Cooper Middle School New AAP center

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't trust what you heard. You're spreading rumor now. You need talk to Arlene or be at school to know the fact.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have any idea of how the Cooper principle, Arlene Randall, feels about adopting/running an AAP center at Cooper?

Arlene desperately wants an AAP Center at Cooper and has been advocating for it for several years.

HA! I've heard exactly the opposite. She has no desire for an AAP center at all. Can't say I blame her.

I'm spreading rumors? I've had three kids go through Cooper in recent years. What about you?

[Anonymous]

Can anyone add anything substantive to this conversation for Pete's sake?? I am truly interested to know Principal Randall's attitude about all of this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A couple of years ago when the idea for Cooper to become a center was first floated, Arlene Randall was said by many to not be particularly in favor of the idea. Wonder what made her change her mind.

I have never heard Arlene Randall oppose the idea of a Center at Cooper.

September 2014 meeting minutes of AAPAC:
http://www.fcps.edu/is/aap/pdfs/aapac/1415/Minutes914.pdf

Arlene Randall shared her implementation of her LLIV, trained teachers committed to the LLIV service provision and having critical mass to meet the expectations recommended by the GMU.

April 2014 meeting minutes of AAPAC:
http://www.fcps.edu/is/aap/pdfs/aapac/2013-14/Meeting%20Minutes_April_1_%202014.pdf

At the middle school, students have taken all Honors as local level IV services
o Many students end up staying at their local middle school
o This year, 4 middle school principals decided to create teams and cluster
students with other center eligible students
o Center eligible students can still go to centers
o There aren’t any new centers being opened
o The clustering is a strategy that principals are implementing
o ? Well received by parents (see the Cooper MS video) although some
have expressed concerns.

Signed,
AAPAC member

Just wanted to draw everyone's attention to the bolded. Especially those who insist taking all Honors isn't equivalent to LLIV. What a bunch of baloney.

Yes, at the middle school level, students taking two honors courses are "counted" as Level II AAP, three honors courses as Level III AAP, and four honors courses as Level IV AAP.

More on honors courses from the AAP site:
http://www.fcps.edu/is/aap/honors.shtml

and the differences and similarities between all honors and Level IV AAP at the middle school level are outlined on that page; direct link is here:
http://www.fcps.edu/is/aap/pdfs/AAPforMSdiagram.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone add anything substantive to this conversation for Pete's sake?? I am truly interested to know Principal Randall's attitude about all of this.

Arlene very much wants Cooper to become a center. That said, she emphasizes that she runs her school as a family and will not have a school with an "us vs. them" mentality (much like what we see expressed on these boards). Her philosophy is that the school should meet students where they are and provide an appropriately rigorous program to elevate them in their learning. She explains that AAP students will be clustered together for their core classes and will be with their peers for the others; there will not be isolation as is the case at some other schools.

Bottom line: She has spent the last 4 years developing the program they are currently offering, and she wants the students zoned for Cooper to come to the school now that they offer the program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone add anything substantive to this conversation for Pete's sake?? I am truly interested to know Principal Randall's attitude about all of this.

Arlene very much wants Cooper to become a center. That said, she emphasizes that she runs her school as a family and will not have a school with an "us vs. them" mentality (much like what we see expressed on these boards). Her philosophy is that the school should meet students where they are and provide an appropriately rigorous program to elevate them in their learning. She explains that AAP students will be clustered together for their core classes and will be with their peers for the others; there will not be isolation as is the case at some other schools.

Bottom line: She has spent the last 4 years developing the program they are currently offering, and she wants the students zoned for Cooper to come to the school now that they offer the program.

This is not what I've heard at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone add anything substantive to this conversation for Pete's sake?? I am truly interested to know Principal Randall's attitude about all of this.

Arlene very much wants Cooper to become a center. That said, she emphasizes that she runs her school as a family and will not have a school with an "us vs. them" mentality (much like what we see expressed on these boards). Her philosophy is that the school should meet students where they are and provide an appropriately rigorous program to elevate them in their learning. She explains that AAP students will be clustered together for their core classes and will be with their peers for the others; there will not be isolation as is the case at some other schools.

Bottom line: She has spent the last 4 years developing the program they are currently offering, and she wants the students zoned for Cooper to come to the school now that they offer the program.

