Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As PP mentioned, some did try in Barcroft when the AH Master Plan was being reconsidered a few years ago. They argued for measurable goals for distribution of affordable housing countywide. Even that was a battle in that CA, and the VOICE advocates turned out in droves to argue AGAINST it. Bizarre place.

Don't forgot MI VOZ QUENTE
The VOICE people created a group to call anyone working to craft a more equitable housing plan, a racist. Good times.
I do feel like more people are willing to share that they are against the current AH agenda. Or maybe I'm just imagining it. Hard to know.
Don't be fooled into thinking it's people in the northern most part of the county pushing this. It's not. There are people along Columbia Pike championing it. They are loud and proud. I don't know what it's gonna take to mobilize younger home owners.
Maybe if they did away with choice schools entirely.

Here's the thing about VOICE- it is pastors in the religious community driving a lot of the agenda. They are good people, with good hearts. The crux of the problem is that Gen Xers and Millenials don't attend church every Sunday like the boomers did (and still do). And so church congregations are largely older now with dwindling youth groups and Sunday School programs. This is happening nationwide. When Clarendon Baptist or Arlington Presbyterian made the decision to turn their building into affordable housing, it was partly driven by the lack of regular attendees and financial contributors to support the church-- and so why not do some good in the world and partner with the developers to put up affordable housing to fill that financial gap? They haven't given any thought to how their actions impact the school population because nobody with kids participates in church anymore so that voice is absent in these decisions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As PP mentioned, some did try in Barcroft when the AH Master Plan was being reconsidered a few years ago. They argued for measurable goals for distribution of affordable housing countywide. Even that was a battle in that CA, and the VOICE advocates turned out in droves to argue AGAINST it. Bizarre place.

Don't forgot MI VOZ QUENTE
The VOICE people created a group to call anyone working to craft a more equitable housing plan, a racist. Good times.
I do feel like more people are willing to share that they are against the current AH agenda. Or maybe I'm just imagining it. Hard to know.
Don't be fooled into thinking it's people in the northern most part of the county pushing this. It's not. There are people along Columbia Pike championing it. They are loud and proud. I don't know what it's gonna take to mobilize younger home owners.
Maybe if they did away with choice schools entirely.

Just look at Arlington Mill and the Shell - I those units would be a lot nicer as mixed income vs all low income. Plus, more business would come to the Pike, and bolster the appeal of the area.

Anonymous wrote:As PP mentioned, some did try in Barcroft when the AH Master Plan was being reconsidered a few years ago. They argued for measurable goals for distribution of affordable housing countywide. Even that was a battle in that CA, and the VOICE advocates turned out in droves to argue AGAINST it. Bizarre place.

Don't forgot MI VOZ QUENTE
The VOICE people created a group to call anyone working to craft a more equitable housing plan, a racist. Good times.
I do feel like more people are willing to share that they are against the current AH agenda. Or maybe I'm just imagining it. Hard to know.
Don't be fooled into thinking it's people in the northern most part of the county pushing this. It's not. There are people along Columbia Pike championing it. They are loud and proud. I don't know what it's gonna take to mobilize younger home owners.
Maybe if they did away with choice schools entirely.

As PP mentioned, some did try in Barcroft when the AH Master Plan was being reconsidered a few years ago. They argued for measurable goals for distribution of affordable housing countywide. Even that was a battle in that CA, and the VOICE advocates turned out in droves to argue AGAINST it. Bizarre place.

Anonymous wrote:Ditto on the older folks. I live in Barcroft and moved here as the school was tanking. It was obvious, the principal basically said so. When the affordable housing master plan started to come up, what, 2 years ago, with another directive to put more affordable housing along the Pike, the old timers and kid who do NOT send their kids to Barcroft were the most vocal. Huge deal with our civic association. When the ringleader lost his effort to have the civic association support the plan, he tried to invalidate the vote. None of these people have skin in the Barcroft school yet they are vocal and self righteous. Amazingly, when the new food star developers came to talk to the civic association last month, some of the old timers were wondering why that development won't have more affordable housing for families. It just does not end for them.

