South Arlington schools

[Anonymous]

20:57- we had the same situation for awhile, and we're in a very good school. Our daughter was just a more advanced reader than the other kids for awhile, and the other kid who was at a similar level moved away. I felt bad for her being in a reading group of one, but it was relatively short term. More kids started to catch up during the next year, plus there were different kids in her K and 1st grade classes.

Someone's always going to be the more advanced one - it's possible your child would have been an advanced reader in any other school he attended, though it's definitely more noticeable in a class where only 1 kid is reading and 14 kids aren't.

[Anonymous]

My children will be attending one of the lower performing S. Arlington schools. Although both parents work full time, we are prepared to put in more time, both being involved and active in the school and finding good extracurricular activities to give our children the experience of different types of peer groups. It's going to be hard and time-consuming, and who knows, maybe in a few years we will regret it, but

1. The school is really close to our house and want to use it.
2. I am also an optimist at heart and want to help fix this problem. I really believe that if more middle class families sent their kids to this school things would start to change. I want to practice what 'I preach.
3. Choice is likely not an option anyway.

I believe there are more families like us around too. And yes, there are great things about a peer group in kindergarten where tons of kids read chapter books at home and know how to use the library--but not having that doesn't mean we can't continue to go to the library and read chapter books with our kids.

I realize my opinion may change in a few years, but we will see.

[Anonymous]

Good luck 12:02. I hope it goes well. I could have written that verbatim when my oldest started K five years ago. We gave up last year. I'm skeptical that 10-20 middle class families can fix this. You need drastic redistricting around some of those schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My children will be attending one of the lower performing S. Arlington schools. Although both parents work full time, we are prepared to put in more time, both being involved and active in the school and finding good extracurricular activities to give our children the experience of different types of peer groups. It's going to be hard and time-consuming, and who knows, maybe in a few years we will regret it, but

1. The school is really close to our house and want to use it.
2. I am also an optimist at heart and want to help fix this problem. I really believe that if more middle class families sent their kids to this school things would start to change. I want to practice what 'I preach.
3. Choice is likely not an option anyway.

I believe there are more families like us around too. And yes, there are great things about a peer group in kindergarten where tons of kids read chapter books at home and know how to use the library--but not having that doesn't mean we can't continue to go to the library and read chapter books with our kids.

I realize my opinion may change in a few years, but we will see.

Good for you. We feel the same way. We're taking it one year at a time, but so far so good. Honestly, we are the largest influence on our children. Does it suck that the field trips and extracurricular experiences aren't as great? Sure, but we can correct for those things. And being here means that we can make enough noise so that those who can't correct for those disparities aren't ignored. I'm sick to death of the inequality and segregation that exists in this country, and I'm not going to contribute to it by leaving s Arlington. If that means my kid won't be HYP material, so be it. I suspect it won't really amount to that, but even if it did, oh well. Systemic racism that is fostered by segregation and inequality can only continue to exist if those of us who have choices accept it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good luck 12:02. I hope it goes well. I could have written that verbatim when my oldest started K five years ago. We gave up last year. I'm skeptical that 10-20 middle class families can fix this. You need drastic redistricting around some of those schools.

Agreed, and we're 8 years in (although still in APS and our oldest is in a south Arlington middle school now and doing fine). We wanted to be one of the middle class families who helps make a difference, but there needs to be a critical mass, and to break the cycle (of small numbers of people trying and giving up and choicing out), the school board needs to at least redo boundaries and better yet do some serious busing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good luck 12:02. I hope it goes well. I could have written that verbatim when my oldest started K five years ago. We gave up last year. I'm skeptical that 10-20 middle class families can fix this. You need drastic redistricting around some of those schools.

Agreed, and we're 8 years in (although still in APS and our oldest is in a south Arlington middle school now and doing fine). We wanted to be one of the middle class families who helps make a difference, but there needs to be a critical mass, and to break the cycle (of small numbers of people trying and giving up and choicing out), the school board needs to at least redo boundaries and better yet do some serious busing.

And the County Board needs to help by being more proactive about preserving AH where it is being lost in North Arlington (Westover), and integrating AH in North and South Arlington into neighborhoods where little to none exists (I'm looking at you Lee Hwy and Arlington Ridge) instead of continuing to concentrate it where it already exists on the west Pike.

