How is HB still allowed to exist given the overcrowding?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I don't agree that your kid is a "classic" for HB. His innate qualities will serve him well at any Arlington high school. I don't see that type of kid as the classic HB type at all. I think the HB model has the most value for the smart underachiever. JMO.

(Again, I feel the need to keep saying my kids don't go to HB.)

Agree with this. I have a friend who teaches at HB. She always tells parents that HB isn't designed for kids who are self-guided. It is designed to help kids *become* self-guided.

Yet it's all of the over-achiever kids applying and getting spots. Please.

My experience, with one exception, as well, and I have now witnessed this as my four DCs' peers entered the lottery. (We did not). The once exception I am very familiar with is a student who, after the lottery, had a note from a psychologist saying attending the student's neighborhood middle school would cause/contribute to the student's mental health issues. I know of one other family in a similar situation who tried to transfer to HB that way and it did not work.

There are plenty of "just regular" kids at HB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ha ha ha. HB doesn't care. It's the ES principal pulling strings for her. Good grief, does anyone buy that no per-selection goes on??

I think you overestimate how ES principals' general esteem for PTA presidents, LOL. Many of them are viewed as PITAs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ha ha ha. HB doesn't care. It's the ES principal pulling strings for her. Good grief, does anyone buy that no per-selection goes on??

I think you overestimate how ES principals' general esteem for PTA presidents, LOL. Many of them are viewed as PITAs.

Maybe, but at my DC's ES, it is remarkable that all 4 of the kids who got into HB were labeled as GT, teacher favorites, and kids of (PITA like you don't even know) parents. That is not a coincidence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Where were you guys at the community meetings? I didn't see any (many) of you at the meetings back in 2013. If you had spoken up then, the SB might not have delayed decisions a few more years.

That was before it was made clear that to be listened to, you have to show up en masse in matching t-shirts. I went to plenty of meetings. I wrote letters. But let's face it, Arlington is not a liberal paradise seeking to do the greatest good for the greatest number. The SB is a launching pad for political careers, and its members listen most closely to the furthest-north donors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ha ha ha. HB doesn't care. It's the ES principal pulling strings for her. Good grief, does anyone buy that no per-selection goes on??

I think you overestimate how ES principals' general esteem for PTA presidents, LOL. Many of them are viewed as PITAs.

Maybe, but at my DC's ES, it is remarkable that all 4 of the kids who got into HB were labeled as GT, teacher favorites, and kids of (PITA like you don't even know) parents. That is not a coincidence.

I only know one of the kids in my son's grade who got in to HB (he was wait listed), I have met her mother but don't know if she is a PITA, don't know if his friend is labeled GT or is a teacher favorite, and don't even know who the other kids who got into HB are.

You sound kind of crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ha ha ha. HB doesn't care. It's the ES principal pulling strings for her. Good grief, does anyone buy that no per-selection goes on??

I think you overestimate how ES principals' general esteem for PTA presidents, LOL. Many of them are viewed as PITAs.

Maybe, but at my DC's ES, it is remarkable that all 4 of the kids who got into HB were labeled as GT, teacher favorites, and kids of (PITA like you don't even know) parents. That is not a coincidence.

I only know one of the kids in my son's grade who got in to HB (he was wait listed), I have met her mother but don't know if she is a PITA, don't know if his friend is labeled GT or is a teacher favorite, and don't even know who the other kids who got into HB are.

You sound kind of crazy.

You think I'm crazy, you should meet the parents and principal at our ES. My crazy was not sufficient to get my kid in. It's very public and very quid pro quo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ha ha ha. HB doesn't care. It's the ES principal pulling strings for her. Good grief, does anyone buy that no per-selection goes on??

I think you overestimate how ES principals' general esteem for PTA presidents, LOL. Many of them are viewed as PITAs.

Maybe, but at my DC's ES, it is remarkable that all 4 of the kids who got into HB were labeled as GT, teacher favorites, and kids of (PITA like you don't even know) parents. That is not a coincidence.

Bs. You know that those kids receive gifted services AND are "teacher favorites?" Obviously it's possible to nose around, ask your kids, etc. and find out that specific kids get gifted services (and a heck of a lot more than 4 do per grade level, so not shocking that all winning the lottery are ID'd) but you move beyond the realm of fact when you call 4 different kids "teacher favorites" and claim to know that strings were pulled for them.

Sour grapes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ha ha ha. HB doesn't care. It's the ES principal pulling strings for her. Good grief, does anyone buy that no per-selection goes on??

I think you overestimate how ES principals' general esteem for PTA presidents, LOL. Many of them are viewed as PITAs.

Maybe, but at my DC's ES, it is remarkable that all 4 of the kids who got into HB were labeled as GT, teacher favorites, and kids of (PITA like you don't even know) parents. That is not a coincidence.

Bs. You know that those kids receive gifted services AND are "teacher favorites?" Obviously it's possible to nose around, ask your kids, etc. and find out that specific kids get gifted services (and a heck of a lot more than 4 do per grade level, so not shocking that all winning the lottery are ID'd) but you move beyond the realm of fact when you call 4 different kids "teacher favorites" and claim to know that strings were pulled for them.

Sour grapes.

All that sour grapes name calling makes me wonder why you don't like to hear complaints about the unfairness of the system. We all pay for it, why woul;dn't I complain if something is so grossly unfair?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ha ha ha. HB doesn't care. It's the ES principal pulling strings for her. Good grief, does anyone buy that no per-selection goes on??

I think you overestimate how ES principals' general esteem for PTA presidents, LOL. Many of them are viewed as PITAs.

Maybe, but at my DC's ES, it is remarkable that all 4 of the kids who got into HB were labeled as GT, teacher favorites, and kids of (PITA like you don't even know) parents. That is not a coincidence.

I only know one of the kids in my son's grade who got in to HB (he was wait listed), I have met her mother but don't know if she is a PITA, don't know if his friend is labeled GT or is a teacher favorite, and don't even know who the other kids who got into HB are.

You sound kind of crazy.

I know two of the five kids admitted to HB from my son's 5th grade class. Both nice, neither was GT and neither has "connected" or PITA parents. FWIW, PTA president's kid did not get in.

PP sounds more than a little crazy.

[Anonymous]

Is it also true that HB does not accept all but the most simple of special ed cases? That seems really unfair.