15:16 - the SB floated that idea. I personally don't think it's a very good one, because I think you would end up with a lot of families who really don't care about the program getting in, and a lot of families who care about the program getting shut out. It makes more sense to limit the lottery pool to those who have expressed actual interest.

They've already lowered so many of the barriers to admission, like requiring parents to visit both their home school and the school before they can enter. Being able to remember a registration deadline is a pretty low bar. Any magnet program probably does better if the parents really care about it. (And yes, some parents are fleeing low-performing schools or picking the school closest to their house -some folks on here have argued that those folks shouldn't be in option schools either.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
And while it may be a great program, it is t anywhere near the largest school but consumes the most number of buses (even of the all the option schools). It needs to go in this current environment. Or at a minimum be debated. This whole thing APS is doing is a farce. They claim they are looking at everything yet won’t take a hard look at the value of the option programs. Bunch of wimps.

Yeah! If you're a poor kid sucking up vital APS resources, you only deserve to go to a school that you've been redlined to and you can walk there with all of your poor neighbors, even if that means your mom loses a half hour of wages to escort you there!!!!! MAGA

If the kids who were transferring there from overcrowded schools were all ED, I might feel differently, but the families I know from South Arlington who transferred weren't -- they didn't like their neighborhood schools but weren't willing to pay to move because that would have but into their vacation budgets.

Does APS collect long-term data on ATS graduates? I don't care what someone's elementary SOLs are. I want to know if they outperformed other members of their demographic by the end of high school (because the ones I know didn't).

ATS has a 26.3% FARMS rate. That tends to suggests that it's not all affluent families who don't like their neighborhood schools.

It’s actually 19%, but honestly we knew a lot of people who quailify for FARMs that made professional money ($80k) but in Arlington is below the threshold for affordable housing and reduced lunch. You have one parent work, one SAH, have affordable housing in part of town with mediocre schools, and win this lottery so you don’t end up moving to Fairfax or getting a second job. See the same thing happen with many grad students with kids...

https://housing.arlingtonva.us/income-rent-limits/

Per APS, as of 10/31/17, the ATS FARMS rate is 26.3%.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/FREE-REDUCED-OCTOBER-31-2017.pdf

I was going by GS, so sure. https://www.greatschools.org/virginia/arlington/127-Arlington-Traditional/

The GS data is from 2015. You're really not good at this.

You think 26% is high FARMs. Neither are you. Do you think this demonstrates socioeconomic diversity or something? It doesn’t.

Actually, it does. Diversity doesn't mean 70% under poverty level. Also look around N. Arlington elementary schools, you have to realize that the majority hovers UNDER 5% !!! With several of them around 2%.
The 2018 number will likely be higher than 26.3%.
In addition, many of you assume that no "poorer" family would apply to ATS, outside of the VPI program, but this assumption is wrong. Kids of all kinds of different backgrounds are doing great at ATS, and people know this.

No we just think families stretched by poverty and juggling kids and low paying jobs probably aren't researching the transportation and admittance policies, then ensuring they apply to the program to the deadline. We are a two professional family and we missed the deadline for one of our kids -- it should be an opt-out lottery, where everyone has a shot, then you get your admittance and transportation letter, and then they can decide if it works for them or not. Then it would serve everyone in the county, not just those with motivated parents self selecting into ATS.

That would be an administrative nightmare. Good luck with that idea.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
And while it may be a great program, it is t anywhere near the largest school but consumes the most number of buses (even of the all the option schools). It needs to go in this current environment. Or at a minimum be debated. This whole thing APS is doing is a farce. They claim they are looking at everything yet won’t take a hard look at the value of the option programs. Bunch of wimps.

Yeah! If you're a poor kid sucking up vital APS resources, you only deserve to go to a school that you've been redlined to and you can walk there with all of your poor neighbors, even if that means your mom loses a half hour of wages to escort you there!!!!! MAGA

If the kids who were transferring there from overcrowded schools were all ED, I might feel differently, but the families I know from South Arlington who transferred weren't -- they didn't like their neighborhood schools but weren't willing to pay to move because that would have but into their vacation budgets.

Does APS collect long-term data on ATS graduates? I don't care what someone's elementary SOLs are. I want to know if they outperformed other members of their demographic by the end of high school (because the ones I know didn't).

ATS has a 26.3% FARMS rate. That tends to suggests that it's not all affluent families who don't like their neighborhood schools.

