"Choice out"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, important to know that while the lotteries are 'countywide', the slots are allocated by elementary zone based on (I think) number of kids in that zone. So, if there are 40 families in your zone applying for ATS, that's who you are up against for a spot, not the whole county. Some school zones have higher participation in the lotteries so it can be easier or harder to get in depending on where you live.

This is not true for the elementary lotteries- this is only true for HB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:your chance of getting into ATS- slim- they admit somewhere between 25%-50% of kids that apply.
your chance of getting into Montessori- pretty good. There has not historically been a waitlist for montessori at the elementary level.
Your chance of getting into Immersion- pretty good if you are willing to be flexible. If you don't immediately get into your zoned immersion school, start pushing to be admitted to the other one, you probably will be (For the last several years Key has taken kids off the Claremont waiting list.) If the immersion waitlists continue to grow, APS is open to the idea of starting a 3rd elementary immersion school. There are a lot of educational benefits to immersion, particularly for native Spanish speakers.
Your chance of getting into Campbell- this is a wild card, previously there were very few zoned schools for which you could apply to Campbell. This is changing in a year and the entire county will be able to apply. I suspect that Campbell will become like ATS- slim chances.

I don't think that's true. Much slimmer chances. The year we applied, after siblings and VPI were accounted for, there were only like 20 spaces. The waitlist was at least 200 deep IIRC (a friend's child was number 189).

[Anonymous]

Campbell also has very slim chances of getting accepted when it was only available to south arlington families. It isn't that the school is so popular (although word is getting out that it is a terrific program and well-run school), it is because it is already a small school and about 60% of the slots are reserved for kids rising from the VPI program, and siblings. That leaves very few spots for the lottery. It will get worse now that it is a county-wide lottery unless APS reduces the number of slots reserved for VPI. And, I doubt that will happen. It is a Title I school and even the wealthier families like that.

[Anonymous]

Up until now, Key (Spanish) had a boundary, with the rest of the slots filled via lottery (most people applying for a spot). Now, it will all be by lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Up until now, Key (Spanish) had a boundary, with the rest of the slots filled via lottery (most people applying for a spot). Now, it will all be by lottery.

And the change to a pure lottery system should give students across the county a more equitable shot, if they're interested in immersion. So if you live in Barcroft or the former Patrick Henry boundary, you'll have just as good a shot as those in Abingdon or Oakridge.

[Anonymous]

ATS odds have gotten a bit better since the school started a 4th kindergarten class. We got in a few years ago as one of only 22 open slots. Some years lately there have been twice as many. (not sure whether this will be a "bubble" or if the school will move to 4 classes for every grade permanently.) Another VPI pre-K class was also added, but I think there are only 16 kids in those classes, vs. 24 in K classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:your chance of getting into ATS- slim- they admit somewhere between 25%-50% of kids that apply.
your chance of getting into Montessori- pretty good. There has not historically been a waitlist for montessori at the elementary level.
Your chance of getting into Immersion- pretty good if you are willing to be flexible. If you don't immediately get into your zoned immersion school, start pushing to be admitted to the other one, you probably will be (For the last several years Key has taken kids off the Claremont waiting list.) If the immersion waitlists continue to grow, APS is open to the idea of starting a 3rd elementary immersion school. There are a lot of educational benefits to immersion, particularly for native Spanish speakers.
Your chance of getting into Campbell- this is a wild card, previously there were very few zoned schools for which you could apply to Campbell. This is changing in a year and the entire county will be able to apply. I suspect that Campbell will become like ATS- slim chances.

I don't think that's true. Much slimmer chances. The year we applied, after siblings and VPI were accounted for, there were only like 20 spaces. The waitlist was at least 200 deep IIRC (a friend's child was number 189).

In the past, the chances of getting in to ATS (if you were not in the VPI pre-school program or a sibling of a current ATS student) was more like between 10%- 20%. Slim chance. As another PP has commented, those odds have improved over the past couple of years with the addition of a fourth kindergarten class. In theory this year's fourth K class is still a "bubble." But with the overcrowding across APS, I expect having four kindergarten classes will be the new normal. The school building really needs to be expanded if that is to be the case, but that just puts ATS in the same boat as many other cramped APS elementaries. ATS does, at least, sit on a large plot of land, so the space is there to expand if the money can be found.

[Anonymous]

12:28 the principal has been preparing for years in case the school is expanded. We've talked about it a bunch of times in PTA board meetings. I personally assume that 4 classes per grade will be the norm, though I'm not sure how they'll squeeze more kids into the lunch schedule - the youngest kids already eat lunch at 10:20, which is probably the case at the most crowded elementaries in the county too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:12:28 the principal has been preparing for years in case the school is expanded. We've talked about it a bunch of times in PTA board meetings. I personally assume that 4 classes per grade will be the norm, though I'm not sure how they'll squeeze more kids into the lunch schedule - the youngest kids already eat lunch at 10:20, which is probably the case at the most crowded elementaries in the county too.

