[quote=Anonymous]Has anyone heard of a medical waiver being approved for a student to transfer into HB Woodlawn for middle school? My child’s psychiatrist believes this school would provide the best learning environment for them. I am doubtful this exists let alone would be approved. The child would be coming from a non-APS school in 7th. [/quote]


Curious OP if you have found any information. We are actually in a similar situation. We pulled a kid out to go private in middle school because their doctor thought it would be a better fit considering some issues we were experiencing. We are not looking at HS and not really wanting to stay in priviate but also do not know if our neighbor HS is a good fit. We added our hat to the lottery for HB but are not confident on getting in. We are no kind of considering moving out of Arlington (not just because of the school but because we want to live out further anyway) but it's hard. Wondering if you were able to get a waiver or if you found another option.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have to dispel the sibling gets you in thing. My DC's very close friend has an older sib at HB and the younger really wanted to go. They got a very low lottery number, but not low enough and they are at the neighborhood middle school. This child was distraught. These parents also have a compelling story but still, no dice.

Sounds to me like the parents failed to work the system as well as the parents i know.

Without details we don’t believe you.

Several people have already given examples of backdoor enrollment. Read through the thread. Asking for specific names is stupid. The bigger outrage should be how this school has turned into a thinly veiled sped program with declining SAT test scores and AP pass rates.

Yeah well it sounds like the same old conspiracy theories that people love to recycle with zero proof.

Declining SAT scores and AP pass rates?! Do you have proof of this?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have to dispel the sibling gets you in thing. My DC's very close friend has an older sib at HB and the younger really wanted to go. They got a very low lottery number, but not low enough and they are at the neighborhood middle school. This child was distraught. These parents also have a compelling story but still, no dice.

Sounds to me like the parents failed to work the system as well as the parents i know.

Without details we don’t believe you.

Several people have already given examples of backdoor enrollment. Read through the thread. Asking for specific names is stupid. The bigger outrage should be how this school has turned into a thinly veiled sped program with declining SAT test scores and AP pass rates.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have to dispel the sibling gets you in thing. My DC's very close friend has an older sib at HB and the younger really wanted to go. They got a very low lottery number, but not low enough and they are at the neighborhood middle school. This child was distraught. These parents also have a compelling story but still, no dice.

Sounds to me like the parents failed to work the system as well as the parents i know.

Without details we don’t believe you.

Anonymous wrote:I have to dispel the sibling gets you in thing. My DC's very close friend has an older sib at HB and the younger really wanted to go. They got a very low lottery number, but not low enough and they are at the neighborhood middle school. This child was distraught. These parents also have a compelling story but still, no dice.

Sounds to me like the parents failed to work the system as well as the parents i know.

I have to dispel the sibling gets you in thing. My DC's very close friend has an older sib at HB and the younger really wanted to go. They got a very low lottery number, but not low enough and they are at the neighborhood middle school. This child was distraught. These parents also have a compelling story but still, no dice.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yep, a waiver is possible but it's not super-common. You'll need documentation (504/IEP, recommendation from your school's counselor or school psychologist, and a specific reason why the HB mission fits with your child's needs). You're not going to get anywhere if you just say that your kid would thrive in a small, artsy environment--so would many kids. The few people I know who have gotten waivers had kids who had a long history of not fitting in with their peers at school despite being academically on-track.
Coming from a non-APS school is going to make it a much tougher case though since they will almost certainly want to see how your kid functions in a neighborhood school.

Not necessarily. Good friends of ours got their son in as a freshman when they returned to the US. They had not been in APS since mid-year their kindergarten year.

How? Are you sure they didn't just apply through the lottery?

Anonymous wrote:Here’s the form. https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Website-Medical-or-Psycological-Administrative-Placement-Request.pdf
Not being a current APS student might hurt you here, they may suggest trying your neighborhood school first

Where did you get that from? I don't think that's the current form. When you go to the APS website for transfers, it links to the application and it explicitly disallows applying for an admin transfer to HB Woodlawn. So how would one even apply for it?

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:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And Paul Weiss teaches at HB. He has no chance, but if he did, that’s a very HB/Option heavy sb.

No wonder the Montessori vote went the way that it did!

Don’t Miranda Turner’s kids go to MPSA? She voted against her own interest

I am so confused by Miranda Turner’s vote when she kids at MPSA. Anyone understand this?

Her kids will have moved on to HB-W along like Mary's and Bethany's kids before her by the time MPSA is finished.

I see. So selfish.

People who are trying to sidedoor into an option lottery school are also selfish since there's a waitlist of kids trying to get in. H-B has a number of kids who don't seem to be coming from the waitlist showing up.

How do you know this? Please be specific. You know the names of kids on the waitlist and the names of kids now going to H-B? You know the position of kids on the waitlist and that kids are now at H-B and they could not possibly be off the waitlist at this point? You used the plural--this is multiple kids? From which base schools? How do you know this? Social media? Family friends? You work at APS central?

Thank you. I bet you'll get no answer. People like their conspiracy theories about HB.

