ACPS -- what am I missing?

[Anonymous]

OP, don't listen to anyone with kids in K-5 who tell you their kids are thriving and that ACPS is misunderstood (or whatever other word they'll use). It is a MESS and has been for decades. Saying the MS is a "low point" is inaccurate. It's a tragedy. There isn't even soap in the bathrooms in there for goodness sake, let alone any chance at solving major educational gaps. Don't even think about the HS. Run.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son goes to GWMS. We like it well enough. There are definitely some issues - it is a big, overcrowded school, the facilities are not great, and kids definitely need to take responsibility for themselves (getting help from teachers, tracking and turning in assignments). There are some fights at school, but he doesn't feel too involved in them, since they don't involve him or anyone he knows.

The good parts are he is in all honors classes, the work is reasonably challenging and interesting, most of his teachers have been good, and he's made new friends within our neighborhood. There are a fair number of clubs and intramurals that interest him, and he likes being in band.

Same here. My DD is in 7th grade and she likes the school and doing very well.
Unfortunately, we have to move before high school to either Arlington or back to Montgomery county, where We are originally from because high School in Alexander City public school it's not for my daughter. It's basically one or two high schools, and it's overcrowded. At the end of 8th grade, we will be moving to Bethesda.

Alexandria doesn't have one or two high schools, it has ONE. That will never change, no matter how bad it gets or how many children suffer. Ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, don't listen to anyone with kids in K-5 who tell you their kids are thriving and that ACPS is misunderstood (or whatever other word they'll use). It is a MESS and has been for decades. Saying the MS is a "low point" is inaccurate. It's a tragedy. There isn't even soap in the bathrooms in there for goodness sake, let alone any chance at solving major educational gaps. Don't even think about the HS. Run.

[phone]

PP is right.

[Anonymous]

Same here. My DD is in 7th grade and she likes the school and doing very well.
Unfortunately, we have to move before high school to either Arlington or back to Montgomery county, where We are originally from because high School in Alexander City public school it's not for my daughter. It's basically one or two high schools, and it's overcrowded. At the end of 8th grade, we will be moving to Bethesda.


Alexandria doesn't have one or two high schools, it has ONE. That will never change, no matter how bad it gets or how many children suffer. Ever.

I mean, technically it does have two, but the Minnie Howard campus is just for 9th graders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know ACPS has maybe the worst reputation of the area publics, but my husband and I really, really like Alexandria and would like to consider sending our children to public elementary school and hopefully beyond. Oldest is a rising K and we're moving from D.C. for more space and lower crime. We'd consider houses inbounds for Barrett, Brooks, Mason, MacArthur and Mt. Vernon. Other than lower test scores compared to some APS and and FCPS schools (which I don't really care about since my kids will have plenty of home support), what am I missing? Politics aside, why do people hate ACPS? Is it really so different from the neighboring school districts?

This is probably for a different thread, but if we move farther south to FCPS, is Sandburg Middle any better than GW? I've heard really negative things about both, and of course there are the parents who like the schools fine. Thanks for your opinions!

I would encourage you to also Houses that feed into Cora Kelly. It doesn’t get much publicity, but almost every parent I know with kiddos there is very happy.

Regarding middle school, if you have a rising kindergartners, don’t go looking for trouble before you have to! By the time your child is ready for middle school the whole landscape will probably have changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know ACPS has maybe the worst reputation of the area publics, but my husband and I really, really like Alexandria and would like to consider sending our children to public elementary school and hopefully beyond. Oldest is a rising K and we're moving from D.C. for more space and lower crime. We'd consider houses inbounds for Barrett, Brooks, Mason, MacArthur and Mt. Vernon. Other than lower test scores compared to some APS and and FCPS schools (which I don't really care about since my kids will have plenty of home support), what am I missing? Politics aside, why do people hate ACPS? Is it really so different from the neighboring school districts?

This is probably for a different thread, but if we move farther south to FCPS, is Sandburg Middle any better than GW? I've heard really negative things about both, and of course there are the parents who like the schools fine. Thanks for your opinions!

