What is the reputation of Alexandria public schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The Maury parents had no choice - they couldn't afford to sell when the market crashed and they couldn't afford private school either so then they were stuck.

It is unlikely that the parents living in the public housing units all throughout Old Town whose children go to JH are going to work hard to make the school into anything. The welfare mentality is very ingrained and education is the last thing on those parents mind.

For the OP, just moving in bounds to Lyles Crouch doesn't guarantee entrance. The school caps enrollment. You need to call them directly to discuss.

Didn't claim that it would be the "public housing people" fighting for changes. Maury draws a lot of students from a part of Parker Gray, but those aren't the most visibly involved parents, either. It's the ones in Rosemont who more often than not could have afforded to opt for private if they'd wished.

Have you seen what's going on along West St and other parts of the JH zone? A lot of gentrification, rehabbed townhouses, and new construction. I don't know if families are moving in or if it's mostly singles and no-kids couples, but the economic demographics of north Old Town is changing. Doesn't mean JH will improve overnight, or in a year, but I still disagree that involved parents will cut and run.

They are tearing down some of the public housing and putting up new construction but those are small units and likely to attract those with young kids who will move or those with no kids.

If the area didn't gentrify back in the hey day of the market its going to happen. People were desparate at that time for houses and no one then wanted to buy into that area.

The families in Rosemont - many are going to be upside down on mortgages and have reached to afford their house. Private school was likely their plan but its not as likely an option anymore. If it was, they would have sent their kids there to begin with. Alexandria County Day, SSSAS, etc...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So you're paying a premium for living close in AND paying $2k a month for private school on top of that?

Why not just live in McLean or North Arlington?

Not everyone who lives in Alexandria "pays a premium." There's a good amount of affordable housing here in close-in neighborhoods walkable to many desirable things. Unlike McLean or North Arlington, you can find a nice (small) house for around or less than $550K. Trust me--I know the market. Also, not everyone wants to live in McLean, and over crowding is a huge issue in Arlington Public Schools now.

[Anonymous]

The "reputation" of Alexandria City schools is that they are bad compared to every nearby jurisdiction. The reality may be somewhat different, but that the basic thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


They are tearing down some of the public housing and putting up new construction but those are small units and likely to attract those with young kids who will move or those with no kids.

If the area didn't gentrify back in the hey day of the market its going to happen. People were desparate at that time for houses and no one then wanted to buy into that area.

The families in Rosemont - many are going to be upside down on mortgages and have reached to afford their house. Private school was likely their plan but its not as likely an option anymore. If it was, they would have sent their kids there to begin with. Alexandria County Day, SSSAS, etc...

They are building townhouses with more sq ft than many of the 1920's 3 BR houses in Rosemont.

The area has changed significantly in just the past couple of years. Gentrification isn't a "now or never" thing.

As for Rosemont, values didn't drop so steeply and anyone who bought before the peak is unlikely to be underwater. I know I'd make a profit if I sold, I bought in 2003.

"Private school was likely their plan but its not as likely an option anymore. If it was, they would have sent their kids there to begin with."

This is completely untrue for many people I know. That was the reality in Alexandria for many years, things are changing. There are strong proponents of public education here among families of means.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The good news is that JH is definitely up and coming. There is a small and very dedicated group of parents who are determined to improve the school, and have made great progress. Give it three years - it will be the next success story, much like Maury was a few years ago.

Serious wishful thinking. These "very dedicated" types of parents think they can remake a school in a year to suit their liking. When they can't, they transfer to another public or go private.

No they don't, not in my experience. They keep working at it. I've seen only addition to the number of dedicated Maury parents over the past 5 years, for instance. They didn't give up after one year, and they don't give up just because there is still room for improvement. I don't know anyone in my community who has pulled their child out of Alexandria elementary. The transition to middle school is a different ball of wax, though.

Big difference between Maury and JH. I wouldn't hold my breath for JH to be anything other than the basket case it's been for a long time.

