APS or private school - NOT a pandemic driven question

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The boundary process doesn't affect everyday life for most kids. Once your kids are at a school they will likely stay at that school. There is a chance that they may need to move when the belated boundary process kicks back up but the vast majority of kids won't be changing schools.

The reason why the boundary process gets so heated is because everyone LOVES their school and they don't want to move. The underlying point is that there are many great schools that appeal to many families.

Agree with PP that if your child has any learning challenges that APS isn't a great place. Not many privates are equipped either, but you may find out more quickly.

Gotcha- One of the things I mentioned in a subsequent post is that I’m nervous about a never-ending redistricting process. I know APS needs additional schools in the next 10 years, but I guess hopefully my kids would only be moved once. I was redistricted for elementary school growing up and it was hard for a couple of weeks, and then it was fine.

If you are Innovation, Hamm, Yorktown, then you're far enough east to stay with Innovation & Hamm. There is a chance that you could get moved to W-L, but it's already so overcrowded that it's unlikely. (It's a better school IMO so I wouldn't worry about that change if it were to happen.)

And kids will be back in school in the fall so no worries about virtual, especially for early elementary.

Your oldest start K next fall - 2022? Wait and see how Innovation plays out in 2021. You could join the PTA there or at least watch the meetings to get a feel for it. In the mean time, you could have your kid take the WISC and be prepared to apply for 2022-23 school year starting next fall. Just to have all options available. But I'd give Innovation a chance - new schools have great energy and build great community quickly. We were at Hamm when it first opened and have been very happy with it.

Thank you so much. I’m so glad I posted here. There was so much angst around the boundary process and I’ve seen so much negativity about APS online that it’s great to see these other perspectives. I really appreciate your post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The boundary process doesn't affect everyday life for most kids. Once your kids are at a school they will likely stay at that school. There is a chance that they may need to move when the belated boundary process kicks back up but the vast majority of kids won't be changing schools.

The reason why the boundary process gets so heated is because everyone LOVES their school and they don't want to move. The underlying point is that there are many great schools that appeal to many families.

Agree with PP that if your child has any learning challenges that APS isn't a great place. Not many privates are equipped either, but you may find out more quickly.

Gotcha- One of the things I mentioned in a subsequent post is that I’m nervous about a never-ending redistricting process. I know APS needs additional schools in the next 10 years, but I guess hopefully my kids would only be moved once. I was redistricted for elementary school growing up and it was hard for a couple of weeks, and then it was fine.

If you are Innovation, Hamm, Yorktown, then you're far enough east to stay with Innovation & Hamm. There is a chance that you could get moved to W-L, but it's already so overcrowded that it's unlikely. (It's a better school IMO so I wouldn't worry about that change if it were to happen.)

And kids will be back in school in the fall so no worries about virtual, especially for early elementary.

Your oldest start K next fall - 2022? Wait and see how Innovation plays out in 2021. You could join the PTA there or at least watch the meetings to get a feel for it. In the mean time, you could have your kid take the WISC and be prepared to apply for 2022-23 school year starting next fall. Just to have all options available. But I'd give Innovation a chance - new schools have great energy and build great community quickly. We were at Hamm when it first opened and have been very happy with it.

Thank you so much. I’m so glad I posted here. There was so much angst around the boundary process and I’ve seen so much negativity about APS online that it’s great to see these other perspectives. I really appreciate your post.

I posted this earlier, but the angst mostly comes from people really loving their schools. And it's just the crazy parents - the kids are all fine and don't notice all of the drama.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Basically I’m nervous we are going to be stuck in a cycle of redistricting due to capacity issues. I attended a public school district with one high school that was smaller than any of the current Arlington options. I don’t expect an urban area to be like that, but I didn’t quite appreciate the capacity issues until recently (and that’s on me).

You wont get redistricted again. The capacity problems are annoying, in that kids might have to eat lunch early or late, or have to be in a mobile classroom, but it doesn't impact education quality. You should be worried about the dumbing down of curriculum (not solely an APS problem, btw) rather than these secondary issues.

Thanks for the perspective. I know families who LOVED Key Immersion and LOVED ASFS. I’m sure people will love the new school too. With all the unhappiness around APS lately, I think it’s easy to worry.

I think the unhappiness is exaggerated, its the same handful or more posting over and over. Did these people go to the gold standard of schools as kids? I don't know where they develop their expectations. Look at the high school graduation rates and excellent colleges that APS students go to. It's still a very good system, but of course has flaws and room for improvement.

I personally would only look at private if your students struggle or are extremely gifted. Some kids fly under the radar if they have good behavior (e.g. ADHD girls who are also gifted). I think a smaller school would help those kids.

Agree. Don't put too much stock into online complaints - it's very one-sided from a small group of vocal parents.

And I think APS works well for most kids. Only exceptions are learning challenges or profoundly gifted.

