FCPS Pupil Placing from South Lakes to Madison bc of IB- is it as easy as it seems?

[Anonymous]

[Up]

Anonymous

OP, I'm not even going to bother reading all the prior posts, because the intent behind more than a few of them seems to be to punish you for wanting to opt out of an IB school.

If Madison is the closest AP school, and space is available, you should not have a problem arranging for a pupil placement. And, while the forms state that the approval is only for one year, in practice once you're in the door, the pupil placements get renewed each year. Your kid has to commit to taking a minimum number of AP courses.

Good luck. People have their reasons for picking AP over IB, and vice versa. One of the biggest home builders in Vienna lived in the Marshall HS district, and advertised that his houses were zoned for "great schools," but he sent his own kids to Madison HS. It happens.

Sekas?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are moving to a home zoned for South Lakes HS, and the next closest school is Madison. Do I understand it correctly that we have the option to send our child to Madison instead of South Lakes because we would prefer AP curriculum to IB? This seems too easy..

It works as long as Madison is accepting transfers for all four years as the transfer is only for one year at a time. If Madison is closed transfers, your student would go to the next closest AP HS that is open to transfers.

This bolded part hardly ever occurs. The principal makes the decision. Oftentimes schools listed as closed to transfers on Dashboard do accommodate high school curricular transfer requests just the same. Principals (and school registrars) do look at closest distance to one's home, though.

The Op did not disclose the age of her children. Quite a bit of change can happen in a 5-10 year period- especially with the growth expected in the Tyson's area.

[Anonymous]

We are moving to a home zoned for South Lakes HS, and the next closest school is Madison. Do I understand it correctly that we have the option to send our child to Madison instead of South Lakes because we would prefer AP curriculum to IB? This seems too easy..

Are you sure it's not Oakton? I would look carefully at the attendance map.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are moving to a home zoned for South Lakes HS, and the next closest school is Madison. Do I understand it correctly that we have the option to send our child to Madison instead of South Lakes because we would prefer AP curriculum to IB? This seems too easy..

It works as long as Madison is accepting transfers for all four years as the transfer is only for one year at a time. If Madison is closed transfers, your student would go to the next closest AP HS that is open to transfers.

This bolded part hardly ever occurs. The principal makes the decision. Oftentimes schools listed as closed to transfers on Dashboard do accommodate high school curricular transfer requests just the same. Principals (and school registrars) do look at closest distance to one's home, though.

The Op did not disclose the age of her children. Quite a bit of change can happen in a 5-10 year period- especially with the growth expected in the Tyson's area.

This is right. I would be livid if I was a Madison parent whose child was facing an overcrowded school due to wildly loose pupil transfer policies.

[Anonymous]

I am waiting for "we should kill IB" guy to jump in.

[Anonymous]

I am waiting for "we should kill IB" guy to jump in.

Oh. You must be that IB crazy. Please don't hijack this thread too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are moving to a home zoned for South Lakes HS, and the next closest school is Madison. Do I understand it correctly that we have the option to send our child to Madison instead of South Lakes because we would prefer AP curriculum to IB? This seems too easy..

It works as long as Madison is accepting transfers for all four years as the transfer is only for one year at a time. If Madison is closed transfers, your student would go to the next closest AP HS that is open to transfers.

This bolded part hardly ever occurs. The principal makes the decision. Oftentimes schools listed as closed to transfers on Dashboard do accommodate high school curricular transfer requests just the same. Principals (and school registrars) do look at closest distance to one's home, though.

Guess what, my understanding from my friends who go there is that Madison is overcapacity and is closed to transfers right now. In past years it's been fairly easy to people place from Marshall and vice versa, but this year, a friend went to get her kid in there and was told that. All the schools are becoming a lot tighter about admissions since people often people place for reasons that have little to do with AP v. IB. So I'd check it out before you assume your child would be able to transfer.

My DD was successfully pupil placed at Madison.

When did you do it? We just heard of someone turned away a few weeks ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are moving to a home zoned for South Lakes HS, and the next closest school is Madison. Do I understand it correctly that we have the option to send our child to Madison instead of South Lakes because we would prefer AP curriculum to IB? This seems too easy..

It works as long as Madison is accepting transfers for all four years as the transfer is only for one year at a time. If Madison is closed transfers, your student would go to the next closest AP HS that is open to transfers.

This bolded part hardly ever occurs. The principal makes the decision. Oftentimes schools listed as closed to transfers on Dashboard do accommodate high school curricular transfer requests just the same. Principals (and school registrars) do look at closest distance to one's home, though.

Guess what, my understanding from my friends who go there is that Madison is overcapacity and is closed to transfers right now. In past years it's been fairly easy to people place from Marshall and vice versa, but this year, a friend went to get her kid in there and was told that. All the schools are becoming a lot tighter about admissions since people often people place for reasons that have little to do with AP v. IB. So I'd check it out before you assume your child would be able to transfer.

My DD was successfully pupil placed at Madison.

When did you do it? We just heard of someone turned away a few weeks ago.

We submitted in January and received word she was in about 5 weeks later. I think part of it was delayed due to all the closings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go online to this FCPS page:

http://www.fcps.edu/dss/osp/StudentRegistration/student-transfer/hs.shtml

This page gives you the forms for what you want; it's referred to by the schools as a "high school curricular transfer." It is a simple process. Your child will be required to commit to taking a certain number of AP classes; there's a statement the student must sign, making that academic commitment. And your child is not entitled to any bus transportation; you will have to get your child to and from high school.

