Anonymous wrote:
There are equally obnoxious students and parents at W-L.

Not disagreeing (we're at W-L), but what's your point?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The SB hasn't put up the video of the December 15 meeting yet, at which several APS students spoke, but here is Kanninen's response to those who disagree with the SB's decision:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_uRkco4fcpe-bKe25tOVRFjiCdwHQxQpHQ/view

Thanks for posting. Did anyone watch or attend the meeting and hear the student from Yorktown? Kanninen referenced that student in particular and seemed distressed at what I guess is an anecdote the student related?

I think this student's statement is the one referenced in the WaPo article:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/va-high-school-students-assail-new-school-boundary-plan-as-apartheid/2016/12/16/2e8defc2-c3b8-11e6-9a51-cd56ea1c2bb7_story.html?utm_term=.8d211ca2941b

A junior at Yorktown, her voice shaking, recounted a time when a classmate told her that slavery was justified and that she should go back to Africa. She said he then jokingly threatened to brand black people and make them his slaves if they didn’t leave the country, a remark that elicited laughter from other classmates.

There are equally obnoxious students and parents at W-L.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The SB hasn't put up the video of the December 15 meeting yet, at which several APS students spoke, but here is Kanninen's response to those who disagree with the SB's decision:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_uRkco4fcpe-bKe25tOVRFjiCdwHQxQpHQ/view

Thanks for posting. Did anyone watch or attend the meeting and hear the student from Yorktown? Kanninen referenced that student in particular and seemed distressed at what I guess is an anecdote the student related?

I think this student's statement is the one referenced in the WaPo article:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/va-high-school-students-assail-new-school-boundary-plan-as-apartheid/2016/12/16/2e8defc2-c3b8-11e6-9a51-cd56ea1c2bb7_story.html?utm_term=.8d211ca2941b

A junior at Yorktown, her voice shaking, recounted a time when a classmate told her that slavery was justified and that she should go back to Africa. She said he then jokingly threatened to brand black people and make them his slaves if they didn’t leave the country, a remark that elicited laughter from other classmates.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone shed any light on Kanninen's behavior during this process? Why was she so intent on creating a new option? What were her complaints about the original 3, and how did the new option 4 address those complaints? This was the one SB meeting I missed.

I posted about it in a prior thread.http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/quote/0/9901885.page I can't stand that woman!!

Did you always feel that way, or have her actions lowered your opinion? (I ask because I was originally so happy that someone who understands data was going to be on the SB, and now I just . . . I don't know what. I'm not one to scream at people, but she infuriates me because she could do better and chooses not to. I seethe a lot.)

NP. I have found her infuriating during this process also. Her statements that people are playing fast and loose with the facts are hard to evaluate, and frankly ring a little false themselves, because she offered no, well, facts to support her statements. I understand data, too (that's my job), and I didn't see anything in Matthew Herrity's letter, for example, that was factually incorrect. Nor did the school board's reaction to the letter point out any factual errors.

Also, I can't help but note that despite her focus on data, she apparently missed a HUGE factual error in the early supporting documents (as discussed much earlier in this thread, or maybe it was the other one)--an error that should have been immediately apparent to anyone with any numbers sense at all. (Mathematically, there was simply no way the numbers could have worked out that way, and someone with Kanninen's background and training should have seen it immediately.) What's interesting about the fact that she, and everyone, missed this is that that error made it appear that all the options being considered were going to increase the percentage of F/RL students at W-L from the current 31% to more than 40%. No one on the SB apparently blinked an eye. Which tells you just how much attention they were paying to "diversity" in this process. They just didn't see this as important in any way. I suppose you could see that in a positive light--they are convinced that APS schools are so terrific that no concentration of poor children, no matter how high, could undermine the educational process here.

To me, it seems like she pays attention to the facts that are important to her, ignores the ones that aren't, and perhaps is so focused on her favorite facts that she is blind to appearances. To do this job well, she needs to at least acknowledge the facts that matter to some of her constituents, and she needs to be more savvy about how SB decisions will be perceived, by people who aren't so good with data as well as by people who are.

There were also people who warned the SB that this process was becoming very demoralizing to Wakefield students, teachers, and staff. That this has happened nevertheless seems to have surprised her and others SB members. Again, it just seems like they weren't listening to things they didn't want to hear.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A very powerful letter written by a student at Washington and Lee High School. I'm in Fairfax, but we have similar issues here and "white" (or higher SES) flight from more diverse schools.

http://www.crossedsabres.org/opinion-2/2016/12/07/open-letter-to-the-school-board/

I also recommend this podcast:
https://m.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/562/the-problem-we-all-live-with

And these articles:
http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2016/01/white-kids-benefits-diverse-schools
http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/10/19/446085513/the-evidence-that-white-children-benefit-from-integrated-schools

Hmm. Did Herrity and his friend's try to pupil place at Wakefield? Are he and his friend's parents willing to pay the county to compensate for any increased costs due to transportation?

