Reply to HB Woodlawn slots

Forum Index » VA Public Schools other than FCPS

Reply to "HB Woodlawn slots"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don’t have an issue with the whiteness of HB.  I have zero idea how white it is.  This was a huge problem in the past for HB, which is one of the primary reasons for the double blind lottery system.  It used to be very driven by parent/teacher demand—that is, a lot of dyslexia and ADHD kids who “could not handle” a normal school day but were considered “smart” got sent there.  It was very white.  And it served as a great safety valve before all this IEP/504 world, and was discriminatory in the sense that it wasn’t for problem kids in the really bad sense ... just kids who needed a different structure.   Then it was deemed racist and they revised the lottery.

Now, I have a problem with HB because its mission is completely opaque.  It doesn’t mean anything for kids to be “independent” and “self-directed”.   That’s just a load of education jargon; it’s not like Spanish immersion where kids are taught in Spanish.

And it does have a HUGE benefit—or at least what most people in our community consider one—its size.  Most of us want a smaller HS experience for our children.  Given, not every single person, but most of us.  And, you get to send your kid there to learn absolutely the same things as every other general public school.  Nonsense.  [/quote]

I have one kid at HB and another at a regular APS school. Trust me, the independent self directed program is very real, and very different from regular schools. Just because you don't know what it is doesn't mean it's not real.[/quote]

Literally the opposite of what they say at information night.

Can you give a concrete example of what it means, I think you are just defending your turf like all HB “Fight Club” Parents[/quote]

Exactly!  What specific differences can you describe between the educational pedagogy of the two programs?

When I’ve asked this question before, moreover, I get responses that described differences endemic to a smaller HS but that don’t actually evidence a distinct educational program that the public should be funding. [/quote]

That the public should be funding? The public is paying for these kids to go to high school no matter which one they go to or what they study. It pays for IEPs, after school sports, band, counseling, busing...all kinds of things that the comprehensive high schools offer to thousands of kids, some of which are also available at H-B and many of which are not. And if you're talking about the capital costs of the building; again, all three comprehensive high schools were rebuilt since 2000 and we took out enormous bonds to pay for them.[/quote]

The cost per student at HB is higher, and they still participate in school sports and have whole county busing.

Moreover, they don’t allowed overcrowding like at other high schools which places a burden on neighboring schools. [/quote]What are you proposing?  We need the high school seats so we can't just shutter it.  And the campus doesn't have the facilities to be an all purpose high school.  I'm not sure what you think should happen?[/quote]

Make it high school only and allow it be over capacity by as much as the most over capacity neighborhood school. No longer capped as “small” and at capacity [/quote]
I'm the one who posted up thread that it should be HS only and focus on the arts.  I don't like the open schools pedagogy and think it's outdated.

I'd defer to APS to decide capacity.  I don't think overcrowding should be used punitively, but managed across the district to least affect students.  I don't believe in punishing students or teacher for being at an option school.[/quote]

Oh okay. Because you are one person who doesn't like HB's pedagogy, even though you don't really know anything about it, I guess that's decided then. [/quote]
Perhaps you could contribute substance?  You're not creating a good look for HB.

There are lots of people unhappy with the current HB system (see this and other threads) and I think it's time to reevaluate.  Keep the good parts and fix the bits that aren't working.  I've heard complaints about the mixed AP and non-AP classes at HB, as well as fewer options.  It sounds like that would be solved by nixing the middle school and enlarging the HS.  It would also allow for students to choose between HB, ArlTech, IB and their neighborhood HS at the same time.  That timing makes a lot more sense to me than parents making the decision for kids in 5th grade, largely based on fear of big schools and the desire to have access to a scarce resource.[/quote]

Oh how rich. You with no knowledge of HB have "heard complaints" and want to fix it. No thanks.

Many people are happy with HB. Some are not. The ones who are not do not have to send their kids there. That is the beauty of a choice school. It sounds like you are one who would not be happy there so it all works out.

And you have no idea why parents chose it for their kids. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics