APS Middle School Boundaries?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“ APS is pausing the 2023 Middle School Boundary Process and the Proposal to Relocate the Spanish Immersion Program until Fall 2024.” In email now.

So will be radio silence until what, August 2024? Is there no way to ask staff for updates? What if you go to SB member office hours — can they procure status?

They’ve tipped their hand that a big change is coming, will they be transparent about the process!? Or this weird cancel and delay with nary a peep the new normal and we’ll have to fight to make sure decisions aren’t made by a small group of self-interested parties like a “vision board”. Change is coming, have an open discussion and demonstrate decisions are made that benefit the majority of APS and not just those with a few staffers in the hook.

I think you just saw their "big change." It's a big nothingburger: establishing pathways (which mostly already exist) and determining where they each will go (again, with the high school pathways pretty much already in place and not changing). Based on their list of pathways, aligning boundaries will be an impossible mess. I expect this "big change" to be a shift in some boundaries and reliance on students opting into the various pathways.

I predict: disastrous failure. The whole process - from community feedback, staff final recommendations, SB lack of direction and ignorant decisions.

Yeah they are going to try the same thing they did for High schools, make programs and pathways that attract students to other schools.

If Gunston students wanted to go to WMS, would they get a bus of have to provide transportation? Could they be guaranteed transfer to YHS? I think if the county let folks transfer from one MS to another, provide buses, and ensure they can stay with cohort in high school, that would balance a LOT of the North South imbalance without huge border changes.

No, it wouldn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile Gunston will sit overcrowded for 2 more years and Williamsburg will be way under used for 3 more years (counting this year). Entire cohorts of kids moving through and they're doing nothing.

I know Gunston is overcrowded but I am somewhat impressed by how small my kid's class sizes are there. He has barely any classes with over 20 kids. It is interesting because someone mentioned in another post how WMS classes are 30plus kids. Also interesting because a friend at WMS says her kid does all work on the ipad and my Gunston kid does none lol (not that this has anything to do with overcrowding just though it was interesting). ANYWAY, i know that overcrowding is an issue and other resources are stressed and the hallways are chaotic. I also think PE is kind of crazy because multiple classes go at once but just found the class size comparison interesting.

Yes, this is a crazy phenomenon. Most under-enrolled school by far = completely overcrowded classrooms, most overcrowded school by far = small class sizes.

But yes, overall the overcrowded school will feel this strain more and more, while for the under-enrolled school this just seems to be mismanagement that could be fixed more easily.

Does Gunston get Title I money? That could explain it.

Title I is PreK-5th.

Why do you think that? It’s absolutely not. Elementary schools do get a disproportionate amount, in general, but it can cover pre K to HS.

But Arlington does not claim Title I status for its middle or high schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many buses do you think we have?!??

There is no way around a ton of busing.

The students live in S Arlington, the seats are in N Arlington.

Domino boundaries will actually require even more buses as you bus walk zones to north schools. If you can just entice transfers from overcrowded schools like Gunston, you just need a few express buses to gather them from S. PUs then zip up George Mason to WMS or DHMS or an expanded HBW.

You're not going to entice a bunch more Gunston students to WMS than you would WMS to Gunston.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These pathways are so bogus. IB? Really? How many kids will get to transfer to TJ for that pathway. This is just stupid. And if kids want to take spots at WL for OB, they have to do the full diploma. With the long waitlist they need to start sending kids back to their home schools when they are clearly only doing partial IB.

Agreed!
1. distinct pathways beginning in 6th grade is dumb. We shouldn't be pigeon-holing 11 year olds into specific paths.
2. if you're going to do something like this, every middle school should have its "pathway" and that focus be for the entire school. Immersion is clearly not taking up an entire middle school; but IB does at Jefferson.
3. These "enticements" DO NOT WORK for balancing enrollment.
4. Only 4 pathways are indicated. We have 6 middle schools. So what are the other 2 middle schools going to offer?
5. HBW's "program" description is absolutely awful. Especially the caring community part - implying care and community are not part of any other middle school.
6. How about just a good ol' fashioned emphasis on a rigorous well-rounded education for every student, allowing every student to develop and learn their special interests and talents and giving them opportunities to explore them via extracurriculars and electives in high school.

