On the chopping block: AAP Centers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^But I am the Great Unwashed because I don't live in McLean, Vienna, or Great Falls.

You pay to play

Not the PP, but I live in Vienna/Great Falls/McLean and am definitely "paying". However, my kids aren't in AAP. So I'm not sure what it is my family is getting out of living in this area, since my kids have to attend a center school, yet don't benefit from it at all.

I guess the point is, it really doesn't matter what part of the county you live in; if your kids are in Gen Ed, yet still have to attend a center, it's the worst of all worlds. Whatever happened to the smallish, neighborhood school? Certainly, when we moved to this area, we weren't expecting our kids to have to attend a center. That came to us, after we had been living here for several years. We'd be thrilled if there were no more centers, at least in this part of the county where there is no need for them whatsoever.

Ah yes, the 'we moved here and then our school became a center' belly-acher. If it really is POW camp you make it out to be then I would move heaven and earth to get my kids out of there. Our GE kid was in a weak school and we moved, yes, we moved into a much stronger school. We figured our child was going to attend for years so bit the bullet. We lost money on the sale of our house, the commutes to work are long and we live in a house that is far from a dream home.

How about stop hand-wringing here and move your child to a better school.

Right, because this has only ever happened to one person before. Please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good. It's about time. It's a tremendous waste of money and resources.

"Base kid" is a common taunt at our center school.

The AAP students are so segregated and operate in their own rarefied air beginning as young as third grade.

Very much an "us v. them" mentality fueled by hyper-competitive parents.

Enough!

The ugly reality is that FCPS is back to ersatz segregation, with the "elites" getting preferential treatment and in some center schools, "base kids" are the minority.

Interesting to note that some of the FCPS center schools HAD to become centers to avoid permanent closure.

LA


School?

Are you saying this happened at Louise Archer? That is different than the school my DD finished at. She had numerous friends in both programs (LA is our base). If it is happening, go to the principal. She is responsive to bullying issues (we had one that was a kid teasing my DD about my cancer).

This happens all the time at Colvin Run too. Those of you who have kids in AAP will continue denying that this happens at "your" school, because you aren't in a position to see it or hear about it. Why? Because your kid is in AAP! Also, it's convenient for you to pretend it's not happening since AAP parents love the whole idea of AAP and don't want to see it go away or become a smaller program. Why would any of this affect you? If you have a child in Gen Ed, then you know this is happening, regardless of the school.

I have three kids in general ed at a Center school and what you describe is not happening at my school.

I don't believe that for a minute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:right, let's all move - that seems like the sane solution.

I'm not the person you accuse of being a belly-acher, but we CANNOT move right now. I'm so glad that you can actually weather losing money, but a lot of us cannot. We bought several years ago and our income has gone down rather than up and the areas we would want to move to are more expensive than the one we currently live in (which actually is one of the cheapest SFH communities in the county).

I hate this "well, MY school isn't like that" nonsense. It definitely is an "I've got mine, screw everyone else" mentality. I have a GenEd child with an LD in one of the 2 schools that were mentioned above as a toxic environment for non-AAP children. While her teachers have been fantastic, the separation between the base GenEd and the AAP students is so blatant. Why should ANY child in our system be made to feel lesser? Just because YOUR child doesn't feel that way, it doesn't mean it isn't happening.

+100
As long as the AAP kids are happy, screw the Gen Ed students. My God, what would happen if there were no centers? The horror.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My friend has 2 kids at a center school (Sangster) but they are in the gen ed part and I don't think she has experienced what you (PP) seem to assume is universal. She's been quite happy with it.

I have a child at a center school (AAP) --- I can't say for certain how the base parents feel, but I think they probably support having the center there b/c it brings parents who run a lot of the activities and create demand for the extras after school. Also, the center seems to influence the teaching expectations/curriculum/programs for the non-center students. If the center wasn't there, there would definitely be re-districting since the center is 50+% of the school. Without the center, the school would be seriously under-capacity.

Parents of Gen Ed students are quite capable of running after school activities, and in fact, at our center, many of these activities are indeed run by them. I'm not seeing the correlation between having a center and having extras for the school. Our PTA is run almost entirely by parents of Gen Ed students. AAP kids aren't the only ones who "create demand" for extracurricular activities.

