Cooper AAP center?

[Anonymous]

Cooper had 968 students in 2005. The enrollment has declined every year since then and now the school has fewer than 800 students.

[Anonymous]

That's not what the FFX County facilities person who has been out to Cooper to see where they can put the science lab needed for AAP, how to install another mod so they can fit the AAP students, etc. told me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's not what the FFX County facilities person who has been out to Cooper to see where they can put the science lab needed for AAP, how to install another mod so they can fit the AAP students, etc. told me.

FCPS currently shows Cooper as 280 students under capacity. They may still need to modify some facilities for AAP programs but it has more capacity than neighboring schools.

[Anonymous]

If they are under capacity, why do they need to put students in mods? And why don't they have plenty of room for the AAP facilities they will need. (Anyone who thinks they are ready now is ignoring that they don't even have the right types of educational facilities available for AAP at present).

[Anonymous]

What facilities does AAP need that are not already there for the Honors courses? There are no separate AAP facilities at Longfellow, the teachers use the same rooms as they do for their Honors and General Ed classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's not what the FFX County facilities person who has been out to Cooper to see where they can put the science lab needed for AAP, how to install another mod so they can fit the AAP students, etc. told me.

FCPS currently shows Cooper as 280 students under capacity. They may still need to modify some facilities for AAP programs but it has more capacity than neighboring schools.

That's over capacity for the bricks and mortar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they are under capacity, why do they need to put students in mods? And why don't they have plenty of room for the AAP facilities they will need. (Anyone who thinks they are ready now is ignoring that they don't even have the right types of educational facilities available for AAP at present).

Why would you expect Cooper to be AAP-ready today when there hasn't even a formal decision yet on opening an AAP center there in the fall? FCPS shows Cooper as having (as of December 2012) fewer than 800 students, a program capacity of 950 students, and a design capacity of 1080 students. I believe that modular space, unlike trailers, is taken into account in determining design capacity and that the lower program capacity reflects the current configuration of the available space. FCPS also states that Cooper is currently 20 out of 26 middle schools in terms of "building utilization," whereas Kilmer and Longfellow are rated 2 and 6, respectively. While I'm sympathetic to those who suggest FCPS may be exaggerating the expected decline in Cooper's enrollment over the next few years, I don't think anyone thinks the enrollments at Kilmer and Longfellow, which include more areas closer to Tysons, won't increase; the only question is by how much. If people truly feel Cooper needs another year to get ready to house an AAP program, I can see waiting another year before it opens, but the idea of having a center there seems obvious. Parents in Vienna seem receptive to opening a center next fall at Thoreau, so why not Cooper?

[Anonymous]

One big difference is that the Vienna folks' other option is Luther Jackson -- not as desirable a center as Longfellow and Kilmer -- to the extent that many of them are already declining center placement.

To answer your other question -- we don't expect Cooper to be ready; we know it can't be. So why force this through without sufficient time for planning, facilities readiness, etc. Students should not have to suffer through an inferior program because someone decided to rush this through.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One big difference is that the Vienna folks' other option is Luther Jackson -- not as desirable a center as Longfellow and Kilmer -- to the extent that many of them are already declining center placement.

To answer your other question -- we don't expect Cooper to be ready; we know it can't be. So why force this through without sufficient time for planning, facilities readiness, etc. Students should not have to suffer through an inferior program because someone decided to rush this through.

This is what's happening with the Lemon Road center. Strauss is forcing families to send their kids to a brand new, untested center that will be thrown together in a couple months. The vote that can stop our kids from suffering through the trial and error happens on Thursday. It's not too late to email he school board and tell them that our kids deserve better planning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One big difference is that the Vienna folks' other option is Luther Jackson -- not as desirable a center as Longfellow and Kilmer -- to the extent that many of them are already declining center placement.

To answer your other question -- we don't expect Cooper to be ready; we know it can't be. So why force this through without sufficient time for planning, facilities readiness, etc. Students should not have to suffer through an inferior program because someone decided to rush this through.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Why should other students have to put up with overcrowded facilities simply because some parents worry that a new center may be inferior to an existing one? If any school was well situated to house a new AAP center, you would think it would be Cooper. And if there really is not adequate time to prepare to open new centers this fall, you had better let all those parents at Herndon, South County and Thoreau MS who are asking for the School Board to do just that what a big mistake they are making.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why should other students have to put up with overcrowded facilities simply because some parents worry that a new center may be inferior to an existing one? If any school was well situated to house a new AAP center, you would think it would be Cooper. And if there really is not adequate time to prepare to open new centers this fall, you had better let all those parents at Herndon, South County and Thoreau MS who are asking for the School Board to do just that what a big mistake they are making.

