Middle School Momentum in Alexandria

[Anonymous]

I'm the parent of a private school transfer to GW this fall. Early on I joked with friends that I felt like I must be the only parent truly excited to enroll my child GW. I know a number of families that left after 6th, but none of their issues seemed to apply to us - so I'm aware that GW is not for everybody- just want to make that clear. When we enrollec, we learned that we were not alone - and there are around a dozen private school transfers this fall. Our reasons for choosing GW were not financial, or due to social or performance issues (Im sure somebody out there is wondering.....Rather, we were greatly underwhelmed at our privste, academically and socially, and DC really wanted to attemd school with neighborhood friends - and - also wants to attend TC. DC is an A student, great kid and loves sports and activities that GW offers that her expensive private does not in some cases. If it does not work out, private will remain an option for HS, but we are going into this with TC as our goal. Her GW friends are lovely, academic, sporty kIds with a mature disposition seriously lacking at her former school. Although DC had no social issues, I worried about the private MS cohort as well as the quality of the academics. Not often will you hear GW described as the destination point for these qualities. but this is truly the case for us.. We had a great tour, learned about the new honors curriculum, spoke with current parents about pros and cons and determined that GW was a great move for DC. Apparently we are not the only families giving it a try - Ive done my homework and I'm optimistic .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the parent of a private school transfer to GW this fall. Early on I joked with friends that I felt like I must be the only parent truly excited to enroll my child GW. I know a number of families that left after 6th, but none of their issues seemed to apply to us - so I'm aware that GW is not for everybody- just want to make that clear. When we enrollec, we learned that we were not alone - and there are around a dozen private school transfers this fall. Our reasons for choosing GW were not financial, or due to social or performance issues (Im sure somebody out there is wondering.....Rather, we were greatly underwhelmed at our privste, academically and socially, and DC really wanted to attemd school with neighborhood friends - and - also wants to attend TC. DC is an A student, great kid and loves sports and activities that GW offers that her expensive private does not in some cases. If it does not work out, private will remain an option for HS, but we are going into this with TC as our goal. Her GW friends are lovely, academic, sporty kIds with a mature disposition seriously lacking at her former school. Although DC had no social issues, I worried about the private MS cohort as well as the quality of the academics. Not often will you hear GW described as the destination point for these qualities. but this is truly the case for us.. We had a great tour, learned about the new honors curriculum, spoke with current parents about pros and cons and determined that GW was a great move for DC. Apparently we are not the only families giving it a try - Ive done my homework and I'm optimistic .

PP, us too - nearly identical story. Both of the ACPS middles have been seriously under-appreciated, and that's coming to an end. We went in pre-MS, and we were blown away by how good our little ACPS elementary school is. And our DC will start MS with some friends in the system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the parent of a private school transfer to GW this fall. Early on I joked with friends that I felt like I must be the only parent truly excited to enroll my child GW. I know a number of families that left after 6th, but none of their issues seemed to apply to us - so I'm aware that GW is not for everybody- just want to make that clear. When we enrollec, we learned that we were not alone - and there are around a dozen private school transfers this fall. Our reasons for choosing GW were not financial, or due to social or performance issues (Im sure somebody out there is wondering.....Rather, we were greatly underwhelmed at our privste, academically and socially, and DC really wanted to attemd school with neighborhood friends - and - also wants to attend TC. DC is an A student, great kid and loves sports and activities that GW offers that her expensive private does not in some cases. If it does not work out, private will remain an option for HS, but we are going into this with TC as our goal. Her GW friends are lovely, academic, sporty kIds with a mature disposition seriously lacking at her former school. Although DC had no social issues, I worried about the private MS cohort as well as the quality of the academics. Not often will you hear GW described as the destination point for these qualities. but this is truly the case for us.. We had a great tour, learned about the new honors curriculum, spoke with current parents about pros and cons and determined that GW was a great move for DC. Apparently we are not the only families giving it a try - Ive done my homework and I'm optimistic .

