Bullying at Ashlawn?

[Anonymous]

I have heard from a couple of different neighbors about concerns with bullying at Ashlawn, particularly at recess. Does anyone have any more insight into whether bullying is particularly bad at Ashlawn? Is there anything about the way they run recess that makes it worse? At the school my older children attended, only one grade at a time was at recess, which helped. And it was a smaller school.

[Anonymous]

I don't think this is true at all. I have kids in two grades at Ashlawn. It's a great environment and has a strong SEL program and teacher and staff support.

[Anonymous]

There is not a persistent issue at Ashlawn, but as someone who has had two children there I can attest that Recess can be an issue… ashlawn is lucky to have the largest green space of any school and kids can practically go anywhere they want. The downside is that allows the opportunity for something to get out of hand before a teacher notices.

[Anonymous]

NP here, I haven’t heard of any issues lately (DC is in 5th).

[Anonymous]

I have sadly come to the realization that no school, anywhere, is completely bullyproof. That’s because some kids are jerks and worse, they know how to be sneaky about it. But as an Ashlawn family, I’d say we’re about as close as a school can get. They take bullying seriously. The important things is to notify teachers and admin in writing asap.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it is a huge problem in Ashlawn for my child. We have raised the issue to the teachers/staff and they have tried to help, but the social dynamics among the students are pretty bad. A child who does not fit into the cookie cutter north Arlington stereotype will likely be ostracized.

[Anonymous]

I’m so sorry to hear that, PP. Has that been your experience every year (if you’ve been there for more than one year), or more of a recent development?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it is a huge problem in Ashlawn for my child. We have raised the issue to the teachers/staff and they have tried to help, but the social dynamics among the students are pretty bad. A child who does not fit into the cookie cutter north Arlington stereotype will likely be ostracized.

Have you talked to the school admin???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it is a huge problem in Ashlawn for my child. We have raised the issue to the teachers/staff and they have tried to help, but the social dynamics among the students are pretty bad. A child who does not fit into the cookie cutter north Arlington stereotype will likely be ostracized.

Have you talked to the school admin???

We talked with everyone and to their credit they did not dismiss our concerns. They addressed specific instances with the kids involved. The problem is that it happens so much. One big issue, as a different poster said, is recess. The kids are scattered everywhere, and for some reason the teachers are not even there for most of the time. It really gets like Lord of the Flies for some kids. It is a good and diverse school with some excellent teachers. The problem, in my view, is some of the parents whose values are far more materialistic and often misogynist ($2 million houses, luxury cars, etc.). That trickles down to their children. Their kids might be perfectly happy in a school further north where more people are "like them," but Ashlawn is diverse and they sometimes go after those who are different (not in $2 million houses with weekly ski vacations, luxury cars, etc.). I'm sure that there are many who have not had that experience, but that has been ours for two kids.

[Anonymous]

Ashlawn fam here. To clarify what the PP above said, all of recess *is* supervised, partly by lunchroom/recess attendants and partly by teachers. So adults are always out there, just not the teachers at any given time. I learned this when I had a recess-related question.

Sorry to hear about your experience PP. It sounds like you need to raise it with an administrator. (Or raise it again.)

[Anonymous]

PP here-yes, aides are outside during the entire recess, but in our experience they either do not understand when bullying is happening or they look the other way. The teachers usually are outside only at the very end, and while they take it far more seriously, the worst stuff tends to have already taken place.

The new principal takes bullying very seriously and I have noticed that they address it when
brought to their attention. The problem is that the underlying problems (such as really terrible values from some of the parents) can’t really be addressed by the school admin. I assume that the wealthier parents at Ashlawn skew heavily to the left, but that does not always translate into teaching their children about compassion for others who are different.

Anonymous wrote:Ashlawn fam here. To clarify what the PP above said, all of recess *is* supervised, partly by lunchroom/recess attendants and partly by teachers. So adults are always out there, just not the teachers at any given time. I learned this when I had a recess-related question.

Sorry to hear about your experience PP. It sounds like you need to raise it with an administrator. (Or raise it again.)