My New Favorite Anger at APS: XXL WL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Guess you should have supported Career Center full 4th high school. But no one cared because it’s in SA. Well WL is now adding seats every year.

+1. You can thank your WL friends who were so worried about being rezoned to a SA school for fighting that. Go google some ARLNOW articles if you don’t believe me.

Who fought it?

Some asshats in Arlington Forest

and more asshats in Bluemont who just complained loud and long enough to get the option to have their kids go to WL instead of YHS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Guess you should have supported Career Center full 4th high school. But no one cared because it’s in SA. Well WL is now adding seats every year.

+1. You can thank your WL friends who were so worried about being rezoned to a SA school for fighting that. Go google some ARLNOW articles if you don’t believe me.

Who fought it?

Some asshats in Arlington Forest

and more asshats in Bluemont who just complained loud and long enough to get the option to have their kids go to WL instead of YHS.

I think you have the Bluemont neighborhood confused with another? Bluemont sits squarely within boundary of WL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Guess you should have supported Career Center full 4th high school. But no one cared because it’s in SA. Well WL is now adding seats every year.

+1. You can thank your WL friends who were so worried about being rezoned to a SA school for fighting that. Go google some ARLNOW articles if you don’t believe me.

Who fought it?

Some asshats in Arlington Forest

and more asshats in Bluemont who just complained loud and long enough to get the option to have their kids go to WL instead of YHS.

I think you have the Bluemont neighborhood confused with another? Bluemont sits squarely within boundary of WL.

But it was moved to Yorktown in the last boundary shift. The neighborhood was hoping to use the recent boundary changes shifting some middle school students and returning some WL families who were moved to Wakefield in the last shift back to WL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Guess you should have supported Career Center full 4th high school. But no one cared because it’s in SA. Well WL is now adding seats every year.

+1. You can thank your WL friends who were so worried about being rezoned to a SA school for fighting that. Go google some ARLNOW articles if you don’t believe me.

Who fought it?

Some asshats in Arlington Forest

and more asshats in Bluemont who just complained loud and long enough to get the option to have their kids go to WL instead of YHS.

I think you have the Bluemont neighborhood confused with another? Bluemont sits squarely within boundary of WL.

But it was moved to Yorktown in the last boundary shift. The neighborhood was hoping to use the recent boundary changes shifting some middle school students and returning some WL families who were moved to Wakefield in the last shift back to WL.

I'm sorry -- Boulevard Manor:
https://www.arlnow.com/2022/02/04/solution-in-sight-for-boulevard-manor-kids-zoned-away-from-friends-in-2017/?fbclid=IwAR3iy3rOGqZncRk5HaW2S2S0PZk4_6SDizHOdBlLdExn_aROLBN9f6q8tAg

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just noticed the dig against frisbee golf. That is some seriously misdirected anger!

Yeah I had some empathy for OP until I read that, lol.

Okay, I apologize to all the frisbee golfers. Just my experience is that it is a recreational sport on the level of yard darts, again not trying to diminish.

I don't know about frisbee golf; but Ultimate frisbee is a HUGE competitive sport at HB and is now at all of the high schools.

Oh wow, which colleges are recruiting for ultimate?

[Anonymous]

Check out page 5

HB has “1” class over 27 students.

Other HS each have close to 100

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-22-Class-Size-Report.pdf

But at least we have equity?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Check out page 5

HB has “1” class over 27 students.

Other HS each have close to 100

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-22-Class-Size-Report.pdf

But at least we have equity?

Is that true?! If so, that’s total bulls—t. APS teacher with 30 in every class but one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Check out page 5

HB has “1” class over 27 students.

Other HS each have close to 100

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-22-Class-Size-Report.pdf

But at least we have equity?

Is that true?! If so, that’s total bulls—t. APS teacher with 30 in every class but one.

Are you kidding? Of course it’s true. HBW spins a yarn they can’t be over crowded because of their model.

What is the largest class sizes at WL? All they report is greater than 27.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just noticed the dig against frisbee golf. That is some seriously misdirected anger!

Yeah I had some empathy for OP until I read that, lol.

Okay, I apologize to all the frisbee golfers. Just my experience is that it is a recreational sport on the level of yard darts, again not trying to diminish.

I don't know about frisbee golf; but Ultimate frisbee is a HUGE competitive sport at HB and is now at all of the high schools.

Oh wow, which colleges are recruiting for ultimate?

Who cares?
Stop belittling things you're no into.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Check out page 5

HB has “1” class over 27 students.

Other HS each have close to 100

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-22-Class-Size-Report.pdf

But at least we have equity?

Is that true?! If so, that’s total bulls—t. APS teacher with 30 in every class but one.

Are you kidding? Of course it’s true. HBW spins a yarn they can’t be over crowded because of their model.

What is the largest class sizes at WL? All they report is greater than 27.

Of course it's BS. There isn't a single course being taught with anything close to 100 students in the classroom unless it's chorus, band, or orchestra. Even band is taught in multiple periods. The only time 100 students might be in a "class" together is during marching band rehearsals - which occur outside the school day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Check out page 5

HB has “1” class over 27 students.

Other HS each have close to 100

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-22-Class-Size-Report.pdf

But at least we have equity?

Is that true?! If so, that’s total bulls—t. APS teacher with 30 in every class but one.

Are you kidding? Of course it’s true. HBW spins a yarn they can’t be over crowded because of their model.

