Key Middle School -Springfield - High Shool Plans?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach at Key. The kids who don't go to Lee usually go to bishop ireton or find a way to transfer to south county. A few go to Edison for the stem program. The majority go to Lee.

The majority of your middle class students?

Yes. To be fair, I don't know anything about their financial situation beyond what they tell me (there's no flag in the system for "free lunch"), but I don't teach ESOL. My gen ed/honors students more often than not go to Lee. Out of my 110 students this year, I had 2 go to TJ, one to St. Paul for sports, and one to south county. The rest are going to Lee, as far as I know.

Most years 2-3 go to bishop, 2-3 to Edison/south county, and the other 100+ to Lee. Key has 350-400 kids per grade, so if you look at grade sizes at lee it should be relatively easy to identify the percent that goes over.

The problem is the AAP kids from Lake Braddock and Twain (that would be at Key) that do not attend Lee. So you chop off many of the top performers from the get go. How do you think that effects test scores?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach at Key. The kids who don't go to Lee usually go to bishop ireton or find a way to transfer to south county. A few go to Edison for the stem program. The majority go to Lee.

The majority of your middle class students?

Yes. To be fair, I don't know anything about their financial situation beyond what they tell me (there's no flag in the system for "free lunch"), but I don't teach ESOL. My gen ed/honors students more often than not go to Lee. Out of my 110 students this year, I had 2 go to TJ, one to St. Paul for sports, and one to south county. The rest are going to Lee, as far as I know.

Most years 2-3 go to bishop, 2-3 to Edison/south county, and the other 100+ to Lee. Key has 350-400 kids per grade, so if you look at grade sizes at lee it should be relatively easy to identify the percent that goes over.

The problem is the AAP kids from Lake Braddock and Twain (that would be at Key) that do not attend Lee. So you chop off many of the top performers from the get go. How do you think that effects test scores?

I wonder if fcps adding a center or a LLIV program to Key like they have at Irving with the goal of keeping those AAP kids in pyramid then following up with more AP classes at Lee eventually will improve Lee more than anything else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach at Key. The kids who don't go to Lee usually go to bishop ireton or find a way to transfer to south county. A few go to Edison for the stem program. The majority go to Lee.

The majority of your middle class students?

Yes. To be fair, I don't know anything about their financial situation beyond what they tell me (there's no flag in the system for "free lunch"), but I don't teach ESOL. My gen ed/honors students more often than not go to Lee. Out of my 110 students this year, I had 2 go to TJ, one to St. Paul for sports, and one to south county. The rest are going to Lee, as far as I know.

Most years 2-3 go to bishop, 2-3 to Edison/south county, and the other 100+ to Lee. Key has 350-400 kids per grade, so if you look at grade sizes at lee it should be relatively easy to identify the percent that goes over.

The problem is the AAP kids from Lake Braddock and Twain (that would be at Key) that do not attend Lee. So you chop off many of the top performers from the get go. How do you think that effects test scores?

Absolutely that's an issue. I guess though I'm confused by families who are enthusiastic about key but worried about Lee. It's the same kids. Maybe people don't think middle school matters, but for peer group purposes it's the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No, I have black friends who may or may not be offended by the name (likely in the bigger picture are offended), but they see that the school has other issues that are more critical. A rose by any other name...

LOL. This tells me all I need to know, thanks.

Am I not supposed to have black friends? And should I just assume that the name of Lee High School is their raging issue when they aren't talking about it? Why should I think that is the particular issue they are wanting to address when they have talked to me about other issues? Is it that I used the descriptor 'black'? That was in direct response to a previous point about having one black friend.

No, the fact that since you know one black person that makes you some kind of expert. Between you and PP that wants to start a lecture on my history I think i've had my fill this morning of people telling me how I should feel.

And for the record, I wasnt comparing Lee and Hitler but rather the way students could feel about going to a school named after men who were particularly awful to people like them. Spare me the whitewashed bullshit about men of their time.

[Anonymous]

And please spare us your excuses about attending Lee...
You have the same concerns all parents have. Nothing to be ashamed of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And please spare us your excuses about attending Lee...
You have the same concerns all parents have. Nothing to be ashamed of.

