APS Middle School Boundaries?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:100 students is amazing.

100 at one school is amazing.

I wonder why they stayed at the school after moving. Location more convenient than the FCPS school? FCPS schools are that terrible?

They never moved. It was a sham from the get go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll admit my kid is at ATS and I wonder about that sometimes. When my last kid was in 5th, there was no process to confirm residency and that was only a few years ago. Mine is in 5th now and we went through the confirmation process but I haven't seen any numbers.

I wonder what APS-wide numbers are...anybody got mad sloothing skills?

There is lots of data here, https://www.apsva.us/statistics/enrollment/

This includes the monthly enrollment report which tells the number of students enrolled at the end of each month Sept-June, BUT I haven't found the total capacity for middle schools. The class size report seems to indicate whether each english, math, etc. class is over or under enrolled, but that speaks to the number of teachers allocated as well as school size. So now I'm wondering what the basis is for saying a school is over capacity. I don't doubt schools are, but I can't find the data. Can anyone else share?

I looked at February which is when, I think, we confirmed and May and I'm right, ATS lost 20. It's not a perfect measure b/c they offer waitlist slots all year to keep the school full so I'm not sure when they stop doing that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'll admit my kid is at ATS and I wonder about that sometimes. When my last kid was in 5th, there was no process to confirm residency and that was only a few years ago. Mine is in 5th now and we went through the confirmation process but I haven't seen any numbers.

I wonder what APS-wide numbers are...anybody got mad sloothing skills?

would this be available by FOIA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HB needs to go. This pathways program should be the impetus. It doesn’t enroll enough students to be anything but an unfair lottery indulgence AND “democratic caring community” is not a thing. The rest of the county should get together and demand that it be shut down and used for a real need.

So non-HB schools are authoritarian, ruthless serfdom? Like if you have one pathway for the Democratic and caring, what does that say about what you’re leaving behind?

It was a feeble and inept attempt by the principal of HB to describe its "pathway." I don't think Syphax academic staff even bothered to write it, probably because they're clueless but also because nobody seems to be able to define HB's unique instructional program. I think the SB suggested eliminating that phrase for the exact reason people here are saying. Personally, I think if you can't justify your program with a meaningful description of what it is, there's no real need for the program.

HB program description (old): kids struggling in traditional school environment because of dyslexia or other mild LD, high interest in arts or theater or writing, and likes pot

HB program description (now): private school classroom size available to a select few lottery winners

You could not be more ignorant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll admit my kid is at ATS and I wonder about that sometimes. When my last kid was in 5th, there was no process to confirm residency and that was only a few years ago. Mine is in 5th now and we went through the confirmation process but I haven't seen any numbers.

I wonder what APS-wide numbers are...anybody got mad sloothing skills?

There is lots of data here, https://www.apsva.us/statistics/enrollment/

This includes the monthly enrollment report which tells the number of students enrolled at the end of each month Sept-June, BUT I haven't found the total capacity for middle schools. The class size report seems to indicate whether each english, math, etc. class is over or under enrolled, but that speaks to the number of teachers allocated as well as school size. So now I'm wondering what the basis is for saying a school is over capacity. I don't doubt schools are, but I can't find the data. Can anyone else share?

Go here and click on the AFSAP report with executive summary. There’s a table showing the capacities for all the schools as of 20-21

https://www.apsva.us/engage/engage-past-initiatives/afsapreport/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:100 students is amazing.

100 at one school is amazing.

I wonder why they stayed at the school after moving. Location more convenient than the FCPS school? FCPS schools are that terrible?

Some is families who move around a lot due to $ problems, and some is people who never lived here but work nearby and it’s more convenient and APS is considered “better,” and some is people who live just over the border and this school is closer/more convenient/better than the one they are zoned to attend. It’s unfortunate, but we just don’t have infinite space or resources for all those kids.

[Anonymous]

They still giving lip service to moving immersion to meet the needs of inane vision board. So disrupt boundaries and turn hundreds of walkers to bus riders SOLELY to benefit Immersion? That should be DOA, and not given even the pixels on the page.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They still giving lip service to moving immersion to meet the needs of inane vision board. So disrupt boundaries and turn hundreds of walkers to bus riders SOLELY to benefit Immersion? That should be DOA, and not given even the pixels on the page.