Why should students at the only high school that reflects the demographics of the county move to another high school? Especially when that high school is very diverse and high performing? Isn't the point that that model is working? What purpose would this serve?

Anonymous wrote:The SB hasn't put up the video of the December 15 meeting yet, at which several APS students spoke, but here is Kanninen's response to those who disagree with the SB's decision:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_uRkco4fcpe-bKe25tOVRFjiCdwHQxQpHQ/view

Thanks for posting. Did anyone watch or attend the meeting and hear the student from Yorktown? Kanninen referenced that student in particular and seemed distressed at what I guess is an anecdote the student related?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone shed any light on Kanninen's behavior during this process? Why was she so intent on creating a new option? What were her complaints about the original 3, and how did the new option 4 address those complaints? This was the one SB meeting I missed.

I posted about it in a prior thread.http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/quote/0/9901885.page I can't stand that woman!!

Did you always feel that way, or have her actions lowered your opinion? (I ask because I was originally so happy that someone who understands data was going to be on the SB, and now I just . . . I don't know what. I'm not one to scream at people, but she infuriates me because she could do better and chooses not to. I seethe a lot.)

Anonymous wrote:The irony is that Yorktown HS most closely mirrors the demographics of Arlington County.

Of Arlington County as a whole, or of the school-age population?

I don't see how it can be the latter when the other two high schools are so much more diverse (racially and economically) than Yorktown.

The irony is that Yorktown HS most closely mirrors the demographics of Arlington County.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are all "whites" lumped together?

There's gotta be a lot of diversity of people of German, Italian, Irish, British, etc. origin.

Kind of tongue-in-check. I know when they mean diversity they just mean "not so many white people."

Why is the lack of white people good?

Because they are the past, not the future.

So white people are not able to live here? Where should we go? White people are the past? How racist is that? In many areas of the USA and the DMV being white does not mean high SES.

Anonymous wrote:A very powerful letter written by a student at Washington and Lee High School. I'm in Fairfax, but we have similar issues here and "white" (or higher SES) flight from more diverse schools.

http://www.crossedsabres.org/opinion-2/2016/12/07/open-letter-to-the-school-board/

I also recommend this podcast:
https://m.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/562/the-problem-we-all-live-with

And these articles:
http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2016/01/white-kids-benefits-diverse-schools
http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/10/19/446085513/the-evidence-that-white-children-benefit-from-integrated-schools

Hmm. Did Herrity and his friend's try to pupil place at Wakefield? Are he and his friend's parents willing to pay the county to compensate for any increased costs due to transportation?

^^ that's the point.

The only people who care, are the upper middle class whites moving into south Arlington. They just need to have enough room for those students ( away from Wakefield). That's all they have to do. Promise another option for those students.
Problem solved.

The SB hasn't put up the video of the December 15 meeting yet, at which several APS students spoke, but here is Kanninen's response to those who disagree with the SB's decision:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_uRkco4fcpe-bKe25tOVRFjiCdwHQxQpHQ/view

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Matthew was on the news this afternoon!
Great job.
If you haven't taken the time to sign the petition, please do so. We've got some great momentum going.
Let's keep it up!

Or, if you object to diversity, do come to meetings and say that publicly.

False dichotomy. You are not against diversity if you don't want to lose the right to send your kids to neighborhood schools or see them bused to another part of the county when they should be able to attend a school closer to home.

Sorry. We are a tiny county. You didn't get a school promised to you when you signed the deed to your house. The only thing that should be happening is equal quality and opportunities for all APS students.
They need to draw lines vertically. It's the only way to get a mix.

Does anyone know what type of choice school it is supposed to be? This is such a freaking nightmare.

They can do that once they build a high school that's actually in the eastern part of the county. Until then, put a lid on it.

They aren't going to build another high school.

Correct. They are adding 1300 seats at the Ed Center. It will be a choice program. SB Members are already telling folks this in closed door meetings. There will be no 4th comprehensive HS.

What does that even mean? What program would make kids want to go there as opposed to a normal high school? Would the students be considered W-L students for purposes of sports and activities, or part of their base schools like HB?

The idea I've heard floated is that the IB program could be moved to the ed center and expanded. Students would go home to their base schools for sports, as with HB.

This, of course, would draw even more white, well-off students away from Wakefield. It's a terrible idea.

Anonymous wrote:It's stunning that they were blind sided by this. How did they not know this is an issue?

If they were truly surprised, we need to take some responsibility for this mess. They clearly haven't been hearing this from citizens.

There were many people who showed up at the SB meetings and pointed out exactly what Matthew Herrity wrote so eloquently about. The idea that they hadn't heard this before is baloney. They didn't listen, or they didn't want to hear.

I also think it is stunning that they just didn't get how badly this would play. The report that APS has 3 of the most segregated schools in the state came out just a few weeks before they made their decision. Several speakers brought up this report at one of the SB meetings, many of us wrote to them about it and talked to them in person. This decision was just colossally tone-deaf.