My New Favorite Anger at APS: XXL WL
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Anonymous
I’m sorry. I’ve been angry at school for years since Ed center plan, and I had hoped to escape it with HB. I know HB would be a great fit, I have a quirky independent kid who I know will be lost in the mass of 3000 kids. I would love to go private but no money for that. |
Anonymous
I see you haven’t come back to apologize for your mistake Could anyone answer the ACTUAL largest size of a class in WL, is it 32? |
Anonymous
Did you apply for Arlington Tech? |
Anonymous
What about Catholic? Bishop O'Connell is less than half the cost of top independent schools in the area. |
Anonymous
Per the post on the prior page, you can see the classes that average 27+. It's not that many. That 2020-21 report doesn't show the largest sizes at WL that year but with those averages, most under 30, I doubt the largest is more than 32. FWIW, Yorktown has more classes with averages over 27 with several averaging 30+ so you are better off at W-L. |
Anonymous
“Not that many”, where WL has 80 and YHS has 100 and HB has… 1 We did look at Arlington Tech but the lack of AP kills it for us; DE doesn’t work for us. WL is adding 200 students per year over the next 3-4 years, but maybe they will manage to keep the 27+ class size below YHS. Curious, can we transfer from WL to YHS? I didn’t see that when we applied to HBW but maybe I missed it? |
Anonymous
 80 class sections. Looking at the list of larger classes and from my kids' experience your worst experience with class size is likely to be a couple larger (upper 20s) classes per year, e.g. a freshman might have a larger class for Intensified Alg 2/Trig and AP World History. My senior last year had most classes under 20 students.
At WL the large size = crowded hallways and a crappy cafeteria but when it comes to the classroom experience and my kids' experiences with their teachers, it's been good. If you aren't willing to move or go private, try to find a way to be positive for your kid. You might be surprised. |
Anonymous
| But it's OP's favorite anger! |
Anonymous
No the list is only counting core and foreign language classes. There very well could be many other non-core classes that suffer from excess class size. And they are adding 200 students to the next freshman class. |
Anonymous
| You could apply for AP Network and send your kid to Wakefield. |
Anonymous
They are also adding more classroom space. I went to a HS where the standard class was 30 and it was fine. I just don't get the handwringing over this. My kids generally have a 1-2 classes that are as big as 30, more in the mid to low 20s and the occasional <20. Electives are often smaller. DS took a cool geospatial analysis class last year with 15 kids. I agree that the large size has its negatives and I wish they'd figure out a better way to handle it. But the impacts, in our experience, have not been felt at the classroom level. It is frustrating that they have not released the full class size report, just that >27 list. The full report is so much more informative. |
Anonymous
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^is that really true. I hear a lot about turnover and staffing issues and unexperienced teachers teaching advanced courses that are not in their background at all.
Also, the crowding effects so many different aspects of the school, from hallways to lunch room to sports and activities to attention from counselors and help during college application time. I get trying to make the best of a rotten situation, but some people are really in denial. And, many of the people that I know that were happy have kids that have already graduated from college--or there now. The clogged pipe that is rumbling is about to burst in the next few years. The real problems haven't arrived yet. Take a look at the coming years. Next year's entering class is just the tip of the very large iceberg set to emerge. |
Anonymous
Don’t expect ANY help. The counselors are beyond awful even now. I can’t imagine how bad it will be in a few years. |
Anonymous
This forum is becoming increasingly frustrating, as difficult as that may be to imagine. Is this just the north Arlington and special programs forum? Can't anyone ever include Wakefield in their discussions - except to bash it as a lesser, or undesirable, school? Every single high school is mentioned in this post about class sizes except Wakefield. |
Anonymous
OP sounds more delightful than you. At least they're coming from a position of knowing their child and what they believe would be potential causes for concern and what may likely be better for their optimum success. Nevertheless, OP, we very much wanted our now freshman to get into HB for similar reasons. We felt the small environment and the way HB is set-up would be much better for our child socially. Having been very isolated throughout middle school and withdrawing into herself more each year, no social circle outside of the classroom including lunch, we really wanted the HB environment and community for her. She also would have been really cool with calling teachers by their first name and the greater independence in creating her academic program. However, she didn't get in and she is doing just fine at Wakefield. (Yes, still smaller than the expanded WL but once you get to 2000, it's still very large and can be very overwhelming for a lot of kids, especially introverted, shy, or anxious kids). Participating in marching band was key and provided the initial small, structured environment HB would have offered to get to know other kids and get familiar with the building and facilities before school even started. She was definitely more engaged and had a very good start to high school. We'll see what next year brings when she may not have any of the same kids in her classes. But something like band really provides a "home base" and an anchor for them. If your kid can choose something like that to start off high school with, and makes a point of talking with his teachers if he needs help or has questions, chances are he'll manage his way through just fine. And, you may be surprised by how much he grows and his personality blossoms during these years. |