+100

I can't even believe this.
Immersion is a dying program that has to beg native speakers to attend, and English speakers are largely there only because they are not happy with their elementary and then often don't continue it.
Neither group would continue, if the option was or is in any way inconvenient.
HB is only popular because of its size - it's not a pathway description anyone would choose otherwise, let's be real.
Do you really want to decide if an 11 yr old is going to a STEM or Arts focused program through graduating from HS?

I thought they'd focus on the "honors" or "advanced" classes all middle schools are supposed to be offering soon from grade 6? I thought this was going to be a challenge for them already to fully implement.

Wow, showing your upper class bias much? You've totally missed the point that APS is trying to bring pathways and options to families whose students will go straight from HS to workforce, or roughly equivalent. They are not needing to expand more advanced/honors for families like you who wish or are trying to get into TJ HS and Ivies. Those other families - and there are MANY - deserve pathways and options too, and folks like you and me are already well served.

Um, where is there evidence of trying to provide such pathways? They are retaining the same existing special programs and adding in a STEM specialty. They don't even mention CTE or the Career Center.

And implementing some intensified courses at the middle school level is not to placate families eyeing TJ and ivy league colleges. That's just a reasonable and basic curriculum piece that benefits everyone and provides every student the opportunity to be more appropriately challenged. You must be oblivious to the whole middle school complaints and initiative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These pathways are so bogus. IB? Really? How many kids will get to transfer to TJ for that pathway. This is just stupid. And if kids want to take spots at WL for OB, they have to do the full diploma. With the long waitlist they need to start sending kids back to their home schools when they are clearly only doing partial IB.

Agreed!
1. distinct pathways beginning in 6th grade is dumb. We shouldn't be pigeon-holing 11 year olds into specific paths.
2. if you're going to do something like this, every middle school should have its "pathway" and that focus be for the entire school. Immersion is clearly not taking up an entire middle school; but IB does at Jefferson.
3. These "enticements" DO NOT WORK for balancing enrollment.
4. Only 4 pathways are indicated. We have 6 middle schools. So what are the other 2 middle schools going to offer?
5. HBW's "program" description is absolutely awful. Especially the caring community part - implying care and community are not part of any other middle school.
6. How about just a good ol' fashioned emphasis on a rigorous well-rounded education for every student, allowing every student to develop and learn their special interests and talents and giving them opportunities to explore them via extracurriculars and electives in high school.

+100

I can't even believe this.
Immersion is a dying program that has to beg native speakers to attend, and English speakers are largely there only because they are not happy with their elementary and then often don't continue it.
Neither group would continue, if the option was or is in any way inconvenient.
HB is only popular because of its size - it's not a pathway description anyone would choose otherwise, let's be real.
Do you really want to decide if an 11 yr old is going to a STEM or Arts focused program through graduating from HS?

I thought they'd focus on the "honors" or "advanced" classes all middle schools are supposed to be offering soon from grade 6? I thought this was going to be a challenge for them already to fully implement.

Wow, showing your upper class bias much? You've totally missed the point that APS is trying to bring pathways and options to families whose students will go straight from HS to workforce, or roughly equivalent. They are not needing to expand more advanced/honors for families like you who wish or are trying to get into TJ HS and Ivies. Those other families - and there are MANY - deserve pathways and options too, and folks like you and me are already well served.

What? That’s inane. Half my graduating class didn’t go to college, and they would be best served going to the Career Center for high school. Arts focus? Spanish language ? How the F does that get them a job? Are they going to teach Spanish?

We need to ready kids for college or a career, not pathways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“ APS is pausing the 2023 Middle School Boundary Process and the Proposal to Relocate the Spanish Immersion Program until Fall 2024.” In email now.

So will be radio silence until what, August 2024? Is there no way to ask staff for updates? What if you go to SB member office hours — can they procure status?

They’ve tipped their hand that a big change is coming, will they be transparent about the process!? Or this weird cancel and delay with nary a peep the new normal and we’ll have to fight to make sure decisions aren’t made by a small group of self-interested parties like a “vision board”. Change is coming, have an open discussion and demonstrate decisions are made that benefit the majority of APS and not just those with a few staffers in the hook.

