The community idea is so overblown by so many. The public school “community” is laughable for our family who came from private. I am sorry but no the public schools have neighbors who know each other but sense of community nope. So if your child is bussed to a different school the school your child attends will have a “community” and you become part of it if you want.

White parents just don’t want to have to say out loud that they don’t want their kids going to school with poor non white kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So how would a county-wide all-school lottery system even be considered? Seems like everything gets stuck or doesn't progress if it's limited to the School Board. I for one would want to see this on an Arlington ballot for everyone to vote on. Sounds like Arlington has changed a lot in the last 30 years or so. I'm sure it will change even more in the next 30.... what wasn't pursued then might have broader county wide support as different solution sets appear.

Oh goody, direct democracy works so well in California. I love it when people who pay attention for like a week during election season decide to set education policy for years. This is why we elect a board whose job it is to evaluate solutions.

A county wide lottery? So eliminate busing like California? But VA requires busing. Destroy elementary neighborhood communities.

Come up with new material Op, these solutions have been tried and failed.

Not OP; but this kind of attitude is so dramatic. If you don't have kids, are you not part of your neighborhood community? Does a neighborhood community really depend on all the kids going to the same school within a mile of their house? And an elementary school community is whoever is in the elementary school regardless of where their home is located. Community of any sort (neighborhood, school, work, church, etc) is what the people in it make it and does not rely on residential addresses being consecutive along the mail route.

It does if you want the sense of community to extend past school hours

I disagree. Schools are not there to create your social life and provide your child's community life. They are there to provide an education. And why does it have to extend beyond school hours anyway? Sports teams are an option if that's so critical. And people seem willing and able to go all over the county for those.

Yep. All over the county for sports. And this county also happens to be the smallest county in the US. People are so dramatic with the bus stuff.

I’m not sure why you keep talking about sports. I have kids in MS and ES who have each played multiple rec and travel sports for years. The overwhelming majority of my kids’ weekday sports and activities are within a 10 minute drive of our house. When a kid has had an activity on the other side of the county it’s more like 30, particularly if you’re traveling between 4:30 and 5:30. which is the time I would be picking my kids up from extended day. And where people go for sports on weekends really isn’t relevant here. I’m not sure if you have very little kids or no job or what, but yes- an additional 45 minutes of driving each day (the amount of time, at minimum, it would take for me to go from my house to a relatively far corner of the county for pickup each day) all year, for all of elementary actually is a big deal. Getting my kids up and out of the house a half hour earlier so they can ride the bus to school instead of walking like they do now is a big deal. Leaving or signing off work earlier every day so that I can accommodate this extra commuting time is a big deal.

And I asked this a few pages ago, but no one has explained how to pay for this. APS can’t even get enough drivers for its current bus schedule, and those it does have are protesting over their low wages.

To the point about community- the idea, I think, is that my kids’ school friends live within walking or very short diving distance of our house. So it’s easy to get together with them. That’s the community. I don’t need to make friends at my kids’ schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So how would a county-wide all-school lottery system even be considered? Seems like everything gets stuck or doesn't progress if it's limited to the School Board. I for one would want to see this on an Arlington ballot for everyone to vote on. Sounds like Arlington has changed a lot in the last 30 years or so. I'm sure it will change even more in the next 30.... what wasn't pursued then might have broader county wide support as different solution sets appear.

Oh goody, direct democracy works so well in California. I love it when people who pay attention for like a week during election season decide to set education policy for years. This is why we elect a board whose job it is to evaluate solutions.

A county wide lottery? So eliminate busing like California? But VA requires busing. Destroy elementary neighborhood communities.

Come up with new material Op, these solutions have been tried and failed.

Not OP; but this kind of attitude is so dramatic. If you don't have kids, are you not part of your neighborhood community? Does a neighborhood community really depend on all the kids going to the same school within a mile of their house? And an elementary school community is whoever is in the elementary school regardless of where their home is located. Community of any sort (neighborhood, school, work, church, etc) is what the people in it make it and does not rely on residential addresses being consecutive along the mail route.

It does if you want the sense of community to extend past school hours

I disagree. Schools are not there to create your social life and provide your child's community life. They are there to provide an education. And why does it have to extend beyond school hours anyway? Sports teams are an option if that's so critical. And people seem willing and able to go all over the county for those.

Yep. All over the county for sports. And this county also happens to be the smallest county in the US. People are so dramatic with the bus stuff.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So how would a county-wide all-school lottery system even be considered? Seems like everything gets stuck or doesn't progress if it's limited to the School Board. I for one would want to see this on an Arlington ballot for everyone to vote on. Sounds like Arlington has changed a lot in the last 30 years or so. I'm sure it will change even more in the next 30.... what wasn't pursued then might have broader county wide support as different solution sets appear.