Thanks! I def got sucked into reading too many complaints online during this pandemic and I started to think - “why does everyone hate APS? I thought the schools were good here” Time to get off the Internet 😂.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The boundary process doesn't affect everyday life for most kids. Once your kids are at a school they will likely stay at that school. There is a chance that they may need to move when the belated boundary process kicks back up but the vast majority of kids won't be changing schools.

The reason why the boundary process gets so heated is because everyone LOVES their school and they don't want to move. The underlying point is that there are many great schools that appeal to many families.

Agree with PP that if your child has any learning challenges that APS isn't a great place. Not many privates are equipped either, but you may find out more quickly.

Gotcha- One of the things I mentioned in a subsequent post is that I’m nervous about a never-ending redistricting process. I know APS needs additional schools in the next 10 years, but I guess hopefully my kids would only be moved once. I was redistricted for elementary school growing up and it was hard for a couple of weeks, and then it was fine.

If you are Innovation, Hamm, Yorktown, then you're far enough east to stay with Innovation & Hamm. There is a chance that you could get moved to W-L, but it's already so overcrowded that it's unlikely. (It's a better school IMO so I wouldn't worry about that change if it were to happen.)

And kids will be back in school in the fall so no worries about virtual, especially for early elementary.

Your oldest start K next fall - 2022? Wait and see how Innovation plays out in 2021. You could join the PTA there or at least watch the meetings to get a feel for it. In the mean time, you could have your kid take the WISC and be prepared to apply for 2022-23 school year starting next fall. Just to have all options available. But I'd give Innovation a chance - new schools have great energy and build great community quickly. We were at Hamm when it first opened and have been very happy with it.

Thank you so much. I’m so glad I posted here. There was so much angst around the boundary process and I’ve seen so much negativity about APS online that it’s great to see these other perspectives. I really appreciate your post.

I posted this earlier, but the angst mostly comes from people really loving their schools. And it's just the crazy parents - the kids are all fine and don't notice all of the drama.

So good to know. Note to self- don’t be angsty 😂!

[Anonymous]

I'm a long-term APS parent who has seen kids at all levels who pulled some kids to private this year because of COVID. I discovered some huge gaps in my kids' education I did not know about. APS had some bad years under Murphy, and the system overall went downhill. I think Duran will make it better. Knowing what I know now, I would probably put kids in APS again, but I would do a lot of things differently. I would supplement more at home and make sure they are learning things like spelling and handwriting. APS is terrible at some of the essentials, and ditto on them not handling early reading problems well. Again, they are moving away from some reading approaches that don't work with dyslexic kids, so odds are good your children would be spared that. I also think APS doesn't teach enough writing. Catholic school (where I have some kids this year) is explicitly teaching grammar, and it turns out one my kids in middle school basically didn't even know what nouns and verbs were! None of them spell well. I'm not entirely blaming APS for this, a lot is on me as a parent. But I trusted they were learning, and their grades were good, and test scores were fine, so I let is slide along. It also depends a ton on the principal. We had a good ES principal who was replaced by a terrible one. The difference it made in the school was unbelievable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a long-term APS parent who has seen kids at all levels who pulled some kids to private this year because of COVID. I discovered some huge gaps in my kids' education I did not know about. APS had some bad years under Murphy, and the system overall went downhill. I think Duran will make it better. Knowing what I know now, I would probably put kids in APS again, but I would do a lot of things differently. I would supplement more at home and make sure they are learning things like spelling and handwriting. APS is terrible at some of the essentials, and ditto on them not handling early reading problems well. Again, they are moving away from some reading approaches that don't work with dyslexic kids, so odds are good your children would be spared that. I also think APS doesn't teach enough writing. Catholic school (where I have some kids this year) is explicitly teaching grammar, and it turns out one my kids in middle school basically didn't even know what nouns and verbs were! None of them spell well. I'm not entirely blaming APS for this, a lot is on me as a parent. But I trusted they were learning, and their grades were good, and test scores were fine, so I let is slide along. It also depends a ton on the principal. We had a good ES principal who was replaced by a terrible one. The difference it made in the school was unbelievable.

Same experience. APS needs to get back to fundamentals. There are a lot of bells and whistles that are great, but why is spelling, grammar, and penmanship not being worked on? It’s sad. We will probably stick w Catholic until middle school now that I’ve seen what it’s all about.

[Anonymous]

I've heard that Arlington Traditional School is solid and just as good as Catholic school, if you can get in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've heard that Arlington Traditional School is solid and just as good as Catholic school, if you can get in.

PP above, and yes, I had that same thought. DH would never send kids back to APS after what we've seen, but honestly, our neighborhood ES experience was so good, so great to know the kids and families in the neighborhood. I really appreciated that. But if I could go back in time, I would have bought spelling primers and taught my kids words each week like I did in ES, and we would have also probably hired a tutor just to do handwriting.

I know there are teachers now who think spelling doesn't matter because of spell check. So OP, that's what you are fighting against.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've heard that Arlington Traditional School is solid and just as good as Catholic school, if you can get in.

