ACPS George Washington Middle School - Feedback?

[Anonymous]

I'd really appreciate feedback regarding GW middle school - I'm particularly interested in the degree of rigor in the honor classes and any feedback on the new curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd really appreciate feedback regarding GW middle school - I'm particularly interested in the degree of rigor in the honor classes and any feedback on the new curriculum.

We moved rather than subject our children to this school.

I hate to say it, and it made me angry to have to do it... We TRIED to rationalize it by touring the school, hoping things would improve with the bifurcation and adoption of IB. But there's an organizational culture in the ACPS and that school in particular that just gave us a very negative vibe. We watched anxiously as our neighbor's dd, a very bright and achieving 5th grader, entered the school. She hated it. There are discipline problems in the school (see the reference to "Boob Day" in another post), an "open enrollment honors" curriculum that erodes the point of merit-based advancement, and so on. The school draws from communities where education isn't valued, so that compounds the problem.

On the tour I took with six other parents from my neighborhood, all of us walked out dialing privates or real estate agents. It amazed me to discover how anxious families with young children are over that school -- there seems to be a nightly conversation happening in the households of elementary-aged kids about what to do. Most move or go private. A few stick it out -- some of them even are ok with the decision, but to a family, every one that toughed GW out has had a bad experience.

I keep hearing the city's demographics are changing so the school is going to get better. I even believed that for a while, but then I saw how the school board functions and watched the superintendent attempt stupid, poorly thought out initiatives that amounted to throwing things at a wall to see what sticks. See the blowup last year about the longer school day/year, and the state's rejection of the proposal as but one example. The school board -- the policymaking apparatus -- is equally inept and follows the superintendent blindly rather than view him as the board's employee. Considering the superintendent's contract was just renewed for three more years, I'm even more confident in my decision to move.

Which kills me because I love Alexandria. Lived there for 15 years. But the rubber hit the road when middle school became more than an abstract thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd really appreciate feedback regarding GW middle school - I'm particularly interested in the degree of rigor in the honor classes and any feedback on the new curriculum.

We moved rather than subject our children to this school.

I hate to say it, and it made me angry to have to do it... We TRIED to rationalize it by touring the school, hoping things would improve with the bifurcation and adoption of IB. But there's an organizational culture in the ACPS and that school in particular that just gave us a very negative vibe. We watched anxiously as our neighbor's dd, a very bright and achieving 5th grader, entered the school. She hated it. There are discipline problems in the school (see the reference to "Boob Day" in another post), an "open enrollment honors" curriculum that erodes the point of merit-based advancement, and so on. The school draws from communities where education isn't valued, so that compounds the problem.

On the tour I took with six other parents from my neighborhood, all of us walked out dialing privates or real estate agents. It amazed me to discover how anxious families with young children are over that school -- there seems to be a nightly conversation happening in the households of elementary-aged kids about what to do. Most move or go private. A few stick it out -- some of them even are ok with the decision, but to a family, every one that toughed GW out has had a bad experience.

I keep hearing the city's demographics are changing so the school is going to get better. I even believed that for a while, but then I saw how the school board functions and watched the superintendent attempt stupid, poorly thought out initiatives that amounted to throwing things at a wall to see what sticks. See the blowup last year about the longer school day/year, and the state's rejection of the proposal as but one example. The school board -- the policymaking apparatus -- is equally inept and follows the superintendent blindly rather than view him as the board's employee. Considering the superintendent's contract was just renewed for three more years, I'm even more confident in my decision to move.

Which kills me because I love Alexandria. Lived there for 15 years. But the rubber hit the road when middle school became more than an abstract thought.

I meant to say "... of the families I know, everyone that toughed GW out has had a bad experience"

[Anonymous]

Thank you very much for your very informative post - I really appreciate it. I certainly agree that the open enrollment honors is an ill thought out concept - the classes should be merit based - and the Superintendent does not impress me either.

Have you found a middle school elsewhere that you are pleased with? I'd be very grateful for any alternate suggestions - we'd prefer public but will consider private (ACDS?) if we really have to do so.

[Anonymous]

So where did you go? I have one child you is probably TAG material and one with special needs. I do think we need to leave ACPS but I'm really struggling with where to do. Fairfax suburbs aren't really my thing and Arlington is beyond our price range.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So where did you go? I have one child you is probably TAG material and one with special needs. I do think we need to leave ACPS but I'm really struggling with where to do. Fairfax suburbs aren't really my thing and Arlington is beyond our price range.

Even though the demographics aren't too different, the middle schools in South Arlington seem to fare better with parents that Hammond and GW. If you can afford Alexandria, you ought to be able to afford South Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So where did you go? I have one child you is probably TAG material and one with special needs. I do think we need to leave ACPS but I'm really struggling with where to do. Fairfax suburbs aren't really my thing and Arlington is beyond our price range.

Even though the demographics aren't too different, the middle schools in South Arlington seem to fare better with parents that Hammond and GW. If you can afford Alexandria, you ought to be able to afford South Arlington.

That's true. The annual satisfaction surveys by APS show that the vast majority of students and parents at TJ, Gunston, and Kenmore middle schools are very pleased. If you're looking for an IB middle school, TJ has successfully integrated the program within the school's curriculum. The building was recently renovated, and the principal is well-liked. Students zoned to the North Arlington middle schools occasionally transfer to the South Arlington middle schools for their magnet programs.

That's too bad that the middle school reforms in Alexandria are having mixed results (based on what I've read on this forum). GW is so close to many Del Ray families and it should be an excellent neighborhood school, despite the overall demographic mix that leans low income.

[Anonymous]

They still have that drunk as Superintendent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They still have that drunk as Superintendent?

No, that was Rebecca Perry. She was fired a while back and the board hired Morton Sherman. Sherman has spent the last three years wasting money hiring his friends as consultants and cycling through trendy policy "solutions" in hopes of finding something that works, but without ever undertaking a deliberate and rational-actor based policy analysis.

I preferred the drunk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So where did you go? I have one child you is probably TAG material and one with special needs. I do think we need to leave ACPS but I'm really struggling with where to do. Fairfax suburbs aren't really my thing and Arlington is beyond our price range.

North Arlington, natch. We were fortune enough to have a lot of equity in our house and figured the math on a higher mortgage was preferable to a private school tuition bill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So where did you go? I have one child you is probably TAG material and one with special needs. I do think we need to leave ACPS but I'm really struggling with where to do. Fairfax suburbs aren't really my thing and Arlington is beyond our price range.

North Arlington, natch. We were fortune enough to have a lot of equity in our house and figured the math on a higher mortgage was preferable to a private school tuition bill.

Just curious as we are also in Alexandria City - did your kids switch schools in 6th grade or before? I am worried about mine having to switch at the middle school level.