Any other Alexandrians heartbroken about ACPS?
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Anonymous
Clarification that no one in Old Town are the ACPS apologists and deniers. That’s elsewhere in the city like Del Ray. Also on council, school board, the police chief. |
Anonymous
Which is interesting since the one well regarded ACPS elementary school is in Old Town. |
Anonymous
Half of Old Town. But no one at Lyles Crouch is going to insist that they plan on staying past ES and that you should too. Most either move or go private. Likewise the other half zoned for Jefferson Houston which shouldn’t be accredited, will generally not tell you otherwise. Nor is this dynamic in Old Town ever going to change. The new market rate apartments zoned for the failing school aren’t large enough raising a family, which would then force the city and district to do something about it, so this way the problem just solves itself. Starting with Del Ray though, there is just enough hope to string you along if you’re zoned for Mt Vernon or formerly Maury (before it was rezoned to include more public housing and renamed). There were boosters for Cora Kelly, but I don’t think it ever even temporarily matched reality. I argue the problem isn’t even the high school, it’s the middle schools, and most of the city and the middle schools would see improvements if it stopped enshrining the ghettos in a single place. Or do what other districts have and establish a remedial school that isn’t ranked. It’s not like these children are being taught anyway, honors is already internally segregated, so stop pretending and just do it. The city can even lie to itself about how progressive it is. Most homes would increase $50-100K in property value (or the difference between the premium you pay to live in Arlington). |
Anonymous
Actually plenty of Old Town residents are apologists and deniers. There is a substantial portion of UMC white Lyles Crouch parents that are gun ho on ACPS and, believe me, will pull out the racism card if you dare to suggest alternatives to the failing GWMS. |
Anonymous
That’s news to me and I’ll be on the look out for those hypocrites. Typically in my experience Old Town is upfront about who they are and what they want (whether you or the city agree with it or not). Most of Old Town, if they have children, left the system decades ago and are called racist anyway even if they aren’t or were there during the high school consolidation. So you move here knowing that past ES you have to find another option (private or move). You also move here to live in old homes in a historic district. There’s no pretending it is or should be anything except that, and that it is somehow inclusive. Now if you live in a more recent, manufactured “historic district” that feeds into Jefferson Houston and live across from one of the public housing complexes and have to deal with the reality of that and can’t sell your home, then yes those people lie. |
Anonymous
I live in Rosemont too and I know just the people you are talking about. ACPS is exhausting. The focus on equity is noble, but misplaced. There is a lot of political posturing and I found most of the people you are describing sent their kids to private school after the pandemic. My kids are exceling in ACPS but they have to face a lot of situations as elementary and middle schoolers that I never thought they would have to experience. They see things that they do not want to see. They hear things that they wish they could not hear. I fear that they have very negative views about low income people. Those parents you are describing are terrible. They are clique and tribal. They do not like anyone who tries to make ACPS more inclusive and welcoming of diverse thoughts and opinions. They do not really want to help poor people. My husband and I routinely say we'd move (probably to Old Town or Del Ray) but our kids are so happy here. For those who are asking why people stay: many of us are civil servants and don't make enough money to go to private or maybe private doesn't offer curriculum our kids need. One of my kids is working in a GW lab as a research assistant as a middle schooler. There are so many educational opportunities in ACPS that are not available at private schools. I do not think that my kids are getting ahead because they go to school with low income kids or a diverse school. Public schools offer dual enrollment, AP, lots of experiential learning opportunities. |
Anonymous
Yes and no. I agree that there are some opportunities that many privates may not offer. However, some of the opportunities that I thought would be there for my child, such as advanced math classes, were not offered due to insufficient enrollment. Out of at least 900 students in a grade, the required 5 kids to hold the advanced math class either did not get a 4 on the BC Calc AP, or did not desire to be in the class. |
Anonymous
| Privates offer a safe place to learn where kids don't have to hold it all day to avoid the bathrooms. |
Anonymous
Maybe at one time but that has not been our experience in the last several years. Lyles Crouch lost something like 100 students during the pandemic. It has rebounded somewhat but not fully to where it was pre-pandemic. Many of my kids' classmates went private/parochial and did not return, and there is even more attrition from ACPS going from 5th grade at LC to middle school. |
Anonymous
As do most publics. ACPS isn't every district. |
Anonymous
It's my experience that many of the ones who stayed are the apologists we speak of. There are many UMC white parents (as described by another PP) who feel morally superior for keeping their kids at LCTA. These are the ones that are the problem. |
Anonymous
This thread is about ACPS. FYI. |
Anonymous
Shutdown, not the pandemic. Normal places didn’t close schools for years. |
Anonymous
True. ACPS was far behind even Fairfax, Arlington and Loudon. It was the one school board meeting where one school board member (Ramee Gentry) said Hutchings and the consultant's work was unacceptable. Her voice was shaking and she was obviously scared to go up against him but she did it. |
Anonymous
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We are a North Ridge family who bought before kids. We bought the house because we loved the neighborhood, we got more bang for our buck than in Arlington and our commutes are so much more reasonable than the exurbs. We also knew that from day 1 that we'd send any hypothetical future children to private school based on the public school reputation (we are zoned for George Mason).
We've definitely got some pushback over the years regarding our choice, although our actual block skews heavily private. When our parochial reopened in the fall after the initial COVID wave, there were several new families from the neighborhood who had sent their kids to GM but couldn't stomach another year of disrupted learning. The first year was eye-opening - complaining about EVERYTHING. Teacher turnover, reading levels, homework, grading scales, etc. I assumed they would be back at GM as soon as the COVID fog lifted, but none of the six families I personally know have left and younger children have enrolled as they've aged in. Complaints still abound (no school is perfect and privates are no stranger to issues that face public schools), yet no move has been made to send them back to public. It's made me realize those that are those most vocal just want to have their cake and eat it too... |