I think you just saw their "big change." It's a big nothingburger: establishing pathways (which mostly already exist) and determining where they each will go (again, with the high school pathways pretty much already in place and not changing). Based on their list of pathways, aligning boundaries will be an impossible mess. I expect this "big change" to be a shift in some boundaries and reliance on students opting into the various pathways.

I predict: disastrous failure. The whole process - from community feedback, staff final recommendations, SB lack of direction and ignorant decisions.

Yeah they are going to try the same thing they did for High schools, make programs and pathways that attract students to other schools.

If Gunston students wanted to go to WMS, would they get a bus of have to provide transportation? Could they be guaranteed transfer to YHS? I think if the county let folks transfer from one MS to another, provide buses, and ensure they can stay with cohort in high school, that would balance a LOT of the North South imbalance without huge border changes.

No, it wouldn't.

Then Gunston overcrowding is not a crisis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These pathways are so bogus. IB? Really? How many kids will get to transfer to TJ for that pathway. This is just stupid. And if kids want to take spots at WL for OB, they have to do the full diploma. With the long waitlist they need to start sending kids back to their home schools when they are clearly only doing partial IB.

Agreed!
1. distinct pathways beginning in 6th grade is dumb. We shouldn't be pigeon-holing 11 year olds into specific paths.
2. if you're going to do something like this, every middle school should have its "pathway" and that focus be for the entire school. Immersion is clearly not taking up an entire middle school; but IB does at Jefferson.
3. These "enticements" DO NOT WORK for balancing enrollment.
4. Only 4 pathways are indicated. We have 6 middle schools. So what are the other 2 middle schools going to offer?
5. HBW's "program" description is absolutely awful. Especially the caring community part - implying care and community are not part of any other middle school.
6. How about just a good ol' fashioned emphasis on a rigorous well-rounded education for every student, allowing every student to develop and learn their special interests and talents and giving them opportunities to explore them via extracurriculars and electives in high school.

+100

I can't even believe this.
Immersion is a dying program that has to beg native speakers to attend, and English speakers are largely there only because they are not happy with their elementary and then often don't continue it.
Neither group would continue, if the option was or is in any way inconvenient.
HB is only popular because of its size - it's not a pathway description anyone would choose otherwise, let's be real.
Do you really want to decide if an 11 yr old is going to a STEM or Arts focused program through graduating from HS?

I thought they'd focus on the "honors" or "advanced" classes all middle schools are supposed to be offering soon from grade 6? I thought this was going to be a challenge for them already to fully implement.

Wow, showing your upper class bias much? You've totally missed the point that APS is trying to bring pathways and options to families whose students will go straight from HS to workforce, or roughly equivalent. They are not needing to expand more advanced/honors for families like you who wish or are trying to get into TJ HS and Ivies. Those other families - and there are MANY - deserve pathways and options too, and folks like you and me are already well served.

What? That’s inane. Half my graduating class didn’t go to college, and they would be best served going to the Career Center for high school. Arts focus? Spanish language ? How the F does that get them a job? Are they going to teach Spanish?

We need to ready kids for college or a career, not pathways.

Duh. This IS getting them ready for a career or possibly college. But again, you're comment is clearly coming from the bias that college is the destination after APS. It is for many, but not many others. PART of what pathways do is allow more families in the non-college track to find a way through APS and get something out of it. For decades those people have been dropping out, burning out or getting shoved through to college only to find out they were not ready for that. Don't you hear the calls in our society for more career preparation that is not college and not student loans?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These pathways are so bogus. IB? Really? How many kids will get to transfer to TJ for that pathway. This is just stupid. And if kids want to take spots at WL for OB, they have to do the full diploma. With the long waitlist they need to start sending kids back to their home schools when they are clearly only doing partial IB.

