Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Some thoughts:
First meeting was tonight. Seems like the overwhelming input form Oakton ES was "YES -- ASAP."
If Oakton ES, Mosby Woods and the remaining part of Marshall Road are re-zoned to Thoreau, Jackson will no longer be a feeder to Oakton HS. Jackson will be feeding Falls Church only (I think). The only exception would be AAP kids zoned for Thoreau who choose Jackson. I can see why LJMS would want to keep its status as a center (to draw in some high scoring AAP kids into their mix), but socially, it might not be advantageous for the Oakton-bound AAP kids b/c they wouldn't know very many other kids when they arrive at Oakton HS. But, maybe that doesn't matter as much. The Oakton-bound AAP who go to Thoreau will have a much bigger cohort of kids moving on to HS b/c there will be about 300+ kids moving from Thoreau to Oakton.
LJMS is going to take a big hit with SES and test pass rates. But, if nothing happens, then it isn't fair to the LJMS kids either b/c they are over-crowded and the neighboring school is far under-capacity. Re-zoning based on completely neutral factors (i.e. distance, numbers, etc.) may very well have an effect that makes LJMS much less diverse and lower income. I guess that's the real effect of housing on schools (i.e. apartments = more minority, less HHI; SFH = more white, higher SES).
Seems like this will have a really negative impact on the remaining Gen Ed kids at Jackson.
yes and no. One could argue that the base school kids (non-aap kids) at Jackson don't have much interaction with the upper middle class AAP kids b/c they are in separate classes for the most part. So, on paper, it would look like a down grade for LJMS, but in reality, the "new" demographics might be a more accurate picture of what it is like for the average kid at LJMS. Sometimes having a center at a school can mask the true needs/demographics/SOLpass rates of the base school (for better and for worse).
If the two groups don't really interact much, it might not matter on a day to day basis for the average kid.... might actually draw more resources to their needs. This happened in another AAP elem. school I know of -- it was finally qualified as Title I (with extra funds) b/c they excluded the AAP center kids for the Title I application b/c they were making the school appear less needy than it was.