Yorktown vs WL — Ranking vs word on street

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yorktown is mostly white. That is what your friends are really telling you.

W-L is also mostly white as are most public schools in Northern Va that have a plurality of white students. What sets Yorktown apart from most Northern Va schools is that it is overwhelmingly white, i.e., the vast majority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yorktown is mostly white. That is what your friends are really telling you.

W-L is also mostly white as are most public schools in Northern Va that have a plurality of white students. What sets Yorktown apart from most Northern Va schools is that it is overwhelmingly white, i.e., the vast majority.

+1 W-L is 47% White, 30% Hispanic vs. Yorktown is 65% White, 16% Hispanic.
https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Civil-Rights-Table-1-2021-11-08.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP - Please don't assume your child will get accepted to IB. This year there is a long waitlist. If more kids apply than there are seats, it is simply a lottery. There is a 60 person waitlist this year. (that is for 9th grade, it looks like if you are willing to transfer later there is no waitlist for 10th or 11th)

There is also neighborhood transfer, this year it was only 20 or 30 seats for 9th grade (I think it was 20 and another 30 seats were for the other 3 grades). There is a long waitlist there too. 0 of the many, many kids I know who applied were able to get transfers from YT to W-L. My son knows of 1. APS did state there was a Wakefield preference for neighborhood transfers due to overcrowding. But I honestly have no idea who the other 19 seats were allocated.

OP, Your kid will do well at either school, or frankly any school in APS. As long are your student applies herself, you are supportive of her, and she able to advocate for herself, YT or W-L will serve her well.

Have your child apply for IB and if that doesn't work, try the neighborhood transfer. If neither work, she'll do great at YT. Much of this is beyond your control, unless you plan to move inbound for W-L so don't stress too much OP.



And for the person who implied zoned kids can just get in to IB, it is not true. All students still need to meet the requirements (I don't remember them all but I know starting a language and 7th and keeping the same one through Sr year is one, and being at least in Algebra 1 in 8th grade is another). Plus they strongly encourage 3 intensified classes Freshman year if the student is considering the IB track. So the prerequisites are the same whether zoned or a transfer.

All W-L students may not be qualified to get the full IB diploma but they can take any IB classes they want. Mix of AP and IB. That's what the PP was referencing was the broader set of choices they have. PP was suggesting policy change such that IB is a program. To that end, I'd love that they change the policy for HB and Tech too. If you go to HB, you go to HB. None of this being allowed to go back to the other schools for classes. It's the best of both worlds piece that is so annoying.

I'm the commenter whose comments you're clarifying - thank you! And I agree with you about the other option programs. These are "CHOICE" programs and that means "choices" have to be made. It's a good lesson for kids to learn, too.

HB parent here and I don't think HB students can go back to their home high schools for classes. If so, I am not aware of it, so can the PP please explain what you are referencing?

HB students can do sports at their home HS, and they can go to classes at the career center, just like any other HS student in APS.

HB students can take a class at their home high school if it’s not offered at HB, or there’s some other schedule conflict. Students would have to provide their own transport. A lot has happened since the pandemic, so I don’t know if that’s the case this year. But the flexibility makes sense since HB students are technically students of their home high schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP - Please don't assume your child will get accepted to IB. This year there is a long waitlist. If more kids apply than there are seats, it is simply a lottery. There is a 60 person waitlist this year. (that is for 9th grade, it looks like if you are willing to transfer later there is no waitlist for 10th or 11th)

There is also neighborhood transfer, this year it was only 20 or 30 seats for 9th grade (I think it was 20 and another 30 seats were for the other 3 grades). There is a long waitlist there too. 0 of the many, many kids I know who applied were able to get transfers from YT to W-L. My son knows of 1. APS did state there was a Wakefield preference for neighborhood transfers due to overcrowding. But I honestly have no idea who the other 19 seats were allocated.

