Anonymous
Post 10/08/2017 16:09     Subject: APS middle school boundary process
Anonymous wrote:I don't think that we can solve the problems of income inequality that fall along racial lines by fixing middle school boundaries. If we were living in a place where there's white flight or crosses on the lawn at the first sign of a brown person, you've got systemic issues. But the reality is you have to have money to live in the northern parts (actually all the parts, but you need even more in the north) so trying to force some ridiculous gerrymandering in order to maintain the idea that you will have socioeconomic diversity one of the richest counties in the nation is a pretty futile exercise. No matter how you slice it, the prime real estate is statistically not likely to be filled with Central American immigrants.

And those of you thinking that what's happening in S. Arlington schools because of the FARMS and ESL kids clearly continue to live in a bubble and have never seen what truly sh*t schools are like. There was a PBS documentary called "180 Days: A Year in an American High School" that looked at one of DC's charter schools that shows what truly bad environments look like. It's not that your snowflake has to possibly sit still for five minutes because the teacher has to address someone else. The Arlington school system is exactly what anyone who ever dealt with economically disadvantaged students hope they would get.

Stop it with this racist name calling BS. If you think this is what terrible racism looks like, you really live in a fairy princess world.


Any plan that puts Kenmore or TJ at or over 50% poverty is completely irresponsible. That’s no fairy tale. We don’t need to force the far north into compliance, but central Arlington needs to pitch in.
Anonymous
Post 10/08/2017 15:04     Subject: APS middle school boundary process
I don't think that we can solve the problems of income inequality that fall along racial lines by fixing middle school boundaries. If we were living in a place where there's white flight or crosses on the lawn at the first sign of a brown person, you've got systemic issues. But the reality is you have to have money to live in the northern parts (actually all the parts, but you need even more in the north) so trying to force some ridiculous gerrymandering in order to maintain the idea that you will have socioeconomic diversity one of the richest counties in the nation is a pretty futile exercise. No matter how you slice it, the prime real estate is statistically not likely to be filled with Central American immigrants.

And those of you thinking that what's happening in S. Arlington schools because of the FARMS and ESL kids clearly continue to live in a bubble and have never seen what truly sh*t schools are like. There was a PBS documentary called "180 Days: A Year in an American High School" that looked at one of DC's charter schools that shows what truly bad environments look like. It's not that your snowflake has to possibly sit still for five minutes because the teacher has to address someone else. The Arlington school system is exactly what anyone who ever dealt with economically disadvantaged students hope they would get.

Stop it with this racist name calling BS. If you think this is what terrible racism looks like, you really live in a fairy princess world.
Anonymous
Post 10/08/2017 14:06     Subject: APS middle school boundary process
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:These maps with the #s are so much more helpful. I'm in South Arl, zoned for Gunston under almost any scenario. Based on these maps/numbers, H is my preference. Honestly, I don't care about Williamsburg and its numbers. They have their own issues. Let's just do the best with the situation we have in the south, which appears to me to be H.

A PP who pointed out that the Alignment map would crush Jefferson was right on - not only would it be over 50% FARMS, it would be the second most over-capacity in just a few more years. Not a good solution. Plus that Arl Heights area is already getting hosed in the HS debate.


Wow, a bit heavy, don't you think? I thought only parents in N. Arl. were seemingly this selfish? You mean to say that even parents in the Southern part only care about their own backyard? So you say the stated need for diversity is all a ruse???



Dp- is reading hard for you? I don't want to insult you if you have some sort of developmental delay...
The above post is obviously saying that we should do the best we can within reason. If that means that Williamsburg becomes under capacity, all white, and rich- so be it. The county has created some borderline insurmountable problems. We can only do so much. If there is a solution that solves most of our issues, but Williamsburg ends up not shouldering their fair share- so be it.
I'm not looking for a pound of flesh as a south Arlington parent. Just a reasonable plan.


ITA with this, and this was my opinion regarding Yorktown and the high school boundaries. As the county is currently constructed, you can't have better diversity across all schools AND minimize busing. You just can't. And the visceral reaction to busing would generate enormous political blowback if it were proposed. It's not worth it, IMO to risk failure of the entire effort. Forget about diversifying Wmsbg and YHS, and instead focus on achieving better diversity in the other middle/high schools.

And before I get accused of being a racist Wmsbg parent, or conversely a S. Arlington resident who thought I was getting a great deal by buying there but now is complaining about the schools: I live in 22207, currently zoned for Swanson & W-L, with kids in high school/college so my family isn't affected regardless. (I haven't studied all the proposals, but given our location, I'm guessing we will get rezoned to Stratford.)
Anonymous
Post 10/07/2017 22:43     Subject: Re:APS middle school boundary process
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Let me reiterate: Thank God my youngest kids are in 8th grade. You idiots deserve all this. After all, it's the Arlington Way.


Don't you have to go beat up some parents over your kid's racist graffiti?



I think the the gist of this reply has something to do with Yorktown. As I have never had a kid at Yorktown, I have no fucking idea what you are insinuating.


DP - people who follow the school issues know. If you are here commenting, then you should know.


Pp clearly knows, given that she mentioned Yorktown. The question is, why is the crazy person insinuating that pp is a racist, or has kids at Yorktown, or is violent, or anything else that pp gave no indication of?

This thread has really flown off the rails in Crazytown.
Anonymous
Post 10/07/2017 22:40     Subject: Re:APS middle school boundary process
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Let me reiterate: Thank God my youngest kids are in 8th grade. You idiots deserve all this. After all, it's the Arlington Way.


Don't you have to go beat up some parents over your kid's racist graffiti?



