HB Woodlawn social scene

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids are a lot nicer.

What's your proof/measurement?

HB small size means it avoids the behavioral sink present at the supersized high schools.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_sink

So an assumption?

A pretty well established scientific theory supports this assertion.

You also can see clearly see that the disciplinary actions per capita is well below other schools. Also there have been no fights or drug overdoses at HB.

Ah, so that’s how you define “nice kids”. Not like what happened at Wakefield.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They need to remove the sports option from HB. It’s patently unfair to students at those high schools, and would help filter out parents who chose HB just for the private school on public dime vibe.

Man are you bitter.

[Anonymous]

I had two kids attend HB. They graduated quite a while ago. They applied because they were quirky and not mainstream at all, and that’s the reputation that the school has long had before they applied and I imagine it still has today.

The school was as advertised. They both blossomed in a way I can’t imagine they would have in the neighborhood school. I say this because I also had two kids attend the neighborhood schools so I know what they’re like. They both did very well socially, but they were mainstream types.

So, yes, in my experience HB has a more gentle and more accepting social scene. It’s not a myth.

The real myth is that HB is better academically. It isn’t at all. Not only were the course offerings the same, my impression was that many of the same courses offered at the neighborhood schools were taught with more rigor than at HB. And my HB grads did no better or worse than my neighborhood school grads on the college admissions front. They all basically got the same grades in the same courses and had very similar test scores, and they all basically got into the same colleges. The real difference was the social scene.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to remove the sports option from HB. It’s patently unfair to students at those high schools, and would help filter out parents who chose HB just for the private school on public dime vibe.

Man are you bitter.

Yeah, I’ve been pushing for a 4th high school for a decade and instead a small subset of kids get to escape the warehouse that is APS. And I’m pretty skeptical of the lottery because of the siblings from wealthy families phenomenon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to remove the sports option from HB. It’s patently unfair to students at those high schools, and would help filter out parents who chose HB just for the private school on public dime vibe.

Man are you bitter.

Yeah, I’ve been pushing for a 4th high school for a decade and instead a small subset of kids get to escape the warehouse that is APS. And I’m pretty skeptical of the lottery because of the siblings from wealthy families phenomenon.

You’re as bad as a Trump conspiracy theorist if you truly feel that way about the lottery. And there are several other small programs in Arlington. Should they all be eliminated too?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to remove the sports option from HB. It’s patently unfair to students at those high schools, and would help filter out parents who chose HB just for the private school on public dime vibe.

Man are you bitter.

Yeah, I’ve been pushing for a 4th high school for a decade and instead a small subset of kids get to escape the warehouse that is APS. And I’m pretty skeptical of the lottery because of the siblings from wealthy families phenomenon.

You’re as bad as a Trump conspiracy theorist if you truly feel that way about the lottery. And there are several other small programs in Arlington. Should they all be eliminated too?

1) The other programs are actively trying to increase enrollment. When HB was moved to a new building (I know, they want to keep their existing old building, with one of the largest acreages that APS owns), at every stage they claimed that the small size was fundamental to their program. So HB is in a different sort than the other programs, which do not claim that they need to remain small -- the will grow to their facility size. Heights could have had much higher capacity (the original plan was to put 1200 students neighborhood middle school on the site in fact), so HB could have grown its program, even by simply allowing more entries at high school and reduced the strain on neighborhood high schools.

2) I don't think any of the program should return to their home high school for sports. Its added cost to the county; if people believe in a program, they can find other opportunities for sports (and there is financial aid for sports like soccer etc).

3) Calculate the odds of siblings getting into HB. https://www.apsva.us/school-options/middle-school-choices/middle-school-countywide/
Each grade is about 12®0 students, and there are generally about 2 slots. Let's be conservative and say about 1/3 of grade applies (but for schools in NA I suspect the number is much higher). With those numbers, the odds of siblings getting in are 0.04% or 1 in 2500. I personally know of at least 2 families in NA. Sorry if math makes me a conspiracy theorist.

4) Sure its heartwarming to hear of those quirky kids who got to go to HB -- too bad the majority of quirky kids are bering stuffed into high schools designed for half their student population size in classes way above Arlington targets. HB has ONE class that is over 27 students. Meanwhile WL has about 60 classes over the target of 27 (and APS sneakily doesn't report HOW BIG those classes actually are, just that they are over 27.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-22-Class-Size-Report.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to remove the sports option from HB. It’s patently unfair to students at those high schools, and would help filter out parents who chose HB just for the private school on public dime vibe.