Madison would have to be open to academic transfers at the time you apply; however, the FCPS "dashboard" page that contains information such as whether schools are open for transfer is often not really correct on that score. So if you check and see the dashboard says "not open to transfers," don't stop the process based just on that. Call the school and check.

The applications are due in the spring -- don't miss the deadline, which will be on the FCPS site. I know a family that did miss it, and were told they would have to wait to apply the next spring.

You will submit the forms to South Lakes, NOT to Madison, because the student's assigned base school has to sign off on the transfer and then sends the forms to the receiving school. Your base school won't bat an eyelash at the request. But stay on top of it and check with South Lakes' registrar that the forms have moved over to Madison in good time, and check that Madison has received them.

We know quite a few families who pupil placed students for curricular reasons and no high school kid cares or asks about why another kid is "from a different neighborhood." It's just not an issue with kids this age or kids in AP or IB. They get the whole curricular transfer idea and simply don't care. That aspect of it isn't an issue at all, despite what someone posted earlier. .

It's interesting to me that your post seems skeptical of the idea of a high school curricular transfer. Maybe you feel it seems too good to be true! But yes, we are allowed this kind of choice, as long as there is room and the student makes the commitment to the academic program at the new school.

This type of "choice" should not be allowed from schools that are meeting their mandated accreditation targets. Go to your neighborhood school, move, or go to a private school. End of story. FCPS is supporting extremely thinly veiled racism.

I think that this is true in too many cases, unfortunately. For every person I know who transferred for the curriculum ( a friend who's daughter couldn't handle IB, for example, went to the AP school), I know someone who transfers in search of what they consider "better peers". Sometimes there information is so outdated it's laughable. In terms of South Lakes, for example, I know tons of extremely bright kids who go there and are excelling. I get offering choice within reason, but geez some people sure don't know how to use it wisely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go online to this FCPS page:

http://www.fcps.edu/dss/osp/StudentRegistration/student-transfer/hs.shtml

This page gives you the forms for what you want; it's referred to by the schools as a "high school curricular transfer." It is a simple process. Your child will be required to commit to taking a certain number of AP classes; there's a statement the student must sign, making that academic commitment. And your child is not entitled to any bus transportation; you will have to get your child to and from high school.

Madison would have to be open to academic transfers at the time you apply; however, the FCPS "dashboard" page that contains information such as whether schools are open for transfer is often not really correct on that score. So if you check and see the dashboard says "not open to transfers," don't stop the process based just on that. Call the school and check.

The applications are due in the spring -- don't miss the deadline, which will be on the FCPS site. I know a family that did miss it, and were told they would have to wait to apply the next spring.

You will submit the forms to South Lakes, NOT to Madison, because the student's assigned base school has to sign off on the transfer and then sends the forms to the receiving school. Your base school won't bat an eyelash at the request. But stay on top of it and check with South Lakes' registrar that the forms have moved over to Madison in good time, and check that Madison has received them.

We know quite a few families who pupil placed students for curricular reasons and no high school kid cares or asks about why another kid is "from a different neighborhood." It's just not an issue with kids this age or kids in AP or IB. They get the whole curricular transfer idea and simply don't care. That aspect of it isn't an issue at all, despite what someone posted earlier. .

It's interesting to me that your post seems skeptical of the idea of a high school curricular transfer. Maybe you feel it seems too good to be true! But yes, we are allowed this kind of choice, as long as there is room and the student makes the commitment to the academic program at the new school.

This type of "choice" should not be allowed from schools that are meeting their mandated accreditation targets. Go to your neighborhood school, move, or go to a private school. End of story. FCPS is supporting extremely thinly veiled racism.

I think that this is true in too many cases, unfortunately. For every person I know who transferred for the curriculum ( a friend who's daughter couldn't handle IB, for example, went to the AP school), I know someone who transfers in search of what they consider "better peers". Sometimes there information is so outdated it's laughable. In terms of South Lakes, for example, I know tons of extremely bright kids who go there and are excelling. I get offering choice within reason, but geez some people sure don't know how to use it wisely.

And it isn't thinly veiled racism, it is thinly veiled classism.

South Lakes is a mixed bag, but certainly not anything near a complete failure of a school.

[Anonymous]

Do South Lakes parents really want IB or would they prefer AP? Would it matter if they weren't allowed to transfer their children out of the IB school? I think part of the reason IB is still supported is because it allows people to pupil place out of their neighborhood high school.

[Anonymous]

And it isn't thinly veiled racism, it is thinly veiled classism.

Get rid of IB. Problem solved. People won't be able to transfer for AP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

And it isn't thinly veiled racism, it is thinly veiled classism.

Get rid of IB. Problem solved. People won't be able to transfer for AP.

I would be completely on board with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

And it isn't thinly veiled racism, it is thinly veiled classism.

Get rid of IB. Problem solved. People won't be able to transfer for AP.

+1000

[Anonymous]

No one is transferring to AP schools because they "can't handle" IB, unless you mean they didn't want to do the full IB diploma program. In that case they'd be in good company with the vast majority of students at the IB schools who don't transfer. By far the largest cohorts of high achieving kids in FCPS are at the AP schools.