APS

[Anonymous]

Some of the middle school buildings are in rough shape. WMS, TJ and Swanson.

I would avoid Gunston based on what I have heard, but maybe it's better now with the new principal.

The WMS principal is not well liked either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only pool that has such an excessive wait list is Overlee. Many people get into the pools suggested above in a more reasonable time frame and Knights of Columbus does not have a regular membership you just have to sign up every year for the summer. Yes, you have to be paying attention and sign up pretty quickly when the registration opens. Lots of families in Arlington use KoC.

Overlee blows. It ain't no WGCC!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow this is very helpful. It sounds like all the middle schools above are good. Any that have more substantial challenges?

What makes aps better than upper nw dcps? Is it a more affluent population that is easier to educate? A better run school system? Higher expectations of students?

There is a strong community culture in Arlington where neighborhood kids grow up together all the way through high school, since more students stick with APS through grade 12. Of course, some do leave for private or boarding school, but much less than in DC.

If you can join a pool, or buy a house with a community pool membership, that would be an ideal way to meet other families. The membership wait lists typically span multiple years.

The school system is also better run than DCPS. Principals tend to stay at schools for many years, even multiple decades like the recently retired principals at Science Focus, Arlington Traditional, Wakefield, or W-L. Satisfaction surverys are also high. In terms of facilities, APS does a better job of maintaining them. The Wilson / Jackson-Reed HS pool was closed for many years due to inadequate maintenance.

+1 this is a really helpful and accurate answer in my opinion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow this is very helpful. It sounds like all the middle schools above are good. Any that have more substantial challenges?

What makes aps better than upper nw dcps? Is it a more affluent population that is easier to educate? A better run school system? Higher expectations of students?

There is a strong community culture in Arlington where neighborhood kids grow up together all the way through high school, since more students stick with APS through grade 12. Of course, some do leave for private or boarding school, but much less than in DC.

If you can join a pool, or buy a house with a community pool membership, that would be an ideal way to meet other families. The membership wait lists typically span multiple years.

The school system is also better run than DCPS. Principals tend to stay at schools for many years, even multiple decades like the recently retired principals at Science Focus, Arlington Traditional, Wakefield, or W-L. Satisfaction surverys are also high. In terms of facilities, APS does a better job of maintaining them. The Wilson / Jackson-Reed HS pool was closed for many years due to inadequate maintenance.

+1 this is a really helpful and accurate answer in my opinion.

A lot of ARlington residents would not agree that APS does a good job maintaining facilities. I could give you lots of examples of the complete opposite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow this is very helpful. It sounds like all the middle schools above are good. Any that have more substantial challenges?

What makes aps better than upper nw dcps? Is it a more affluent population that is easier to educate? A better run school system? Higher expectations of students?

There is a strong community culture in Arlington where neighborhood kids grow up together all the way through high school, since more students stick with APS through grade 12. Of course, some do leave for private or boarding school, but much less than in DC.

If you can join a pool, or buy a house with a community pool membership, that would be an ideal way to meet other families. The membership wait lists typically span multiple years.

The school system is also better run than DCPS. Principals tend to stay at schools for many years, even multiple decades like the recently retired principals at Science Focus, Arlington Traditional, Wakefield, or W-L. Satisfaction surverys are also high. In terms of facilities, APS does a better job of maintaining them. The Wilson / Jackson-Reed HS pool was closed for many years due to inadequate maintenance.

+1 this is a really helpful and accurate answer in my opinion.

A lot of ARlington residents would not agree that APS does a good job maintaining facilities. I could give you lots of examples of the complete opposite.

I think PP meant that *relative* to DCPS. Yes, the bar is low, but that’s the comparison we’re working with here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow this is very helpful. It sounds like all the middle schools above are good. Any that have more substantial challenges?

What makes aps better than upper nw dcps? Is it a more affluent population that is easier to educate? A better run school system? Higher expectations of students?

I believe APS is a lot better, for several reasons, but don’t underestimate the poverty here. There is a lot, about 35% and increasing, across the entire school district, and some elementary schools are 80%+ (all English learners, most Hispanic). The vast economic discrepancies between the elementary schools even out somewhat for the large high schools, though there are the demographic differences. And size-wise all our middle schools are 1000-1200 each.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow this is very helpful. It sounds like all the middle schools above are good. Any that have more substantial challenges?

What makes aps better than upper nw dcps? Is it a more affluent population that is easier to educate? A better run school system? Higher expectations of students?

There is a strong community culture in Arlington where neighborhood kids grow up together all the way through high school, since more students stick with APS through grade 12. Of course, some do leave for private or boarding school, but much less than in DC.

If you can join a pool, or buy a house with a community pool membership, that would be an ideal way to meet other families. The membership wait lists typically span multiple years.