Man are you bitter.

Yeah, I’ve been pushing for a 4th high school for a decade and instead a small subset of kids get to escape the warehouse that is APS. And I’m pretty skeptical of the lottery because of the siblings from wealthy families phenomenon.

You’re as bad as a Trump conspiracy theorist if you truly feel that way about the lottery. And there are several other small programs in Arlington. Should they all be eliminated too?

1) The other programs are actively trying to increase enrollment. When HB was moved to a new building (I know, they want to keep their existing old building, with one of the largest acreages that APS owns), at every stage they claimed that the small size was fundamental to their program. So HB is in a different sort than the other programs, which do not claim that they need to remain small -- the will grow to their facility size. Heights could have had much higher capacity (the original plan was to put 1200 students neighborhood middle school on the site in fact), so HB could have grown its program, even by simply allowing more entries at high school and reduced the strain on neighborhood high schools.

2) I don't think any of the program should return to their home high school for sports. Its added cost to the county; if people believe in a program, they can find other opportunities for sports (and there is financial aid for sports like soccer etc).

3) Calculate the odds of siblings getting into HB. https://www.apsva.us/school-options/middle-school-choices/middle-school-countywide/
Each grade is about 12®0 students, and there are generally about 2 slots. Let's be conservative and say about 1/3 of grade applies (but for schools in NA I suspect the number is much higher). With those numbers, the odds of siblings getting in are 0.04% or 1 in 2500. I personally know of at least 2 families in NA. Sorry if math makes me a conspiracy theorist.

4) Sure its heartwarming to hear of those quirky kids who got to go to HB -- too bad the majority of quirky kids are bering stuffed into high schools designed for half their student population size in classes way above Arlington targets. HB has ONE class that is over 27 students. Meanwhile WL has about 60 classes over the target of 27 (and APS sneakily doesn't report HOW BIG those classes actually are, just that they are over 27.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-22-Class-Size-Report.pdf

My quirky kid loves HB and I'm so thankful they got in, as I am sure they would've been lost in the crowd at the other schools. I do agree they could probably increase the size a bit to give other kids the chance. But that still wouldn't be enough to solve the problem of needing a 4th high school.

I can't believe how big W-L is going to be... We did not win the sibling lottery so younger sibling will be headed there in a few years and I am very worried.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to remove the sports option from HB. It’s patently unfair to students at those high schools, and would help filter out parents who chose HB just for the private school on public dime vibe.

Man are you bitter.

Yeah, I’ve been pushing for a 4th high school for a decade and instead a small subset of kids get to escape the warehouse that is APS. And I’m pretty skeptical of the lottery because of the siblings from wealthy families phenomenon.

You’re as bad as a Trump conspiracy theorist if you truly feel that way about the lottery. And there are several other small programs in Arlington. Should they all be eliminated too?

1) The other programs are actively trying to increase enrollment. When HB was moved to a new building (I know, they want to keep their existing old building, with one of the largest acreages that APS owns), at every stage they claimed that the small size was fundamental to their program. So HB is in a different sort than the other programs, which do not claim that they need to remain small -- the will grow to their facility size. Heights could have had much higher capacity (the original plan was to put 1200 students neighborhood middle school on the site in fact), so HB could have grown its program, even by simply allowing more entries at high school and reduced the strain on neighborhood high schools.

2) I don't think any of the program should return to their home high school for sports. Its added cost to the county; if people believe in a program, they can find other opportunities for sports (and there is financial aid for sports like soccer etc).

3) Calculate the odds of siblings getting into HB. https://www.apsva.us/school-options/middle-school-choices/middle-school-countywide/
Each grade is about 12®0 students, and there are generally about 2 slots. Let's be conservative and say about 1/3 of grade applies (but for schools in NA I suspect the number is much higher). With those numbers, the odds of siblings getting in are 0.04% or 1 in 2500. I personally know of at least 2 families in NA. Sorry if math makes me a conspiracy theorist.

4) Sure its heartwarming to hear of those quirky kids who got to go to HB -- too bad the majority of quirky kids are bering stuffed into high schools designed for half their student population size in classes way above Arlington targets. HB has ONE class that is over 27 students. Meanwhile WL has about 60 classes over the target of 27 (and APS sneakily doesn't report HOW BIG those classes actually are, just that they are over 27.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-22-Class-Size-Report.pdf

and here it is... it only took 2 pages for the HB haters to come out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to remove the sports option from HB. It’s patently unfair to students at those high schools, and would help filter out parents who chose HB just for the private school on public dime vibe.