OP, Your kid will do well at either school, or frankly any school in APS. As long are your student applies herself, you are supportive of her, and she able to advocate for herself, YT or W-L will serve her well.

Have your child apply for IB and if that doesn't work, try the neighborhood transfer. If neither work, she'll do great at YT. Much of this is beyond your control, unless you plan to move inbound for W-L so don't stress too much OP.



And for the person who implied zoned kids can just get in to IB, it is not true. All students still need to meet the requirements (I don't remember them all but I know starting a language and 7th and keeping the same one through Sr year is one, and being at least in Algebra 1 in 8th grade is another). Plus they strongly encourage 3 intensified classes Freshman year if the student is considering the IB track. So the prerequisites are the same whether zoned or a transfer.

All W-L students may not be qualified to get the full IB diploma but they can take any IB classes they want. Mix of AP and IB. That's what the PP was referencing was the broader set of choices they have. PP was suggesting policy change such that IB is a program. To that end, I'd love that they change the policy for HB and Tech too. If you go to HB, you go to HB. None of this being allowed to go back to the other schools for classes. It's the best of both worlds piece that is so annoying.

I'm the commenter whose comments you're clarifying - thank you! And I agree with you about the other option programs. These are "CHOICE" programs and that means "choices" have to be made. It's a good lesson for kids to learn, too.

HB parent here and I don't think HB students can go back to their home high schools for classes. If so, I am not aware of it, so can the PP please explain what you are referencing?

HB students can do sports at their home HS, and they can go to classes at the career center, just like any other HS student in APS.

HB students can take a class at their home high school if it’s not offered at HB, or there’s some other schedule conflict. Students would have to provide their own transport. A lot has happened since the pandemic, so I don’t know if that’s the case this year. But the flexibility makes sense since HB students are technically students of their home high schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yorktown is mostly white. That is what your friends are really telling you.

W-L is also mostly white as are most public schools in Northern Va that have a plurality of white students. What sets Yorktown apart from most Northern Va schools is that it is overwhelmingly white, i.e., the vast majority.

Nope. Most schools in NoVa that have a plurality of white kids do not also have a majority of white kids. Yorktown is now an outlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yorktown is mostly white. That is what your friends are really telling you.

W-L is also mostly white as are most public schools in Northern Va that have a plurality of white students. What sets Yorktown apart from most Northern Va schools is that it is overwhelmingly white, i.e., the vast majority.

Nope. Most schools in NoVa that have a plurality of white kids do not also have a majority of white kids. Yorktown is now an outlier.

W-L has a plurality of white students, just under 50%. So it’s like most schools in Northern Virginia. Yes Yorktown is the outlier. There is no disagreement on the facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Capstone is to bolster Yorktown and reduce transfer to WL. They need more seats at WL to accommodate flow from Wakefield.

Yes, or many more W-L neighborhoods along the Yorktown border would likely have to be redistricted to Yorktown like Cherrydale, Waycroft Woodlawn, etc. Population growth is in South Arlington and not in the B
North. So makes sense to reduce transfers from Yorktown to W-L and encourage transfers from
Wakefield into W-L

Would neighbors accept moving to Yorktown?

Haven't laughed so hard in years!

Why is this funny? I thought the orange t shirts originated about WL Pu moving to YHS?

Wrong directions:

The orange shirts were a group of parents who showed up at the High School boundary discussion, all wearing orange shirts (Arlington Forest Pool colors) and argued that their neighborhood needed to stay together at W&L b/c theoretically their kids biked to W&L- but could not bike to the wasteland that is Wakefield.

Yes....the biking route to Wakefield being a straight shot down George Mason and probably less dangerous than their route to WL. Not that that many were actually biking anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP - Please don't assume your child will get accepted to IB. This year there is a long waitlist. If more kids apply than there are seats, it is simply a lottery. There is a 60 person waitlist this year. (that is for 9th grade, it looks like if you are willing to transfer later there is no waitlist for 10th or 11th)

There is also neighborhood transfer, this year it was only 20 or 30 seats for 9th grade (I think it was 20 and another 30 seats were for the other 3 grades). There is a long waitlist there too. 0 of the many, many kids I know who applied were able to get transfers from YT to W-L. My son knows of 1. APS did state there was a Wakefield preference for neighborhood transfers due to overcrowding. But I honestly have no idea who the other 19 seats were allocated.

