Alexandria HSs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:17:22 here. My kid went to ACPS as well and I'm also a teacher in ACPS. Paying for books for classrooms? I don't know what you're talking about. I have personally bought hundreds of books for my classroom library and have never ever required my students to buy books (!). I have requested PTA grants to buy books, but that's an entirely optional expense for parents. My daughter also participated in sports and I don't ever remember paying for food, uniforms or transporting teammates.

We inquired and then paid for each student in the class to have a specific adjunct text while our kid was at TCWHS. School funds were tight and we helped out.

You inquired? Meaning it was a book you wanted to have in the classroom? I also taught at TC and never heard of this. I've worked in Arlington the past few years and maybe times are different? Seems weird to me.

Prior poster here. The naysayers/ doubters are strong on this thread. It's all true, we bought books for the class and the teacher was very thankful. Additionally, I signed up for girl's lacrosse food sharing but no one else signed up so I did it all the entire semester. It took a good amount of time, and alas in the Bradlee Shopping Center I accidentally backed up into oncoming car (whose fix I paid for too). My spouse bought lacrosse equipment including stick and protection equipment for the boy's team, as well as personally picked up and transported them to weekend events.

I really don't care if you don't believe me, ongoing ACPS doubters. We parents did what we thought was needed and right.



Naysayers

Why did you buy books for the class? That's just weird. The logical thing to do would suggest to the teacher that she use another book that she had access to and had enough copies.

For food sharing at sports, look my kid is in middle school and I am tapped out on requests like snacks, food, beverages, etc. At high school age, kids need to bring their own or bring a couple bucks. And for the kid who doesn't, someone will share. Kids are not that mean that no one will share for goodness sakes.

And when the care backed into you, why didn't you reconsider whether you really needing to be the only parent doing "food sharing" . you could have sent out an email and just let parents know "sorry, I won't be able to do it after all. Please send food with your kid"

The problem isn't the school. The problem in this case is you. Stop trying to be a hero bc you are right - no one really cares and isn't appreciating it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The person who trolls the forum, you mean. IMO that would be a great first step. Good PR means the ability to listen and hear as well as to speak and say.

Well, she may troll the forum as well, but she also registered and made a handful of posts under her real name/position, I think in the Jefferson-Houston thread.

If I had to guess, though, I'd say replacing the PR folks is more of a "they're making us look foolish" move than a "we need to better listen to constituents" move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:17:22 here. My kid went to ACPS as well and I'm also a teacher in ACPS. Paying for books for classrooms? I don't know what you're talking about. I have personally bought hundreds of books for my classroom library and have never ever required my students to buy books (!). I have requested PTA grants to buy books, but that's an entirely optional expense for parents. My daughter also participated in sports and I don't ever remember paying for food, uniforms or transporting teammates.

We inquired and then paid for each student in the class to have a specific adjunct text while our kid was at TCWHS. School funds were tight and we helped out.

You inquired? Meaning it was a book you wanted to have in the classroom? I also taught at TC and never heard of this. I've worked in Arlington the past few years and maybe times are different? Seems weird to me.

Prior poster here. The naysayers/ doubters are strong on this thread. It's all true, we bought books for the class and the teacher was very thankful. Additionally, I signed up for girl's lacrosse food sharing but no one else signed up so I did it all the entire semester. It took a good amount of time, and alas in the Bradlee Shopping Center I accidentally backed up into oncoming car (whose fix I paid for too). My spouse bought lacrosse equipment including stick and protection equipment for the boy's team, as well as personally picked up and transported them to weekend events.

I really don't care if you don't believe me, ongoing ACPS doubters. We parents did what we thought was needed and right.



Naysayers

Why did you buy books for the class? That's just weird. The logical thing to do would suggest to the teacher that she use another book that she had access to and had enough copies.

For food sharing at sports, look my kid is in middle school and I am tapped out on requests like snacks, food, beverages, etc. At high school age, kids need to bring their own or bring a couple bucks. And for the kid who doesn't, someone will share. Kids are not that mean that no one will share for goodness sakes.

And when the care backed into you, why didn't you reconsider whether you really needing to be the only parent doing "food sharing" . you could have sent out an email and just let parents know "sorry, I won't be able to do it after all. Please send food with your kid"

The problem isn't the school. The problem in this case is you. Stop trying to be a hero bc you are right - no one really cares and isn't appreciating it.

What book did you purchase?

[Anonymous]

Not sure if this has been posted, but TC is getting rid of student parking in its parking garage and now requires any student who wants to park to go through the city and apply for a permit to park on the Chinquapin Lot. Also, this is a lottery since it's only 175 spots and it's only reserved for seniors.

I'm assuming the school is trying to reserve as much parking for its supposed increase in teachers/staff

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure if this has been posted, but TC is getting rid of student parking in its parking garage and now requires any student who wants to park to go through the city and apply for a permit to park on the Chinquapin Lot. Also, this is a lottery since it's only 175 spots and it's only reserved for seniors.

