Longfellow MS AAP overcrowding plans?
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Anonymous
CIP link : http://www.fcps.edu/fts/planning/cip/cipbook2015-19.pdf It is odd that FCPS doesn't put dots marking locations on the capacity utilization maps and includes modulars. I guess you have to read the 2008 report referred to on page 29 of 96. 2008 site evaluations: http://www.fcps.edu/fts/designconst/facilityevaluations/ |
Anonymous
[/b ]Your sense of entitlement is breathtaking, PP....agree with other posters, you need to get real or forget public schools. Sheesh! |
Anonymous
And yet in other posts people say they couldn't be happier than they are now at the new Lemon Road AAP center. And let's be clear here. It will be people at Kilmer who push the hardest for a realignment, just as some there did previously to move AAP kids out of Kilmer and into Jackson. Someone from Longfellow may have started this thread, but most people there are happy now because the renovation is finally finished and, for now, it's not bursting at the seems. People don't see this discussion as about "quality" when the status quo leads to overcrowding and there is available space elsewhere. Nor do they see it pejoratively as "reshuffling bodies" when the end results typically are good new academic programs and shorter commutes for students. Kids from Great Falls have a long enough commute to Cooper as it is, without having to go to Tysons as well for Kilmer. |
Anonymous
Talk about a sense of entitlement! "Your kids don't deserve anything less" than a robust center? What about all the general ed kids who ALSO deserve nothing less than a stellar middle school without parents like you always pushing for more, more, more... as long as it benefits your precious snowflakes. Here's something for you to think about: Cooper is great just the way it is. It doesn't need a "robust center" to appease snotty, self-satisfied parents like you. You people think the only thing worth considering is your AAP kids. I have news for you. We are tired of thinking about your kids at the expense of our own. Do us all a favor and stay far, far away from Cooper. Got it? |
Anonymous
Here's what I don't get - you people could live on the same block, and most of your public school kids will end up at Langley and presumably get along with each other fine and do very well. But where Cooper is concerned, it's like you can't stand the thought of being in the same building, so you must parcel the kids out to different schools, the impact on other areas be damned. Would it really be so hard to develop a common vision of what you'd like to see at Cooper, just as, for example, families at Westbriar in Vienna did when FCPS said that school would be getting AAP? I know there were some of the same concerns (would the program be as strong as Archer, would a neighborhood school start to be too AAP-focused, etc) that are being expressed here. But people talked it through and seemed to get comfortable with the changes. |
Anonymous
What I (and many other parents) are upset about is this attitude from the AAP parents that Cooper is somehow "less-than" since it doesn't have an AAP center. That somehow, the school simply isn't "worthy" of the AAP kids. As has been stated multiple times, Cooper is an excellent middle school, in every way. We don't understand why these parents, who have insisted FCPS turn itself inside out for them and their many demands, don't just pay for a private school that would meet their criteria of what their children "must have". Why should a public school system be expected to cater to this incredibly self-centered group? |
Anonymous
While I think the "if I don't get exactly what I want, I'll pack up my marbles and go private" attitude invites ridicule, part of what some Cooper parents seem to be saying is that they don't think FCPS will do enough to make AAP a success at Cooper. Instead, they'll just announce that Cooper is going to have AAP, and then leave it up to a principal who in the past hasn't suggested she really wants AAP to work out the details. Particularly for parents who have their sights set on TJHSST for their kids, that doesn't great compared to Longfellow or Kilmer. I think people need clear direction from the School Board as to what the plans are for Cooper. It's one thing for Arlene Randall to say Cooper is fine without AAP when there is no AAP center there. It's another thing if the School Board and FCPS tell her that Cooper will be offering Local Level IV services, that they will assist with a plan to seed Cooper with experienced AAP teachers, and that she can be part of Cooper's future or start looking for another job. It's the uncertainty that seems to bring out the worst fears. |
Anonymous
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What I don't understand is why everyone is even arguing about this right now when nothing is going to happen right now..or is it? : /
My daughter who will be attending Kilmer next year (Cooper being her base school) has brought home forms to fill out for Kilmer MS. Can they change this at the last minute? Is there a possibility she will end up at Cooper in fall 2014? As if this wasn't confusing enough! FCPS is a mess! |
Anonymous
| ^ PP here..I am now debating whether or not she should even attend Kilmer. I rather have her taking Honors at Cooper to avoid the overcrowding issue at Kilmer. AAP isn't worth it to me if it means her going unnoticed. |
Anonymous
Thank you. It looks like it is number 4 as of 2008 (for MS) and Thoreau is ahead on the list. I wonder if it would leap frog higher if another 200-300 students were slated to go there. |
Anonymous
Posts like this, where a poster says s/he likes Cooper just the way it is without all the AAP students bothers me because they think it is okay to send the AAP students elsewhere to overwhelm Gen Ed students at the AAP Center Schools as long as it isn't theirs. Having such large concentrations of AAP students at Center schools impacts the Gen Ed students significantly and makes it unfair to them to bear the brunt of it so your child doesn't have to deal with them. |
Anonymous
I don't think anything will happen this fall, or that your daughter wouldn't finish up at Kilmer if she started there. It's a topic of conversation because FCPS puts out enrollment data and projections that suggest that Kilmer is already overcrowded and will get worse. It also puts out a "Capital Improvement Plan" annually that includes hints as to future boundary and program changes. The last CIP suggests that FCPS may move students from Kilmer/Marshall and Longfellow/McLean to Cooper/Langley in the future, as well as have AAP at Cooper in the future. When there is uncertainty, people wonder - and worry - about what the changes may be. But at this point there's no reason to think current 8th graders slotted to attend AAP at Kilmer won't go there. |
Anonymous
I think you're missing the point of the previous post; that is AAP parents who feel they "aren't getting exactly what they want," are the ones who should think seriously about writing that check for private school rather than insisting that FCPS do their bidding vis-a-vis yet another AAP center. The point is that a public school system is just that - public - and shouldn't be expected to cowtow to certain special interest groups at the expense of all others. |
Anonymous
Thanks for your reply. |
Anonymous
The most current information seems to show up on p. 12 of the latest CIP and suggests Cooper renovations probably would be completed in another 7-8 years under the current schedule. FCPS is finishing renovations at Sandburg, and then has Thoreau, Rocky Run and Hughes slated for work ahead of Cooper. In practical terms, this may mean that FCPS moves more kids to Cooper before and during a renovation, unless it installs many modulars at Kilmer. |