OP, Your kid will do well at either school, or frankly any school in APS. As long are your student applies herself, you are supportive of her, and she able to advocate for herself, YT or W-L will serve her well.

Have your child apply for IB and if that doesn't work, try the neighborhood transfer. If neither work, she'll do great at YT. Much of this is beyond your control, unless you plan to move inbound for W-L so don't stress too much OP.



And for the person who implied zoned kids can just get in to IB, it is not true. All students still need to meet the requirements (I don't remember them all but I know starting a language and 7th and keeping the same one through Sr year is one, and being at least in Algebra 1 in 8th grade is another). Plus they strongly encourage 3 intensified classes Freshman year if the student is considering the IB track. So the prerequisites are the same whether zoned or a transfer.

All W-L students may not be qualified to get the full IB diploma but they can take any IB classes they want. Mix of AP and IB. That's what the PP was referencing was the broader set of choices they have. PP was suggesting policy change such that IB is a program. To that end, I'd love that they change the policy for HB and Tech too. If you go to HB, you go to HB. None of this being allowed to go back to the other schools for classes. It's the best of both worlds piece that is so annoying.

I'm the commenter whose comments you're clarifying - thank you! And I agree with you about the other option programs. These are "CHOICE" programs and that means "choices" have to be made. It's a good lesson for kids to learn, too.

HB parent here and I don't think HB students can go back to their home high schools for classes. If so, I am not aware of it, so can the PP please explain what you are referencing?

HB students can do sports at their home HS, and they can go to classes at the career center, just like any other HS student in APS.

That's what the commenter was saying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Capstone is to bolster Yorktown and reduce transfer to WL. They need more seats at WL to accommodate flow from Wakefield.

Yes, or many more W-L neighborhoods along the Yorktown border would likely have to be redistricted to Yorktown like Cherrydale, Waycroft Woodlawn, etc. Population growth is in South Arlington and not in the B
North. So makes sense to reduce transfers from Yorktown to W-L and encourage transfers from
Wakefield into W-L

Would neighbors accept moving to Yorktown?

Haven't laughed so hard in years!

Why is this funny? I thought the orange t shirts originated about WL Pu moving to YHS?

Wrong directions:

The orange shirts were a group of parents who showed up at the High School boundary discussion, all wearing orange shirts (Arlington Forest Pool colors) and argued that their neighborhood needed to stay together at W&L b/c theoretically their kids biked to W&L- but could not bike to the wasteland that is Wakefield.

Yes....the biking route to Wakefield being a straight shot down George Mason and probably less dangerous than their route to WL. Not that that many were actually biking anyway.

That neighborhood (Arlington Forest n of 50) likely would have been rezoned back to W-L anyways with the new additional seats at W-L and overcrowding at Wakefield. (The walk or bike ride to W-L is actually pretty safe since the pedestrian infrastructure is good around Ballston. George Mason and Glebe are the busiest intersections.)

Unfortunately APS doesn’t take into account demographics when re zoning schools. So the school system has actually become more segregated over the years

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yorktown is mostly white. That is what your friends are really telling you.

W-L is also mostly white as are most public schools in Northern Va that have a plurality of white students. What sets Yorktown apart from most Northern Va schools is that it is overwhelmingly white, i.e., the vast majority.

Nope. Most schools in NoVa that have a plurality of white kids do not also have a majority of white kids. Yorktown is now an outlier.

W-L has a plurality of white students, just under 50%. So it’s like most schools in Northern Virginia. Yes Yorktown is the outlier. There is no disagreement on the facts.

Yorktown doesn’t have too many whites it has too few Asians.

