ACPS Brooks Elementary School... future is bright!

[Anonymous]

I just Attended the popsicles on the playground teacher meet and greet at Brooks Elementary school today in Alexandria and it was such a sweet event. We have had some growing pains at Brooks/ previously Maury with the name change, new principal, and flight of Rosemont neighborhood families. It felt great to be surrounded by our wonderful teachers, our incredible new principal who leads with empathy at every turn, not being weighed down by our terrible old name, and frankly not having so many grumpy parents with one foot out the door. The Brooks Bee hive is here to thrive! There are small class sizes and big hearts and we’re ready for a good year! We still have plenty of issues to deal with like PTA representation, classist fundraising, TAG representation, and more but I’m hopeful and Ms. Hess is awesome!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just Attended the popsicles on the playground teacher meet and greet at Brooks Elementary school today in Alexandria and it was such a sweet event. We have had some growing pains at Brooks/ previously Maury with the name change, new principal, and flight of Rosemont neighborhood families. It felt great to be surrounded by our wonderful teachers, our incredible new principal who leads with empathy at every turn, not being weighed down by our terrible old name, and frankly not having so many grumpy parents with one foot out the door. The Brooks Bee hive is here to thrive! There are small class sizes and big hearts and we’re ready for a good year! We still have plenty of issues to deal with like PTA representation, classist fundraising, TAG representation, and more but I’m hopeful and Ms. Hess is awesome!

What in the world is “classist fundraising”?

[Anonymous]

I just Attended the popsicles on the playground teacher meet and greet at Brooks Elementary school today in Alexandria and it was such a sweet event. We have had some growing pains at Brooks/ previously Maury with the name change, new principal, and flight of Rosemont neighborhood families. It felt great to be surrounded by our wonderful teachers, our incredible new principal who leads with empathy at every turn, not being weighed down by our terrible old name, and frankly not having so many grumpy parents with one foot out the door. The Brooks Bee hive is here to thrive! There are small class sizes and big hearts and we’re ready for a good year! We still have plenty of issues to deal with like PTA representation, classist fundraising, TAG representation, and more but I’m hopeful and Ms. Hess is awesome!


What in the world is “classist fundraising”?

My child went there, and I don't disagree with this. I was always super put off that parents could "buy" principal for a day and other similar (bowling for a few friends with their teacher) things for their kids in fundraising. Honestly, I could've brought that for my kid if I wanted to, but it seemed gross when there were so many kids on free and reduced lunch. Don't some of them deserve to be principal for a day, or go bowling with their teachers?

[Anonymous]

We have had some growing pains at Brooks/ previously Maury with the name change, new principal, and flight of Rosemont neighborhood families.

Families are not fleeing the school for the most part, my son and daugher both went there, and my younger graduated last year. Some people left because their kids had learning disabilities that were not well accomodated, some people wanted a smaller or different environment, but most of my children's classmates stayed the whole way through. We absolutely loved all of their teachers until fifth grade, that was a weak year for both of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I just Attended the popsicles on the playground teacher meet and greet at Brooks Elementary school today in Alexandria and it was such a sweet event. We have had some growing pains at Brooks/ previously Maury with the name change, new principal, and flight of Rosemont neighborhood families. It felt great to be surrounded by our wonderful teachers, our incredible new principal who leads with empathy at every turn, not being weighed down by our terrible old name, and frankly not having so many grumpy parents with one foot out the door. The Brooks Bee hive is here to thrive! There are small class sizes and big hearts and we’re ready for a good year! We still have plenty of issues to deal with like PTA representation, classist fundraising, TAG representation, and more but I’m hopeful and Ms. Hess is awesome!


What in the world is “classist fundraising”?

My child went there, and I don't disagree with this. I was always super put off that parents could "buy" principal for a day and other similar (bowling for a few friends with their teacher) things for their kids in fundraising. Honestly, I could've brought that for my kid if I wanted to, but it seemed gross when there were so many kids on free and reduced lunch. Don't some of them deserve to be principal for a day, or go bowling with their teachers?

Thanks for clueing me in. That stuff is so dumb, good grief. But not at all incompatible with everything I’ve observed and heard about Maury over the years.

[Anonymous]

I'm really excited about this year at Brooks too. My son seems to have a fantastic class and his class size is small. I'm all about being a cheerleader for our neighborhood public school and supporting our teachers and students. Love your positivity, OP!

[Anonymous]

My child went there, and I don't disagree with this. I was always super put off that parents could "buy" principal for a day and other similar (bowling for a few friends with their teacher) things for their kids in fundraising. Honestly, I could've brought that for my kid if I wanted to, but it seemed gross when there were so many kids on free and reduced lunch. Don't some of them deserve to be principal for a day, or go bowling with their teachers?



Thanks for clueing me in. That stuff is so dumb, good grief. But not at all incompatible with everything I’ve observed and heard about Maury over the years.

Honestly, we were mostly happy with it, but that was something that bothered me a lot. It also bothered me that there were not more black children in TAG. But, there were good things about the school too. My son has a disability, and they accomodated him well, for the most part.

[Anonymous]

So I don't think a lot of parents wanted to leave ACPS or had their foot out the door. I had a lot of friends have to resign from their job to help their kids with school the past few years. I had friends who were treated like second or third class citizens because they can't WFH and their kids were at Boys and Girls Club, ASA, or Campagna. Teachers treated the moms like they were neglectful parents. These were upper income moms who are mainly the primary earner in their homes. Imagine if you are a kid from a family with less resources. So I don't blame anyone for leaving Maury if they weren't feeling supported. What is the classist fundraiser? Our kids are younger so we weren't around when there were in person fundraising.

[Anonymous]

Someone told me the former Maury principal was fired. I don't think that is true because he had a shout out to the superintendent on Twitter. What has historically been the issue at Brooks/Maury?

[Anonymous]

Someone told me the former Maury principal was fired. I don't think that is true because he had a shout out to the superintendent on Twitter. What has historically been the issue at Brooks/Maury?

He wasn't fired, he got a job at a larger middle school and took it. I'm not sure what issue you are referring to - there is a lot of socioeconomic inequality among students.

[Anonymous]

I have three kiddos at Brooks/Maury, and generally like the school. I am excited to see that there are slightly smaller classes this year (only 17 in my son's K!) Ms. Hess seems great and has been with the school for several years. I wasn't terribly impressed with the popsicle event. It was really hard to find the kids' teachers (no one knows what they look like since we've all been online for 1.5 years). But that's a small gripe. I'm more interested to hear how the first day is being executed, and how they're trying to keep the kids safe while letting them be kids.

[Anonymous]

No, I fault them for being insufferable bloated phonies who lord over the school community.. In Lilly Pulitzer dresses.

[Anonymous]

Really interesting to see what Jeff trims and what he doesn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, I fault them for being insufferable bloated phonies who lord over the school community.. In Lilly Pulitzer dresses.

Who are you talking about? I don't notice this at all at Brooks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, I fault them for being insufferable bloated phonies who lord over the school community.. In Lilly Pulitzer dresses.

Who are you talking about? I don't notice this at all at Brooks.

She's jealous of the cute and successful dads we landed.