How is Westbriar ES AAP program?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I don't see any indication that anyone has been acting in bad faith here, but I do see how some GenEd parents at Westbriar who thought the AAP center there would be comparatively small may eventually end up with an AAP center school similar to other centers (Archer, Churchill Road, Colvin Run, Haycock) in terms of the ratio of AAP to GenEd students.

And that's exactly what all the boosters, (principals, PTA prez, etc.) said would not happen. Hence the bad faith when anyone with half a brain could see that if you build an AAP center, they will come. In droves!

And lest you forget, FCPS labels services, not students. So there is no such thing as an AAP student, or AAP parent, Gen Ed Student or Gen Ed parent. In fact there will be many parents who are likely to seem some of their children receiving AAP and others receiving Gen Ed at Westbriar. I'm sure they'll have no problem with the division.

I disagree with you to the extent that I don't think the under-enrollment at schools in the Langley pyramid were getting as much attention when the discussions about adding AAP to Westbriar were occurring. Moving existing Westbriar neighborhoods to Colvin Run and/or Wolftrap at the same time as AAP kids are coming in from Westbriar, Freedom Hill and Stenwood will likely change the feel of the place, for sure. But, people clearly expected a lot of AAP kids from those three schools, just from looking at the other trends in the Marshall pyramid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don't see any indication that anyone has been acting in bad faith here, but I do see how some GenEd parents at Westbriar who thought the AAP center there would be comparatively small may eventually end up with an AAP center school similar to other centers (Archer, Churchill Road, Colvin Run, Haycock) in terms of the ratio of AAP to GenEd students.

And that's exactly what all the boosters, (principals, PTA prez, etc.) said would not happen. Hence the bad faith when anyone with half a brain could see that if you build an AAP center, they will come. In droves!

And lest you forget, FCPS labels services, not students. So there is no such thing as an AAP student, or AAP parent, Gen Ed Student or Gen Ed parent. In fact there will be many parents who are likely to seem some of their children receiving AAP and others receiving Gen Ed at Westbriar. I'm sure they'll have no problem with the division.

I disagree with you to the extent that I don't think the under-enrollment at schools in the Langley pyramid were getting as much attention when the discussions about adding AAP to Westbriar were occurring. Moving existing Westbriar neighborhoods to Colvin Run and/or Wolftrap at the same time as AAP kids are coming in from Westbriar, Freedom Hill and Stenwood will likely change the feel of the place, for sure. But, people clearly expected a lot of AAP kids from those three schools, just from looking at the other trends in the Marshall pyramid.

I agree that the under-enrolled schools in Langley weren't getting attention and I think that was unfortunate, especially with Westbriar becoming the defacto Tysons school when Langley schools would be as close.

No they did not. The Westbriar principal and PTA prez both downplayed the numbers from other schools as minimal. As did the FCPS projections. Clearly you do not have very good information on what was and is going on inside Westbriar, but a lot of opinions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don't see any indication that anyone has been acting in bad faith here, but I do see how some GenEd parents at Westbriar who thought the AAP center there would be comparatively small may eventually end up with an AAP center school similar to other centers (Archer, Churchill Road, Colvin Run, Haycock) in terms of the ratio of AAP to GenEd students.

And that's exactly what all the boosters, (principals, PTA prez, etc.) said would not happen. Hence the bad faith when anyone with half a brain could see that if you build an AAP center, they will come. In droves!

And lest you forget, FCPS labels services, not students. So there is no such thing as an AAP student, or AAP parent, Gen Ed Student or Gen Ed parent. In fact there will be many parents who are likely to seem some of their children receiving AAP and others receiving Gen Ed at Westbriar. I'm sure they'll have no problem with the division.

I disagree with you to the extent that I don't think the under-enrollment at schools in the Langley pyramid were getting as much attention when the discussions about adding AAP to Westbriar were occurring. Moving existing Westbriar neighborhoods to Colvin Run and/or Wolftrap at the same time as AAP kids are coming in from Westbriar, Freedom Hill and Stenwood will likely change the feel of the place, for sure. But, people clearly expected a lot of AAP kids from those three schools, just from looking at the other trends in the Marshall pyramid.

I agree that the under-enrolled schools in Langley weren't getting attention and I think that was unfortunate, especially with Westbriar becoming the defacto Tysons school when Langley schools would be as close.

No they did not. The Westbriar principal and PTA prez both downplayed the numbers from other schools as minimal. As did the FCPS projections. Clearly you do not have very good information on what was and is going on inside Westbriar, but a lot of opinions.