I live in Alcova and can't wait for Food Star to close. It's an eye sore and every time I shopped there the produce was rotting. I'm all for mixed income communities, but the focus on cramming affordable housing around the Pike is stupid.

I worry that my kids will not get into a choice school and be lost in the shuffle at Barcroft, if the problems I read about persist. I'm hoping that what people are saying about new leadership will be true. I would like my kids to go to a neighborhood school, just not one that doesn't serve our needs.

Yeah- it's in Douglas Park too, but to a lesser extent. Whenever someone starts with that crazy talk, I feel like they are invariably from Barcorft. The county is dosing the water over there.
Some crazy lady at the dog park was lamenting how terrible it was that all these young ( white) families with kids were the ones buying houses in her neighborhood. She was from Barcroft- and white!
I was like cool story bro and of course didn't challenge her. I never challenge them.
Maybe that is the problem.
We don't speak up.

This is the problem. Barcroft gets more affordable housing because its CA leadership is in cahoots with the developers and the ACDC. They want this. They lobbied FOR the form based code that is creating this mess and then won't hear that it's bad for neighborhood schools. Because they are either empty nesters, childless or send their kids to Montessori. Doesn't affect them. There is no way to win that battle in Barcroft.

Ditto on the older folks. I live in Barcroft and moved here as the school was tanking. It was obvious, the principal basically said so. When the affordable housing master plan started to come up, what, 2 years ago, with another directive to put more affordable housing along the Pike, the old timers and kid who do NOT send their kids to Barcroft were the most vocal. Huge deal with our civic association. When the ringleader lost his effort to have the civic association support the plan, he tried to invalidate the vote. None of these people have skin in the Barcroft school yet they are vocal and self righteous. Amazingly, when the new food star developers came to talk to the civic association last month, some of the old timers were wondering why that development won't have more affordable housing for families. It just does not end for them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

They would rather move half of El Salvador and Ethiopia into all of Barcroft than see anymore people like you.

But why? I'm rather hurt they'd prefer half of El Salvador and Ethiopia as neighbors than us. I just have to admit that.
Will they ever change their minds?!

Maybe, but the current crop of parents isn't doing much to change their minds. your definition of "need" includes a five-bedroom, four bathroom house, it's hard for them to see you as following in their footsteps. When your definition of need is a device for every kid and six options for foreign languages, it's hard for them to see you as following in their footsteps. When you take fabulous vacations and hire college consultants and have cleaning people, it's hard for them to see you as following in your footsteps.

So yeah, maybe they like your nanny and your gardener more than they like you.

Funny. I live in one of the neighborhoods being discussed on this thread. I would guess most families living in the neighborhoods being discussed on this specific thread are doing their own lawn work, and few have a single dedicated nanny.
When I see older couples walking around, they look grim and don't say hello.
Actually I don't find Arligntonians in general to be friendly.
Except at the dogpark. Dog people are usually nice.
But in particular I find the older VOICE people (on the whole) to be unpleasant.

Anonymous wrote:

They would rather move half of El Salvador and Ethiopia into all of Barcroft than see anymore people like you.

But why? I'm rather hurt they'd prefer half of El Salvador and Ethiopia as neighbors than us. I just have to admit that.
Will they ever change their minds?!

Maybe, but the current crop of parents isn't doing much to change their minds. your definition of "need" includes a five-bedroom, four bathroom house, it's hard for them to see you as following in their footsteps. When your definition of need is a device for every kid and six options for foreign languages, it's hard for them to see you as following in their footsteps. When you take fabulous vacations and hire college consultants and have cleaning people, it's hard for them to see you as following in your footsteps.

So yeah, maybe they like your nanny and your gardener more than they like you.

Anonymous wrote:

They would rather move half of El Salvador and Ethiopia into all of Barcroft than see anymore people like you.

But why? I'm rather hurt they'd prefer half of El Salvador and Ethiopia as neighbors than us. I just have to admit that.
Will they ever change their minds?!

I don't think it's this. It's an acceptance that nobody else in Arlington will have them. They've lived here long enough to know this is true.