Redistricting is exactly what needs to be done - students need to be sent back to their base schools and if some schools are left under capacity, all the better. Enough with the crowded, huge, center schools.

[Anonymous]

haha - the extracurricular activities at our center school are an absolute joke. And please, the parents do NOT show up for the PTA - as long as they can get their precious babies into the couple ultracompetitive academic clubs that have hogged all the meeting spaces while not making these families be PTA members, the AAP parents don't show up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good. It's about time. It's a tremendous waste of money and resources.

"Base kid" is a common taunt at our center school.

The AAP students are so segregated and operate in their own rarefied air beginning as young as third grade.

Very much an "us v. them" mentality fueled by hyper-competitive parents.

Enough!

The ugly reality is that FCPS is back to ersatz segregation, with the "elites" getting preferential treatment and in some center schools, "base kids" are the minority.

Interesting to note that some of the FCPS center schools HAD to become centers to avoid permanent closure.

LA


School?

Are you saying this happened at Louise Archer? That is different than the school my DD finished at. She had numerous friends in both programs (LA is our base). If it is happening, go to the principal. She is responsive to bullying issues (we had one that was a kid teasing my DD about my cancer).

This happens all the time at Colvin Run too. Those of you who have kids in AAP will continue denying that this happens at "your" school, because you aren't in a position to see it or hear about it. Why? Because your kid is in AAP! Also, it's convenient for you to pretend it's not happening since AAP parents love the whole idea of AAP and don't want to see it go away or become a smaller program. Why would any of this affect you? If you have a child in Gen Ed, then you know this is happening, regardless of the school.

I have three kids in general ed at a Center school and what you describe is not happening at my school.

I don't believe that for a minute.

Sorry you are unable to believe reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:right, let's all move - that seems like the sane solution.

I'm not the person you accuse of being a belly-acher, but we CANNOT move right now. I'm so glad that you can actually weather losing money, but a lot of us cannot. We bought several years ago and our income has gone down rather than up and the areas we would want to move to are more expensive than the one we currently live in (which actually is one of the cheapest SFH communities in the county).

I hate this "well, MY school isn't like that" nonsense. It definitely is an "I've got mine, screw everyone else" mentality. I have a GenEd child with an LD in one of the 2 schools that were mentioned above as a toxic environment for non-AAP children. While her teachers have been fantastic, the separation between the base GenEd and the AAP students is so blatant. Why should ANY child in our system be made to feel lesser? Just because YOUR child doesn't feel that way, it doesn't mean it isn't happening.

+100
As long as the AAP kids are happy, screw the Gen Ed students. My God, what would happen if there were no centers? The horror.

Aap parent here. What the hell do you want me to do? Tell me specifically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good. It's about time. It's a tremendous waste of money and resources.

"Base kid" is a common taunt at our center school.

The AAP students are so segregated and operate in their own rarefied air beginning as young as third grade.

Very much an "us v. them" mentality fueled by hyper-competitive parents.

Enough!

The ugly reality is that FCPS is back to ersatz segregation, with the "elites" getting preferential treatment and in some center schools, "base kids" are the minority.

Interesting to note that some of the FCPS center schools HAD to become centers to avoid permanent closure.

LA


School?

Are you saying this happened at Louise Archer? That is different than the school my DD finished at. She had numerous friends in both programs (LA is our base). If it is happening, go to the principal. She is responsive to bullying issues (we had one that was a kid teasing my DD about my cancer).

This happens all the time at Colvin Run too. Those of you who have kids in AAP will continue denying that this happens at "your" school, because you aren't in a position to see it or hear about it. Why? Because your kid is in AAP! Also, it's convenient for you to pretend it's not happening since AAP parents love the whole idea of AAP and don't want to see it go away or become a smaller program. Why would any of this affect you? If you have a child in Gen Ed, then you know this is happening, regardless of the school.

Our family joined a new pool a few years ago. My older elementary kid was at diving practice with a group of non AAP kids, who did not attend our center. They might have attended a different center or they might have been from one of the base feeder schools. They way they talked about AAP kids was terribly unkind and gave the impressions that they were doing a bit of bullying. Talking about how they hated them, what geeks they were, making fun of them.that they did not want to get to know any of them. They did not know mu kids was in AAP and he kept his mouth shut on that one. My kid asked why and they said that they didn't know but loved to make fun of them.