It’s actually 19%, but honestly we knew a lot of people who quailify for FARMs that made professional money ($80k) but in Arlington is below the threshold for affordable housing and reduced lunch. You have one parent work, one SAH, have affordable housing in part of town with mediocre schools, and win this lottery so you don’t end up moving to Fairfax or getting a second job. See the same thing happen with many grad students with kids...

https://housing.arlingtonva.us/income-rent-limits/

Per APS, as of 10/31/17, the ATS FARMS rate is 26.3%.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/FREE-REDUCED-OCTOBER-31-2017.pdf

I was going by GS, so sure. https://www.greatschools.org/virginia/arlington/127-Arlington-Traditional/

The GS data is from 2015. You're really not good at this.

You think 26% is high FARMs. Neither are you. Do you think this demonstrates socioeconomic diversity or something? It doesn’t.

Actually, it does. Diversity doesn't mean 70% under poverty level. Also look around N. Arlington elementary schools, you have to realize that the majority hovers UNDER 5% !!! With several of them around 2%.
The 2018 number will likely be higher than 26.3%.
In addition, many of you assume that no "poorer" family would apply to ATS, outside of the VPI program, but this assumption is wrong. Kids of all kinds of different backgrounds are doing great at ATS, and people know this.

+1. Also consider that not being eligible for FARMS doesn't make one affluent. There are lots of families in Arlington struggling to make ends meet on modest incomes who still don't qualify.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
And while it may be a great program, it is t anywhere near the largest school but consumes the most number of buses (even of the all the option schools). It needs to go in this current environment. Or at a minimum be debated. This whole thing APS is doing is a farce. They claim they are looking at everything yet won’t take a hard look at the value of the option programs. Bunch of wimps.

Yeah! If you're a poor kid sucking up vital APS resources, you only deserve to go to a school that you've been redlined to and you can walk there with all of your poor neighbors, even if that means your mom loses a half hour of wages to escort you there!!!!! MAGA

If the kids who were transferring there from overcrowded schools were all ED, I might feel differently, but the families I know from South Arlington who transferred weren't -- they didn't like their neighborhood schools but weren't willing to pay to move because that would have but into their vacation budgets.

Does APS collect long-term data on ATS graduates? I don't care what someone's elementary SOLs are. I want to know if they outperformed other members of their demographic by the end of high school (because the ones I know didn't).

ATS has a 26.3% FARMS rate. That tends to suggests that it's not all affluent families who don't like their neighborhood schools.

It’s actually 19%, but honestly we knew a lot of people who quailify for FARMs that made professional money ($80k) but in Arlington is below the threshold for affordable housing and reduced lunch. You have one parent work, one SAH, have affordable housing in part of town with mediocre schools, and win this lottery so you don’t end up moving to Fairfax or getting a second job. See the same thing happen with many grad students with kids...

https://housing.arlingtonva.us/income-rent-limits/

Per APS, as of 10/31/17, the ATS FARMS rate is 26.3%.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/FREE-REDUCED-OCTOBER-31-2017.pdf

I was going by GS, so sure. https://www.greatschools.org/virginia/arlington/127-Arlington-Traditional/

The GS data is from 2015. You're really not good at this.

You think 26% is high FARMs. Neither are you. Do you think this demonstrates socioeconomic diversity or something? It doesn’t.

Actually, it does. Diversity doesn't mean 70% under poverty level. Also look around N. Arlington elementary schools, you have to realize that the majority hovers UNDER 5% !!! With several of them around 2%.
The 2018 number will likely be higher than 26.3%.
In addition, many of you assume that no "poorer" family would apply to ATS, outside of the VPI program, but this assumption is wrong. Kids of all kinds of different backgrounds are doing great at ATS, and people know this.

No we just think families stretched by poverty and juggling kids and low paying jobs probably aren't researching the transportation and admittance policies, then ensuring they apply to the program to the deadline. We are a two professional family and we missed the deadline for one of our kids -- it should be an opt-out lottery, where everyone has a shot, then you get your admittance and transportation letter, and then they can decide if it works for them or not. Then it would serve everyone in the county, not just those with motivated parents self selecting into ATS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
And while it may be a great program, it is t anywhere near the largest school but consumes the most number of buses (even of the all the option schools). It needs to go in this current environment. Or at a minimum be debated. This whole thing APS is doing is a farce. They claim they are looking at everything yet won’t take a hard look at the value of the option programs. Bunch of wimps.

Yeah! If you're a poor kid sucking up vital APS resources, you only deserve to go to a school that you've been redlined to and you can walk there with all of your poor neighbors, even if that means your mom loses a half hour of wages to escort you there!!!!! MAGA

If the kids who were transferring there from overcrowded schools were all ED, I might feel differently, but the families I know from South Arlington who transferred weren't -- they didn't like their neighborhood schools but weren't willing to pay to move because that would have but into their vacation budgets.

