New AAP proposal: what does it mean to me?

[Anonymous]

I think I understand the proposal. My DD is at Louise Archer AAP, which is also her base school. She will remain there. Kids in the AAP center at LA are in either the Madison or Marshall Pyramid.

The county will create another AAP center at a school in the Marshall Pyramid, which will result in incoming 3rd graders from Stenwood, westbrier and Freedom Hill going to the new school. In addition, kids from Marshall Road ES will now go to Louise Archer instead of Mantua.

When my child enters middle school, she will go to Thoreau for AAP instead of Luther Jackson.

For us, I think it makes sense. We were facing the question of Thoreau vs. Jackson: Thoreau much closer to us. We were not sure where DD's friends would go. Now most of her friends would go to Thoreau.

The problem I see is not in Pyramids like Madison, but in ones which have smaller AAP populations. There might not be critical mass in ES or MS.

[Anonymous]

You hit the nail on the head with the problem. It will work in some pyramids but not others, which is probably why it has never gone by pyramids. Unfortunately, the sad part is that the heavily lower income and minority pyramids will probably be the ones that have the smaller, less effective AAP centers. So, once again, the wealthier kids get a better education.

As for your child in ES, nothing for her will change except she'll get a little more space at school. Unless, of course, they decide not to grandfather, then some of her friends will probably be forced to leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You hit the nail on the head with the problem. It will work in some pyramids but not others, which is probably why it has never gone by pyramids. Unfortunately, the sad part is that the heavily lower income and minority pyramids will probably be the ones that have the smaller, less effective AAP centers. So, once again, the wealthier kids get a better education.

As for your child in ES, nothing for her will change except she'll get a little more space at school. Unless, of course, they decide not to grandfather, then some of her friends will probably be forced to leave.

+10000 to your post as well as the OP. You both summarized things very, very well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think I understand the proposal. My DD is at Louise Archer AAP, which is also her base school. She will remain there. Kids in the AAP center at LA are in either the Madison or Marshall Pyramid.

The county will create another AAP center at a school in the Marshall Pyramid, which will result in incoming 3rd graders from Stenwood, westbrier and Freedom Hill going to the new school. In addition, kids from Marshall Road ES will now go to Louise Archer instead of Mantua.

When my child enters middle school, she will go to Thoreau for AAP instead of Luther Jackson.

For us, I think it makes sense. We were facing the question of Thoreau vs. Jackson: Thoreau much closer to us. We were not sure where DD's friends would go. Now most of her friends would go to Thoreau.

The problem I see is not in Pyramids like Madison, but in ones which have smaller AAP populations. There might not be critical mass in ES or MS.

For some schools it is straightforward, but for others it is not. What about a school like Wolftrap which is a split feeder where some students are in the Madison pyramid and some are in the Marshall High School Pyramid? Will they go to two different AAP Centers? It actually makes sense, although the ones who feed to Madison are going to be in the minority at Archer's AAP Center since they will go to Kilmer while most of their classmates go to Thoreau. Then again, they'll know peopole when they get to Madison whereas they wouldn't have known them if they stayed at WolfTrap and went straight to Kilmer then Madison.

[Anonymous]

Thoreau is supposed to be expanded, so I would think those children from Wolftrap going to Madison could just go there for middle.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for posting. It clarified something that i was not aware of: Marshall Road kids will be going to Archer.

[Anonymous]

Marshall Road to Archer is a guess. Since MRES goes to Madison and Thoreau, I assume they would go to Archer. The really stupid thing is, I have friends that live about 1/2 mile from Louise Archer, but because they are in MRES district, they go to Mosby Woods.

[Anonymous]

It doesn't make much sense, though, to remove some kids from Archer because it's too crowded then to put other kids back in. The whole idea is half baked. Either it's too crowded or not. If it's so crowded that it's urgent to remove kids starting in September 2013, then it's too crowded to bring new kids in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Marshall Road to Archer is a guess. Since MRES goes to Madison and Thoreau, I assume they would go to Archer. The really stupid thing is, I have friends that live about 1/2 mile from Louise Archer, but because they are in MRES district, they go to Mosby Woods.

i just checked: it is in the proposal. The net decrease in Archer is projected at over 100 kids, even after the inflow (44) from MRES.

[Anonymous]

The focus among parents seems to be more on "will my kid have to leave his or her AAP center in elementary school" and not on the proposal for an AAP center in every MIDDLE school.

What about those of us who have sixth grade AAP center students right now?

Does this proposal mean that next year, rather than going to the AAP center school she had expected to attend (which is not in our pyramid), she would be required instead to attend a brand-new "center" at the middle school that is in our pyramid?

I have a question in to FCPS about that but haven't heard back yet.

Frankly we want her at the well-established center at the school that is not in our pyramid. I don't see how FCPS can set up a fully functioning AAP center with qualified teachers in just this one school year and have it ready and running by next fall anyway, but a lot of parents of sixth graders in AAP centers are confused right now about what happens to our kids next fall -- whether they'll be going to established centers or ones that are quickly put together just to meet a mandate that every middle school have something it can call a "center."

Any other parents of AAP sixth graders out there have any insights or have you heard anything yet?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does this proposal mean that next year, rather than going to the AAP center school she had expected to attend (which is not in our pyramid), she would be required instead to attend a brand-new "center" at the middle school that is in our pyramid?

Yes -- IF the proposed recommendation is approved by the School Board.

You should reach out to your AAP Center principal and ask for further information. In addition, be sure to email your School board members and attend the Community Meeting for your cluster (as well as the other cluster if your currently assigned MS AAP Center is in a different cluster).

[Anonymous]

I suspect most Archer parents -- at least those in the Thoreau/Madison district will be happy, as the kids will remain at archer, and go to thoreau instead of jackson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The focus among parents seems to be more on "will my kid have to leave his or her AAP center in elementary school" and not on the proposal for an AAP center in every MIDDLE school.

What about those of us who have sixth grade AAP center students right now?

Does this proposal mean that next year, rather than going to the AAP center school she had expected to attend (which is not in our pyramid), she would be required instead to attend a brand-new "center" at the middle school that is in our pyramid?

I have a question in to FCPS about that but haven't heard back yet.

Frankly we want her at the well-established center at the school that is not in our pyramid. I don't see how FCPS can set up a fully functioning AAP center with qualified teachers in just this one school year and have it ready and running by next fall anyway, but a lot of parents of sixth graders in AAP centers are confused right now about what happens to our kids next fall -- whether they'll be going to established centers or ones that are quickly put together just to meet a mandate that every middle school have something it can call a "center."

Any other parents of AAP sixth graders out there have any insights or have you heard anything yet?

FCPS has set up middle school centers. Kilmer was a dump, got renovated, and a center. Carson was a new building. It is easy since your child will move with her local people plus those in her center.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
FCPS has set up middle school centers. Kilmer was a dump, got renovated, and a center. Carson was a new building. It is easy since your child will move with her local people plus those in her center.

Works great if there is critical mass at the new middle school "center" but a third of the pyramids will not have that critical mass.

[Anonymous]

I'm not happy with the new proposal since my children's middle school AAP is Luther Jackson. We currently have a great AAP Center due to having the Vienna/Louis Archer kids with other AAP kids in our cluster. They created AAP center at Luther Jackson 5 years ago banking on pulling kids from Vienna to make Luther Jackson a better school. This proposal will not work and people will start moving out and Luther Jackson will be back on the bottom again! What is FCPS thinking? I'm against the new proposal! Most of the Vienna AAP kids are happy at Luther Jackson contrary to what people are saying on this board.