Cooper Middle School--what is it like?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cooper has a lot of drug and alcohol issues. We live fairly close but the drug problem combined with all the trailers made us go private. Don't know about drug problems at Longfellow. I do know for a fact, though, from tutors in the area that graduates of Cooper find themselves not prepared for the rigors of Langley High.

Arlene Randall is a realistic principal, who's focus is the kids and fostering the independence needed, to make it through high school and college.

Langley's 'rigors' represent themselves in the form of bad teachers, entitled kids, and a management staff more concerned with reputation than kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cooper has a lot of drug and alcohol issues. We live fairly close but the drug problem combined with all the trailers made us go private. Don't know about drug problems at Longfellow. I do know for a fact, though, from tutors in the area that graduates of Cooper find themselves not prepared for the rigors of Langley High.

Arlene Randall is a realistic principal, who's focus is the kids and fostering the independence needed, to make it through high school and college.

Langley's 'rigors' represent themselves in the form of bad teachers, entitled kids, and a management staff more concerned with reputation than kids.

Hi, Bullis Mom. It never gets old for you, does it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cooper has a lot of drug and alcohol issues. We live fairly close but the drug problem combined with all the trailers made us go private. Don't know about drug problems at Longfellow. I do know for a fact, though, from tutors in the area that graduates of Cooper find themselves not prepared for the rigors of Langley High.

Arlene Randall is a realistic principal, who's focus is the kids and fostering the independence needed, to make it through high school and college.

Langley's 'rigors' represent themselves in the form of bad teachers, entitled kids, and a management staff more concerned with reputation than kids.

Hi, Bullis Mom. It never gets old for you, does it?

+1
She's like a broken record, isn't she? Or a dog with a bone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is Cooper like for students who require more one-on-one attention? I've heard that they are very 'hands off', in the sense that they want the students to be more independent, ask for help, be vocal in class, etc. That doesn't necessarily work well for kids who are shy or anxious, etc.

Regarding the bolded, all middle schools are hands-off. This isn't elementary school and they're trying to prepare kids for high school. The teachers start doing this during sixth grade, to prepare them for middle school. Cooper is no different.

Hi, thanks. OP again. I guess I'm just not clear on what exactly this entails, particularly coming from a small school that has a high teacher to student ratio. Teachers here expect students to take responsibility for their own work, etc, but do notice when they struggle and address it. Guess I'm just not sure how that is handled at Cooper, and how the communication is between teachers and parents at a larger school if your kid has difficulties adjusting, or issues with a subject or whatever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is Cooper like for students who require more one-on-one attention? I've heard that they are very 'hands off', in the sense that they want the students to be more independent, ask for help, be vocal in class, etc. That doesn't necessarily work well for kids who are shy or anxious, etc.

Regarding the bolded, all middle schools are hands-off. This isn't elementary school and they're trying to prepare kids for high school. The teachers start doing this during sixth grade, to prepare them for middle school. Cooper is no different.

Hi, thanks. OP again. I guess I'm just not clear on what exactly this entails, particularly coming from a small school that has a high teacher to student ratio. Teachers here expect students to take responsibility for their own work, etc, but do notice when they struggle and address it. Guess I'm just not sure how that is handled at Cooper, and how the communication is between teachers and parents at a larger school if your kid has difficulties adjusting, or issues with a subject or whatever.

OP, I teach at Cooper. While we do encourage self advocacy for students, we recognize that this looks different for all students, especially in 7th grade. We have several levels of support in place to help students who struggle with this. This starts with an open-access grade book, bi-weekly progress reports, detailed daily updates on Blackboard, and executive functioning lessons, and it increases to specialized study hall assignment, lunch and after school support, counseling intervention, and specialized classes for organization and course support. Other supports are available for students with 504s or IEPs. Teachers on the whole are good about communicating directly with parents. I'd estimate that I spend an average of 30-45 minutes emailing parents each day.

I encourage you to call or stop by the school to more directly address your questions. Right now, some of our administrative staff will be there; more will be back at the start of August. Many teachers are in and out throughout the summer, and I'm sure any of these people would be glad to talk with you and learn more about your child's specific needs.

