McLean vs. Arlington Schools

[Anonymous]

Privates are not equipped to handle gifted kids. We toured several and none of those we saw could offer the differentiation and accelleration that the AAP center program provides. We plan to stick with public and re evaluate at middle and high school to see if there are privates that can offer more independent study than public can.

[Anonymous]

To the person who posted this:

So, I finally meet one of the crazies that want us out.

Our base school does not have level IV AAP.
Our kids are not using your coveted SACC spot.
And no, siblings cannot attend Haycock. It has been closed to transfers for several years.
My kids are just as entitled to a "free and appropriate" education as yours are, so you really need to get over yourself.

I am not crazy just because I want my kid to have a school that is not crowded.

So what if your local school doesn''t have a Level IV AAP, and you don't personally use SACC? You're still taking up space at the school, that is not technically in your neighborhood. I may have been wrong about the siblings thing, but the only reason it is closed to transfers is that it is ridiculous how overcrowded it is.

You are "entitled" to a free, quality education (or blessed enough to live in the US/Fairfax county where your taxes get you one) but it doesn't mean it's smart for FCPS to be having all these kids crowd one school because of the perceived "better" education that kids are getting their than at their neighborhood school.

One of the first grade teachers is using the former teachers lounge as a classroom. There's no more space for a teachers' lounge at Haycock. THAT's how crowded it is.

You're telling me that none of the Level IV AAP kids use or are on the waitlist for SACC? That's just plain not true.

It's nothing personal, I just think it's a stupid system of AAP, and it didn't used to be that way when I was a kid in the GT program in FCPS. That is all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree about the SACC thing. I'm at a Mclean elementary school, Haycock, and we're in first grade now and have been on the waitlist for SACC for 2 years. (I got in in August of 2010 for my child who was in kindergarten in 2011-2012). I've had to find private before and aftercare for my child since there's no space for him at the school. (only 30 spots, from what I hear.)

Because Haycock is a AAP-center school, it is severely overcrowded. When you're in 3rd grade in FCPS, you have the choice, if your kid is "gifted" enough, to send them to the level 3 instruction at your local school, or send them to a "center" AAP level 4 instruction where all the classes are AAP. Right now there are more center based kids at Haycock then base school kids (more kids from outside the immediate boundary than inside.) There are 968 kids in the school, and many of them would be going to nearby Lemon Road or Chesterbrook, but because Haycock is the center they, AND THEIR SIBLINGS, can opt to go to Haycock.

The school is so overcrowded and had I known what I know now about this and SACC, I might have looked harder at Arlington. Only FCPS does this with non-guaranteed SACC--not Montgomery, not Arlington, not Loudon. And I don't know why all these snowflakes can't just go to their base school for GT/AAP services, or FCPS can't just have more centers. It's elementary school people. CHILLAX! And stop coming into my boundary school.

Not sure about this year, but last year the enrollment at Haycock was around 850 students. Approximately 44% were in the AAP program and, of course, a substantial number of those kids had Haycock as their base school. I don't believe FCPS has released statistics for the current school year yet.

FCPS could make some changes with the AAP assignments - for example, they could move some of the Sherman AAP kids at Haycock to the Churchill Road center and many of the Spring Hill kids at the Churchill Road center to the Great Falls center. Great Falls (the location) has become less popular in recent years, so the ES - unlike Haycock - is projected to have substantial capacity in the coming years. And, of course, FCPS can also expand Haycock's capacity when it renovates the school in a few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the person who posted this:

So, I finally meet one of the crazies that want us out.

Our base school does not have level IV AAP.
Our kids are not using your coveted SACC spot.
And no, siblings cannot attend Haycock. It has been closed to transfers for several years.
My kids are just as entitled to a "free and appropriate" education as yours are, so you really need to get over yourself.

I am not crazy just because I want my kid to have a school that is not crowded.

So what if your local school doesn''t have a Level IV AAP, and you don't personally use SACC? You're still taking up space at the school, that is not technically in your neighborhood. I may have been wrong about the siblings thing, but the only reason it is closed to transfers is that it is ridiculous how overcrowded it is.

You are "entitled" to a free, quality education (or blessed enough to live in the US/Fairfax county where your taxes get you one) but it doesn't mean it's smart for FCPS to be having all these kids crowd one school because of the perceived "better" education that kids are getting their than at their neighborhood school.

One of the first grade teachers is using the former teachers lounge as a classroom. There's no more space for a teachers' lounge at Haycock. THAT's how crowded it is.

You're telling me that none of the Level IV AAP kids use or are on the waitlist for SACC? That's just plain not true.

It's nothing personal, I just think it's a stupid system of AAP, and it didn't used to be that way when I was a kid in the GT program in FCPS. That is all.

Yes, my kids are taking up space...at a school that FCPS assigned them to. Our base school is also overcrowded. Are you more entitled to two empty chairs than the parents at their previous school?

