf

This is the first time these numbers have been reported since 2019, so we are seeing the impact of the school moves, pandemic changes, etc. Barrett, Barcroft, and Drew are all significantly higher.

BARRETT 74.91%
RANDOLPH 74.88%
BARCROFT 74.84%
CARLIN SPRINGS 74.82%
DREW 74.78%
KENMORE 51.34%
HOFFMAN BOSTON 46.38%
CAMPBELL 45.65%
JEFFERSON 42.05%
ABINGDON 40.69%
WAKEFIELD 39.59%
GUNSTON 36.81%
INNOVATION 35.98%
ARL. TRADITIONAL 34.78%
ARLINGTON COMM 34.61%
ESCUELA KEY 32.63%
ALICE WEST FLEET 32.11%
LONG BRANCH 31.68%
OAKRIDGE 31.62%
CLAREMONT 27.64%
MONTESSORI 27.60%
WASHINGTON LIB 24.34%
DOROTHY HAMM 19.11%
SWANSON 17.56%
ASHLAWN 17.21%
SCIENCE FOCUS 14.78%
YORKTOWN 14.40%
GLEBE 13.04%
HB WOODLAWN 12.15%
TAYLOR 8.02%
CARDINAL 6.37%
NOTTINGHAM 4.63%
JAMESTOWN 4.57%
DISCOVERY 2.88%
TUCKAHOE 2.68%
WILLIAMSBURG 2.43%
TOTAL 30.13%