Alexandria schools - why so bad?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alexandria is full of public housing. It's like Hunger games with few rich and a lot of poors.

lol

The sad thing is that Alexandria has less than half of the public housing it had 15-20 years ago. Almost all of the public housing in Old Town has been converted into high priced townhouses and condos. If you are in Quadrants 2 or 3 and see rows of townhouses that are less than 20 years old then they were built on land that used to be public housing. Literally. People are paying upwards of $700k-1.5M for those townhouses. Alexandria isn't for poor people anymore. Yet our school system is what it is. We are mired in acceptance of the status quo and upholding of low expectations.

90% of the public housing in Old town is gone.

That's a good thing. It brings business and residential property tax revenue.

When was the last time you packed the kids into the family van and headed out to Anacostia for a fun day of shopping and sight seeing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So as residents of Alexandria, we just don’t have any power or voice to influence the future of the school?

We've lived here since 1987 pp, sans kids. When with kids, we sent them to ACPS and spoke up both at ACPS Board meetings and as participants in all schools attended. We've also written published letters, and sent our opinions to our Alexandria City Council. We spoke up in 2007 after the firing of the Super.

Yes it's true in our opinions. Valuing educational rigor greatly, all the decades of speaking up, volunterism, tax support has proven to us that in Alexandria City, nothing changes with ACPS.

Does it truly surprise you given our City average annual income, that concerned City taxpayers attempted for decades to urge academic rigor over anything else at ACPS, just to see what a joke it is asking same? Review the VDOE ACPS standing going back thirty years and tell us what's new. It's shameful what is and has happened in Alexandria City Public Schools.

Is your disappointment really with ACPS or your children's lack of achievement? In our case, DC couldn't have done better in terms of educational outcomes or college admissions at Sidwell or St. Albans. And they would not have given DC the breadth of friendships and cultural street smarts that ACPS provided. I think there are plenty of problems with ACPS, but it is almost exclusively with how they educate English learners and low-income students - basically most of the students of color. You just can't blame the schools for your kid's shortcomings.

Np. College outcome aside, there is no way that your DC received an education comparable to what would have been received at one of the independent schools you name. If you believe that, you’re kidding yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alexandria is full of public housing. It's like Hunger games with few rich and a lot of poors.

lol

The sad thing is that Alexandria has less than half of the public housing it had 15-20 years ago. Almost all of the public housing in Old Town has been converted into high priced townhouses and condos. If you are in Quadrants 2 or 3 and see rows of townhouses that are less than 20 years old then they were built on land that used to be public housing. Literally. People are paying upwards of $700k-1.5M for those townhouses. Alexandria isn't for poor people anymore. Yet our school system is what it is. We are mired in acceptance of the status quo and upholding of low expectations.

90% of the public housing in Old town is gone.

That's a good thing. It brings business and residential property tax revenue.

When was the last time you packed the kids into the family van and headed out to Anacostia for a fun day of shopping and sight seeing?

The public housing in Old Town is absolutely not gone. There is a section around the intersection of Montgomery and Alfred/Columbus Sts that was torn down, but replaced with a mix of market rate housing, apartment style subsidized housing, and some subsidized townhouses. They look a heck of a lot better, but the poor folks are still there. There was also a chunk town down along route 1 (the "yellow houses") but the poor folks have just been moved elsewhere in Old Town. All the other public housing dating to the 1930s and 40s is still there. All of it. The City just lost out on an opportunity to re-do a section of public housing closer to the metro when the contractor could not figure out how to make a profit with all the city imposed restrictions, including needing to include subsidized housing. JH will be majority poor kids forever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in DC, EOTP, and we need to move soon for schools. I've started casually looking into areas we might be interested in and I can't believe Alexandria schools are so low ranking! The houses in Del Ray are $1 mil+ but TC Williams is a 3 on GS! Is that right? Is it a safe school? I'm just trying to figure out what the deal is because I would love to live there but not if the schools are a problem. Thanks for any insight.

Alexandria has a lot of govt businesses, so for DINKs, it's the best place to live. However, all of them either move or send their kids to private schools because Alexandria also houses a lot of apartments that have a lot of ESOL kids. Which drives the scores down dramatically. And there is a lot of "hidden" poverty here.

I know a lot of parents who move to Springfield or Burke for better schools and are a lot happier. The sports out there is better too (see Lake Braddock) which lends to where the parents are spending their money. Trees are nice too.

My assumption is that you have young children, and as someone who works and has two young kids: yards are amazing. Outside space is amazing. I know it is awful to drive your kid out to the middle of nowhere (which it feels like if you live in DC) but it's worth it. Just shoving your kids outside with friends and watching them run around is awesome. The quiet is unnerving at first, but it's amazing too. We ride bikes in Burke and Burke Lake Park is a treasure.

You just need to figure out what it more important: restaurants or trees?

[Anonymous]

And prepare yourself to commute 2 hours each way to get from Burke to DC. But enjoy those trees!

[Anonymous]

Pretty sure there are plenty of places in Alexandria that you can have backyards and trees. I happen to live in such a neighborhood. And I can send my kid out to play with all the neighbors kids as well. Why on earth would you all the way to Burke for that?

