Does anyone send the children to Jefferson-Houston in Alexandria?

[Anonymous]

Join the Oldtownmoms listserv on yahoo and ask there.

[Anonymous]

We were zoned for J-H. We considered it, and we don't think our kids need a "perfect" school - we would have been happy with just about anything else in ACPS - but J-H is just absolutely positively a no-go. We moved about a year ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, so why is this school so shitty?

Black kids from nearby projects.

That's so racist! Shame on you. Put the onus where it is deserved. Not on the kids themselves but on the City adults! I live here btw.

Instead of kids from who cares where, hold responsible the ACPS School Board, ACPS Administration and even the City for not a) hiring a true turn around expert for JH b) fixing the school building a decade ago given the open classrooms and special needs (neighbors were against the new building but not against a remodel, afaik, and c) not embracing Virginia Department of Education help as offered but instead sticking only to local school board educational fix technique. That's all fine and good, keeping it local but 3 years without accreditation is enough!

Lastly, holding this school to the more intensive IB Curriculum (pre K-8th) is over the top. Educate these fine children using a regular American educational format. There is still time to reverse course on this.

Absolutely right. JH was wrecked by the School Board. The 1999 redistricting reflected an effort to create a ghetto school to segregate Lyles-Crouch and Maury.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not denying generational poverty in Alexandria City Public Schools, a school district with all of 14,500 kids in it. I'm calling out adults for blaming the kids, and labeling them by the color of their skin.

Our City is not that big that the failure of Jefferson Houston should not have been dealt with in a more effective manner.

-Why did the School Board wait so long from 1999 to embrace redistricting when it would help a school like JH and PH?
-Why did the highly paid school administrators not do better, truly earn those $250K salaries plus third again plus in benefits?
-Why has it taken our City Council so long to work on integrating affordable housing around the City?
-And why turn down VDOE help with Jefferson Houston? Will ACPS turn VDOE down again if JH is not accredited in 2015 (which will be known by Fall, 2015)?

It's not the black kids from nearby projects who have failed. I have lived here 30 years. It's us, me and you and our elected leaders who have failed. ACPS is small by most standards: 14,500 students. Not 70K something of Fairfax County nor 122K or more in Maryland. Let's get real.

True, but the black kids from the projects are a huge reason the middle/upper middle class families aren't sending their kids there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, so why is this school so shitty?

Black kids from nearby projects.

That's so racist! Shame on you. Put the onus where it is deserved. Not on the kids themselves but on the City adults! I live here btw.

Instead of kids from who cares where, hold responsible the ACPS School Board, ACPS Administration and even the City for not a) hiring a true turn around expert for JH b) fixing the school building a decade ago given the open classrooms and special needs (neighbors were against the new building but not against a remodel, afaik, and c) not embracing Virginia Department of Education help as offered but instead sticking only to local school board educational fix technique. That's all fine and good, keeping it local but 3 years without accreditation is enough!

Lastly, holding this school to the more intensive IB Curriculum (pre K-8th) is over the top. Educate these fine children using a regular American educational format. There is still time to reverse course on this.

Absolutely right. JH was wrecked by the School Board. The 1999 redistricting reflected an effort to create a ghetto school to segregate Lyles-Crouch and Maury.

This is the truth. JH was not an accident. It was created to bring the middle class back to the other schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, so why is this school so shitty?

Black kids from nearby projects.

That's so racist! Shame on you. Put the onus where it is deserved. Not on the kids themselves but on the City adults! I live here btw.

Instead of kids from who cares where, hold responsible the ACPS School Board, ACPS Administration and even the City for not a) hiring a true turn around expert for JH b) fixing the school building a decade ago given the open classrooms and special needs (neighbors were against the new building but not against a remodel, afaik, and c) not embracing Virginia Department of Education help as offered but instead sticking only to local school board educational fix technique. That's all fine and good, keeping it local but 3 years without accreditation is enough!

Lastly, holding this school to the more intensive IB Curriculum (pre K-8th) is over the top. Educate these fine children using a regular American educational format. There is still time to reverse course on this.

Absolutely right. JH was wrecked by the School Board. The 1999 redistricting reflected an effort to create a ghetto school to segregate Lyles-Crouch and Maury.

No it was wrecked by the city council who created the housing ghettos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not denying generational poverty in Alexandria City Public Schools, a school district with all of 14,500 kids in it. I'm calling out adults for blaming the kids, and labeling them by the color of their skin.

I really don't care what you're doing. The problem is the school is dominated by black kids from the projects. If you cannot acknowledge that, you've got a really difficult grasp with reality and have no business "calling out" anyone.

The question was asked, "does anyone send the children to J-H." I assumed, given the context and the audience that OP was addressing upper middle class white people when she asked "does anyone." And the answer, when you strip everything away, is no. "Anyone" does not -- because the school has lots and lots and lots of problems, all of which are directly associated with the culture of poverty associated with being black and from the projects.

Muttering about decisions made 16 years ago is irrelevant. It is what it is. Those projects are there, the school is populated by kids from them, and so, no, "anyone" does not send their kids to J-H. In fact, "anyone" goes to great lengths to AVOID J-H.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely right. JH was wrecked by the School Board. The 1999 redistricting reflected an effort to create a ghetto school to segregate Lyles-Crouch and Maury.