I'm assuming the school is trying to reserve as much parking for its supposed increase in teachers/staff

It’s theater. It’s intended to “justify” the demands for more construction funding. If you do a count of the spaces, the total staff positions, and the student body count, you would see that the parking change was unnecessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:16:54, I'm not sure I understand your post. Could you elaborate? What effort and responsibility are you putting in?

So everybody else in a BA-required position is on a 365 work-day sschedule? Umm, 52x5 = 260.

-less average 28 days vacation/personal/emergency/sick
-less average 13 holidays and adjacent days

So at most you get 219. So a teacher, at minimum, has basically 92%+ of the work days that other BA-required employees have.

Just stop it. They're not overpaid.

Well most of us work 8hours a day pp (not including breaks). And 2 weeks vacation.

Typical Paid federal holidays are 7:
New Year's Day,
Easter,
Memorial Day,
Independence Day (4th of July),
Labor Day,
Thanksgiving Day,
Friday after Thanksgiving, and.
Christmas Day.

During the school year, teaching is materially over 8 hours per day. There are 12 Federal holidays. Positions involving degree requirements seldom provide nothing more than 2 weeks of total paid time off.

You are just making yourself sound more and more out of touch. Very few people in the private sector get all 12 federal holidays off. The list above is accurate. Also in my experience, most positions (including BA required) start off with less than 2 weeks of time off and you work your way up to that. Some very senior positions may earn up to 3 weeks. So max 10-15 days of leave. Maybe 3 days of sick leave, if you're lucky. At best, 20-24 days of leave is average, not 41.

[Anonymous]

And how much can you earn in these jobs if you’re one of the best at what you do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure if this has been posted, but TC is getting rid of student parking in its parking garage and now requires any student who wants to park to go through the city and apply for a permit to park on the Chinquapin Lot. Also, this is a lottery since it's only 175 spots and it's only reserved for seniors.

I'm assuming the school is trying to reserve as much parking for its supposed increase in teachers/staff

It’s theater. It’s intended to “justify” the demands for more construction funding. If you do a count of the spaces, the total staff positions, and the student body count, you would see that the parking change was unnecessary.

I can't say that it's unnecessary because there's been little/no enforcement of parking rules, so it's hard to tell if there are plenty of spaces or not. If you're a student but your parent works in TC or ACPS administration you can park in faculty spots with no repercussions. If you're a TC or ACPS administrator, you can park in handicapped spots (of which there are *just* enough to cover those who actually, legitimately need them) with no repercussions. If you're a TC or ACPS administrator, you can park in the travel lanes in the parking deck blocking traffic flow with no repercussions. (See a pattern?)

Perhaps if the existing rules had been enforced properly, changes wouldn't have been necessary. But then that statement pretty much applies to TC as a whole, doesn't it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The mayor and/or council can allocate all the money in the world but if the people in charge of using that money are corrupt and/or idiots, it doesn't really matter.

Thank you. Agreed 100%. The biggest problem facing education in Alexandria is the Alexandria School Board.

Oh I dunno, there's plenty of competition from central and schools administrators. Like, for example, the fact that TCW just named a new Counseling director who reports to the asst principal that also happens to be her spouse.

I'm sure there's no conflict of interest or anything there though.

that assistant principal is currently the summer school principal and it is an unmitigated disaster. But yet again we're talking about one of those ACPS bad pennies who always turns up in a leadership position despite having shown zero competency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The mayor and/or council can allocate all the money in the world but if the people in charge of using that money are corrupt and/or idiots, it doesn't really matter.

Thank you. Agreed 100%. The biggest problem facing education in Alexandria is the Alexandria School Board.

Oh I dunno, there's plenty of competition from central and schools administrators. Like, for example, the fact that TCW just named a new Counseling director who reports to the asst principal that also happens to be her spouse.

I'm sure there's no conflict of interest or anything there though.

that assistant principal is currently the summer school principal and it is an unmitigated disaster. But yet again we're talking about one of those ACPS bad pennies who always turns up in a leadership position despite having shown zero competency.

And the school board knows that perfectly well. The school board welcomes this kind of persistent problematic manager. It’s the school board’s fault. Every single school board incumbent should go in November.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The mayor and/or council can allocate all the money in the world but if the people in charge of using that money are corrupt and/or idiots, it doesn't really matter.

Thank you. Agreed 100%. The biggest problem facing education in Alexandria is the Alexandria School Board.

Oh I dunno, there's plenty of competition from central and schools administrators. Like, for example, the fact that TCW just named a new Counseling director who reports to the asst principal that also happens to be her spouse.

I'm sure there's no conflict of interest or anything there though.

that assistant principal is currently the summer school principal and it is an unmitigated disaster. But yet again we're talking about one of those ACPS bad pennies who always turns up in a leadership position despite having shown zero competency.

And the school board knows that perfectly well. The school board welcomes this kind of persistent problematic manager. It’s the school board’s fault. Every single school board incumbent should go in November.

+!. I've lived here for decades. My kids went to ACPS. ACPS is holding Alexandria City kids back: no one else. It's time to get rid of ACPS central office staff and redirect support to our ACPS teachers (get rid of dead weight teachers too btw).

