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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The general shift to living in the region's center was not happening in 1995, and certainly not the scale of development.   2005 it may have been  but then change got tangled up with the economic crisis.    I really do see the city on an upswing in ways I have not seen before (I have been in the region for the entire period you mention)   You can see it in total population and other indicators.

As for people not moving to Alexandria for a MacArthur or LCTA or Mason, as I said above, Alexandria does not need to be Arlington.   I don't know that having people move to Alexandria specifically for the schools is a worthwhile goal - certainly not in the short to medium term.

And[b] I find your use of the term masses quite confusing (as well as offputting)[/b]  The middle class non-gifted folks in Fairfax County are the masses, really.   You seem more troubled that Alexandria wants to educate the poor.   You also seem to imply an undifferentiated elite - I think the differences between high SES families non gifted kids, ordinary gifted kids, and the profoundly gifted are all quite different.  Appealing to the high SES is mostly a real estate and economics problem.  Alexandria does well enough with the childless (and those who prefer private schools) that I do not see it as a huge issue.   Ordinary gifted kids may not be served as well as they should be in ACPS, or as they are in FCPS, but that has little to do with TJHSST.   And they may well manage among the AP course at TCW.  For the profoundly gifted, the failure to provide adequate challenge, and an appropriate social environment, is in my opinion a serious issue  - like failing to provide accommodations to the learning disabled.   However I do not think any local county shines on that.  And I do not think turning the focus from the poor to the middle class, or the generic upper middle class, will really address that.

[/quote]

It's a reference to the extreme level of poverty in the school system and the challenges of meeting basic needs of a lot of students for whom ESOL.

That is one of the FIRST things people within ACPS will bring up to you when you raise these sorts of questions. It is immaterial whether you object to the term "masses" -- but it's an apt term. ACPS is struggling to meet the needs of the masses, many of who are at-risk. That is the paradigm through which educational policy is made.

You're also completely wrong about 1995. I lived in the city then. These same issues were percolating, the housing boom was beginning to take root. Cameron Station went up in the late 1990s, the Carlyle development started then. Everyone was talking then about shifting demographics, etc. I know -- I was part of those conversations. But then Alexandria threw open its doors when Prince William County went all hater on the Salvadorean population, and central American kids flooded Alexandria and the schools.

My broader point is there has always been a small number of people who have agitated for more services for gifted and high-achieving students in the system. But they have been rebuffed at every turn. There's really no indication to suggest anything will change, although I do believe that for the sake of Alexandria, it does.[/quote]

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