Reply to HB Woodlawn - I know nothing. Help!

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We are trying to make the same decision.

Clearly HB has more resources and better facilities. Smaller class sizes. Better test scores.

Our impression is that it also gets, on balance, the more engaged and committed teachers—all of whom are dealing with fewer students and are more supported than at Y or WL.

But what about HB for a kid who isn’t all that “quirky”, doesn’t have an elaborate menu of pronouns, and is just a good student, highly social? It’s difficult to tell what % of the student population is fairly normal v those that are more in the (maybe stereotypical) “freaks and geeks” or ultra-woke mold that HB seems to cater to? (FTR it’s great those kids have a place they can thrive, and no issue with DC being in that kind of environment… just unclear whether *everyone* is like that or there’s more of a mix than is readily apparent.) [/quote]

PP here - no, as I said before, HB actually has less resources - fewer class offerings, fewer extracurriculars.

As to lower class sizes - probably slightly lower at HB because HB uses its allotment for counselors for teachers and elects to have no counselors. So that is a tradeoff. Some of the class sizes that look tiny on paper actually are not. An AP class may look small on paper, but it's combined with a non AP class so it's really not. I don't see that as an upside.

I can tell you that I know plenty of kids in the group you describe who transferred out of HB back to their home school because they wanted a more traditional social experience. [/quote]

The biggest reason class sizes are smaller is that H-B teachers agree to take on six classes instead of five. It’s less planning time, but they opt in. The administrators also teach a class, the only place in APS where I know this happens. The lack of guidance counselors is also a factor. Staff allocation formulas in APS are the same across option and comprehensive neighborhood schools. H-B uses its staffing differently.

Imagine, all APS schools could be more connected to their students’ needs and interests if all admin had some classroom responsibilities.

Option schools like ATS, Tech, and HBW do take up a bit more funding per pupil to enable district-wide transportation. That’s why the buses for those programs only serve a few stops. The transportation challenges are a real downside of attendance.[/quote]

Agree that there are marginal costs associated with running separate routes for option schools but, like all the costs associated with those schools, the transportation costs would not completely go away if we got rid of option schools. My kid, like most kids, would take a bus to his high school either way. And the other high schools have a lot of other expenses to cover amenities for their students that H-B does not have like sports, the pools, etc. [/quote]

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