Does APS collect long-term data on ATS graduates? I don't care what someone's elementary SOLs are. I want to know if they outperformed other members of their demographic by the end of high school (because the ones I know didn't).

ATS has a 26.3% FARMS rate. That tends to suggests that it's not all affluent families who don't like their neighborhood schools.

It’s actually 19%, but honestly we knew a lot of people who quailify for FARMs that made professional money ($80k) but in Arlington is below the threshold for affordable housing and reduced lunch. You have one parent work, one SAH, have affordable housing in part of town with mediocre schools, and win this lottery so you don’t end up moving to Fairfax or getting a second job. See the same thing happen with many grad students with kids...

https://housing.arlingtonva.us/income-rent-limits/

Per APS, as of 10/31/17, the ATS FARMS rate is 26.3%.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/FREE-REDUCED-OCTOBER-31-2017.pdf

I was going by GS, so sure. https://www.greatschools.org/virginia/arlington/127-Arlington-Traditional/

The GS data is from 2015. You're really not good at this.

You think 26% is high FARMs. Neither are you. Do you think this demonstrates socioeconomic diversity or something? It doesn’t.

Actually, it does. Diversity doesn't mean 70% under poverty level. Also look around N. Arlington elementary schools, you have to realize that the majority hovers UNDER 5% !!! With several of them around 2%.
The 2018 number will likely be higher than 26.3%.
In addition, many of you assume that no "poorer" family would apply to ATS, outside of the VPI program, but this assumption is wrong. Kids of all kinds of different backgrounds are doing great at ATS, and people know this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
And while it may be a great program, it is t anywhere near the largest school but consumes the most number of buses (even of the all the option schools). It needs to go in this current environment. Or at a minimum be debated. This whole thing APS is doing is a farce. They claim they are looking at everything yet won’t take a hard look at the value of the option programs. Bunch of wimps.

Yeah! If you're a poor kid sucking up vital APS resources, you only deserve to go to a school that you've been redlined to and you can walk there with all of your poor neighbors, even if that means your mom loses a half hour of wages to escort you there!!!!! MAGA

If the kids who were transferring there from overcrowded schools were all ED, I might feel differently, but the families I know from South Arlington who transferred weren't -- they didn't like their neighborhood schools but weren't willing to pay to move because that would have but into their vacation budgets.

Does APS collect long-term data on ATS graduates? I don't care what someone's elementary SOLs are. I want to know if they outperformed other members of their demographic by the end of high school (because the ones I know didn't).

ATS has a 26.3% FARMS rate. That tends to suggests that it's not all affluent families who don't like their neighborhood schools.

It’s actually 19%, but honestly we knew a lot of people who quailify for FARMs that made professional money ($80k) but in Arlington is below the threshold for affordable housing and reduced lunch. You have one parent work, one SAH, have affordable housing in part of town with mediocre schools, and win this lottery so you don’t end up moving to Fairfax or getting a second job. See the same thing happen with many grad students with kids...

https://housing.arlingtonva.us/income-rent-limits/

Per APS, as of 10/31/17, the ATS FARMS rate is 26.3%.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/FREE-REDUCED-OCTOBER-31-2017.pdf

I was going by GS, so sure. https://www.greatschools.org/virginia/arlington/127-Arlington-Traditional/

The GS data is from 2015. You're really not good at this.

You think 26% is high FARMs. Neither are you. Do you think this demonstrates socioeconomic diversity or something? It doesn’t.

I never said 26% was high FARMS, I said only that the FARMS rate demonstrates ATS isn't filled only by affluent families fleeing neighborhood schools. If it were, the FARMS rate would be negligible.

All of these threads have taken such a turn for the stupid I think this whole discussion has jumped the shark.

It's higher than some (HB) and higher than in the past - but only because of the VPI classes and allowing those students to stay for K-5 if they choose. They've increased the VPI classes. And it's a heckuva lot more economically diverse than the north Arlington schools except Barrett and Key. 25% in Arlington is actually quite good - it's within 10% points of the overall average % of ED students in the system (34%). I'll take it any day over 80% or 1.8%.

Anonymous wrote:Most people don't want an option school in their neighborhood b/c it's not really an option for their family. They would prefer that their kids go to schools within walking distance. This is not Nottingham or Ashlawn or Oakridge or Reed specific. This is the same feeling all over the county. So, adding an option school to your neighborhood does not make anything better fo you. It's only going to have a negative impact on your neighborhood, unless you get priority enrollment (which you don't).