Agreed!
1. distinct pathways beginning in 6th grade is dumb. We shouldn't be pigeon-holing 11 year olds into specific paths.
2. if you're going to do something like this, every middle school should have its "pathway" and that focus be for the entire school. Immersion is clearly not taking up an entire middle school; but IB does at Jefferson.
3. These "enticements" DO NOT WORK for balancing enrollment.
4. Only 4 pathways are indicated. We have 6 middle schools. So what are the other 2 middle schools going to offer?
5. HBW's "program" description is absolutely awful. Especially the caring community part - implying care and community are not part of any other middle school.
6. How about just a good ol' fashioned emphasis on a rigorous well-rounded education for every student, allowing every student to develop and learn their special interests and talents and giving them opportunities to explore them via extracurriculars and electives in high school.

+100

I can't even believe this.
Immersion is a dying program that has to beg native speakers to attend, and English speakers are largely there only because they are not happy with their elementary and then often don't continue it.
Neither group would continue, if the option was or is in any way inconvenient.
HB is only popular because of its size - it's not a pathway description anyone would choose otherwise, let's be real.
Do you really want to decide if an 11 yr old is going to a STEM or Arts focused program through graduating from HS?

I thought they'd focus on the "honors" or "advanced" classes all middle schools are supposed to be offering soon from grade 6? I thought this was going to be a challenge for them already to fully implement.

Wow, showing your upper class bias much? You've totally missed the point that APS is trying to bring pathways and options to families whose students will go straight from HS to workforce, or roughly equivalent. They are not needing to expand more advanced/honors for families like you who wish or are trying to get into TJ HS and Ivies. Those other families - and there are MANY - deserve pathways and options too, and folks like you and me are already well served.

What? That’s inane. Half my graduating class didn’t go to college, and they would be best served going to the Career Center for high school. Arts focus? Spanish language ? How the F does that get them a job? Are they going to teach Spanish?

We need to ready kids for college or a career, not pathways.

Duh. This IS getting them ready for a career or possibly college. But again, you're comment is clearly coming from the bias that college is the destination after APS. It is for many, but not many others. PART of what pathways do is allow more families in the non-college track to find a way through APS and get something out of it. For decades those people have been dropping out, burning out or getting shoved through to college only to find out they were not ready for that. Don't you hear the calls in our society for more career preparation that is not college and not student loans?

Sure then have job training courses in high school, like accounting, nursing, trades, not just at career center — but there is zero value to an art pathway or sance. Stem shouldn’t be a pathway, it should be core curriculum since everyone uses computers for everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These pathways are so bogus. IB? Really? How many kids will get to transfer to TJ for that pathway. This is just stupid. And if kids want to take spots at WL for OB, they have to do the full diploma. With the long waitlist they need to start sending kids back to their home schools when they are clearly only doing partial IB.

Agreed!
1. distinct pathways beginning in 6th grade is dumb. We shouldn't be pigeon-holing 11 year olds into specific paths.
2. if you're going to do something like this, every middle school should have its "pathway" and that focus be for the entire school. Immersion is clearly not taking up an entire middle school; but IB does at Jefferson.
3. These "enticements" DO NOT WORK for balancing enrollment.
4. Only 4 pathways are indicated. We have 6 middle schools. So what are the other 2 middle schools going to offer?
5. HBW's "program" description is absolutely awful. Especially the caring community part - implying care and community are not part of any other middle school.
6. How about just a good ol' fashioned emphasis on a rigorous well-rounded education for every student, allowing every student to develop and learn their special interests and talents and giving them opportunities to explore them via extracurriculars and electives in high school.

+100

I can't even believe this.
Immersion is a dying program that has to beg native speakers to attend, and English speakers are largely there only because they are not happy with their elementary and then often don't continue it.
Neither group would continue, if the option was or is in any way inconvenient.
HB is only popular because of its size - it's not a pathway description anyone would choose otherwise, let's be real.
Do you really want to decide if an 11 yr old is going to a STEM or Arts focused program through graduating from HS?

I thought they'd focus on the "honors" or "advanced" classes all middle schools are supposed to be offering soon from grade 6? I thought this was going to be a challenge for them already to fully implement.

Wow, showing your upper class bias much? You've totally missed the point that APS is trying to bring pathways and options to families whose students will go straight from HS to workforce, or roughly equivalent. They are not needing to expand more advanced/honors for families like you who wish or are trying to get into TJ HS and Ivies. Those other families - and there are MANY - deserve pathways and options too, and folks like you and me are already well served.

