Overcrowding and Arlington - is it a reason to go private or seek out something different?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

There are many people who are jealous of Arlington schools and so try to knock them down here. Many of them are in neighboring Fairfax.

The only way the crowding has an impact is lunch time. Some kids eat earlier or later than maybe is optimal, but that's mitigated with snacks.

It's the other way around. With poorer test scores than Fairfax, people in Arlington try to make lower class sizes sound more important than actual performance.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/sat-scores-hit-eight-year-high-in-va-dc-also-sees-gains/2013/09/25/fab9ef96-2565-11e3-b75d-5b7f66349852_story.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

There are many people who are jealous of Arlington schools and so try to knock them down here. Many of them are in neighboring Fairfax.

The only way the crowding has an impact is lunch time. Some kids eat earlier or later than maybe is optimal, but that's mitigated with snacks.

It's the other way around. With poorer test scores than Fairfax, people in Arlington try to make lower class sizes sound more important than actual performance.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/sat-scores-hit-eight-year-high-in-va-dc-also-sees-gains/2013/09/25/fab9ef96-2565-11e3-b75d-5b7f66349852_story.html

Wow. A whole 18 points.

[Anonymous]

Read my original reply at 22:50. To the contrary, I'm not discouraging you. What I am encouraging you to do is to come out here sooner, and invest in the system that you're seeking benefits from. Believe you me, I'm no blue blood. I haven't had a raise in 6 years, and I have lived through a period of paying a mortgage that equalled my child care tab. I'm sure you could find a place out here sooner. You'd just have to move out of your psychological comfort zone to do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I heard the school board has put off studying any new boundary adjustments. The boundaries will not change anytime soon.

In SOUTH Arlington, or potentially WRT high schools. Rezoning has already occurred for 7 schools in N Arlington and will take effect in the fall of 2015.

Wait, the middle and high school rezoning was to be decided Feb 2014. Has that been delayed or tabled?

I heard the idea has been tabled for now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Read my original reply at 22:50. To the contrary, I'm not discouraging you. What I am encouraging you to do is to come out here sooner, and invest in the system that you're seeking benefits from. Believe you me, I'm no blue blood. I haven't had a raise in 6 years, and I have lived through a period of paying a mortgage that equalled my child care tab. I'm sure you could find a place out here sooner. You'd just have to move out of your psychological comfort zone to do so.

Well I could do all sorts of financially reckless things, I suppose.

[Anonymous]

Reckless, of course, is in the eye of the beholder ... I lived in a condo for the bulk of my time here, but after I sold it, I spent a short time in an apt. while waiting to move into my house ... a fixer upper I bought when the kid was three. Bottom line: making a commitment to being here means you don't always do things in the order, or to the magnitude/scale you might like initially, but it can be done. Pardon me, I'm going to go sing a chorus of "Climb Ev'ry Mountain," offline, then come back!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reckless, of course, is in the eye of the beholder ... I lived in a condo for the bulk of my time here, but after I sold it, I spent a short time in an apt. while waiting to move into my house ... a fixer upper I bought when the kid was three. Bottom line: making a commitment to being here means you don't always do things in the order, or to the magnitude/scale you might like initially, but it can be done. Pardon me, I'm going to go sing a chorus of "Climb Ev'ry Mountain," offline, then come back!!

Congratulations? The fact that I can, doesn't mean I should. I always thought that was solid advice, especially when it comes to finances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And shake your fist all you want, APS is what drives the property values in Arlington.

This is absolutely wrong. The proximity (and therefore the reduced commute times) drive property values. I also really love my neighborhood and would live here if I did not have kids (like many of my neighbors).

As a patent of 3 kids in Arlington schools, I can tell you that there is nothing magical about the schools. The teachers, like whole state of Virginia, focus almost exclusively on the subject matter on the SOLs and the classroom pace is based on the slowest kids, so my kids are bored a lot. There is terrible bureaucracy and red tape for anything that costs money, such as receiving special services for a learning disability. It is obvious that as wealthier, higher educated parents moved into Arlington and poorer families were pushed out in the last twenty years, school performance criteria (e.g., test scores) have miraculously improved as well.

[Anonymous]

True enough. As I've pointed out, though, when you can and don't, it leaves the rest of us to shoulder the $25 million tab ... Your choices create the very problem that moved you post your question. So maybe consider putting your money where the schools are ... sooner rather than later. That, too, is solid advice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And shake your fist all you want, APS is what drives the property values in Arlington.

This is absolutely wrong. The proximity (and therefore the reduced commute times) drive property values. I also really love my neighborhood and would live here if I did not have kids (like many of my neighbors).

As a patent of 3 kids in Arlington schools, I can tell you that there is nothing magical about the schools. The teachers, like whole state of Virginia, focus almost exclusively on the subject matter on the SOLs and the classroom pace is based on the slowest kids, so my kids are bored a lot. There is terrible bureaucracy and red tape for anything that costs money, such as receiving special services for a learning disability. It is obvious that as wealthier, higher educated parents moved into Arlington and poorer families were pushed out in the last twenty years, school performance criteria (e.g., test scores) have miraculously improved as well.

It is both. There are PLENTY of places in DC that have better proximity and the schools stink so people move to Arlington, Bethesda and close in Fairfax- for the schools and decent proximity.

[Anonymous]

Whatever. My finances are different than yours. I'm cool with that; not sure why you can't be too.

[Anonymous]

Because I'm not certain that's true ... and because as I point out, your choices are not without costs for folks like myself. Best of luck. But seriously, there are other things to invest in beyond stock ... and the community your kid will grow up in ... seems to merit some consideration in that respect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because I'm not certain that's true ... and because as I point out, your choices are not without costs for folks like myself. Best of luck. But seriously, there are other things to invest in beyond stock ... and the community your kid will grow up in ... seems to merit some consideration in that respect.

All very compelling. I still think I'll choose not to buy a house I can't afford, or move into an apartment my family can't squeeze inside of.

[Anonymous]

One of those options worked for me, but there are others, n'est pas? You could rent. You avoid property taxes in the short term, but your local buying dollars do serve the county. Think outside the I can't move until I buy box ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:School overcrowding is a separate issue than class size. (At least in APS, and at least so far, knock on wood.) Yes, the class sizes stay the same. They just build more trailers and convert more computer labs into windowless classrooms.

Things that don't change include the size and capacity of the cafeteria, size/capacity of multi-purpose rooms (a big pain for concerts, schoolwide events, etc.), size of halls, number of restrooms, drinking fountains, etc. Those things are where you really feel the crowded nature of the APS schools now.

--APS teacher

To the APS teacher -
My biggest concern with overcrowded schools is my child getting lost in the shuffle or slipping through the cracks etc. Do you have any comments on how overcrowded schools deal with this risk and foster a sense of community and a personalized, intimate learning experience or is it not really possible to get this. Should I be looking at private schools for that? For example, I think it would be nice if the school principal knows my daughter's name but it doesn't seem possible in school with close to 700 students...