What is the largest class sizes at WL? All they report is greater than 27.

Of course it's BS. There isn't a single course being taught with anything close to 100 students in the classroom unless it's chorus, band, or orchestra. Even band is taught in multiple periods. The only time 100 students might be in a "class" together is during marching band rehearsals - which occur outside the school day.

Ah an HBW booster who can’t be bothered to read or think critically.

The number I quoted was the NUMBER of classes GREATER than 27. HBW has 1 class. WL has about 80 classes greater than 27.

I wasn’t saying any class was 100 students, and that is so patently ridiculous I can’t believe you even responded without first wondering “maybe I misread that”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP I'm sorry. You want what's best for your child and feel like you're not getting it. That is SO frustrating. FWIW I think a lot of people have a less than "ideal" HS experience. What is ideal anyway? I had over 600 in my graduating class. I met with my HS counselor once. They asked where i was applying to college. I told them the list. They said ok, do you have any questions. I didn't, and that was it. Nobody at the HS looked out for me. Luckily I was the kind of kid who took AP classes and worked hard. I was in a few clubs because I'd seen too many 80s movies about HS and they gave me the impression that you were supposed to be in clubs in HS, so I did. They were all fairly unremarkable. If my parents had been involved and been able to guide me that would have been helpful. So, if you don't think your kid is getting the guidance from school I think they can still get it if you step in. The same may be true of extracurriculars. Sports outside of school. Art/dance/theater/service groups outside of school. Good luck. You're a great parent to be looking out for your kid like you are.

NP but this is a good way to look at things. But I get it, OP. That high school is just huge. By the time my kids get there, we will have moved or chosen private. There are good and bad things about living in an urban area and (IMHO) one of the bad things are overcrowded schools. This is just one of the trade offs people make to live in Arlington. I’m far from educated about all of the other area school districts, but it’s my understanding a lot of the area schools have crowding to some degree, such as the Alexandria HS mentioned earlier in this thread.

I moved from DC to APS so my kids could attend a good public school. The system used to not be broken like this or over-crowded. Back then, we were arguing and speaking at school board meetings to get on board with the idea that the school aged population was growing. The Board kept up the argument that people move out and that people in condos, THs, apartments don’t stay when kids reach school age. It was so ridiculous.

My oldest benefited from an 8th grade year at new Dorothy Hamm with only 100 kids in his grade. But we switched kids to private for HS because of the size WL will be when my youngest gets there. So we are doing private HS for both kids, but initially fully intended to do K-12 public. Size went up and quality went down. Covid broke its back.

[Anonymous]

If your kid HAD gotten into HB, we would find you on this board next year complaining that the school had been way oversold, that there were not enough course offerings and what there was wasn't diverse enough, your kid was wandering off unsupervised to 7-11 in the middle of the day, there were not enough good clubs, and the school didn't offer IB, and that busing your kid to other schools to try to make their sports teams is unreasonable and time consuming. You don't seem like the kind of person to complain about inadequate diversity, but if you were you would complain about that, too.

WL may be a big school but it does offer a lot of things that HB doesn't have, including the larger curriculum and more chances to find your special niche.

You seem determined to view the glass as half empty though so I'm sure no one will change your mind about anything. At least consider how your attitude may be rubbing off on your kid. You seem delightful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your kid HAD gotten into HB, we would find you on this board next year complaining that the school had been way oversold, that there were not enough course offerings and what there was wasn't diverse enough, your kid was wandering off unsupervised to 7-11 in the middle of the day, there were not enough good clubs, and the school didn't offer IB, and that busing your kid to other schools to try to make their sports teams is unreasonable and time consuming. You don't seem like the kind of person to complain about inadequate diversity, but if you were you would complain about that, too.

WL may be a big school but it does offer a lot of things that HB doesn't have, including the larger curriculum and more chances to find your special niche.

You seem determined to view the glass as half empty though so I'm sure no one will change your mind about anything. At least consider how your attitude may be rubbing off on your kid. You seem delightful.

DP. I probably would have which is why we turned down HB. Private HS has been fantastic! 2 years in and we haven’t had a single complaint with anything. Kid loves it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Check out page 5

HB has “1” class over 27 students.

Other HS each have close to 100

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-22-Class-Size-Report.pdf

But at least we have equity?

Is that true?! If so, that’s total bulls—t. APS teacher with 30 in every class but one.

Are you kidding? Of course it’s true. HBW spins a yarn they can’t be over crowded because of their model.

What is the largest class sizes at WL? All they report is greater than 27.

Usually they put out a report showing the largest/smallest/average size for every class across all the schools but there isn't a full report posted for 2021-22. The 2020-21 is here: https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Class-Size-Report-2020-21.pdf

Taking a quick scan for W-L, the classes with an average of 27+ (other than band and study hall) include Alg 2/Trig Intensified (28.2), Ceramics 1 (27.3), Chemistry (28.9), English Language & Comp AP (28.2), IB Geography SL (28), Latin 4 (30), Psychology (27), Psychology AP (30), Sociology (27), Spanish 2 (27), Spanish 4 (27.8), Spanish Language & Culture (32.5), Theater 1 (29), AP US History (28), AP World History (28.7). There are many classes under 27 and many with class size in the teens.

My DD is a junior and she says all her classes are under 30 and some are under 20. AP Language & Comp is the largest, as shown in the average reported last year.