APS elementary schools and special needs

[Anonymous]

What are the reputations of APS elementary schools for special needs? Wondering which are good and which are not.

[Anonymous]

What are the needs?

[Anonymous]

They all suck

[Anonymous]

Ashlawn and Patrick Henry and Long Branch have the best reputation for special needs. McKinley and Nottingham have the worst, although I've heard they are trying to improve that this year.

[Anonymous]

Stay away from McKinley. The school is too big and their caseloads are unmanageable. I'd look for schools with a smaller population so your kid isn't lost in the sea of behavior problems.

[Anonymous]

Depending on the needs, I've heard good things about Campbell. Their experiential learning approach resonates with some kids with ADHD and mild developmental delays.

[Anonymous]

We personally had a bad experience at Key, and therefore transferred our child to a private (non-special needs) school where our child receives much better support. Anecdotally, we've also heard negative things about McKinley and Glebe in this regard (parents transferred child to a private in one instance, and in the other, the family moved to Fairfax County so the child could receive better support from FCPS).

Have heard good things about Arlington Traditional School in this regard.

Good luck. Due to overcrowding, insufficient resources, etc., APS is trying to do as little as possible for all but the most severely impacted children (and this will likely only get worse as the student population increases).

While I am slightly bitter about feeling forced out of APS, we also are very grateful we can afford private school tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ashlawn and Patrick Henry and Long Branch have the best reputation for special needs. McKinley and Nottingham have the worst, although I've heard they are trying to improve that this year.

Have heard that about Nottingham. Will look into the others. I know I've seen threads on Ashlawn being good for special needs, but have also seen recent threads on huge class sizes - but that's not an issue?

Thoughts on Tuckahoe? Taylor? Discovery?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We personally had a bad experience at Key, and therefore transferred our child to a private (non-special needs) school where our child receives much better support. Anecdotally, we've also heard negative things about McKinley and Glebe in this regard (parents transferred child to a private in one instance, and in the other, the family moved to Fairfax County so the child could receive better support from FCPS).

Have heard good things about Arlington Traditional School in this regard.

Good luck. Due to overcrowding, insufficient resources, etc., APS is trying to do as little as possible for all but the most severely impacted children (and this will likely only get worse as the student population increases).

While I am slightly bitter about feeling forced out of APS, we also are very grateful we can afford private school tuition.

Interesting, I'm somewhat surprised given ATS's structured approach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ashlawn and Patrick Henry and Long Branch have the best reputation for special needs. McKinley and Nottingham have the worst, although I've heard they are trying to improve that this year.

McK efforts "trying to improve" are words and meetings only. No real action. For example, instead of increasing capacity to teach small groups of kids with dyslexia with a program, to fidelity, they are just putting the responsibility on the gen ed teachers who are not reading specialists and are teaching overcrowded classes already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ashlawn and Patrick Henry and Long Branch have the best reputation for special needs. McKinley and Nottingham have the worst, although I've heard they are trying to improve that this year.

Ha! Doubtful. The asst principal at McKinley - who was the root of many of the problems there - was promoted to the principal of Nottingham over the summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ashlawn and Patrick Henry and Long Branch have the best reputation for special needs. McKinley and Nottingham have the worst, although I've heard they are trying to improve that this year.

Have heard that about Nottingham. Will look into the others. I know I've seen threads on Ashlawn being good for special needs, but have also seen recent threads on huge class sizes - but that's not an issue?

Thoughts on Tuckahoe? Taylor? Discovery?

Discovery - not good
Tuckahoe - not good
Taylor - wasn't good a few years back, no current info

[Anonymous]

OP - are you asking because you're considering moving into APS? I would not advise you to move into APS with a special needs child.

Even if you go to a school with a current good reputation, that could change in the blink of an eye if the principal is moved. And then you have MS and HS too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ashlawn and Patrick Henry and Long Branch have the best reputation for special needs. McKinley and Nottingham have the worst, although I've heard they are trying to improve that this year.

Ha! Doubtful. The asst principal at McKinley - who was the root of many of the problems there - was promoted to the principal of Nottingham over the summer.

New poster but YES. The new Nottingham principal claims to be a special ed specialist but she's really hateful towards some special needs kids.

[Anonymous]

Our team at Arlington Science Focus School is amazing.

I know people love to disparage ASFS but I couldn't be happier.