So over APS

[Anonymous]

This is not a new phenomenon. APS has been on a decline for a while. The pandemic has just shown a huge spotlight on it. Parents are now seeing the reality of an APS education. Lots are wisely abandoning ship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been defending APS for over a year. I am finally throwing in the towel. We all have problems, but the fall out lands only on one side. The kids. They are blamed for everything. Didn’t have a teacher who reminded you that you had an SOL? Your fault. Didn’t hover over your stupid canvas account to make sure the assignment was uploaded and stuck? Your fault. It’s late or missing. My chilled out DS has all As except for 2 B+s this year,, he is a total stress ball now waiting to see how they’re gonna screw him over with malfunctioning tech, MIA teachers, emails from the principal so confusing I have no idea what that guy means— yet it’s his fault. I’m ready for APS to lay off 50% of the staff starting with the principals.

This is always true. If you want to check up on your kid in Canvas, go ahead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not a new phenomenon. APS has been on a decline for a while. The pandemic has just shown a huge spotlight on it. Parents are now seeing the reality of an APS education. Lots are wisely abandoning ship.

Yes, we and others we know are seriously contemplating other areas regionally or nationally. We just are waiting for the green light from our offices. But, why spend exorbitant amounts of money to live somewhere and have your child receive no to a maybe subpar education? Makes no sense really. Live somewhere else more affordable and get a better return on your education investment. Win win.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not a new phenomenon. APS has been on a decline for a while. The pandemic has just shown a huge spotlight on it. Parents are now seeing the reality of an APS education. Lots are wisely abandoning ship.

Yes, we and others we know are seriously contemplating other areas regionally or nationally. We just are waiting for the green light from our offices. But, why spend exorbitant amounts of money to live somewhere and have your child receive no to a maybe subpar education? Makes no sense really. Live somewhere else more affordable and get a better return on your education investment. Win win.

Spot on. My kid has been in APS for 10 years, and I’ve always been under the impression it was good. Now I know better. With so many APS apologists around, it’s hard to make the case that the quality is not there. You get hit with all the BS from posters above about being a helicopter parents, it being a pandemic, it being Thursday. The excuse du jour. It’s NEVER APS’s fault. Always the fault of parents and kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None of my kids are straight A, but I get it. My APS kid has a few lower grades than she should because she thought she submitted assignments on-time but they didn't post correctly and teachers won't fix it. We didn't even try, it's just not worth it at this point, but it is frustrating.

I've also tried to find assignments on CANVAS before and it's so hard to navigate I can't believe it.

It's frustrating.

Yup.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm with you, OP. My kid is younger and we've faced the same attitude.

Someone sent me this video and it hit me how that wasn't our experience at all in APS. There was no stepping up. It was never fun or engaging. It's been awful.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CPQUKNhhrkV/?utm_medium=copy_link

Instead, my kid's teacher told her class of 7 yos that parents who picked hybrid wanted teachers to get sick and die. She told them that she felt unsafe and burst into tears.

Nice story, but didn’t happen.

Different PP and I just want to say that I didn’t hear of this exact situation, but I know of three teachers at my high school who said this to their classes

No you don’t.

I do. I'm a teacher at one of the high schools

[Anonymous]

Funny. I actually see it the other way. In APS for 9 years. Among the parents in this system, it’s NEVER the kid or families’ fault. Always the school. People this privileged SHOULD leave for private schools. They are there for you. There are a LOT of entitled folks with the money for private. Go there. They will hold your hand (and your kids)!and tell your kid is a genius. In my opinion, teacher do too much handholding even in APS. If your work wasn’t properly submitted, it’s late. It’s on you to figure out the tech if you’re in middle or high school. Its 4th quarter. Take some responsibility for your work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not a new phenomenon. APS has been on a decline for a while. The pandemic has just shown a huge spotlight on it. Parents are now seeing the reality of an APS education. Lots are wisely abandoning ship.

Yes, we and others we know are seriously contemplating other areas regionally or nationally. We just are waiting for the green light from our offices. But, why spend exorbitant amounts of money to live somewhere and have your child receive no to a maybe subpar education? Makes no sense really. Live somewhere else more affordable and get a better return on your education investment. Win win.

Spot on. My kid has been in APS for 10 years, and I’ve always been under the impression it was good. Now I know better. With so many APS apologists around, it’s hard to make the case that the quality is not there. You get hit with all the BS from posters above about being a helicopter parents, it being a pandemic, it being Thursday. The excuse du jour. It’s NEVER APS’s fault. Always the fault of parents and kids.

That definitely came to light this year. The educational quality is just so average. Add to that they put in very little effort getting kids back in the classroom. They put out a mediocre (at best) product this year.