[Anonymous]

I'm glad to see young south Arlington families saying they are going to give it a go.
We are too. It's 5 years away for us, and I am available to volunteer during the day. It makes sense for us to work with the school we've got. It's true that the older kids around us don't go to the school, but things have really changed in this county over the last 10 years. I think the school board has been able to "get away" with the disparity due to choice schools. Now that there isn't much choice available, hopefully more middle class families with tough it out and these schools will improve. If you bought recently, you knew there was not likely to be a choice.
- new boundaries
- new principals
- new testing rules for ESOL
- no choices

South Arlington looks poised for some improvements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just saw two trailers being hauled through south Arlington I wonder where they will end up?
What south Arlington schools have trailers?

There are 3 new trailers on the field at Henry. Hardly any field space left now. So sad.

APS is lauded as one of the best school systems in America. What a joke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just saw two trailers being hauled through south Arlington I wonder where they will end up?
What south Arlington schools have trailers?

There are 3 new trailers on the field at Henry. Hardly any field space left now. So sad.

APS is lauded as one of the best school systems in America. What a joke.

To be fair - Henry is going to be moved to the new school. We just have to be sure it's built big enough!

Montessori will go to the old Henry building. Does anyone know how big the current program is? Would this mean they will have more classes once they have a dedicated building?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that schools with high levels of poverty have more difficulties.
Where I disagree is the idea that AH contributes to this problem- I think that AH improves school outcomes.

Could you distribute AH throughout the county? I think Arl has tried pretty hard to do this. Yes- it does rely on converting cheap market rate AH to CAF's- but again I think this improves school outcomes- not the opposite.

Should you do away with neighborhood schools in order to even out FARMS rates at various different schools? I think people can legitimately disagree about this one. I can see both sides of the argument.
I think the more interesting and realistic discussion is about whether or not school outcomes are really worse for the nonFARMS kids in predominantly FARMS schools. Are they getting a lesser education than their income peers in less significantly FARMS schools?

This has been talked to death and the answer is YES. The answer is always YES. Fairfax county has done studies on this. Studies that we like to ignore in Arlington. There is a tipping point. When a school becomes overburdened by poverty, all children suffer. All of them.
So are south Arlington schools bad?
No. They're fine.
But your middle class kid is statistically less likely to match the outcomes of a kid of the same means in north Arlington.
Look at the breakdown of scores at Randolph compared to Nottingham. It's 5-12 points per subject.
Does that mean your kid will be a failure at life? Of course not.
That's not what we are talking about.
This is a fight worth having.
The people in charge for the last 25 years have been fine with this arrangement.
I'm not fine with this arrangement. It's a terrible arrangement.
I'm sick to death of watching older democrats patting themselves on the back for a job well done. They've made terrible choices, and we have to work to undo the damage.

Ummm... It's way more that 5-12 points. I'm bored and decided to look it up.


These are the results for non disadvantaged kids

Randolph Nottingham

Math 82% 96%
Reading 87% 97%
Science 71% 95%
Writing 86% 96%



Is the Randolph science score even considered passing?
How on earth are those parents defending that prinicipal? Their kids are behind.

[Anonymous]

The scores are certainly eye opening. Science is often neglected in elementary school, but these stats suggest that some neglect it more than others.

[Anonymous]

I don't know. If there really are only a couple of middle class kids in each grade taking SOL's at a school like Randolph, isn't that going to bring down their average regardless? If they've only got 7 middle class 3rd graders testing and maybe two of them are borderline learning disabled, wouldn't that tank their scores no matter what? A school like Nottingham has a large pool of kids to absorb some weak test takers.

[Anonymous]

I believe there is a minimum # in each category. Unless VA got a waiver of the law changed -- I think it was 30 in VA.

[Anonymous]

I believe their defininition of non-economically disadvantaged kids means they don't get free or reduced lunch which is far from being middle class (and especially upper middle class). Undocumented kids also don't get assistance. Also this group does not exclude English language learners (who currently have to best tested with the rest of the class after one year of ESL. One of Randolph's challenges is the transience of its students. Most 4th and 5th graders did not start out at Randolph. Also, 7 middle class studenta from educated families with a lot of extra home support is actually pretty optimistic for some of the current upper grades (slightly more middle class families in lower grades). This is not to say that it's not a fair point to make--Randolph should be doing a better job for all its students, but you really, really can't compare scores to Nottingham. Apples and oranges. Also why I think a bigger influx of middle class families will make a difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Montessori will go to the old Henry building. Does anyone know how big the current program is? Would this mean they will have more classes once they have a dedicated building?

At least according to the Montessori action committee, there are hardly any kids waitlisted for 1st grade- if you want to go Montesorri, you can.