Agree. Check the demographics (they're on the school web site). We live in bounds for JH and go private. I looked hard at the school, but a meeting I went to there with the Superintendent convinced me that the improvements would be small. There is a small group trying to save JH. At the time I was looking, the school district would do anything to improve the school that didn't involve spending money or redrawing boundaries. Recently, the Administration proposed a major redevelopment of the JH site, but all they succeeded in doing was getting the neighborhood all up in arms. At the meeting I went to, the vast majority of the parents were from other schools.

The redevelopment in Parker Gray will not help much. First, there is only a fraction being redeveloped so far, and it is not the type of housing that will attract families with children. Further, they are also rebuilding public housing as part of the project, and despite city assurances to the contrary, it looks as though very little public housing will be moved offsite. In fact, the city is supporting the ARHA buying the Pendleton Park apartments from the Baptist Church and making it additional public housing. The powers that be in Alexandria have a vested interest in keeping the public housing in Alexandria full of reliable Democratic voters.

[Anonymous]

We are in JH too and are going private. I agree that it is a challenging situation over there. On our tour, the principal told us that the school is 95 percent below the poverty line.
In agree with a PP, though, that the more affluent parts of the JH district are filled with very young children. There are inFants and toddlers in almost every house. If the JH parents can rally these families, I do think the school has a chance of changing. The problem is that the group is small. The parents on public assistance are not involved in the school at all. The pre-k, which is free, is Under enrolled every year, despite the fact that it is FREE. That is just sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in JH too and are going private. I agree that it is a challenging situation over there. On our tour, the principal told us that the school is 95 percent below the poverty line.
In agree with a PP, though, that the more affluent parts of the JH district are filled with very young children. There are inFants and toddlers in almost every house. If the JH parents can rally these families, I do think the school has a chance of changing. The problem is that the group is small. The parents on public assistance are not involved in the school at all. The pre-k, which is free, is Under enrolled every year, despite the fact that it is FREE. That is just sad.

The only thing that will change JH is either getting rid of the public housing projects or dispersing the students from those projects to different Alexandria schools, including Maury. New private schools will be established in Alexandria before large numbers of affluent parents will send their kids to a school with the demographics and troubled history of JH.

[Anonymous]

For those who are pointing out the turnaround of the other Alexandria schools as a predictor for JH, I would like to point out that it is pretty well accepted as fact that the more affluent students started coming back to the other Alexandria schools after the 1999 redistricting concentrated a large percentage of the public housing students in JH. It was a cynical, last-ditch effort to "save" the other schools. I think many lawsuits over school integration matters are unfounded, but I think that a good (or even a not-so-good) civil rights lawyer could have a field day with the situation in Alexandria schools. Just compare the JH facilities with Lyles Crouch.

[Anonymous]

In 1999 Lyles Crouch was 85% reduced lunch and half empty - I think it only had 150 kids - and it was on the brink of being closed. The lottery was put in place at LCTA and JH to drive families back to the schools. Granted, LCTA was newly remodeled in 2000 - and that helped a lot - so was Maury. But prior to the renovation and "focus school" classification, it was a lot like Jefferson Houston in terms of the population - and it did turn around, rather quickly. I have never figured out why they didn't use the Traditional Academy or Core Knowledge model at JH like they did at LCTA. I guess I point this out because we miss the point completely if we look to a school that is turned around and cry foul. Why not look to the school that turned around and say 'how did you do it?".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those who are pointing out the turnaround of the other Alexandria schools as a predictor for JH, I would like to point out that it is pretty well accepted as fact that the more affluent students started coming back to the other Alexandria schools after the 1999 redistricting concentrated a large percentage of the public housing students in JH. It was a cynical, last-ditch effort to "save" the other schools. I think many lawsuits over school integration matters are unfounded, but I think that a good (or even a not-so-good) civil rights lawyer could have a field day with the situation in Alexandria schools. Just compare the JH facilities with Lyles Crouch.

