Belle View Elem

[Anonymous]

We are leaving old town because we are in a horrible elementary school.

It it totally up to you, but there is still a chance you could transfer elementary schools, even though it isn't guaranteed anymore. My son is in K at Maury, and out of his class of 21 students, there are 2 who were zoned for JH, one for Mt. Vernon, and one for Cora Kelly.

[Anonymous]

Another option is to send your child, starting in 1st, to the Spanish immersion program at Ft Hunt, although you would have to drive. We have a 10th grader at West Potomac and have been very happy with both middle and high school. We like the diversity in the schools and have found our child appropriately challenged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP--please do not rely on anonymous opinions or a website that only crunches test scores. Go make an appointment and see the school for yourself. Listen to how teachers talk to the students. Look at what kinds of activities the kids are doing. Do the kids seem happy? Do the adults seem happy working there? Talk with Mr. Kuntz, the principal. He is a smart guy who cares about the students.

Bottom line--see for yourself.

Tours are overrated. I did tours of our local ACPS schools before my kid enrolled and I learned almost nothing during the tour. The principals are nice enough, and you can peak into a couple classes but beyond that, you can't really learn much on the very short tour and discussion with the Principal. Better to talk to former parents of kids from the schools one is interested in.

And how do you propose to do that if you don't live in the area? What if kids attended a school 5 years ago when there was a different administrator? Someone's experience from years ago isn't necessarily going to give an accurate picture of what's going on now.

Bottom line--get as many data points as possible and view everything in context.

[Anonymous]

My concern is the demographics of the school don't indicate that it should have issues in test performance. Are there other factors like is the school a special education magnet or something like that?

[Anonymous]

I was the PP that didn't get a good feeling from the orientation and choose private school. I don't know if it is a special ed magnet school, but the orientation seemed to focus on special ed services and ESOL services. They are important programs but not ones that would affect my child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP--please do not rely on anonymous opinions or a website that only crunches test scores. Go make an appointment and see the school for yourself. Listen to how teachers talk to the students. Look at what kinds of activities the kids are doing. Do the kids seem happy? Do the adults seem happy working there? Talk with Mr. Kuntz, the principal. He is a smart guy who cares about the students.

Bottom line--see for yourself.

Tours are overrated. I did tours of our local ACPS schools before my kid enrolled and I learned almost nothing during the tour. The principals are nice enough, and you can peak into a couple classes but beyond that, you can't really learn much on the very short tour and discussion with the Principal. Better to talk to former parents of kids from the schools one is interested in.

And how do you propose to do that if you don't live in the area? What if kids attended a school 5 years ago when there was a different administrator? Someone's experience from years ago isn't necessarily going to give an accurate picture of what's going on now.

Bottom line--get as many data points as possible and view everything in context.

Well presuming you live in the boundary for the school, start asking neighbors, asking parents at activity classes, etc.

[Anonymous]

Don't count on another school for immersion without a back up plan. There are wait lists, no guarantee your kid gets in.

[Anonymous]

Belleview is a center for autism as well as some other developmental special needs students. All of these students, regardless of disability, are required to take the SOLs and this is reflected in the great school rankings. We attended this school and were pleased, moved to a different school with higher great school rankings and were less than pleased. Try to talk to parents who currently have kids at the school.

[Anonymous]

Bumping this because I would love to hear any other input that current or former Belle View parents might have. Our son will be in 1st grade there in the Fall.

[Anonymous]

Bumping again because I have a daughter starting K in the fall; she just makes the cutoff and I'm concerned about the transition to long days without much of a break or much in the way of playtime. Would love to hear from those with experience at BelleView.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bumping again because I have a daughter starting K in the fall; she just makes the cutoff and I'm concerned about the transition to long days without much of a break or much in the way of playtime. Would love to hear from those with experience at BelleView.

Not a Belle View parent, but I would consider waiting another year to start public school if your daughter is that close to the cutoff. This is a fabulous article about redshirting a child:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/magazine/03kindergarten-t.html?em&ex=1181102400&en=2f44ad8387747100&ei=5087%0A

[Anonymous]

bumping this thread to see if any belle view parents have more recent opinions on the school. I found a home I love in the area with a fast commute, but am worried about the test scores.

[Anonymous]

I have friends who has sent their kids there and were happy - but then they ended up all going to the AAP center for the area - Stratford Landing.

If you go down the Parkway a little bit more, you'll get into to Waynewood and Stratford Landing which, as I understand it, much better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Not true at all. Belle View is much higher achieving than most of the ACPS schools.

Not true. For 2013, Belle View was ranked no. 903 in the state of VA. Maury in ACPS was no. 184, Lyles Crouch was 153, Barrett was 282, MacArthur was 604, Mason was 590, Cora Kelly was 556, John adams was 815, Polk was 780, Mt. Vernon was 833.

Belle View is not performing well. We opted to stay put in ACPS and send our kids to Lyles-Crouch over Belle View. We know other families who send their kids to St. Marys or St Stephens. The Villamay folks who send their kids to Belle View seem to think its super, but the test scores don't lie. Stay in ACPS and transfer or move further down to Waynewood or Stratford Landing zones where schools are performing better. And the PP is correct that many of the ACPS elementaries are outperforming FFX County schools in Alexandria.

Test scores DO lie. It is the obsession with test scores that really ruins a school. If I could find a school where the test scores were abysmal and the principal and teachers said, we don't care, we're not going to do test prep all year and pressure little kids, and we're going to do what we know is good for kids instead, I'd sell my house and move their pronto. The problems come when a school has low test scores and everyone gets stressed and crazy and they implement tons of pointless "reforms" and take away music, recess and art and even lunchtime to get in more "instructional time." That's the real tragedy - not the failing test scores. And of course none of it works - they can get the scores up a little, but usually not that much, and then people become angry and scared and stressed out and they start to treat each other badly and then, inevitably, the students. I've seen this in two different schools - one I worked in, and one I send my child to. If parents would only learn the truth about what the test scores really mean and how they really affect a school, maybe we'd have some common sense in education. As long as parents remain ignorant, this madness will continue.