[Anonymous]

I really don't understand the APS apologists. We all agree that APS teachers were unhappy this year, right? They got poor info from administrators and a constantly changing story. The tech was terrible. The RTS planning atrocious. Disorganized and ever changing. So why is it so hard to believe that many teachers had terrible morale and underperformed? There was no incentive to do better. There was no enthusiasm. It was a long and terrible slog. I'm sure some with a naturally peppy disposition managed to keep their pep, but that surely wasn't universal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not a new phenomenon. APS has been on a decline for a while. The pandemic has just shown a huge spotlight on it. Parents are now seeing the reality of an APS education. Lots are wisely abandoning ship.

Yes, we and others we know are seriously contemplating other areas regionally or nationally. We just are waiting for the green light from our offices. But, why spend exorbitant amounts of money to live somewhere and have your child receive no to a maybe subpar education? Makes no sense really. Live somewhere else more affordable and get a better return on your education investment. Win win.

So what other areas of the country would have better schools, plus a high level of education and access to culture and things to do? Elitist maybe, but I’m not moving to (insert large Midwestern city here).
Maybe PNW area?

[Anonymous]

I really don't understand the APS apologists. We all agree that APS teachers were unhappy this year, right? They got poor info from administrators and a constantly changing story. The tech was terrible. The RTS planning atrocious. Disorganized and ever changing. So why is it so hard to believe that many teachers had terrible morale and underperformed? There was no incentive to do better. There was no enthusiasm. It was a long and terrible slog. I'm sure some with a naturally peppy disposition managed to keep their pep, but that surely wasn't universal.

Oh, I see, we are judging teacher quality on how "peppy" teachers are.

[Anonymous]

I am also way over APS. Have had at least 1 kid in APS for 8 years and I never thought the schools were amazing, but this year has been especially bad. In several cases, I feel like my kids' teachers have gone out of their way to make it unpleasant and punitive.

The fact that APS started the year talking about trauma-informed teaching and building community would be laughable to me now, except that my kids have genuinely suffered (yes, we did have a family member die of covid, right at the start of the school year. And no, my kids' teachers could not have given less of a shit).

We can't afford private and I can't work remotely, so unless we do a major life overhaul, we're stuck. And that kind of overhaul feels like too much to put my kids through at this point, but trust me, I've considered it many, many times this year.

[Anonymous]

I am also way over APS. Have had at least 1 kid in APS for 8 years and I never thought the schools were amazing, but this year has been especially bad. In several cases, I feel like my kids' teachers have gone out of their way to make it unpleasant and punitive.

The fact that APS started the year talking about trauma-informed teaching and building community would be laughable to me now, except that my kids have genuinely suffered (yes, we did have a family member die of covid, right at the start of the school year. And no, my kids' teachers could not have given less of a shit).

We can't afford private and I can't work remotely, so unless we do a major life overhaul, we're stuck. And that kind of overhaul feels like too much to put my kids through at this point, but trust me, I've considered it many, many times this year.

So sorry for your loss, PP. What school does your kid attend?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I am also way over APS. Have had at least 1 kid in APS for 8 years and I never thought the schools were amazing, but this year has been especially bad. In several cases, I feel like my kids' teachers have gone out of their way to make it unpleasant and punitive.

The fact that APS started the year talking about trauma-informed teaching and building community would be laughable to me now, except that my kids have genuinely suffered (yes, we did have a family member die of covid, right at the start of the school year. And no, my kids' teachers could not have given less of a shit).

We can't afford private and I can't work remotely, so unless we do a major life overhaul, we're stuck. And that kind of overhaul feels like too much to put my kids through at this point, but trust me, I've considered it many, many times this year.

So sorry for your loss, PP. What school does your kid attend?

Thanks. I have kids at 2 different APS schools and would prefer not to disclose on here. I don't think our situation is especially unique based on conversations I have had with other families--not around losing a family member (we are the only ones I personally know in that camp) but around the general poor handling of various circumstances: kids whose parents can't WFH and so are unsupervised, kids who have IEPs and/or are ELLs--no one I have spoken with has thought APS has done a good or even adequate job. And I mean from the very top (though I think Duran is fine) down to the classroom level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not a new phenomenon. APS has been on a decline for a while. The pandemic has just shown a huge spotlight on it. Parents are now seeing the reality of an APS education. Lots are wisely abandoning ship.

Yes, we and others we know are seriously contemplating other areas regionally or nationally. We just are waiting for the green light from our offices. But, why spend exorbitant amounts of money to live somewhere and have your child receive no to a maybe subpar education? Makes no sense really. Live somewhere else more affordable and get a better return on your education investment. Win win.

So what other areas of the country would have better schools, plus a high level of education and access to culture and things to do? Elitist maybe, but I’m not moving to (insert large Midwestern city here).
Maybe PNW area?

Elitist? I don't know; but definitely snobbish and arrogant. Hailing from the mid-west, I assure you there are many high quality of life areas of culture and things to do and excellent educational systems and universities.