I think it is also important to note, that Alexandria's city plan will be removing most of the public housing in Old Town over the next decade. As the poverty in Old Town decreases, it should result in better test scores for JH and a improved reputation for the school. Also, there is an ongoing debate about razing the school to build a new facility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those who are pointing out the turnaround of the other Alexandria schools as a predictor for JH, I would like to point out that it is pretty well accepted as fact that the more affluent students started coming back to the other Alexandria schools after the 1999 redistricting concentrated a large percentage of the public housing students in JH. It was a cynical, last-ditch effort to "save" the other schools. I think many lawsuits over school integration matters are unfounded, but I think that a good (or even a not-so-good) civil rights lawyer could have a field day with the situation in Alexandria schools. Just compare the JH facilities with Lyles Crouch.

I think it is also important to note, that Alexandria's city plan will be removing most of the public housing in Old Town over the next decade. As the poverty in Old Town decreases, it should result in better test scores for JH and a improved reputation for the school. Also, there is an ongoing debate about razing the school to build a new facility.

I believe some residents of Parker Gray want to believe this, but it is simply not true. The Braddock Road Redevelopment Plan calls for, as a GOAL, moving 50% of the public housing out of PG. However, as noted above, the City Council has already chosen to ignore the plan and support the addition of additional public housing units to PG via the purchase of the Pendleton Park apartments. The Mayor and City Council will never willingly disperse their political base.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In 1999 Lyles Crouch was 85% reduced lunch and half empty - I think it only had 150 kids - and it was on the brink of being closed. The lottery was put in place at LCTA and JH to drive families back to the schools. Granted, LCTA was newly remodeled in 2000 - and that helped a lot - so was Maury. But prior to the renovation and "focus school" classification, it was a lot like Jefferson Houston in terms of the population - and it did turn around, rather quickly. I have never figured out why they didn't use the Traditional Academy or Core Knowledge model at JH like they did at LCTA. I guess I point this out because we miss the point completely if we look to a school that is turned around and cry foul. Why not look to the school that turned around and say 'how did you do it?".

PP here -- this was exactly my point. I know how they did it. In 1999, Alexandria schools implemented a major redistricting that moved a substantial percentage of students out of other schools, including Lyles Crouch, and concentrated them in Jefferson Houston. They made a very cynical calculation to concentrate the students that, because of socioeconomic background, were destined to fail, into one school, thereby, overnight, improving the test scores of the other schools. After the redistricting, Lyles Crouch was under-enrolled, so they instituted the "Traditional Academy" concept (which was a winner) and attracted children from other parts of Alexandria. I don't know, but suspect, that they thought that the "Traditional Academy" concept, with uniforms, etc., wouldn't go over very well with the JH population, so they did an "Arts" focus, which was a total flop. Recently, the school district has decided to keep JH students at JH through the Middle School years, rather than send them to Washington. The school district says this is to benefit the students and use empty space at JH, but the cynics point out that this also has the effect of isolating the JH population from Washington, thereby improving Washington's test scores.

The future of the school is a huge question -- the current school building is underutilized by about 50%, and sits on a huge, extremely valuable, parcel of land a block away from the King Street metro. However, the dispersion of the students to other schools would probably raise an outcry from current JH parents, most of whom seem content with the current situation (its familiar and convenient), and most of the other schools are already overcrowded. There does seem to be some discussion about what happens as the Potomac Yard area continues to develop, and whether there would be a new school built there. However, my prediction is that, if they get a new school, the Potomac Greens and future Potomac Yards parents will join forces to get the boundaries drawn to exclude the public housing areas.

The bottom line is that Parker Gray is divided into two groups: (1) families in public housing and (2) families in $700,000 to million dollar townhomes who can afford to send their kids to private school if they want to continue to live in Old Town, or who will move when their kids get to school age (and they really want a house with a yard, anyway). There really are very few folks with kids who are in-between, and that's who it would take to make a difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In 1999 Lyles Crouch was 85% reduced lunch and half empty - I think it only had 150 kids - and it was on the brink of being closed. The lottery was put in place at LCTA and JH to drive families back to the schools. Granted, LCTA was newly remodeled in 2000 - and that helped a lot - so was Maury. But prior to the renovation and "focus school" classification, it was a lot like Jefferson Houston in terms of the population - and it did turn around, rather quickly. I have never figured out why they didn't use the Traditional Academy or Core Knowledge model at JH like they did at LCTA. I guess I point this out because we miss the point completely if we look to a school that is turned around and cry foul. Why not look to the school that turned around and say 'how did you do it?".

