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

[Anonymous]

We applied for an admin transfer when we registered at our home school. The paperwork was very straightforward. You have to select a reason for justification. Then they fax it to the superintendent. Unfortunately, decisions aren't made until early August, so they leave you hanging. Not a great situation since privates and parochials require tuition payments (non refundable) starting in June.

[Anonymous]

If we are zoned for Jefferson Houston, can we transfer to Mt Vernon?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
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.

You can't even begin to understand how offensive you are. So the actual facts just don't matter to you. All you want to do is kick low-income children out of our community and our schools. Schools improve when we hire good teachers, teach strong curricula, and resource them adequately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
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.

You can't even begin to understand how offensive you are. So the actual facts just don't matter to you. All you want to do is kick low-income children out of our community and our schools. Schools improve when we hire good teachers, teach strong curricula, and resource them adequately.

I want to reduce the number of low income children below the current 65%+ in most schools. There isn't really that much conclusive evidence that says more money and resources or different curriculum make a difference. There is evidence that supports having a lower number of FARMS kids per school does. And evidence also supports good teachers help. But even the best teachers face an uphill battle in high FARMS rate schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If we are zoned for Jefferson Houston, can we transfer to Mt Vernon?

Not automatically. You have to put in preferences of where you'd like to go, there are no gaurantees - it's based on space available, and then the school system lets you know in August.

It's a nightmare. Welcome to ACPS.

[Anonymous]

Is it worthwhile meeting with the acting superintendent to plead your case, or is submitting the paperwork enough? Does anyone know how they make decisions about who they accept for transfer and who they decline? Is it by application date and first come first served?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it worthwhile meeting with the acting superintendent to plead your case, or is submitting the paperwork enough? Does anyone know how they make decisions about who they accept for transfer and who they decline? Is it by application date and first come first served?

I think this is part of the issue. The whole thing is a bit of a black box mystery. I watched several of my neighbors go through this and it didn't look fun. One had been emailing very proactively with the principal at her desired school and was assured her kid would get in no problem. When the official notice came, she didn't get in.

It's an anxiety-ridden process, it seems to me. Not pleasant.

[Anonymous]

So there's not a waitlist to get on for another school, where you would have a number and know your chances? Does anyone know how likely it is that we could "escape" Jefferson Houston for next year? We have put in for a transfer for the immersion program at MV--any other options? thanks

[Anonymous]

Well, I did it two years ago. It is stressful, but the way I saw it, the schools are crowded, and they need to get the families that live in district situated first, and then they can let the admin transfers know. I honestly don't think they're trying to obfuscate the process, its just complicated and there are a lot of factors at play. They have to first wait until the registration deadline, see if the projections were accurate, and then they can begin processing the transfers and those have a system too - the ACPS policy is to keep sibling together, etc. I found out earlier than some because we were switching from MVCS because of the calendar, and MVCS (and Tucker) transfers were done first.

We didn't get into our first choice, but are really happy with our second as it turned out. I too was told it shouldn't be a problem to get into my first choice, but as it turned out they had a lot more kindergartners than anticipated, and there just wasn't room.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So there's not a waitlist to get on for another school, where you would have a number and know your chances? Does anyone know how likely it is that we could "escape" Jefferson Houston for next year? We have put in for a transfer for the immersion program at MV--any other options? thanks

Why would you transfer to Mt. Vernon? The "immersion program" isn't really immersion so much as it is a leg up to the ESL students. And the scores there are abysmal. If you are going to transfer, transfer to a better performing school. If you really are interested in immersion, you could check out John Adams which offers Spanish but has a smaller Hispanic population and higher African population so likely to offer a more true immersion program for English speakers.

The process isn't mysterious. You fill out the form, contact the principal, check in every month with the transfer guy, and then around August they let you know. Last year, ACPS over estimated the number of incoming students and they increased class size so you might find out before August. But also know that once SOL scores are released, it's a good bet more people will throw their hat into the transfer ring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it worthwhile meeting with the acting superintendent to plead your case, or is submitting the paperwork enough? Does anyone know how they make decisions about who they accept for transfer and who they decline? Is it by application date and first come first served?

I think this is part of the issue. The whole thing is a bit of a black box mystery. I watched several of my neighbors go through this and it didn't look fun. One had been emailing very proactively with the principal at her desired school and was assured her kid would get in no problem. When the official notice came, she didn't get in.

It's an anxiety-ridden process, it seems to me. Not pleasant.

We were told that the chair of the school board is personally involved in admin transfers. You might consider approaching your district school board member(s) and asking for assistance.

[Anonymous]

If you could have your pick of ES in ACPS, which one would be the first, second, third choice, and why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you could have your pick of ES in ACPS, which one would be the first, second, third choice, and why?

Academically, socially, overall look-and-feel --

1. Charles Barrett
2. George Mason
3. Tie -- Maury or Lyles-Crouch. Maury is wonderful, so is LC, but some people perceive LC to be sort of an elite little reservation. Years ago, Maury was not very strong.
4. Honorable mention as always generally very good -- MacArthur.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you could have your pick of ES in ACPS, which one would be the first, second, third choice, and why?

(1) Maury due to small size, active PTA, and upward trending test scores, which shows a change in attitude and involvement.
(2) Lyles Crouch. Known for academic excellence and involved parents. Good curriculum.
(3) Charles Barrett. Another school that's trending upward.

George Mason and MacArthur seem to be trending downward.

As for the bottom three;

(1) Mount Vernon. This school is a mess and has severe identity problems. Scores are trending downward despite continued efforts to focus on ESL and dual language, modified calendar, etc. Non-ESL students are suffering and ESL students aren't improving. Something just isn't working.

(2) Ramsay - just poor all around.

(3) tie between Cora Kelly and Jefferson Houston. Cora Kelly claims to be STEM, but is downward trending. Teaches to test.
Jefferson Houston. No longer the WORST because it's received so much attention and resources. I hope this school is upward trending and may be completely turned around in a few years with new building, etc. But for right now it still sucks.

[Anonymous]

(1) Maury - lots of neighborhood families going and staying, up tick in scores, less transfers
(2) George Mason or Charles Barrett - they seem pretty equal to me
(3) Douglas MacArthur
(4) Lyles-Crouch

Schools that would cause me to select private or move:
Patrick Henry, J-H, Ramsay, Adams, Cora Kelly, Mt. Vernon

Schools that would cause me to try it out and see:
Polk, Tucker