I think the the gist of this reply has something to do with Yorktown. As I have never had a kid at Yorktown, I have no fucking idea what you are insinuating.



That you are a racist tw@t.



NP. What exactly is the basis for your wildly inappropriate insinuations and blind accusations? You really are a piece of work.
Anonymous
Post 10/07/2017 22:26     Subject: Re:APS middle school boundary process
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Let me reiterate: Thank God my youngest kids are in 8th grade. You idiots deserve all this. After all, it's the Arlington Way.


Don't you have to go beat up some parents over your kid's racist graffiti?



I think the the gist of this reply has something to do with Yorktown. As I have never had a kid at Yorktown, I have no fucking idea what you are insinuating.



That you are a racist tw@t.



My my, people in this town are unpleasant. Another example of the Arlington Way?
Anonymous
Post 10/07/2017 22:20     Subject: Re:APS middle school boundary process
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Let me reiterate: Thank God my youngest kids are in 8th grade. You idiots deserve all this. After all, it's the Arlington Way.


Don't you have to go beat up some parents over your kid's racist graffiti?



I think the the gist of this reply has something to do with Yorktown. As I have never had a kid at Yorktown, I have no fucking idea what you are insinuating.


DP - people who follow the school issues know. If you are here commenting, then you should know.
Anonymous
Post 10/07/2017 22:20     Subject: Re:APS middle school boundary process
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Let me reiterate: Thank God my youngest kids are in 8th grade. You idiots deserve all this. After all, it's the Arlington Way.


Don't you have to go beat up some parents over your kid's racist graffiti?



I think the the gist of this reply has something to do with Yorktown. As I have never had a kid at Yorktown, I have no fucking idea what you are insinuating.



That you are a racist tw@t.

Anonymous
Post 10/07/2017 21:44     Subject: Re:APS middle school boundary process
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Let me reiterate: Thank God my youngest kids are in 8th grade. You idiots deserve all this. After all, it's the Arlington Way.


Don't you have to go beat up some parents over your kid's racist graffiti?



I think the the gist of this reply has something to do with Yorktown. As I have never had a kid at Yorktown, I have no fucking idea what you are insinuating.
Anonymous
Post 10/07/2017 15:54     Subject: APS middle school boundary process
Anonymous wrote:TBF to the school board, they are stuck with a basically immutable set of crappy circumstances - small county, limited county ownership of land, high private land prices, ballooning school population, relatively low tax base, relatively low % of ppl willing to support increased taxes (due to the low % of residents with children in the schools), and the existing AH layout. If they don't want to show up to meetings and say, essentially, yup it all sucks and we can't really do anything about it, then they have to trot out lines like "all APS schools are excellent" and "shift scheduling could be appealing to some students." Whether they now believe their own lines (cognitive dissonance is a powerful thing), I can't say.


There are intractable problems, and the County Board's failure to take the long view or to show some spine or credit residents with being open to reasoned argument is part of the problem (when people raised objections to the streetcar, the Board hired a PR firm rather than explaining why our streetcar would work better than Portland's, for example).

But the biggest problem, as I see it, is a Reaganesque refusal to speak ill of other Board members, unless you're Nancy Van Doren, and let's all hope you're not, because one is more than enough. So we are stuck with a crappy superintendent and his crappy, expensive decisions, and that creates budgetary problems that mean we can't afford to do basic, proven things that would help and instead go for the shiny. And no one is willing to tell parents that if their biggest problem is that their kid's in a trailer, they don't actually have any problems, that if you want one type of school to start later, you're going to have to have other schools starting earlier, that there's a difference between not liking paying for extended day and having extended day costs cut into your fun money, that their job is to provide a quality education to all kids, and if a choice does that, too bad about any tiny ding to the increase in your property values.
Anonymous
Post 10/07/2017 12:36     Subject: APS middle school boundary process
TBF to the school board, they are stuck with a basically immutable set of crappy circumstances - small county, limited county ownership of land, high private land prices, ballooning school population, relatively low tax base, relatively low % of ppl willing to support increased taxes (due to the low % of residents with children in the schools), and the existing AH layout. If they don't want to show up to meetings and say, essentially, yup it all sucks and we can't really do anything about it, then they have to trot out lines like "all APS schools are excellent" and "shift scheduling could be appealing to some students." Whether they now believe their own lines (cognitive dissonance is a powerful thing), I can't say.
Anonymous
Post 10/07/2017 10:43     Subject: APS middle school boundary process
Anonymous wrote:^^ and meanwhile, the rest of us hate on dcurban moms


There are some legitimate grievances. You can’t actually say anything truthful during the process. Look what happened to Reid Goldstein last year.
Anonymous
Post 10/07/2017 10:13     Subject: Re:APS middle school boundary process
Anonymous wrote:Let me reiterate: Thank God my youngest kids are in 8th grade. You idiots deserve all this. After all, it's the Arlington Way.


Don't you have to go beat up some parents over your kid's racist graffiti?

Anonymous
Post 10/07/2017 09:46     Subject: APS middle school boundary process
^^ and meanwhile, the rest of us hate on dcurban moms
Anonymous
Post 10/06/2017 22:32     Subject: Re:APS middle school boundary process

[Up]

Anonymous







Anonymous wrote:
I am relatively new to Arlington. Can someone get me up to speed on what the School Board really listens to in this process? Is it the personal stories, website feedback, petitions, wearing matching shirts at meetings? What really works vs what is just wasting time?

It's the shirts. Choose your color wisely.

Just kidding. Sort of.


They don't listen to anyone. They hold a lot of meetings so they can check the box, and then do whatever the hell they want. They probably already know what they plan to do.