Oh goody, direct democracy works so well in California. I love it when people who pay attention for like a week during election season decide to set education policy for years. This is why we elect a board whose job it is to evaluate solutions.

A county wide lottery? So eliminate busing like California? But VA requires busing. Destroy elementary neighborhood communities.

Come up with new material Op, these solutions have been tried and failed.

Not OP; but this kind of attitude is so dramatic. If you don't have kids, are you not part of your neighborhood community? Does a neighborhood community really depend on all the kids going to the same school within a mile of their house? And an elementary school community is whoever is in the elementary school regardless of where their home is located. Community of any sort (neighborhood, school, work, church, etc) is what the people in it make it and does not rely on residential addresses being consecutive along the mail route.

It does if you want the sense of community to extend past school hours

I disagree. Schools are not there to create your social life and provide your child's community life. They are there to provide an education. And why does it have to extend beyond school hours anyway? Sports teams are an option if that's so critical. And people seem willing and able to go all over the county for those.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So how would a county-wide all-school lottery system even be considered? Seems like everything gets stuck or doesn't progress if it's limited to the School Board. I for one would want to see this on an Arlington ballot for everyone to vote on. Sounds like Arlington has changed a lot in the last 30 years or so. I'm sure it will change even more in the next 30.... what wasn't pursued then might have broader county wide support as different solution sets appear.

Oh goody, direct democracy works so well in California. I love it when people who pay attention for like a week during election season decide to set education policy for years. This is why we elect a board whose job it is to evaluate solutions.

A county wide lottery? So eliminate busing like California? But VA requires busing. Destroy elementary neighborhood communities.

Come up with new material Op, these solutions have been tried and failed.

Not OP; but this kind of attitude is so dramatic. If you don't have kids, are you not part of your neighborhood community? Does a neighborhood community really depend on all the kids going to the same school within a mile of their house? And an elementary school community is whoever is in the elementary school regardless of where their home is located. Community of any sort (neighborhood, school, work, church, etc) is what the people in it make it and does not rely on residential addresses being consecutive along the mail route.

It does if you want the sense of community to extend past school hours

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why all the hate for UMC and MC in SA? It makes no sense. They have just as much right to an equal, quality education. It’s one county. SA is less than 1/3 of Arlington yet comments like above are adamant about keeping those Southie cooties south.

I think it's annoyance at people trying to upend the system. Can't afford a house in the school district they want, therefore they buy a house zoned to a school they don't want but then push to turn the whole county into lottery so that their kids can go to the school they want. You can't have it both ways. If you have $500K to spend on a house, buy a house in a location that has schooling acceptable to you. That might not be in Arlington.

By your logic, no one should try to improve education in Arlington across all schools period because obviously it's just a sham and they purchased their house with the wrong geographic decision criteria? Completely disagree with your statements. People can have other reasons for wanting to improve equality in schools in Arlington. Have you considered the people pushing for change probably wouldn't even see something demonstrable in their kids schoolage lifetime? See: apparently the last 30 years in Arlington School Board history.

OP I am sorry you have buyers regret. No one is opposed to improving underperforming schools. They are opposed to inane bus routes and wasted time on the bus. Become involved in an underperforming school, start a tutor club, be the change you want.

What you and too many other people just refuse to get is that you can't just improve the outcomes of all the underprivileged students concentrated in high-poverty schools. "inane bus routes and wasted time on the bus" IS improving schools and the other extensive resources and efforts required at high-poverty schools with limited impact will no longer be needed. Saves all those resources and wasted time in people's volunteering, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why all the hate for UMC and MC in SA? It makes no sense. They have just as much right to an equal, quality education. It’s one county. SA is less than 1/3 of Arlington yet comments like above are adamant about keeping those Southie cooties south.

I think it's annoyance at people trying to upend the system. Can't afford a house in the school district they want, therefore they buy a house zoned to a school they don't want but then push to turn the whole county into lottery so that their kids can go to the school they want. You can't have it both ways. If you have $500K to spend on a house, buy a house in a location that has schooling acceptable to you. That might not be in Arlington.

Not everyone is intimately familiar with the school system or the individual schools when they purchase a home. Very often, the general reputation of the school district is what is attracting people to the locality, innocently assuming each school is comparable and of the quality expected based on the district's reputation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So how would a county-wide all-school lottery system even be considered? Seems like everything gets stuck or doesn't progress if it's limited to the School Board. I for one would want to see this on an Arlington ballot for everyone to vote on. Sounds like Arlington has changed a lot in the last 30 years or so. I'm sure it will change even more in the next 30.... what wasn't pursued then might have broader county wide support as different solution sets appear.

Oh goody, direct democracy works so well in California. I love it when people who pay attention for like a week during election season decide to set education policy for years. This is why we elect a board whose job it is to evaluate solutions.

