Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Key district IS the Science Focus district.

but what if OP got zoned out of Key/ASFS to, say, Long Branch? that boundary is likely to change as the next one. nothing is guaranteed unless its on the same block of the school i guess.

Um, clearly you don't know what you are talking about. If you live right next door to ASFS you go to Taylor, not ASFS.

OP, your kid is fine. It might change down the line, but very, very unlikely before next year.

why so rude? my point is the change could affect every school. you said it yourself.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Almost every Arlington elementary school has some special program. If you don't want Key, Science Focus, Taylor or Jamestown for your kids, Barrett, Campbell, and Drew have receive a lot of transfers from all over the county. There are lots of options.

I do want Taylor, in the sense that we are there and very happy. But it's ridiculous to me, just in terms of efficiency, that we have to go to a school so far away just to avoid a special program.

It's because they closed all the small neighborhood schools in the 70s and 80s. The Taylor school zone covers neighborhoods that were zoned to three different elementary schools and Taylor itself.

Anonymous wrote:
Almost every Arlington elementary school has some special program. If you don't want Key, Science Focus, Taylor or Jamestown for your kids, Barrett, Campbell, and Drew have receive a lot of transfers from all over the county. There are lots of options.

I do want Taylor, in the sense that we are there and very happy. But it's ridiculous to me, just in terms of efficiency, that we have to go to a school so far away just to avoid a special program.

My child is at one of the overcrowded N Arl. schools and I appreciate that they are finally *planning* to do something about it.

I worry, however, that they aren't also looking down the road b/c these kids won't be in elementary school forever. The entering K class this year was enormous and they will eventually feed into Swanson & Williamsburg. Is APS going to wait until the bubble reaches MS level or are they planning for that, as well?

Anonymous wrote:Aren't Taylor and Jamestown at or above capacity? If so, wouldn't that mean they would be affected by boundary changes?
What makes you think Murphy doesn't want to do away with the team school concept and go back to neighborhood schools in those areas?
I just don't see how you can so definitively say ASFS wouldn't be affected.
The boundary changes are going to cause a ripple effect across the northern part of the county.

Whatever happens in the future won't affect the OP next year, or while her kids are at ASF. Anyway, APS is focusing on increasing capacity for McKinley, Ashlawn, Tuckahoe, Nottingham right now.

There are big changes coming. At this point everyone is just consulting crystal balls.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
APS can't -- or shouldn't -- force parents to put their kids in an immersion program, but there's no reason the alternative should be another special program, such as ASFS.

Yes! That never made sense to me.

That's why the team school concept was created. Families living in the Key/SF boundary could also choose between Taylor and Jamestown. Each school in the team had its own unique programs. Science Focus just happened to become wildly popular and no one could have predicted that 20 years ago. .

OK, but it's 20 years later, ASFS is wildly popular and Taylor is packed to the rafters. We're zoned for Key and didn't want a special program, but if there were a plain old elementary school in our hood, we'd have gone there, meaning a few fewer bodies in one of the overpopulated schools in the north part of town.

Almost every Arlington elementary school has some special program. If you don't want Key, Science Focus, Taylor or Jamestown for your kids, Barrett, Campbell, and Drew have receive a lot of transfers from all over the county. There are lots of options.

Aren't Taylor and Jamestown at or above capacity? If so, wouldn't that mean they would be affected by boundary changes?
What makes you think Murphy doesn't want to do away with the team school concept and go back to neighborhood schools in those areas?
I just don't see how you can so definitively say ASFS wouldn't be affected.
The boundary changes are going to cause a ripple effect across the northern part of the county.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
APS can't -- or shouldn't -- force parents to put their kids in an immersion program, but there's no reason the alternative should be another special program, such as ASFS.

Yes! That never made sense to me.

That's why the team school concept was created. Families living in the Key/SF boundary could also choose between Taylor and Jamestown. Each school in the team had its own unique programs. Science Focus just happened to become wildly popular and no one could have predicted that 20 years ago. .

OK, but it's 20 years later, ASFS is wildly popular and Taylor is packed to the rafters. We're zoned for Key and didn't want a special program, but if there were a plain old elementary school in our hood, we'd have gone there, meaning a few fewer bodies in one of the overpopulated schools in the north part of town.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
APS can't -- or shouldn't -- force parents to put their kids in an immersion program, but there's no reason the alternative should be another special program, such as ASFS.

Yes! That never made sense to me.

That's why the team school concept was created. Families living in the Key/SF boundary could also choose between Taylor and Jamestown. Each school in the team had its own unique programs. Science Focus just happened to become wildly popular and no one could have predicted that 20 years ago. .

Anonymous wrote:
APS can't -- or shouldn't -- force parents to put their kids in an immersion program, but there's no reason the alternative should be another special program, such as ASFS.

Yes! That never made sense to me.

OP, you're safe. Boundary changes will eventually happen in the north western part of the county where the new schools will be built.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Key district IS the Science Focus district.

but what if OP got zoned out of Key/ASFS to, say, Long Branch? that boundary is likely to change as the next one. nothing is guaranteed unless its on the same block of the school i guess.

Um, clearly you don't know what you are talking about. If you live right next door to ASFS you go to Taylor, not ASFS.

OP, your kid is fine. It might change down the line, but very, very unlikely before next year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't count on that.

Me neither. Jamestown, etc. has just as much "right" to Science Focus as Key.

No. That is incorrect. They can't force anyone to do immersion.
If you are Key zone- you automatically get ASFS.

I don't see them changing Key zone in everything I've read so far and we are "inside" as far as Board goes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Key district IS the Science Focus district.

but what if OP got zoned out of Key/ASFS to, say, Long Branch? that boundary is likely to change as the next one. nothing is guaranteed unless its on the same block of the school i guess.

Long Branch is at capacity and so is Taylor. So, no. ASF boundaries aren't changing any time soon. Hoffman Boston is under enrolled though, but that is miles away from ASF/Key