Anonymous wrote:[list]What is the point of AAP, period! But especially in MS. There is already honors. Is that not a good education?

No, it is not.

Anonymous wrote:Honors is open enrollment. Since everyone is brilliant and special these days, the Honors classes are watered down for the strugglers so they don't get left behind, instead of suggesting, perhaps, that regular class might be a better fit.

This arrogant talk about the "strugglers" is great to read. It's like reliving the election all over again and hearing Romney blather on about the "takers."

Anonymous wrote:Making every MS an AAP center dilutes the program, since principals make decisions based on class size + number of teachers alloted per school. I predict MS AAP will, in most cases, not have enough enrollment to remain a separate curriculum, and will get lumped in with open-enrollment Honors classes to increase class size. That's what happens at Local Level IV ES-- children are added to the AAP classes to balance class size.

On a personal note, there is NO comparison between Kilmer and Cooper. I was so happy that my kids would go to Kilmer, now I'm told we're probably thrown back into drug-happy, "my dad makes more money than yours" Cooper environment. And having the same classmates from elementary to high school is a non-issue-- who cares? Can't you make new friends?

A lot of people would prefer to keep their kids within the same pyramid, to the extent possible.

You are kidding yourself if you do not think there are also rich kids and drugs at Kilmer. Assuming you are correct in your characterization of Cooper, however, the tone there might change with more AAP kids. If nothing else, people would pay more attention to the students' academic efforts, and less attention to when they get into trouble.

Honors is open enrollment. Since everyone is brilliant and special these days, the Honors classes are watered down for the strugglers so they don't get left behind, instead of suggesting, perhaps, that regular class might be a better fit.

Anonymous wrote:They are proposing AAP Centers in the 14 that don't have them. I'm not sure if this means the 14 pyramids that don't have the chance to go to an AAP middle school, or the 14 middle schools that don't offer AAP level classes?

[list]What is the point of AAP, period! But especially in MS. There is already honors. Is that not a good education? If so then FCPS needs to look at the big picture. Why is honors not meeting the advanced, higher acheiving learners? Or is this not good enough either? geez...!

Making every MS an AAP center dilutes the program, since principals make decisions based on class size + number of teachers alloted per school. I predict MS AAP will, in most cases, not have enough enrollment to remain a separate curriculum, and will get lumped in with open-enrollment Honors classes to increase class size. That's what happens at Local Level IV ES-- children are added to the AAP classes to balance class size.

On a personal note, there is NO comparison between Kilmer and Cooper. I was so happy that my kids would go to Kilmer, now I'm told we're probably thrown back into drug-happy, "my dad makes more money than yours" Cooper environment. And having the same classmates from elementary to high school is a non-issue-- who cares? Can't you make new friends?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some parents in Cluster 1 have organized a meeting to discuss the issue of eliminating center-based AA programs at middle schools. The meeting is on Tuesday, November 27 at the Great Falls Public Library at 10:15. Anyone with interest in the issue is welcome to attend.

And the point of this is...?

A gripe session?

Are your kids in the center program? Do you just not want other kids to be in the center programs?

This meeting makes zero sense based on what you posted.

I read the post to mean that some Cluster 1 parents with AAP kids who might get assigned or reassigned from Longfellow or Kilmer to Cooper planned to get together and discuss the pros and cons with each other and others who might be interested.

I expect the OP would be happy to rescind the invitation if you want to be a total jerk about it.

Why doesn't FCPS make use of some of its former school buildings and renovate them for use as schools? Seems that there are many of them and I am sure a renovation would be faster than building a new school:

http://commweb.fcps.edu/directory/bylevel.cfm?level=Administrative

Anonymous wrote:Some parents in Cluster 1 have organized a meeting to discuss the issue of eliminating center-based AA programs at middle schools. The meeting is on Tuesday, November 27 at the Great Falls Public Library at 10:15. Anyone with interest in the issue is welcome to attend.

And the point of this is...?

A gripe session?