A county wide lottery? So eliminate busing like California? But VA requires busing. Destroy elementary neighborhood communities.

Come up with new material Op, these solutions have been tried and failed.

Not OP; but this kind of attitude is so dramatic. If you don't have kids, are you not part of your neighborhood community? Does a neighborhood community really depend on all the kids going to the same school within a mile of their house? And an elementary school community is whoever is in the elementary school regardless of where their home is located. Community of any sort (neighborhood, school, work, church, etc) is what the people in it make it and does not rely on residential addresses being consecutive along the mail route.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure I'm not the only person on here who grew up in Arlington during the 90s when they actually tried bussing. They bussed students from what used to be called Green Valley to WMS and YHS. I don't remember the students at those schools caring one way or another but I definitely remember some of the parents being upset about it.

I think Arlington could probably go full lottery for high school without too much complaint. Elementary not so much.

I don't think it will go over well at the high school level, either. There are far too many entitled parents who think WL is the end-all-be-all. Imagine the outrage when their kid who lives in the current boundary doesn't get in. Same for those who purposely bought homes to attend Yorktown.

Anonymous wrote:Nice to see at least one army base on that map in red, why does the author hate the troops?

The real question is why does the Army hate black people?

Arlington tore down a black neighborhood, Queen City, for the Pentagon.

Anonymous wrote:The northern part of the county is very hard to access by public transit, so there is no appetite to bus poor kids to a school like Jamestown. They even have a hard time filling up the VPI classrooms there (VPI = VA preschool initiative = free or sliding scale cost preschool for low income kids) because it's hard for low income parents to get to/from the school, so they are less likely to accept spots there.

When you're talking about communities that may not have cars and want to be able to walk or ride public transit to their kids' schools, you don't get a lot of support for busing those kids to far away schools with low FRL %.

And if you want to bus the rich kids to the high FRL schools, you'll just get a huge switch to private.

The option schools end up having a good balance of FRL rates. But neighborhood schools don't. And the vast majority of parents of ALL income levels want neighborhood schools.

Except for Columbia Forrest. They have no problem bussing kids.

Nice to see at least one army base on that map in red, why does the author hate the troops?

OP, have you read this yet?

https://dcist.com/story/21/11/15/centuries-of-discrimination-northern-virginia-vcu/?fbclid=IwAR0O8aKmm1JPPQSRBWm9NFwEb3pjjjt20da-TEPDrFMQlPxf-h80fM7FSlE

Good luck. It’s a really difficult issue to tackle, since it was done on purpose and those who benefited from the system don’t want it dismantled and the immigrant families only know that they’re lucky to have access to free schools where their children are fed and clothed and learning. The distinction of long-term outcomes being better for their children in less segregated schools and neighborhoods are not that important, given the circumstances they have likely left behind in their home countries, where their children not only might not have received an education, but may not have lived to adulthood. It’s complicated, and can really only be solved by inclusive zoning in neighborhoods with the highest opportunity factors. But even then, it can’t be too much, or the flight to private school will yield the same segregated schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why all the hate for UMC and MC in SA? It makes no sense. They have just as much right to an equal, quality education. It’s one county. SA is less than 1/3 of Arlington yet comments like above are adamant about keeping those Southie cooties south.

I think it's annoyance at people trying to upend the system. Can't afford a house in the school district they want, therefore they buy a house zoned to a school they don't want but then push to turn the whole county into lottery so that their kids can go to the school they want. You can't have it both ways. If you have $500K to spend on a house, buy a house in a location that has schooling acceptable to you. That might not be in Arlington.

The school district is APS. We are all a part of APS. Nobody owns any of the public schools. And no, I don’t live in South Arlington.

The vast majority of APS parents indicated their #1 priority was a walkable elementary and middle school. The only parents who chose otherwise either are really committed to diversity or aren't happy with their walkable school.

And have the option to apply for a lottery elementary school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why all the hate for UMC and MC in SA? It makes no sense. They have just as much right to an equal, quality education. It’s one county. SA is less than 1/3 of Arlington yet comments like above are adamant about keeping those Southie cooties south.

I think it's annoyance at people trying to upend the system. Can't afford a house in the school district they want, therefore they buy a house zoned to a school they don't want but then push to turn the whole county into lottery so that their kids can go to the school they want. You can't have it both ways. If you have $500K to spend on a house, buy a house in a location that has schooling acceptable to you. That might not be in Arlington.

The school district is APS. We are all a part of APS. Nobody owns any of the public schools. And no, I don’t live in South Arlington.

The vast majority of APS parents indicated their #1 priority was a walkable elementary and middle school. The only parents who chose otherwise either are really committed to diversity or aren't happy with their walkable school.