What is the reputation of Alexandria public schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The City of Alexandria has a serious problem with JH that will be solved by it failing AYP for two more consecutive years. This will force the district to take radical steps prescribed by No Child Left Behind. Even after the school restructuring occurs, if the City does not change the population of the school it will continue to fail. The nice part of the situation is that the City is required to allow you to opt out (which is what most of the affluent parents choose to do including a City Councilman). However, as the City disperses its public housing over the next 5 years this problem should be solved.

Yeah, they let you opt out ... to other crappy schools. Lyles Crouch has capped enrollments as does MacArthur.

They are dispersing public housing out over the City - which means they parents and students will still be in the City schools and they will be concentrated somewhere and will all still show up at one of the two middle schools and the only high school.

So Lyles Crouch and MacArthur are the only two good schools? The current opt out options for JH are Charles Barrett Elementary, Matthew Maury Elementary, James K. Polk Elementary & George Mason Elementary. While no school is perfect I have heard positive reviews about Barrett, Maury, and Polk and I have not heard anything about Mason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look, Alexandria has a certain percentage of poor people. Sorry if you can't handle that. To me, it teaches my kids a good lesson about life and an opportunity to met people who have different and more challenging life circumstances. And hopeful be grateful for what they have.

The question is not how many poor people Alexandria has, it is that the school district, in a very calculated and cynical way, has chosen to concentrate them into one failing school. My anger is not for my child, who is very happy in his private school, but the children who have no other options. This article regarding the benefits of economic diversity for lower-income children is interesting: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/14/AR2010101407577.html?sid=ST2010101407853

Those who are arguing that Parker Gray was "always" like this are not correct. Historically, Parker Gray was the home of a stable community of blue-collar and middle-class, African American home owners, who have mostly long-since happily sold their houses to yuppies and moved to the suburbs. I know who they are, as there are a few left, and they mostly come back on the weekends for church (they're the well-dressed folks with Maryland tags on their cars). What is left are the public housing residents who may or may not be from Alexandria (no there is no residency requirement).

Those who insist that ARHA is "dispersing" the public housing sound like they just bought a house in the neighborhood based on some realtor's assurances that this was the case. ARHA (while trying to purchase additional units in the neighborhood) are diluting the public housing somewhat by building market rate houses mixed in with more densely-packed public housing units. The density for Bland is greater than that of Chatham Square, by the way. While the Braddock Road plan calls for offsiting 50% of the units, the ARHA's actions make it appear that they have no intention of living up to that promise. The redevelopment is for one small part of the massive amount of concentrated public housing in the area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look, Alexandria has a certain percentage of poor people. Sorry if you can't handle that. To me, it teaches my kids a good lesson about life and an opportunity to met people who have different and more challenging life circumstances. And hopeful be grateful for what they have.

HAHAHAHAH...clearly your child does not attend a City school. If they did, you would NOT feel that way. The challenges these kids have translate into serious issues for the school to deal with.

The City is somewhat of a "welfare state" in my opinion. They make it so incredibly easy for those to continue living off of welfare/public housing/ etc. For example, the City provides a summer all day recreation program for kids for free. It basically amounts to free daycare for the summer. Actually, it cost $25 to register for the summer AND PARENTS COMPLAINED THEY HAD TO PAY A FEE!!! They felt it should be free. Yes, they felt the City owned them free child care 8 hours a day, every day in the summer. There is no other jurisdiction in the area providing that kind of service. The City should start charging market rates IMO and stop the hand outs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look, Alexandria has a certain percentage of poor people. Sorry if you can't handle that. To me, it teaches my kids a good lesson about life and an opportunity to met people who have different and more challenging life circumstances. And hopeful be grateful for what they have.

Do your kids go to JH? I didn't think so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look, Alexandria has a certain percentage of poor people. Sorry if you can't handle that. To me, it teaches my kids a good lesson about life and an opportunity to met people who have different and more challenging life circumstances. And hopeful be grateful for what they have.

HAHAHAHAH...clearly your child does not attend a City school. If they did, you would NOT feel that way. The challenges these kids have translate into serious issues for the school to deal with.

The City is somewhat of a "welfare state" in my opinion. They make it so incredibly easy for those to continue living off of welfare/public housing/ etc. For example, the City provides a summer all day recreation program for kids for free. It basically amounts to free daycare for the summer. Actually, it cost $25 to register for the summer AND PARENTS COMPLAINED THEY HAD TO PAY A FEE!!! They felt it should be free. Yes, they felt the City owned them free child care 8 hours a day, every day in the summer. There is no other jurisdiction in the area providing that kind of service. The City should start charging market rates IMO and stop the hand outs.

Actually, he does, although it is not JH. And we plan to take advantage of the city-owned summer camp. Some of us like services. If you don't, feel free to move to the mountains set up your trailer on a plot of land.

[Anonymous]

Actually, he does, although it is not JH.

What a shocker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look, Alexandria has a certain percentage of poor people. Sorry if you can't handle that. To me, it teaches my kids a good lesson about life and an opportunity to met people who have different and more challenging life circumstances. And hopeful be grateful for what they have.

HAHAHAHAH...clearly your child does not attend a City school. If they did, you would NOT feel that way. The challenges these kids have translate into serious issues for the school to deal with.

The City is somewhat of a "welfare state" in my opinion. They make it so incredibly easy for those to continue living off of welfare/public housing/ etc. For example, the City provides a summer all day recreation program for kids for free. It basically amounts to free daycare for the summer. Actually, it cost $25 to register for the summer AND PARENTS COMPLAINED THEY HAD TO PAY A FEE!!! They felt it should be free. Yes, they felt the City owned them free child care 8 hours a day, every day in the summer. There is no other jurisdiction in the area providing that kind of service. The City should start charging market rates IMO and stop the hand outs.

