Any other Alexandrians heartbroken about ACPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As an Old Town resident and lover of our vibrant city of Alexandria, I am so heartbroken by our public school system. We love and support our schools but wow it's like our school board refuses to make anything better and we all suffer as a result. Staying isn't safe and kids are segregated in our upper schools. Only the blind dispute this. It's just frustrating to know we need to move from this otherwise amazing place.

I'm sure there will be plenty of posters chiming in, finding ways to make fun of this and pick me apart. But, I think many others actually living and witnessing this know it's very much real.

I don’t understand. I grew up here. The schools have been the same for decades. Why move here if you didn’t like the schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in Alexandria and I have a group of moms who all had babies around the same time period who have kept in touch. We all got together recently, as our oldest kids are about to finish 2nd grade. When the kids were little, we had all planned to send them to our local, relatively well-regarded ACPS elementary, but I realized that now, not a single one will still have a kid in ACPS by the start of 3rd grade. Everyone has either moved or switched to private. It’s sad and I don’t see a lot of willingness on the part of the city to change.

I'm a PP (18:30) and this is our experience as well. In first grade my oldest invited over a dozen classmates to a birthday party. Only one remains in ACPS, and she is going private next year.

OP again. DC will be in 2nd next year and many have stayed, but I assume it'll be the last year. I'm unsure of where to move that has some of the lifestyle benefits of Old Town. It's a mess.

They pale in comparison in terms of prettiness/charm, but parts of North Arlington (Westover, Bluemont neighborhoods in particular) and maybe Falls Church City.

Maybe Silver Spring but I'm not as familiar with MD.

And actually Reston and Leesburg, *if you work remote* all or most of the time and therefore don't need to commute to DC.

+1 we live in westover and it isn’t the same as old town of course but a lot of similar lifestyle benefits. We looked in old town, falls church city and here in westover and ended up landing here but I think that gives you a sense of where people who want similar vibes go

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an Old Town resident and lover of our vibrant city of Alexandria, I am so heartbroken by our public school system. We love and support our schools but wow it's like our school board refuses to make anything better and we all suffer as a result. Staying isn't safe and kids are segregated in our upper schools. Only the blind dispute this. It's just frustrating to know we need to move from this otherwise amazing place.

I'm sure there will be plenty of posters chiming in, finding ways to make fun of this and pick me apart. But, I think many others actually living and witnessing this know it's very much real.

Not a very nuanced comment. Are you just stirring the pot? Did you vote in the School Board election? Do you have students in ACPS schools? What are you upset about?

I don’t think you know what nuanced means.

In the off chance you do, OP was far more nuanced than you. She expressed appreciation for the city while lamenting ACPS. She gave multiple reasons—safety, segregation—even pinpointing that one of those is more reserved to certain schools. That’s a fair amount of nuance for a few sentences in a DCUM post.

Where’s your nuance, moron? You just asked a bunch of idiotic non sequitur questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For someone who said the SB is volunteer, they are not. They do get paid, albeit a low amount. But it's not a full-time job.

I'm an ACPS parent of three kids in elementary. I am just so tired of having to pay so close attention to what everyone else is echoing: school safety, curriculum, quality instruction, resources. My wife and I both have DC, in-person based jobs. We also cannot afford to live outside of an inner suburb. We lived in Takoma Park, Silver Spring, and even Chevy Chase before and it was a lot of the same things. We left Chevy Chase because of the cost of living, not walkable, and very much a lack of diversity.

I honestly am so disheartened about how ACPS treats their staff. So many principals and teachers are leaving. But I don't see anywhere around here "better". There are just different problems.

APS is way better. No it's not perfect but it's way better.

+1

I'm in South Arlington not far from Alexandria and in low income schools. But it doesn't sound near as bad as what I'm reading here. There are still somewhat affordable townhouses and condos in the areas around me. But it definitely doesn't have the charming atmosphere of Old Town, so... trade offs, I guess.

[Anonymous]

Time to grow up and move out of Old Town and Del Ray. You won’t miss it nearly as much as you think you will.

[Anonymous]

Move to N Arlington. We lived in Potomac Greens for years. We went to St Stephens Agnes to avoid the public schools. We loved Alexandria the Old Town community but the public schools are terrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP this has been literally going on for YEARS. Why did you move somewhere with bad schools?

OP here. We lived here before kids and hoped it might improve. We learned that was lip service.