This is not what I've heard at all.

I don't know if this is true or not, but this is what they all say. No one wants an "us" vs. "them," mentality etc. The challenge in keeping that will be making sure the people who move to the area specifically for Cooper AAP know that. If Cooper picks up some of the new Tysons development, I would say all bets are off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone add anything substantive to this conversation for Pete's sake?? I am truly interested to know Principal Randall's attitude about all of this.

Arlene very much wants Cooper to become a center. That said, she emphasizes that she runs her school as a family and will not have a school with an "us vs. them" mentality (much like what we see expressed on these boards). Her philosophy is that the school should meet students where they are and provide an appropriately rigorous program to elevate them in their learning. She explains that AAP students will be clustered together for their core classes and will be with their peers for the others; there will not be isolation as is the case at some other schools.

Bottom line: She has spent the last 4 years developing the program they are currently offering, and she wants the students zoned for Cooper to come to the school now that they offer the program.

This is not what I've heard at all.

Call her and ask. Cooper's phone number is 703-442-5800.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone add anything substantive to this conversation for Pete's sake?? I am truly interested to know Principal Randall's attitude about all of this.

Arlene very much wants Cooper to become a center. That said, she emphasizes that she runs her school as a family and will not have a school with an "us vs. them" mentality (much like what we see expressed on these boards). Her philosophy is that the school should meet students where they are and provide an appropriately rigorous program to elevate them in their learning. She explains that AAP students will be clustered together for their core classes and will be with their peers for the others; there will not be isolation as is the case at some other schools.

Bottom line: She has spent the last 4 years developing the program they are currently offering, and she wants the students zoned for Cooper to come to the school now that they offer the program.

This is not what I've heard at all.

Call her and ask. Cooper's phone number is 703-442-5800.

Looks like there is an AAP Curriculum coffee on January 7; could also ask then.

[Anonymous]

Came back from last night's meeting. It is true that Arlene desperately wants Cooper as AAP center. She is very supportive and the school made lots of efforts to build AAP program.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone add anything substantive to this conversation for Pete's sake?? I am truly interested to know Principal Randall's attitude about all of this.

Arlene very much wants Cooper to become a center. That said, she emphasizes that she runs her school as a family and will not have a school with an "us vs. them" mentality (much like what we see expressed on these boards). Her philosophy is that the school should meet students where they are and provide an appropriately rigorous program to elevate them in their learning. She explains that AAP students will be clustered together for their core classes and will be with their peers for the others; there will not be isolation as is the case at some other schools.

Bottom line: She has spent the last 4 years developing the program they are currently offering, and she wants the students zoned for Cooper to come to the school now that they offer the program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone add anything substantive to this conversation for Pete's sake?? I am truly interested to know Principal Randall's attitude about all of this.

Arlene very much wants Cooper to become a center. That said, she emphasizes that she runs her school as a family and will not have a school with an "us vs. them" mentality (much like what we see expressed on these boards). Her philosophy is that the school should meet students where they are and provide an appropriately rigorous program to elevate them in their learning. She explains that AAP students will be clustered together for their core classes and will be with their peers for the others; there will not be isolation as is the case at some other schools.

Bottom line: She has spent the last 4 years developing the program they are currently offering, and she wants the students zoned for Cooper to come to the school now that they offer the program.

This is not what I've heard at all.

Call her and ask. Cooper's phone number is 703-442-5800.

If she's expressing any enthusiasm at all about this plan, it's only because she's been strong armed into it. She originally was opposed to making Cooper an AAP center, as she knew most Cooper families were opposed to it. Nothing like ruining a nice, community school by turning it into a center.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone add anything substantive to this conversation for Pete's sake?? I am truly interested to know Principal Randall's attitude about all of this.

Arlene very much wants Cooper to become a center. That said, she emphasizes that she runs her school as a family and will not have a school with an "us vs. them" mentality (much like what we see expressed on these boards). Her philosophy is that the school should meet students where they are and provide an appropriately rigorous program to elevate them in their learning. She explains that AAP students will be clustered together for their core classes and will be with their peers for the others; there will not be isolation as is the case at some other schools.

Bottom line: She has spent the last 4 years developing the program they are currently offering, and she wants the students zoned for Cooper to come to the school now that they offer the program.

This is not what I've heard at all.

