Cooper AAP center?

[Anonymous]

Longfellow just got renovated. Plenty of AAP kids there lived through the dangling lightbulbs and ceiling tiles

Yes, but Longfellow also had an excellent fully functional AAP program during the renovation.

Cooper could start out as a crappy AAP program in a run-down school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The latest draft CIP has Cooper slated for renovation beginning in FY 2017-18, with the bulk of the actual work in FY 2019-20.

2019 is still 6 years away, after Cooper will be way over capacity. Kilmer and Longfellow are already renovated, and have strong AAP programs.

As far as all McLean public schools having AAP... my older child (otherwise Cooper, now Langley) had a great experience at Kilmer, now has friends at 3 high schools (Langley, Madison, Marshall). It was great to have a short break from the social cutthroat McLean environment.

FYI about Longfellow's rennovation. It was long in coming. When we moved here in 1997, it was at the top of FCPS's list - listed as the Middle School most in need of renovation. My older son was born that year, he had to live through the 1st 2 years of the reno, which was completed a year after he left.

[Anonymous]

I don't think Coopers AAP will be "crappy". I'm more concerned about the overcrowding issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think Coopers AAP will be "crappy". I'm more concerned about the overcrowding issue.

Yeah, well until the reno, over crowding has been an issue at Longfellow for as long as I have lived here and it will be again very shortly. Over crowding is an issue in the vast majority of schools in Fairfax. It is a fact of life in FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Creating a center at Cooper will be a good thing for all three schools affected. Kilmer is overcrowded, Longfellow has some of the same issues as Haycock as to whether it is turning into an AAP school with a GenEd population attached, and Cooper is a school where social climbing among rich kids from Great Falls sometimes gets more attention than academics. This will help address all three issues, and it's great that Janie Strauss is paying attention to the big picture.

[Anonymous]

PP, the Kilmer families would like the "Cooper" kids to stay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, the Kilmer families would like the "Cooper" kids to stay.

You speak for all Kilmer families? As Kilmer became progressively more overcrowded, parents would ask why Cooper kids could not receive AAP services there, at least if FCPS's projections of the expected decline in Cooper's enrollment are remotely accurate. That is what happened the last time Kilmer was overcrowded, and it is was part of the reason the AAP center was opened at Jackson and the Thoreau families were told that was their AAP option. At least at Kilmer it appears there can be liberal grandfathering for the next several years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Creating a center at Cooper will be a good thing for all three schools affected. Kilmer is overcrowded, Longfellow has some of the same issues as Haycock as to whether it is turning into an AAP school with a GenEd population attached, and Cooper is a school where social climbing among rich kids from Great Falls sometimes gets more attention than academics. This will help address all three issues, and it's great that Janie Strauss is paying attention to the big picture.

Anyone else pretty sure Janie Strauss herself wrote this???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Creating a center at Cooper will be a good thing for all three schools affected. Kilmer is overcrowded, Longfellow has some of the same issues as Haycock as to whether it is turning into an AAP school with a GenEd population attached, and Cooper is a school where social climbing among rich kids from Great Falls sometimes gets more attention than academics. This will help address all three issues, and it's great that Janie Strauss is paying attention to the big picture.

Anyone else pretty sure Janie Strauss herself wrote this???

Yes, and I'm pretty sure she's been the one explaining how it's "so sad, but just better for everyone this way" on the Haycock thread too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Creating a center at Cooper will be a good thing for all three schools affected. Kilmer is overcrowded, Longfellow has some of the same issues as Haycock as to whether it is turning into an AAP school with a GenEd population attached, and Cooper is a school where social climbing among rich kids from Great Falls sometimes gets more attention than academics. This will help address all three issues, and it's great that Janie Strauss is paying attention to the big picture.


Anyone else pretty sure Janie Strauss herself wrote this???

LOL.
She probably did, since the social climbers are an even mix of McLean and Great Falls rich kids

Her new proposal would give rising 6th graders the option to stay at Kilmer/Longfellow, with transportation. If that passes, how to choose??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Creating a center at Cooper will be a good thing for all three schools affected. Kilmer is overcrowded, Longfellow has some of the same issues as Haycock as to whether it is turning into an AAP school with a GenEd population attached, and Cooper is a school where social climbing among rich kids from Great Falls sometimes gets more attention than academics. This will help address all three issues, and it's great that Janie Strauss is paying attention to the big picture.

