What are the top 10 AAP Centers in FCPS?

[Anonymous]

I'd say the ones that are less crowded and the ones that don't have long bus rides to get there are probably the best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd say the ones that are less crowded and the ones that don't have long bus rides to get there are probably the best.

Is it possible to find online what the # of kids in each grade/classroom at a Center in a specific school?

[Anonymous]

PP, unfortunately it varies by year how many kids there are per grade. At our center, the 5th and 6th grade classes are large (28-32) but the 3rd and 4th grade classes are not as big (22-24).

So I think that it really just depends. The number of kids who qualify changes each year and each year a different number of kids may choose to remain at the base school vs going to the center.

[Anonymous]

I'd say the ones that are less crowded and the ones that don't have long bus rides to get there are probably the best.

Bus rides??? How could that possibly be relevant to the quality of the Center? It's totally dependent on where you live. My kids attend a Center, which also happens to be our neighborhood school, and the bus ride is 10 minutes because school is just over a mile from our house. Some kids who go to our school are on the bus for 30 minutes if they live outside the boundary. Quality of the Center is the same regardless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I'd say the ones that are less crowded and the ones that don't have long bus rides to get there are probably the best.

Bus rides??? How could that possibly be relevant to the quality of the Center? It's totally dependent on where you live. My kids attend a Center, which also happens to be our neighborhood school, and the bus ride is 10 minutes because school is just over a mile from our house. Some kids who go to our school are on the bus for 30 minutes if they live outside the boundary. Quality of the Center is the same regardless.

Your post is hardly worth responding to, but although the quality of the Center is the same regardless, the quality of the experience for the kid may be quite different if he/she has to sit on the bus an hour each day. They're not allowed to read on the bus either. It is dampening my DC's desire to go there; he wants to return to the neighborhood school which is 10 minutes away. Less hassle, more time for play, study whatever. I say it is an issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They're not allowed to read on the bus either.

Really? I know the kids on my DC's bus are allowed to read on the bus. Have you thought about calling Transportation to verify that rule?

This is what I found on the FCPS website:
http://www.fcps.edu/dss/ips/ssaw/SRNR/2010-11-SRR.pdf

(see page 45)

CONDUCT ON THE BUS
Pupils Must:
• Recognize that the bus driver is the authority on the bus and obey and be courteous to
him or her and fellow students.
• Go directly to a seat and remain seated unless otherwise directed by the driver.
• Not tamper with the emergency door.
• Not slap others or wave or shout at pedestrians or other vehicles.
• Not throw objects about the bus or from a window (or throw objects at the bus from
outside).
• Carry onto bus only unbreakable objects that can be safely held in pupil’s lap.
• Not share, sell, or consume food or beverages.
• Keep portable communication device turned off.
• Present written request from parents or guardians, subject to approval of school
principal, to go home on an alternate route.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're not allowed to read on the bus either.

Really? I know the kids on my DC's bus are allowed to read on the bus. Have you thought about calling Transportation to verify that rule?

This is what I found on the FCPS website:
http://www.fcps.edu/dss/ips/ssaw/SRNR/2010-11-SRR.pdf

(see page 45)

CONDUCT ON THE BUS
Pupils Must:
• Recognize that the bus driver is the authority on the bus and obey and be courteous to
him or her and fellow students.
• Go directly to a seat and remain seated unless otherwise directed by the driver.
• Not tamper with the emergency door.
• Not slap others or wave or shout at pedestrians or other vehicles.
• Not throw objects about the bus or from a window (or throw objects at the bus from
outside).
• Carry onto bus only unbreakable objects that can be safely held in pupil’s lap.
• Not share, sell, or consume food or beverages.
• Keep portable communication device turned off.
• Present written request from parents or guardians, subject to approval of school
principal, to go home on an alternate route.

Thank-you. I will call FCPS about this. The bus driver on DC's bus enforces a rule that the kids are not allowed to read - or have anything in their hands - ostensibly for safety purposes if the bus makes a sudden stop.

[Anonymous]

My DD used to read on the bus all the time. It was a problem because sometimes she'd get so engrossed in her book, she'd miss the stop!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Thank-you. I will call FCPS about this. The bus driver on DC's bus enforces a rule that the kids are not allowed to read - or have anything in their hands - ostensibly for safety purposes if the bus makes a sudden stop.

Good luck, and please post back once you hear something. I know that there are kids on DC's bus that do knitting while they ride the bus to school. I have heard that the bus driver doesn't like kids to be using pencils on the bus, which (to me) didn't seem to be consistent with the "knitting is ok" rule.

[Anonymous]

Your post is hardly worth responding to, but although the quality of the Center is the same regardless, the quality of the experience for the kid may be quite different if he/she has to sit on the bus an hour each day. They're not allowed to read on the bus either. It is dampening my DC's desire to go there; he wants to return to the neighborhood school which is 10 minutes away. Less hassle, more time for play, study whatever. I say it is an issue.

Why so snarky? Sheesh. I didn't say it's not an issue, but the original question was which are the best Centers in FCPS and are they ranked in some way. There's no way to sort them based on the bus ride lengths, which vary for each child depending on where s/he lives in relation to the Center. Presumably the OP was looking for ways to differentiate among the Centers - bus ride length, while it may be a big factor for an individual child, is not a useful criterion for making comparisons among the Centers since it really has nothing to do with the Center and everything to do with where you happen to live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD used to read on the bus all the time. It was a problem because sometimes she'd get so engrossed in her book, she'd miss the stop!

My DD is the same way. She is in the Center with little longer bus ride and she reads on the bus all the time.