Email about pool letters

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gotta love Sunrise Valley! (It was my "center school" long, long ago in the days of GT...) So efficient.

Yes, we're very happy there......

[Anonymous]

I have a child in the AAP Center at Louise Archer in Vienna. I got the following email from the school today (1/23/14):

A message from ARCHER ES

We have received inquiries from parents regarding the upcoming Advanced Academic referral process and deadlines. Please read the information below (if it pertains to your child) regarding referrals and a parent informational meeting scheduled for next week. It is important to note that there are no extensions to the original FCPS deadlines, even with the recent school closures.

AAP Screening Pool and Referral Process

If your student is in the 2nd grade screening pool, you will be notified by mail in the next few days. Students who are not in the 2nd grade pool will not be notified. Test results from fall administration of the CogAT are still expected to reach families via mail by the end of January.

Second grade students who are not in the initial screening pool and students in grades 3-7 may be referred for Level IV screening by completing and submitting the Level IV Referral Form and optional materials to the Advanced Academic Resource Teacher or principal at their local school no later than February 3, 2014. This is a one-page document and there will be no exceptions to this deadline.

Parents of students in the 2nd grade pool and parents of students who are referred are encouraged to submit optional materials according to the guidelines in the Parent Information Packet as important information to be considered in the screening file. The deadline for optional materials is February 3, 2014.

AAP Information Meeting – 1/28 from 11AM-12PM

There will be an informational meeting for parents of students currently enrolled in our general education classes, grades 2—6 who are interested in the Advanced Academic, Level IV referral process for the 2014-2015 school year. This meeting will take place next Tuesday, January 28th from 11AM – 12PM in the multi-purpose room.

All advanced academic screening submission materials for the Level IV, full time Advanced Academic center are due no later than Monday, February 3rd. Please send them to the Louise Archer main office marked for the attention of Karen Ambrose. These referrals are for students in the base school, grades 2-6 only.

If you do not plan to attend this meeting but are planning on submitting a referral, please send me an email at [e-mail]. For more information on the Advanced Academics programs, please visit the county website at: http://www.fcps.edu/is/aap/.

HTH

[Anonymous]

Interesting Louise Archer has its meeting in the middle of the day (versus in the evening) when most parents are at work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting Louise Archer has its meeting in the middle of the day (versus in the evening) when most parents are at work.

Why is that interesting?

[Anonymous]

Not the Archer PP, but our school had its informational meeting (and always has, in years past--I've got multiple kids) in the mornings. It means working parents only have to take off the morning from work.

Meetings in the middle of the day are a PITA, at least for me. I'd much prefer morning or afternoon so I only have to miss a little part of my workday.

[Anonymous]

Meetings in the middle of the day are horribly inconvenient for SAHPs as well---no childcare for younger siblings. Evening meetings are more doable for almost everyone.

[Anonymous]

Doable for everyone except the teachers and staff who have already been at school all day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Doable for everyone except the teachers and staff who have already been at school all day.

+1 It isn't a mandatory meeting AND the school notes that if you can't attend, let them know (presumably to provide the information to you in an alternate way).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting Louise Archer has its meeting in the middle of the day (versus in the evening) when most parents are at work.

Why is that interesting?

Because middle of the day when most people are working. For the room moms that hover over the teachers I guess this isn't a problem. Why can't the school have this in the evening or before school starts--or maybe webcast the meeting?

[Anonymous]

This is messed up...in past years, our school's informational meeting was before the referrals were due, so parents could get some tips on how to prepare the referral. No word from the school so far about a meeting.

[Anonymous]

I can't ever go to anything in the evening because I drive my older kids to activities and one evening I go to a class, so I like to have the ability to go to meetings during the day.

Since the information is all the same, can you check to see if a nearby school has a meeting at a different time that you can attend?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is messed up...in past years, our school's informational meeting was before the referrals were due, so parents could get some tips on how to prepare the referral. No word from the school so far about a meeting.

Huh? The quoted email from Louise Archer above says that the meeting is this Tues. The referrals were originally due 2/3 (which is after that meeting date) and now are due 2/7 (which is also after that meeting date). Grab a calendar, friend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't ever go to anything in the evening because I drive my older kids to activities and one evening I go to a class, so I like to have the ability to go to meetings during the day.

Since the information is all the same, can you check to see if a nearby school has a meeting at a different time that you can attend?

I agree that middle of the day is pretty restrictive. For those who are busy at night can't one spouse shuttle kids around while other attends? The meeting is only 1 hour?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't ever go to anything in the evening because I drive my older kids to activities and one evening I go to a class, so I like to have the ability to go to meetings during the day.

Since the information is all the same, can you check to see if a nearby school has a meeting at a different time that you can attend?

I agree that middle of the day is pretty restrictive. For those who are busy at night can't one spouse shuttle kids around while other attends? The meeting is only 1 hour?

Many people are single parents or have a spouse in the military or in a job that requires frequent travel. My spouse is now retired but used to be active duty military and would be away for months at a time. It would be nice if schools could offer meetings at different times to give parents with different needs the ability to attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is messed up...in past years, our school's informational meeting was before the referrals were due, so parents could get some tips on how to prepare the referral. No word from the school so far about a meeting.

Huh? The quoted email from Louise Archer above says that the meeting is this Tues. The referrals were originally due 2/3 (which is after that meeting date) and now are due 2/7 (which is also after that meeting date). Grab a calendar, friend.

Um, yeah. But I'm not at Louise Archer. And our school hasn't said *anything* about *any* meeting. If the school is going to be helpful to parents in terms of preparing a referral, they need to get a date on the calendar quickly so that people can a) make time in their schedules for the meeting, and b) have some time to get letters together, etc.

I'm not even complaining for myself; I've been to those meetings in the past, and my kid is in-pool. so it doesn't matter to me this year. However, I was in a different position a few years ago, and I know that having the meeting well in advance of the referral deadline gave me time to get specific info from the AART and arrange for all the letters of recommendation. Despite the posted info from the county, I was clueless about what would really help in the packet; the AART steered me away from some material I would have included, which was very helpful.