Anonymous
09/27/2018 22:19
Subject: APS/SA boundary redrawing - meeting tonight
New to this discussion. So, part of what I see is this - the county sees that once Gillian Place comes on board, Barcroft will not only be insanely overcrowded, again, but it will jump well above 80%FRL. So, Barcroft needs to shed some poor folks, so hey send the kids south of the Pike away to Drew since there is no other place with seats.
Drew is already in a poor neighborhood, so who cares! Barcroft parents have become just a tad more vocal over the years, especially after Arlington Mill was assigned to Barcroft instead of Carlin Springs.
Remember, Barcroft used to be one of the most overcrowded schools in the county, second only to Oakridge. Relief at Barcroft was one of reasons Fleet was built in the first place.
Drew is already in a poor neighborhood, so who cares! Barcroft parents have become just a tad more vocal over the years, especially after Arlington Mill was assigned to Barcroft instead of Carlin Springs.
Remember, Barcroft used to be one of the most overcrowded schools in the county, second only to Oakridge. Relief at Barcroft was one of reasons Fleet was built in the first place.
Anonymous
09/27/2018 20:55
Subject: APS/SA boundary redrawing - meeting tonight
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Please stop blaming Henry for the concentration of poverty in S Arlington. This is exactly what N Arlington wants. Fleet is not going to take N Arlington PUs and the PUs south of the Pike are not all expensive homes. Some are apartments, some are condos, some are duplexes, and many of the single family homes are rentals. Yes there are some MC homes with kids but let’s not pretend it’s all lily white and UMC SFHs with kids. The area is very diverse economically and it has its share of FARMS and homelessness. Henry did not pull the ladder up. It just wants to keep its school.
It’s the entire counties job to balance diversity that is where the blame lies. A handful of MC kids will not balance a 90% plus poverty rate at Drew.
I tried to point some of this out earlier also, as someone who actually lives in that neighborhood. It’s strange that we are suddenly THE thing that is going to take Drew out of high FARMs. I don’t get it, to be honest.
I tried to do some rough, back of the envelope calculations, and making assumptions in favor of the Drew parents on this Board (e.g., that all ED kids would be replaced by non-ED kids), it seems like moving those south-of-Columbia Pike Henry PUs to Drew would decrease Drew's poverty rate by about 10-15 percent.
I agree with the Drew parents that pulling in Columbia Heights is wrong on many levels, but I agree with Henry parents that tearing apart a school community is not the way to "improve" Drew. For example, when Montessori made its own PTA, they were assuming that Oakridge parents were coming to "save" Drew. But, it's my understanding that Nauck CA has worked hard over the past 2 years to prevent that from happening.
Let's not assume Montessori assumed anything. Montessori was going to establish its PTA regardless of who came or didn't come. That's just a stupid remark. It's not like Montessori was ever going to say, "oh, wait a minute! since Oakridge isn't taking our place, we'll stay."
And "tearing apart a school community" is just exaggerated drama and hysteria. Boundaries have to change. When boundaries change, some people actually get moved from one school to another school. What's APS supposed to do? Leave Drew sitting with 450 empty seats? Just wait for more students to come into the neighborhood and fill those seats when they do? Let Fleet, the largest elementary school in the system, be overcapacity in a year and leaving no room for enrollment growth from its zoned boundary?
Did anyone see the Washington Post article yesterday about Montgomery County schools making diversity its primary factor in new boundaries? Why? because the SCHOOL SYSTEM is actually trying to DO SOMETHING to mitigate the impacts of the COUNTY'S housing patterns and REDUCE SEGREGATION in its schools. THAT's progressive policy. THAT's political courage. THAT's elected leaders (the majority who voted for it) making decisions and doing their jobs.
Um, it's not an assumption because I'm a Montessori parent involved in the previous PTA. Montessori said, let's do our own PTA this year because Oakridge will be coming in and we don't have to worry about leaving the rest of the PTA (which, honestly, there was none) in the lurch.
Bingo. Poor schools don't have PTAs. Yet another reason not to intentionally create them.
But you left without knowing who would be coming to Drew. Before anyone else knew they would be coming and therefore could get involved to start building the new Drew community. You left Drew without experienced leadership in place, while it was still a majority FRL 200-student community with limited parental engagement. Why the big rush? Why couldn't you slowly transition and start-up your new PTA in January after the boundary decision was made, after guiding new leadership from the Drew side into their new roles, and after the new families knew who they were and could start getting involved? You left Drew PTA "in the lurch" merely by prematurely draining it of its experienced leadership. Montessori could have been doing more last year to recruit and engage and motivate Drew parents to get involved, shadow them in their roles, etc. Or even done so this fall. But you didn't.
