City of Alexandria - Mt. Vernon Elem School - likely to return to traditional calendar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All this criticism is fine and good, but what's the solution? These kids all have to be educated somewhere and if they are zoned to attend Mt. Vernon, the school can't turn them away. I'm sure those kids would prefer to go to a school where they are not despised, but they don't have a choice.

In all honesty, the answer is very simple and well known.

The concentrated low income housing has to be demolished. Some low income residents would be able to stay in the City but there can't be a commitment to keep every displaced person here. Mixed income family housing needs to replace it.

The result will be the FARMS rate at MCVS goes down to an appropriate and manageable level and to where it doesn't completely suck every available resource away from the non-FARMS kids. A more balanced school community benefits everyone - the FARMS students in particular.

I don't think most of the FARMS kids in MCVS live in public housing. I think a lot of them live in the close to tenement style apartments in Chirilagua. Are there any traditional public housing developments in MCVS territory--most of the ones I'm familiar with are in Old Town.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All this criticism is fine and good, but what's the solution? These kids all have to be educated somewhere and if they are zoned to attend Mt. Vernon, the school can't turn them away. I'm sure those kids would prefer to go to a school where they are not despised, but they don't have a choice.

In all honesty, the answer is very simple and well known.

The concentrated low income housing has to be demolished. Some low income residents would be able to stay in the City but there can't be a commitment to keep every displaced person here. Mixed income family housing needs to replace it.

The result will be the FARMS rate at MCVS goes down to an appropriate and manageable level and to where it doesn't completely suck every available resource away from the non-FARMS kids. A more balanced school community benefits everyone - the FARMS students in particular.

I don't think most of the FARMS kids in MCVS live in public housing. I think a lot of them live in the close to tenement style apartments in Chirilagua. Are there any traditional public housing developments in MCVS territory--most of the ones I'm familiar with are in Old Town.

I think you're right. Most at MVCS are in private housing - not Section 8 or public. The PP was just trying to re-purpose their anti-Jefferson-Houston rhetoric, but it's apples/oranges when it comes to the makeup of the student body in each school. Market forces will probably have a big effect on MVCS and Cora Kelly in the future, with redevelopment of Arlandria (City Council may extract some concessions for low-income housing, but they're pretty limited in what they can do.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All this criticism is fine and good, but what's the solution? These kids all have to be educated somewhere and if they are zoned to attend Mt. Vernon, the school can't turn them away. I'm sure those kids would prefer to go to a school where they are not despised, but they don't have a choice.

In all honesty, the answer is very simple and well known.

The concentrated low income housing has to be demolished. Some low income residents would be able to stay in the City but there can't be a commitment to keep every displaced person here. Mixed income family housing needs to replace it.

The result will be the FARMS rate at MCVS goes down to an appropriate and manageable level and to where it doesn't completely suck every available resource away from the non-FARMS kids. A more balanced school community benefits everyone - the FARMS students in particular.

I don't think most of the FARMS kids in MCVS live in public housing. I think a lot of them live in the close to tenement style apartments in Chirilagua. Are there any traditional public housing developments in MCVS territory--most of the ones I'm familiar with are in Old Town.

Lacycourt
Lynhaven

Are the two that come to mind right off.

They are public housing by virtue of being income restricted and non market rate rents and acceptance of vouchers.

The Arlandria redevelopment is stalled by the developer for a couple years now. Personally, if I was a homeowner in Del Ray I would be pushing the City Council to push the developer.

[Anonymous]

Isn't Lynhaven districted to Cora Kelly?

[Anonymous]

My DC who just finished 6 years at MVCS really liked it there, and did well in what they call the "traditional" program. I think because the TAG teacher is amazing and they get pulled out. It shouldn't be that way. The only think I loved without reservation at MVCS was the schedule, intercessions were amazing until recently, and being able to take vacations in September was great. I think all schools should be on that schedule. Personally I can't stand the dual language program - its not making native English speakers fluent in Spanish, they can speak it as a parlor trick for their parents, and it obviously isn't helping the children it is supposed to when you look at the test scores. They want to go full dual language which I think is a terrible idea, if anything, the modified school calendar was the best thing about the school. My 2nd DC is not attending MVCS because I just got tired of the drama, the changing principals, the throw-something-at-the-wall-and-see-if-it-works mentality, and the overwhelming focus on ESL. I mean, really, at the expense of everyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Lacycourt
Lynhaven

Are the two that come to mind right off.

They are public housing by virtue of being income restricted and non market rate rents and acceptance of vouchers.

The Arlandria redevelopment is stalled by the developer for a couple years now. Personally, if I was a homeowner in Del Ray I would be pushing the City Council to push the developer.

