Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS is actually predicting slightly larger numbers from immigration. The job of a demographer is very hard, but the ones at APS have been more or less accurate over the years.

Is this really true? FCPS is down 2500 ELL students for next year. I would be surprised if the numbers go up in APS since it's so expensive to live there.

They keep building affordable housing

Anonymous wrote:APS is actually predicting slightly larger numbers from immigration. The job of a demographer is very hard, but the ones at APS have been more or less accurate over the years.

Is this really true? FCPS is down 2500 ELL students for next year. I would be surprised if the numbers go up in APS since it's so expensive to live there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“The largest elementary classes in APS have 27 students, and there are only four classes that size in the district.”

Hey there, APS PR! Welcome to the chat. That is certainly a very rosy view. There are more than six classes with 26 kids in my elementary school that I can think of just off the top of my head. And any teacher can tell you that a class of mid 20s is a very, very different educational experience for children - and work environment for educators - than low 20s.

Is this report correct? https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2026/02/CSR-Revised-February-2026.pdf

Tuckahoe is the only one on here with 5 classes of 26+, I don't see any with 6 or more that size.

This is the report I had looked at when I wrote only 4 APS ES classes have 27 students.

Likely it was true at a point in time. Students do come and go during the year.

No, that is also an exceedingly rosy view. It may have been true earlier in the year, but people keep coming throughout a school year. And in our school’s case way more than are moving out.

Anonymous wrote:“The largest elementary classes in APS have 27 students, and there are only four classes that size in the district.”

Hey there, APS PR! Welcome to the chat. That is certainly a very rosy view. There are more than six classes with 26 kids in my elementary school that I can think of just off the top of my head. And any teacher can tell you that a class of mid 20s is a very, very different educational experience for children - and work environment for educators - than low 20s.

Is this report correct? https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2026/02/CSR-Revised-February-2026.pdf

Tuckahoe is the only one on here with 5 classes of 26+, I don't see any with 6 or more that size.

“The largest elementary classes in APS have 27 students, and there are only four classes that size in the district.”

Hey there, APS PR! Welcome to the chat. That is certainly a very rosy view. There are more than six classes with 26 kids in my elementary school that I can think of just off the top of my head. And any teacher can tell you that a class of mid 20s is a very, very different educational experience for children - and work environment for educators - than low 20s.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS enrollment has declined due to the fact it blows.

APS enrollment has declined due to the fact that young families cannot afford to live here.

Multiple factors at play

You can look it up online, but APS enrollment has declined since COVID and they are predicting flat to negative growth in the next ten years. Agree that multiple factors are at play, but the district’s decisions during COVID did not help for student retention. We know many families that were all public, all the way until then.

yes the APEs and good riddance

We’re very liberal, always vote for Dems, and left APS during Covid.

a lot of APE's left

Thank god.

Too bad they still infest APS committees.

All I know about APE is that their existence is extremely polarizing on this board, as in people are strongly for APE or strongly against APE. Given that limited awareness of APE, I will say that I find it baffling that so many people get so riled up about parents....caring about public education and...advocating for its improvement. Disagreements about how to improve education are one thing, but some people seem to think your views are only relevant if you have a child in public schools. If a parent has their kids in private but still advocate for improvements in public schools, that sounds to me like someone who values public education enough to try to improve it, and would move their kids to public schools if they thought the public schools were better. Isn't that a level of engagement a good thing?

-signed a parent who is NOT part of APE (in case that wasn't clear)

I think the divisiveness and bitterness goes back to a couple highly controversial APE stances like the return to classrooms during covid, and the push to reduce the amount of time spent using ipads and macbooks in the schools. Both issues were/have been very polarizing in Arlington.

Everyone was crazy on both sides with COVID. We were a keep schools closed family (we had vulnerable family members and imagined most families probably had something similar). Now we see there was space for opening sooner safely.

But less screens? Who is advocating against that?!?

I'm not sure I would use the term "advocating against", but schools keep using them, in too many instances they are used excessive IME. I understand that make some things like grading easier, but I'm not seeing the benefits as a parent. If anything, it is harder to know what my student is doing because test and homework no longer come home. In math, my child "shows their work" on scratch paper which is immediately tossed after a test, so they cannot go back to see what they missed. That is assuming my child takes the initiative to go ask the teacher which problem(s) they missed on a test because the only feedback my child (or I) see on a math test is the total score.