Different poster here. I'm happy if the city's kids get a low cost, or even no-cost to low income families, summer rec program. Part of what makes me feel Alexandria is a city and community, not just a suburb. I'm unaware of a free program that you refer to - Alexandria runs many summer rec programs that have fees - http://alexandriava.gov/uploadedFiles/recreation/services/SummerCampGuide.pdf

My children attend city schools and I'm pleased. No, not JH, but one with a high percentage of free lunch children and children from public housing, and after all, your derisive comment specified "City school", not "Jefferson Houston" exclusively.

Like another said, if you're unhappy with services provided by the city, there's always Wyoming.

[Anonymous]

There is also something called the democratic process, PP, and luckily we have many other options besides moving to Wyoming.
I am not the poster you quoted but I can tell you that rudely dismissing those who disagree with you rather than engaging in a productive and substantive debate about the facts speaks volumes about whether the facts are actually on your side.
That said, I don't think that Euille's supporters would choose you as their rep, because they usually try to come up with something better than telling their opponents to move to Wyoming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The City of Alexandria has a serious problem with JH that will be solved by it failing AYP for two more consecutive years. This will force the district to take radical steps prescribed by No Child Left Behind. Even after the school restructuring occurs, if the City does not change the population of the school it will continue to fail. The nice part of the situation is that the City is required to allow you to opt out (which is what most of the affluent parents choose to do including a City Councilman). However, as the City disperses its public housing over the next 5 years this problem should be solved.

Yeah, they let you opt out ... to other crappy schools. Lyles Crouch has capped enrollments as does MacArthur.

They are dispersing public housing out over the City - which means they parents and students will still be in the City schools and they will be concentrated somewhere and will all still show up at one of the two middle schools and the only high school.

So Lyles Crouch and MacArthur are the only two good schools? The current opt out options for JH are Charles Barrett Elementary, Matthew Maury Elementary, James K. Polk Elementary & George Mason Elementary. While no school is perfect I have heard positive reviews about Barrett, Maury, and Polk and I have not heard anything about Mason.

My understanding is that

1) Barrett is getting double-decker trailers because of the overcrowding.
2) Maury has four kindergartens this year and may be moving down to three next year, b/c they have a large rising 5th grade and may need that 4th K classroom; as you might guess, this impacts the number of opt-out kids they can assume. Add to that the fact that more families in Rosemont--the school's actual district--are choosing Maury and that amounts to fewer spots for opt-ins. Let's not forget that ACPS caps K enrollment at 20 kids per class. That's only 60 K spots, if there are indeed 3 classrooms.
3) Mason is no longer taking administrative transfers because they are at capacity.

That leaves Polk, of which I know nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is also something called the democratic process, PP, and luckily we have many other options besides moving to Wyoming.
I am not the poster you quoted but I can tell you that rudely dismissing those who disagree with you rather than engaging in a productive and substantive debate about the facts speaks volumes about whether the facts are actually on your side.
That said, I don't think that Euille's supporters would choose you as their rep, because they usually try to come up with something better than telling their opponents to move to Wyoming.

You're right, there is a democratic process. Thankfully from my perspective, your side is losing, and will continue for some time given the modern voting record of Alexandria.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is also something called the democratic process, PP, and luckily we have many other options besides moving to Wyoming.
I am not the poster you quoted but I can tell you that rudely dismissing those who disagree with you rather than engaging in a productive and substantive debate about the facts speaks volumes about whether the facts are actually on your side.
That said, I don't think that Euille's supporters would choose you as their rep, because they usually try to come up with something better than telling their opponents to move to Wyoming.

You're right, there is a democratic process. Thankfully from my perspective, your side is losing, and will continue for some time given the modern voting record of Alexandria.

Yup. You're winning. Did you need someone to point that out? Because it doesn't make you right.
But I see that it has made you smug.
Hardly the same thing.

[Anonymous]

Just as a matter of interest, does one get priority for an admin. transfer if transferring out of Jefferson Houston. As I understand it, under NCLB, ACPS has to offer an opt-out to families in the JH district because the school doesn't make AYP. Are those transfers viewed differently than someone opting for an administrative transfer just because they feel like it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just as a matter of interest, does one get priority for an admin. transfer if transferring out of Jefferson Houston. As I understand it, under NCLB, ACPS has to offer an opt-out to families in the JH district because the school doesn't make AYP. Are those transfers viewed differently than someone opting for an administrative transfer just because they feel like it?

That's an excellent question. I imagine that is the case, and I would hope so. The Office of Pupil Services should be able to answer this question for you, I think.

[Anonymous]

Samuel Tucker! Can't believe it hasn't come up yet as one of the "good" schools. It's a GREAT elementary school on the West End. I recommend you tour the schools you are considering, and also see if you can get in contact with the PTA from those schools. There are many dedicated parents, and while I think there has been a tendency in the past to stick around only for the elementary years, many current parents are planning to "stick around and actively fight for good middle schools. High school is what you make of it. For the kids that wants to learn, TC Williams will provide you with all the resources you could ever possibly want. The reality is that their are some hard socioeconomic challenges in Alexandria, so high school is going to have some depressing drop out rates and a part of the student body with low test scores. However, as an individual who is invested in their child's education, I think you and your children can get everything you need from Alexandria City Public Schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are many dedicated parents, and while I think there has been a tendency in the past to stick around only for the elementary years, many current parents are planning to "stick around and actively fight for good middle schools.

Wishful thinking? You might see more parents keeping their kids in the ACPS elementary schools, but they'll continue to bail before they send their kids off to Hammond or GW. They know that the middle schools have a rougher reputation than TC Williams, as the roughest element hasn't dropped out yet.