If you were in FCPS GT as a kid, you would know that it actually was this way. I lived in Oakton. I was bussed to Louise Archer for elementary and all the way to Longfellow for middle school. Haycock has been a GT center for many, many years. I can't imagine you didn't know it was a center and that children assigned to other schools would be attending when you bought your house.

You say it's "nothing personal" but it really is. We have felt completely unwelcome for the past few years. I have come to terms that my husband and I will never be considered part of your school community, and I am totally fine with that. My kids are getting the education they need and they love their school.

[Anonymous]

Haycock has buses that go to the SACC afterschool programs at the base schools which feed into it. Parents are welcome to go private, but I'm pretty sure not all of those base school SACC rooms are filled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Yes, my kids are taking up space...at a school that FCPS assigned them to. Our base school is also overcrowded. Are you more entitled to two empty chairs than the parents at their previous school?

If you were in FCPS GT as a kid, you would know that it actually was this way. I lived in Oakton. I was bussed to Louise Archer for elementary and all the way to Longfellow for middle school. Haycock has been a GT center for many, many years. I can't imagine you didn't know it was a center and that children assigned to other schools would be attending when you bought your house.

You say it's "nothing personal" but it really is. We have felt completely unwelcome for the past few years. I have come to terms that my husband and I will never be considered part of your school community, and I am totally fine with that. My kids are getting the education they need and they love their school.

Not the poster to whom you were responding, but the GT/AAP programs in Fairfax were not always so extensive and did not involve similar numbers of students attending out-of-boundary GT centers. So you and the other poster may have had very different experiences with GT programs, depending on your age. From all accounts, the enrollment in Haycock has been growing very rapidly in recent years - it sounds as if the school added at least another 75 students this year over last year's enrollment. That's more than FCPS was projecting, so I'm not sure how the other poster could have anticipated it.

Personally, I don't think anyone should be criticized for taking advantage of the best programs available to their kids, whether at a base school or a GT center. However, the out-of-boundary parents might at least acknowledge that the schools in question are well above-capacity. The issues at Haycock are not unique. Our experience at a nearby middle school with a large AAP program a few years ago was that some GT/AAP parents simply refused to acknowledge that there was any issue; that it was strange that some kids had to eat lunch at ridiculously early times; that kids were jostling each other in the halls due to the over-crowding; or that it might be appropriate to consider reassigning some of GT kids to another AAP center. Fortunately, FCPS went ahead and reassigned some of the GT/AAP kids to the other center, which has substantially alleviated the over-crowding (at least for now).

[Anonymous]

The issue at Haycock is more specific than wanting some AAP kids reassigned. The parents specifically want to keep the McLean schools assigned to Haycock and lose the more diverse Falls Church schools assigned to Haycock...which is kind of silly considering that Haycock is in Falls Church.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The issue at Haycock is more specific than wanting some AAP kids reassigned. The parents specifically want to keep the McLean schools assigned to Haycock and lose the more diverse Falls Church schools assigned to Haycock...which is kind of silly considering that Haycock is in Falls Church.

There's a fair amount of disparity within FCPS in the number of schools served by the GT centers. Churchill Road only serves three schools; Colvin Run serves two; McNair serves three. In comparison, Haycock serves seven, Archer in Vienna serves eight and Belvedere over in Falls Church serves nine. I can see why some people at Haycock might prefer to have another AAP center at a school like Stenwood or Cunningham Park and then have Shrevewood and Timber Lane reassigned to that center. That would reduce the size of the AAP programs at both Archer and Haycock. It doesn't necessarily mean that people think ill of the AAP kids from the Falls Church schools.

I don't think "the parents" speak with one voice, or in a single tone. Maybe some are nasty and rub you the wrong way. I'm also sure others are not. But I don't think you should take it personally if some people just want to discuss what makes the most sense logistically going forward.

[Anonymous]

It would be a lot simpler for them to reassign Franklin Sherman kids to Churchill than to create a new center altogether.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Not sure about this year, but last year the enrollment at Haycock was around 850 students. Approximately 44% were in the AAP program and, of course, a substantial number of those kids had Haycock as their base school. I don't believe FCPS has released statistics for the current school year yet.

Haycock AAP students for 2012-2013 by base school and grade level:

Chesterbrook: 3rd: 6 4th: 6 5th: 12 6th: 20 TOTAL: 44
Franklin Sherman: 3rd: 18 4th: 23 5th: 17 6th: 16 TOTAL: 74
Haycock: 3rd: 29 4th: 48 5th: 39 6th: 34 TOTAL: 150
Lemon Road (has LLIV): 3rd: 2 4th: 0 5th: 5 6th: 2 TOTAL: 9
Shrevewood (has LLIV): 3rd: 28 4th: 21 5th: 12 6th: 9 TOTAL: 70
Timber Lane: 3rd: 6 4th: 4 5th: 3 6th: 5 TOTAL: 18
Westgate (has LLIV): 3rd: 19 4th: 20 5th: 11 6th: 11 TOTAL: 61
TOTALS: 3rd: 108 4th: 122 5th: 99 6th: 97 TOTAL: 426

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It would be a lot simpler for them to reassign Franklin Sherman kids to Churchill than to create a new center altogether.

