Thoughts on McKinley or Discovery?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Discovery parent here. I think an earlier poster hit the nail on the head with the lack-of-cohesiveness remark. We've been lucky to have good teachers so far, but I do consider it luck and not a given. My feelings on the administration and front office are "meh." HUGE emphasis on technology, which follows them to WMS and has resulted in my perfectly-bright-but-distracted-by-shiny things middle-schooler learning zero this year, as far as I can tell.

Do you think the results would be different if he was at another school?

[Anonymous]

A friend said Discovery is not at all diverse. Parents are like high schoolers formed their own PTA thing.
With you not able to break in their group.
Bullying is an issue and no one knows how to handle it.
Teachers yet have to figure out their best approach to teach.
They have so many new thing but don't know how to use.
But it's far better than Abingdon n Carlin Spring.
I would consider Henry Patrick awesome school and awesome teacher..

[Anonymous]

Why better than Abington or Carlin Springs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A friend said Discovery is not at all diverse. Parents are like high schoolers formed their own PTA thing.
With you not able to break in their group.
Bullying is an issue and no one knows how to handle it.
Teachers yet have to figure out their best approach to teach.
They have so many new thing but don't know how to use.
But it's far better than Abingdon n Carlin Spring.
I would consider Henry Patrick awesome school and awesome teacher..

You don't need a friend to tell you about the diversity (or lack thereof) of any school in APS - it's all publicly available on the APS website.
However, it is correct that Discovery is similar to Nottingham, Tuckahoe, and Jamestown in that its free and reduced lunch rate is around 3%.
As far as racial diversity at Discovery; 5.7% are Hispanic students, and 2.5% Black and 6.3 % Asian, around 9% multiple, the majority are White.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree- Reed is a huge wild card. Right now, APS is still sticking with its proposal to make Reed the location of a new choice IB program which would not impact boundaries. But Westover residents are fighting hard to make it a neighborhood school. However, now that ASF is being turned into a neighborhood school in 2019, it means that all the boundaries will be redrawn next year for Sept. 2019 implementation. It seems unlikely to me that APS will be up for redrawing ES boundaries again for Reed to come on-line two years later (scheduled to open Sept. 2021), but I've stopped trying to predict what APS will do. RE: the comment above about the Westover culture... I would not exactly consider it Ground Zero for MONA-- that's more Tuckahoe/Nottingham/Taylor, but it is fair to point out that McKinley's boundaries are huge now and cross multiple neighborhoods. So if OP is looking at a house in Tara, that is a very different neighborhood culture from Dominion Hills. Both are zoned for McKinley.

What is MONA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree- Reed is a huge wild card. Right now, APS is still sticking with its proposal to make Reed the location of a new choice IB program which would not impact boundaries. But Westover residents are fighting hard to make it a neighborhood school. However, now that ASF is being turned into a neighborhood school in 2019, it means that all the boundaries will be redrawn next year for Sept. 2019 implementation. It seems unlikely to me that APS will be up for redrawing ES boundaries again for Reed to come on-line two years later (scheduled to open Sept. 2021), but I've stopped trying to predict what APS will do. RE: the comment above about the Westover culture... I would not exactly consider it Ground Zero for MONA-- that's more Tuckahoe/Nottingham/Taylor, but it is fair to point out that McKinley's boundaries are huge now and cross multiple neighborhoods. So if OP is looking at a house in Tara, that is a very different neighborhood culture from Dominion Hills. Both are zoned for McKinley.

What is MONA?

Mothers of the Northern Army (Arlington)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
What is MONA?

Mothers of North Arlington. Dues-paying organization. Originally meant to be a network for SAHM, but is now a broad swatch of WAH, SAH, WOH parents. Lots of us joined not for social reasons but because both its buy/sell listserve and its general listserv for posting questions are great resources. Does lots of community service events, fundraisers, and social functions for kids and sometimes just for adults.

It gets a hugely bad rap especially because it is geographically limited only to families in 22201, 22203, 22205, 22207, and 22209. Not south Arlington, Falls Church, or McLean. My understanding is it was originally conceptualized for regional proximity, but many view it as elitist and a deliberate attempt to keep out others.

[Anonymous]

AH, gotcha. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A friend said Discovery is not at all diverse. Parents are like high schoolers formed their own PTA thing.
With you not able to break in their group.
Bullying is an issue and no one knows how to handle it.
Teachers yet have to figure out their best approach to teach.
They have so many new thing but don't know how to use.
But it's far better than Abingdon n Carlin Spring.
I would consider Henry Patrick awesome school and awesome teacher..

Bullying happens everywhere. DC was involved in 2 back to back incidents involving 8 students a few months back at Discovery. We emailed the principal/teacher and requested an immediate meeting. Met with the vice principal, teacher and school counselor. School had initiated their own investigation after my email. Statements were taken from all parties involved. Counselor met with the students. Students were made to apologize. Phone calls were made to all parents involved. It was resolved to my satisfaction. That is my experience.

Would you care to elaborate on yours?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What is MONA?

Mothers of North Arlington. Dues-paying organization. Originally meant to be a network for SAHM, but is now a broad swatch of WAH, SAH, WOH parents. Lots of us joined not for social reasons but because both its buy/sell listserve and its general listserv for posting questions are great resources. Does lots of community service events, fundraisers, and social functions for kids and sometimes just for adults.

It gets a hugely bad rap especially because it is geographically limited only to families in 22201, 22203, 22205, 22207, and 22209. Not south Arlington, Falls Church, or McLean. My understanding is it was originally conceptualized for regional proximity, but many view it as elitist and a deliberate attempt to keep out others.

