Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't realize the job description for "safety patrol" includes monitoring the editorial content of conversations of younger students for political correctness. Sign me up!

I'd like to take this seriously, but OP has layered on so much BS and made so many assumptions that it makes that all but impossible. But I'll reconsider when OP reports back that her kid has also laid down the law for the GenEd boys who make fun of the athletic skills of AAP kids on the bus, on the playground, and in the classroom.

OP here. The job description for patrols includes stepping in when students are being bullied. In my son's view, and mine, the one girl was being bullied by the other two. Imagine being told you're not "smart enough" to be in a certain class. I'm proud of him for intervening and telling them to cut it out. And of course he would step in (and has) if he saw bullying going on in any form, including non-athletic kids being bullied by the jocks. Wondering why you assume it would be the AAP kids who aren't athletic though. AAP includes so many children these days that it's hard to believe that old cliche about them not having athletic skills. In most ways, these kids are really no different from those in Gen Ed (which is kind of the point of this whole topic). He's had to speak up for several kids on the bus due to various types of similar behavior. This particular instance, however, was about two AAP girls trying to make another girl feel bad about not being in AAP. And if you and PP don't view that as bullying, then so be it.

It doesn't sound like bullying to me, and if my girls had been berated by a much older boy on a bus I might complain to the school to make sure it doesn't happen again. Your kid should check cross walks, not decide what people say about test results.

Are you really criticizing a kid who had the guts to speak up for another child being teased? The OP's son did exactly what I hope my child would do. Schools would be a better place if everyone stood up against mean kids. (regardless of safety patrol status).

Tell your girls to be nice, and it won't be an issue.

I'm basically just refusing to take OP's scenario at face value because she's layered it with so many assumptions and judgments as to what supposedly took place. And, even if one accepted it as wriiten, the mean AAP girls didn't call the GenEd girl stupid, hit her, or yell at her. They just said she wasn't smart enough to be in an AAP class, which is more or less what FCPS determined without using the word "smart."

So, hypothetically, yeah, if an older, larger boy tells my younger girl that this is "bullying" and she has to stop it, we might end up in the principal's office hashing it out. If he kindly suggests "hey, c'mon, be nice to each other," no worries.

Your obstinate refusal to acknowledge the issue here makes it clear you're the type of parent who is a big part of the problem. I bet if your daughter is bullied in this way (or sorry, guess you don't qualify kids picking on others as "bullying" unless there's actual physical contact?), you'd be pounding on the principal's door demanding to know why this was allowed to go on, whether at school, on the playground, or on the bus. But because this happened to someone else's child, and not your precious snowflake, it's just something to be scoffed at. Really pathetic.

Anonymous wrote:So my 3rd grade DD in AAP came home today and said that she had the distinct pleasure (not) of getting yelled at by this much larger 6th grade boy in the AAP program who is a safety patrol on the bus. He was mad at them because he heard them discussing the differences between AAP and GenEd classes with another 3rd grader.

She was really upset because the boy wasn't part of the conversation, but interrupted them. The girl in the GenEd class had been telling them repeatedly that there was no difference between GenEd classes and AAP classes and that she was just as smart as they were, if not smarter. When they explained that the AAP classes are for the more academically advanced kids, the boy ordered them to stop talking and "bullying" the other girl.

My DD is just a 3rd grader, and she'd never had such a discussion with another student before, and she certainly never had been loudly reprimanded by a 6th grade patrol leader before. Now she is scared of the boy and doesn't want to get on the bus again. She wanted to know if he was going to report her to school administrators and why she did anything wrong telling the GenEd student that the more advanced kids had been selected for AAP.

Parents of GenEd kids: please stop telling your kids they are "just as smart" as the others. They will parrot this BS back, even if you think they won't, just leading to arguments that aren't very productive.

School counselors: if you happen to be reading this, please sit down with the GenEd classes at your school and make sure these kids know that there is nothing wrong about being in either a GenEd or an AAP class. And please ask the administration to remind safety patrols that they are there to help maintain order, not take sides on behalf of GenEd students or police what younger children say to one another about how kids are selected for AAP.