Man are you bitter.

Yeah, I’ve been pushing for a 4th high school for a decade and instead a small subset of kids get to escape the warehouse that is APS. And I’m pretty skeptical of the lottery because of the siblings from wealthy families phenomenon.

You’re as bad as a Trump conspiracy theorist if you truly feel that way about the lottery. And there are several other small programs in Arlington. Should they all be eliminated too?

1) The other programs are actively trying to increase enrollment. When HB was moved to a new building (I know, they want to keep their existing old building, with one of the largest acreages that APS owns), at every stage they claimed that the small size was fundamental to their program. So HB is in a different sort than the other programs, which do not claim that they need to remain small -- the will grow to their facility size. Heights could have had much higher capacity (the original plan was to put 1200 students neighborhood middle school on the site in fact), so HB could have grown its program, even by simply allowing more entries at high school and reduced the strain on neighborhood high schools.

2) I don't think any of the program should return to their home high school for sports. Its added cost to the county; if people believe in a program, they can find other opportunities for sports (and there is financial aid for sports like soccer etc).

3) Calculate the odds of siblings getting into HB. https://www.apsva.us/school-options/middle-school-choices/middle-school-countywide/
Each grade is about 12®0 students, and there are generally about 2 slots. Let's be conservative and say about 1/3 of grade applies (but for schools in NA I suspect the number is much higher). With those numbers, the odds of siblings getting in are 0.04% or 1 in 2500. I personally know of at least 2 families in NA. Sorry if math makes me a conspiracy theorist.

4) Sure its heartwarming to hear of those quirky kids who got to go to HB -- too bad the majority of quirky kids are bering stuffed into high schools designed for half their student population size in classes way above Arlington targets. HB has ONE class that is over 27 students. Meanwhile WL has about 60 classes over the target of 27 (and APS sneakily doesn't report HOW BIG those classes actually are, just that they are over 27.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-22-Class-Size-Report.pdf

and here it is... it only took 2 pages for the HB haters to come out.

Well tell us why HB is allowed to have almost no overcrowding in the school or classroom, while other high schools are crushed over so many classes over the limit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to remove the sports option from HB. It’s patently unfair to students at those high schools, and would help filter out parents who chose HB just for the private school on public dime vibe.

Man are you bitter.

Yeah, I’ve been pushing for a 4th high school for a decade and instead a small subset of kids get to escape the warehouse that is APS. And I’m pretty skeptical of the lottery because of the siblings from wealthy families phenomenon.

You’re as bad as a Trump conspiracy theorist if you truly feel that way about the lottery. And there are several other small programs in Arlington. Should they all be eliminated too?

1) The other programs are actively trying to increase enrollment. When HB was moved to a new building (I know, they want to keep their existing old building, with one of the largest acreages that APS owns), at every stage they claimed that the small size was fundamental to their program. So HB is in a different sort than the other programs, which do not claim that they need to remain small -- the will grow to their facility size. Heights could have had much higher capacity (the original plan was to put 1200 students neighborhood middle school on the site in fact), so HB could have grown its program, even by simply allowing more entries at high school and reduced the strain on neighborhood high schools.

2) I don't think any of the program should return to their home high school for sports. Its added cost to the county; if people believe in a program, they can find other opportunities for sports (and there is financial aid for sports like soccer etc).

3) Calculate the odds of siblings getting into HB. https://www.apsva.us/school-options/middle-school-choices/middle-school-countywide/
Each grade is about 12®0 students, and there are generally about 2 slots. Let's be conservative and say about 1/3 of grade applies (but for schools in NA I suspect the number is much higher). With those numbers, the odds of siblings getting in are 0.04% or 1 in 2500. I personally know of at least 2 families in NA. Sorry if math makes me a conspiracy theorist.

4) Sure its heartwarming to hear of those quirky kids who got to go to HB -- too bad the majority of quirky kids are bering stuffed into high schools designed for half their student population size in classes way above Arlington targets. HB has ONE class that is over 27 students. Meanwhile WL has about 60 classes over the target of 27 (and APS sneakily doesn't report HOW BIG those classes actually are, just that they are over 27.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-22-Class-Size-Report.pdf

Your math is way off as to the number of kids that enter the lottery. In any event, you don’t have to guess how many apply because APS publishes the data every year. This is for last year, but you can find the data for several years prior on the APS website.

https://www.apsva.us/school-options/school-transfer-data/secondary-options-transfers-application-data-school-year-2022-23/

[Anonymous]

If you really think there’s cheating going on when siblings get into HB, you’re unhinged.

