APS: Choice schools vs fourth comprehensive school

[Anonymous]

I'm a parent of a four month old and I honestly have no idea what's going on. What is wrong with having choice schools? And why the dichotomy between choice schools and a fourth comprehensive high school? All I care about is that none of the high schools (and elementary and middle schools) in Arlington County are overcrowded.

[Anonymous]

Because no one can predict where the kids will come from to fill that "choice" school. No projections will tell you that. Even good ones (and we know we don't have that in APS) And then you still have overcrowding and under-usage. Seats are too precious and capacity needs are too dire to use "choice" to solve this problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All I care about is that none of the high schools (and elementary and middle schools) in Arlington County are overcrowded.

They ALL will be overcrowded (with the exception of Jamestown & Discovery). It's just a matter of how overcrowded they will be.

[Anonymous]

Choice schools were great when the schools were underenrolled and kids had a decent chance of getting into them.

Now getting into a choice school is like a Golden Ticket while everyone else is crammed into high schools that are getting too big and you don't know the people in your class. We can't afford to spend $100 million on choice schools like HB while the rest of the peasants make do in trailers smuched together at other high schools.

A comprehensive high school is required by the state/feds to have certain amenities, like a football field, a theater for plays, space for band practice, fields for practicing sports, etc. A choice school like HB can be smaller, but if you want to participate in sports there you often have to go back to the home school you are zoned for. That means that the same space and fields are being used to accommodate more children, so it will be harder for a kid to get chosen for soccer or band or the play. And in high school, being able to participate in the extracurriculars you really love is really important because your extracurriculars are a huge consideration to college admissions offices.

So in general, while I love the idea of choice schools and I wish Arlington could afford them, right now we need equity for all kids and not great options for the few lucky kids and terrible options for everyone else.

[Anonymous]

Parent of a toddler here, so my perspective is also underinformed, but I'm irritated by the disparity between choice programs and neighborhood schools.

It seems that with choice programs, you literally win the lottery of getting a desirable educational philosophy and a far less crowded school environment. It's like we're paying for the private-school-like educations of a few lottery winners while the rest of us deal with overcrowding.

[Anonymous]

Yes, and unfortunately you also then get a lot of parents highly motivated to fight to defend their privilege and refusing to acknowledge what's in the best interest of all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Choice schools were great when the schools were underenrolled and kids had a decent chance of getting into them.

Now getting into a choice school is like a Golden Ticket while everyone else is crammed into high schools that are getting too big and you don't know the people in your class. We can't afford to spend $100 million on choice schools like HB while the rest of the peasants make do in trailers smuched together at other high schools.

A comprehensive high school is required by the state/feds to have certain amenities, like a football field, a theater for plays, space for band practice, fields for practicing sports, etc. A choice school like HB can be smaller, but if you want to participate in sports there you often have to go back to the home school you are zoned for. That means that the same space and fields are being used to accommodate more children, so it will be harder for a kid to get chosen for soccer or band or the play. And in high school, being able to participate in the extracurriculars you really love is really important because your extracurriculars are a huge consideration to college admissions offices.

So in general, while I love the idea of choice schools and I wish Arlington could afford them, right now we need equity for all kids and not great options for the few lucky kids and terrible options for everyone else.

This is true for sports but not for theater and band/orchestra, as HB has robust programs for those, so kids don't join the ones at the home schools. And since HB has Ultimate, that draws off a lot of the athletes who would otherwise be going back to their home schools for sports, so many fewer kids do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All I care about is that none of the high schools (and elementary and middle schools) in Arlington County are overcrowded.

They ALL will be overcrowded (with the exception of Jamestown & Discovery). It's just a matter of how overcrowded they will be.

This drives me crazy. Why can't Jamestown and Discovery take their share of the overcrowding?

[Anonymous]

According to the thread on last night's meeting, it sounds like there will be a 1300 seat addition at first, which could be a "9th grade academy" (if at W-L) or a choice school, because they don't have the budget to go for a 4th comprehensive high school this year. But next year, there's a new CIP which could have the 4th comprehensive school, and possibly the choice school could be converted into a larger 4th neighborhood comprehensive high school after that vote (though obviously not immediately).

I liked the idea of the 1300 seat choice school at the Kenmore site, then turning that into a 4th comprehensive high school for the neighborhood after moving the MS to another site. But the 4th high school would need to be equitable with the other 3 by having full facilities, i.e. pool, sufficient fields, etc.

[Anonymous]

The Kenmore school could be the same as the others down the road. First, it's a smaller program and when the MS moves, it becomes comprehensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Choice schools were great when the schools were underenrolled and kids had a decent chance of getting into them.

Now getting into a choice school is like a Golden Ticket while everyone else is crammed into high schools that are getting too big and you don't know the people in your class. We can't afford to spend $100 million on choice schools like HB while the rest of the peasants make do in trailers smuched together at other high schools.

A comprehensive high school is required by the state/feds to have certain amenities, like a football field, a theater for plays, space for band practice, fields for practicing sports, etc. A choice school like HB can be smaller, but if you want to participate in sports there you often have to go back to the home school you are zoned for. That means that the same space and fields are being used to accommodate more children, so it will be harder for a kid to get chosen for soccer or band or the play. And in high school, being able to participate in the extracurriculars you really love is really important because your extracurriculars are a huge consideration to college admissions offices.

So in general, while I love the idea of choice schools and I wish Arlington could afford them, right now we need equity for all kids and not great options for the few lucky kids and terrible options for everyone else.

What if all the schools are choice schools as O'Grady is proposing? Or at least all high schools? Then getting into them wouldn't be as difficult right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Kenmore school could be the same as the others down the road. First, it's a smaller program and when the MS moves, it becomes comprehensive.

If it's smaller, though, it has to be a choice program. You can't redistrict people to a school that doesn't offer the same opportunities as the Big 3 (look we'll have that ).

[Anonymous]

No more Choice schools while we are in a crisis. And no more protected school sizes for Choice schools - ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No more Choice schools while we are in a crisis. And no more protected school sizes for Choice schools - ever.

OMG yes. I want to kill off HB Woodlawn right now. Yes yes, I know, "it will not solve the problem." Blah blah blah. What it will do thought is stop adding insult to injury to have to see all the golden ticket holders and what they have that my kids don't. Hate that school now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All I care about is that none of the high schools (and elementary and middle schools) in Arlington County are overcrowded.

They ALL will be overcrowded (with the exception of Jamestown & Discovery). It's just a matter of how overcrowded they will be.

This drives me crazy. Why can't Jamestown and Discovery take their share of the overcrowding?

This is BS. My kids went through Jamestown and had to deal with trailers. Enough with the class warfare crap. It's old.