All the reasons you are frustrated by, or dislike ACPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As reflected in the what you love about ACPS thread, I dislike ACPS parents who demonize parents whose struggle or face obstacles with ACPS. On that thread, you can see posters attacking a ACPS parent who has struggled with ACPS meeting the needs of their special needs child, as a someone with a victim
complex (rather than a parent deserving compassion).

No. If you look at the other thread, you will see that you deliberately attacked a parent whose child with special needs had a different experience with ACPS than you and your child did. The other parent gently rebutted your assertion that your experience took precedence over theirs. You took umbrage and got upset when the other parent called you out.

Now you're here trying to rile people up again. That's okay because this whole thread is dedicated to unhappy people making themselves more unhappy; however, I am unwilling to let you spew your bile about someone else. (Yes, I know the poster and she is genuinely pleased with their experience.)

I'm no great fan of ACPS but I am unwilling to see people like you spread falsehoods about other parents. Stay in your lane and talk about your experience. We'll all be happier.

Well, I am not the poster you reference. I am the poster who agreed that my special needs child did not do well with virtual learning.

But, contrary to your characterization, in the end, that thread ended up as an attack on special needs parents.

And, the whole problem is that no one will stand up and challenge ACPS. People need to get riled up or nothing will ever get better.

[Anonymous]

Our child with special needs has been very well served by ACPS. Our child is receiving great services and we could not be happier. We are not the only parents of a child with special needs who feels this way.

[Anonymous]

The contrast between the reaction of the US Secretary of Education to the poor post pandemic achievement testing scores at a national level (calling them appalling and unacceptable) compared with ACPS’s reaction to its particular poor scores (trying to explain them away) gets to the heart of ACPS’s unwillingness to address its academic issues head on.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/24/us/math-reading-scores-pandemic.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My feelings are hurt because I’m left out of the secret moms clique.

Jk. I’m not an ACPS parent but dang if there aren’t a lot of people complaining instead of finding something productive to better the schools.

I have another one based on this comment - how because of the entrenched leadership (and the community’s fawning over it) it is impossible to do anything to improve ACPS meaningfully. Said as a former ACPS parent / current Alexandria resident

Run for a position on the school board. Everyone complains but no one is willing to run for office.

But as noted on some of the other ACPS threads, the same type of people who fawn over ACPS seem to always win the school board positions. The same cycle has been happening for years and there is no sign it can be broken.

I think this comes down, in part, to real estate. People in the City of Alexandria are hyper-focused on real estate values and therefore extremely reluctant to admit that the schools are failing. Without that admittance there can be no honest reckoning and subsequent overhaul.

As to why the system is failing: progressive housing and immigration policies have allowed a very small school system to be overrun with challenges, like high ESOL and poverty levels, that the city can't afford or isn't willing to address.

We saw the writing on the wall and moved away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our child with special needs has been very well served by ACPS. Our child is receiving great services and we could not be happier. We are not the only parents of a child with special needs who feels this way.

Depends on the school; depends on the needs. I'm sure there's an elem school within the district that would have been a better fit, but because they would not allow us an adminstrative transfer, we had no way of finding out. We were told, This is your option. Your child with learning disabilities and ADHD will be served just as well in the overcrowded classroom with multiple kids who yell, scream, and throw things, making it impossible to implement their accommodations.

[Anonymous]

People in the City of Alexandria are hyper-focused on real estate values

People literally everywhere are 'hyper focused' on the value of their home. In most cases, it is their biggest asset.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our child with special needs has been very well served by ACPS. Our child is receiving great services and we could not be happier. We are not the only parents of a child with special needs who feels this way.

That's great and I am happy for your family.

But please be sensitive to the fact that only 27% of "students with disabilities" (to use the language VADOE uses) are proficient in reading and only 20% are proficient in math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have TWO days off next week. How?!?! I get it, Diwali, but how about any teacher who doesn't celebrate Diwali uses Monday as their work day, and we just give the handful of Diwali-celebrating teachers subs on Tuesday? It's insane.

Having off for the Jewish High Holy days had been wonderful this year and long overdue. As a school employee AND a parent it is so nice to bed able to observe these religious holidays without needing to use a personal day. In the past school have had teacher work days on religious holidays but I still had to use a personal day and somehow had to make up the work I missed. This is equity in action.

As a Jewish person who doesn’t really care about the high holy days, and doesn’t get off work AND had to pay care for my kid AND has a longer school year because of all these holidays off, you can kindly shove it. When I take off work I too still have to catch up done because I don’t make widgets in a widget factory.

These days off are performative as hell, and extremely disruptive to the cadence of learning in the younger grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our child with special needs has been very well served by ACPS. Our child is receiving great services and we could not be happier. We are not the only parents of a child with special needs who feels this way.

well that's great. Thanks for discounting and dismissing every other family who is not so lucky. Seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The contrast between the reaction of the US Secretary of Education to the poor post pandemic achievement testing scores at a national level (calling them appalling and unacceptable) compared with ACPS’s reaction to its particular poor scores (trying to explain them away) gets to the heart of ACPS’s unwillingness to address its academic issues head on.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/24/us/math-reading-scores-pandemic.html

The Virginia numbers are even worse than the national numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our child with special needs has been very well served by ACPS. Our child is receiving great services and we could not be happier. We are not the only parents of a child with special needs who feels this way.

