Anonymous wrote:The issue with Jefferson MS is that, depending upon how the boundaries for the new APS middle school are drawn, Jefferson could end up a school without very many high achieving students and many students with special needs.

please explain. i find it offensive.

Anonymous wrote:The issue with Jefferson MS is that, depending upon how the boundaries for the new APS middle school are drawn, Jefferson could end up a school without very many high achieving students and many students with special needs.

I think this is highly unlikely. The school board won't want to do that, particularly since Jefferson is undersubscribed - they'll want more kids to go there, not fewer.

Anonymous wrote:
OP again. So new boundaries could sink Jefferson's IB Middle Years Program over time? Couldn't the county guarantee out-of-boundary students who complete the IB program at Jefferson a path to W-L's own IB program to help keep the former's program vital? Out-of-boundary is a DCPS term, not sure if you guys use it, but you get my meaning.

Does anybody have a feel for the timeframe in which the boundaries for the new APS middle school will be drawn and implemented? Are we probably talking a year, two, three, five or what? Any suggestions on how to keep on top of the boundary process?

We're probably talking 2017 to 2019 (2019 being more likely, as it's what the school board has said in its last couple proposals). So your rising 6th grader would be through middle school by then. And kids from the other two high school boundaries apply to W-L's IB program and get accepted all the time.

^OP here, that's great, PP. Thanks for sharing. If you have a minute, I'd love to hear what you like best about both schools. As a public school grad and recent immigrant who used the IB program as a vehicle to reach an elite college, I don't need convincing that the inter-disciplinary and language instruction-oriented curriculum rocks.

Anonymous wrote:

So new boundaries could sink Jefferson's IB Middle Years Program over time? Couldn't the county guarantee out-of-boundary students who complete the IB program at Jefferson a path to W-L's own IB program to help keep the former's program vital?

Why would APS allow this to happen? They are putting a lot of money into the IB program--it's very expensive. Why would they then undercut it by redrawing boundaries in such a way that would sink the program? Surely, parents and other stakeholders in the county would make sure this didn't happen.

This makes no sense and I'd like to see this poster provide some evidence to support this point. It is the schools in N Arlington, where average HHIs and education levels are higher, that are overcrowded. If boundaries are redrawn, likely many N Arlington families currently zoned for Swanson will be shifted to Jefferson.

We live in N Arlington, are zoned for Swanson, and we send one of our DCs to Jefferson by choice. We love the school. Our older DC is at W-L, and we have been very pleased with it as well.

I've never heard people put too much stock into the IB MYP, as opposed to the diploma programme.

Well, someone must be putting stock in it, because Arlington taxpayers are paying dearly for it.

I've never heard people put too much stock into the IB MYP, as opposed to the diploma programme.

So new boundaries could sink Jefferson's IB Middle Years Program over time? Couldn't the county guarantee out-of-boundary students who complete the IB program at Jefferson a path to W-L's own IB program to help keep the former's program vital?

Why would APS allow this to happen? They are putting a lot of money into the IB program--it's very expensive. Why would they then undercut it by redrawing boundaries in such a way that would sink the program? Surely, parents and other stakeholders in the county would make sure this didn't happen.

OK, certainly worth considering.

With RM IB admitting no more than 10-15% of applicants county-wide, and Asian students already oversubscribed (at least in MoCo's eyes), we have friends whose kids have been shut out, although they were first-rate MS students. They can still do IB at Albert Einstein HS in Silver Spring, but W-L's program seems to have a better reputation and broader offerings. Einstein had but one Natl Merit semifinalist this year.

At least at W-L's IB program is open to kids who were halfway decent MS students in feeder schools, right? Like I said, we're DC residents used to rolling with the punches (no GT programs etc.).

Just move to Longfellow, Kilmer or Rocky Rum areas and get into their centers and be done with it. IB programs in N. VA is not that great except for RM which is of course in Montgomery Co.

Anonymous wrote:The issue with Jefferson MS is that, depending upon how the boundaries for the new APS middle school are drawn, Jefferson could end up a school without very many high achieving students and many students with special needs.

OP again. So new boundaries could sink Jefferson's IB Middle Years Program over time? Couldn't the county guarantee out-of-boundary students who complete the IB program at Jefferson a path to W-L's own IB program to help keep the former's program vital? Out-of-boundary is a DCPS term, not sure if you guys use it, but you get my meaning.

Does anybody have a feel for the timeframe in which the boundaries for the new APS middle school will be drawn and implemented? Are we probably talking a year, two, three, five or what? Any suggestions on how to keep on top of the boundary process?

There are others that are very overcrowded, and capacity studies showing that all the middle schools will be either at capacity or very overcrowded in a few years.

Please explain: Why does there need to be a new middle school in Arlington if there are others that aren't full?

The issue with Jefferson MS is that, depending upon how the boundaries for the new APS middle school are drawn, Jefferson could end up a school without very many high achieving students and many students with special needs.

You could probably find a home in Arlington Forest for 700k and probably even a rental under 3k. The neighborhood is zoned (currently) for W-L *but* the middle school is Kenmore. That said, some people from the neighborhood transfer to Jefferson because they prefer the IB program. Others prefer the arts/technology focus at Kenmore. No clue how realistic the transfer prospect will be for the future however, or whether the middle or high school boundaries will change in the future.

Asian-American poster here. I would look into the Canterbury-Frost-Woodson pyramid. If your child is already in CTY, s/he may get into TJ and it would be an easy commute to TJ.

We are also from NY (poor immigrant parents) and elite colleges. DH and I only speak English though.

We live close to TJ and hope our kids will get in. (who am I kidding? I expect our kids to get in.)

Most of our Asian friends don't seem to care about the Chinese language being taught at school. There are Chinese language schools in Northern Virginia.