Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would definitely take the spot op if he’s interested. My sibling went there (I went to Yorktown) and it is a pretty great school. It isn’t perfect for everyone, but worth a try. When you say executive function and attention issues does he have adhd? It sounds like you are describing it. I ask because my child with adhd does best with a lot of structure and the hb model is a little on the other end of the spectrum. But it is such a great opportunity I would lean towards at least trying it. But staying aware of whether he’s doing work.

Have him go to the shadow day, this is as much his decision as it is yours at this age honestly

OP here. Thank you for this feedback! Yes he has adhd being treated with medications and executive function coach, as well as an IEP but he’s academically very bright. He is quite athletic but isn’t a “jock” type who will likely play HS sports at the varsity level bc Yorktown is so competitive that way. He’s more interested in computers, Rec level baseball and soccer, and theater drama. He is going to do the visit day this week and we are encouraging him to give it a shot given the size and the feedback we have heard. Can always transfer back if it’s not a good fit. He found a couple of peers in his Snapchat network who go to HB and they like it a lot. Described it as “chill,” “kind,” and “without any fights.” Lol.

My kid has seen only one actual fight at HB in four years. My other kid in regular APS middle school reports seeing fights weekly (not all are seen by administrators, as they break up naturally).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would definitely send him to HB. (Current Yorktown parent who will be sending my youngest to Private and not Yorktown).

My kid is doing great at YHS because of the structure. I would be afraid they would take advantage of the freedom of HB.

One of my kids attended HB and completely abused the lack of structure and literally almost never went to class and the school both never told us and did absolutely nothing about it. I don’t blame the school, because that’s the philosophy and we went in knowing it, but people need to recognize that it’s not a panacea.

My HB high schooler reports having a TON of free time. Even the school activities, like town hall, or the various fun activity days they hold, are apparently optional. No one seems to hold the students accountable for going to any of these things - in fitting with the philosophy of the school. I think my kids wanders around Rosslyn to McDonalds and other places with friends during all this free time. I think the time would be better used studying, but what do I know? I think the point is teaching them intrinsic motivation and responsibility. We'll see if it works!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You would be absolutely crazy not to take the spot. HB is a private school run by APS.

+1. It's unethical that APS pours so many resources into this school. And I would take the spot in a heartbeat.

gets the exact same number of teachers etc per student as every other school in APS

We have family who attended HB, and still speaks highly of it, so many years later. HB provides opportunities for those who are able to be independent, but also those who need assistance (ie: almost two ends of the spectrum). As PP noted, give HB a chance, if you don't like it, you can always go back to Yorktown. GL OP - what a great and coveted opportunity!

Anonymous wrote:The other thing to consider is how easily does your kid make friends. I ask because the majority of the school and class hs been there binding since 6th grade and your kid will be the new kid which can be good and bad. Only 25 new kids in an existing class of 75/80 whereas at your home school everyone is new. Food for thought if your kid has an established group of friends in middle school and has a hard time making friends in new situations.

OP here. Thank you. He does make friends pretty easily and is social and well liked. He does have a pretty tight knit peer group now, but they might end up at different high schools anyway due to zoning.

Anonymous wrote:I would definitely take the spot op if he’s interested. My sibling went there (I went to Yorktown) and it is a pretty great school. It isn’t perfect for everyone, but worth a try. When you say executive function and attention issues does he have adhd? It sounds like you are describing it. I ask because my child with adhd does best with a lot of structure and the hb model is a little on the other end of the spectrum. But it is such a great opportunity I would lean towards at least trying it. But staying aware of whether he’s doing work.

Have him go to the shadow day, this is as much his decision as it is yours at this age honestly

OP here. Thank you for this feedback! Yes he has adhd being treated with medications and executive function coach, as well as an IEP but he’s academically very bright. He is quite athletic but isn’t a “jock” type who will likely play HS sports at the varsity level bc Yorktown is so competitive that way. He’s more interested in computers, Rec level baseball and soccer, and theater drama. He is going to do the visit day this week and we are encouraging him to give it a shot given the size and the feedback we have heard. Can always transfer back if it’s not a good fit. He found a couple of peers in his Snapchat network who go to HB and they like it a lot. Described it as “chill,” “kind,” and “without any fights.” Lol.

