To the regular posters that love to come here to bash

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess I don't get it. I don't see some big red carpet laid out for AAP students. Just an accelerated curriculum. Not broadcast on the school intercom everyday.

When one group of kids is given a choice as to which school they'd prefer to attend (or their parents would prefer) - along with free busing to the chosen school - then yes, that group is being given preferential treatment. You don't see Gen Ed kids offered a choice of two different schools, and their parents engaging in long discussions over the minute details of each school, its teachers, curriculum, after-school offerings, "peer group," and more. Nope, the Gen Ed kids go to the school they are assigned to, period, end of story. The only exception might be if they are in language immersion, but that's a very rare exception.

It's true that the AAP curriculum itself is no big deal in and of itself (though some very naive parents look at it as the Holy Grail). But the fact remains that you can't offer one entire group of kids these options but not the other and call it an equitable system. It absolutely isn't.

Free busing? Not one child FCPS is charged for busing so how is this a perk?

Seriously? You are obviously being obtuse, purposefully or otherwise. You're actually contending that kids who are bused to a school which is not their base school, simply so they can be in AAP, which they could be anyway at their base school, is not giving them something that Gen Ed kids aren't getting? The vast majority of elementary schools in FCPS offer LLIV. There is no need for these kids to get a free ride over to another school just to join a massive cohort there.

I'd like my child to attend another elementary school which has a larger proportion of Gen Ed kids. Could I get free busing to this school? No way, that's just "not done". It's incredibly hypocritical and anyone pretending it's not is doing just that - pretending.

[Anonymous]

^^^^ And I forgot to mention, that not only would my child be eligible for free busing to another school, but he would also not be eligible to attend another school at all, unless we met one of the very stringent criteria for school transfers. Funny that AAP kids are offered their choice of two schools with no such hoops to jump through.

[Anonymous]

*not* be eligible

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:isn't tj considered a magnet?

It is, and is the only on with free busing. Baileys and Hunters Woods do not offer busing. They, too, are magnets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:isn't tj considered a magnet?

It is, and is the only on with free busing. Baileys and Hunters Woods do not offer busing. They, too, are magnets.

they don't? They did when we applied a few years back

[Anonymous]

I suppose you disregard the screening and selection process for AAP as not "stringent criteria" or "hoops".

The AAP kids were just magically granted free buses to anywhere and selection of schools by the FCPS fairy godmother.

[Anonymous]

I posted earlier and my beef is not the bussing per se, but as at least one other poster noted, the choice that students at many schools have between a LLIV program and a center.

I truly don't understand why this is allowed, especially when FCPS has now had 2 severely overcrowded centers in the past couple years to deal with. At GBW, 2 of the schools sending 25+ students per year have LLIV. And GBW is going to remain ridiculously overcrowded even with the new center at Poplar Tree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I posted earlier and my beef is not the bussing per se, but as at least one other poster noted, the choice that students at many schools have between a LLIV program and a center.

I truly don't understand why this is allowed, especially when FCPS has now had 2 severely overcrowded centers in the past couple years to deal with. At GBW, 2 of the schools sending 25+ students per year have LLIV. And GBW is going to remain ridiculously overcrowded even with the new center at Poplar Tree.

My children went from a school with no LLIV to a Center. Not coming from a base school with LLIV, I never quite understood what the difference was and why people would want to leave their base school communities if comparable services were offered. I would have loved for my children to have been able to stay at their local school AND receive full time Level IV services.

What is the benefit of Center IV vs LLIV?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the immersion program does not have bussing offered out of district.

I still contend that schools with LLIV programs should not be offered the center option. The centers should only be for students in schools without the resources available to them.

Yes, but TJ does have busing! Again, let's not cherry pick! All or none!!

Good point. Should TJ students pay for their transportation? Honest question, 7:21.

TJ's busing isn't the same as AAP bussing. Buses run from the local high school to TJ. TJ isn't doing runs across the county. TJ kids take the local HS bus to the local HS and then take the TJ bus from HS to TJ.
I think removing the AAP bussing will totally change the vibe of AAP.
If immersion parents are willing to drive, AAP parents should be willing to drive also.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I suppose you disregard the screening and selection process for AAP as not "stringent criteria" or "hoops".

The AAP kids were just magically granted free buses to anywhere and selection of schools by the FCPS fairy godmother.

The total number of kids in AAP makes me wonder if it is "stringent"

[Anonymous]

Not to mention the appeals process

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the immersion program does not have bussing offered out of district.