The screens are a necessary retention tool for teachers. The younger teachers have large classes and grew up themselves with technology ; managing the physical paper and keeping track of books and supplies for 30 kids is a messy logistical problem. Screens make prep work easier than printing worksheets, handing in paper essays and problem sets, etc.

Smaller classes or less required training and SOL prep maybe teachers would have bandwidth for managing physical materials. But not happening.

I also disagree that screens are a necessary retention tool. When i was in school teachers prepped for standardized test and managed classes of 30 or 31. No APS elementary school has 30 students. The largest elementary classes in APS have 27 students, and there are only four classes that size in the district.

The broader point is that while tech is making teachers and the district's job easier, it isn't actually helping students (who are the whole point of education) and families, so it isn't working. I'm not saying the solution is to make more work for teachers, but the only people who I see benefitting from the tech are some teachers and the district (not even all teachers like or use the tech much). If teachers need smaller class sizes to balance the increased workload of reducing tech, I think that would be great. But I am skeptical of that argument because its not like class sizes have been increasing as tech use has increased. Nobody has ever argued for larger class sizes because teachers use tech now.

Well you are not the digital native generation, if you call back to when you were a teacher.

There is a much bigger emphasis on testing now, and a higher need population and half the class has an IEP which must be documented. It goes on and on, and maybe you had big classes back then (but APS used to honor the 23 students target so were you in a different district?), but I think the demands are higher now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS enrollment has declined due to the fact it blows.

APS enrollment has declined due to the fact that young families cannot afford to live here.

Multiple factors at play

You can look it up online, but APS enrollment has declined since COVID and they are predicting flat to negative growth in the next ten years. Agree that multiple factors are at play, but the district’s decisions during COVID did not help for student retention. We know many families that were all public, all the way until then.

yes the APEs and good riddance

We’re very liberal, always vote for Dems, and left APS during Covid.

a lot of APE's left

Thank god.

Too bad they still infest APS committees.

All I know about APE is that their existence is extremely polarizing on this board, as in people are strongly for APE or strongly against APE. Given that limited awareness of APE, I will say that I find it baffling that so many people get so riled up about parents....caring about public education and...advocating for its improvement. Disagreements about how to improve education are one thing, but some people seem to think your views are only relevant if you have a child in public schools. If a parent has their kids in private but still advocate for improvements in public schools, that sounds to me like someone who values public education enough to try to improve it, and would move their kids to public schools if they thought the public schools were better. Isn't that a level of engagement a good thing?

-signed a parent who is NOT part of APE (in case that wasn't clear)

I think the divisiveness and bitterness goes back to a couple highly controversial APE stances like the return to classrooms during covid, and the push to reduce the amount of time spent using ipads and macbooks in the schools. Both issues were/have been very polarizing in Arlington.

Everyone was crazy on both sides with COVID. We were a keep schools closed family (we had vulnerable family members and imagined most families probably had something similar). Now we see there was space for opening sooner safely.

But less screens? Who is advocating against that?!?

I'm not sure I would use the term "advocating against", but schools keep using them, in too many instances they are used excessive IME. I understand that make some things like grading easier, but I'm not seeing the benefits as a parent. If anything, it is harder to know what my student is doing because test and homework no longer come home. In math, my child "shows their work" on scratch paper which is immediately tossed after a test, so they cannot go back to see what they missed. That is assuming my child takes the initiative to go ask the teacher which problem(s) they missed on a test because the only feedback my child (or I) see on a math test is the total score.

The screens are a necessary retention tool for teachers. The younger teachers have large classes and grew up themselves with technology ; managing the physical paper and keeping track of books and supplies for 30 kids is a messy logistical problem. Screens make prep work easier than printing worksheets, handing in paper essays and problem sets, etc.

Smaller classes or less required training and SOL prep maybe teachers would have bandwidth for managing physical materials. But not happening.

I don’t agree that screens make things easier in the early years (prek-3) I’d much rather use paper than screens (no technical difficulties) I left the classroom for a specialist role a couple years ago and still prefer books and paper.