The other thing to consider is how easily does your kid make friends. I ask because the majority of the school and class hs been there binding since 6th grade and your kid will be the new kid which can be good and bad. Only 25 new kids in an existing class of 75/80 whereas at your home school everyone is new. Food for thought if your kid has an established group of friends in middle school and has a hard time making friends in new situations.

I would definitely take the spot op if he’s interested. My sibling went there (I went to Yorktown) and it is a pretty great school. It isn’t perfect for everyone, but worth a try. When you say executive function and attention issues does he have adhd? It sounds like you are describing it. I ask because my child with adhd does best with a lot of structure and the hb model is a little on the other end of the spectrum. But it is such a great opportunity I would lean towards at least trying it. But staying aware of whether he’s doing work.

Have him go to the shadow day, this is as much his decision as it is yours at this age honestly

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My kid is a little bit of a misfit and is doing well at HB. We have an IEP. They have found friends.

Now that they are in high school, I don't find that there is much teacher feedback and my kid is learning to mostly be on top of their own grades and assignments with the help of a special "instructional studies" class that helps them focus on getting homework in etc. I used to be a lot more involved in that in middle school, even with IS.

There are a lot of older threads about HB here so you could run a search and find some useful info. Basically, I think there are fewer jock-ish types at HB because you need to go back to your home school to participate in most sports except frisbee (b/c HB doesn't have real fields). Also, HB has a slightly higher teacher/student ratio because it does not hire most non-teaching staff positions other schools have, like counselors, etc. Instead, teachers cover those same jobs, and even the principals teach, so the class size is just a bit smaller. HB doesn't have all the course offerings of bigger schools, so kids are more limited in what they can take, offerings won't be as far-ranging as at Yorktown. And in general, each yearly class is smaller - I think there are about 85 kids in 6th grade and maybe 130 kids in 9th. This is due in part to it being a combined 6th-12th grade school and a smaller single building with no real fields in the middle of Rosslyn.

Not sure why someone else is talking about "so many resources" at HB. I know the building cost was a lot, but more money per capita isn't spent on kids at HB than elsewhere -- HB cut costs in other ways as I explained above to allow the higher teacher:student ratio. It's not costing APS.

Good luck! [/quote]

High school counselors in Arlington have so many kids and so many high need kids, their absence for the average to excelling student would be not noticed. Counselors spent most of their time on the children with significant challenges and lacking family support — which is mostly absent from HB since [b]navigating the lottery is a pretty good filter. [/b]

So having teachers as counselors is hardly some huge sacrifice [/quote]

No. Have you ever entered the lottery? It’s a couple of clicks. This is the delusional crud sold by ATS families. Somehow clicking these extremely simple and straightforward buttons weeds out all the problem kids.

You know what actually weeds out those kids. Private school. Period.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is a little bit of a misfit and is doing well at HB. We have an IEP. They have found friends.

Now that they are in high school, I don't find that there is much teacher feedback and my kid is learning to mostly be on top of their own grades and assignments with the help of a special "instructional studies" class that helps them focus on getting homework in etc. I used to be a lot more involved in that in middle school, even with IS.

There are a lot of older threads about HB here so you could run a search and find some useful info. Basically, I think there are fewer jock-ish types at HB because you need to go back to your home school to participate in most sports except frisbee (b/c HB doesn't have real fields). Also, HB has a slightly higher teacher/student ratio because it does not hire most non-teaching staff positions other schools have, like counselors, etc. Instead, teachers cover those same jobs, and even the principals teach, so the class size is just a bit smaller. HB doesn't have all the course offerings of bigger schools, so kids are more limited in what they can take, offerings won't be as far-ranging as at Yorktown. And in general, each yearly class is smaller - I think there are about 85 kids in 6th grade and maybe 130 kids in 9th. This is due in part to it being a combined 6th-12th grade school and a smaller single building with no real fields in the middle of Rosslyn.

Not sure why someone else is talking about "so many resources" at HB. I know the building cost was a lot, but more money per capita isn't spent on kids at HB than elsewhere -- HB cut costs in other ways as I explained above to allow the higher teacher:student ratio. It's not costing APS.

Good luck!