I still contend that schools with LLIV programs should not be offered the center option. The centers should only be for students in schools without the resources available to them.

Yes, but TJ does have busing! Again, let's not cherry pick! All or none!!

Good point. Should TJ students pay for their transportation? Honest question, 7:21.

TJ's busing isn't the same as AAP bussing. Buses run from the local high school to TJ. TJ isn't doing runs across the county. TJ kids take the local HS bus to the local HS and then take the TJ bus from HS to TJ.
I think removing the AAP bussing will totally change the vibe of AAP.
If immersion parents are willing to drive, AAP parents should be willing to drive also.

I drove my kid to school but I am a work from home parent so it is not difficult for me to hit two elementary schools and one preschool in the morning. Many of the stay at home parents do drive their kids to the center in our neighborhood. The ones that regularly use bus services are the working families where both parents work out of the home.

In our bus run to center, the bussed in kids go on the same busses as kids zoned for the center. The busses just hit our neighborhoods first in tue morning and last after school. Tye zoned kids have a nice short bus ride and the bussed in kids have a very long bus ride, even if they live minutes from the school. I have no problem with that.

The center busses also stop at the feeder elementary schools and pick up a bunch of kids. Maybe that would be a better solution to appease some parents, but I am guessing it would be less efficient and more expensive for the district because the busses would be half empty or have to drive even longer/farther to collect kids at multiple elementaries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted earlier and my beef is not the bussing per se, but as at least one other poster noted, the choice that students at many schools have between a LLIV program and a center.

I truly don't understand why this is allowed, especially when FCPS has now had 2 severely overcrowded centers in the past couple years to deal with. At GBW, 2 of the schools sending 25+ students per year have LLIV. And GBW is going to remain ridiculously overcrowded even with the new center at Poplar Tree.

My children went from a school with no LLIV to a Center. Not coming from a base school with LLIV, I never quite understood what the difference was and why people would want to leave their base school communities if comparable services were offered. I would have loved for my children to have been able to stay at their local school AND receive full time Level IV services.

What is the benefit of Center IV vs LLIV?

Same question here. We don't have a choice of LLIV and could not attend our center, which is another pyramid, without bus transportation since we have another kid at the base school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the immersion program does not have bussing offered out of district.

I still contend that schools with LLIV programs should not be offered the center option. The centers should only be for students in schools without the resources available to them.

Exactly. I have no idea why this is continuing in the (many) parts of the county that have LLIV in schools. Centers are completely unnecessary in these instances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess I don't get it. I don't see some big red carpet laid out for AAP students. Just an accelerated curriculum. Not broadcast on the school intercom everyday.

When one group of kids is given a choice as to which school they'd prefer to attend (or their parents would prefer) - along with free busing to the chosen school - then yes, that group is being given preferential treatment. You don't see Gen Ed kids offered a choice of two different schools, and their parents engaging in long discussions over the minute details of each school, its teachers, curriculum, after-school offerings, "peer group," and more. Nope, the Gen Ed kids go to the school they are assigned to, period, end of story. The only exception might be if they are in language immersion, but that's a very rare exception.

It's true that the AAP curriculum itself is no big deal in and of itself (though some very naive parents look at it as the Holy Grail). But the fact remains that you can't offer one entire group of kids these options but not the other and call it an equitable system. It absolutely isn't.

If you don't even think that the AAP curriculum is a "big deal" then why the big cry about preferential treatment? Its about busses and switching schools for you? If its just the parents talking about it that annoys you, walk away! I'm a parent of kids in AAP and I didn't prep, refer, appeal, scheme, steal, lie or beg to get them in. And I don't talk about it either.

Listen, my kid didn't make travel soccer and I don't think that the kids that DID make it are these super elite athletes bound for the World Cup, but I don't begrudge the program or the parents or kids that are a part of it! Its not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

If your kid is feeling badly about it, it is likely because the label is a big deal to you. I can't imagine little Johnny brooding over how the neighbor kid "gets" to have longer school bus commute and "gets" to leave his friends for a center school. Shouldn't even be on his radar.

In my son's case, and the case of so many other students, "little Johnny" attends a center school by default. He doesn't see kids leaving for the center, in which case they'd be out of sight, out of mind. So, yes - it's very much on his mind as he ponders, along with his classmates, why there are four full AAP classes in his grade, and only two Gen Ed. You truly don't get it. And yet, you and all the other AAP parents call foul when there isn't a "critical mass" of other AAP kids. So why is it ok for Gen Ed kids not to have their own critical mass?