Reply to ACPS -- what am I missing?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My youngest is in elementary and oldest now in MS but pvt.  I would say that public elementary for us wasn’t bad.  It wasn’t OMG amazing and I do not drink the KoolAid that most In my community to on public schools here.  I would say that George Mason and Barrett are relatively strong.  What makes the, really nice is the strong PTA and community.  The families here are warm, educated and kids are well adjusted and just really good kids.  A close knit community.  Academically it’s not academically strong but I’m not that parent that wants my kid to go to Catholic school and know 8th grade vocabulary words in 5th grade.  My expectations are for love of learning, engaging and caring teachers and a really healthy social experience.  These boxes are checked.

Where things are wrong is more the public curriculum of all the SOL and MAP testing, the work is just really not that hard and the TAG program is not productive in who gets n.  The idea of academic equity is ridiculous.  Getting everyone to the same level should not be goal rather promoting excellence among all.  So philosophically ACOS has a problem there.

But I have told you about the pros and cons we experienced.  In terms of MS, I have friends whose kids do great there.  You really have to be a well adjuster, very mature and responsible kid who is going to be in honors classes to make it there.  If so, it will likely be fine.  I would never put my kids there but if they were like perfect kids maybe I would reconsider but I would still be uneasy about it.  That’s me.  I have pretty high standards when it comes to conceptual learning ~ that is ~ I want more than just transactional pass a test learning.  Esp after grade school,  personally I think it’s too overwhelming socially with 599 kids per grade on each floor.

We are going to however try to get ours back in public for HS.

A lot depends on your kids.  ACPS is not a strong public system in total, but Alex is a really great place to be.  We would never want to live in Arl or Falls Church or Fairfax.  We are city folk.  But I would say that by MS you’d be hard pressed to keep kids in public.  I did A lOT of research into the various public elementary school systems around NOVA and if you are strictly concerned about academics, run away from Alex public schools.  But if it’s more than just that you seek, elementary I think is good enough.

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I think this is a fair capture.

Our oldest in is GWMS, another is in Barrett.  We think Barrett is great.  We were happier when the previous principal was there, but it's still very good.  GWMS has been fine.  There's the typical MS drama and stupidity, but our kid steers clear of it and has done well academically while expanding her social circles.  [b]It's hard to ask more of a MS experience.[/b]  Some teachers are exceptional, others are mediocre - such is life.  The diversity of the student population - in multiple dimensions - is a plus for us and helps prepare the kids for an increasingly multicultural future.

Ultimately, we love being in Alexandria.  We think the schools deliver on our expectations and if one of our kids starts to flounder or needs a different experience, there are ample private school options.

FWIW, all of the problems people have listed sadly exist at other school districts, too.  Drugs, violence, etc... it's not exclusive to ACPS.  That's where parenting comes in.[/quote]

I'm glad your kid is doing well, but you could definitely ask for more. Positives are that the admin really cares, and some of the teachers are very good. But the building is painfully--painfully--crowded and utterly falling apart, and the curriculum is washed out. [/quote]

I'm happy your kid is doing well too & that you acknowledge that ACPS is not a strong school system. But in defending it anyway, please remember that your child's experience is not the norm. For example, assessments for economically disadvantaged kids at Barrett was at 33% proficiency in reading and 13% in math last year. Not the worse in the west end by any means (that honor belongs to Brooks - 16% reading/3% math - with George Mason a close second - 18% reading/3%math).

And I don't think that the GWMS videos in the news this fall of kids violently attacking and beating their peers is "typical MS drama and stupidity." Maybe your kid hasn't been involved or hasn't gotten trapped in the bathroom or hallway when it occurs (and I'm happy for that) but other kids are getting traumatized by seeing the violence or being threatened by it.

Defending this system and dismissing the deep systemic problems in the system allows ACPS to continue to fail the most vulnerable students year after year. [/quote]

I'm the PP with my oldest at GWMS.  Thanks for sharing those numbers - those are important to know and easy for somebody in my position to remain unaware of.  Appreciate you calling them to my attention.

As far as your issue with my characterization of GWMS "drama and stupidity" - I'll push back a bit.  I remember very clearly the same kind of nonsense happening when I attended school in FFX many years ago.  There were plenty of fights, property destruction, theft, drugs, etc.  I personally carried a weapon to school on more than one occasion.  Students who made smarter decisions than me or ran with a different crowd would have remained blissfully unaware of such things or would have just generally avoided them and now that they're parents, they're shocked to see evidence of similar activities posted to TicTok or whatever.  That's the major difference - the behavior hasn't changed, but the documentation didn't exist when we were kids (thank God).  It does now.

Not to trivialize or excuse poor behavior by any means, but only to say that it's not really new - just more observable.  At least IMO.  But, yes, I do count myself fortunate to have kids that remain mostly unaffected by it.[/quote]

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