FCPS: please don't bend to the pressure to do away with centers or drastically cut back AAP admittance. You would be doing our communities a disservice by pretending that all the kids have exactly the same academic needs or abilities.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't realize the job description for "safety patrol" includes monitoring the editorial content of conversations of younger students for political correctness. Sign me up!

I'd like to take this seriously, but OP has layered on so much BS and made so many assumptions that it makes that all but impossible. But I'll reconsider when OP reports back that her kid has also laid down the law for the GenEd boys who make fun of the athletic skills of AAP kids on the bus, on the playground, and in the classroom.

OP here. The job description for patrols includes stepping in when students are being bullied. In my son's view, and mine, the one girl was being bullied by the other two. Imagine being told you're not "smart enough" to be in a certain class. I'm proud of him for intervening and telling them to cut it out. And of course he would step in (and has) if he saw bullying going on in any form, including non-athletic kids being bullied by the jocks. Wondering why you assume it would be the AAP kids who aren't athletic though. AAP includes so many children these days that it's hard to believe that old cliche about them not having athletic skills. In most ways, these kids are really no different from those in Gen Ed (which is kind of the point of this whole topic). He's had to speak up for several kids on the bus due to various types of similar behavior. This particular instance, however, was about two AAP girls trying to make another girl feel bad about not being in AAP. And if you and PP don't view that as bullying, then so be it.

It doesn't sound like bullying to me, and if my girls had been berated by a much older boy on a bus I might complain to the school to make sure it doesn't happen again. Your kid should check cross walks, not decide what people say about test results.

Are you really criticizing a kid who had the guts to speak up for another child being teased? The OP's son did exactly what I hope my child would do. Schools would be a better place if everyone stood up against mean kids. (regardless of safety patrol status).

Tell your girls to be nice, and it won't be an issue.

I'm basically just refusing to take OP's scenario at face value because she's layered it with so many assumptions and judgments as to what supposedly took place. And, even if one accepted it as wriiten, the mean AAP girls didn't call the GenEd girl stupid, hit her, or yell at her. They just said she wasn't smart enough to be in an AAP class, which is more or less what FCPS determined without using the word "smart."

So, hypothetically, yeah, if an older, larger boy tells my younger girl that this is "bullying" and she has to stop it, we might end up in the principal's office hashing it out. If he kindly suggests "hey, c'mon, be nice to each other," no worries.

Anonymous wrote:You all are missing the bigger picture here and that's we are talking about children's feelings here. It's pretty irrelevant if the girls were correct in their assessment of AAP, but that there words were demoralizing another child. Are you parents serious that if one of the two girls were your child that you would go to the principal and tell on the boy?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't realize the job description for "safety patrol" includes monitoring the editorial content of conversations of younger students for political correctness. Sign me up!

I'd like to take this seriously, but OP has layered on so much BS and made so many assumptions that it makes that all but impossible. But I'll reconsider when OP reports back that her kid has also laid down the law for the GenEd boys who make fun of the athletic skills of AAP kids on the bus, on the playground, and in the classroom.

OP here. The job description for patrols includes stepping in when students are being bullied. In my son's view, and mine, the one girl was being bullied by the other two. Imagine being told you're not "smart enough" to be in a certain class. I'm proud of him for intervening and telling them to cut it out. And of course he would step in (and has) if he saw bullying going on in any form, including non-athletic kids being bullied by the jocks. Wondering why you assume it would be the AAP kids who aren't athletic though. AAP includes so many children these days that it's hard to believe that old cliche about them not having athletic skills. In most ways, these kids are really no different from those in Gen Ed (which is kind of the point of this whole topic). He's had to speak up for several kids on the bus due to various types of similar behavior. This particular instance, however, was about two AAP girls trying to make another girl feel bad about not being in AAP. And if you and PP don't view that as bullying, then so be it.

It doesn't sound like bullying to me, and if my girls had been berated by a much older boy on a bus I might complain to the school to make sure it doesn't happen again. Your kid should check cross walks, not decide what people say about test results.

Are you really criticizing a kid who had the guts to speak up for another child being teased? The OP's son did exactly what I hope my child would do. Schools would be a better place if everyone stood up against mean kids. (regardless of safety patrol status).

Tell your girls to be nice, and it won't be an issue.