The Churchill Road parents fought that off four or five years ago, but it might make sense to reconsider. FCPS is now projecting that Churchill Road is going to lose students over the next four years. But they ought to decide soon, as the same time as they are nailing down how much they want to expand Haycock's capacity as part of its upcoming renovation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Not sure about this year, but last year the enrollment at Haycock was around 850 students. Approximately 44% were in the AAP program and, of course, a substantial number of those kids had Haycock as their base school. I don't believe FCPS has released statistics for the current school year yet.

Haycock AAP students for 2012-2013 by base school and grade level:

Chesterbrook: 3rd: 6 4th: 6 5th: 12 6th: 20 TOTAL: 44
Franklin Sherman: 3rd: 18 4th: 23 5th: 17 6th: 16 TOTAL: 74
Haycock: 3rd: 29 4th: 48 5th: 39 6th: 34 TOTAL: 150
Lemon Road (has LLIV): 3rd: 2 4th: 0 5th: 5 6th: 2 TOTAL: 9
Shrevewood (has LLIV): 3rd: 28 4th: 21 5th: 12 6th: 9 TOTAL: 70
Timber Lane: 3rd: 6 4th: 4 5th: 3 6th: 5 TOTAL: 18
Westgate (has LLIV): 3rd: 19 4th: 20 5th: 11 6th: 11 TOTAL: 61
TOTALS: 3rd: 108 4th: 122 5th: 99 6th: 97 TOTAL: 426

Where did you get these numbers?

And you've got your LLIV info all mixed up. Of the schools listed, only Chesterbrook and Timber Lane have LLIV. The others do not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree about the SACC thing. I'm at a Mclean elementary school, Haycock, and we're in first grade now and have been on the waitlist for SACC for 2 years. (I got in in August of 2010 for my child who was in kindergarten in 2011-2012). I've had to find private before and aftercare for my child since there's no space for him at the school. (only 30 spots, from what I hear.)

Because Haycock is a AAP-center school, it is severely overcrowded. When you're in 3rd grade in FCPS, you have the choice, if your kid is "gifted" enough, to send them to the level 3 instruction at your local school, or send them to a "center" AAP level 4 instruction where all the classes are AAP. Right now there are more center based kids at Haycock then base school kids (more kids from outside the immediate boundary than inside.) There are 968 kids in the school, and many of them would be going to nearby Lemon Road or Chesterbrook, but because Haycock is the center they, AND THEIR SIBLINGS, can opt to go to Haycock.

The school is so overcrowded and had I known what I know now about this and SACC, I might have looked harder at Arlington. Only FCPS does this with non-guaranteed SACC--not Montgomery, not Arlington, not Loudon. And I don't know why all these snowflakes can't just go to their base school for GT/AAP services, or FCPS can't just have more centers. It's elementary school people. CHILLAX! And stop coming into my boundary school.

So, I finally meet one of the crazies that want us out.

Our base school does not have level IV AAP.
Our kids are not using your coveted SACC spot.
And no, siblings cannot attend Haycock. It has been closed to transfers for several years.
My kids are just as entitled to a "free and appropriate" education as yours are, so you really need to get over yourself.

It took you this long to meet one? I'm on the same place as you: No LLIV, we don't use SACC, sibling at a different school as Haycock is closed to transfers (and has been seemingly forever).

I'm not sure it's accurate that there are more center kids than base school kids at Haycock. Keep in mind that some of the center kids are zoned for Haycock so not every center kid is an "extra" kid at Haycock since some "belong" there by virtue of their neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

It's not accurate. As indicated in the data above, only 276 of the 968 are not base school students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The issue at Haycock is more specific than wanting some AAP kids reassigned. The parents specifically want to keep the McLean schools assigned to Haycock and lose the more diverse Falls Church schools assigned to Haycock...which is kind of silly considering that Haycock is in Falls Church.

There's a fair amount of disparity within FCPS in the number of schools served by the GT centers. Churchill Road only serves three schools; Colvin Run serves two; McNair serves three. In comparison, Haycock serves seven, Archer in Vienna serves eight and Belvedere over in Falls Church serves nine. I can see why some people at Haycock might prefer to have another AAP center at a school like Stenwood or Cunningham Park and then have Shrevewood and Timber Lane reassigned to that center. That would reduce the size of the AAP programs at both Archer and Haycock. It doesn't necessarily mean that people think ill of the AAP kids from the Falls Church schools.

I don't think "the parents" speak with one voice, or in a single tone. Maybe some are nasty and rub you the wrong way. I'm also sure others are not. But I don't think you should take it personally if some people just want to discuss what makes the most sense logistically going forward.

Oh yes, if they got rid of the Shrevewood and Timber Lane kids, it would be so much better there. Apparently, our children must not bathe or something. It's enlightening to learn how elitist our children's friend's parents are.