What? That’s inane. Half my graduating class didn’t go to college, and they would be best served going to the Career Center for high school. Arts focus? Spanish language ? How the F does that get them a job? Are they going to teach Spanish?

We need to ready kids for college or a career, not pathways.

Duh. This IS getting them ready for a career or possibly college. But again, you're comment is clearly coming from the bias that college is the destination after APS. It is for many, but not many others. PART of what pathways do is allow more families in the non-college track to find a way through APS and get something out of it. For decades those people have been dropping out, burning out or getting shoved through to college only to find out they were not ready for that. Don't you hear the calls in our society for more career preparation that is not college and not student loans?

Then how about a "career pathway"? The point is, this isn't one of the pathways APS is citing in its big plan. Nowhere does their plan even mention the various CTE type courses or the Career Center. THAT's the non-college prep pathway. So again, where in this big plan reveal do they indicate an effort to provide such a pathway???

[Anonymous]

I’m confused, are the pathways dictating where they move immersion? Seems ridiculous since immersion is a whole different scale with 300 transfers compared to Arts at Kenmore (how many transfers?) and IB (no transfers). They are building up complexity rather than focusing on resources, seats, and buses?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These pathways are so bogus. IB? Really? How many kids will get to transfer to TJ for that pathway. This is just stupid. And if kids want to take spots at WL for OB, they have to do the full diploma. With the long waitlist they need to start sending kids back to their home schools when they are clearly only doing partial IB.

Agreed!
1. distinct pathways beginning in 6th grade is dumb. We shouldn't be pigeon-holing 11 year olds into specific paths.
2. if you're going to do something like this, every middle school should have its "pathway" and that focus be for the entire school. Immersion is clearly not taking up an entire middle school; but IB does at Jefferson.
3. These "enticements" DO NOT WORK for balancing enrollment.
4. Only 4 pathways are indicated. We have 6 middle schools. So what are the other 2 middle schools going to offer?
5. HBW's "program" description is absolutely awful. Especially the caring community part - implying care and community are not part of any other middle school.
6. How about just a good ol' fashioned emphasis on a rigorous well-rounded education for every student, allowing every student to develop and learn their special interests and talents and giving them opportunities to explore them via extracurriculars and electives in high school.

+100

I can't even believe this.
Immersion is a dying program that has to beg native speakers to attend, and English speakers are largely there only because they are not happy with their elementary and then often don't continue it.
Neither group would continue, if the option was or is in any way inconvenient.
HB is only popular because of its size - it's not a pathway description anyone would choose otherwise, let's be real.
Do you really want to decide if an 11 yr old is going to a STEM or Arts focused program through graduating from HS?

I thought they'd focus on the "honors" or "advanced" classes all middle schools are supposed to be offering soon from grade 6? I thought this was going to be a challenge for them already to fully implement.

Wow, showing your upper class bias much? You've totally missed the point that APS is trying to bring pathways and options to families whose students will go straight from HS to workforce, or roughly equivalent. They are not needing to expand more advanced/honors for families like you who wish or are trying to get into TJ HS and Ivies. Those other families - and there are MANY - deserve pathways and options too, and folks like you and me are already well served.

What? That’s inane. Half my graduating class didn’t go to college, and they would be best served going to the Career Center for high school. Arts focus? Spanish language ? How the F does that get them a job? Are they going to teach Spanish?

We need to ready kids for college or a career, not pathways.

Wait are you questioning about speaking Spanish could help someone with a job if they don't go to college? How about the ability to speak a HUGE unskilled population who they could be working with? Don't you think Spanish will be helpful for working in construction or trades? Spanish is also helpful for going into the service industry. Talking to customers, talking to fellow employees, etc. Spanish is helpful going into healthcare.

I could 100% see the benefits to Spanish if someone is going into unskilled or semi-skilled work. Actually, folks in those industries probably have more of a chance to use spanish than someone who is going into highly skilled work. Now I also think that there should be more non college pathways but spanish is 100% useful in that regard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile Gunston will sit overcrowded for 2 more years and Williamsburg will be way under used for 3 more years (counting this year). Entire cohorts of kids moving through and they're doing nothing.