The school system is also better run than DCPS. Principals tend to stay at schools for many years, even multiple decades like the recently retired principals at Science Focus, Arlington Traditional, Wakefield, or W-L. Satisfaction surverys are also high. In terms of facilities, APS does a better job of maintaining them. The Wilson / Jackson-Reed HS pool was closed for many years due to inadequate maintenance.

+1 this is a really helpful and accurate answer in my opinion.

A lot of ARlington residents would not agree that APS does a good job maintaining facilities. I could give you lots of examples of the complete opposite.

I was going to say the same. Maintenance is not APS’ strong suit! Though I’m sure elsewhere it could be worse yet!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow this is very helpful. It sounds like all the middle schools above are good. Any that have more substantial challenges?

What makes aps better than upper nw dcps? Is it a more affluent population that is easier to educate? A better run school system? Higher expectations of students?

There is a strong community culture in Arlington where neighborhood kids grow up together all the way through high school, since more students stick with APS through grade 12. Of course, some do leave for private or boarding school, but much less than in DC.

If you can join a pool, or buy a house with a community pool membership, that would be an ideal way to meet other families. The membership wait lists typically span multiple years.

The school system is also better run than DCPS. Principals tend to stay at schools for many years, even multiple decades like the recently retired principals at Science Focus, Arlington Traditional, Wakefield, or W-L. Satisfaction surverys are also high. In terms of facilities, APS does a better job of maintaining them. The Wilson / Jackson-Reed HS pool was closed for many years due to inadequate maintenance.

+1 this is a really helpful and accurate answer in my opinion.

A lot of ARlington residents would not agree that APS does a good job maintaining facilities. I could give you lots of examples of the complete opposite.

I think PP meant that *relative* to DCPS. Yes, the bar is low, but that’s the comparison we’re working with here.

Is it better than DCPS though?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only pool that has such an excessive wait list is Overlee. Many people get into the pools suggested above in a more reasonable time frame and Knights of Columbus does not have a regular membership you just have to sign up every year for the summer. Yes, you have to be paying attention and sign up pretty quickly when the registration opens. Lots of families in Arlington use KoC.

Arlington Forest has a similar waitlist as well. But lots of Mclean pools with short waitlists.

[Anonymous]

I will be the one detractor here on W&L.

It is way over crowded- by about 400-500 students because they allow Yorktown to waiver in no questions asked. Used to be for IB but now it is an open door.

Combine that with the explosion of condos and building on orange line the school kind of sucks.

Meanwhile, Yorktown is at like 70% capacity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will be the one detractor here on W&L.

It is way over crowded- by about 400-500 students because they allow Yorktown to waiver in no questions asked. Used to be for IB but now it is an open door.

Combine that with the explosion of condos and building on orange line the school kind of sucks.

Meanwhile, Yorktown is at like 70% capacity.

WL is not over crowded, with annex its still under capacity, it will be at limit of 2800 soon; it’s unlikely to shrink as they just built annex and it will look bad if it’s underutilized

YT is overcrowded actually by 5%, but its school only holds 2100 students.

I expect the goal is to fill AT to 1500, and pull 200 from YT, 300 from WKS, and maybe 100 from WL.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2025/02/Capacity_Utilization_Tables_2024to2034.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will be the one detractor here on W&L.

It is way over crowded- by about 400-500 students because they allow Yorktown to waiver in no questions asked. Used to be for IB but now it is an open door.

Combine that with the explosion of condos and building on orange line the school kind of sucks.

Meanwhile, Yorktown is at like 70% capacity.

They have tightened IB requirements; I know many families on IB waitlist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Long Branch ES, TJ MS, then W-L is another popular, walkable pyramid all the way through high school. TJ is one of the larger middle schools I think and has a well-regarded IB middle program.

We're less than a mile from Ballston metro and my kids are walkers to Glebe, Hamm and W-L.

Nearly all of Glebe is walkers, with only one bus. It's fun to see the ant trails of kids and parents every morning. It builds a lot of community.

With a start time of 9am do a lot of kids do before care? When do doors open? How have things changed with more restrictions on telework?

Any insights into this question?

[Anonymous]

Part of ashlawn-kenmore-Yorktown pyramid has zero kids go to Yorktown.

They have been using their peers will not be in same hs for decades as waiver.

County should just rezone for W&L at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Part of ashlawn-kenmore-Yorktown pyramid has zero kids go to Yorktown.

They have been using their peers will not be in same hs for decades as waiver.

County should just rezone for W&L at this point.

They will likely never rezone that neighborhood (or Dominion Hills) back to W-L as it is far outside the W-L walk zone. The neighborhood tried and lost in their quest to rejoin W-L when the annex (addition) opened. It will likely remain a zone with guaranteed neighborhood transfers to W-L indefinitely, until the middle school boundaries change. The growth is mostly in South Arlington and APS has to prevent Yorktown from shrinking.

There are plenty of students who go to Yorktown (the zoned high school) in that part of Arlington. (It's probably a 50-50 split among students.)