And you will not convince me that Montessori was not going to establish its own PTA even if they had been expecting carlin Springs to backfill their seats.
Totally agree. Notice that I said involved in the previous PTA. Montessori only cares about Montessori.
Anonymous
09/27/2018 19:31
Subject: APS/SA boundary redrawing - meeting tonight
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Please stop blaming Henry for the concentration of poverty in S Arlington. This is exactly what N Arlington wants. Fleet is not going to take N Arlington PUs and the PUs south of the Pike are not all expensive homes. Some are apartments, some are condos, some are duplexes, and many of the single family homes are rentals. Yes there are some MC homes with kids but let’s not pretend it’s all lily white and UMC SFHs with kids. The area is very diverse economically and it has its share of FARMS and homelessness. Henry did not pull the ladder up. It just wants to keep its school.
It’s the entire counties job to balance diversity that is where the blame lies. A handful of MC kids will not balance a 90% plus poverty rate at Drew.
I tried to point some of this out earlier also, as someone who actually lives in that neighborhood. It’s strange that we are suddenly THE thing that is going to take Drew out of high FARMs. I don’t get it, to be honest.
I tried to do some rough, back of the envelope calculations, and making assumptions in favor of the Drew parents on this Board (e.g., that all ED kids would be replaced by non-ED kids), it seems like moving those south-of-Columbia Pike Henry PUs to Drew would decrease Drew's poverty rate by about 10-15 percent.
I agree with the Drew parents that pulling in Columbia Heights is wrong on many levels, but I agree with Henry parents that tearing apart a school community is not the way to "improve" Drew. For example, when Montessori made its own PTA, they were assuming that Oakridge parents were coming to "save" Drew. But, it's my understanding that Nauck CA has worked hard over the past 2 years to prevent that from happening.
Let's not assume Montessori assumed anything. Montessori was going to establish its PTA regardless of who came or didn't come. That's just a stupid remark. It's not like Montessori was ever going to say, "oh, wait a minute! since Oakridge isn't taking our place, we'll stay."
And "tearing apart a school community" is just exaggerated drama and hysteria. Boundaries have to change. When boundaries change, some people actually get moved from one school to another school. What's APS supposed to do? Leave Drew sitting with 450 empty seats? Just wait for more students to come into the neighborhood and fill those seats when they do? Let Fleet, the largest elementary school in the system, be overcapacity in a year and leaving no room for enrollment growth from its zoned boundary?
Did anyone see the Washington Post article yesterday about Montgomery County schools making diversity its primary factor in new boundaries? Why? because the SCHOOL SYSTEM is actually trying to DO SOMETHING to mitigate the impacts of the COUNTY'S housing patterns and REDUCE SEGREGATION in its schools. THAT's progressive policy. THAT's political courage. THAT's elected leaders (the majority who voted for it) making decisions and doing their jobs.
Um, it's not an assumption because I'm a Montessori parent involved in the previous PTA. Montessori said, let's do our own PTA this year because Oakridge will be coming in and we don't have to worry about leaving the rest of the PTA (which, honestly, there was none) in the lurch.
Bingo. Poor schools don't have PTAs. Yet another reason not to intentionally create them.
But you left without knowing who would be coming to Drew. Before anyone else knew they would be coming and therefore could get involved to start building the new Drew community. You left Drew without experienced leadership in place, while it was still a majority FRL 200-student community with limited parental engagement. Why the big rush? Why couldn't you slowly transition and start-up your new PTA in January after the boundary decision was made, after guiding new leadership from the Drew side into their new roles, and after the new families knew who they were and could start getting involved? You left Drew PTA "in the lurch" merely by prematurely draining it of its experienced leadership. Montessori could have been doing more last year to recruit and engage and motivate Drew parents to get involved, shadow them in their roles, etc. Or even done so this fall. But you didn't.
And you will not convince me that Montessori was not going to establish its own PTA even if they had been expecting carlin Springs to backfill their seats.
Anonymous
09/27/2018 19:20
Subject: APS/SA boundary redrawing - meeting tonight
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Please stop blaming Henry for the concentration of poverty in S Arlington. This is exactly what N Arlington wants. Fleet is not going to take N Arlington PUs and the PUs south of the Pike are not all expensive homes. Some are apartments, some are condos, some are duplexes, and many of the single family homes are rentals. Yes there are some MC homes with kids but let’s not pretend it’s all lily white and UMC SFHs with kids. The area is very diverse economically and it has its share of FARMS and homelessness. Henry did not pull the ladder up. It just wants to keep its school.
It’s the entire counties job to balance diversity that is where the blame lies. A handful of MC kids will not balance a 90% plus poverty rate at Drew.