What excuses? I'm not ashamed. I've stated why I won't send my kids there. In fact, Ive said explicitly that I dont care what others thoughts are on my reasons, so...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach at Key. The kids who don't go to Lee usually go to bishop ireton or find a way to transfer to south county. A few go to Edison for the stem program. The majority go to Lee.

The majority of your middle class students?

Yes. To be fair, I don't know anything about their financial situation beyond what they tell me (there's no flag in the system for "free lunch"), but I don't teach ESOL. My gen ed/honors students more often than not go to Lee. Out of my 110 students this year, I had 2 go to TJ, one to St. Paul for sports, and one to south county. The rest are going to Lee, as far as I know.

Most years 2-3 go to bishop, 2-3 to Edison/south county, and the other 100+ to Lee. Key has 350-400 kids per grade, so if you look at grade sizes at lee it should be relatively easy to identify the percent that goes over.

The problem is the AAP kids from Lake Braddock and Twain (that would be at Key) that do not attend Lee. So you chop off many of the top performers from the get go. How do you think that effects test scores?

Absolutely that's an issue. I guess though I'm confused by families who are enthusiastic about key but worried about Lee. It's the same kids. Maybe people don't think middle school matters, but for peer group purposes it's the same.

Kids grow and mature quickly during the 4 years spent in high school and those years are critical for determining a student’s path to college or career. Kids surrounded by motivated, high-achieving peers are more likely to work harder themselves. If a school is spending most of it’s resources on ESOL or remediation, the bar for achievement is set lower. Yes, bright kids at Lee will stand out but that’s not necessarily a good thing if the pool is tiny. At other schools would they be considered average?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach at Key. The kids who don't go to Lee usually go to bishop ireton or find a way to transfer to south county. A few go to Edison for the stem program. The majority go to Lee.

The majority of your middle class students?

Yes. To be fair, I don't know anything about their financial situation beyond what they tell me (there's no flag in the system for "free lunch"), but I don't teach ESOL. My gen ed/honors students more often than not go to Lee. Out of my 110 students this year, I had 2 go to TJ, one to St. Paul for sports, and one to south county. The rest are going to Lee, as far as I know.

Most years 2-3 go to bishop, 2-3 to Edison/south county, and the other 100+ to Lee. Key has 350-400 kids per grade, so if you look at grade sizes at lee it should be relatively easy to identify the percent that goes over.

The problem is the AAP kids from Lake Braddock and Twain (that would be at Key) that do not attend Lee. So you chop off many of the top performers from the get go. How do you think that effects test scores?

Absolutely that's an issue. I guess though I'm confused by families who are enthusiastic about key but worried about Lee. It's the same kids. Maybe people don't think middle school matters, but for peer group purposes it's the same.

+1. I don't understand why someone would be fine with Key but concerned about Lee.

[Anonymous]

I worked at Lee years ago. I always felt safe and had hard working, motivated students in my classes as well as unmotivated students. The biggest issue was attendance. Many students would not come to school and it was the norm to miss significant amounts with both ESOL and non ESOL students.

I would not send my own children there. I have experienced general ed and honors classes at Lee and at other schools. The standards and rigor are not the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach at Key. The kids who don't go to Lee usually go to bishop ireton or find a way to transfer to south county. A few go to Edison for the stem program. The majority go to Lee.

The majority of your middle class students?

Yes. To be fair, I don't know anything about their financial situation beyond what they tell me (there's no flag in the system for "free lunch"), but I don't teach ESOL. My gen ed/honors students more often than not go to Lee. Out of my 110 students this year, I had 2 go to TJ, one to St. Paul for sports, and one to south county. The rest are going to Lee, as far as I know.

Most years 2-3 go to bishop, 2-3 to Edison/south county, and the other 100+ to Lee. Key has 350-400 kids per grade, so if you look at grade sizes at lee it should be relatively easy to identify the percent that goes over.

The problem is the AAP kids from Lake Braddock and Twain (that would be at Key) that do not attend Lee. So you chop off many of the top performers from the get go. How do you think that effects test scores?

Absolutely that's an issue. I guess though I'm confused by families who are enthusiastic about key but worried about Lee. It's the same kids. Maybe people don't think middle school matters, but for peer group purposes it's the same.

+1. I don't understand why someone would be fine with Key but concerned about Lee.

Because of the name silly!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I worked at Lee years ago. I always felt safe and had hard working, motivated students in my classes as well as unmotivated students. The biggest issue was attendance. Many students would not come to school and it was the norm to miss significant amounts with both ESOL and non ESOL students.