That's great and I am happy for your family.

But please be sensitive to the fact that only 27% of "students with disabilities" (to use the language VADOE uses) are proficient in reading and only 20% are proficient in math.

And??? How does this invalidate our happiness with the service we are receiving from ACPS? It doesn't.

We're happy with the services that our child has received. If you are not, then you need to proceed with ACPS. However, your outcome does not invalidate ours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have TWO days off next week. How?!?! I get it, Diwali, but how about any teacher who doesn't celebrate Diwali uses Monday as their work day, and we just give the handful of Diwali-celebrating teachers subs on Tuesday? It's insane.

Having off for the Jewish High Holy days had been wonderful this year and long overdue. As a school employee AND a parent it is so nice to bed able to observe these religious holidays without needing to use a personal day. In the past school have had teacher work days on religious holidays but I still had to use a personal day and somehow had to make up the work I missed. This is equity in action.

As a Jewish person who doesn’t really care about the high holy days, and doesn’t get off work AND had to pay care for my kid AND has a longer school year because of all these holidays off, you can kindly shove it. When I take off work I too still have to catch up done because I don’t make widgets in a widget factory.

These days off are performative as hell, and extremely disruptive to the cadence of learning in the younger grades.

+1. Performative as hell sums it up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our child with special needs has been very well served by ACPS. Our child is receiving great services and we could not be happier. We are not the only parents of a child with special needs who feels this way.

That's great and I am happy for your family.

But please be sensitive to the fact that only 27% of "students with disabilities" (to use the language VADOE uses) are proficient in reading and only 20% are proficient in math.

And??? How does this invalidate our happiness with the service we are receiving from ACPS? It doesn't.

We're happy with the services that our child has received. If you are not, then you need to proceed with ACPS. However, your outcome does not invalidate ours.

Different poster: The statistics do not invalidate your personal experience but your personal experience does not mean that ACPS does not have a systemic problem meeting the needs of special needs students. The statistics reflect that systemic problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our child with special needs has been very well served by ACPS. Our child is receiving great services and we could not be happier. We are not the only parents of a child with special needs who feels this way.

That's great and I am happy for your family.

But please be sensitive to the fact that only 27% of "students with disabilities" (to use the language VADOE uses) are proficient in reading and only 20% are proficient in math.

And??? How does this invalidate our happiness with the service we are receiving from ACPS? It doesn't.

We're happy with the services that our child has received. If you are not, then you need to proceed with ACPS. However, your outcome does not invalidate ours.

Different poster: The statistics do not invalidate your personal experience but your personal experience does not mean that ACPS does not have a systemic problem meeting the needs of special needs students. The statistics reflect that systemic problem.

Please point out where this was even part of my post. I'll wait ... You can't. So stop disparaging my post and trying to turn it into some kind of argument that suits your narrative and only your narrative.

My advice to you is to stop trying to fight with everyone. You might actually begin to get somewhere if you become less confrontational. I am convinced that one of the primary reasons why our child has been so successful with ACPS is because we don't see them as the enemy and we are not argumentative a-holes every time we talk to them. We treat the ACPS teachers and admin like the professionals they are, and they treat us like the knowledgeable and concerned parents that we are. I have gotten everything that I have wanted for my child when I've asked for it and, in fact, they have given our child more than we've asked for.

There are other parents like me. They work with the school system and the school system works with them. Try it sometime. You'll be amazed at the results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our child with special needs has been very well served by ACPS. Our child is receiving great services and we could not be happier. We are not the only parents of a child with special needs who feels this way.

That's great and I am happy for your family.

But please be sensitive to the fact that only 27% of "students with disabilities" (to use the language VADOE uses) are proficient in reading and only 20% are proficient in math.

And??? How does this invalidate our happiness with the service we are receiving from ACPS? It doesn't.

We're happy with the services that our child has received. If you are not, then you need to proceed with ACPS. However, your outcome does not invalidate ours.

Different poster: The statistics do not invalidate your personal experience but your personal experience does not mean that ACPS does not have a systemic problem meeting the needs of special needs students. The statistics reflect that systemic problem.

Please point out where this was even part of my post. I'll wait ... You can't. So stop disparaging my post and trying to turn it into some kind of argument that suits your narrative and only your narrative.

My advice to you is to stop trying to fight with everyone. You might actually begin to get somewhere if you become less confrontational. I am convinced that one of the primary reasons why our child has been so successful with ACPS is because we don't see them as the enemy and we are not argumentative a-holes every time we talk to them. We treat the ACPS teachers and admin like the professionals they are, and they treat us like the knowledgeable and concerned parents that we are. I have gotten everything that I have wanted for my child when I've asked for it and, in fact, they have given our child more than we've asked for.

There are other parents like me. They work with the school system and the school system works with them. Try it sometime. You'll be amazed at the results.

You keep denying that others have difficulties with ACPS and blame the parents for it.

You have proven yourself to be a selfish a hole. I feel no remorse trying to advocate for my child.