Are your kids in the center program? Do you just not want other kids to be in the center programs?

This meeting makes zero sense based on what you posted.

07:33 overcrowding in the classrooms leads to an overcrowded school that can't be resolved by increasing class size. Arlington is overcrowded they say, but their class sizes are much smaller. If they increased class size, they wouldn't be having as many overcrowding issues. FCPS has increased class size and also has not planned for future classrooms at many of these elementary schools so there is no room for these children to go.

Some parents in Cluster 1 have organized a meeting to discuss the issue of eliminating center-based AA programs at middle schools. The meeting is on Tuesday, November 27 at the Great Falls Public Library at 10:15. Anyone with interest in the issue is welcome to attend.

While I can't comment on all center-based school, I have been at a non-center based school over 8 years. Before our renovation, we had no art room and no music room and lots of kids were in trailers. And we were sending lots of kids to the center-based elementary school, so it could have been much worse. Once our school was renovated and expanded, we were able to have enough room for most programs, although every room is currently filled so there is no room for growth. Our local school houses a language immersion program that draws many students from outside our cluster, and we need to have separate classrooms for those students.

In short, I'm not sure that overcrowding of elementary school buildings is in all cases is directly related to whether or not they house an AAP center. Each school has different program and different needs. The School Board should be taking a close look at the overcrowding issues on a school by school bases (or perhaps by cluster).

With regard to middle schools, under the staff proposal EVERY middle school would have their enrollment dramatcially change in additional to many school having to develop an entirely new program (for perhaps less than 20 students). And I haven't seen any evidence that changing every middle school will have any impact on the issues at the elementary school level.

Anonymous wrote:How? Just to name a few...art on a cart, instead of an actual art room, the art teacher brings the art supplies to the classroom. Doubt this happens at non center schools. Music is also in the classroom or in a hallway classroom, that is a hallway that now has cubicles that function as walls, lunch at 10am or lunch at 2pm. When chaperoning, you may be asked to provide your own way to the destination due to the number of students, chaperones and seats on a bus. Now, does your school, your non center school have any of these wonderful attributes? No, of course not, but you send about 100 students to a center school and your non center kids benefit with an actual art class, a real music room, a decent lunch time, and ample time for recess. Did I mention how crowded the already too small playground is? Yes, the playground was built for say 500 kids, not the 800 or 900 or more that are currently students. Please, just acknowledge that the non center schools are the winners in all of this. And stop asking such dumb questions.

I'd avoid attempting to pit center vs. non-center schools as there are several schools in the Eastern part of the county with this exact same set up (and some things are worse at some of these schools than what you describe). And this won't help you make friends in these discussion either - folks who can stand up with you across the county and support the overall adjustment of the overcrowded schools - AAP or not. This shouldn't be an us vs. them mentality or approach, and you should strive to avoid the divisiveness that your comments are creating. If we work together we can pressure the district to do more about the overcrowding in general. I am speaking as a parent of a child at a very overcrowded non-AAP school, and a MS student that is denied center services because we choose to keep her at her base school instead of busing her to an already overcrowded center MS.

Anonymous wrote:How about overcrowding affecting the teachers, whose time and resources are already spread so thin, never mind the lack of physical space-does no one recognize or care about that? In my center school (also a base school), the AAP classrooms in 3rd grade all have 29-30 kids per class, and even first grade is up to 28 per class. That is ridiculous, esp for first!

Some hard choices need to be made in the public education realm, and I am glad the county is starting to address them, though they need parents and teachers working together to affect positive change.

Number of students in the school overall has nothing to do with class size. That's done by formula.

How about overcrowding affecting the teachers, whose time and resources are already spread so thin, never mind the lack of physical space-does no one recognize or care about that? In my center school (also a base school), the AAP classrooms in 3rd grade all have 29-30 kids per class, and even first grade is up to 28 per class. That is ridiculous, esp for first!

Some hard choices need to be made in the public education realm, and I am glad the county is starting to address them, though they need parents and teachers working together to affect positive change.