[Anonymous]

However, all of them either move or send their kids to private schools because Alexandria also houses a lot of apartments that have a lot of ESOL kids. Which drives the scores down dramatically. And there is a lot of "hidden" poverty here.

I don't think that is the case. I'm not choosing public middle and high school in Alexandria because he has ADHD and is not self-motivated. A kid with that profile is definitely going to get lost in the crowd in Alexandria publics beyond elementary. However, we know many families who have chosen Alexandria middle schools for their kids. If your kid is very self-motivated and mature, it seems like it can work out well. That's just not our kid.

[Anonymous]

I live in Alexandria with a yard, trees, and tons of kids for my kid to play with. And the kids are only steps to a short walk away (advantage of denser living!).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alexandria is full of public housing. It's like Hunger games with few rich and a lot of poors.

lol

The sad thing is that Alexandria has less than half of the public housing it had 15-20 years ago. Almost all of the public housing in Old Town has been converted into high priced townhouses and condos. If you are in Quadrants 2 or 3 and see rows of townhouses that are less than 20 years old then they were built on land that used to be public housing. Literally. People are paying upwards of $700k-1.5M for those townhouses. Alexandria isn't for poor people anymore. Yet our school system is what it is. We are mired in acceptance of the status quo and upholding of low expectations.

90% of the public housing in Old town is gone.

That's a good thing. It brings business and residential property tax revenue.

When was the last time you packed the kids into the family van and headed out to Anacostia for a fun day of shopping and sight seeing?

The public housing in Old Town is absolutely not gone. There is a section around the intersection of Montgomery and Alfred/Columbus Sts that was torn down, but replaced with a mix of market rate housing, apartment style subsidized housing, and some subsidized townhouses. They look a heck of a lot better, but the poor folks are still there. There was also a chunk town down along route 1 (the "yellow houses") but the poor folks have just been moved elsewhere in Old Town. All the other public housing dating to the 1930s and 40s is still there. All of it. The City just lost out on an opportunity to re-do a section of public housing closer to the metro when the contractor could not figure out how to make a profit with all the city imposed restrictions, including needing to include subsidized housing. JH will be majority poor kids forever.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

However, all of them either move or send their kids to private schools because Alexandria also houses a lot of apartments that have a lot of ESOL kids. Which drives the scores down dramatically. And there is a lot of "hidden" poverty here.

I don't think that is the case. I'm not choosing public middle and high school in Alexandria because he has ADHD and is not self-motivated. A kid with that profile is definitely going to get lost in the crowd in Alexandria publics beyond elementary. However, we know many families who have chosen Alexandria middle schools for their kids. If your kid is very self-motivated and mature, it seems like it can work out well. That's just not our kid.

ADD kids can do well enough at ACPS with special accommodations, but have lesser chance of success due to the social environment which continues to harm every student.

It's way past time for Alexandria City residents to wake up and walk over to City Council and ACPS School Board on the consistent lack of quality in our ACPS education in many of our schools. First up: fire all of Central Administration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

However, all of them either move or send their kids to private schools because Alexandria also houses a lot of apartments that have a lot of ESOL kids. Which drives the scores down dramatically. And there is a lot of "hidden" poverty here.

I don't think that is the case. I'm not choosing public middle and high school in Alexandria because he has ADHD and is not self-motivated. A kid with that profile is definitely going to get lost in the crowd in Alexandria publics beyond elementary. However, we know many families who have chosen Alexandria middle schools for their kids. If your kid is very self-motivated and mature, it seems like it can work out well. That's just not our kid.

ADD kids can do well enough at ACPS with special accommodations, but have lesser chance of success due to the social environment which continues to harm every student.

It's way past time for Alexandria City residents to wake up and walk over to City Council and ACPS School Board on the consistent lack of quality in our ACPS education in many of our schools. First up: fire all of Central Administration.

there is no high school in the country that is getting strong results with 50% poverty. TC Williams is 46%

[Anonymous]

ADD kids can do well enough at ACPS with special accommodations, but have lesser chance of success due to the social environment which continues to harm every student.

I disagree. My son is barely holding on in 5th grade with a 504 plan. He just sits there and stares into space in disfavored subjects. The social environment, however, is fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And prepare yourself to commute 2 hours each way to get from Burke to DC. But enjoy those trees!

I drive Clifton to 17th and K on TWT. Takes 40-45 there and 35-40 back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And prepare yourself to commute 2 hours each way to get from Burke to DC. But enjoy those trees!

I drive Clifton to 17th and K on TWT. Takes 40-45 there and 35-40 back.

Exactly.
2 hours? Obviously that poster has no idea what they are talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And prepare yourself to commute 2 hours each way to get from Burke to DC. But enjoy those trees!

I drive Clifton to 17th and K on TWT. Takes 40-45 there and 35-40 back.

I call BS. I work at 18th and K and it often takes me 20-25 minutes just to get out of the city into VA. My under 7 mile commute to not-that-far-out Arlington takes 35 minutes on average. No way do you do a trip to Clifton in anywhere near that time.