Can anything be done about HB Woodlawn?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If any of you are so certain that students are being admitted to HB in violation of policy, file a lawsuit. Get it out in the open so that real change can happen. All of this anonymous rumor and speculation about this poster or that poster knowing a kid who got in even though the poster isn't aware of any special need or other consideration their neighbor might have chosen not to share doesn't accomplish anything and is a waste of time, so put up or shut up. If you have actual knowledge of fraud, blow the whistle so something can be done. If you don't have actual knowledge and are just speculating, stop wasting everyone's time that could be better spent on real issues.

I agree, but there is no amount of appropriate transparency that will satisfy some people. My father was a high school principal in another state. He said that one of the toughest parts of the job was dealing with disciplinary issues because he had to safeguard individual students' privacy and couldn't share all the details that went into making decisions. The worst gossips were other parents, who came up with all sorts of conspiracy theories about kids and would spread them without any evidence. He couldn't go around contradicting them without violating the kids' privacy. This seems like the same thing to me-- a bunch of people who manufacture scenarios in their heads to explain something they don't know enough about, and can't know enough about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If any of you are so certain that students are being admitted to HB in violation of policy, file a lawsuit. Get it out in the open so that real change can happen. All of this anonymous rumor and speculation about this poster or that poster knowing a kid who got in even though the poster isn't aware of any special need or other consideration their neighbor might have chosen not to share doesn't accomplish anything and is a waste of time, so put up or shut up. If you have actual knowledge of fraud, blow the whistle so something can be done. If you don't have actual knowledge and are just speculating, stop wasting everyone's time that could be better spent on real issues.

I agree, but there is no amount of appropriate transparency that will satisfy some people. My father was a high school principal in another state. He said that one of the toughest parts of the job was dealing with disciplinary issues because he had to safeguard individual students' privacy and couldn't share all the details that went into making decisions. The worst gossips were other parents, who came up with all sorts of conspiracy theories about kids and would spread them without any evidence. He couldn't go around contradicting them without violating the kids' privacy. This seems like the same thing to me-- a bunch of people who manufacture scenarios in their heads to explain something they don't know enough about, and can't know enough about.

Or to lash out at and punish people who got to have something they didn't. If someone else's kid got a spot and yours didn't, some people who feel entitled to everything feel much better speculating that it must be because the other kid's parents and the school system are corrupt rather than acknowledging they just didn't get the luck of the draw this time.

[Anonymous]

Are lawsuits preferable to this? I don't think so. This is an appropriate forum for discussion about what the people in the commonity think is unfair. People who respond that commenters shouldn't comment because it's slandering someone or because they're bitter are misdirecting their anger. My belief (certainty in my case) is that the HB principal lets kids in outside the normal channels. I don't think that should be allowed. I hope she will take a look at what happened in DC and stop that crazy business. That's what should stop, not taxpayers' anger about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If any of you are so certain that students are being admitted to HB in violation of policy, file a lawsuit. Get it out in the open so that real change can happen. All of this anonymous rumor and speculation about this poster or that poster knowing a kid who got in even though the poster isn't aware of any special need or other consideration their neighbor might have chosen not to share doesn't accomplish anything and is a waste of time, so put up or shut up. If you have actual knowledge of fraud, blow the whistle so something can be done. If you don't have actual knowledge and are just speculating, stop wasting everyone's time that could be better spent on real issues.

You are too reasonable for DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Wrong argument.
All this tit for tat about admission is beside the point.

We are paying for a TINY PRIVATE SCHOOL that can’t possibly accommodate the number of students interested.

That’s the only issue that matters. We can’t afford it. We don’t have space for it. It’s not equitable.
The end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are lawsuits preferable to this? I don't think so. This is an appropriate forum for discussion about what the people in the commonity think is unfair. People who respond that commenters shouldn't comment because it's slandering someone or because they're bitter are misdirecting their anger. My belief (certainty in my case) is that the HB principal lets kids in outside the normal channels. I don't think that should be allowed. I hope she will take a look at what happened in DC and stop that crazy business. That's what should stop, not taxpayers' anger about it.