Another PP here who's lived in 22207 for 15 years and never joined MONA. And survived.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What is MONA?

Mothers of North Arlington. Dues-paying organization. Originally meant to be a network for SAHM, but is now a broad swatch of WAH, SAH, WOH parents. Lots of us joined not for social reasons but because both its buy/sell listserve and its general listserv for posting questions are great resources. Does lots of community service events, fundraisers, and social functions for kids and sometimes just for adults.

It gets a hugely bad rap especially because it is geographically limited only to families in 22201, 22203, 22205, 22207, and 22209. Not south Arlington, Falls Church, or McLean. My understanding is it was originally conceptualized for regional proximity, but many view it as elitist and a deliberate attempt to keep out others.

MONA was created because the "MOMS Club of North Arlington" in that area had become too large under the MOMS Club rules (this was early 2000s) and they were told they had to split it up to stay in that organization. So you'd end up with, for example, a MOMS Club of Cherrydale, MOMS Club of Westover, etc. The members wanted to keep the more inclusive, larger group so they separated from the MOMS Club. It was limited to "North Arlington" because there was also a separate "MOMS Club of South Arlington" at the same time that was not being told split up or leave. So the geography rules were not created with an exclusionary intent.

Nobody needs to join it, but I did find it a valuable resource when my kids were little (I participated in a couple playgroups, the babysitting coop, and other outings/events) and continued my membership for a long time after we aged out of most events for the listserv.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What is MONA?

Mothers of North Arlington. Dues-paying organization. Originally meant to be a network for SAHM, but is now a broad swatch of WAH, SAH, WOH parents. Lots of us joined not for social reasons but because both its buy/sell listserve and its general listserv for posting questions are great resources. Does lots of community service events, fundraisers, and social functions for kids and sometimes just for adults.

It gets a hugely bad rap especially because it is geographically limited only to families in 22201, 22203, 22205, 22207, and 22209. Not south Arlington, Falls Church, or McLean. My understanding is it was originally conceptualized for regional proximity, but many view it as elitist and a deliberate attempt to keep out others.

MONA was created because the "MOMS Club of North Arlington" in that area had become too large under the MOMS Club rules (this was early 2000s) and they were told they had to split it up to stay in that organization. So you'd end up with, for example, a MOMS Club of Cherrydale, MOMS Club of Westover, etc. The members wanted to keep the more inclusive, larger group so they separated from the MOMS Club. It was limited to "North Arlington" because there was also a separate "MOMS Club of South Arlington" at the same time that was not being told split up or leave. So the geography rules were not created with an exclusionary intent.

Nobody needs to join it, but I did find it a valuable resource when my kids were little (I participated in a couple playgroups, the babysitting coop, and other outings/events) and continued my membership for a long time after we aged out of most events for the listserv.

Also, there is still a MOMS Club in South Arlington and it decided to split up geographically and stay in the MOMS Club organization so there are a few smaller clubs: http://www.southarlingtonmomsclub.org/becoming-a-member.html These groups are also "exclusionary" by geography.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What is MONA?

Mothers of North Arlington. Dues-paying organization. Originally meant to be a network for SAHM, but is now a broad swatch of WAH, SAH, WOH parents. Lots of us joined not for social reasons but because both its buy/sell listserve and its general listserv for posting questions are great resources. Does lots of community service events, fundraisers, and social functions for kids and sometimes just for adults.

It gets a hugely bad rap especially because it is geographically limited only to families in 22201, 22203, 22205, 22207, and 22209. Not south Arlington, Falls Church, or McLean. My understanding is it was originally conceptualized for regional proximity, but many view it as elitist and a deliberate attempt to keep out others.

MONA was created because the "MOMS Club of North Arlington" in that area had become too large under the MOMS Club rules (this was early 2000s) and they were told they had to split it up to stay in that organization. So you'd end up with, for example, a MOMS Club of Cherrydale, MOMS Club of Westover, etc. The members wanted to keep the more inclusive, larger group so they separated from the MOMS Club. It was limited to "North Arlington" because there was also a separate "MOMS Club of South Arlington" at the same time that was not being told split up or leave. So the geography rules were not created with an exclusionary intent.

Nobody needs to join it, but I did find it a valuable resource when my kids were little (I participated in a couple playgroups, the babysitting coop, and other outings/events) and continued my membership for a long time after we aged out of most events for the listserv.

Agree. I'm still in MONA and my kids are 12 and 10. I don't relate to a lot of the posts anymore since my kids are older, but there are off topic posts about travel, doctors, etc. I also use the Marketplace - just bought two Under Armour shirts for my younger son for $5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What is MONA?

Mothers of North Arlington. Dues-paying organization. Originally meant to be a network for SAHM, but is now a broad swatch of WAH, SAH, WOH parents. Lots of us joined not for social reasons but because both its buy/sell listserve and its general listserv for posting questions are great resources. Does lots of community service events, fundraisers, and social functions for kids and sometimes just for adults.

It gets a hugely bad rap especially because it is geographically limited only to families in 22201, 22203, 22205, 22207, and 22209. Not south Arlington, Falls Church, or McLean. My understanding is it was originally conceptualized for regional proximity, but many view it as elitist and a deliberate attempt to keep out others.

Another PP here who's lived in 22207 for 15 years and never joined MONA. And survived.

What a breath of fresh air! So tired of that shocked look: "What - you are not in MONA"?
Or: "That's not a good date. MONA has an event that day!"

While they may not have been born out of exclusionary intent, they are exclusionary and snobby now.

[Anonymous]

I'm 22205 and no one talks about MONA events.