PP here -- this was exactly my point. I know how they did it. In 1999, Alexandria schools implemented a major redistricting that moved a substantial percentage of students out of other schools, including Lyles Crouch, and concentrated them in Jefferson Houston. They made a very cynical calculation to concentrate the students that, because of socioeconomic background, were destined to fail, into one school, thereby, overnight, improving the test scores of the other schools. After the redistricting, Lyles Crouch was under-enrolled, so they instituted the "Traditional Academy" concept (which was a winner) and attracted children from other parts of Alexandria. I don't know, but suspect, that they thought that the "Traditional Academy" concept, with uniforms, etc., wouldn't go over very well with the JH population, so they did an "Arts" focus, which was a total flop. Recently, the school district has decided to keep JH students at JH through the Middle School years, rather than send them to Washington. The school district says this is to benefit the students and use empty space at JH, but the cynics point out that this also has the effect of isolating the JH population from Washington, thereby improving Washington's test scores.

The future of the school is a huge question -- the current school building is underutilized by about 50%, and sits on a huge, extremely valuable, parcel of land a block away from the King Street metro. However, the dispersion of the students to other schools would probably raise an outcry from current JH parents, most of whom seem content with the current situation (its familiar and convenient), and most of the other schools are already overcrowded. There does seem to be some discussion about what happens as the Potomac Yard area continues to develop, and whether there would be a new school built there. However, my prediction is that, if they get a new school, the Potomac Greens and future Potomac Yards parents will join forces to get the boundaries drawn to exclude the public housing areas.

The bottom line is that Parker Gray is divided into two groups: (1) families in public housing and (2) families in $700,000 to million dollar townhomes who can afford to send their kids to private school if they want to continue to live in Old Town, or who will move when their kids get to school age (and they really want a house with a yard, anyway). There really are very few folks with kids who are in-between, and that's who it would take to make a difference.

Exactly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I believe some residents of Parker Gray want to believe this, but it is simply not true. The Braddock Road Redevelopment Plan calls for, as a GOAL, moving 50% of the public housing out of PG. However, as noted above, the City Council has already chosen to ignore the plan and support the addition of additional public housing units to PG via the purchase of the Pendleton Park apartments. The Mayor and City Council will never willingly disperse their political base.

You also have to factor in the fact that those public housing units are located in Parker Gray because the city was seggregated and totally racist for a long time. Parker Gray was the black part of town up until the mid 1980's. A lot of civil rights battles were fought there and in Old Town, like the ability for blacks to use the "white" public library. Part of the reason why TC Williams was created in the 1960's because there were lawsuits that the pubic school system was inequal.

So if the City says, sorry, we've got to move the poor black folks elsewhere because these new yuppy residents that bought $1M townhouses don't like their affect on the schools and crime. We'll, good luck with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I believe some residents of Parker Gray want to believe this, but it is simply not true. The Braddock Road Redevelopment Plan calls for, as a GOAL, moving 50% of the public housing out of PG. However, as noted above, the City Council has already chosen to ignore the plan and support the addition of additional public housing units to PG via the purchase of the Pendleton Park apartments. The Mayor and City Council will never willingly disperse their political base.

You also have to factor in the fact that those public housing units are located in Parker Gray because the city was seggregated and totally racist for a long time. Parker Gray was the black part of town up until the mid 1980's. A lot of civil rights battles were fought there and in Old Town, like the ability for blacks to use the "white" public library. Part of the reason why TC Williams was created in the 1960's because there were lawsuits that the pubic school system was inequal.

So if the City says, sorry, we've got to move the poor black folks elsewhere because these new yuppy residents that bought $1M townhouses don't like their affect on the schools and crime. We'll, good luck with that.

All true. However, as one of those "yuppie" homeowners, I am particularly offended that they actually import people from PG and other places to keep the public housing in Alexandria full. It's one thing to provide for the disadvantaged folks who already live here. The fact that they bring in folks from the outside is what convinces me that it's all about political power.