Langley is 85% white-Asian, McLean is 75% white asian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yorktown is mostly white. That is what your friends are really telling you.

W-L is also mostly white as are most public schools in Northern Va that have a plurality of white students. What sets Yorktown apart from most Northern Va schools is that it is overwhelmingly white, i.e., the vast majority.

Nope. Most schools in NoVa that have a plurality of white kids do not also have a majority of white kids. Yorktown is now an outlier.

W-L has a plurality of white students, just under 50%. So it’s like most schools in Northern Virginia. Yes Yorktown is the outlier. There is no disagreement on the facts.

Yorktown doesn’t have too many whites it has too few Asians.

Langley is 85% white-Asian, McLean is 75% white asian.

And for more nuance, students from North Africa, The Levant, and The Middle East count as white in the McLean and Langley data.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yorktown is mostly white. That is what your friends are really telling you.

W-L is also mostly white as are most public schools in Northern Va that have a plurality of white students. What sets Yorktown apart from most Northern Va schools is that it is overwhelmingly white, i.e., the vast majority.

Nope. Most schools in NoVa that have a plurality of white kids do not also have a majority of white kids. Yorktown is now an outlier.

W-L has a plurality of white students, just under 50%. So it’s like most schools in Northern Virginia. Yes Yorktown is the outlier. There is no disagreement on the facts.

Yorktown doesn’t have too many whites it has too few Asians.

Langley is 85% white-Asian, McLean is 75% white asian.

And for more nuance, students from North Africa, The Levant, and The Middle East count as white in the McLean and Langley data.

And McLean is 8% FARMS; YHS is 11%. WL is 26%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yorktown is mostly white. That is what your friends are really telling you.

W-L is also mostly white as are most public schools in Northern Va that have a plurality of white students. What sets Yorktown apart from most Northern Va schools is that it is overwhelmingly white, i.e., the vast majority.

Nope. Most schools in NoVa that have a plurality of white kids do not also have a majority of white kids. Yorktown is now an outlier.

W-L has a plurality of white students, just under 50%. So it’s like most schools in Northern Virginia. Yes Yorktown is the outlier. There is no disagreement on the facts.

Yorktown doesn’t have too many whites it has too few Asians.

Langley is 85% white-Asian, McLean is 75% white asian.

And for more nuance, students from North Africa, The Levant, and The Middle East count as white in the McLean and Langley data.

And McLean is 8% FARMS; YHS is 11%. WL is 26%.

Not PP but McLean is more like 12% FARMS. Langley is about 3%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yorktown is mostly white. That is what your friends are really telling you.

W-L is also mostly white as are most public schools in Northern Va that have a plurality of white students. What sets Yorktown apart from most Northern Va schools is that it is overwhelmingly white, i.e., the vast majority.

Nope. Most schools in NoVa that have a plurality of white kids do not also have a majority of white kids. Yorktown is now an outlier.

W-L has a plurality of white students, just under 50%. So it’s like most schools in Northern Virginia. Yes Yorktown is the outlier. There is no disagreement on the facts.

Yorktown doesn’t have too many whites it has too few Asians.

Langley is 85% white-Asian, McLean is 75% white asian.

And for more nuance, students from North Africa, The Levant, and The Middle East count as white in the McLean and Langley data.

And McLean is 8% FARMS; YHS is 11%. WL is 26%.

Not PP but McLean is more like 12% FARMS. Langley is about 3%.

It’s probably dropped as McLean got $$$

https://www.greatschools.org/virginia/mclean/545-Mclean-High-School/

[Anonymous]

All these high schools draw from wealthy areas. But within Arlington, the question is whether or not the post pandemic departure of families from the public schools will continue or reverse. It has affected N Arlington neighborhoods more than those in South Arlington. The high schools are still quite good and serve highly motivated students well. So perhaps some will return for high school, if not middle school too, since Dorothy Hamm MS is quite good and underenrolled.