Did anyone end up going to the Feb 15th meeting? What were the outcomes or key points?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i'm talking about ONE kid - surely among 130 or so registered students there's ONE family who wouldn't mind voluntarily going to a different school, no? you won't know for sure until you try/ask.

This makes no sense, on so many levels. What happens when another new kid moves in mid-year? Is he then not allowed to go to his neighborhood school? What happens if someone moves and a new "spot" is opened up? Do they give the relocated kids the option to go back? This sounds like an absolute administrative nightmare, and I fail to see how it would resolve the overcrowding issue on a county-wide basis. And good luck finding even ONE parent from Jamestown, Nottingham, etc. who wants to voluntarily send their kid clear across town to a school that is widely considered (fairly or unfairly) inferior. And how do you propose the county transport all of these students to their new schools?

My understanding (please correct me if I am wrong) is that if they go over the maximum number of students per class (24 or 25 or whatever it is) they need to add another class. This is a double edged sword - the benefit is that all the classes for the grade will end up being much smaller; the downside is there often isn't a free and available classroom.

This happened at my daughter's school last year - just a couple new kids enrolling in the summer tipped the balance and added a class for her grade. The previous year her class had 23. Last year's class had 17. This year we're back to 23 - must have lost 1-2 kids over the summer. It does make a big difference.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Our elementary newsletter stated they are going to begin reviewing residency claims and verifying what is on file. They indicated that there is a known problem of non-county children attending APS schoolsn(as well as in-county falsifying for particular schools). I know this is not the only (or even main problem) for overcrowding- but I am glad to see they are going to start taking this crap seriously.

Which elementary is that?
I also think they should look into this at every Arlington school, after I read one of the high school students talk about the 'large'? number of people commuting in from out of county. As for in-county - hey, at least they are paying Arlington taxes - so in my eyes that's a different issue.

This was in Arlington Science Focus' monthly newsletter (electronic folder). If there are really that many non- county residents using our schools that is f-d up. The paragraph stated that if you work in the county, but are not an AC resident your kid cannot attend APS. Really? People try this shit? They also said they are checking all residency claims nd will assist residents in transfers to their correct schools (if they moved out of boundary, for instance).

I disagree about not caring about residents falsifying addresses for schools. This could be the difference between my kid and a trailer. or-the difference between a team student being afforded a legitimate spot while they cheat their way in. They are taking resources from those of us that paid to be in-boundary.