Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The claws come out...

Sent to LV listserve tonight.

“Lyon Village was extended an invitation from the president of Cherrydale Civic Association to attend a meeting on Sept. 24 to discuss the Key Elementary-Science Focus Building Swap.

However, the president of Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association reached out to me this morning and let me know that Lyon Village residents are not invited to attend this meeting because "[t]he subject meeting is Ballston-Virginia Square's regular monthly meeting and we invited Cherrydale residents to join us on for the school swap agenda item as we were already considering a possible joint response to the school board. It would be difficult to discuss and take action on a neighborhood position with members of the broader Arlington community there."

I apologize for the misunderstanding, but please do not plan to attend the meeting as the Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association will be turning away uninvited guests. “

Rosslyn resident here. So I am totally showing up here. Are they checking IDs and addresses?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The SB doesn’t want to weigh in. They agree with the decision and are thrilled to not have to be involved.

I think this is correct. Its pretty cowardly on their part, and very politician-like. I don't think they are fooling anyone in the sense that they will be blamed (credited?) for this move, though. Barbara Kaninnen -chair of the SB - has already declined to attend a meeting with the Key PTA, on the grounds that their assigned SB Rep (Tania Talento) will attend, and has also refused to attend a meeting at the building where many of Key's Spanish speaking families live. I think they are hoping this just goes away. Its not a terrible bet on their part, but its far from a sure thing.

Anonymous wrote:The claws come out...

Sent to LV listserve tonight.

“Lyon Village was extended an invitation from the president of Cherrydale Civic Association to attend a meeting on Sept. 24 to discuss the Key Elementary-Science Focus Building Swap.

However, the president of Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association reached out to me this morning and let me know that Lyon Village residents are not invited to attend this meeting because "[t]he subject meeting is Ballston-Virginia Square's regular monthly meeting and we invited Cherrydale residents to join us on for the school swap agenda item as we were already considering a possible joint response to the school board. It would be difficult to discuss and take action on a neighborhood position with members of the broader Arlington community there."

I apologize for the misunderstanding, but please do not plan to attend the meeting as the Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association will be turning away uninvited guests. “

Anonymous wrote:The claws come out...

Sent to LV listserve tonight.

“Lyon Village was extended an invitation from the president of Cherrydale Civic Association to attend a meeting on Sept. 24 to discuss the Key Elementary-Science Focus Building Swap.

However, the president of Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association reached out to me this morning and let me know that Lyon Village residents are not invited to attend this meeting because "[t]he subject meeting is Ballston-Virginia Square's regular monthly meeting and we invited Cherrydale residents to join us on for the school swap agenda item as we were already considering a possible joint response to the school board. It would be difficult to discuss and take action on a neighborhood position with members of the broader Arlington community there."

I apologize for the misunderstanding, but please do not plan to attend the meeting as the Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association will be turning away uninvited guests. “

Anonymous wrote:Good for the SB. They shouldn’t be giving this any time and attention. South Arlington needs to be the focus. This is a stupid distraction.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The SB doesn’t want to weigh in. They agree with the decision and are thrilled to not have to be involved.

I think this is correct. Its pretty cowardly on their part, and very politician-like. I don't think they are fooling anyone in the sense that they will be blamed (credited?) for this move, though. Barbara Kaninnen -chair of the SB - has already declined to attend a meeting with the Key PTA, on the grounds that their assigned SB Rep (Tania Talento) will attend, and has also refused to attend a meeting at the building where many of Key's Spanish speaking families live. I think they are hoping this just goes away. Its not a terrible bet on their part, but its far from a sure thing.

Barbara doesn't need their votes; therefore she doesn't need to attend the meetings.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The SB doesn’t want to weigh in. They agree with the decision and are thrilled to not have to be involved.

I think this is correct. Its pretty cowardly on their part, and very politician-like. I don't think they are fooling anyone in the sense that they will be blamed (credited?) for this move, though. Barbara Kaninnen -chair of the SB - has already declined to attend a meeting with the Key PTA, on the grounds that their assigned SB Rep (Tania Talento) will attend, and has also refused to attend a meeting at the building where many of Key's Spanish speaking families live. I think they are hoping this just goes away. Its not a terrible bet on their part, but its far from a sure thing.

Anonymous wrote:The SB doesn’t want to weigh in. They agree with the decision and are thrilled to not have to be involved.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know. I think some of the Key population would have responded differently to the proposed swap if it didn’t feel like a deal being worked out behind the scenes between the super and a very limited interest group within ASFS. The impact on immersion was not even factored into the decision. It is a disgraceful lack of process, and one that I expect will doom the swap, at least in the short term.

Are you the woman who spoke at the meeting who is new to Arlington this year? If yes, I excuse you for not knowing that there was a process. It lasted at least half of last year. The swap decision is the result of this process, which included many community meetings, school ambassadors, walk zone working groups, etc. There was no "funny business" and everyone had their say (and then some). To paraphrase one County Board member, we can't have multi-year engagement processes where the decision makers are cowed into punting yet again on making substantive changes. We don't have the luxury of time or resources for that. We live in a dynamic place in a pretty intense moment in time. Things are changing here so rapidly that we can't wait for the 8 codgers who run each Civic Association to sign off on every little detail before we move forward. Also, I just don't see how this going to have any meaningful (negative) affect on Immersion. If that's the crux of your issue, is there a more favorable location that you can lobby for? For the health and fidelity and longevity of the Immersion program, not simply for the preference or convenience of current Key families?

Long story short, move on and let the rest of us do so, too.

The crux of my issue is that there should have been a school board vote, and I think they screwed up big time doing it this way.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know. I think some of the Key population would have responded differently to the proposed swap if it didn’t feel like a deal being worked out behind the scenes between the super and a very limited interest group within ASFS. The impact on immersion was not even factored into the decision. It is a disgraceful lack of process, and one that I expect will doom the swap, at least in the short term.

Are you the woman who spoke at the meeting who is new to Arlington this year? If yes, I excuse you for not knowing that there was a process. It lasted at least half of last year. The swap decision is the result of this process, which included many community meetings, school ambassadors, walk zone working groups, etc. There was no "funny business" and everyone had their say (and then some). To paraphrase one County Board member, we can't have multi-year engagement processes where the decision makers are cowed into punting yet again on making substantive changes. We don't have the luxury of time or resources for that. We live in a dynamic place in a pretty intense moment in time. Things are changing here so rapidly that we can't wait for the 8 codgers who run each Civic Association to sign off on every little detail before we move forward. Also, I just don't see how this going to have any meaningful (negative) affect on Immersion. If that's the crux of your issue, is there a more favorable location that you can lobby for? For the health and fidelity and longevity of the Immersion program, not simply for the preference or convenience of current Key families?

Long story short, move on and let the rest of us do so, too.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know. I think some of the Key population would have responded differently to the proposed swap if it didn’t feel like a deal being worked out behind the scenes between the super and a very limited interest group within ASFS. The impact on immersion was not even factored into the decision. It is a disgraceful lack of process, and one that I expect will doom the swap, at least in the short term.