I'm basically just refusing to take OP's scenario at face value because she's layered it with so many assumptions and judgments as to what supposedly took place. And, even if one accepted it as wriiten, the mean AAP girls didn't call the GenEd girl stupid, hit her, or yell at her. They just said she wasn't smart enough to be in an AAP class, which is more or less what FCPS determined without using the word "smart."

So, hypothetically, yeah, if an older, larger boy tells my younger girl that this is "bullying" and she has to stop it, we might end up in the principal's office hashing it out. If he kindly suggests "hey, c'mon, be nice to each other," no worries.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So my 3rd grade DD in AAP came home today and said that she had the distinct pleasure (not) of getting yelled at by this much larger 6th grade boy in the AAP program who is a safety patrol on the bus. He was mad at them because he heard them discussing the differences between AAP and GenEd classes with another 3rd grader.

She was really upset because the boy wasn't part of the conversation, but interrupted them. The girl in the GenEd class had been telling them repeatedly that there was no difference between GenEd classes and AAP classes and that she was just as smart as they were, if not smarter. When they explained that the AAP classes are for the more academically advanced kids, the boy ordered them to stop talking and "bullying" the other girl.

My DD is just a 3rd grader, and she'd never had such a discussion with another student before[b], and she certainly never had been loudly reprimanded by a 6th grade patrol leader before. Now she is scared of the boy and doesn't want to get on the bus again. She wanted to know if he was going to report her to school administrators and why she did anything wrong telling the GenEd student that the more advanced kids had been selected for AAP.

Parents of GenEd kids: please stop telling your kids they are "just as smart" as the others. They will parrot this BS back, even if you think they won't, just leading to arguments that aren't very productive.

School counselors: if you happen to be reading this, please sit down with the GenEd classes at your school and make sure these kids know that there is nothing wrong about being in either a GenEd or an AAP class. And please ask the administration to remind safety patrols that they are there to help maintain order, not take sides on behalf of GenEd students or police what younger children say to one another about how kids are selected for AAP.

FCPS: please don't bend to the pressure to do away with centers or drastically cut back AAP admittance. You would be doing our communities a disservice by pretending that all the kids have exactly the same academic needs or abilities.

You have no idea if this is true. I would agree that ALL the girls may be equally as smart.

--Signed the parent of an AAP kid

Anonymous wrote:So my 3rd grade DD in AAP came home today and said that she had the distinct pleasure (not) of getting yelled at by this much larger 6th grade boy in the AAP program who is a safety patrol on the bus. He was mad at them because he heard them discussing the differences between AAP and GenEd classes with another 3rd grader.

She was really upset because the boy wasn't part of the conversation, but interrupted them. The girl in the GenEd class had been telling them repeatedly that there was no difference between GenEd classes and AAP classes and that she was just as smart as they were, if not smarter. When they explained that the AAP classes are for the more academically advanced kids, the boy ordered them to stop talking and "bullying" the other girl.

My DD is just a 3rd grader, and she'd never had such a discussion with another student before[b], and she certainly never had been loudly reprimanded by a 6th grade patrol leader before. Now she is scared of the boy and doesn't want to get on the bus again. She wanted to know if he was going to report her to school administrators and why she did anything wrong telling the GenEd student that the more advanced kids had been selected for AAP.

Parents of GenEd kids: please stop telling your kids they are "just as smart" as the others. They will parrot this BS back, even if you think they won't, just leading to arguments that aren't very productive.

School counselors: if you happen to be reading this, please sit down with the GenEd classes at your school and make sure these kids know that there is nothing wrong about being in either a GenEd or an AAP class. And please ask the administration to remind safety patrols that they are there to help maintain order, not take sides on behalf of GenEd students or police what younger children say to one another about how kids are selected for AAP.

FCPS: please don't bend to the pressure to do away with centers or drastically cut back AAP admittance. You would be doing our communities a disservice by pretending that all the kids have exactly the same academic needs or abilities.

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend who is an AAP teacher. She says they are likely making admissions more stringent in the next few years. For example, no longer allowing private testing when the kids don't test in via the school administered tests. AAP is supposed to be for those kids who truly need the challenge of rigorous academics (whether I agree with the program as necessary or a good idea or not - my kid is not old enough yet so I haven't fully formed my views). At our school, a level 4 center, over 60% of the 6th graders are AAP. They are over-including in my view.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't realize the job description for "safety patrol" includes monitoring the editorial content of conversations of younger students for political correctness. Sign me up!