I would not send my own children there. I have experienced general ed and honors classes at Lee and at other schools. The standards and rigor are not the same.

This sounds like an argument to close Lee. How can FCPS allow this to continue to spiral downward unless the whole reason is to soak up the poor kids so they don't affect the other schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I worked at Lee years ago. I always felt safe and had hard working, motivated students in my classes as well as unmotivated students. The biggest issue was attendance. Many students would not come to school and it was the norm to miss significant amounts with both ESOL and non ESOL students.

I would not send my own children there. I have experienced general ed and honors classes at Lee and at other schools. The standards and rigor are not the same.

This sounds like an argument to close Lee. How can FCPS allow this to continue to spiral downward unless the whole reason is to soak up the poor kids so they don't affect the other schools?

I think that’s exactly the reason why FCPS allows the downward spiral to continue. I wonder what percentage of Lee HS parents are eligible to vote (i.e. US citizens) vs parents at West Springfield? If parents don’t (or can’t) vote, elected officials will ignore them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I worked at Lee years ago. I always felt safe and had hard working, motivated students in my classes as well as unmotivated students. The biggest issue was attendance. Many students would not come to school and it was the norm to miss significant amounts with both ESOL and non ESOL students.

I would not send my own children there. I have experienced general ed and honors classes at Lee and at other schools. The standards and rigor are not the same.

This sounds like an argument to close Lee. How can FCPS allow this to continue to spiral downward unless the whole reason is to soak up the poor kids so they don't affect the other schools?

I think that’s exactly the reason why FCPS allows the downward spiral to continue. I wonder what percentage of Lee HS parents are eligible to vote (i.e. US citizens) vs parents at West Springfield? If parents don’t (or can’t) vote, elected officials will ignore them.

West Springfield has nothing to do with Lee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I worked at Lee years ago. I always felt safe and had hard working, motivated students in my classes as well as unmotivated students. The biggest issue was attendance. Many students would not come to school and it was the norm to miss significant amounts with both ESOL and non ESOL students.

I would not send my own children there. I have experienced general ed and honors classes at Lee and at other schools. The standards and rigor are not the same.

This sounds like an argument to close Lee. How can FCPS allow this to continue to spiral downward unless the whole reason is to soak up the poor kids so they don't affect the other schools?

I think that’s exactly the reason why FCPS allows the downward spiral to continue. I wonder what percentage of Lee HS parents are eligible to vote (i.e. US citizens) vs parents at West Springfield? If parents don’t (or can’t) vote, elected officials will ignore them.

West Springfield has nothing to do with Lee.

You miss my point entirely! To put it in simple terms that a child can understand - if parents vote, their school will get attention and resources. If parents don’t vote, elected officials will assume that the parents don’t care or lack political power. So, their schools will get less.

West Springfield parents vote. Lee parents don’t. So, which school do you think the School Board is keeping as the “better” school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I worked at Lee years ago. I always felt safe and had hard working, motivated students in my classes as well as unmotivated students. The biggest issue was attendance. Many students would not come to school and it was the norm to miss significant amounts with both ESOL and non ESOL students.

I would not send my own children there. I have experienced general ed and honors classes at Lee and at other schools. The standards and rigor are not the same.

This sounds like an argument to close Lee. How can FCPS allow this to continue to spiral downward unless the whole reason is to soak up the poor kids so they don't affect the other schools?

I think that’s exactly the reason why FCPS allows the downward spiral to continue. I wonder what percentage of Lee HS parents are eligible to vote (i.e. US citizens) vs parents at West Springfield? If parents don’t (or can’t) vote, elected officials will ignore them.

West Springfield has nothing to do with Lee.

You miss my point entirely! To put it in simple terms that a child can understand - if parents vote, their school will get attention and resources. If parents don’t vote, elected officials will assume that the parents don’t care or lack political power. So, their schools will get less.

West Springfield parents vote. Lee parents don’t. So, which school do you think the School Board is keeping as the “better” school?

The boundaries of both schools are based on geography. Both schools are smaller by fcps standards, and with the exception of the Saratoga neighborhood that geographically should go to South County, both are zoned as neighborhood schools.

Lee and West Springfield has different school board reps. If you don't like the representation of the Lee rep, then run against her and advocate for changes.