We need a rebirth here in ACPS for Alexandria City to survive and reach it's potential. All Alexandria City residents should realize ACPS is holding us back in reputation, business and loss tax payer money. Let's move to a new ACPS!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The mayor and/or council can allocate all the money in the world but if the people in charge of using that money are corrupt and/or idiots, it doesn't really matter.

Thank you. Agreed 100%. The biggest problem facing education in Alexandria is the Alexandria School Board.

Oh I dunno, there's plenty of competition from central and schools administrators. Like, for example, the fact that TCW just named a new Counseling director who reports to the asst principal that also happens to be her spouse.

I'm sure there's no conflict of interest or anything there though.

that assistant principal is currently the summer school principal and it is an unmitigated disaster. But yet again we're talking about one of those ACPS bad pennies who always turns up in a leadership position despite having shown zero competency.

And the school board knows that perfectly well. The school board welcomes this kind of persistent problematic manager. It’s the school board’s fault. Every single school board incumbent should go in November.

+!. I've lived here for decades. My kids went to ACPS. ACPS is holding Alexandria City kids back: no one else. It's time to get rid of ACPS central office staff and redirect support to our ACPS teachers (get rid of dead weight teachers too btw).

We need a rebirth here in ACPS for Alexandria City to survive and reach it's potential. All Alexandria City residents should realize ACPS is holding us back in reputation, business and loss tax payer money. Let's move to a new ACPS!

Yup. And the first step is to remove every single incumbent on the school board; no matter what, in November, don’t vote for a single one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The mayor and/or council can allocate all the money in the world but if the people in charge of using that money are corrupt and/or idiots, it doesn't really matter.

Thank you. Agreed 100%. The biggest problem facing education in Alexandria is the Alexandria School Board.

Oh I dunno, there's plenty of competition from central and schools administrators. Like, for example, the fact that TCW just named a new Counseling director who reports to the asst principal that also happens to be her spouse.

I'm sure there's no conflict of interest or anything there though.

that assistant principal is currently the summer school principal and it is an unmitigated disaster. But yet again we're talking about one of those ACPS bad pennies who always turns up in a leadership position despite having shown zero competency.

And the school board knows that perfectly well. The school board welcomes this kind of persistent problematic manager. It’s the school board’s fault. Every single school board incumbent should go in November.

+!. I've lived here for decades. My kids went to ACPS. ACPS is holding Alexandria City kids back: no one else. It's time to get rid of ACPS central office staff and redirect support to our ACPS teachers (get rid of dead weight teachers too btw).

We need a rebirth here in ACPS for Alexandria City to survive and reach it's potential. All Alexandria City residents should realize ACPS is holding us back in reputation, business and loss tax payer money. Let's move to a new ACPS!

Yup. And the first step is to remove every single incumbent on the school board; no matter what, in November, don’t vote for a single one.

+1

[Anonymous]

ACPS teacher here (hopefully not one of the "deadweight" ones). There seem to be many calls to throw out the school board, overhaul the whole system, etc. What are some specific proposals that you'd like to see implemented? Here are some suggestions that I think would make a difference: expand summer school; hire more reading/math/EL/SPED specialists and assign them to individual schools; lengthen the school day; provide funding for great classroom libraries (this is in the works); stress the importance of choice in reading and move away from a focus on reading levels; and reduce class size.

Alexandria is an incredibly diverse city with a school population with a wide variety of needs. There are some children that live in such chaos that completing an assignment is the last thing on their minds. Other children come to my fourth grade class midyear not speaking a word of English. We teachers (and administrators) face difficult instructional choices.

What can you do? Donate great books to your local school. Volunteer through the Alexandria Tutoring Consortium. Join the PTA. Start up an after-school program to provide a supervised time for kids to read, do math, or play chess. I am incredibly lucky to have a retired teacher help me in my classroom every week as a volunteer. The kids love her, and she is a much better teacher than I am!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ACPS teacher here (hopefully not one of the "deadweight" ones). There seem to be many calls to throw out the school board, overhaul the whole system, etc. What are some specific proposals that you'd like to see implemented? Here are some suggestions that I think would make a difference: expand summer school; hire more reading/math/EL/SPED specialists and assign them to individual schools; lengthen the school day; provide funding for great classroom libraries (this is in the works); stress the importance of choice in reading and move away from a focus on reading levels; and reduce class size.

Alexandria is an incredibly diverse city with a school population with a wide variety of needs. There are some children that live in such chaos that completing an assignment is the last thing on their minds. Other children come to my fourth grade class midyear not speaking a word of English. We teachers (and administrators) face difficult instructional choices.

What can you do? Donate great books to your local school. Volunteer through the Alexandria Tutoring Consortium. Join the PTA. Start up an after-school program to provide a supervised time for kids to read, do math, or play chess. I am incredibly lucky to have a retired teacher help me in my classroom every week as a volunteer. The kids love her, and she is a much better teacher than I am!

Thank you for weighing in! I'm very curious as the parent of a pre-schooler in Alexandria... what do you think is the core of the problems we face in Alexandria as someone on the front line? Is it an issue of demographics? Is it management? Is it impossible to run such a small school district well?