My kid is not in immersion but I've always supported it b/c I assumed that native speakers wanted it. With only 300 in MS, I'm not quite sure that's ture any more and no, we should not upend MS boarders b/c of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They still giving lip service to moving immersion to meet the needs of inane vision board. So disrupt boundaries and turn hundreds of walkers to bus riders SOLELY to benefit Immersion? That should be DOA, and not given even the pixels on the page.

My kid is not in immersion but I've always supported it b/c I assumed that native speakers wanted it. With only 300 in MS, I'm not quite sure that's ture any more and no, we should not upend MS boarders b/c of them.

Native speaker families, in particular those receiving EL services at neighborhood schools zoned to Kenmore really don’t want immersion in the same numbers as APS would like, it’s not a matter of not having access. They just want their kids to learn English and as quickly as possible and don’t see a benefit to Spanish immersion. APS would like more of those kids in immersion because long-term educational outcomes appear better for native speakers who go through immersion. But it’s not clear to me whether or not they have data that can break out family income or educational levels, to ascertain whether it’s correlated to higher income and education in the families who choose immersion and not necessarily due to the model of immersion itself. What is clear to me is they need to do a better job of marketing the program to EL families prior to K. Moving the MS program might encourage more Key families to stay in, but at the same time, if you move the program to Kenmore you are making that school less diverse by concentrating Hispanic kids, possibly encouraging Hispanic kids away from Swanson and Hamm, and missing an opportunity to encourage diversity at N Arlington middle schools. It’s complicated and they need to weigh all of these aspects before making such a change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They still giving lip service to moving immersion to meet the needs of inane vision board. So disrupt boundaries and turn hundreds of walkers to bus riders SOLELY to benefit Immersion? That should be DOA, and not given even the pixels on the page.

My kid is not in immersion but I've always supported it b/c I assumed that native speakers wanted it. With only 300 in MS, I'm not quite sure that's ture any more and no, we should not upend MS boarders b/c of them.

Native speaker families, in particular those receiving EL services at neighborhood schools zoned to Kenmore really don’t want immersion in the same numbers as APS would like, it’s not a matter of not having access. They just want their kids to learn English and as quickly as possible and don’t see a benefit to Spanish immersion. APS would like more of those kids in immersion because long-term educational outcomes appear better for native speakers who go through immersion. But it’s not clear to me whether or not they have data that can break out family income or educational levels, to ascertain whether it’s correlated to higher income and education in the families who choose immersion and not necessarily due to the model of immersion itself. What is clear to me is they need to do a better job of marketing the program to EL families prior to K. Moving the MS program might encourage more Key families to stay in, but at the same time, if you move the program to Kenmore you are making that school less diverse by concentrating Hispanic kids, possibly encouraging Hispanic kids away from Swanson and Hamm, and missing an opportunity to encourage diversity at N Arlington middle schools. It’s complicated and they need to weigh all of these aspects before making such a change.

The people I know who choose immersion are moderately, wealthy, usually south American, married to a white person. They want their kids to maintain Spanish but it’s a little bit harder with a spouse who doesn’t exclusively speak it at home so they choose immersion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:100 students is amazing.

100 at one school is amazing.

Yes! So much for the people who used to say; “residency fraud is way overblown and not that common!” But yes, it is, 100 kids at ONE school, caught from one grade verification! We were going to redraw boundaries for kids who shouldn’t be in the system. Please, more address verification! And they need to do it more frequently than just K, 5th and 8th.

[Anonymous]

IS there a report that shows the breakdown of all the kids moved out of APS due to the verification process? Interesting there were 100 at one school, but what is the whole picture, by school and grade?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IS there a report that shows the breakdown of all the kids moved out of APS due to the verification process? Interesting there were 100 at one school, but what is the whole picture, by school and grade?

Yes show us the data!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They still giving lip service to moving immersion to meet the needs of inane vision board. So disrupt boundaries and turn hundreds of walkers to bus riders SOLELY to benefit Immersion? That should be DOA, and not given even the pixels on the page.

