Why doesn't anyone want to go to Williamsburg?

It seems like families are doing everything possible not to go there. Is it the teachers, drugs, gangs? I thought it used to be a good school.

Wow, Speaker #9 on middle school boundaries made me cry. What a story of loss and community. I cannot even imagine.

10th Street Lyon Park folk here, so happy to be with our ASFS classmates!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reid is the only who actually cares about all of the students.

What Reid is good at is pointing out flaws without coming up with solutions. Any solution will be flawed in some respect, he's not contributing anything unless he's coming up with ideas for how to improve it.

He's good at pointing out the difference between "nice-to-haves" and that which is actually detrimental to education. For instance, overcrowding and economic inequality are proven impediments to education. Taking a bus to school is no such impediment. Being able to walk to your school rather than take a bus for an additional 10 minutes is a nice-to-have, is clearly a health benefit (when kids actually DO walk), and is better for the environment than driving, though buses are better than each individual child being driven. But the plan leaves us with lopsided enrollment and does nothing to address disparity. They can't do much to tweak the disparity at this point, but they could at least better balance the enrollment.

Well put, although the "you are negative and have no proposals of your own" poster here and on the elementary school thread won't acknowledge that you said it. (But thanks for trying!)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reid is the only who actually cares about all of the students.

What Reid is good at is pointing out flaws without coming up with solutions. Any solution will be flawed in some respect, he's not contributing anything unless he's coming up with ideas for how to improve it.

He's good at pointing out the difference between "nice-to-haves" and that which is actually detrimental to education. For instance, overcrowding and economic inequality are proven impediments to education. Taking a bus to school is no such impediment. Being able to walk to your school rather than take a bus for an additional 10 minutes is a nice-to-have, is clearly a health benefit (when kids actually DO walk), and is better for the environment than driving, though buses are better than each individual child being driven. But the plan leaves us with lopsided enrollment and does nothing to address disparity. They can't do much to tweak the disparity at this point, but they could at least better balance the enrollment.

Anonymous wrote:Reid is the only who actually cares about all of the students.

What Reid is good at is pointing out flaws without coming up with solutions. Any solution will be flawed in some respect, he's not contributing anything unless he's coming up with ideas for how to improve it.

Anonymous wrote:Reid is the only who actually cares about all of the students.

+1. That's also my impression.

Reid is the only who actually cares about all of the students.

Anonymous wrote:What was the vibe at the public forum last night?

It was primarily Lyon Park and Glebe families both thanking the Board for the tweaks that appeared in the map last night aligning them with their elementary school classmates. One or two folks who were really upset at the lack of diversity. A few Dominion Hills folks also thanking the Board for valuing proximity and keep them at Swanson. One Boulevard Manor parent upset that they are the only units slated to go from Kenmore to Yorktown. They were a few of the 11th hour units moved from W-L to Yorktown last year and fought that move. And a few EFC parents upset that the move to Williamsburg pulls them from Swanson and they will be isolated from other Williamsburg families, and patently unwalkable or bike-able because of all the major intersections.

Board said they expect that they may do some more tweaks between now and the 14th, although they could also vote on the recommendation as it stands. Reid Goldstein specifically said he is worried about the enrollment imbalances, since the primary reason for this effort was to ease overcrowding, so he will be offering a revision possibly by the weekend.

What was the vibe at the public forum last night?

It's the last year at WMS for my youngest so I don't really have a dog in this fight. At this point, the entire 8th grade is in trailers. I don't think most parents care what color the kids are or how poor their parents may be. I think they just want fewer kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not talking about the kids, I'm talking about the parents. They don't value diversity, so fine. Make W & Y as segregated as can be. It's not great for the kids, but parents are making that choice when they buy in those neigborhoods.

The SB could choose any of the options it's been presented with and the NArl kids would cope just fine if the parents helped them rather than whining.

The Williamsburg families haven't been calling for greater segregation, they haven't opposed sending more planning units to Williamsburg to increase diversity. Everyone else has attributed that to them to provide a strawman, but it's not grounded in fact. At all.

Again, they are happy to have other kids bussed. They aren't stepping forward to say "hey, this is important. My kid currently gets on a bus to go from CC Hills to Williamsburg. If you'll send a busload or two from south Arlington up here, we'll gladly send our kids down to Kenmore to help balance things out."

This is the point that everyone continues to make - everyone is fine with diversity, as long as the movement of kids to achieve it doesn't impact their own kids. If you aren't willing to bus your own kids, then it's patronizing to sit back and say that you'll gladly accept some of those poor, brown kids coming into your local school.

There was not a single proposed map that would have bused CC Hills kids to Kenmore. There was never an opportunity for them to weigh in on that possibility, so it's pretty disingenuous to attack them for not supporting it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not talking about the kids, I'm talking about the parents. They don't value diversity, so fine. Make W & Y as segregated as can be. It's not great for the kids, but parents are making that choice when they buy in those neigborhoods.

The SB could choose any of the options it's been presented with and the NArl kids would cope just fine if the parents helped them rather than whining.

The Williamsburg families haven't been calling for greater segregation, they haven't opposed sending more planning units to Williamsburg to increase diversity. Everyone else has attributed that to them to provide a strawman, but it's not grounded in fact. At all.

Again, they are happy to have other kids bussed. They aren't stepping forward to say "hey, this is important. My kid currently gets on a bus to go from CC Hills to Williamsburg. If you'll send a busload or two from south Arlington up here, we'll gladly send our kids down to Kenmore to help balance things out."

This is the point that everyone continues to make - everyone is fine with diversity, as long as the movement of kids to achieve it doesn't impact their own kids. If you aren't willing to bus your own kids, then it's patronizing to sit back and say that you'll gladly accept some of those poor, brown kids coming into your local school.

Is there a tangible benefit to the offset hours of collective time spent on a bus? Demonstrate this, and maybe you'll get people to step forward.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not talking about the kids, I'm talking about the parents. They don't value diversity, so fine. Make W & Y as segregated as can be. It's not great for the kids, but parents are making that choice when they buy in those neigborhoods.

The SB could choose any of the options it's been presented with and the NArl kids would cope just fine if the parents helped them rather than whining.

The Williamsburg families haven't been calling for greater segregation, they haven't opposed sending more planning units to Williamsburg to increase diversity. Everyone else has attributed that to them to provide a strawman, but it's not grounded in fact. At all.

Again, they are happy to have other kids bussed. They aren't stepping forward to say "hey, this is important. My kid currently gets on a bus to go from CC Hills to Williamsburg. If you'll send a busload or two from south Arlington up here, we'll gladly send our kids down to Kenmore to help balance things out."

This is the point that everyone continues to make - everyone is fine with diversity, as long as the movement of kids to achieve it doesn't impact their own kids. If you aren't willing to bus your own kids, then it's patronizing to sit back and say that you'll gladly accept some of those poor, brown kids coming into your local school.

Anonymous wrote:I'm not talking about the kids, I'm talking about the parents. They don't value diversity, so fine. Make W & Y as segregated as can be. It's not great for the kids, but parents are making that choice when they buy in those neigborhoods.

The SB could choose any of the options it's been presented with and the NArl kids would cope just fine if the parents helped them rather than whining.

The Williamsburg families haven't been calling for greater segregation, they haven't opposed sending more planning units to Williamsburg to increase diversity. Everyone else has attributed that to them to provide a strawman, but it's not grounded in fact. At all.