[Anonymous]

HB Hater, I am sorry your kid (s) didn't get a spot. It really is a random lottery. I have 4 kids and 2 of them are currently at HB and the other 2 did not get spots. All are doing just fine. You can see what the odds are for your home school to get a middle school spot. My youngest, the year they got a spot there were 3 spots and only 17 kids applied. That's pretty good odds, and that was at a N Arlington elementary.

My HB kids don't play sports at their home school but it really is a very small number of kids who do. So small, that last year when there was a huge bus driver shortage, HB called taxis to get those kids back to their home schools for practices each day. So it was a very, very small number for each home school. Not something worth causing a fuss over, but you do you.

One academic downside of HB is that there aren't anywhere near the number of honors/intensified or AP classes that the comprehensive high schools offer. It doesn't seem to affect them much in college admissions, but it's something to note if you have a student who is wanting to take a specific AP course- check the program of studies!

HB Hater, how are your kid (s) doing at their middle or high school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HB Hater, I am sorry your kid (s) didn't get a spot. It really is a random lottery. I have 4 kids and 2 of them are currently at HB and the other 2 did not get spots. All are doing just fine. You can see what the odds are for your home school to get a middle school spot. My youngest, the year they got a spot there were 3 spots and only 17 kids applied. That's pretty good odds, and that was at a N Arlington elementary.

My HB kids don't play sports at their home school but it really is a very small number of kids who do. So small, that last year when there was a huge bus driver shortage, HB called taxis to get those kids back to their home schools for practices each day. So it was a very, very small number for each home school. Not something worth causing a fuss over, but you do you.

One academic downside of HB is that there aren't anywhere near the number of honors/intensified or AP classes that the comprehensive high schools offer. It doesn't seem to affect them much in college admissions, but it's something to note if you have a student who is wanting to take a specific AP course- check the program of studies!

HB Hater, how are your kid (s) doing at their middle or high school?

Do you think this could be an advantage for college admissions, though, for an average-ish student who doesn't want to take all the APs? This way they can check the "most rigorous" box with only the few APs offered at HB?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HB Hater, I am sorry your kid (s) didn't get a spot. It really is a random lottery. I have 4 kids and 2 of them are currently at HB and the other 2 did not get spots. All are doing just fine. You can see what the odds are for your home school to get a middle school spot. My youngest, the year they got a spot there were 3 spots and only 17 kids applied. That's pretty good odds, and that was at a N Arlington elementary.

My HB kids don't play sports at their home school but it really is a very small number of kids who do. So small, that last year when there was a huge bus driver shortage, HB called taxis to get those kids back to their home schools for practices each day. So it was a very, very small number for each home school. Not something worth causing a fuss over, but you do you.

One academic downside of HB is that there aren't anywhere near the number of honors/intensified or AP classes that the comprehensive high schools offer. It doesn't seem to affect them much in college admissions, but it's something to note if you have a student who is wanting to take a specific AP course- check the program of studies!

HB Hater, how are your kid (s) doing at their middle or high school?

Do you think this could be an advantage for college admissions, though, for an average-ish student who doesn't want to take all the APs? This way they can check the "most rigorous" box with only the few APs offered at HB?

There may not be as many offered as at the bigger APS high schools, but there are still plenty. My DS is graduating this year and he will have taken 10 AP classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HB Hater, I am sorry your kid (s) didn't get a spot. It really is a random lottery. I have 4 kids and 2 of them are currently at HB and the other 2 did not get spots. All are doing just fine. You can see what the odds are for your home school to get a middle school spot. My youngest, the year they got a spot there were 3 spots and only 17 kids applied. That's pretty good odds, and that was at a N Arlington elementary.

My HB kids don't play sports at their home school but it really is a very small number of kids who do. So small, that last year when there was a huge bus driver shortage, HB called taxis to get those kids back to their home schools for practices each day. So it was a very, very small number for each home school. Not something worth causing a fuss over, but you do you.

One academic downside of HB is that there aren't anywhere near the number of honors/intensified or AP classes that the comprehensive high schools offer. It doesn't seem to affect them much in college admissions, but it's something to note if you have a student who is wanting to take a specific AP course- check the program of studies!

HB Hater, how are your kid (s) doing at their middle or high school?

Do you think this could be an advantage for college admissions, though, for an average-ish student who doesn't want to take all the APs? This way they can check the "most rigorous" box with only the few APs offered at HB?

I’ve heard placement from HB is way better than at WL, so there maybe some credence to that theory.