Anyone with experience at Argyle MS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a tech magnet with all courses available to all students. Our choice to turn down another is due in a couple days. I have yet to talk to ANYBODY through friends and acquaintances who has had a child actually go to Arglye. Anyone on DCUM have kids that go there?

Of note is that it's not a merit-based magnet. I am worried it's a rough area/school with the challenges that come along with that. Atleast at merit-based magnet, the peer group in a handful of classes is driven and attentive more than the regular classes.
Desperate to hear any feedback at all.

I find it frustrating and honestly insulting that you refer to it as a "rough" area.

I don't know why you find it insulting. There is a good amount of behavioral issues with the student body at Argyle and there is a lot of concerning criminal behavior up and down Bel Pre. This is not news nor should it be insulting.

Now "rough" is a bit relative to each person's experience. Is that area "rough" compared to worst parts of Southeast DC or Baltimore? Absolutely not. Is it rough compared to say Bethesda, Potomac or the quiet parts of Rockville? Absolutely. There is more crime there, which again correlates with the socioeconomic status of the majority of folks in that area and the higher concentration of section 8 housing in that neighborhood.

The Glenmont shopping center is also pretty scary at night too. You can say this plainly without being accused of being racist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The building is old and poorly designed. We kept having to make u-turns during Open House. I would not send our DC there based on student population from nearby very high density housing. The local McDonald’s closes its doors for 90 minutes after school dismissal time because of the rowdiness of the students.

The barely veiled racism here is just so frustrating. I am so sick of people on this board immediately attacking this area just because there is a higher latino/immigrant population.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The building is old and poorly designed. We kept having to make u-turns during Open House. I would not send our DC there based on student population from nearby very high density housing. The local McDonald’s closes its doors for 90 minutes after school dismissal time because of the rowdiness of the students.

The barely veiled racism here is just so frustrating. I am so sick of people on this board immediately attacking this area just because there is a higher latino/immigrant population.

+1

Is it ever appropriate to describe an area as rough? If so, when?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The building is old and poorly designed. We kept having to make u-turns during Open House. I would not send our DC there based on student population from nearby very high density housing. The local McDonald’s closes its doors for 90 minutes after school dismissal time because of the rowdiness of the students.

The barely veiled racism here is just so frustrating. I am so sick of people on this board immediately attacking this area just because there is a higher latino/immigrant population.

Both things can be true. There ARE higher incidences of crime in those areas. Does that feed into some people's biased perceptions of the ethnic groups living in those neighborhoods? Probably. Does that mean that the only reason they "attack the area" is because of the racial makeup of those neighborhoods? No, because there is statistically more crime in those areas.

Both things can be true and there is nuance to these conversations. And we do a disservice to the truth and productive conversation when simplistically make blanket statements. The truth is when it comes to issue of race, class, crime and poverty, it's a layered and intersectional problem with multiple dimensions to it. And boiling it down to just "You're racist!" is unhelpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a tech magnet with all courses available to all students. Our choice to turn down another is due in a couple days. I have yet to talk to ANYBODY through friends and acquaintances who has had a child actually go to Arglye. Anyone on DCUM have kids that go there?

Of note is that it's not a merit-based magnet. I am worried it's a rough area/school with the challenges that come along with that. Atleast at merit-based magnet, the peer group in a handful of classes is driven and attentive more than the regular classes.
Desperate to hear any feedback at all.

My son is in 8th grade I have driven him every day and picked him up so yep you have to factor that into it. You can join carpools. It is not a rough area just a diverse area. For transparency we are Caucasian family not much diversity in the family. My son loved some classes and not others but the elective choices are amazing. You will not get so many tech courses in your local MS. I think the administration is good but not great. My son has made many friends and really wanted to stay going to Down Consortium schools once he graduates. The one reason we agreed to it is because going to Argyle allowed him to apply to more criterion based High Schools four in fact. He was just accepted into the competitive Wheaton Project Lead The Way Engineering program. At the open house I saw lots of Magnet Middle schools kids there from Tacoma Park so going to a Lottery MS can pay off. Just because the area looks diverse does not make the kids rough. My son will now have a 30 kid "magnet" cohort but trust me he is more excited that so many kids he knows from Argyle are going to Wheaton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a tech magnet with all courses available to all students. Our choice to turn down another is due in a couple days. I have yet to talk to ANYBODY through friends and acquaintances who has had a child actually go to Arglye. Anyone on DCUM have kids that go there?

