Anonymous wrote:As you may have gathered, OP, it is very important to ATS parents that everyone recognize and acknowledge the purported superiority of ATS over other APS elementary schools.

Anonymous wrote:Wow. ATS parent here. OP ignore the non helpful posts. I think every school has its positives and negatives and overall ATS is a great school with a great community. Yes there are some hyper type A parents in the school but they exist in all schools in Arlington - if you look at the some of the crazy posters here and on AEM you will see that crazy isn’t limited to ATS. I think much of the negativity surrounding ATS from non-ATS parents comes from the nature of the lottery system. The question is that is it fair to dedicate all these resources to a school that the majority of Arlington students can’t even get into. Also why are some schools in Arlington better than others and how are resources being divided. I think theoretically option schools are good in the sense that they give parents more choices and also decrease capacity pressures on neighborhood schools. In addition they are a way of integrating students and making schools more diverse (an issue with N Arlington schools). Now the problem is that what choice do parents really have if your chances of winning the lottery to your preferred school is so low? One solution would be to increase the number of option schools. Another solution would be to look at what works in certain option schools (in ATS it’s their literacy and music programs, in Campbell it’s their outdoor learning program) and start bringing those programs to other Arlington schools. Or perhaps the solution is to do both.

We applied to ATS because as an immigrant I was attracted to ATS’ literacy program and as well as its diversity culture wise. My English is good relatively speaking but my husband’s is not and we only speak Portuguese at home. I felt that ATS would give my kids the strong foundation in English that they needed while my husband and I can focus on teaching them Portuguese at home. In addition, as a person who wasn’t born and raised in the US, certain issues that parents had with the dress code didn’t bother me. We had uniforms in school! That being said the issue with the dress code is over blown. My daughter does not have to tuck in her shirt! Plus like PP said I would prefer she doesn’t. Looks kind of weird with leggings lol. Another issue is the homework. Again while I realize that homework isn’t common in elementary schools here, it is common back home. That being said the homework is maybe 20 minutes a day so it really isn’t that bad. I think there are positives and negatives when it comes to homework. But for families like ours or perhaps low income families, homework is a good way to figure out what your kid is learning in school. Not all of us have the time to be active and join the PTA!

There are two other negatives that ppl bring up that I think you should consider. First is connections to the neighborhood. I wasn’t sure if this would end up being a big deal or not so I proactively enrolled my kids in neighborhood programs such as girl/Boy Scouts. My eldest will go to 4th grade next year and loves running so I found a girls on the run program that is neighborhood based. I think if you are proactive in developing relationships with your neighbors then it shouldn’t be an issue. Another thing is that Arlington itself is tiny. So an option school like ATS enables your kids to expand their circle of friends. Now since we haven’t transitioned to middle school yet, I’m not sure whether it will be an issue when it comes to forming friendships, so that’s something you may want to consider. Another negative and I’m not sure if this is an issue with Drew, but our neighborhood school is under-enrolled especially due to covid. Well ATS is never under-enrolled cuz of the lottery system. It isn’t overcrowded either but you are not going to get a class with 16 kids. At least I don’t see how it would happen!

Overall ATS is a great school. I do feel like my kids are getting an excellent education snd more importantly love their school and their teachers. I haven’t noticed any issues when it comes to bullying or anything which is good but I’m assuming that bullying is more of a middle school thing than an elementary school thing. I love their weekly assemblies that parents can join (can’t make it all the time but I do try to come when I can). I’m not involved in the PTA and am a little hands off when it comes to my children’s learning because I work full time and I think because of that the existence of those type A parents doesn’t bother me because I simply don’t interact with them. Many of us immigrants are the type that trust that the system works and that our kids will be fine (that being said the American approach of being super involved too is probably what makes Arlington schools great in the first place!). Regarding the comment of most of ATS families being from North Arlington I wonder if that is true since you live in South Arlington. I do know some south Arlington families at ATS. But one thing I noticed just from talking to my neighbors (we live in North Arlington) that many of them are familiar with ATS but not familiar with Campbell for example which is in South Arlington. I wonder if there really is a divide between families who apply to the school. I guess it would make sense since I’m assuming that many families don’t want to drive that far.

Anonymous wrote:As you may have gathered, OP, it is very important to ATS parents that everyone recognize and acknowledge the purported superiority of ATS over other APS elementary schools.