Reason to transfer school in APS?

[Anonymous]

OP - The only way you are going to get the information you seek is to actually go to the school, tour it, attend a PTA meeting, talk to parents currently at the school, etc. You are not going to get the best information about a particular school on this board. If you are concerned about how ESL instruction works and how it impacts non-ESL students -- ask the professionals who do the work! Meet with an ESL specialist at the school or at the district level or both. Find out how APS does ESL education. Meet with parents of native English speakers at the school and ask them what their experience has been specific to the impact of ESL instruction. You can find parents of school aged kids on neighborhood listservs or on the playgrounds before or after school. Approach and ask. They have been in your shoes. I am always happy to talk to parents of pre-school aged kids who are out on fact-finding missions and every other parent I know is too. We were all there once. Meet with a teacher or two who can tell you how their classrooms work with respect to ESL and non ESL kids. Reach out to the APS County Council PTA and other APS resources to understand how the district does ESL education.

No one can give you a definitive answer as to what the school will be like in several years. But you can get concrete answers about how the school handles ESL instruction and you can find out from parents there now what their sense is of whether their kids miss out because of time spent helping ESL students learn English.

And remember, barring your child being tutored one-on-one by a private instructor for all of elementary school, there will always be some other student taking attention away from your kid, whether it is a kid who is learning English or a kid who struggles with reading or a kid who struggles with math or a kid who is being a class clown or a kid who is otherwise disruptive. That is true in public as well as private schools. It is the nature of having one teacher with multiple students. But it sounds to me that you are not so much worried about that lack of constant individual attention as the idea that the whole classroom will have a slower pace because of ESL kids. The only way you can give yourself any comfort on that issue will be to go into the school and gain an understanding of how that work is done.

[Anonymous]

Hello Barcroft neighbor. Your children will not really have any "choice" school options. ATS has only a few slots a year. Barcroft no longer has enough seats for any more than siblings and a couple people off the wait list. This year some parents managed to get transferred to Key, discovery and Jamestown because the south Arlington school situation is unacceptable. But that won't last. Campbell is almost as poor as Barcroft.

barcroft is not a bad school, but it is not a good one either. Almost 70 percent of the school is poor. So, it is not a racial issue, although most but not all of those kids are Latino. They are from poorer families and carry all the baggage being poor carries in arlington. So, your child's teachers will be working to get them to learn despite their lack of home resources. If your child gets into the gifted program, you are fine. If your kid has special needs, good luck. If your kid is average, your kid will be overlooked. I have heard this from most parents who are willing to be honest. And, the PTA resources are low all because the poorer parents do not get involved and they certainly don't have money to spare. The lack of PTA support is STARK in comparison to weathier north arlington schools.

That said, if your children are racial minorities, they would stand out in many north Arlington schools that are overwhelmingly white. That is not good either.

Test scores were up for some of the poorer kids in many south arlington schools. But, there has been huge pressure to get them up. And, for the first time this year kids can retake them! So, the scores cannot be compared to prior years. No one is talking about that. White kids scored worse in many south arlington scools, Barcroft in particular. So, what does that tell you? Not everything, but something and the lower scores were across the board.

If you want to get involved in this county's push to make south Arlington home to every poorer family in the county, there are folks trying to stop it. There is a group trying to stop all affordable housing as a totally unrealistic use of scarce county funds. Another group mentioned earlier, card I believe, that seems to support affordable housing as long as it is dispersed around the county (like real diversity). And by the way, it the affordable housing that makes schools like Barcroft poor despite the wealth of the two neighborhoods that feed into it (alcova heights and Barcroft).

In case you care about my kids. I sent them to Barcroft and pulled them out after a year. There was little learning going on, only catch up and discipline. They go to a private school and are thriving. I weighed moving versus private. Our house is custom and no one wanted to move. I moved here from another area and did not do my school research.

[Anonymous]

Sadly, when you walk around your south Arlington sfh neighborhood you will have a hard time finding people who can answer questions about how the neighborhood school works. People will tell you they just don't know, because they don't send their kids there. They transfer them to a choice school.

Going to the school will likely be the only way you can find out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hello Barcroft neighbor. Your children will not really have any "choice" school options. ATS has only a few slots a year. Barcroft no longer has enough seats for any more than siblings and a couple people off the wait list. This year some parents managed to get transferred to Key, discovery and Jamestown because the south Arlington school situation is unacceptable. But that won't last. Campbell is almost as poor as Barcroft.

barcroft is not a bad school, but it is not a good one either. Almost 70 percent of the school is poor. So, it is not a racial issue, although most but not all of those kids are Latino. They are from poorer families and carry all the baggage being poor carries in arlington. So, your child's teachers will be working to get them to learn despite their lack of home resources. If your child gets into the gifted program, you are fine. If your kid has special needs, good luck. If your kid is average, your kid will be overlooked. I have heard this from most parents who are willing to be honest. And, the PTA resources are low all because the poorer parents do not get involved and they certainly don't have money to spare. The lack of PTA support is STARK in comparison to weathier north arlington schools.