Of note is that it's not a merit-based magnet. I am worried it's a rough area/school with the challenges that come along with that. Atleast at merit-based magnet, the peer group in a handful of classes is driven and attentive more than the regular classes.
Desperate to hear any feedback at all.

I find it frustrating and honestly insulting that you refer to it as a "rough" area.

I don't know why you find it insulting. There is a good amount of behavioral issues with the student body at Argyle and there is a lot of concerning criminal behavior up and down Bel Pre. This is not news nor should it be insulting.

Now "rough" is a bit relative to each person's experience. Is that area "rough" compared to worst parts of Southeast DC or Baltimore? Absolutely not. Is it rough compared to say Bethesda, Potomac or the quiet parts of Rockville? Absolutely. There is more crime there, which again correlates with the socioeconomic status of the majority of folks in that area and the higher concentration of section 8 housing in that neighborhood.

The Glenmont shopping center is also pretty scary at night too. You can say this plainly without being accused of being racist.

Do you have a child that goes to the school?

[Anonymous]

My son goes to Argyle and we like it. The administrators are great and quick to address any issues we've had. The class selection is cool and my son is really excited about a couple programming classes he gets to take next year. He's not being challenged enough academically but I'm seeing that at middle schools all over the place, so not specific to Argyle. Kids do hang out at Plaza del Mercado after school. The school is doing their best to work with the businesses and parents to minimize the issues we're seeing. I live a few minutes away (though Odessa Shannon is our home school) and there is nothing wrong with our neighborhood unless you're racist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The building is old and poorly designed. We kept having to make u-turns during Open House. I would not send our DC there based on student population from nearby very high density housing. The local McDonald’s closes its doors for 90 minutes after school dismissal time because of the rowdiness of the students.

Untrue but bless your heart. God bless you.

[Anonymous]

In all seriousness, it’s a very strong school. Dedicated staff, older but clean building, solid climate. Administration (especially Allrich) has done a great job with the culture, but the principal may be promoted soon (read: this school year) so I don’t know if all of that will change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a tech magnet with all courses available to all students. Our choice to turn down another is due in a couple days. I have yet to talk to ANYBODY through friends and acquaintances who has had a child actually go to Arglye. Anyone on DCUM have kids that go there?

Of note is that it's not a merit-based magnet. I am worried it's a rough area/school with the challenges that come along with that. Atleast at merit-based magnet, the peer group in a handful of classes is driven and attentive more than the regular classes.
Desperate to hear any feedback at all.

I find it frustrating and honestly insulting that you refer to it as a "rough" area.

I don't know why you find it insulting. There is a good amount of behavioral issues with the student body at Argyle and there is a lot of concerning criminal behavior up and down Bel Pre. This is not news nor should it be insulting.

Now "rough" is a bit relative to each person's experience. Is that area "rough" compared to worst parts of Southeast DC or Baltimore? Absolutely not. Is it rough compared to say Bethesda, Potomac or the quiet parts of Rockville? Absolutely. There is more crime there, which again correlates with the socioeconomic status of the majority of folks in that area and the higher concentration of section 8 housing in that neighborhood.

The Glenmont shopping center is also pretty scary at night too. You can say this plainly without being accused of being racist.

I pick up my Chinese food from there on the way home from work. Never an issue. Stop starting nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In all seriousness, it’s a very strong school. Dedicated staff, older but clean building, solid climate. Administration (especially Allrich) has done a great job with the culture, but the principal may be promoted soon (read: this school year) so I don’t know if all of that will change.

Do you think Allrich is up for the Kennedy principal job?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In all seriousness, it’s a very strong school. Dedicated staff, older but clean building, solid climate. Administration (especially Allrich) has done a great job with the culture, but the principal may be promoted soon (read: this school year) so I don’t know if all of that will change.

Do you think Allrich is up for the Kennedy principal job?

Until you told me, I didn’t think about that option. I thought he’d be promoted to a director post, but he’d be a dream candidate as most Argyle students matriculate there. Kennedy is also more of a turnaround job, which he had to do at Argyle to this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In all seriousness, it’s a very strong school. Dedicated staff, older but clean building, solid climate. Administration (especially Allrich) has done a great job with the culture, but the principal may be promoted soon (read: this school year) so I don’t know if all of that will change.

Do you think Allrich is up for the Kennedy principal job?

Yes, I do think he’ll apply.