Do you love your FCPS elementary school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Louise Archer is located in an area where a concentration of toxic, self-important assholes live, so doing business, driving, shopping, and interacting on any level is affected. Don't take that school as being a typical center school.

I have sent my kids to five different FCPS elementary schools over the years, two of which had AAP centers that some of my kids were in. I have family and good friends with kids in other center schools.

Most of our experiences are good, and whether there's a center or not does not create problems or a toxic atmosphere in most cases. A center can bring up the quality of the PTA involvement and number of clubs and activities at the school. Night and day compared to some of the Title I schools we also know, where parent involvement was low and there were almost no clubs or activities because everyone was either working three jobs or didn't think school was important. So look at the neighborhood itself. Find someplace relatively moderate and you'll be fine.

I respectfully disagree. Our center school is located in a "moderate" area, but unfortunately the fact that it's a center means that toxic, self-important asshole parents are the norm at the school since their kids are (for the most part) the ones in AAP. In our experience with two different center schools, the majority AAP dynamic is toxic no matter how you slice it. If there is a large group of kids who are pretty much told by parents and teachers that they are somehow "special," or superior, then these kids will believe it and act accordingly - insufferable.

None of this is the case at our Center school.

I think there are a minority of Center schools where the number of students in AAP far exceed the number in general education.

All of what the PP describes is accurate for our school (a center). The AAP/GE dynamic is toxic. We're considering a move just so our kids won't have to attend a center.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think if your kids go to a non center neighborhood school, it is hard to understand how ugly the center school vibe can get.

This is precisely it. So many people have zero idea what centers are really like, especially for the kids in Gen Ed. I honestly can't believe FCPS still allows the center dynamic at all.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Curious--has anyone found the AAP/Gen Ed dynamic to be problematic at a Local Level IV school or is this mostly just a Center problem?

[Anonymous]

DC's LLIV school mixes half the day with general ed and has only one full class of AAP students. The kids switch groups at least 3 times during the day. AAP doesn't mean very much although the AAP teachers do tend to be better respected among parents. The vibe we've gotten is that it's much more prestigious among the kids and parents to have a child on a competitive sports team than in AAP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Louise Archer is located in an area where a concentration of toxic, self-important assholes live, so doing business, driving, shopping, and interacting on any level is affected. Don't take that school as being a typical center school.

I have sent my kids to five different FCPS elementary schools over the years, two of which had AAP centers that some of my kids were in. I have family and good friends with kids in other center schools.

Most of our experiences are good, and whether there's a center or not does not create problems or a toxic atmosphere in most cases. A center can bring up the quality of the PTA involvement and number of clubs and activities at the school. Night and day compared to some of the Title I schools we also know, where parent involvement was low and there were almost no clubs or activities because everyone was either working three jobs or didn't think school was important. So look at the neighborhood itself. Find someplace relatively moderate and you'll be fine.

I respectfully disagree. Our center school is located in a "moderate" area, but unfortunately the fact that it's a center means that toxic, self-important asshole parents are the norm at the school since their kids are (for the most part) the ones in AAP. In our experience with two different center schools, the majority AAP dynamic is toxic no matter how you slice it. If there is a large group of kids who are pretty much told by parents and teachers that they are somehow "special," or superior, then these kids will believe it and act accordingly - insufferable.

None of this is the case at our Center school.

I think there are a minority of Center schools where the number of students in AAP far exceed the number in general education.

+2

[Anonymous]

Our local elementary is Stratford Landing, and it's a center school. Does it have similar issues as other schools mentioned here? Do all center schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our local elementary is Stratford Landing, and it's a center school. Does it have similar issues as other schools mentioned here? Do all center schools?