PP here. Yes most people don’t want to go to option schools. But some people do. If an option school like Campbell existed in my neighborhood (and I am not advocating that Campbell be moved), I would definitely try to enroll my child. I also like the diversity that tends to exist in option schools when compared to neighborhood schools. We are not white so diversity is important to us. Like I said. We are zoned for Tuckahoe. If we end up being rezoned to McKinley or Reed I wouldn’t be upset about it (I get why people who already have kids in tuckahoe would be upset though). McKinley is a great school and hopefully it will no longer be overcrowded. Reed is in an amazing neighborhood with very dedicated parents so I’m sure it will be an excellent school

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
And while it may be a great program, it is t anywhere near the largest school but consumes the most number of buses (even of the all the option schools). It needs to go in this current environment. Or at a minimum be debated. This whole thing APS is doing is a farce. They claim they are looking at everything yet won’t take a hard look at the value of the option programs. Bunch of wimps.

Yeah! If you're a poor kid sucking up vital APS resources, you only deserve to go to a school that you've been redlined to and you can walk there with all of your poor neighbors, even if that means your mom loses a half hour of wages to escort you there!!!!! MAGA

If the kids who were transferring there from overcrowded schools were all ED, I might feel differently, but the families I know from South Arlington who transferred weren't -- they didn't like their neighborhood schools but weren't willing to pay to move because that would have but into their vacation budgets.

Does APS collect long-term data on ATS graduates? I don't care what someone's elementary SOLs are. I want to know if they outperformed other members of their demographic by the end of high school (because the ones I know didn't).

ATS has a 26.3% FARMS rate. That tends to suggests that it's not all affluent families who don't like their neighborhood schools.

It’s actually 19%, but honestly we knew a lot of people who quailify for FARMs that made professional money ($80k) but in Arlington is below the threshold for affordable housing and reduced lunch. You have one parent work, one SAH, have affordable housing in part of town with mediocre schools, and win this lottery so you don’t end up moving to Fairfax or getting a second job. See the same thing happen with many grad students with kids...

https://housing.arlingtonva.us/income-rent-limits/

Per APS, as of 10/31/17, the ATS FARMS rate is 26.3%.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/FREE-REDUCED-OCTOBER-31-2017.pdf

I was going by GS, so sure. https://www.greatschools.org/virginia/arlington/127-Arlington-Traditional/

The GS data is from 2015. You're really not good at this.

You think 26% is high FARMs. Neither are you. Do you think this demonstrates socioeconomic diversity or something? It doesn’t.

I never said 26% was high FARMS, I said only that the FARMS rate demonstrates ATS isn't filled only by affluent families fleeing neighborhood schools. If it were, the FARMS rate would be negligible.

All of these threads have taken such a turn for the stupid I think this whole discussion has jumped the shark.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
And while it may be a great program, it is t anywhere near the largest school but consumes the most number of buses (even of the all the option schools). It needs to go in this current environment. Or at a minimum be debated. This whole thing APS is doing is a farce. They claim they are looking at everything yet won’t take a hard look at the value of the option programs. Bunch of wimps.

Yeah! If you're a poor kid sucking up vital APS resources, you only deserve to go to a school that you've been redlined to and you can walk there with all of your poor neighbors, even if that means your mom loses a half hour of wages to escort you there!!!!! MAGA

If the kids who were transferring there from overcrowded schools were all ED, I might feel differently, but the families I know from South Arlington who transferred weren't -- they didn't like their neighborhood schools but weren't willing to pay to move because that would have but into their vacation budgets.

Does APS collect long-term data on ATS graduates? I don't care what someone's elementary SOLs are. I want to know if they outperformed other members of their demographic by the end of high school (because the ones I know didn't).

ATS has a 26.3% FARMS rate. That tends to suggests that it's not all affluent families who don't like their neighborhood schools.

It’s actually 19%, but honestly we knew a lot of people who quailify for FARMs that made professional money ($80k) but in Arlington is below the threshold for affordable housing and reduced lunch. You have one parent work, one SAH, have affordable housing in part of town with mediocre schools, and win this lottery so you don’t end up moving to Fairfax or getting a second job. See the same thing happen with many grad students with kids...

https://housing.arlingtonva.us/income-rent-limits/

Per APS, as of 10/31/17, the ATS FARMS rate is 26.3%.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/FREE-REDUCED-OCTOBER-31-2017.pdf

I was going by GS, so sure. https://www.greatschools.org/virginia/arlington/127-Arlington-Traditional/

The GS data is from 2015. You're really not good at this.