Yep I grew up here and ACPS had a bad reputation among people who didn’t actually go there or send their kids there, but for those actually experiencing the schools, it was a decent overall experience that I would have been happy to have my kids have. We moved back, and I assumed it would be the same. Sorry to see it has really gone downhill. We have our oldest in private bc we don’t want to give up the old town lifestyle, but our toddler is going to need special ed and I’m at a loss for options. There aren’t appropriate private options for here, and I have heard only bad things about ACPS special ed. I’m at a loss.

Take a look at linder academy in old town. I know a few families of SWDs who are there and love it

Thank you! Apparently Linder is amazing for executive functioning and ADHD but is not open to autism. If someone would open a private in Alexandria for ASD they would have a line out the door! If anyone has other suggestions I am desperate. TIA

Commonwealth has some lower support needs autistic kids, but doesn’t start until 3rd and is $$$$. When we realized we would need special education for two we decided to move when our oldest was ready to start middle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:APS is on a downward trajectory as well. Don’t go there. It’s fine for elementary but they are slowly devolving into low expectations and reduced rigor. The only differentiation is on iPads while teachers work with kids who need catching up. So many families our N Arlington neighborhood are making plans to go private for middle school.

North Arlington is part of the problem in APS. 24 yr homeowner with kids in APS here: N Arl sucked a lot of oxygen for. Along time, becoming more extreme in demands/assumptions ("why yes, our upper class babies do deserve a slide in their school lobby, or a whole new Cardinal EL that was absolutely not needed for seats but instead for neighborhood prid). Meanwhile SArl was getting crammed with FrL population. Now that we finally have a leadership that has stopped encouraging that madness, NArl cries "downward trajectory!" Look, you and I might even be friends on the soccer sidelines, but if you have been here as long as I have you can see we enabled this situation at the least.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP this has been literally going on for YEARS. Why did you move somewhere with bad schools?

OP here. We lived here before kids and hoped it might improve. We learned that was lip service.

I lived in Cleveland and Chicago before DC. When I got pregnant we didn’t even consider DC or ACPS.

Can anyone provide an example of a city where schools actually got better in the last 30 years?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP this has been literally going on for YEARS. Why did you move somewhere with bad schools?

OP here. We lived here before kids and hoped it might improve. We learned that was lip service.

I lived in Cleveland and Chicago before DC. When I got pregnant we didn’t even consider DC or ACPS.

Can anyone provide an example of a city where schools actually got better in the last 30 years?

Miami.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Time to grow up and move out of Old Town and Del Ray. You won’t miss it nearly as much as you think you will.

"Grow up?" What a spiteful recommendation. You may not share the values of people who live here including walkability and sense of community. It's a rare thing in this area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP this has been literally going on for YEARS. Why did you move somewhere with bad schools?

OP here. We lived here before kids and hoped it might improve. We learned that was lip service.

I lived in Cleveland and Chicago before DC. When I got pregnant we didn’t even consider DC or ACPS.

Can anyone provide an example of a city where schools actually got better in the last 30 years?

Miami.

Pre pandemic, Portland Oregon and Seattle Washington schools continued to get stronger over the decades. But both cities always had decent public schools with strong middle and upper class support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP this has been literally going on for YEARS. Why did you move somewhere with bad schools?

OP here. We lived here before kids and hoped it might improve. We learned that was lip service.

I lived in Cleveland and Chicago before DC. When I got pregnant we didn’t even consider DC or ACPS.

Can anyone provide an example of a city where schools actually got better in the last 30 years?

Miami.

Pre pandemic, Portland Oregon and Seattle Washington schools continued to get stronger over the decades. But both cities always had decent public schools with strong middle and upper class support.

And are very white.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP this has been literally going on for YEARS. Why did you move somewhere with bad schools?

OP here. We lived here before kids and hoped it might improve. We learned that was lip service.

I lived in Cleveland and Chicago before DC. When I got pregnant we didn’t even consider DC or ACPS.

Can anyone provide an example of a city where schools actually got better in the last 30 years?

Miami.

Sacramento schools. San Diego (multiple schools systems serve the city). Virginia Beach. I’m sure there are plenty of other large cities where schools have improved or gotten more rigorous since the 1970s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Time to grow up and move out of Old Town and Del Ray. You won’t miss it nearly as much as you think you will.

"Grow up?" What a spiteful recommendation. You may not share the values of people who live here including walkability and sense of community. It's a rare thing in this area.

My sense of community was destroyed by Alexandria and ACPS. If you go along to get along, don't complain and follow the orders of the political establishment, you can enjoy the illusion of community. Trying speaking out against ACPS and the establishment. There is no community here just like there is no open mindedness.