That said, if your children are racial minorities, they would stand out in many north Arlington schools that are overwhelmingly white. That is not good either.

Test scores were up for some of the poorer kids in many south arlington schools. But, there has been huge pressure to get them up. And, for the first time this year kids can retake them! So, the scores cannot be compared to prior years. No one is talking about that. White kids scored worse in many south arlington scools, Barcroft in particular. So, what does that tell you? Not everything, but something and the lower scores were across the board.

If you want to get involved in this county's push to make south Arlington home to every poorer family in the county, there are folks trying to stop it. There is a group trying to stop all affordable housing as a totally unrealistic use of scarce county funds. Another group mentioned earlier, card I believe, that seems to support affordable housing as long as it is dispersed around the county (like real diversity). And by the way, it the affordable housing that makes schools like Barcroft poor despite the wealth of the two neighborhoods that feed into it (alcova heights and Barcroft).

In case you care about my kids. I sent them to Barcroft and pulled them out after a year. There was little learning going on, only catch up and discipline. They go to a private school and are thriving. I weighed moving versus private. Our house is custom and no one wanted to move. I moved here from another area and did not do my school research.

Take comfort above poster. You could have done your research and still be screwed. When I moved here a few years back all I heard was how great Barcroft was and how far it had come. We live nearby ( not Barcroft), but was fed a line of bs by older Arlington neighbors and our relator about how great all Arlington schools are, and how it wouldn't matter anyway, because aps had choice schools. Heck, the aps website supported all of that.
Things have changed and not for the better for many families. I'm sorry to hear you had a disappointing experience at Barcroft.

[Anonymous]

19:31 here, that s exactly what happened to us. We were told that you cannot go wrong in arlington. Not true. I work with many north and south Arlington parents. With the exception of oakton and Henry, the schools are like night and day.

I hear discovery has a two story inside slide and playground. Can anyone confirm? What is the chance that will be replicated in the new south Arlington elementary school which I already hear they want to build as cheaply as possible so they can build another one in north Arlington ( even thought south Arlington needs TWO elementary schools) Sorry if I am clearly bitter, but we are second class citizens down here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:19:31 here, that s exactly what happened to us. We were told that you cannot go wrong in arlington. Not true. I work with many north and south Arlington parents. With the exception of oakton and Henry, the schools are like night and day.

I hear discovery has a two story inside slide and playground. Can anyone confirm? What is the chance that will be replicated in the new south Arlington elementary school which I already hear they want to build as cheaply as possible so they can build another one in north Arlington ( even thought south Arlington needs TWO elementary schools) Sorry if I am clearly bitter, but we are second class citizens down here.

Discovery definitely has a slide inside...

Yes, I've heard the same thing about wanting to really scale back for the new south Arlington school. Certainly I think it's part of the mood of the county- street car, aquatic center, dog park, bus stop... People are furious about what they see as over spending by the county and screwy priorities. Sucks that it seems the line always gets drawn south of 50. Unless we are talking about subsidized housing. They are determined to push that agenda through. There will be a vote about it next month. The current board feels this is in sync with the will of most voters. They might very well be right- I don't know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:19:31 here, that s exactly what happened to us. We were told that you cannot go wrong in arlington. Not true. I work with many north and south Arlington parents. With the exception of oakton and Henry, the schools are like night and day.

I hear discovery has a two story inside slide and playground. Can anyone confirm? What is the chance that will be replicated in the new south Arlington elementary school which I already hear they want to build as cheaply as possible so they can build another one in north Arlington ( even thought south Arlington needs TWO elementary schools) Sorry if I am clearly bitter, but we are second class citizens down here.

Discovery definitely has a slide inside...

Yes, I've heard the same thing about wanting to really scale back for the new south Arlington school. Certainly I think it's part of the mood of the county- street car, aquatic center, dog park, bus stop... People are furious about what they see as over spending by the county and screwy priorities. Sucks that it seems the line always gets drawn south of 50. Unless we are talking about subsidized housing. They are determined to push that agenda through. There will be a vote about it next month. The current board feels this is in sync with the will of most voters. They might very well be right- I don't know.

Any scaling back would be a money/budget issue. Discovery was planned and funded when APS had more money to spend. Same with the Ashlawn addition that looks beautiful.

Btw. The slide was installed last week! The building is just phenomenal. Let's hope it opens on time--looks like there is a lot of wrk left to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:19:31 here, that s exactly what happened to us. We were told that you cannot go wrong in arlington. Not true. I work with many north and south Arlington parents. With the exception of oakton and Henry, the schools are like night and day.

I hear discovery has a two story inside slide and playground. Can anyone confirm? What is the chance that will be replicated in the new south Arlington elementary school which I already hear they want to build as cheaply as possible so they can build another one in north Arlington ( even thought south Arlington needs TWO elementary schools) Sorry if I am clearly bitter, but we are second class citizens down here.

Discovery definitely has a slide inside...