Most are Centers are fine, normal ESs, where all the kids, GE and AAP, mix for lunch, specials, after school activities, academic or sports teams, Scouts, etc. and that incidentally may have more academic extracurriculars offered through the PTA than you might otherwise expect. But almost all Center schools do have 1-2 moms whose noses are very out of joint that their special snowflake did not place into AAP. Or who are otherwise OTT/ nuts (like the FIRST GRADE mom who was on here a couple weeks ago talking about how she didn't know if she could hang on for another year until her DD was in AAP, because being in GE in her ES was such a terrible experience-- Come on! All k-2 are GE, and it's hard to believe it is that terrible when no one in the grade is AAP. That's just a parent with a screw loose). Some GE parents are angry and bitter, and cannot let it go. They are the ones who come on DCUM and gripe, threaten to move, post thriumphantly about some "failure" by an AAP kid (not success by their kid, mind you. They've been tracking what happened to all the AAP kids and one experienced this road bump in HS, and it made them feel so awesome ), etc. Most kids, and most parents, don't draw a distinction. In fact, among 6th grade DD's school based Scout troop, I'm not sure whether several of the girls are AAP and GE. To the extent I do know, it's because they are or have been in DD's homeroom. Most parents and kids deal with it much better than DCUM might make you think. DCUM specializes in crazy.

[Anonymous]

I still think there's something inherently wrong with a program that does not mix kids for instruction for part of a day so that the AAP kids realize they aren't so advanced in academics and the general ed kids don't think they are so behind. For this reason, I think there should be more mixing during the day even in centers. Until this happens, if you look on FCPS's dashboard you can see the schools that have the most AAP children related to the number of general ed children and try to avoid the schools where the AAP kids are a majority. Some of the schools have had boundary shirts to where the incoming classes are better distributed so that the AAP kids aren't a majority for the future. But there are still some schools where there have been no boundary shifts and the AAP children are a majority. For middle school, this includes Carson and Rocky Run. For elementary this seems to include Stratford Landing, Oak Hill, Haycock, Churchill, Springfield Estates, Keene Mill, and to a lesser extent Louise Archer, Poplar Tree and Greenbriar West all who had recent boundary shifts. Stratford Landing seems to have the heaviest amount of AAP students compared to their general ed students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I still think there's something inherently wrong with a program that does not mix kids for instruction for part of a day so that the AAP kids realize they aren't so advanced in academics and the general ed kids don't think they are so behind. For this reason, I think there should be more mixing during the day even in centers. Until this happens, if you look on FCPS's dashboard you can see the schools that have the most AAP children related to the number of general ed children and try to avoid the schools where the AAP kids are a majority. Some of the schools have had boundary shirts to where the incoming classes are better distributed so that the AAP kids aren't a majority for the future. But there are still some schools where there have been no boundary shifts and the AAP children are a majority. For middle school, this includes Carson and Rocky Run. For elementary this seems to include Stratford Landing, Oak Hill, Haycock, Churchill, Springfield Estates, Keene Mill, and to a lesser extent Louise Archer, Poplar Tree and Greenbriar West all who had recent boundary shifts. Stratford Landing seems to have the heaviest amount of AAP students compared to their general ed students.

Some of these, the AAP kids might not be the majority, but they were close enough to being even with the general ed population as well as just large in number that I included them.

[Anonymous]

Interesting that the center schools mentioned in this thread as being problematic are not necessarily the same ones noted above as having an AAP majority (e.g. Canterbury Woods).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting that the center schools mentioned in this thread as being problematic are not necessarily the same ones noted above as having an AAP majority (e.g. Canterbury Woods).

Canterbury Woods has about an even level of AAP students to general ed students, so it could be included in the list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our local elementary is Stratford Landing, and it's a center school. Does it have similar issues as other schools mentioned here? Do all center schools?