My kid is not in immersion but I've always supported it b/c I assumed that native speakers wanted it. With only 300 in MS, I'm not quite sure that's ture any more and no, we should not upend MS boarders b/c of them.

Native speaker families, in particular those receiving EL services at neighborhood schools zoned to Kenmore really don’t want immersion in the same numbers as APS would like, it’s not a matter of not having access. They just want their kids to learn English and as quickly as possible and don’t see a benefit to Spanish immersion. APS would like more of those kids in immersion because long-term educational outcomes appear better for native speakers who go through immersion. But it’s not clear to me whether or not they have data that can break out family income or educational levels, to ascertain whether it’s correlated to higher income and education in the families who choose immersion and not necessarily due to the model of immersion itself. What is clear to me is they need to do a better job of marketing the program to EL families prior to K. Moving the MS program might encourage more Key families to stay in, but at the same time, if you move the program to Kenmore you are making that school less diverse by concentrating Hispanic kids, possibly encouraging Hispanic kids away from Swanson and Hamm, and missing an opportunity to encourage diversity at N Arlington middle schools. It’s complicated and they need to weigh all of these aspects before making such a change.

The people I know who choose immersion are moderately, wealthy, usually south American, married to a white person. They want their kids to maintain Spanish but it’s a little bit harder with a spouse who doesn’t exclusively speak it at home so they choose immersion.

Honest question. Do you hang out in a circle where you would know a lot of low income likely immigrant families who only speak Spanish and would you be able to have conversations with them about their choice to attend or not attend immersion.

Anyway, going to an immersion school I can say there are certainly the a fair share of the folks listed above but there also lots of families who are the later. I think a lot of the families who only speak Spanish chose immersion because it's a more welcoming environment. My husband grew up in a house that only spoke Spanish. His mom was beat by her teachers for speaking Spanish. She eventually devoted her life to Bilingual education so she could help children like her feels welcome. When my husband and I had kids he had a strong desire to send the kids to immersion.

He loves immersion because it is accepting of his culture. He feels welcomed more so than he does in all white english spaces.

He also loves it because it gives English speaking families and opportunity to understand the hardships that come when you can speak or understand the language spoken. There have been many times in my years volunteering in immersion where I (English speaking) have to communicate and work with families who only speak Spanish. I value those times and the opportunity it gave me to figure out how to communicate and work together through language barriers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They still giving lip service to moving immersion to meet the needs of inane vision board. So disrupt boundaries and turn hundreds of walkers to bus riders SOLELY to benefit Immersion? That should be DOA, and not given even the pixels on the page.

My kid is not in immersion but I've always supported it b/c I assumed that native speakers wanted it. With only 300 in MS, I'm not quite sure that's ture any more and no, we should not upend MS boarders b/c of them.

Native speaker families, in particular those receiving EL services at neighborhood schools zoned to Kenmore really don’t want immersion in the same numbers as APS would like, it’s not a matter of not having access. They just want their kids to learn English and as quickly as possible and don’t see a benefit to Spanish immersion. APS would like more of those kids in immersion because long-term educational outcomes appear better for native speakers who go through immersion. But it’s not clear to me whether or not they have data that can break out family income or educational levels, to ascertain whether it’s correlated to higher income and education in the families who choose immersion and not necessarily due to the model of immersion itself. What is clear to me is they need to do a better job of marketing the program to EL families prior to K. Moving the MS program might encourage more Key families to stay in, but at the same time, if you move the program to Kenmore you are making that school less diverse by concentrating Hispanic kids, possibly encouraging Hispanic kids away from Swanson and Hamm, and missing an opportunity to encourage diversity at N Arlington middle schools. It’s complicated and they need to weigh all of these aspects before making such a change.

The people I know who choose immersion are moderately, wealthy, usually south American, married to a white person. They want their kids to maintain Spanish but it’s a little bit harder with a spouse who doesn’t exclusively speak it at home so they choose immersion.

The kids I know with this profile are in the program as native English speakers, not native Spanish. Those are homes where English is the predominant language because both parents aren't fluent in Spanish.