I would encourage you to also Houses that feed into Cora Kelly. It doesn’t get much publicity, but almost every parent I know with kiddos there is very happy.

Regarding middle school, if you have a rising kindergartners, don’t go looking for trouble before you have to! By the time your child is ready for middle school the whole landscape will probably have changed.

It will change in that the schools will be even more crowded than they are now. There is no plan for addressing capacity issues or crumbling infrastructure at the middle school level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son goes to GWMS. We like it well enough. There are definitely some issues - it is a big, overcrowded school, the facilities are not great, and kids definitely need to take responsibility for themselves (getting help from teachers, tracking and turning in assignments). There are some fights at school, but he doesn't feel too involved in them, since they don't involve him or anyone he knows.

The good parts are he is in all honors classes, the work is reasonably

challenging and interesting, most of his teachers have been good, and he's made new friends within our neighborhood. There are a fair number of clubs and intramurals that interest him, and he likes being in band.

Same here. My DD is in 7th grade and she likes the school and doing very well.
Unfortunately, we have to move before high school to either Arlington or back to Montgomery county, where We are originally from because high School in Alexander City public school it's not for my daughter. It's basically o
Coming ne or two high schools, and it's overcrowded. At the end of 8th grade, we will be moving to Bethesda.

Alexandria doesn't have one or two high schools, it has ONE. That will never

change, no matter how bad it gets or how many children suffer. Ever.[/quote

One high school! I guess we are definitely moving ASAP and hopefully back to Bethesda.My husband works in Alexandria and we though it was a nice area to raise our daughter. I was thinking maybe private school but we also have college coming up in five years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Same here. My DD is in 7th grade and she likes the school and doing very well.
Unfortunately, we have to move before high school to either Arlington or back to Montgomery county, where We are originally from because high School in Alexander City public school it's not for my daughter. It's basically one or two high schools, and it's overcrowded. At the end of 8th grade, we will be moving to Bethesda.


Alexandria doesn't have one or two high schools, it has ONE. That will never change, no matter how bad it gets or how many children suffer. Ever.

I mean, technically it does have two, but the Minnie Howard campus is just for 9th graders.

No, technically they have ONE high school, and it is so overcrowded that 9th graders have the majority of their classes about 1.5 blocks away at Minnie Howard. It is all one gigantic high school. I know you thought you were being witty but it simply isn’t true. One and done. That’s it. and you cannot be eligible for TJ. You have no choice.

[Anonymous]

Yesterday at GW, someone entered the 'locked' room in the gym (where kids keep their bags and cellphones) and stole 11 phones.

The school wouldn't allow any of us to review the footage showing who entered the room.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yesterday at GW, someone entered the 'locked' room in the gym (where kids keep their bags and cellphones) and stole 11 phones.

The school wouldn't allow any of us to review the footage showing who entered the room.

What??? That's crazy! Did anyone get their phones back?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yesterday at GW, someone entered the 'locked' room in the gym (where kids keep their bags and cellphones) and stole 11 phones.

The school wouldn't allow any of us to review the footage showing who entered the room.

4 years ago the same thing happened to my daughter. I was told that they reviewed the footage, knew who did it, and had 'disciplined ' her.

But we never got the phone back or learned their name. So they protected the thief.

[Anonymous]

So OP if you're still reading, this thread alone should show a bit of what you're missing...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So OP if you're still reading, this thread alone should show a bit of what you're missing...

Another good illustration is that one of the board members of "PTAC" - the citywide PTA - glowingly posted on social media about their kid bullying another kid at school.

And the past president of PTAC was praising ACPS publicly when virtual learning was failing (particularly special ed kids) and at the same time was making the rounds at private school open houses.

[Anonymous]

I'd just like to say I'm the mom of two high performing awesome kids that loved their experience in ACPS public schools - and so did all of their friends. I also heard how awful ACPS was by people that sent their kids to public schools, or kids that were a bad fit for whatever reason. But for the majority of the kids I know that attended it was a great experience and they went on to attend some of the best universities in the country and are lovely, compassionate, accomplished individuals.

[Anonymous]

PP here - that should have read private schools