I think that kids who will bully will bully, for whatever reason. Not because they they are AAP or gen ed or jocks or whatever. Because they are bullies. AAP has nothing to do with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good. It's about time. It's a tremendous waste of money and resources.

"Base kid" is a common taunt at our center school.

The AAP students are so segregated and operate in their own rarefied air beginning as young as third grade.

Very much an "us v. them" mentality fueled by hyper-competitive parents.

Enough!

The ugly reality is that FCPS is back to ersatz segregation, with the "elites" getting preferential treatment and in some center schools, "base kids" are the minority.

Interesting to note that some of the FCPS center schools HAD to become centers to avoid permanent closure.

LA


School?

Are you saying this happened at Louise Archer? That is different than the school my DD finished at. She had numerous friends in both programs (LA is our base). If it is happening, go to the principal. She is responsive to bullying issues (we had one that was a kid teasing my DD about my cancer).

This happens all the time at Colvin Run too. Those of you who have kids in AAP will continue denying that this happens at "your" school, because you aren't in a position to see it or hear about it. Why? Because your kid is in AAP! Also, it's convenient for you to pretend it's not happening since AAP parents love the whole idea of AAP and don't want to see it go away or become a smaller program. Why would any of this affect you? If you have a child in Gen Ed, then you know this is happening, regardless of the school.

I have three kids in general ed at a Center school and what you describe is not happening at my school.

I asked by DD if she had ever seen this are her Center School -- the taunting... She said no...if someone did it, they would get in a lot of trouble. So, I am not saying taunting does not happen, but if it does, call the front office. It will stop quickly. (DD went to Louise Archer from K-6, finishing up a year ago).

[Anonymous]

It's not all about taunting or bullying. It's just a pervasive feeling that the GenEd kids are an afterthought. That they are lesser. That they aren't worthy.

[Anonymous]

That feeling is not present in the schools I've been involved with. It is present among some parents of kids in GE, such as those who endlessly post on DCUM about their hate for AAP. Those feelings are obvious to their children and do harm. Stop acting like you think your kid is mistreated and he or she will be just fine.

Similarly, those parents of kids in AAP who think their kids are better need to stop. That trickles down to their kids and causes harm.

If all the parents just shut up about it, the kids will get along fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That feeling is not present in the schools I've been involved with. It is present among some parents of kids in GE, such as those who endlessly post on DCUM about their hate for AAP. Those feelings are obvious to their children and do harm. Stop acting like you think your kid is mistreated and he or she will be just fine.

Similarly, those parents of kids in AAP who think their kids are better need to stop. That trickles down to their kids and causes harm.

If all the parents just shut up about it, the kids will get along fine.

[phone]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^But I am the Great Unwashed because I don't live in McLean, Vienna, or Great Falls.

You pay to play

Not the PP, but I live in Vienna/Great Falls/McLean and am definitely "paying". However, my kids aren't in AAP. So I'm not sure what it is my family is getting out of living in this area, since my kids have to attend a center school, yet don't benefit from it at all.

I guess the point is, it really doesn't matter what part of the county you live in; if your kids are in Gen Ed, yet still have to attend a center, it's the worst of all worlds. Whatever happened to the smallish, neighborhood school? Certainly, when we moved to this area, we weren't expecting our kids to have to attend a center. That came to us, after we had been living here for several years. We'd be thrilled if there were no more centers, at least in this part of the county where there is no need for them whatsoever.

Ah yes, the 'we moved here and then our school became a center' belly-acher. If it really is POW camp you make it out to be then I would move heaven and earth to get my kids out of there. Our GE kid was in a weak school and we moved, yes, we moved into a much stronger school. We figured our child was going to attend for years so bit the bullet. We lost money on the sale of our house, the commutes to work are long and we live in a house that is far from a dream home.

How about stop hand-wringing here and move your child to a better school.

Right, because this has only ever happened to one person before. Please.

I was addressing this on person.

[Anonymous]

one

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not all about taunting or bullying. It's just a pervasive feeling that the GenEd kids are an afterthought. That they are lesser. That they aren't worthy.

Not happening at my school either. Pervasive feeling?