I can't speak to Lyles-Crouch, but Maury is definitely not "segregated." 30 percent of the students there are black, 10 percent are Hispanic.

[Anonymous]

Alexandria City Public Schools is one big hot mess.

[Anonymous]

Here is what is needed on June 2015 SOL's for Jefferson Houston:

Attachment A4
? By June 2015, Jefferson-Houston will have an increase in the pass rate of at least 8% on the Math SOL to 54% or more students scoring proficient on the SOL.
? By June 2015, Jefferson-Houston will have an increase in pass rate of at least 9% on the English SOL to 56% or more students scoring proficient on the SOL.
? By June 2015, Jefferson-Houston will have an increase in the pass rate of at least 11% on the Science SOL to 47% or more students scoring proficient on the SOL.
? By June 2015, Jefferson-Houston will have an increase in pass rate of at least 6% on the Social Studies SOL to 57% or more students scoring proficient on the SOL.

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/boe/meetings/2015/01_jan/agenda_items/item_k.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not denying generational poverty in Alexandria City Public Schools, a school district with all of 14,500 kids in it. I'm calling out adults for blaming the kids, and labeling them by the color of their skin.

Our City is not that big that the failure of Jefferson Houston should not have been dealt with in a more effective manner.

-Why did the School Board wait so long from 1999 to embrace redistricting when it would help a school like JH and PH?
-Why did the highly paid school administrators not do better, truly earn those $250K salaries plus third again plus in benefits?
-Why has it taken our City Council so long to work on integrating affordable housing around the City?
-And why turn down VDOE help with Jefferson Houston? Will ACPS turn VDOE down again if JH is not accredited in 2015 (which will be known by Fall, 2015)?

It's not the black kids from nearby projects who have failed. I have lived here 30 years. It's us, me and you and our elected leaders who have failed. ACPS is small by most standards: 14,500 students. Not 70K something of Fairfax County nor 122K or more in Maryland. Let's get real.

Fairfax County Public Schools have 180K students (not 70K)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is what is needed on June 2015 SOL's for Jefferson Houston:

Attachment A4
? By June 2015, Jefferson-Houston will have an increase in the pass rate of at least 8% on the Math SOL to 54% or more students scoring proficient on the SOL.
? By June 2015, Jefferson-Houston will have an increase in pass rate of at least 9% on the English SOL to 56% or more students scoring proficient on the SOL.
? By June 2015, Jefferson-Houston will have an increase in the pass rate of at least 11% on the Science SOL to 47% or more students scoring proficient on the SOL.
? By June 2015, Jefferson-Houston will have an increase in pass rate of at least 6% on the Social Studies SOL to 57% or more students scoring proficient on the SOL.

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/boe/meetings/2015/01_jan/agenda_items/item_k.pdf

What I can't find in he report is what happens if they don't make the benchmarks. Nothing? So why bother with benchmarks.

Worse the scores took a huge dip last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is what is needed on June 2015 SOL's for Jefferson Houston:

Attachment A4
? By June 2015, Jefferson-Houston will have an increase in the pass rate of at least 8% on the Math SOL to 54% or more students scoring proficient on the SOL.
? By June 2015, Jefferson-Houston will have an increase in pass rate of at least 9% on the English SOL to 56% or more students scoring proficient on the SOL.
? By June 2015, Jefferson-Houston will have an increase in the pass rate of at least 11% on the Science SOL to 47% or more students scoring proficient on the SOL.
? By June 2015, Jefferson-Houston will have an increase in pass rate of at least 6% on the Social Studies SOL to 57% or more students scoring proficient on the SOL.

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/boe/meetings/2015/01_jan/agenda_items/item_k.pdf

What I can't find in he report is what happens if they don't make the benchmarks. Nothing? So why bother with benchmarks.

Worse the scores took a huge dip last year.

Which is why they changed the principal and made all of the other changes to instruction spelled out in the Superintendent's brief attached to that report.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not denying generational poverty in Alexandria City Public Schools, a school district with all of 14,500 kids in it. I'm calling out adults for blaming the kids, and labeling them by the color of their skin.

Our City is not that big that the failure of Jefferson Houston should not have been dealt with in a more effective manner.

-Why did the School Board wait so long from 1999 to embrace redistricting when it would help a school like JH and PH?
-Why did the highly paid school administrators not do better, truly earn those $250K salaries plus third again plus in benefits?
-Why has it taken our City Council so long to work on integrating affordable housing around the City?
-And why turn down VDOE help with Jefferson Houston? Will ACPS turn VDOE down again if JH is not accredited in 2015 (which will be known by Fall, 2015)?

It's not the black kids from nearby projects who have failed. I have lived here 30 years. It's us, me and you and our elected leaders who have failed. ACPS is small by most standards: 14,500 students. Not 70K something of Fairfax County nor 122K or more in Maryland. Let's get real.

Fairfax County Public Schools have 180K students (not 70K)

Thank you for that correction. Montgomery County, MD correct number is 154,000 students enrolled. So 14,500 ACPS students is not even 1/10th then total student enrollment number of these two local school systems. Yet we do struggle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

No it was wrecked by the city council who created the housing ghettos.

The public housing projects were built back in the 1940's and they reflected a concentration of poverty that occurred as the middle class fled Old Town (and the poor did not) in the period from 1910 or so to 1940. So the blame is really with all the conditions leading to housing segregation in the first half of the 20th century.