I tried to point some of this out earlier also, as someone who actually lives in that neighborhood. It’s strange that we are suddenly THE thing that is going to take Drew out of high FARMs. I don’t get it, to be honest.
But here's the thing: if you do t go to Drew some other neighborhood has to. In this case, it's Columbia Forest. You can run the numbers yourself: both the pu at Henry south of the pike and Columbia Forest have about 200 students. The farms rate for those Henry units south of the pike is about 50% so yes, diverse. Also about half white/Asian.
What about Columbia Forest planning units? It's over 80% disadvantaged. The math here is difficult because in many units, aps says there are more disadvantaged students than there are total students. Likewise, APS figures show Columbia Forest has more black and Hispanic students than total students so it's safe to say it's more racially segregated than the Henry PUs as well.
Basically, when Henry said no, we won't go to Drew aps found a poorer, more minority neighborhood to go to Drew instead, one that definitely worsens Drew's farms rate by its inclusion. And does the students in Columbia Forest no favor either- busing them past two closer schools to attend what will likely be the poorest school in the system.
And what would this do to Henry's FRL rate? It would go even lower, yes? I don't support this current plan - I think it is morally irreprehensible to intentionally establish an 80% FRL school - but one factor that makes this whole puzzle even more challenging is not letting some schools (like Oakridge and Henry) to continue losing what economic diversity they have left. APS (staff, not SB) is listening - they've finally heard that "we" want schools to reflect the system overall. So for them, getting Oakridge and Henry up to/at that 32% FRL rate is an end goal even if it means creating a 3rd highly segregated school. So how can we get Henry's FRL back up even a bit higher AND drastically reduce the FRL at Drew? Oakridge can certainly use some more low-income families; but where are they going to come from?
The Berkeley.
Only if it stays in the Oakridge zone.
Anonymous
09/27/2018 19:17
Subject: APS/SA boundary redrawing - meeting tonight
.
No, I’m not upset. Just trying to say that it’s too bad that now south Arlington is fighting each other when we should be a solid front. Honestly though, I now get how north Arlington gets tired of us. I guess it’s all relative.
And I'm saying don't expect any solidarity from Drew when you print matching tshirts to avoid being rezoned to Drew.
Gotcha. FWIW, I’m 3 blocks from Fleet, so rezoning wouldn’t have personally affected me. Just supporting keeping my community together when we feel that that was promised to us. Although I see how your view that differently.
Everyone knows that the parents and homeowners in the PUs south of the pike zoned to Henry were scared and angry about the possibility of going to Drew because of its demographics. "Keep Henry together" is just messaging because the truth is unpalatable and embarassing. Other schools are going to lose a chunk of students that have been going there for years, why should Henry be different?
I don't disagree at all that nobody wanted to be sent to Drew. Nevertheless, why can't you believe that current Henry people simply wanted to stay with their school because -- like all you northern folks -- they really love their school. It's a high-performing school and a diverse community in an active civic association. And why aren't you harassing the Oakridge people? You don't think they've been fighting tooth and nail not to go to Drew (or to Hoffman Boston, though that is more palatable to them - and look where they're going: Hoffman Boston).
BTW, Hoffman Boston is only going to be 98% capacity - so what's in the next round for them?
No one is "harassing" anyone. Oakridge was a nonentity with regard to Drew. The schools and their walk zones are separated by an 8 lane freeway. Of course you want to stay at Henry. Henry's zone has shed most of its affordable housing over the last 10 years and in the process has achieved a concentration of wealth that has produced a strong well resources pta, and home values beginning to approach 1 million in Arlington heights. Your school used to be 65% farms. Today, your school having an abundance of those resources really does mean other south Arlington schools lose out. It is a zero sum game and you really screwed everyone else with your self interested lobbying. Especially Columbia Forest. You pulled he ladder up behind you, plain and simple.
I'm not at Henry. Never was at Henry. Never will be at Henry. 8 lane highway? You've heard of buses, right? And those buses don't even have to cross 395 - they can drive right under it. And don't tell me families in Arlington Ridge can't get to Drew because they don't have transportation.
So stop assuming you know who I am and who you're responding to.
I don't believe Columbia Forest should be sent to Drew. People on this forum have cited the "tearing apart" of the Henry community by moving a few PUs to Drew, and how they get to stay in tact. Well that just means somebody else's community gets "torn apart" instead. Get over it, people. Kids pass through schools and are part of the community no matter which school they're in.
I also can't believe nobody is bashing Oakridge parents who have had their strong advocacy efforts going on behind the scenes this whole time. I'd like to know that they were advocating to retain the diversity they have left and going to Hoffman Boston instead of Drew - rather than what everyone else is doing and advocating not to go to Drew. Oakridge knows people have to be moved - so they probably opted for a less undesirable scenario....like their kids getting bussed under 395.