I checked the projections from December 2012. It was estimated then, before a final decision was made on introducing AAP to Westbriar, that there'd be 46 kids at Westbriar this year getting AAP services; the actual number as of March 2014 was 51, according to FCPS. I don't think that's a big difference or one that suggests a conspiracy among the Westbriar principal and PTA president to downplay the numbers. FCPS also estimated in late 2012 that the AAP center would have close to 200 students by 2017, which seems like a pretty large number, although one that obviously has a greater potential for error.

If anything wasn't vetted openly at the time, it appears to have been the possibility that some existing Westbriar neighborhoods might get moved to Colvin Run and/or Wolftrap ES, but even today that's still just a possibility, rather than a pending action item.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Love that in the middle of all this questioning on how Westbriar ES AAP came about, there's a parent questioning whether it's a good enough center for their snowflake.

Thank you, at least someone noticed it.

I didn't start this thread why it was made an AAP center but to check how they are doing in terms of AAP center.

I need to make a decision soon whether to move to the area that feeds to Westbriar.

I didn't hear too many good things about westbriar yet.

Friend's third grader LOVES it (AAP).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many Westbriar parents as well as the principal encouraged the school to be a center. They even helped persuade Stenwood and Freedom Hill parents to argue against going to Lemon Road even though those schools are very close to the Lemon Road border and almost all go on to the same middle and high school as the Lemon Road kids.

And this makes sense how? Basically people were lured by a "better" neighborhood. Navy Elementary was also turned into a center and you hear little about it on these forums. Why is that? It's only Louise Archer, Haycock and now Westbriar.

The principal wanted this so the principal was going to get this no matter what she had to say or how disingenuous she had to be. Most of the parents who supported this have younger kids and have big dreams for their kids and little clue how centers work or how divisive they can be no matter what the principal says. I feel sorry for the families at Westbriar now -- they have no idea what a monstrosity that school is going to turn into. Their only hope is that ultimately a new Tysons school picks up some of the capacity.

Such drama! It's like Lisa Pilson at Westbriar gets to play the evil Kelly Shears role in the sequel to the Haycock movie.

Schools around Tysons are growing. It inevitably results in program and boundary adjustments. Kids get reassigned, and it's messy, but life goes on and they still get to attend good schools. I guess you'd be happier if Virginia employment figures continue to tank and the growth comes to a halt.

There's a difference between necessary boundary adjustments and unnecessarily doubling the size of a school. Especially when that means drawing people from distant neighborhoods ie. more traffic into an already congested area. Or perhaps you should move here and see for yourself.

Are you saying you wanted the extra traffic routed to Lemon Road/Idylwood Road rather than Westbriar/Old Courthouse Road? Sounds kind of NIMBY.

In any event, I don't think Westbriar's population has doubled yet, due to the opening of the AAP center. Before that ever were to happen, it appears that FCPS plans to move the "Westbriar island" off Beulah that is physically separated from the rest of the Westbriar attendance district to Colvin Run and/or Wolftrap ES, both of which are expected to have extra capacity. Many families in that area wanted to be assigned to Colvin Run when it was opened, but FCPS didn't accommodate the request at the time, as it would have either made Colvin Run a triple-feeder (Langley/McLean/Marshall) or required changes to the existing MS/HS assignments. Now that Cooper and Langley are under-enrolled, FCPS may decide to move at least some of the Westbriar island to Colvin Run/Cooper/Langley, which would bring down the total enrollment at Westbriar.

I don't see any indication that anyone has been acting in bad faith here, but I do see how some GenEd parents at Westbriar who thought the AAP center there would be comparatively small may eventually end up with an AAP center school similar to other centers (Archer, Churchill Road, Colvin Run, Haycock) in terms of the ratio of AAP to GenEd students.

How could it possibly have doubled? The LA kids were grandfathered, right? So there's only a third grade in the center now? How could that have doubled the size of the school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don't see any indication that anyone has been acting in bad faith here, but I do see how some GenEd parents at Westbriar who thought the AAP center there would be comparatively small may eventually end up with an AAP center school similar to other centers (Archer, Churchill Road, Colvin Run, Haycock) in terms of the ratio of AAP to GenEd students.

And that's exactly what all the boosters, (principals, PTA prez, etc.) said would not happen. Hence the bad faith when anyone with half a brain could see that if you build an AAP center, they will come. In droves!

And lest you forget, FCPS labels services, not students. So there is no such thing as an AAP student, or AAP parent, Gen Ed Student or Gen Ed parent. In fact there will be many parents who are likely to seem some of their children receiving AAP and others receiving Gen Ed at Westbriar. I'm sure they'll have no problem with the division.

I disagree with you to the extent that I don't think the under-enrollment at schools in the Langley pyramid were getting as much attention when the discussions about adding AAP to Westbriar were occurring. Moving existing Westbriar neighborhoods to Colvin Run and/or Wolftrap at the same time as AAP kids are coming in from Westbriar, Freedom Hill and Stenwood will likely change the feel of the place, for sure. But, people clearly expected a lot of AAP kids from those three schools, just from looking at the other trends in the Marshall pyramid.