Yep - added more trailers this year, and the entire 2nd grade is in trailers now -- 4 classes. Poor Mr. Godwin who got a break last year from his trailer is back out there, I guess!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:12:28 the principal has been preparing for years in case the school is expanded. We've talked about it a bunch of times in PTA board meetings. I personally assume that 4 classes per grade will be the norm, though I'm not sure how they'll squeeze more kids into the lunch schedule - the youngest kids already eat lunch at 10:20, which is probably the case at the most crowded elementaries in the county too.

Yep - added more trailers this year, and the entire 2nd grade is in trailers now -- 4 classes. Poor Mr. Godwin who got a break last year from his trailer is back out there, I guess!

There are only three second grade classes next year. That grade is not a "bubble" class. My rising second grade son is quite excited to be in the trailers - the older kids at school have declared that it's "cool!" I believe they will be using the fourth trailer classroom as some kind of communal space (like the K/1st hallway pod), but I'm not sure about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:your chance of getting into ATS- slim- they admit somewhere between 25%-50% of kids that apply.
your chance of getting into Montessori- pretty good. There has not historically been a waitlist for montessori at the elementary level.
Your chance of getting into Immersion- pretty good if you are willing to be flexible. If you don't immediately get into your zoned immersion school, start pushing to be admitted to the other one, you probably will be (For the last several years Key has taken kids off the Claremont waiting list.) If the immersion waitlists continue to grow, APS is open to the idea of starting a 3rd elementary immersion school. There are a lot of educational benefits to immersion, particularly for native Spanish speakers.
Your chance of getting into Campbell- this is a wild card, previously there were very few zoned schools for which you could apply to Campbell. This is changing in a year and the entire county will be able to apply. I suspect that Campbell will become like ATS- slim chances.

I don't think that's true. Much slimmer chances. The year we applied, after siblings and VPI were accounted for, there were only like 20 spaces. The waitlist was at least 200 deep IIRC (a friend's child was number 189).

Are the spots exclusively for VPI or any low-income family in the montessori program?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:your chance of getting into ATS- slim- they admit somewhere between 25%-50% of kids that apply.
your chance of getting into Montessori- pretty good. There has not historically been a waitlist for montessori at the elementary level.
Your chance of getting into Immersion- pretty good if you are willing to be flexible. If you don't immediately get into your zoned immersion school, start pushing to be admitted to the other one, you probably will be (For the last several years Key has taken kids off the Claremont waiting list.) If the immersion waitlists continue to grow, APS is open to the idea of starting a 3rd elementary immersion school. There are a lot of educational benefits to immersion, particularly for native Spanish speakers.
Your chance of getting into Campbell- this is a wild card, previously there were very few zoned schools for which you could apply to Campbell. This is changing in a year and the entire county will be able to apply. I suspect that Campbell will become like ATS- slim chances.

I don't think that's true. Much slimmer chances. The year we applied, after siblings and VPI were accounted for, there were only like 20 spaces. The waitlist was at least 200 deep IIRC (a friend's child was number 189).

Are the spots exclusively for VPI or any low-income family in the montessori program?

My understanding is they are for the VPI students who attended Pre-K at ATS only. I don't think ATS has a Montessori classroom, or at least they didn't in the past. Same goes for other lottery schools--if you attend Pre-K, whether VPI or Montessori, at a school you are "in" and don't have to re-apply to the Kindergarten lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:12:28 the principal has been preparing for years in case the school is expanded. We've talked about it a bunch of times in PTA board meetings. I personally assume that 4 classes per grade will be the norm, though I'm not sure how they'll squeeze more kids into the lunch schedule - the youngest kids already eat lunch at 10:20, which is probably the case at the most crowded elementaries in the county too.

Yep - added more trailers this year, and the entire 2nd grade is in trailers now -- 4 classes. Poor Mr. Godwin who got a break last year from his trailer is back out there, I guess!

There are only three second grade classes next year. That grade is not a "bubble" class. My rising second grade son is quite excited to be in the trailers - the older kids at school have declared that it's "cool!" I believe they will be using the fourth trailer classroom as some kind of communal space (like the K/1st hallway pod), but I'm not sure about that.

Interesting. My daughter was in Godwin's trailer in the third grade and loved it. They thought they were super cool because they had their own a/c control. She just graduated as the first of the bubble classes, and they've done much better at handling it than when it started. One of the K classes was dumped in the middle of the second grade and that had the new teacher and mostly new families. For those folks, it was quite an annoying year - the kids would go over to the K/1 wing but it wasn't the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They're not choice schools. They're chance schools.

This is a great comment. So true

[Anonymous]

Why isn't Science Focus a choice/chance school for the whole county? Or did that change with the new rules? I saw in on Arlnow that people were upset about changes, so I'm guessing no?