Reply to Middle School Momentum in Alexandria

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[quote=Anonymous]As a current Alexandria City resident very familiar with ACPS and private schooling of our kids over the decades, I'd like to thank and support the below quoted poster wholeheartedly for his or her suggestions to our school system. Rings very true sounding, not hollow.

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"I've given plenty of suggestions in the past. For one thing, I think TC needs to remove the daycare and the clinic that sends a message to kids that it's OK to have sex and we'll continue to support you even if you have babies. I think more needs to be done to break down the caste system, probably by more deliberately integrating the kids in the AP bubble into the rest of the school. The board needs to get on board with the rest of the NOVA area and make TJ an option (and they should definitely lobby for a seat on TJ's board to do this.) Minnie Howard needs to be converted into a different type of high school -- ideally one of the experiential learning schools of the 1970s, kind of like an HB Woodlawn model, to reshuffle the student makeup further (i.e., it should be 9-12 and the main campus should also be 9-12). At this newer model, classes would be taught more in the seminar style that's typical of a college environment, with a capstone project (maybe one that encourages students to travel out into the world). There should be a zero tolerance for wannabe gang activity, with expulsions. That's just for starters.

Alexandria's School Board also should fund a charter school or two to create choice within the system. I realize this taxes resources, but the system already spends more dollars per student than any other in the state (I think -- or damn near) with poor results, so it's worth trying -- I mean, Sherman spends thousands on idiotic consultants that could be rediverted to more productive uses like this. The charter(s) shouldn't be too exotic. Maybe it's a trade-based school (culinary arts?) or an arts school or something. But the point is, there needs to be more choice created within the system to disperse the population at TC that is stuck in long-established dynamics. I think the school system should try to follow a state university model, where branch campuses have different brands.

At the middle school level, the IB program should be abandoned -- the idea of "open enrollment" was stupid and artificial as is much of what Sherman proposes (such as the extended day/calendar year).

Finally, the board needs to remember that Mort Sherman works for them and not the other way around. And they need to stop agreeing to every little whim he's got."
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