OK, the enrollment in June for HB was: 6th: 81 7th: 82 8th: 79 9th: 137 10th: 113 11th: 113 12th: 113 So, maybe a couple of kids leave (people move, kids change their mind) each year and a couple of kids move off the wait list and a couple of kids have admin transfers but there is no evidence that there is massive gaming of the system. The initial lotteries for 6th and 9th are open to the public so I don't see how school board members or anyone else manipulates those. After that, there are pretty limited opportunities for APS admins to give someone a place outside the wait list since a place has to open in the right grade--it's hard to see how anyone would know of multiple times this is has happened when it has to be rare if it happens at all. |
Ok I'll play, Where does APS say that? |
They won't answer that because they can't, they just want to keep their weird little conspiracy theories going. |
I know at least 10-12 have left in one of the current grades through the years due to sports, govt, work, or they didn't like the school. It's probably not an outlier. |
Yes, that's what I said. A couple of kids leave each year--so maybe 10-12 kids in one of the grades over the years. Unless no one ever moves off the wait list--and we know some do--that means there are very limited opportunities for admin transfers into any grade since the total enrollment in each grade is capped except for the increase between 8th and 9th. |
It happens every year. Agree with you that it’s “rare” in the sense of proportional to the overall population of HB and also APS. And I don’t begrudge the families who need that outlet; for the kid we know, the move has been night and day. My problem is that it’s happening at all. I do not support HB, sorry, I think it has no real pedagogy and should be discontinued. I also would never send my children there, as they are STEM and sports focused. But, there are families lining up to get in. It’s a public good and APS says it’s a strict lottery, blind, etc. Then they go a let in admin transfers. Any such transfers are deeply problematic because the whole point of a blind lottery waitlist is to simply move down the waitlist but instead discretion is afforded to APS staff. The entire point of the lottery was to remove staff discretion, as the discretion isn’t race or need or otherwise blind. |
How would the more than would be expected non-multiples siblings be accounted for without saying RNG? Some have even arrived during the same school year and, other than the for 6th grade lottery, we all know that this should be a near impossibility. |
If you think it should be a near impossibility, then take a statistics course please. |
[the chance that you get admitted from a N. Arlington school] * [[the chance that your sibling is at the top of another waitlist] v [the chance that someone(s) above sibling declines waitlist and pushes sibling to top]] * [chance that someone leaves during the (same) year] for multiple families yeah, sounds like this should occur regularly |
There's a higher chance of applying for a slot for a younger sibling when there is already an older sibling there because most families would like to have kids at the same school. There's a higher chance of taking a spot on the waitlist too. |
I hope you're not the one who suggested taking a stats course. We're talking such small numbers (i.e., percent chance) occurring multiple times that it doesn't matter if siblings are more likely to do what you say. It doesn't make that much of a significant difference in absolute terms. You're also assuming that no one wants to go to HB in such large numbers and that clearly isn't true since almost all the kids who have newly arrived are not siblings. It just seems that several cases appear to be a bit more interesting, and not the mental/social/medical/etc reasons why people seem to argue makes HB the best fit for their child. And I'm not going to expound more on this last sentence. If you really need to know (or verify since you'll never believe anyway), ask your kid or their friends, or some teachers, or other parents. |
It would be much easier in high school. In middle school, parents are aggressively trying to get their kids in. By the time high school rolls around, kids who started elsewhere often prefer to stay with friends / sports. I know, not everyone, but the decision is much more student-driven at that age. Our kid was very far down the waitlist and we were shocked when he was offered a spot, but it was 10th grade and by then he had settled in at his neighborhood school (I think this speaks highly of APS, by the way. Lots of parents are scrambling to find alternatives for their kids before they know if the default option might actually be a better fit.) I imagine it's harder for APS to orchestrate an administrative transfer in the middle school years because of the fever-pitch demand. |
If you don't have kids there, how do you know what the pedagogy is (which, by the way, focuses on self-directed learning)? How do you know the extent to which teachers use flipped classrooms, student-directed days, project-driven learning, inquiry-based learning, etc.? Or the extent to which the school as a whole supports and scaffolds self-management, choice, independence, and responsibility to facilitate these learning approaches? And the extent to which this differs from the comprehensive high schools? |
If I really need to know what? I know everything I need to know. I do have a kid at HB. I know families with siblings there. There was no favoritism. They applied through the lottery. I also know families with just one kid there whose other kids did not get in. You are the one who is clueless. |
I know a kid who got in through some "special process." She was a friend of my daughter's. My daughter's group of friends all applied in 8th grade and discussed their lottery number. This particular girl got a lottery number in the 50s or so, making it extremely unlikely she'd get in for HS. Her parents were very upset because their older child went there and the younger sister had some issues at her middle school (family didn't feel supported when they were going through a tragedy). Next thing I know, it's Sept. and I find out the girl is going to HB!
I asked a neighbor about it whose child was also at HB and is friends with this family. She said something to the effect of they got in through a special process. I tried to ask more about this, but she was vague and clearly didn't want to discuss it. |