Reply to Tell me about Thoreau Middle School

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=DS63][quote=Anonymous]20:23, I'm not sure how you concluded that "most Vienna parents want their child there."  Vienna parents who are looking for academic rigor want their kids in the AAP Center in Kilmer or Luther Jackson.  More and more parents in the Thoreau boundary are opting for Luther Jackson because Thoreau just doesn't provide a challenge for AAP kids. (The academics at LJ are outstanding and the kids are completely prepared for high school.)  Thoreau is a nice school, but the homework is minimal, everyone is in "honors," and I have heard of many kids who feel totally overwhelmed in 9th grade because they don't know how to manage a high school workload.  If your child is an average student, Thoreau will be just fine.  Socially, etc. it is a nice environment and your child will have fun because she won't be spending lots of time on schoolwork.  Just an FYI on the honors issue at Thoreau - the decision to make some classes honors for the entire school was not made for substantive reasons (to challenge all of the kids); it was made to accommodate the scheduling difficulties of having trying to have honors and base-level sections of every academic subject.[/quote]

I am the parent of a sixth grader at Louise Archer.  I have not spoken to all of the parents, but the ones I have spoken to are split.  Most of us would prefer AAP and Thoreau.  But, that is not an option.  We like the idea of our kids remaining in the community.  My DD will follow the crowd.  She will go to where her friends are going.  If they split, I am not sure.

But, again, most LA parents want [b]AAP and Thoreau[/b].[/quote]

This sounds a lot like parents from a few years back who were scared of Jackson and pushed for an AAP center at Thoreau when they realized that their kids would have to go to Jackson to stay in AAP. My kid went to Archer and his classmates who had the Thoreau-Jackson choice almost all chose Jackson, and I got zero sense that other parents that year craved "AAP and Thoreau," but I admit I did not do a formal survey. Did the person who posted here do one, so that he or she can say so very authoritatively that "most LA parents want AAP and Thoreau"? Truly?

And does it matter if that's what they want? Because....it isn't a choice they have or will have.

It's far past time for some Vienna families to stop wasting energy on "we need AAP at Thoreau." The school already has AAP centers located very close to it on two sides now, and has been turned down for becoming an AAP center. Look at the options and pick the school that's best for YOUR child, period, but don't keep pining for something that isn't going to happen.[/quote]

Not the poster to whom you're responding, but if you look at the enrollment projections for Jackson and Kilmer, the odds of Thoreau getting an AAP center or Local Level IV services in the future are pretty high.  There might be some Vienna parents who'd view that as a "watered down" version of AAP, but others probably would be happier.  [/quote]

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