Lacycourt - zoned for Jefferson-Houston
Lynhaven - zoned for Cora Kelly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC who just finished 6 years at MVCS really liked it there, and did well in what they call the "traditional" program. I think because the TAG teacher is amazing and they get pulled out. It shouldn't be that way. The only think I loved without reservation at MVCS was the schedule, intercessions were amazing until recently, and being able to take vacations in September was great. I think all schools should be on that schedule. Personally I can't stand the dual language program - its not making native English speakers fluent in Spanish, they can speak it as a parlor trick for their parents, and it obviously isn't helping the children it is supposed to when you look at the test scores. They want to go full dual language which I think is a terrible idea, if anything, the modified school calendar was the best thing about the school. My 2nd DC is not attending MVCS because I just got tired of the drama, the changing principals, the throw-something-at-the-wall-and-see-if-it-works mentality, and the overwhelming focus on ESL. I mean, really, at the expense of everyone else.

And once again the super-duper new "school board" wrecks what works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Lacycourt
Lynhaven

Are the two that come to mind right off.

They are public housing by virtue of being income restricted and non market rate rents and acceptance of vouchers.

The Arlandria redevelopment is stalled by the developer for a couple years now. Personally, if I was a homeowner in Del Ray I would be pushing the City Council to push the developer.

Lacycourt - zoned for Jefferson-Houston
Lynhaven - zoned for Cora Kelly

So what? So, I got the names wrong or the families live in private section 8 housing or in the massive dump of Presidential Gardens. What exactly do you think FARMS is? It means kids who are qualify for subsidized services.
The fact remains - the school never improves if they don't reduce their FARMS rate and to do that they either need to redistrict or re-do Arlandria and reduce the number of FARMS kids living there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Lacycourt
Lynhaven

Are the two that come to mind right off.

They are public housing by virtue of being income restricted and non market rate rents and acceptance of vouchers.

The Arlandria redevelopment is stalled by the developer for a couple years now. Personally, if I was a homeowner in Del Ray I would be pushing the City Council to push the developer.

Lacycourt - zoned for Jefferson-Houston
Lynhaven - zoned for Cora Kelly

So what? So, I got the names wrong or the families live in private section 8 housing or in the massive dump of Presidential Gardens. What exactly do you think FARMS is? It means kids who are qualify for subsidized services.
The fact remains - the school never improves if they don't reduce their FARMS rate and to do that they either need to redistrict or re-do Arlandria and reduce the number of FARMS kids living there.

so you want the poor people to leave Alexandria? I guess that would be good policy. The school board should get right on it. They can use the school buses to deport families.

55% of Alexandria public school children are FARMS. So they can't really gerrymander the FARMS away. But I guess if we could expel them all, then we could close half the schools and cut taxes! Yay!

[Anonymous]

They should just all go be poor somewhere else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They should just all go be poor somewhere else.

Actually, they should. Propping up people in public housing and with subsidies doesn't help end the cycle of poverty. It just ensures it will continue on and on. They City isn't a place for someone making $25K with a family of 4 to live. Not because I don't want them here but because the cost of living is so high that there is just no opportunity for to save or ever have financial security. Its a hopeless situation and it continues on in the name of "diversity" and all other kinds of crap.

Someone the County Council In Arlington, who is Democrat, recently said publicly that they needed to next elect a Republican to the Council so that things can get done. Alexandria City needs to take that advice also.

[Anonymous]

Wow! I live in Del Ray, zoned for MVCS, and have been touring preschool

[Anonymous]

Wondering if there are any more recent updates on this. So MVCS will not use a modified calendar next year, but will it be mandatory bilingual? Also, how is the new principal doing? Have there been any improvements this year? And how hard is it to obtain an administrative transfer if your reason for wanting the transfer is that you'd prefer your child attends a better performing school?

[Anonymous]

I think you might be able to see about an administrative transfer if the reason you gave was that you didn't want to participate in the dual-language program, but you'll need to contact the school directly (not this week--spring break) to find out the process.
In the past you could ask for administrative transfer if you didn't want to attend the school due to its year-round calendar.
What you can NOT do is request an administrative transfer because you want a school with higher test scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wondering if there are any more recent updates on this. So MVCS will not use a modified calendar next year, but will it be mandatory bilingual? Also, how is the new principal doing? Have there been any improvements this year? And how hard is it to obtain an administrative transfer if your reason for wanting the transfer is that you'd prefer your child attends a better performing school?

Make sure you know what school you want to transfer to, makes sure they have room in your child's grade, and make sure the principal is in agreement with your transfer.