[Anonymous]

Cooper Middle School is full of alcohol and drug problem. Multiple kids have been busted for doing drugs (JUUL) in the school. A couple of years ago Cooper suffered a marijuana bust.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is Cooper like for students who require more one-on-one attention? I've heard that they are very 'hands off', in the sense that they want the students to be more independent, ask for help, be vocal in class, etc. That doesn't necessarily work well for kids who are shy or anxious, etc.

Regarding the bolded, all middle schools are hands-off. This isn't elementary school and they're trying to prepare kids for high school. The teachers start doing this during sixth grade, to prepare them for middle school. Cooper is no different.

Hi, thanks. OP again. I guess I'm just not clear on what exactly this entails, particularly coming from a small school that has a high teacher to student ratio. Teachers here expect students to take responsibility for their own work, etc, but do notice when they struggle and address it. Guess I'm just not sure how that is handled at Cooper, and how the communication is between teachers and parents at a larger school if your kid has difficulties adjusting, or issues with a subject or whatever.

OP, I teach at Cooper. While we do encourage self advocacy for students, we recognize that this looks different for all students, especially in 7th grade. We have several levels of support in place to help students who struggle with this. This starts with an open-access grade book, bi-weekly progress reports, detailed daily updates on Blackboard, and executive functioning lessons, and it increases to specialized study hall assignment, lunch and after school support, counseling intervention, and specialized classes for organization and course support. Other supports are available for students with 504s or IEPs. Teachers on the whole are good about communicating directly with parents. I'd estimate that I spend an average of 30-45 minutes emailing parents each day.

I encourage you to call or stop by the school to more directly address your questions. Right now, some of our administrative staff will be there; more will be back at the start of August. Many teachers are in and out throughout the summer, and I'm sure any of these people would be glad to talk with you and learn more about your child's specific needs.

This is not unique to Cooper. My kids' MS has the same including every-other-week instructional time (during the resource period) on different exec. functioning skills. But, to the PP who asked about what this means -- FCPS is a big system. There are opportunities for kids to get help. BUT, it is not going to be like a small private school. Your child will get out of it what s/he puts into it. And that may not be as much as you would expect. IME, teachers have been responsive when I've reached out to them. But they can only do so much -- the horse has to choose to drink.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cooper Middle School is full of alcohol and drug problem. Multiple kids have been busted for doing drugs (JUUL) in the school. A couple of years ago Cooper suffered a marijuana bust.

Hhmmm. My kids have been at Cooper for the last 2 years and we haven't heard anything about alcohol or drug problems. My kids have enjoyed school, we are happy with the instruction, and my kids feel prepared for high school. We've been very satisfied with Cooper.

[Anonymous]

Don’t you love when DCUM dredges up 2 yr old unsubstantiated gossip? So helpful.

[Anonymous]

Guaranteed -- Juuling is happening at every middle and high school in FCPS (and Virginia).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t you love when DCUM dredges up 2 yr old unsubstantiated gossip? So helpful.

I’d put money down it’s the same poster who has been slamming Colvin Run ES in the past few days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cooper Middle School is full of alcohol and drug problem. Multiple kids have been busted for doing drugs (JUUL) in the school. A couple of years ago Cooper suffered a marijuana bust.

Hhmmm. My kids have been at Cooper for the last 2 years and we haven't heard anything about alcohol or drug problems. My kids have enjoyed school, we are happy with the instruction, and my kids feel prepared for high school. We've been very satisfied with Cooper.

+1
I've had three kids go through Cooper, the youngest in the past two years. Unfortunately, JUULing has become a "thing" at EVERY middle and high school, but is not a drug, as PP would love for others to believe.

For the PPP making this ridiculous assertion - please provide links to a "marijuana bust" in the past two years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t you love when DCUM dredges up 2 yr old unsubstantiated gossip? So helpful.

I’d put money down it’s the same poster who has been slamming Colvin Run ES in the past few days.

Can we at least put a lock on the 2016 rumors and start a fresh 2018 rumors thread?