PP, us too - nearly identical story. Both of the ACPS middles have been seriously under-appreciated, and that's coming to an end. We went in pre-MS, and we were blown away by how good our little ACPS elementary school is. And our DC will start MS with some friends in the system.

Report back in about four months, mkay?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the parent of a private school transfer to GW this fall. Early on I joked with friends that I felt like I must be the only parent truly excited to enroll my child GW. I know a number of families that left after 6th, but none of their issues seemed to apply to us - so I'm aware that GW is not for everybody- just want to make that clear. When we enrollec, we learned that we were not alone - and there are around a dozen private school transfers this fall. Our reasons for choosing GW were not financial, or due to social or performance issues (Im sure somebody out there is wondering.....Rather, we were greatly underwhelmed at our privste, academically and socially, and DC really wanted to attemd school with neighborhood friends - and - also wants to attend TC. DC is an A student, great kid and loves sports and activities that GW offers that her expensive private does not in some cases. If it does not work out, private will remain an option for HS, but we are going into this with TC as our goal. Her GW friends are lovely, academic, sporty kIds with a mature disposition seriously lacking at her former school. Although DC had no social issues, I worried about the private MS cohort as well as the quality of the academics. Not often will you hear GW described as the destination point for these qualities. but this is truly the case for us.. We had a great tour, learned about the new honors curriculum, spoke with current parents about pros and cons and determined that GW was a great move for DC. Apparently we are not the only families giving it a try - Ive done my homework and I'm optimistic .

PP, us too - nearly identical story. Both of the ACPS middles have been seriously under-appreciated, and that's coming to an end. We went in pre-MS, and we were blown away by how good our little ACPS elementary school is. And our DC will start MS with some friends in the system.

Report back in about four months, mkay?

+1

But I will give the PP a bit of credit because I think there is a slow creep of kids in the elementary school kids who did could have attended private and did not toward middle school which is likely balancing out the populations of the school.

[Anonymous]

While PP's remarks are uncalled for, Arlington poster, I've posted about you too. Those of us in Alexandria with kids in ACPS are frustrated by your comments, since you've never had a child go through GW or TC. It frustrates us that new readers might give your disparaging comments as much weight as ours, which are based on firsthand experience. That's why we feel the need to call you out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While PP's remarks are uncalled for, Arlington poster, I've posted about you too. Those of us in Alexandria with kids in ACPS are frustrated by your comments, since you've never had a child go through GW or TC. It frustrates us that new readers might give your disparaging comments as much weight as ours, which are based on firsthand experience. That's why we feel the need to call you out.

I don't have to live in Somalia to know it's not a nice place to live, either.

I'm one of many MANY ACPS critics on these boards (evidently, one of them is a teacher who was once in the system). I know because I don't even write the majority of the criticisms. Spend some time reading the comments section on the Alexandria news boards and you'll see more. The pathetic reputation of ACPS is undeniable. I lay that at the feet of the dysfunctional school board and inept superintendent.

Here's a tip: Yelling loudly and insulting my parenting (which that herpetic whore did twice) doesn't improve your school system. It just illustrates the same head-in-the-sand mentality that has held ACPS back all these years and caused me to leave.

I actually hope that the OP is right and that the enrollment of more students at GW turns the school around. Really, I do. Because I know families stuck with the system, and I want the best for their children. Really. But, it's really stupid to post in August, "hey! enrollment is up, so everything is hunky dory now!" Which is why I say, report back in four months.

[Anonymous]

How about this. We'd love your suggestions about what the Arlington system is doing better. Give us specific, concrete examples of a school in Arlington with a similarly challenged population (Wakefield comes to mind) and what they are doing at Wakefield that we can do at TC to make it even better for our students. I'm happy to pass these suggestions along! No comments about herpetic whores, however. Those would not be helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about this. We'd love your suggestions about what the Arlington system is doing better. Give us specific, concrete examples of a school in Arlington with a similarly challenged population (Wakefield comes to mind) and what they are doing at Wakefield that we can do at TC to make it even better for our students. I'm happy to pass these suggestions along! No comments about herpetic whores, however. Those would not be helpful.