Yes, I've heard the same thing about wanting to really scale back for the new south Arlington school. Certainly I think it's part of the mood of the county- street car, aquatic center, dog park, bus stop... People are furious about what they see as over spending by the county and screwy priorities. Sucks that it seems the line always gets drawn south of 50. Unless we are talking about subsidized housing. They are determined to push that agenda through. There will be a vote about it next month. The current board feels this is in sync with the will of most voters. They might very well be right- I don't know.

Any scaling back would be a money/budget issue. Discovery was planned and funded when APS had more money to spend. Same with the Ashlawn addition that looks beautiful.

Btw. The slide was installed last week! The building is just phenomenal. Let's hope it opens on time--looks like there is a lot of wrk left to do.

Yeah Dude... That's the point. North Arlington projects get prioritized... Then we look to see what's left over for the south. Very excited for you and your under capacity, state of the art, beautifully designed monument to learning. No really. It's great.
I'd be cool if Barcroft got their computer lab back this year.
Not as cool as a slide.
But cool.

[Anonymous]

And I hear the design proposed for the new H-B Woodlawn is $20 million over budget. That's just at the design phase. Of course it will end up even more once it's built. Somehow they'll find the money for that but not the facilities needed in S. Arl.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And I hear the design proposed for the new H-B Woodlawn is $20 million over budget. That's just at the design phase. Of course it will end up even more once it's built. Somehow they'll find the money for that but not the facilities needed in S. Arl.

H-B wasn't that much over budget given the small, complex site in Rosslyn. It's the Stratford Middle School that came in wildly over budget. That was scary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And I hear the design proposed for the new H-B Woodlawn is $20 million over budget. That's just at the design phase. Of course it will end up even more once it's built. Somehow they'll find the money for that but not the facilities needed in S. Arl.

H-B wasn't that much over budget given the small, complex site in Rosslyn. It's the Stratford Middle School that came in wildly over budget. That was scary.

My issue with HB is the expense vs number seats. 1000 kids for same price as the recent Wakefield rebuild! Yikes!
I totally get that there is an expense to building in Rosslyn - but holy cow!


Sorry for the tangent. Back to elementary schools and how we get our kids into choice schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And I hear the design proposed for the new H-B Woodlawn is $20 million over budget. That's just at the design phase. Of course it will end up even more once it's built. Somehow they'll find the money for that but not the facilities needed in S. Arl.

H-B wasn't that much over budget given the small, complex site in Rosslyn. It's the Stratford Middle School that came in wildly over budget. That was scary.

My issue with HB is the expense vs number seats. 1000 kids for same price as the recent Wakefield rebuild! Yikes!
I totally get that there is an expense to building in Rosslyn - but holy cow!


Sorry for the tangent. Back to elementary schools and how we get our kids into choice schools.

APS is supposed to be revisiting and making changes to elementary school choice boundaries and/or admissions policies over the next couple years. I guess we'll have to stay tuned, but the situation will be addressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And I hear the design proposed for the new H-B Woodlawn is $20 million over budget. That's just at the design phase. Of course it will end up even more once it's built. Somehow they'll find the money for that but not the facilities needed in S. Arl.

H-B wasn't that much over budget given the small, complex site in Rosslyn. It's the Stratford Middle School that came in wildly over budget. That was scary.

My issue with HB is the expense vs number seats. 1000 kids for same price as the recent Wakefield rebuild! Yikes!
I totally get that there is an expense to building in Rosslyn - but holy cow!


Sorry for the tangent. Back to elementary schools and how we get our kids into choice schools.

APS is supposed to be revisiting and making changes to elementary school choice boundaries and/or admissions policies over the next couple years. I guess we'll have to stay tuned, but the situation will be addressed.

What does that mean? Making sure we still have choices? Or does that mean eliminating all choices? Should we be comforted or freaked out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And I hear the design proposed for the new H-B Woodlawn is $20 million over budget. That's just at the design phase. Of course it will end up even more once it's built. Somehow they'll find the money for that but not the facilities needed in S. Arl.

H-B wasn't that much over budget given the small, complex site in Rosslyn. It's the Stratford Middle School that came in wildly over budget. That was scary.

My issue with HB is the expense vs number seats. 1000 kids for same price as the recent Wakefield rebuild! Yikes!
I totally get that there is an expense to building in Rosslyn - but holy cow!


Sorry for the tangent. Back to elementary schools and how we get our kids into choice schools.

APS is supposed to be revisiting and making changes to elementary school choice boundaries and/or admissions policies over the next couple years. I guess we'll have to stay tuned, but the situation will be addressed.

What does that mean? Making sure we still have choices? Or does that mean eliminating all choices? Should we be comforted or freaked out?

Choices will not go away. Not at all. Same number of choice schools and perhaps a couple additional at the elementary and secondary levels. The new high school planned for where the career center is, will be choice--that's the concept for now at least.

[Anonymous]

We have some time, so hopefully things will become more clear and will change for the better by then. Maybe this CARD group will have some positive impact on housing and thereby schools. However, this thread just reminds me of what I've read so far around here, that the county doesn't give the same attention to the southern part of the county.