Call her and ask. Cooper's phone number is 703-442-5800.

If she's expressing any enthusiasm at all about this plan, it's only because she's been strong armed into it. She originally was opposed to making Cooper an AAP center, as she knew most Cooper families were opposed to it. Nothing like ruining a nice, community school by turning it into a center.

Say hello to Westbriar!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone add anything substantive to this conversation for Pete's sake?? I am truly interested to know Principal Randall's attitude about all of this.

Arlene very much wants Cooper to become a center. That said, she emphasizes that she runs her school as a family and will not have a school with an "us vs. them" mentality (much like what we see expressed on these boards). Her philosophy is that the school should meet students where they are and provide an appropriately rigorous program to elevate them in their learning. She explains that AAP students will be clustered together for their core classes and will be with their peers for the others; there will not be isolation as is the case at some other schools.

Bottom line: She has spent the last 4 years developing the program they are currently offering, and she wants the students zoned for Cooper to come to the school now that they offer the program.

This is not what I've heard at all.

Call her and ask. Cooper's phone number is 703-442-5800.

If she's expressing any enthusiasm at all about this plan, it's only because she's been strong armed into it. She originally was opposed to making Cooper an AAP center, as she knew most Cooper families were opposed to it. Nothing like ruining a nice, community school by turning it into a center.

Nothing like a school community pawning off a significant portion of its students to already over crowded schools so they can have their " small community " school. Hint: it isn't really a nice community if you exclude people from it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone add anything substantive to this conversation for Pete's sake?? I am truly interested to know Principal Randall's attitude about all of this.

Arlene very much wants Cooper to become a center. That said, she emphasizes that she runs her school as a family and will not have a school with an "us vs. them" mentality (much like what we see expressed on these boards). Her philosophy is that the school should meet students where they are and provide an appropriately rigorous program to elevate them in their learning. She explains that AAP students will be clustered together for their core classes and will be with their peers for the others; there will not be isolation as is the case at some other schools.

Bottom line: She has spent the last 4 years developing the program they are currently offering, and she wants the students zoned for Cooper to come to the school now that they offer the program.

This is not what I've heard at all.

Call her and ask. Cooper's phone number is 703-442-5800.

If she's expressing any enthusiasm at all about this plan, it's only because she's been strong armed into it. She originally was opposed to making Cooper an AAP center, as she knew most Cooper families were opposed to it. Nothing like ruining a nice, community school by turning it into a center.

Nothing like a school community pawning off a significant portion of its students to already over crowded schools so they can have their " small community " school. Hint: it isn't really a nice community if you exclude people from it.

One reason community schools should stay neighborhood schools except in extenuating circumstances. That said, I agree that Cooper should be an AAP Center yesterday, but in fairness let's remember Kilmer wasn't overcrowded when Cooper area kids started going there for AAP.

[Anonymous]

Kilmer people who are still moaning-THE AAP KIDS HAVE ALREADY FOR THE MOST PART LEFT YOUR CENTER FOR COOPER!!! Read the statistics!!

Why the Longfellow based kids need to leave when the school as capacity (NOT OVERCROWDED) remains a mystery...of course, all about "fairness"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone add anything substantive to this conversation for Pete's sake?? I am truly interested to know Principal Randall's attitude about all of this.

Arlene very much wants Cooper to become a center. That said, she emphasizes that she runs her school as a family and will not have a school with an "us vs. them" mentality (much like what we see expressed on these boards). Her philosophy is that the school should meet students where they are and provide an appropriately rigorous program to elevate them in their learning. She explains that AAP students will be clustered together for their core classes and will be with their peers for the others; there will not be isolation as is the case at some other schools.

Bottom line: She has spent the last 4 years developing the program they are currently offering, and she wants the students zoned for Cooper to come to the school now that they offer the program.

This is not what I've heard at all.

Call her and ask. Cooper's phone number is 703-442-5800.

If she's expressing any enthusiasm at all about this plan, it's only because she's been strong armed into it. She originally was opposed to making Cooper an AAP center, as she knew most Cooper families were opposed to it. Nothing like ruining a nice, community school by turning it into a center.

This is EXACTLY the feeling I got at last week's meeting. There was no sense of warmth or that she really wanted our kids, just that Garza and the school board were forcing her hand. So excited for the next two years!