Still waiting for the e-mail.

I've given plenty of suggestions in the past. For one thing, I think TC needs to remove the daycare and the clinic that sends a message to kids that it's OK to have sex and we'll continue to support you even if you have babies. I think more needs to be done to break down the caste system, probably by more deliberately integrating the kids in the AP bubble into the rest of the school. The board needs to get on board with the rest of the NOVA area and make TJ an option (and they should definitely lobby for a seat on TJ's board to do this.) Minnie Howard needs to be converted into a different type of high school -- ideally one of the experiential learning schools of the 1970s, kind of like an HB Woodlawn model, to reshuffle the student makeup further (i.e., it should be 9-12 and the main campus should also be 9-12). At this newer model, classes would be taught more in the seminar style that's typical of a college environment, with a capstone project (maybe one that encourages students to travel out into the world). There should be a zero tolerance for wannabe gang activity, with expulsions. That's just for starters.

Alexandria's School Board also should fund a charter school or two to create choice within the system. I realize this taxes resources, but the system already spends more dollars per student than any other in the state (I think -- or damn near) with poor results, so it's worth trying -- I mean, Sherman spends thousands on idiotic consultants that could be rediverted to more productive uses like this. The charter(s) shouldn't be too exotic. Maybe it's a trade-based school (culinary arts?) or an arts school or something. But the point is, there needs to be more choice created within the system to disperse the population at TC that is stuck in long-established dynamics. I think the school system should try to follow a state university model, where branch campuses have different brands.

At the middle school level, the IB program should be abandoned -- the idea of "open enrollment" was stupid and artificial as is much of what Sherman proposes (such as the extended day/calendar year).

Finally, the board needs to remember that Mort Sherman works for them and not the other way around. And they need to stop agreeing to every little whim he's got.

[jsteele]

I have sanitized this thread somewhat to remove the personal arguments. It shouldn't have to be said to a group of adults, but challenging other posters to meet in you in the playground after school is really ridiculous. Posts of that sort are simply not going to be tolerated.

[Anonymous]

Confused by 9:10's post - he has long complained about the purported "AP bubble" at TC Williams, and his solution to what he sees as the problems within ACPS is to provide students with more choices.

We get it - he thinks ACPS needs to be more like APS. But it seems hypocritical to complain about the choices that currently exist within TC, and then turn around and suggest that ACPS balkanize itself further.

[Anonymous]

Removing the clinic and daycare center won't help. The problem existed in the City long before they had either and it will exist if they get rid of both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Confused by 9:10's post - he has long complained about the purported "AP bubble" at TC Williams, and his solution to what he sees as the problems within ACPS is to provide students with more choices.

We get it - he thinks ACPS needs to be more like APS. But it seems hypocritical to complain about the choices that currently exist within TC, and then turn around and suggest that ACPS balkanize itself further.

No, not really. The division that currently exists is between elite and everyone else. The choices I have proposed are far more dynamic, not a "Balkanization." TC isn't the Balkans -- that's the wrong metaphor. It's more like Apartheid-era South Africa or, if you prefer, aristocratic England. My choices would also create more physical locations, which I think would be beneficial.

APS isn't my model, anyway. My model is a state university system.

And my proposal is fundamentally rooted in changing the institutional culture of the school system, because that's what is broken. IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Confused by 9:10's post - he has long complained about the purported "AP bubble" at TC Williams, and his solution to what he sees as the problems within ACPS is to provide students with more choices.

We get it - he thinks ACPS needs to be more like APS. But it seems hypocritical to complain about the choices that currently exist within TC, and then turn around and suggest that ACPS balkanize itself further.