I know Gunston is overcrowded but I am somewhat impressed by how small my kid's class sizes are there. He has barely any classes with over 20 kids. It is interesting because someone mentioned in another post how WMS classes are 30plus kids. Also interesting because a friend at WMS says her kid does all work on the ipad and my Gunston kid does none lol (not that this has anything to do with overcrowding just though it was interesting). ANYWAY, i know that overcrowding is an issue and other resources are stressed and the hallways are chaotic. I also think PE is kind of crazy because multiple classes go at once but just found the class size comparison interesting.

Yes, this is a crazy phenomenon. Most under-enrolled school by far = completely overcrowded classrooms, most overcrowded school by far = small class sizes.

But yes, overall the overcrowded school will feel this strain more and more, while for the under-enrolled school this just seems to be mismanagement that could be fixed more easily.

Does Gunston get Title I money? That could explain it.

Title I is PreK-5th.

Why do you think that? It’s absolutely not. Elementary schools do get a disproportionate amount, in general, but it can cover pre K to HS.

But Arlington does not claim Title I status for its middle or high schools.

That seems crazy to me! how do they allocate no Title I money to upper grades? Even if the whole school isn’t title I, I would think some money follows the students who qualify? I mean, I get the “ounce of prevention” approach of focusing on elementary, but nothing for MS/HS feels so limiting!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile Gunston will sit overcrowded for 2 more years and Williamsburg will be way under used for 3 more years (counting this year). Entire cohorts of kids moving through and they're doing nothing.

I know Gunston is overcrowded but I am somewhat impressed by how small my kid's class sizes are there. He has barely any classes with over 20 kids. It is interesting because someone mentioned in another post how WMS classes are 30plus kids. Also interesting because a friend at WMS says her kid does all work on the ipad and my Gunston kid does none lol (not that this has anything to do with overcrowding just though it was interesting). ANYWAY, i know that overcrowding is an issue and other resources are stressed and the hallways are chaotic. I also think PE is kind of crazy because multiple classes go at once but just found the class size comparison interesting.

Yes, this is a crazy phenomenon. Most under-enrolled school by far = completely overcrowded classrooms, most overcrowded school by far = small class sizes.

But yes, overall the overcrowded school will feel this strain more and more, while for the under-enrolled school this just seems to be mismanagement that could be fixed more easily.

Does Gunston get Title I money? That could explain it.

Title I is PreK-5th.

Why do you think that? It’s absolutely not. Elementary schools do get a disproportionate amount, in general, but it can cover pre K to HS.

But Arlington does not claim Title I status for its middle or high schools.

That seems crazy to me! how do they allocate no Title I money to upper grades? Even if the whole school isn’t title I, I would think some money follows the students who qualify? I mean, I get the “ounce of prevention” approach of focusing on elementary, but nothing for MS/HS feels so limiting!

Doesn’t over 50% of the school need to be on free lunch in order to get title 1 status? Does that apply to any of the high schools? Personally, I think that if one of the high schools was title 1 that would likely lead to a lot of people going private. It’s not like elementary school where as long as you end up being on grade level in math and reading you are good. I’m not sure I would want to put my child in an environment where over half the students there are focused on just surviving (they don’t have adequate access to food for them and potential siblings) versus an environment where everyone has adequate basic resources so they can focus on studying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile Gunston will sit overcrowded for 2 more years and Williamsburg will be way under used for 3 more years (counting this year). Entire cohorts of kids moving through and they're doing nothing.

I know Gunston is overcrowded but I am somewhat impressed by how small my kid's class sizes are there. He has barely any classes with over 20 kids. It is interesting because someone mentioned in another post how WMS classes are 30plus kids. Also interesting because a friend at WMS says her kid does all work on the ipad and my Gunston kid does none lol (not that this has anything to do with overcrowding just though it was interesting). ANYWAY, i know that overcrowding is an issue and other resources are stressed and the hallways are chaotic. I also think PE is kind of crazy because multiple classes go at once but just found the class size comparison interesting.

Yes, this is a crazy phenomenon. Most under-enrolled school by far = completely overcrowded classrooms, most overcrowded school by far = small class sizes.

But yes, overall the overcrowded school will feel this strain more and more, while for the under-enrolled school this just seems to be mismanagement that could be fixed more easily.

