Ha! They missed with the wrong bitch this time. Whistleblower twice successfully. Bye bye special program.

Anonymous wrote:You can lawyer up as much as you want. Many have tried before. This is how things have been for the past 30 years and it's not going to change. I'd say 95 percent of the spots are already spoken for and the rest are what is up for grabs in the lotto. Good luck. All speculation on my part, of course.

It used to be that parents used to "camp out" for spots. I won't even get into that.

Wow.

You can lawyer up as much as you want. Many have tried before. This is how things have been for the past 30 years and it's not going to change. I'd say 95 percent of the spots are already spoken for and the rest are what is up for grabs in the lotto. Good luck. All speculation on my part, of course.

It used to be that parents used to "camp out" for spots. I won't even get into that.

I was told the Principals lobby on behalf of certain parents. Given the Principal we have who is incredibly unbiased and cliquish--it's how the GT slots are also filled (not scores, grades or teacher recs)--it's no wonder the families in the club all were rewarded with admittance.

Anonymous wrote:Siblings will 95 percent always get in.

If you are considered "gifted and talented" at ATS, you will usually get in.

If you are a player in local Dem politics, you will almost always get in.

How is it a fucking double blind lottery if siblings almost always get in?

Lawyer up time.

Siblings will 95 percent always get in.

If you are considered "gifted and talented" at ATS, you will usually get in.

If you are a player in local Dem politics, you will almost always get in.

I too believe it is not random. Too many "special" kids get in. Years ago, to increase diversity (after a court struck down the prior lottery process), they began allocating slots by school district.

Do they actually check zone/verify the residency provided on the applications???

I am in a zone that is Key/ASF--only a very small # of students actually live in the Key zone. Many of the 5th graders at ASF reside in the Jamestown zone, Taylor and many lottery from other school zones. Given the VERY large waitlist # we were given on waitlist (and knowing the small key zone portion)--it doesn't add up. There aren't even this many kids living in the actual zone.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Waitlisted.

From past admittances, I'm not convinced it's a random lottery.

There just wouldn't be that many PTA Presidents kids, siblings and big elementary school donors every year. There is no sibling preference (except twins) and I know a helluva lot of siblings that attend.

Someone in my family works at HB. I've never heard anything about the lottery process that would suggest it is not a random lottery. REPEAT: As far as I know, the lottery absolutely is random. As far as my family member knows, the lottery absolutely is random.

Okay, now that I've said that I will tell you that I too do not believe it is really random.

What?! Can you elaborate on your feelings here?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^so Arlington parents--what are we going to do about this?

It's a PUBLIC school with a fake lottery.

It's not a fake lottery. Get your head out of your ass and stop believing ridiculous rumors.

Then why isn't a public drawing like the Charter schools?

You can attend. They use a double blind system, where applications are randomly assigned numbers and numbers are randomly drawn.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^so Arlington parents--what are we going to do about this?

It's a PUBLIC school with a fake lottery.

It's not a fake lottery. Get your head out of your ass and stop believing ridiculous rumors.

It just belies basic statistics every.single.year

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^so Arlington parents--what are we going to do about this?

It's a PUBLIC school with a fake lottery.

It's not a fake lottery. Get your head out of your ass and stop believing ridiculous rumors.

Then why isn't a public drawing like the Charter schools?

Anonymous wrote:^^so Arlington parents--what are we going to do about this?

It's a PUBLIC school with a fake lottery.

It's not a fake lottery. Get your head out of your ass and stop believing ridiculous rumors.

^^so Arlington parents--what are we going to do about this?

It's a PUBLIC school with a fake lottery.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Waitlisted.

From past admittances, I'm not convinced it's a random lottery.

There just wouldn't be that many PTA Presidents kids, siblings and big elementary school donors every year. There is no sibling preference (except twins) and I know a helluva lot of siblings that attend.

Someone in my family works at HB. I've never heard anything about the lottery process that would suggest it is not a random lottery. REPEAT: As far as I know, the lottery absolutely is random. As far as my family member knows, the lottery absolutely is random.

Okay, now that I've said that I will tell you that I too do not believe it is really random.

Neither is ATS. Somehow the politically connected get in at disproportionate rates. I think at both schools there's a lottery, and then they bump important people up to the top of the list.

Also, diversity IS NOT a factor. Look at the school's demographics relative to the overall APS demographics. Wealthier and whiter at HB.

And even if they did consider diversity, nothing wrong with that. They are not legally allowed to make race the only determining factor, but it can be a factor among many.