All of this ridiculous drama over who goes where leads me to ask why on earth these schools don't simply offer LLIV at each base school and forget the center model??? It makes no sense whatsoever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don't see any indication that anyone has been acting in bad faith here, but I do see how some GenEd parents at Westbriar who thought the AAP center there would be comparatively small may eventually end up with an AAP center school similar to other centers (Archer, Churchill Road, Colvin Run, Haycock) in terms of the ratio of AAP to GenEd students.

And that's exactly what all the boosters, (principals, PTA prez, etc.) said would not happen. Hence the bad faith when anyone with half a brain could see that if you build an AAP center, they will come. In droves!

And lest you forget, FCPS labels services, not students. So there is no such thing as an AAP student, or AAP parent, Gen Ed Student or Gen Ed parent. In fact there will be many parents who are likely to seem some of their children receiving AAP and others receiving Gen Ed at Westbriar. I'm sure they'll have no problem with the division.

I disagree with you to the extent that I don't think the under-enrollment at schools in the Langley pyramid were getting as much attention when the discussions about adding AAP to Westbriar were occurring. Moving existing Westbriar neighborhoods to Colvin Run and/or Wolftrap at the same time as AAP kids are coming in from Westbriar, Freedom Hill and Stenwood will likely change the feel of the place, for sure. But, people clearly expected a lot of AAP kids from those three schools, just from looking at the other trends in the Marshall pyramid.

All of this ridiculous drama over who goes where leads me to ask why on earth these schools don't simply offer LLIV at each base school and forget the center model??? It makes no sense whatsoever.

It would be interesting to have FCPS run an enrollment model where LLIV at the base school would be the option for students at schools that exceed a specified threshold of students eligible for AAP services, and limit the transfer options to students at schools where the number of students eligible for AAP services falls below that threshold. But even that approach would still generate "drama" about the appropriate threshold.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It would be interesting to have FCPS run an enrollment model where LLIV at the base school would be the option for students at schools that exceed a specified threshold of students eligible for AAP services, and limit the transfer options to students at schools where the number of students eligible for AAP services falls below that threshold. But even that approach would still generate "drama" about the appropriate threshold.

What value would you suggest for this hypothetical threshold?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any idea how the PTA at Westbriar is? Do they have good after-school PTA programs for kids?

not really

nothing learn!! just spend time!!!
It was gettin worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some at Lemon Road complain the AAP program there is too small and doesn't have "critical mass." Others at Westbriar complain the AAP program there will get too big and overwhelm the school. It's no surprise that the School Board doesn't do what the "community" wants when the "community" doesn't speak with one voice.

Also, teachers are not ready to teach AAP. They did not know what to do .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How are the AAP teachers at Westbriar? Are they experienced AAP teachers from other schools or they have been just trained last year to take over new role from 2013-14?.

FYI: ANY AAP teacher has FIVE years from when they begin teaching AAP to obtain the specialized training. Many do the AAP classroom for 5 years, never get the training and then transfer to a regular classroom. This is at any AAP school, per our AART.

no one trained until May in 2013.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some at Lemon Road complain the AAP program there is too small and doesn't have "critical mass." Others at Westbriar complain the AAP program there will get too big and overwhelm the school. It's no surprise that the School Board doesn't do what the "community" wants when the "community" doesn't speak with one voice.

Also, teachers are not ready to teach AAP. They did not know what to do .

Oh, barf. AAP kids are not some special breed. They don't need a "specially trained" teacher in any way, shape, or form. It's such a fallacy that AAP students need to handled with kid gloves and taught "just so" or else they won't be able to learn. It's amusing (and disgusting) how very serious some AAP parents are about their snowflakes needing special treatment.

[Anonymous]

Actually, AAP kids do need special teachers. otherwise they will never reach their unexhibited potential.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually, AAP kids do need special teachers. otherwise they will never reach their unexhibited potential.

Exactly....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some at Lemon Road complain the AAP program there is too small and doesn't have "critical mass." Others at Westbriar complain the AAP program there will get too big and overwhelm the school. It's no surprise that the School Board doesn't do what the "community" wants when the "community" doesn't speak with one voice.

Also, teachers are not ready to teach AAP. They did not know what to do .

Oh, barf. AAP kids are not some special breed. They don't need a "specially trained" teacher in any way, shape, or form. It's such a fallacy that AAP students need to handled with kid gloves and taught "just so" or else they won't be able to learn. It's amusing (and disgusting) how very serious some AAP parents are about their snowflakes needing special treatment.

I guess your little one didn't get AAP, right?