But you aren’t responsible for 150 students, 30 at a time right? Or aren’t in an academic role? I am unsure what a specialist means — we had reading specialists who worked with small groups who needed extra attention or specials like art and music — where do you fall on that spectrum?

Oh prek-3, onscreen is fine, there is no accounting for anything and nothing needs to leave the classroom.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS enrollment has declined due to the fact it blows.

APS enrollment has declined due to the fact that young families cannot afford to live here.

Multiple factors at play

You can look it up online, but APS enrollment has declined since COVID and they are predicting flat to negative growth in the next ten years. Agree that multiple factors are at play, but the district’s decisions during COVID did not help for student retention. We know many families that were all public, all the way until then.

yes the APEs and good riddance

We’re very liberal, always vote for Dems, and left APS during Covid.

a lot of APE's left

Thank god.

Too bad they still infest APS committees.

All I know about APE is that their existence is extremely polarizing on this board, as in people are strongly for APE or strongly against APE. Given that limited awareness of APE, I will say that I find it baffling that so many people get so riled up about parents....caring about public education and...advocating for its improvement. Disagreements about how to improve education are one thing, but some people seem to think your views are only relevant if you have a child in public schools. If a parent has their kids in private but still advocate for improvements in public schools, that sounds to me like someone who values public education enough to try to improve it, and would move their kids to public schools if they thought the public schools were better. Isn't that a level of engagement a good thing?

-signed a parent who is NOT part of APE (in case that wasn't clear)

I think the divisiveness and bitterness goes back to a couple highly controversial APE stances like the return to classrooms during covid, and the push to reduce the amount of time spent using ipads and macbooks in the schools. Both issues were/have been very polarizing in Arlington.

Everyone was crazy on both sides with COVID. We were a keep schools closed family (we had vulnerable family members and imagined most families probably had something similar). Now we see there was space for opening sooner safely.

But less screens? Who is advocating against that?!?

I'm not sure I would use the term "advocating against", but schools keep using them, in too many instances they are used excessive IME. I understand that make some things like grading easier, but I'm not seeing the benefits as a parent. If anything, it is harder to know what my student is doing because test and homework no longer come home. In math, my child "shows their work" on scratch paper which is immediately tossed after a test, so they cannot go back to see what they missed. That is assuming my child takes the initiative to go ask the teacher which problem(s) they missed on a test because the only feedback my child (or I) see on a math test is the total score.

The screens are a necessary retention tool for teachers. The younger teachers have large classes and grew up themselves with technology ; managing the physical paper and keeping track of books and supplies for 30 kids is a messy logistical problem. Screens make prep work easier than printing worksheets, handing in paper essays and problem sets, etc.

Smaller classes or less required training and SOL prep maybe teachers would have bandwidth for managing physical materials. But not happening.

I also disagree that screens are a necessary retention tool. When i was in school teachers prepped for standardized test and managed classes of 30 or 31. No APS elementary school has 30 students. The largest elementary classes in APS have 27 students, and there are only four classes that size in the district.

The broader point is that while tech is making teachers and the district's job easier, it isn't actually helping students (who are the whole point of education) and families, so it isn't working. I'm not saying the solution is to make more work for teachers, but the only people who I see benefitting from the tech are some teachers and the district (not even all teachers like or use the tech much). If teachers need smaller class sizes to balance the increased workload of reducing tech, I think that would be great. But I am skeptical of that argument because its not like class sizes have been increasing as tech use has increased. Nobody has ever argued for larger class sizes because teachers use tech now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS enrollment has declined due to the fact it blows.

APS enrollment has declined due to the fact that young families cannot afford to live here.

Multiple factors at play

You can look it up online, but APS enrollment has declined since COVID and they are predicting flat to negative growth in the next ten years. Agree that multiple factors are at play, but the district’s decisions during COVID did not help for student retention. We know many families that were all public, all the way until then.

yes the APEs and good riddance

We’re very liberal, always vote for Dems, and left APS during Covid.

a lot of APE's left

Thank god.

Too bad they still infest APS committees.

All I know about APE is that their existence is extremely polarizing on this board, as in people are strongly for APE or strongly against APE. Given that limited awareness of APE, I will say that I find it baffling that so many people get so riled up about parents....caring about public education and...advocating for its improvement. Disagreements about how to improve education are one thing, but some people seem to think your views are only relevant if you have a child in public schools. If a parent has their kids in private but still advocate for improvements in public schools, that sounds to me like someone who values public education enough to try to improve it, and would move their kids to public schools if they thought the public schools were better. Isn't that a level of engagement a good thing?