My kid is currently at ATS and yes I can say our experience has been much better than some of my friends at other schools in both North and South of Arlington. That and combine with the luck of the draw on which teacher your kid gets. Teacher makes a HUGE difference even at ATS, it can vary depend on the teacher, some are better than the other but our overall experience precovid and in the pandemic have been great. My kid definitely has have more works and projects to keep her busy and engaging in learning since March 2020!

We even had the Summer Reading Challenge (50 books) and Math Package last summer! (which I was grateful for).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've heard that Arlington Traditional School is solid and just as good as Catholic school, if you can get in.

LOL. “Just as good as Catholic school”. Is that a joke?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Basically I’m nervous we are going to be stuck in a cycle of redistricting due to capacity issues. I attended a public school district with one high school that was smaller than any of the current Arlington options. I don’t expect an urban area to be like that, but I didn’t quite appreciate the capacity issues until recently (and that’s on me).

You wont get redistricted again. The capacity problems are annoying, in that kids might have to eat lunch early or late, or have to be in a mobile classroom, but it doesn't impact education quality. You should be worried about the dumbing down of curriculum (not solely an APS problem, btw) rather than these secondary issues.

Thanks for the perspective. I know families who LOVED Key Immersion and LOVED ASFS. I’m sure people will love the new school too. With all the unhappiness around APS lately, I think it’s easy to worry.

I think the unhappiness is exaggerated, its the same handful or more posting over and over. Did these people go to the gold standard of schools as kids? I don't know where they develop their expectations. Look at the high school graduation rates and excellent colleges that APS students go to. It's still a very good system, but of course has flaws and room for improvement.

[/b]I personally would only look at private if your students struggle or are extremely gifted[b]. Some kids fly under the radar if they have good behavior (e.g. ADHD girls who are also gifted). I think a smaller school would help those kids.

Agree. Don't put too much stock into online complaints - it's very one-sided from a small group of vocal parents.

And I think APS works well for most kids. Only exceptions are learning challenges or profoundly gifted.

Thanks! I def got sucked into reading too many complaints online during this pandemic and I started to think - “why does everyone hate APS? I thought the schools were good here” Time to get off the Internet 😂.

This. We moved 2 of our kids to private because of this. One with learning disabilities and one gifted and unchallenged by APS. As long as you’re a typical learner APS is fine. We still have one here. APS is good but I really don’t think it’s as good as everyone has made it out to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've heard that Arlington Traditional School is solid and just as good as Catholic school, if you can get in.

LOL. “Just as good as Catholic school”. Is that a joke?

No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Basically I’m nervous we are going to be stuck in a cycle of redistricting due to capacity issues. I attended a public school district with one high school that was smaller than any of the current Arlington options. I don’t expect an urban area to be like that, but I didn’t quite appreciate the capacity issues until recently (and that’s on me).

You wont get redistricted again. The capacity problems are annoying, in that kids might have to eat lunch early or late, or have to be in a mobile classroom, but it doesn't impact education quality. You should be worried about the dumbing down of curriculum (not solely an APS problem, btw) rather than these secondary issues.

Thanks for the perspective. I know families who LOVED Key Immersion and LOVED ASFS. I’m sure people will love the new school too. With all the unhappiness around APS lately, I think it’s easy to worry.

I think the unhappiness is exaggerated, its the same handful or more posting over and over. Did these people go to the gold standard of schools as kids? I don't know where they develop their expectations. Look at the high school graduation rates and excellent colleges that APS students go to. It's still a very good system, but of course has flaws and room for improvement.

I personally would only look at private if your students struggle or are extremely gifted. Some kids fly under the radar if they have good behavior (e.g. ADHD girls who are also gifted). I think a smaller school would help those kids.

Agree. Don't put too much stock into online complaints - it's very one-sided from a small group of vocal parents.

And I think APS works well for most kids. Only exceptions are learning challenges or profoundly gifted.

Agree with this completely. And redistricting is such a red herring IMO. Kids thrive at virtually every school in APS. Most APS parents are very happy with their schools IME.

As for high schools being "too big," honestly, I get it. It's hard to think about your baby in a school with thousands of others (especially when your baby is 4), especially if you went to a small high school yourself. My own high school graduating class had 140 kids in it, and I thought that all things equal a small high school was always better than a big one. But I was wrong. In a big high school, there are more clubs to join, more choices of electives, more chances of finding kids with similar interests. There's also less cliquishness. Yes, there are some downsides and some kids can get lost in the shuffle, but the point is that there are pros and cons to both small and big high schools and it's way too early to know which will be best for your teen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've heard that Arlington Traditional School is solid and just as good as Catholic school, if you can get in.

LOL. “Just as good as Catholic school”. Is that a joke?

No.

DP but Catholic Schools aren't known for being excellent from an education perspective. There are other positives but....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've heard that Arlington Traditional School is solid and just as good as Catholic school, if you can get in.

LOL. “Just as good as Catholic school”. Is that a joke?

No.

DP but Catholic Schools aren't known for being excellent from an education perspective. There are other positives but....

DP. May Catholic schools are, actually, excellent. The one we were at was light years ahead of APS in terms of challenging work.