Will do! Just sent off a bunch of emails tonight! Thanks for the great suggestion!

[Anonymous]

Herndon isn't asking for an AAP center at Cooper. Longfellow is just after spending more than $20 million on a renovation BASED on their AAP capacity. MS AAP requires science that involves actual laboratory work. Apparently GE doesn't. I think that sucks and was surprised to hear it. In any event, Cooper has no science lab facilities so those need to be built there before they can claim to have AAP facilities. Also the AAP build out -- including another mod-- will cost a cool several million or more. But there's no budget allocated because that was just ignored in the "plan". Not my fight. My DD who could be affected is already in private (thankfully) and will stay there, and my DS is already through Longfellow to TJ. But don't kid yourselves--- Cooper is a very entrenched GE school. That's probably still better than the education in many parts of the US. But it's not a Longfellow or Kilmer (and in my opinion won't be under Arlene Randall's watch). If you want true AAP, in the mold of something that feeds to TJ, I don't believe it will happen at Cooper, certainly not by September. Now, if I were in the Longfellow indigenous district, I would probably be happy and think that would increase the odds of my kid getting into TJ -- probably true. Longfellow not actually crowded yet, it's all hypothetical. But Cooper already has a mod and will need another if this happens. Plus massive buildout. ...
Hmmm. This I personally believe is driven by a master plan to overcrowd Cooper to get a major $30 million redo there in 5 years. Good last swan song for Janie, she is getting long in the tooth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Herndon isn't asking for an AAP center at Cooper. Longfellow is just after spending more than $20 million on a renovation BASED on their AAP capacity. MS AAP requires science that involves actual laboratory work. Apparently GE doesn't. I think that sucks and was surprised to hear it. In any event, Cooper has no science lab facilities so those need to be built there before they can claim to have AAP facilities. Also the AAP build out -- including another mod-- will cost a cool several million or more. But there's no budget allocated because that was just ignored in the "plan". Not my fight. My DD who could be affected is already in private (thankfully) and will stay there, and my DS is already through Longfellow to TJ. But don't kid yourselves--- Cooper is a very entrenched GE school. That's probably still better than the education in many parts of the US. But it's not a Longfellow or Kilmer (and in my opinion won't be under Arlene Randall's watch). If you want true AAP, in the mold of something that feeds to TJ, I don't believe it will happen at Cooper, certainly not by September. Now, if I were in the Longfellow indigenous district, I would probably be happy and think that would increase the odds of my kid getting into TJ -- probably true. Longfellow not actually crowded yet, it's all hypothetical. But Cooper already has a mod and will need another if this happens. Plus massive buildout. ...
Hmmm. This I personally believe is driven by a master plan to overcrowd Cooper to get a major $30 million redo there in 5 years. Good last swan song for Janie, she is getting long in the tooth.

I believe Cooper has Honors level science now, correct? The Honors curriculum is the same as the AAP curriculum, just with non tagged GT students. AAP, Honors and GE use the same facilities at Longfellow. There are no "special" facilities for AAP science students. The difference between GE and the AAP/Honors curriculum is that the AAP/Honors currilum includes additional extentions. I know that some parents with children in AAP like to think it is the quality of the students the AAP program that makes it better than the Honors program, but IME with both at Longfellow, there really isn't a difference with the bulk of the students. The biggest difference is in the attitude of the parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why should other students have to put up with overcrowded facilities simply because some parents worry that a new center may be inferior to an existing one?

+1000

This is the heart of the matter. Some people are always afraid of change. That doesn't make their fears well-founded, or right. Spoke to a friend of mine whose daughter was in the first class of AAP at Churchill Road. Parents were up in arms in the exact same way when that center started. "It's new, unproven, untested." "You're sending our kids away from a great AAP to a smaller, hastily created one." "This principal/these teachers/this school doesn't support AAP and won't be ready in time."

Guess what? People love Churchill Road, and they loved it from the get-go. I know many are afraid of change. Your kids were afraid to eat new foods, try new sports, or learn a new skill, too. But being ruled by your fears is a terrible way to live. I hope the SB doesn't listen to these suspicious, fearful people and does what's best for the county as a whole.