Anyone else pretty sure Janie Strauss herself wrote this???

Yes, and I'm pretty sure she's been the one explaining how it's "so sad, but just better for everyone this way" on the Haycock thread too.

LOL! It never occurred to me that Janie would be drafting the posts. I assumed it was someone who drank her kool aid. Now that you mention it, it's a distinct possibility.

[Anonymous]

Wow, I'm so busted.

This is reminiscent of the Strauss-Epstein election, where people would claim that every school-related post was written by Strauss, Epstein or Epstein's campaign manager, the silver-tongued Catherine Lorenze (who went MIA after virtually all "her" candidates lost). Be that as it may, I'm not Janie, and I don't agree with everything she does, but I think her judgment on recent issues has been sound. If you disagree, you can try and vote her out next time, if she even runs again, but it will be her you're replacing, not me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

LOL.
She probably did, since the social climbers are an even mix of McLean and Great Falls rich kids

Her new proposal would give rising 6th graders the option to stay at Kilmer/Longfellow, with transportation. If that passes, how to choose??

How's that? These kids must be very bright if they were in 5th grade at Kilmer or Longfellow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Creating a center at Cooper will be a good thing for all three schools affected. Kilmer is overcrowded, Longfellow has some of the same issues as Haycock as to whether it is turning into an AAP school with a GenEd population attached, and Cooper is a school where social climbing among rich kids from Great Falls sometimes gets more attention than academics. This will help address all three issues, and it's great that Janie Strauss is paying attention to the big picture.

Anyone else pretty sure Janie Strauss herself wrote this???

No. It is silly to accuse her of writing this post.

Anyone care to address the scenario where Forestville, Great Falls, and Colvin Run are at Cooper while those who have always been at Longfellow continue there? It would not stretch the imagination to see that as a proposal from Mclean schools.

[Anonymous]

There may be issues with enrollment projections. A copy of an email I just received:
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All-

Sorry for the delay getting this out, but I wanted to make sure my analysis was correct. I won't bore you with the statistical details, but here are the key findings:

1) Based on a simple linear regression model validated against 10 years of historical enrollment data for Great Falls ES, Colvin Run ES, Forestville ES, and Churchill Rd. ES, FCPS Facilities Planning Services is underpredicting 2013 and 2014 General Education (GenEd) feeder school enrollment for Cooper MS by 292 and 432 students, respectively. The historical enrollment data and 2013 & 2014 predictions are illustrated in the attachment.

2) The model predicts likely GenEd enrollment in 2013 and 2014 will be 2985 and 2990 students, respectively, with better than 99.8% probability that there will be at least 2869 and 2874 students, respectively.

3) The probability that the FCPS projections provide an accurate upper bound on Cooper MS feeder school Gen Ed enrollment is statistically zero. There is 1 chance in 17,000 that their 2013 prediction for Colvin Run ES is accurate; all other predictions have less than 1 chance in a billion. Cumulatively across all four elementary schools, the probability is so close to zero that my computer cannot calculate it.

4) The GenEd enrollment for the FCPS school system as a whole is growing at 10 times the rate of the Cooper MS feeder schools, so there is no possibility of moving those 432 students elsewhere to fill "empty desks."

5) These conclusions are echoed in statements from Sloan Presidio, FCPS Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Services. In an internal email dated 14 December (after this proposal had been submitted to the Board by the FCPS Central Staff) and obtained by a FOIA request, Sloan stated "...At the middle school level, Cooper, Franklin, and Thoreau may have capacity issues as well."

6) There are no indications in the information provided to me by FCPS Facilities Planning Services that any statistically credible validation of their enrollment prediction model against historical data at the pyramid or school level has been performed, although that is the level at which the data is being applied. The only data provided in support of the accuracy of the model were provided at the overall FCPS level, with no indication that the model was validated at any lower level of aggregation.

I hope this data helps. Please feel free to forward it to parents and other stakeholders.

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http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/5552056/cooper-feeder-school-enrollment-projections-pdf-63k?da=y