High school counselors in Arlington have so many kids and so many high need kids, their absence for the average to excelling student would be not noticed. Counselors spent most of their time on the children with significant challenges and lacking family support — which is mostly absent from HB since navigating the lottery is a pretty good filter.

So having teachers as counselors is hardly some huge sacrifice

Where did I characterize it as a sacrifice? I thought I explained it as a pretty smart trade off that the school made to lower teacher to student ratios. I also don't really agree with your statement that kids at HB generally won't be high needs because such kids are filtered out by navigating the lottery. My word of mouth experience has been that MORE high needs kids wind up applying to HB because it's a smaller school where there may be more room and grace given for misfits and non-jocks etc. My own kid has pretty severe challenges and though they have our support at home they have certainly had to deal with teachers and the administration to get the supports and accommodations they needed to be more successful.

And again, this is not some "extra" that APS is funding. It pays for itself.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You would be absolutely crazy not to take the spot. HB is a private school run by APS.

+1. It's unethical that APS pours so many resources into this school. And I would take the spot in a heartbeat.

I feel the same way — and we took the spot when offered.

Me too. This is the fourth option spot our family has won and I am NOT connected.

You live in South Arlington right?

not that either.

Anonymous wrote:My kid is a little bit of a misfit and is doing well at HB. We have an IEP. They have found friends.

Now that they are in high school, I don't find that there is much teacher feedback and my kid is learning to mostly be on top of their own grades and assignments with the help of a special "instructional studies" class that helps them focus on getting homework in etc. I used to be a lot more involved in that in middle school, even with IS.

There are a lot of older threads about HB here so you could run a search and find some useful info. Basically, I think there are fewer jock-ish types at HB because you need to go back to your home school to participate in most sports except frisbee (b/c HB doesn't have real fields). Also, HB has a slightly higher teacher/student ratio because it does not hire most non-teaching staff positions other schools have, like counselors, etc. Instead, teachers cover those same jobs, and even the principals teach, so the class size is just a bit smaller. HB doesn't have all the course offerings of bigger schools, so kids are more limited in what they can take, offerings won't be as far-ranging as at Yorktown. And in general, each yearly class is smaller - I think there are about 85 kids in 6th grade and maybe 130 kids in 9th. This is due in part to it being a combined 6th-12th grade school and a smaller single building with no real fields in the middle of Rosslyn.

Not sure why someone else is talking about "so many resources" at HB. I know the building cost was a lot, but more money per capita isn't spent on kids at HB than elsewhere -- HB cut costs in other ways as I explained above to allow the higher teacher:student ratio. It's not costing APS.

Good luck!

High school counselors in Arlington have so many kids and so many high need kids, their absence for the average to excelling student would be not noticed. Counselors spent most of their time on the children with significant challenges and lacking family support — which is mostly absent from HB since navigating the lottery is a pretty good filter.

So having teachers as counselors is hardly some huge sacrifice

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You would be absolutely crazy not to take the spot. HB is a private school run by APS.

+1. It's unethical that APS pours so many resources into this school. And I would take the spot in a heartbeat.

I feel the same way — and we took the spot when offered.

Me too. This is the fourth option spot our family has won and I am NOT connected.

You live in South Arlington right?

We had hoped to send our son to HB in 9th, but we didn’t get a spot. Honestly, Yorktown has worked out great. Yes, it’s huge, but kids - even the young ones - learn how to navigate it pretty fast. I’d take the spot at HBW simply because you can always change your mind and go back to Yorktown. Sports and clubs is another consideration. Being huge, there’s something for everyone at Yorktown. HB doesn’t do sports other than frisbee and he’ll need to navigate the logistics of busing back to Yorktown if he wants to join a Yorktown team. I think the issue of supports for executive function cuts both ways. Yorktown has an army of administrators dealing IEPs and 504s, but HB is just smaller and there’s a likelihood that the teachers will be more familiar with your kid generally simply because it’s a smaller group of students. Transitioning to 9th grade can feel overwhelming to us as parents no matter the school. Good luck with everything!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You would be absolutely crazy not to take the spot. HB is a private school run by APS.

+1. It's unethical that APS pours so many resources into this school. And I would take the spot in a heartbeat.

I feel the same way — and we took the spot when offered.

Me too. This is the fourth option spot our family has won and I am NOT connected.