I'd like to take this seriously, but OP has layered on so much BS and made so many assumptions that it makes that all but impossible. But I'll reconsider when OP reports back that her kid has also laid down the law for the GenEd boys who make fun of the athletic skills of AAP kids on the bus, on the playground, and in the classroom.

OP here. The job description for patrols includes stepping in when students are being bullied. In my son's view, and mine, the one girl was being bullied by the other two. Imagine being told you're not "smart enough" to be in a certain class. I'm proud of him for intervening and telling them to cut it out. And of course he would step in (and has) if he saw bullying going on in any form, including non-athletic kids being bullied by the jocks. Wondering why you assume it would be the AAP kids who aren't athletic though. AAP includes so many children these days that it's hard to believe that old cliche about them not having athletic skills. In most ways, these kids are really no different from those in Gen Ed (which is kind of the point of this whole topic). He's had to speak up for several kids on the bus due to various types of similar behavior. This particular instance, however, was about two AAP girls trying to make another girl feel bad about not being in AAP. And if you and PP don't view that as bullying, then so be it.

It doesn't sound like bullying to me, and if my girls had been berated by a much older boy on a bus I might complain to the school to make sure it doesn't happen again. Your kid should check cross walks, not decide what people say about test results.

Are you really criticizing a kid who had the guts to speak up for another child being teased? The OP's son did exactly what I hope my child would do. Schools would be a better place if everyone stood up against mean kids. (regardless of safety patrol status).

Tell your girls to be nice, and it won't be an issue.

Anonymous wrote:
So my DS came home today and said that he had the distinct pleasure (not) of sitting behind two AAP 3rd grade girls who were crowing about the fact that they were in the "smart" classes at their center school. Apparently they were arguing with another girl, saying they were smarter than her because she is not in AAP.

Because my son is a 6th grader at this school (Gen Ed), he has heard these kinds of remarks countless times and knows just to roll his eyes at the ridiculous kids who blather on like this. But he's a patrol and he felt bad for the girl they were arguing with, so he stuck up for her and told the other two to pipe down, and that they were wrong.

Parents of AAP kids: please stop telling your kids they are "smarter" than the others. They will parrot this BS back, even if you think they won't, making them even more insufferable than usual.

School counselors: if you happen to be reading this, please sit down with the AAP classes at your school and make sure these kids know that they aren't any better, smarter, or more special than the Gen Ed kids. Please ask the administration to stop treating them as such.

FCPS: please do away with centers and drastically cut back AAP admittance, or else open it up to all. You are doing our communities a disservice by dividing up kids in this way.

I'm posting this on both the AAP and VA School forums because it's an issue that affects all kids in this area. Unfortunately.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't realize the job description for "safety patrol" includes monitoring the editorial content of conversations of younger students for political correctness. Sign me up!

I'd like to take this seriously, but OP has layered on so much BS and made so many assumptions that it makes that all but impossible. But I'll reconsider when OP reports back that her kid has also laid down the law for the GenEd boys who make fun of the athletic skills of AAP kids on the bus, on the playground, and in the classroom.

OP here. The job description for patrols includes stepping in when students are being bullied. In my son's view, and mine, the one girl was being bullied by the other two. Imagine being told you're not "smart enough" to be in a certain class. I'm proud of him for intervening and telling them to cut it out. And of course he would step in (and has) if he saw bullying going on in any form, including non-athletic kids being bullied by the jocks. Wondering why you assume it would be the AAP kids who aren't athletic though. AAP includes so many children these days that it's hard to believe that old cliche about them not having athletic skills. In most ways, these kids are really no different from those in Gen Ed (which is kind of the point of this whole topic). He's had to speak up for several kids on the bus due to various types of similar behavior. This particular instance, however, was about two AAP girls trying to make another girl feel bad about not being in AAP. And if you and PP don't view that as bullying, then so be it.

It doesn't sound like bullying to me, and if my girls had been berated by a much older boy on a bus I might complain to the school to make sure it doesn't happen again. Your kid should check cross walks, not decide what people say about test results.