Does Gunston get Title I money? That could explain it.

Title I is PreK-5th.

Why do you think that? It’s absolutely not. Elementary schools do get a disproportionate amount, in general, but it can cover pre K to HS.

But Arlington does not claim Title I status for its middle or high schools.

That seems crazy to me! how do they allocate no Title I money to upper grades? Even if the whole school isn’t title I, I would think some money follows the students who qualify? I mean, I get the “ounce of prevention” approach of focusing on elementary, but nothing for MS/HS feels so limiting!

Doesn’t over 50% of the school need to be on free lunch in order to get title 1 status? Does that apply to any of the high schools? Personally, I think that if one of the high schools was title 1 that would likely lead to a lot of people going private. It’s not like elementary school where as long as you end up being on grade level in math and reading you are good. I’m not sure I would want to put my child in an environment where over half the students there are focused on just surviving (they don’t have adequate access to food for them and potential siblings) versus an environment where everyone has adequate basic resources so they can focus on studying.

So I went ahead and looked this up— 40% of the school has to be f/rl to qualify for title 1. Only kenmore and Jefferson are able to qualify, and Jefferson is very borderline (it’s at 42%). None of the high schools are above 40%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These pathways are so bogus. IB? Really? How many kids will get to transfer to TJ for that pathway. This is just stupid. And if kids want to take spots at WL for OB, they have to do the full diploma. With the long waitlist they need to start sending kids back to their home schools when they are clearly only doing partial IB.

Agreed!
1. distinct pathways beginning in 6th grade is dumb. We shouldn't be pigeon-holing 11 year olds into specific paths.
2. if you're going to do something like this, every middle school should have its "pathway" and that focus be for the entire school. Immersion is clearly not taking up an entire middle school; but IB does at Jefferson.
3. These "enticements" DO NOT WORK for balancing enrollment.
4. Only 4 pathways are indicated. We have 6 middle schools. So what are the other 2 middle schools going to offer?
5. HBW's "program" description is absolutely awful. Especially the caring community part - implying care and community are not part of any other middle school.
6. How about just a good ol' fashioned emphasis on a rigorous well-rounded education for every student, allowing every student to develop and learn their special interests and talents and giving them opportunities to explore them via extracurriculars and electives in high school.

+100

I can't even believe this.
Immersion is a dying program that has to beg native speakers to attend, and English speakers are largely there only because they are not happy with their elementary and then often don't continue it.
Neither group would continue, if the option was or is in any way inconvenient.
HB is only popular because of its size - it's not a pathway description anyone would choose otherwise, let's be real.
Do you really want to decide if an 11 yr old is going to a STEM or Arts focused program through graduating from HS?

I thought they'd focus on the "honors" or "advanced" classes all middle schools are supposed to be offering soon from grade 6? I thought this was going to be a challenge for them already to fully implement.

Wow, showing your upper class bias much? You've totally missed the point that APS is trying to bring pathways and options to families whose students will go straight from HS to workforce, or roughly equivalent. They are not needing to expand more advanced/honors for families like you who wish or are trying to get into TJ HS and Ivies. Those other families - and there are MANY - deserve pathways and options too, and folks like you and me are already well served.

What? That’s inane. Half my graduating class didn’t go to college, and they would be best served going to the Career Center for high school. Arts focus? Spanish language ? How the F does that get them a job? Are they going to teach Spanish?

We need to ready kids for college or a career, not pathways.

Wait are you questioning about speaking Spanish could help someone with a job if they don't go to college? How about the ability to speak a HUGE unskilled population who they could be working with? Don't you think Spanish will be helpful for working in construction or trades? Spanish is also helpful for going into the service industry. Talking to customers, talking to fellow employees, etc. Spanish is helpful going into healthcare.

I could 100% see the benefits to Spanish if someone is going into unskilled or semi-skilled work. Actually, folks in those industries probably have more of a chance to use spanish than someone who is going into highly skilled work. Now I also think that there should be more non college pathways but spanish is 100% useful in that regard.

There are a TON of native Spanish speakers that are learning English here. Having immersion level Spanish will get you laughed at by the crew for claiming you know Spanish.