Reply to Tell me about Alexandria and South Arlington Schools

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We live in the Randolph zone and are a few years out from K.  I'm extremely torn, and am a little bit in the  "just give my kid a choice" camp, but also just have conflicting feelings about the entire situation. I agree that housing policy has undermined some natural improvements in the S. Arlington schools.  I also think that the choice elements that are available are generally good things for the school system.  That said I feel like if all of the kids who opt out of Randolph and go to choice schools had to go to Randolph, and about 50% of the kids who currently go to parochial etc. went to Randolph, the school would be totally different.  It would probably still have like 65% poverty, but there would be many more engaged families and more economic diversity.  I totally get that people want choices and different things work for different children.  I obviously understand that people have the right to send their kids to private or parochial school and no one's going to take that away--it's just wishful thinking on my part. I've been a part of a number of different diverse educational communities as a student and a staff member and I feel like a Randolph with 8-10 more kids from the neighborhood per grade would be awesome.  I really want to walk the liberal talk and become involved in the school, but it's going to be sad, and more difficult, if none of my neighbors do it too.  And if no one else is going we'll probably try for some of the choice lotteries too.    [/quote]

Hi neighbor!
I'm with you on all of the above. I would love to walk my kid around the corner in a few years for school. I'm torn too. Randolph saw a significant dip in test scores last year. That bothers me, but what worries me more is what kind of environment that school will develop trying to get them back up. I'm afraid our kids lives are going to be an extreme version of teach to the test. Creativity and play will be out the window. 
I'm going to scehdule a tour in the next couple of years. Then I'm going to see if I can observe a class in one of the highly rated north Arlington schools. I want to see for myself what the difference is.[/quote]

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