-signed a parent who is NOT part of APE (in case that wasn't clear)

I think the divisiveness and bitterness goes back to a couple highly controversial APE stances like the return to classrooms during covid, and the push to reduce the amount of time spent using ipads and macbooks in the schools. Both issues were/have been very polarizing in Arlington.

and APE's support for Youngkin and privatization and vouchers, the anti mask stance back during return the school, the insistence early on of 5 days in person without safety standards, the refusal to say who funds them, the alignment with conservative causes....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS enrollment has declined due to the fact it blows.

APS enrollment has declined due to the fact that young families cannot afford to live here.

Multiple factors at play

You can look it up online, but APS enrollment has declined since COVID and they are predicting flat to negative growth in the next ten years. Agree that multiple factors are at play, but the district’s decisions during COVID did not help for student retention. We know many families that were all public, all the way until then.

yes the APEs and good riddance

We’re very liberal, always vote for Dems, and left APS during Covid.

a lot of APE's left

Thank god.

Too bad they still infest APS committees.

agree and really weird to be on an APS committee when their kids are in privates. some came back though!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS enrollment has declined due to the fact it blows.

APS enrollment has declined due to the fact that young families cannot afford to live here.

Multiple factors at play

You can look it up online, but APS enrollment has declined since COVID and they are predicting flat to negative growth in the next ten years. Agree that multiple factors are at play, but the district’s decisions during COVID did not help for student retention. We know many families that were all public, all the way until then.

yes the APEs and good riddance

We’re very liberal, always vote for Dems, and left APS during Covid.

a lot of APE's left

Thank god.

Too bad they still infest APS committees.

All I know about APE is that their existence is extremely polarizing on this board, as in people are strongly for APE or strongly against APE. Given that limited awareness of APE, I will say that I find it baffling that so many people get so riled up about parents....caring about public education and...advocating for its improvement. Disagreements about how to improve education are one thing, but some people seem to think your views are only relevant if you have a child in public schools. If a parent has their kids in private but still advocate for improvements in public schools, that sounds to me like someone who values public education enough to try to improve it, and would move their kids to public schools if they thought the public schools were better. Isn't that a level of engagement a good thing?

-signed a parent who is NOT part of APE (in case that wasn't clear)

I think the divisiveness and bitterness goes back to a couple highly controversial APE stances like the return to classrooms during covid, and the push to reduce the amount of time spent using ipads and macbooks in the schools. Both issues were/have been very polarizing in Arlington.

Everyone was crazy on both sides with COVID. We were a keep schools closed family (we had vulnerable family members and imagined most families probably had something similar). Now we see there was space for opening sooner safely.

But less screens? Who is advocating against that?!?

I'm not sure I would use the term "advocating against", but schools keep using them, in too many instances they are used excessive IME. I understand that make some things like grading easier, but I'm not seeing the benefits as a parent. If anything, it is harder to know what my student is doing because test and homework no longer come home. In math, my child "shows their work" on scratch paper which is immediately tossed after a test, so they cannot go back to see what they missed. That is assuming my child takes the initiative to go ask the teacher which problem(s) they missed on a test because the only feedback my child (or I) see on a math test is the total score.

The screens are a necessary retention tool for teachers. The younger teachers have large classes and grew up themselves with technology ; managing the physical paper and keeping track of books and supplies for 30 kids is a messy logistical problem. Screens make prep work easier than printing worksheets, handing in paper essays and problem sets, etc.

Smaller classes or less required training and SOL prep maybe teachers would have bandwidth for managing physical materials. But not happening.

I don’t agree that screens make things easier in the early years (prek-3) I’d much rather use paper than screens (no technical difficulties) I left the classroom for a specialist role a couple years ago and still prefer books and paper.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS enrollment has declined due to the fact it blows.

APS enrollment has declined due to the fact that young families cannot afford to live here.

