Weaker Elementary Schools in N Arlington

[Anonymous]

Here is a link to AYP for the past 5 years in Arlington broken down by NCLB groups. As you can see, the white children at Barrett have done just as well as the kids at the other, more affluent N. Arlington schools in both reading and math (98-100% pass rate depending on the year). The entire school met AYP for math last year as well in all groups. So as the PP said in comparing Barrett to Taylor, white kids at both schools are doing pretty much the same.

http://www.apsva.us/cms/lib2/VA01000586/Centricity/Domain/2958/AYP%202008-2011.pdf

[Anonymous]

I regret every minute that we moved from South Arlington to North Arlington. Kids are far more cliquish in N Arlington schools. All Arlingtons school are really good but N Arlington schools have better test results and now, I feel stupid for picking schools based on that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I regret every minute that we moved from South Arlington to North Arlington. Kids are far more cliquish in N Arlington schools. All Arlingtons school are really good but N Arlington schools have better test results and now, I feel stupid for picking schools based on that.

We're in N Arlington but DS goes to a countywide school. We hear from our neighbors and friends about the parent craziness in our neighborhood school and others in N Arlington and are glad we're missing out on it. To us, test scores are sort of irrelevant -- they might not be if we lived in an area with poor public schools but Arlington schools really are quite good, with only a couple of possible exceptions. In any event, we care about how DS does and what he learns, not what everyone else's test scores are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I regret every minute that we moved from South Arlington to North Arlington. Kids are far more cliquish in N Arlington schools. All Arlingtons school are really good but N Arlington schools have better test results and now, I feel stupid for picking schools based on that.

We're in N Arlington but DS goes to a countywide school. We hear from our neighbors and friends about the parent craziness in our neighborhood school and others in N Arlington and are glad we're missing out on it. To us, test scores are sort of irrelevant -- they might not be if we lived in an area with poor public schools but Arlington schools really are quite good, with only a couple of possible exceptions. In any event, we care about how DS does and what he learns, not what everyone else's test scores are.

can you share some?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I regret every minute that we moved from South Arlington to North Arlington. Kids are far more cliquish in N Arlington schools. All Arlingtons school are really good but N Arlington schools have better test results and now, I feel stupid for picking schools based on that.

We're in N Arlington but DS goes to a countywide school. We hear from our neighbors and friends about the parent craziness in our neighborhood school and others in N Arlington and are glad we're missing out on it. To us, test scores are sort of irrelevant -- they might not be if we lived in an area with poor public schools but Arlington schools really are quite good, with only a couple of possible exceptions. In any event, we care about how DS does and what he learns, not what everyone else's test scores are.

can you share some?

Sure - parents complaining at one N Arlington school meeting that stickers were not being taken off apples in the extended day program and that the apples weren't organic. Countywide meeting on ADHD where several N Arlington parents got up to express (they identified themselves by the school of their kids), individually, that if the County would serve only healthy food in the school cafeterias, there'd be less incidence of ADHD.

Those are my two favorites.

Other favorite was when DS played soccer and there was a match between his team (he played for a couple of years on the neighborhood team where his school was located, rather than the team for the N Arlington school/neighborhood where we live) and one of the N Arlington neighborhood teams, the difference in snacks during/after the game was amazing. For DS' team, parents brought various snacks - crackers, string cheese etc. - but the parents of the N Arlington team brought both a larger array of snacks and drinks, and brought tables, plates etc. to serve them on. And lest readers think that the team DS played on was mostly low-income/non-white, that's not the case - most of his teammates were white middle-class kids with college-educated parents, but the difference in the intensity of the parents was, to me, astounding -- both in the way the parents shouted from the sidelines, and the organization/drive that they brought to such mundane things as the post-game snacks.

[Anonymous]

PP, I am glad to know that we are not the only people that feel this way!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I regret every minute that we moved from South Arlington to North Arlington. Kids are far more cliquish in N Arlington schools. All Arlingtons school are really good but N Arlington schools have better test results and now, I feel stupid for picking schools based on that.

We're in N Arlington but DS goes to a countywide school. We hear from our neighbors and friends about the parent craziness in our neighborhood school and others in N Arlington and are glad we're missing out on it. To us, test scores are sort of irrelevant -- they might not be if we lived in an area with poor public schools but Arlington schools really are quite good, with only a couple of possible exceptions. In any event, we care about how DS does and what he learns, not what everyone else's test scores are.

can you share some?

Sure - parents complaining at one N Arlington school meeting that stickers were not being taken off apples in the extended day program and that the apples weren't organic. Countywide meeting on ADHD where several N Arlington parents got up to express (they identified themselves by the school of their kids), individually, that if the County would serve only healthy food in the school cafeterias, there'd be less incidence of ADHD.