Go ahead and spend hours chattering away on DCUM about how unfair it is, that's your prerogative, but don't fool yourself that it's going to result in change because you're not actually doing anything to make that change happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wrong argument.
All this tit for tat about admission is beside the point.

We are paying for a TINY PRIVATE SCHOOL that can’t possibly accommodate the number of students interested.

That’s the only issue that matters. We can’t afford it. We don’t have space for it. It’s not equitable.
The end.

I don't understand you at all. "We can't afford it."? We are paying for those students no matter where they go to school. They get allocated the same number of positions as any other school. We don't have space to put them anywhere else....? If they converted it to a regular middle school, 400 kids would move to their home schools, making them all more crowded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wrong argument.
All this tit for tat about admission is beside the point.

We are paying for a TINY PRIVATE SCHOOL that can’t possibly accommodate the number of students interested.

That’s the only issue that matters. We can’t afford it. We don’t have space for it. It’s not equitable.
The end.

I don't understand you at all. "We can't afford it."? We are paying for those students no matter where they go to school. They get allocated the same number of positions as any other school. We don't have space to put them anywhere else....? If they converted it to a regular middle school, 400 kids would move to their home schools, making them all more crowded.

NP here - we certainly can't afford a $100 million building for so few students while all the other schools are so overcrowded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are lawsuits preferable to this? I don't think so. This is an appropriate forum for discussion about what the people in the commonity think is unfair. People who respond that commenters shouldn't comment because it's slandering someone or because they're bitter are misdirecting their anger. My belief (certainty in my case) is that the HB principal lets kids in outside the normal channels. I don't think that should be allowed. I hope she will take a look at what happened in DC and stop that crazy business. That's what should stop, not taxpayers' anger about it.

Go ahead and spend hours chattering away on DCUM about how unfair it is, that's your prerogative, but don't fool yourself that it's going to result in change because you're not actually doing anything to make that change happen.

Report the family to the residency specialist Janice Palmer at 703-228-6060
Report the family to the internal auditor John Mickevice at 703-228-6016
Report the family to the Arlington government fraud hotline [phone]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wrong argument.
All this tit for tat about admission is beside the point.

We are paying for a TINY PRIVATE SCHOOL that can’t possibly accommodate the number of students interested.

That’s the only issue that matters. We can’t afford it. We don’t have space for it. It’s not equitable.
The end.

I don't understand you at all. "We can't afford it."? We are paying for those students no matter where they go to school. They get allocated the same number of positions as any other school. We don't have space to put them anywhere else....? If they converted it to a regular middle school, 400 kids would move to their home schools, making them all more crowded.

NP here - we certainly can't afford a $100 million building for so few students while all the other schools are so overcrowded.

OH

MY

GOD

Asked and answered

[Anonymous]

I know three pairs of siblings currently at HB, plus one pair of twins, but I'm sure there're a few more. I thought about the odds when I heard the news but then moved on. Life is too short.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know three pairs of siblings currently at HB, plus one pair of twins, but I'm sure there're a few more. I thought about the odds when I heard the news but then moved on. Life is too short.

twins go together.

[Anonymous]

Maybe life's too short to let it bother me. Or maybe life's too short to take this crap lying down. I think the only thing that will change the practice is public pressure. Lawsuits, FOIA, etc.... they just play the privacy card and keep going.

But I do agree with the bigger point with PP. Th point is that even if the HB lottery were fair, HB itself is not fair. Too small for current overcrowding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wrong argument.
All this tit for tat about admission is beside the point.

We are paying for a TINY PRIVATE SCHOOL that can’t possibly accommodate the number of students interested.

That’s the only issue that matters. We can’t afford it. We don’t have space for it. It’s not equitable.
The end.

You sound like one of the people who complains how TJ is unfair to other Fairfax County schools. You really expect counties to give up renowned schools because you think they're "unfair"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wrong argument.
All this tit for tat about admission is beside the point.

We are paying for a TINY PRIVATE SCHOOL that can’t possibly accommodate the number of students interested.

That’s the only issue that matters. We can’t afford it. We don’t have space for it. It’s not equitable.
The end.

You sound like one of the people who complains how TJ is unfair to other Fairfax County schools. You really expect counties to give up renowned schools because you think they're "unfair"?

Crabs in a bucket