I work exclusively with low income families in Arlington. We offer an in person service, and we see thousands of people in our office per year despite the fact that most of our clients live miles away. An 11 week window gives plenty of time for any family to appear in person to apply. Many families would find an online application process more of a barrier than appearing in person.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There must have been an issue with getting paperwork from families who got spots in the lottery. The paperwork requirements are there either way, so I don't think it impacts the number of eligible children in the VPI lottery.

This is my guess, because the in-person submission requirement includes completing the application with APS staff. This change sounds like a way to provide support during the process to families likely to need it.

…except that many many low-income people simply will not be able to take time off from work to do this. Net, net, requiring in-person 9-5 filing will cause low-income applications to drop. Inconvenient for the middle class, but nearly impossible for working class. Sigh.

Read some of the other comments on this thread, and explain to me why it is nearly impossible for working class families to apply in-person during the day.

Cannot take time off during those hours. If they had extended hours, until maybe 7pm and on a couple of different days, that might be different.

I would call and ask about this rather than just not apply.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There must have been an issue with getting paperwork from families who got spots in the lottery. The paperwork requirements are there either way, so I don't think it impacts the number of eligible children in the VPI lottery.

This is my guess, because the in-person submission requirement includes completing the application with APS staff. This change sounds like a way to provide support during the process to families likely to need it.

…except that many many low-income people simply will not be able to take time off from work to do this. Net, net, requiring in-person 9-5 filing will cause low-income applications to drop. Inconvenient for the middle class, but nearly impossible for working class. Sigh.

Read some of the other comments on this thread, and explain to me why it is nearly impossible for working class families to apply in-person during the day.

Cannot take time off during those hours. If they had extended hours, until maybe 7pm and on a couple of different days, that might be different.

Anonymous wrote:Soooooo…..it sounds like no impact to number of applicants

It might even help increase since people will have dedicated staff person to work through the paperwork and explain the program. There are often people who end up dropping out of VPI and even Montessori because they realize that aspects don’t actually work for their family (transportation, potty training)
At my former school enrollment started to decline before COVID and I know it’s struggled to rebound across the county.

Soooooo…..it sounds like no impact to number of applicants

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There must have been an issue with getting paperwork from families who got spots in the lottery. The paperwork requirements are there either way, so I don't think it impacts the number of eligible children in the VPI lottery.

This is my guess, because the in-person submission requirement includes completing the application with APS staff. This change sounds like a way to provide support during the process to families likely to need it.

…except that many many low-income people simply will not be able to take time off from work to do this. Net, net, requiring in-person 9-5 filing will cause low-income applications to drop. Inconvenient for the middle class, but nearly impossible for working class. Sigh.

If you can’t take a single day off VPI probably won’t be a good fit for you anyway. There are a lot of days off and early releases.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There must have been an issue with getting paperwork from families who got spots in the lottery. The paperwork requirements are there either way, so I don't think it impacts the number of eligible children in the VPI lottery.

This is my guess, because the in-person submission requirement includes completing the application with APS staff. This change sounds like a way to provide support during the process to families likely to need it.

…except that many many low-income people simply will not be able to take time off from work to do this. Net, net, requiring in-person 9-5 filing will cause low-income applications to drop. Inconvenient for the middle class, but nearly impossible for working class. Sigh.

Did you even read the thread, including a reply from a teacher? They did this for a reason.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There must have been an issue with getting paperwork from families who got spots in the lottery. The paperwork requirements are there either way, so I don't think it impacts the number of eligible children in the VPI lottery.

This is my guess, because the in-person submission requirement includes completing the application with APS staff. This change sounds like a way to provide support during the process to families likely to need it.

…except that many many low-income people simply will not be able to take time off from work to do this. Net, net, requiring in-person 9-5 filing will cause low-income applications to drop. Inconvenient for the middle class, but nearly impossible for working class. Sigh.

Read some of the other comments on this thread, and explain to me why it is nearly impossible for working class families to apply in-person during the day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There must have been an issue with getting paperwork from families who got spots in the lottery. The paperwork requirements are there either way, so I don't think it impacts the number of eligible children in the VPI lottery.

This is my guess, because the in-person submission requirement includes completing the application with APS staff. This change sounds like a way to provide support during the process to families likely to need it.

…except that many many low-income people simply will not be able to take time off from work to do this. Net, net, requiring in-person 9-5 filing will cause low-income applications to drop. Inconvenient for the middle class, but nearly impossible for working class. Sigh.

Anonymous wrote:There must have been an issue with getting paperwork from families who got spots in the lottery. The paperwork requirements are there either way, so I don't think it impacts the number of eligible children in the VPI lottery.

This is my guess, because the in-person submission requirement includes completing the application with APS staff. This change sounds like a way to provide support during the process to families likely to need it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience almost all students in VPI have a parent who does not work or works evening/weekend hours

Yes. Often the policy advocates are higher income working parents (either dual, or single parent working households) believing they're being empathetic to the challenges of the poor, but looking at things through their own perspectives and experiences. It's highly inconvenient for typical white collar working parents to do things during the workday, therefore it must be the same for low-income parents.

Exactly. I taught in a VPI program in one of Arlington's poorest schools and the culture is so radically different from other schools in APS based on my experience as a parent and staff member. There was no complaining about snow days or events during the day. Extended day was never full. Many parents were home in the day or had extensive community (basically everyone lived in the same few buildings and there was always someone to take care of things.

Anonymous wrote:In my experience almost all students in VPI have a parent who does not work or works evening/weekend hours

Yes. Often the policy advocates are higher income working parents (either dual, or single parent working households) believing they're being empathetic to the challenges of the poor, but looking at things through their own perspectives and experiences. It's highly inconvenient for typical white collar working parents to do things during the workday, therefore it must be the same for low-income parents.

In my experience almost all students in VPI have a parent who does not work or works evening/weekend hours

There must have been an issue with getting paperwork from families who got spots in the lottery. The paperwork requirements are there either way, so I don't think it impacts the number of eligible children in the VPI lottery.

Looks like APS has a new requirement for VPI applications to submit in-person during school / work hours.

Any thoughts on whether this will reduce the number of school lottery applicants?

The application window is 11 weeks but seems like an extra step that’s not as easy as clicking a button….