Multiple factors at play

You can look it up online, but APS enrollment has declined since COVID and they are predicting flat to negative growth in the next ten years. Agree that multiple factors are at play, but the district’s decisions during COVID did not help for student retention. We know many families that were all public, all the way until then.

yes the APEs and good riddance

We’re very liberal, always vote for Dems, and left APS during Covid.

a lot of APE's left

Thank god.

Too bad they still infest APS committees.

All I know about APE is that their existence is extremely polarizing on this board, as in people are strongly for APE or strongly against APE. Given that limited awareness of APE, I will say that I find it baffling that so many people get so riled up about parents....caring about public education and...advocating for its improvement. Disagreements about how to improve education are one thing, but some people seem to think your views are only relevant if you have a child in public schools. If a parent has their kids in private but still advocate for improvements in public schools, that sounds to me like someone who values public education enough to try to improve it, and would move their kids to public schools if they thought the public schools were better. Isn't that a level of engagement a good thing?

-signed a parent who is NOT part of APE (in case that wasn't clear)

I think the divisiveness and bitterness goes back to a couple highly controversial APE stances like the return to classrooms during covid, and the push to reduce the amount of time spent using ipads and macbooks in the schools. Both issues were/have been very polarizing in Arlington.

Everyone was crazy on both sides with COVID. We were a keep schools closed family (we had vulnerable family members and imagined most families probably had something similar). Now we see there was space for opening sooner safely.

But less screens? Who is advocating against that?!?

I'm not sure I would use the term "advocating against", but schools keep using them, in too many instances they are used excessive IME. I understand that make some things like grading easier, but I'm not seeing the benefits as a parent. If anything, it is harder to know what my student is doing because test and homework no longer come home. In math, my child "shows their work" on scratch paper which is immediately tossed after a test, so they cannot go back to see what they missed. That is assuming my child takes the initiative to go ask the teacher which problem(s) they missed on a test because the only feedback my child (or I) see on a math test is the total score.

The screens are a necessary retention tool for teachers. The younger teachers have large classes and grew up themselves with technology ; managing the physical paper and keeping track of books and supplies for 30 kids is a messy logistical problem. Screens make prep work easier than printing worksheets, handing in paper essays and problem sets, etc.

Smaller classes or less required training and SOL prep maybe teachers would have bandwidth for managing physical materials. But not happening.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS enrollment has declined due to the fact it blows.

APS enrollment has declined due to the fact that young families cannot afford to live here.

Multiple factors at play

You can look it up online, but APS enrollment has declined since COVID and they are predicting flat to negative growth in the next ten years. Agree that multiple factors are at play, but the district’s decisions during COVID did not help for student retention. We know many families that were all public, all the way until then.

yes the APEs and good riddance

We’re very liberal, always vote for Dems, and left APS during Covid.

a lot of APE's left

Thank god.

Too bad they still infest APS committees.

All I know about APE is that their existence is extremely polarizing on this board, as in people are strongly for APE or strongly against APE. Given that limited awareness of APE, I will say that I find it baffling that so many people get so riled up about parents....caring about public education and...advocating for its improvement. Disagreements about how to improve education are one thing, but some people seem to think your views are only relevant if you have a child in public schools. If a parent has their kids in private but still advocate for improvements in public schools, that sounds to me like someone who values public education enough to try to improve it, and would move their kids to public schools if they thought the public schools were better. Isn't that a level of engagement a good thing?

-signed a parent who is NOT part of APE (in case that wasn't clear)

I think the divisiveness and bitterness goes back to a couple highly controversial APE stances like the return to classrooms during covid, and the push to reduce the amount of time spent using ipads and macbooks in the schools. Both issues were/have been very polarizing in Arlington.

Everyone was crazy on both sides with COVID. We were a keep schools closed family (we had vulnerable family members and imagined most families probably had something similar). Now we see there was space for opening sooner safely.

But less screens? Who is advocating against that?!?

I'm not sure I would use the term "advocating against", but schools keep using them, in too many instances they are used excessive IME. I understand that make some things like grading easier, but I'm not seeing the benefits as a parent. If anything, it is harder to know what my student is doing because test and homework no longer come home. In math, my child "shows their work" on scratch paper which is immediately tossed after a test, so they cannot go back to see what they missed. That is assuming my child takes the initiative to go ask the teacher which problem(s) they missed on a test because the only feedback my child (or I) see on a math test is the total score.