Those are my two favorites.

Other favorite was when DS played soccer and there was a match between his team (he played for a couple of years on the neighborhood team where his school was located, rather than the team for the N Arlington school/neighborhood where we live) and one of the N Arlington neighborhood teams, the difference in snacks during/after the game was amazing. For DS' team, parents brought various snacks - crackers, string cheese etc. - but the parents of the N Arlington team brought both a larger array of snacks and drinks, and brought tables, plates etc. to serve them on. And lest readers think that the team DS played on was mostly low-income/non-white, that's not the case - most of his teammates were white middle-class kids with college-educated parents, but the difference in the intensity of the parents was, to me, astounding -- both in the way the parents shouted from the sidelines, and the organization/drive that they brought to such mundane things as the post-game snacks.

but, but, but, was there any juice served???!!!

(tks for sharing!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, I am glad to know that we are not the only people that feel this way!

What's interesting is that our neighbors and people we know in the wider neighborhood are "normal people" - they aren't any different from us and vice versa. We like our neighbors and neighborhood.

But there definitely is such thing as school culture and DS' school (which has an involved parent community) differs markedly in its culture from that of our neighborhood school. I think it's a matter of intensity for the most part, but yes, also diversity (DS' school is very diverse and while that's viewed as a negative by a lot of the people who post on here, it also exposes you to different perspectives/ways of approaching things - which is good practice for the real world as an adult). And the species "North Arlington Parent" definitely has a reputation across the county and it's not all that complimentary. During the couple years that DS played soccer, the just as white and educated parents of the kids on his team often had a lot of snarky comments about N Arlington parents and the assorted neuroses that they attributed to them.

I think the stories that I related above are in some ways "outliers" (as I said, we live in N Arlington and know lots of parents, but at the same time, I hear about the stereotype and periodically see it in action when talking to such outliers at parties etc).

[Anonymous]

I'll further postulate (and have no data to back it up) that those N Arlington parents who select the countywide school options in a lot of cases may be "Type B" rather than "Type A" parents and/or for various reasons want a more diverse school environment for their kids. There's definitely a subset of us who don't want to deal with that level of neuroses, at least in elementary school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'll further postulate (and have no data to back it up) that those N Arlington parents who select the countywide school options in a lot of cases may be "Type B" rather than "Type A" parents and/or for various reasons want a more diverse school environment for their kids. There's definitely a subset of us who don't want to deal with that level of neuroses, at least in elementary school.

Hear, hear. Yet another reason why we love Barrett.....in addition to good academics, the parents are mostly pretty chill.

[Anonymous]

These people are so full of shit. My firstborn Kindergartner just finished a season of Arlington soccer and snacks (if there were any) were from Costco or Safeway out of bags. We go to Science Focus and the parents there and in are nearby neighborhood are incredibly down-to-earth, non-flash/non-pretentious. I have no idea what part of N.Arlington these other posters are talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These people are so full of shit. My firstborn Kindergartner just finished a season of Arlington soccer and snacks (if there were any) were from Costco or Safeway out of bags. We go to Science Focus and the parents there and in are nearby neighborhood are incredibly down-to-earth, non-flash/non-pretentious. I have no idea what part of N.Arlington these other posters are talking about.

there're five divisions, and 43 teams total in ASA U6 soccer this year. your guy played against, what, 7 of them? and you're calling people full of shit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These people are so full of shit. My firstborn Kindergartner just finished a season of Arlington soccer and snacks (if there were any) were from Costco or Safeway out of bags. We go to Science Focus and the parents there and in are nearby neighborhood are incredibly down-to-earth, non-flash/non-pretentious. I have no idea what part of N.Arlington these other posters are talking about.

Talking about parents from schools in the far north of the county - Nottingham, Tuckahoe, Jamestown...

Not full of sh_t at all - saw this firsthand

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:...Countywide meeting on ADHD where several N Arlington parents got up to express (they identified themselves by the school of their kids), individually, that if the County would serve only healthy food in the school cafeterias, there'd be less incidence of ADHD...

this is also true. i was there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These people are so full of shit. My firstborn Kindergartner just finished a season of Arlington soccer and snacks (if there were any) were from Costco or Safeway out of bags. We go to Science Focus and the parents there and in are nearby neighborhood are incredibly down-to-earth, non-flash/non-pretentious. I have no idea what part of N.Arlington these other posters are talking about.

Talking about parents from schools in the far north of the county - Nottingham, Tuckahoe, Jamestown...

Not full of sh_t at all - saw this firsthand

Oldest son also just finished his first season of soccer in Nottingham district and I want to echo what the Science Focus parent said. There weren't any tables and plates for postgame snacks. It was just bags of chips and Capri Suns. Normal people.