APS: how many are in your child's class?

[Anonymous]

I teach in an APS Title 1 school and we are at an unbelievable 24 in 1st grade. Anything more than 21 stuents is always to much in K-3rd classroom. It becomes to hard to manage, and differentiate instruction. Large class sizes seems to be the norm now in APS because of budget concerns.

Visit your school board members and bring it up as a concern.

[Anonymous]

For that boundary push from CS and Barcroft to work, Ashlawn will have to lose a LOT of kids to McKinley. Which will have to lose a LOT of kids to Reed. Which means a lot of folks iwho think they are going to Reed might end up surprised.

[Anonymous]

A parent on the APS Budget Advisory Committee (BAC) told me that increased class sizes are going to be on the table as part of the budget process this year. The County Board told APS they have to come up with a balanced/no increase budget, which means serving more kids for the same amount of money. Last year's process resulted in a reduction in FLES instruction instead, but there is going to be a lot of pressure from the County Board to increase class size this year. It also (in their eyes) would help hold down construction costs because more kids in each classroom means fewer classrooms necessary-- and therefore less need to expand buildings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:20 at ATS for K.

That's odd - why isn't ATS max'ed out as a choice school that can admit right up to its limit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:20 at ATS for K.

That's odd - why isn't ATS max'ed out as a choice school that can admit right up to its limit?

Per October enrollment, they have 120 in K. That would be 24 per class if they have 5 classes (which has been the class size for the last few years). The only way they have 20 per class is if they have 6 K classrooms. I have a hard time believing they had physical space to accommodate a 6th K classroom or the budget to hire an additional teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A parent on the APS Budget Advisory Committee (BAC) told me that increased class sizes are going to be on the table as part of the budget process this year. The County Board told APS they have to come up with a balanced/no increase budget, which means serving more kids for the same amount of money. Last year's process resulted in a reduction in FLES instruction instead, but there is going to be a lot of pressure from the County Board to increase class size this year. It also (in their eyes) would help hold down construction costs because more kids in each classroom means fewer classrooms necessary-- and therefore less need to expand buildings.

Yes. It would also mean less individual attention, more behavior problems and more kids falling through the cracks.

We are so screwed w/o JV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A parent on the APS Budget Advisory Committee (BAC) told me that increased class sizes are going to be on the table as part of the budget process this year. The County Board told APS they have to come up with a balanced/no increase budget, which means serving more kids for the same amount of money. Last year's process resulted in a reduction in FLES instruction instead, but there is going to be a lot of pressure from the County Board to increase class size this year. It also (in their eyes) would help hold down construction costs because more kids in each classroom means fewer classrooms necessary-- and therefore less need to expand buildings.

Yes. It would also mean less individual attention, more behavior problems and more kids falling through the cracks.

We are so screwed w/o JV.

It was on the table last year and the fact they kept class sizes the same was a miracle as they found money by eliminating some FLES time and other items. If it means that much then start to look around in the proposed budget and suggest where they can continue to cut. Nancy VanDorn carried the torch last year and it was one of the only things she won on.

[Anonymous]

Sort of replying to a few posters here:

How is Reed going to relieve overcrowding when construction has not started? I think the McK expansion project was 9 months delayed. Even if, by some miracle, they do open in 2020, we are still looking at 2 years of McK and Ashlawn being at a breaking point. My child was lost 3 times at McK last school year, three times!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sort of replying to a few posters here:

How is Reed going to relieve overcrowding when construction has not started? I think the McK expansion project was 9 months delayed. Even if, by some miracle, they do open in 2020, we are still looking at 2 years of McK and Ashlawn being at a breaking point. My child was lost 3 times at McK last school year, three times!

[Anonymous]

Reed opens 2021

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reed opens 2021

Yeah, the boundary is being decided in 2020, but seats won't be there until 2021. Anyone know where the sudden Ashlawn influx is coming from?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reed opens 2021

Yeah, the boundary is being decided in 2020, but seats won't be there until 2021. Anyone know where the sudden Ashlawn influx is coming from?

I know a lot of families moved into Boulevard Manor/Bluemont this summer. If you read the Real estate forum here, Boulevard Manor has been known as the last real area in North arlington where you can still get a “deal” on a house. (Aka buy a good sized home that is move in ready for under a million..) that draws a lot of attention for young families who want to buy in north Arlington.

In addition, more families are choosing to stay in the Ballston/Virginia Square area in condos and apartments. Originally, the thought was that families would move into neighborhoods once they had kids. With the new building being built on the corner of Wilson and Glebe, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are
More families that move in since there are three bedroom units being advertised.

There are also a number of foreign service families in the Ashlawn boundaries. I’m not sure where the 50 kids who showed up in the first few weeks came from though...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reed opens 2021

Yeah, the boundary is being decided in 2020, but seats won't be there until 2021. Anyone know where the sudden Ashlawn influx is coming from?

I know a lot of families moved into Boulevard Manor/Bluemont this summer. If you read the Real estate forum here, Boulevard Manor has been known as the last real area in North arlington where you can still get a “deal” on a house. (Aka buy a good sized home that is move in ready for under a million..) that draws a lot of attention for young families who want to buy in north Arlington.

In addition, more families are choosing to stay in the Ballston/Virginia Square area in condos and apartments. Originally, the thought was that families would move into neighborhoods once they had kids. With the new building being built on the corner of Wilson and Glebe, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are
More families that move in since there are three bedroom units being advertised.

There are also a number of foreign service families in the Ashlawn boundaries. I’m not sure where the 50 kids who showed up in the first few weeks came from though...

That's who I mean. Not the typical churn. Did a new building open or something? It's kind of unusual to have that many kids show up unannounced, right?

[Anonymous]

It is my understanding that Ashlawn has a lot of ESOL students this year. It is not unusual for parents who don't understand the system to not realize they need to register early. We are at a low ESOL school, but there are always people that show up the first week not realizing that just living in the school district is enough. It isn't hard to handle if it's just 1 or 2, but this sounds like a lot of surprise families.