Most are Centers are fine, normal ESs, where all the kids, GE and AAP, mix for lunch, specials, after school activities, academic or sports teams, Scouts, etc. and that incidentally may have more academic extracurriculars offered through the PTA than you might otherwise expect. But almost all Center schools do have 1-2 moms whose noses are very out of joint that their special snowflake did not place into AAP. Or who are otherwise OTT/ nuts (like the FIRST GRADE mom who was on here a couple weeks ago talking about how she didn't know if she could hang on for another year until her DD was in AAP, because being in GE in her ES was such a terrible experience-- Come on! All k-2 are GE, and it's hard to believe it is that terrible when no one in the grade is AAP. That's just a parent with a screw loose). Some GE parents are angry and bitter, and cannot let it go. They are the ones who come on DCUM and gripe, threaten to move, post thriumphantly about some "failure" by an AAP kid (not success by their kid, mind you. They've been tracking what happened to all the AAP kids and one experienced this road bump in HS, and it made them feel so awesome ), etc. Most kids, and most parents, don't draw a distinction. In fact, among 6th grade DD's school based Scout troop, I'm not sure whether several of the girls are AAP and GE. To the extent I do know, it's because they are or have been in DD's homeroom. Most parents and kids deal with it much better than DCUM might make you think. DCUM specializes in crazy.

It kind of sounds like you're the crazy one, what with your documentation of people on DCUM who dare to express their dissatisfaction with the way in which AAP is implemented in their schools. You seem to be tracking anyone who isn't an AAP cheerleader.

There are many reasons AAP centers are undesirable places for Gen Ed kids to go to school. If you're viewing the AAP/GE dynamic as someone who only has kids in AAP, then you really don't know what you're talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still think there's something inherently wrong with a program that does not mix kids for instruction for part of a day so that the AAP kids realize they aren't so advanced in academics and the general ed kids don't think they are so behind. For this reason, I think there should be more mixing during the day even in centers. Until this happens, if you look on FCPS's dashboard you can see the schools that have the most AAP children related to the number of general ed children and try to avoid the schools where the AAP kids are a majority. Some of the schools have had boundary shirts to where the incoming classes are better distributed so that the AAP kids aren't a majority for the future. But there are still some schools where there have been no boundary shifts and the AAP children are a majority. For middle school, this includes Carson and Rocky Run. For elementary this seems to include Stratford Landing, Oak Hill, Haycock, Churchill, Springfield Estates, Keene Mill, and to a lesser extent Louise Archer, Poplar Tree and Greenbriar West all who had recent boundary shifts. Stratford Landing seems to have the heaviest amount of AAP students compared to their general ed students.

Some of these, the AAP kids might not be the majority, but they were close enough to being even with the general ed population as well as just large in number that I included them.

+1
AAP kids don't necessarily have to be the majority. If the numbers are close, it can certainly feel like they overwhelm the GE population.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curious--has anyone found the AAP/Gen Ed dynamic to be problematic at a Local Level IV school or is this mostly just a Center problem?

I've spoken to neighbors who had kids in Gen Ed who have said the AAP/Gen Ed dynamic is bad because their kids know exactly who is in AAP and are considered "smart" kids and who were the "dumb" kids. And that there's basically zero mixing between the two groups. I think our school only added Level IV services a few years ago, so maybe they are still getting the kinks out.

My kid only just finished K, so I have no first hand experience with the AAP stuff. So far, based on one year, I have loved our FCPS school. (Lees Corner) Awesome K teacher, and the one bad 1st grade teacher that everyone was worried about getting left before the school year ended, yay!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Small school. Kids are very aware if they are the smart kids in AAP or they're not. Awful. The whole FCPS model of centers, of separating kids in 3rd grade is awful. My fault I didn't know enough when we moved to FCPS. Would not have moved here.

Which school?

Maybe your fault for not having a smart kid?

Even if you have a "smart" kid, they need to learn to get on with the rest of the world. Segregating them or any other subgroup of kiddos isn't right. I see that as a huge issue with FFX schools. There's a box for everyone and everyone stays in their box.

Not FCPS student, but I was tracked in school for most classes. Much better experience as I was able to relate to my peers in those classes in terms of social interests, and quickness on their feet. Work in high technology now and prefer not to mix with "normal" people.