You think 26% is high FARMs. Neither are you. Do you think this demonstrates socioeconomic diversity or something? It doesn’t.

Again, not PP but go look up every neighborhood school N of 50. Only one has a higher fr/l rate, and that's Barrett, which is a highly segregated school. ATS is within 10 percentage points of the countywide average, so it's not considered highly segregated.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
And while it may be a great program, it is t anywhere near the largest school but consumes the most number of buses (even of the all the option schools). It needs to go in this current environment. Or at a minimum be debated. This whole thing APS is doing is a farce. They claim they are looking at everything yet won’t take a hard look at the value of the option programs. Bunch of wimps.

Yeah! If you're a poor kid sucking up vital APS resources, you only deserve to go to a school that you've been redlined to and you can walk there with all of your poor neighbors, even if that means your mom loses a half hour of wages to escort you there!!!!! MAGA

If the kids who were transferring there from overcrowded schools were all ED, I might feel differently, but the families I know from South Arlington who transferred weren't -- they didn't like their neighborhood schools but weren't willing to pay to move because that would have but into their vacation budgets.

Does APS collect long-term data on ATS graduates? I don't care what someone's elementary SOLs are. I want to know if they outperformed other members of their demographic by the end of high school (because the ones I know didn't).

ATS has a 26.3% FARMS rate. That tends to suggests that it's not all affluent families who don't like their neighborhood schools.

Are you kidding me right now?

Not PP, but she/he has a point. The option schools aren't just attractive to affluent families.

Uh, barely 1/4 of the school is FARMS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
And while it may be a great program, it is t anywhere near the largest school but consumes the most number of buses (even of the all the option schools). It needs to go in this current environment. Or at a minimum be debated. This whole thing APS is doing is a farce. They claim they are looking at everything yet won’t take a hard look at the value of the option programs. Bunch of wimps.

Yeah! If you're a poor kid sucking up vital APS resources, you only deserve to go to a school that you've been redlined to and you can walk there with all of your poor neighbors, even if that means your mom loses a half hour of wages to escort you there!!!!! MAGA

If the kids who were transferring there from overcrowded schools were all ED, I might feel differently, but the families I know from South Arlington who transferred weren't -- they didn't like their neighborhood schools but weren't willing to pay to move because that would have but into their vacation budgets.

Does APS collect long-term data on ATS graduates? I don't care what someone's elementary SOLs are. I want to know if they outperformed other members of their demographic by the end of high school (because the ones I know didn't).

ATS has a 26.3% FARMS rate. That tends to suggests that it's not all affluent families who don't like their neighborhood schools.

It’s actually 19%, but honestly we knew a lot of people who quailify for FARMs that made professional money ($80k) but in Arlington is below the threshold for affordable housing and reduced lunch. You have one parent work, one SAH, have affordable housing in part of town with mediocre schools, and win this lottery so you don’t end up moving to Fairfax or getting a second job. See the same thing happen with many grad students with kids...

https://housing.arlingtonva.us/income-rent-limits/

Per APS, as of 10/31/17, the ATS FARMS rate is 26.3%.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/FREE-REDUCED-OCTOBER-31-2017.pdf

I was going by GS, so sure. https://www.greatschools.org/virginia/arlington/127-Arlington-Traditional/

The GS data is from 2015. You're really not good at this.

You think 26% is high FARMs. Neither are you. Do you think this demonstrates socioeconomic diversity or something? It doesn’t.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
And while it may be a great program, it is t anywhere near the largest school but consumes the most number of buses (even of the all the option schools). It needs to go in this current environment. Or at a minimum be debated. This whole thing APS is doing is a farce. They claim they are looking at everything yet won’t take a hard look at the value of the option programs. Bunch of wimps.

Yeah! If you're a poor kid sucking up vital APS resources, you only deserve to go to a school that you've been redlined to and you can walk there with all of your poor neighbors, even if that means your mom loses a half hour of wages to escort you there!!!!! MAGA

If the kids who were transferring there from overcrowded schools were all ED, I might feel differently, but the families I know from South Arlington who transferred weren't -- they didn't like their neighborhood schools but weren't willing to pay to move because that would have but into their vacation budgets.

Does APS collect long-term data on ATS graduates? I don't care what someone's elementary SOLs are. I want to know if they outperformed other members of their demographic by the end of high school (because the ones I know didn't).

ATS has a 26.3% FARMS rate. That tends to suggests that it's not all affluent families who don't like their neighborhood schools.

Are you kidding me right now?

Not PP, but she/he has a point. The option schools aren't just attractive to affluent families.