They would rather move half of El Salvador and Ethiopia into all of Barcroft than see anymore people like you.

But why? I'm rather hurt they'd prefer half of El Salvador and Ethiopia as neighbors than us. I just have to admit that.
Will they ever change their minds?!

Ha! PP, I know the type. I now just politely smile, and disengage.

One thing I can say for them, those older folks attend the civic meetings and are way more politically engaged.

Please, everyone, go out and VOTE! There is one more day (this Saturday) in the School Board/County Board caucus. Both groups need to know that parents can be a political force too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh... ok, she wasn't the best choice, but that's not what did Barcroft in. They were suddenly overcrowded, and with the highest need population of kids. She's a principal not Dumbledore.
Barcroft was screwed by the county board, AH agenda, and developers.
APS shakers some blame because of the unwillingness to acknowledge some very simple truths, and to plan accordingly. They had no clue, or weren't concerned ( not sure which is worse) about the uptick in FARMS/ELL kids that were about to show up for that school.
We just aren't good at this stuff, and I don't understand why. We are such a well educated county, but we are acting like a bunch of rubes.

I really worry that APS is essentially mismanaged and no one seems to have any solutions....

This is what happens, when you offer free child care, education, meals, enrichment, classes, translators, etc. to all comers from other countries in the world with no questions asked. Word of mouth. Who would not take up such an offer?

The county has put zero thought into this.

They've put plenty of thought into it. This is what they want. Who is they, you ask?


I'll just leave this here:

These are older people who have lived here for 30+ years. They spent 175,000 on their home and they hate the new builds and popped up second floors around them. They think you speed around the neighborhood in your fancy car, and they think the schools are just fine- even though they don't have kids In them, and if you ask - you'll discover they sent their kids to private school back in the day. They feel the old Arlington is slipping away and don't want it changed. They are ultra liberal, to the point that they can't be reasoned with in regards to fiscal realities. They don't care that you spent 609k on a fixer upper, spend 2000 a month on childcare and are working your ass off to live close enough to work to try and have a home life. They don't care that the metro region has exploded since 1981, when they were a GS 13 and were able to afford a parent to stay home. They don't care that your kid is in a trailer, has lunch at 10am, and nowhere for recess. If you are so fancy and can afford to live here- you can afford private school as far as they are concerned. They don't understand why the kids need iPads- even though the point of that program is to close the gap for the less advantaged kids they are championing.
To sum up- they don't like you. They don't like your yuppie lifestyle. They don't like your entitlement. They don't like that you tore down/ renovated a perfectly good house. They don't like that you are demanding more from perfectly good schools.
They would rather move half of El Salvador and Ethiopia into all of Barcroft than see anymore people like you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Barcroft calendar was put in place to help the low income families in the area. They go back to their home companies sometimes several times a year. The year round schedule means their kids miss less school.

No, I think it was to help them have more time that they didn't need to find care for their kids (camps are expensive), and to address students' retention/summer backsliding (clearly this hasn't helped in that regard). Money would be better spent creating high quality/low-cost summer camps for students in need? Or make this an option school for families who need/want an alternative calendar.

I'm not entirely sure, why the year round calendar was created at Barcroft, but low income families already receive free summer school all summer at the regular calendar schools in Arlington. I actually think it must be harder for Barcroft parents to find care and camps, etc. outside of the regular calendar?

Middle-class Barcroft parent here. With two working parents, we actually find the year-round calendar to be easier to manage (and rather like it, to be honest). Fewer weeks to cover in the summer and so far we have been able to find camps that meet our child's interests during the weeks in June/July that we need filled. During the two-week breaks in the fall and spring (or less, depending on our travel plans) our child attends Barcroft's intersession classes, which are reasonably priced, still educational, but mostly fun. (To give a sense, sessions in the spring intersession ranged from Cooking with Dr. Seuss to Lego Robotics.)

Disappointed at the direction the school is trending, but hoping a new principal helps and more middle class families give the school a chance. In the meantime, we are reasonably happy with Barcroft and our child's experiences there.