No, not really. The division that currently exists is between elite and everyone else. The choices I have proposed are far more dynamic, not a "Balkanization." TC isn't the Balkans -- that's the wrong metaphor. It's more like Apartheid-era South Africa or, if you prefer, aristocratic England. My choices would also create more physical locations, which I think would be beneficial.

APS isn't my model, anyway. My model is a state university system.

And my proposal is fundamentally rooted in changing the institutional culture of the school system, because that's what is broken. IMO.

Be that as it may, it's very hard to read this and not come to the conclusion that you would also have APS close Wakefield in its current incarnation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Confused by 9:10's post - he has long complained about the purported "AP bubble" at TC Williams, and his solution to what he sees as the problems within ACPS is to provide students with more choices.

We get it - he thinks ACPS needs to be more like APS. But it seems hypocritical to complain about the choices that currently exist within TC, and then turn around and suggest that ACPS balkanize itself further.

No, not really. The division that currently exists is between elite and everyone else. The choices I have proposed are far more dynamic, not a "Balkanization." TC isn't the Balkans -- that's the wrong metaphor. It's more like Apartheid-era South Africa or, if you prefer, aristocratic England. My choices would also create more physical locations, which I think would be beneficial.

APS isn't my model, anyway. My model is a state university system.

And my proposal is fundamentally rooted in changing the institutional culture of the school system, because that's what is broken. IMO.

Be that as it may, it's very hard to read this and not come to the conclusion that you would also have APS close Wakefield in its current incarnation.

But we're not talking about Wakefield and I have no idea why you keep bringing it up.

Whatever. I've said more than I cared to say anyway. I just responded b/c you basically asked what my solution was and had I replied "I've said it before" you would have jumped all over me for that.

Yelling "But! Wakefield" everytime someone criticizes TC isn't going to fix ACPS's issues. I honestly don't know much about Wakefield anyway -- it's one of four high schools in the system.

[Anonymous]

As a current Alexandria City resident very familiar with ACPS and private schooling of our kids over the decades, I'd like to thank and support the below quoted poster wholeheartedly for his or her suggestions to our school system. Rings very true sounding, not hollow.

___
"I've given plenty of suggestions in the past. For one thing, I think TC needs to remove the daycare and the clinic that sends a message to kids that it's OK to have sex and we'll continue to support you even if you have babies. I think more needs to be done to break down the caste system, probably by more deliberately integrating the kids in the AP bubble into the rest of the school. The board needs to get on board with the rest of the NOVA area and make TJ an option (and they should definitely lobby for a seat on TJ's board to do this.) Minnie Howard needs to be converted into a different type of high school -- ideally one of the experiential learning schools of the 1970s, kind of like an HB Woodlawn model, to reshuffle the student makeup further (i.e., it should be 9-12 and the main campus should also be 9-12). At this newer model, classes would be taught more in the seminar style that's typical of a college environment, with a capstone project (maybe one that encourages students to travel out into the world). There should be a zero tolerance for wannabe gang activity, with expulsions. That's just for starters.

Alexandria's School Board also should fund a charter school or two to create choice within the system. I realize this taxes resources, but the system already spends more dollars per student than any other in the state (I think -- or damn near) with poor results, so it's worth trying -- I mean, Sherman spends thousands on idiotic consultants that could be rediverted to more productive uses like this. The charter(s) shouldn't be too exotic. Maybe it's a trade-based school (culinary arts?) or an arts school or something. But the point is, there needs to be more choice created within the system to disperse the population at TC that is stuck in long-established dynamics. I think the school system should try to follow a state university model, where branch campuses have different brands.

At the middle school level, the IB program should be abandoned -- the idea of "open enrollment" was stupid and artificial as is much of what Sherman proposes (such as the extended day/calendar year).

Finally, the board needs to remember that Mort Sherman works for them and not the other way around. And they need to stop agreeing to every little whim he's got."