Anonymous
Post 02/16/2026 12:22     Subject: How does HB Woodlawn lottery work?

HB has a school social worker, a substance abuse counselor, and a school psychologist who serve as counselors in many situations when the need arises and if a kid has counseling services on an IEP.

The TA (a preferred/chosen teacher, kids choose) serves as the academic/run of the mill problems type counselor and as a point person for parent communication.
Anonymous
Post 02/15/2026 19:11     Subject: How does HB Woodlawn lottery work?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Want to compare APS ND services at HB and neighborhood middle school. Both my kids have a fully loaded IEP for ADHD and dyslexia. Both also have a third dx but different. Kid 1 went to neighborhood school. It wasn't great. There was no ready / dyslexia support, IEP wasn't honored and the case carrier seemed over extended. I don't think it was the teachers or the case carrier. I just think the school wasn't equipped to manage the IEP. I was constantly working with the school, reminding about accommodations and helping them think through how to be true to the IEP. We also had to remediate privately.

At HB, it's been amazing. While it is true, they do not explicitly offer dyslexia services, neither did the neighborhood school. The IS at HB is amazing. The school is teaching my second to advocate for themselves which, at neighborhood school, I had to do it.

That said, my second child has an autistic friend who also got into HB and their family decided not to send them b/c their neighborhood school seemed to offer better supports but since that is not our struggle, I can't comment further.

Happy to answer questions further while remaining anon.

That said,


Not surprising that HBW worked better for you, compared WL and HBW for instance.

Both schools have about 15% of students with disabilities.

But the ratio of IS is different. WL has about 1 IS : 100 students. HBW is 1 IS : 70 students.

Further, WL has more FARMS at 30%, while HBW is 12%, which likely reduces poverty-related demands on staff.

With that mix, its much more personalized services for IEP holders.


I don't understand this, can you please explain? "But the ratio of IS is different. WL has about 1 IS : 100 students. HBW is 1 IS : 70 students."

If IS is Instructional studies, WL doesn't have 100 person IS classes and HB doesn't have 70 student IS classes.


Its the ratio of student population to instructional support staff.


where are you seeing this? also, HB chooses to to use its staff allocatins for counselors, this gives them slightly lower rations for teachers. but then there are no counselors and sometimes that's not good for students with disabilities. so up side to HB, better ration of staff to students, downside of HB zero counselors to suppor them, which means they are going to have to rely on other staff more


I’m sorry, what are you saying? The allocate staff for counselors, but the you say there are no counselors?

Not sure why you are hung up on counselors, for students in class support is the critical factor, and better ratios there is huge.


sorry yeah that was unclear. all schools get allocations for counselor. hb doesn't use that to hire counselor though. so they use that allocation for teachers instead. this means student teacher ratios are lower at HB, and that maybe class sizes are a little smaller too.

i don't think i'm hung up on counselors, but if you don't see how they could be an important support for students, including those with special needs, I'd say you have a lot to learn and have been very fortunate your kid hasn't needed them (yet).
Anonymous
Post 02/15/2026 17:25     Subject: How does HB Woodlawn lottery work?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Want to compare APS ND services at HB and neighborhood middle school. Both my kids have a fully loaded IEP for ADHD and dyslexia. Both also have a third dx but different. Kid 1 went to neighborhood school. It wasn't great. There was no ready / dyslexia support, IEP wasn't honored and the case carrier seemed over extended. I don't think it was the teachers or the case carrier. I just think the school wasn't equipped to manage the IEP. I was constantly working with the school, reminding about accommodations and helping them think through how to be true to the IEP. We also had to remediate privately.

At HB, it's been amazing. While it is true, they do not explicitly offer dyslexia services, neither did the neighborhood school. The IS at HB is amazing. The school is teaching my second to advocate for themselves which, at neighborhood school, I had to do it.

That said, my second child has an autistic friend who also got into HB and their family decided not to send them b/c their neighborhood school seemed to offer better supports but since that is not our struggle, I can't comment further.

Happy to answer questions further while remaining anon.

That said,


Not surprising that HBW worked better for you, compared WL and HBW for instance.

Both schools have about 15% of students with disabilities.

But the ratio of IS is different. WL has about 1 IS : 100 students. HBW is 1 IS : 70 students.

Further, WL has more FARMS at 30%, while HBW is 12%, which likely reduces poverty-related demands on staff.

With that mix, its much more personalized services for IEP holders.


I don't understand this, can you please explain? "But the ratio of IS is different. WL has about 1 IS : 100 students. HBW is 1 IS : 70 students."

If IS is Instructional studies, WL doesn't have 100 person IS classes and HB doesn't have 70 student IS classes.


Its the ratio of student population to instructional support staff.


where are you seeing this? also, HB chooses to to use its staff allocatins for counselors, this gives them slightly lower rations for teachers. but then there are no counselors and sometimes that's not good for students with disabilities. so up side to HB, better ration of staff to students, downside of HB zero counselors to suppor them, which means they are going to have to rely on other staff more


I’m sorry, what are you saying? The allocate staff for counselors, but the you say there are no counselors?

Not sure why you are hung up on counselors, for students in class support is the critical factor, and better ratios there is huge.

They use counselor allocations for more teachers, who serve as the counselor
Anonymous
Post 02/15/2026 16:51     Subject: How does HB Woodlawn lottery work?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Want to compare APS ND services at HB and neighborhood middle school. Both my kids have a fully loaded IEP for ADHD and dyslexia. Both also have a third dx but different. Kid 1 went to neighborhood school. It wasn't great. There was no ready / dyslexia support, IEP wasn't honored and the case carrier seemed over extended. I don't think it was the teachers or the case carrier. I just think the school wasn't equipped to manage the IEP. I was constantly working with the school, reminding about accommodations and helping them think through how to be true to the IEP. We also had to remediate privately.

At HB, it's been amazing. While it is true, they do not explicitly offer dyslexia services, neither did the neighborhood school. The IS at HB is amazing. The school is teaching my second to advocate for themselves which, at neighborhood school, I had to do it.

That said, my second child has an autistic friend who also got into HB and their family decided not to send them b/c their neighborhood school seemed to offer better supports but since that is not our struggle, I can't comment further.

Happy to answer questions further while remaining anon.

That said,


Not surprising that HBW worked better for you, compared WL and HBW for instance.

Both schools have about 15% of students with disabilities.

But the ratio of IS is different. WL has about 1 IS : 100 students. HBW is 1 IS : 70 students.

Further, WL has more FARMS at 30%, while HBW is 12%, which likely reduces poverty-related demands on staff.

With that mix, its much more personalized services for IEP holders.


I don't understand this, can you please explain? "But the ratio of IS is different. WL has about 1 IS : 100 students. HBW is 1 IS : 70 students."

If IS is Instructional studies, WL doesn't have 100 person IS classes and HB doesn't have 70 student IS classes.


Its the ratio of student population to instructional support staff.


where are you seeing this? also, HB chooses to to use its staff allocatins for counselors, this gives them slightly lower rations for teachers. but then there are no counselors and sometimes that's not good for students with disabilities. so up side to HB, better ration of staff to students, downside of HB zero counselors to suppor them, which means they are going to have to rely on other staff more


I’m sorry, what are you saying? The allocate staff for counselors, but the you say there are no counselors?

Not sure why you are hung up on counselors, for students in class support is the critical factor, and better ratios there is huge.