Reply to Alexandria City Elementary Transfers: How?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]First priority goes to those that live in zones but their local school is overcrowded and they were the last the register.  Some Tucker parents always fall with in the category and sometimes those that live in George Mason and then Lyles Crouch.

You would fall within the next priority bucket, and it would be first come first serve for the  year round parents that want to opt out (i.e. Tucker and Mt. Vernon).

The problem is that the Tucker and George Mason parents that get squeezed out of their local school aren't required to make a decision to go to an alternate school right away and can wait to see if families move (or opt for private school) to free up space.

So in the mean time you are pressured to take a space at lesser ranked schools and they will not give you a slot at  MacArthur until all of those Tucker and George Mason families are taken care of.  So even if there are a few slots of MacArthur, you might not know if you kid can get it until the week before school.  You can be forced the week before school to go to Mt. Vernon, or pick between places like Barrett or Cora Kelly.  So it is a gamble and then it is a too late to make alternative arrangements.

Plus, last year the ACPS got crushed and the school denied transfers to Lyles Crouch, George Mason, Barrett, MacArthur, Tucker, and Maury because they worried they were close to being close to full at least through July and maybe through August.  The basis of the freeze was the creation of a K-8 school in Jefferson Houston and a ton of parents (over a 100) wanting to transfer out.

It's a very frustrating process and I wish you luck.    [/quote]

This is almost right - Tucker and Mt. Vernon have a modified calendar so parents opting out of those schools have first priority at other schools. But the other schools  have to have space for you to opt into.  Barrett is the smallest school in the City so depending on the grade it might be difficult to get in.  George Mason was just approved for a building expansion so that might be possible.  [b]MacArthur will generally have room in the upper grades.  [/b]

Maury, MacArthur, Barrett and Mason all have a similar demographic and FARMS rate.  None of these schools is really doing any better than the other and any differences are marginal.

Another note of bad news for ACPS - they are considering remerging the middle schools.  [/quote]

This is true. A lot of MacArthur parents pull their kids out by 3rd or 4th grade and start sending them to private to lock in a slot for middle school. So, you'll find more vacancies in 4th and 5th grade at MacArthur.[/quote]

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