Agree -- "undeserving kids are getting into H-B" is the Arlington version of "immigrants are eating cats and dogs" -- red meat to a very specific constituency

Unmm, are you saying that APS Admin has zero say in sending kids who are struggling at their home school to HB? I know this for a fact to be wrong. Our neighbors child was waitlisted at HB. Reallly had a tough freshman year. Very involved parents. Child was placed at HB sophomore year. Child has several learning differences as well as medical needs. Not debilitating but still. APS moved this kid. It’s been really wonderful for this kid and kids family. May make a huge difference in his whole life for all I know.

I still think it’s deeply wrong and unfair. Either it’s a straight lottery and an unbiased waitlist or it isn’t. I don’t administrators should get to make this call. Sorry. I know people will disagree.

Are you saying that the kid got special treatment and didn't just get in off the waitlist? How does this work? Who made the decision? "APS Admin" is very vague.

Nope. You are an HB apologist. APS says it retains the right to move kids. Ask the Duran. This IS NOT SOME SUPER SECRET THING.

OK, the enrollment in June for HB was:

6th: 81
7th: 82
8th: 79
9th: 137
10th: 113
11th: 113
12th: 113

So, maybe a couple of kids leave (people move, kids change their mind) each year and a couple of kids move off the wait list and a couple of kids have admin transfers but there is no evidence that there is massive gaming of the system. The initial lotteries for 6th and 9th are open to the public so I don't see how school board members or anyone else manipulates those. After that, there are pretty limited opportunities for APS admins to give someone a place outside the wait list since a place has to open in the right grade--it's hard to see how anyone would know of multiple times this is has happened when it has to be rare if it happens at all.

It happens every year. Agree with you that it’s “rare” in the sense of proportional to the overall population of HB and also APS. And I don’t begrudge the families who need that outlet; for the kid we know, the move has been night and day. My problem is that it’s happening at all. I do not support HB, sorry, I think it has no real pedagogy and should be discontinued. I also would never send my children there, as they are STEM and sports focused. But, there are families lining up to get in. It’s a public good and APS says it’s a strict lottery, blind, etc. Then they go a let in admin transfers. Any such transfers are deeply problematic because the whole point of a blind lottery waitlist is to simply move down the waitlist but instead discretion is afforded to APS staff. The entire point of the lottery was to remove staff discretion, as the discretion isn’t race or need or otherwise blind.

If you don't have kids there, how do you know what the pedagogy is (which, by the way, focuses on self-directed learning)? How do you know the extent to which teachers use flipped classrooms, student-directed days, project-driven learning, inquiry-based learning, etc.? Or the extent to which the school as a whole supports and scaffolds self-management, choice, independence, and responsibility to facilitate these learning approaches? And the extent to which this differs from the comprehensive high schools?

Well, sorry for you lady, but your beloved school isn’t a private school supported by the parents and alumna who believe in the pedagogy. You school is PUBLIC paid for by all of residents of Arlington county and we all get a say—not just those special few who attend. And, your school has done in my opinion a terrible job of convincing me—a long long time resident that it has a differential pedagogy. Your dumb self directed BS make it sound like Montessori which is really self directed. HB is not self directed, is not Montessori, and should be shut down.

This seems a little…unhinged.

I’m also surprised that you would bring up Montessori, the only program for “regular” students in APS that gets extra classroom staff (which begs the question of why they are needed if the students are self directed….?). H-B has the same planning factors as the other middle/high schools, so what difference does it make to the PUBLIC? (And if you bring up countywide transportation I’ll counter with sports and call it even.)

lol it's probably one of those montessori fanatics who wants to shut down hb but pour more $ into montessori!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a kid who got in through some "special process." She was a friend of my daughter's. My daughter's group of friends all applied in 8th grade and discussed their lottery number. This particular girl got a lottery number in the 50s or so, making it extremely unlikely she'd get in for HS. Her parents were very upset because their older child went there and the younger sister had some issues at her middle school (family didn't feel supported when they were going through a tragedy). Next thing I know, it's Sept. and I find out the girl is going to HB!

I asked a neighbor about it whose child was also at HB and is friends with this family. She said something to the effect of they got in through a special process. I tried to ask more about this, but she was vague and clearly didn't want to discuss it.

Ok, if a couple of kids get in because of bullying or mental health or some other personally difficult circumstance, I'm ok with that. That's not a conspiracy or insider connections.

Is that because your kid got in already and you're not on the waitlist???? It's obviously not fair. And it's more than a couple. The whole lottery process is deliberately opaque. The results should be published without identifiable names and the waitlist # movement should be publicly updated on a spreadsheet as kids come and go.

No it's because I'm not a horrible person and I am ok with a kid who is in a truly horrible situation getting moved here or there. Maybe reexamine your priorities if you're not.

What proof do you have that it's more than a couple? I don't see how that can be true.

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:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And Paul Weiss teaches at HB. He has no chance, but if he did, that’s a very HB/Option heavy sb.

No wonder the Montessori vote went the way that it did!

Don’t Miranda Turner’s kids go to MPSA? She voted against her own interest

I am so confused by Miranda Turner’s vote when she kids at MPSA. Anyone understand this?

Her kids will have moved on to HB-W along like Mary's and Bethany's kids before her by the time MPSA is finished.

I see. So selfish.

People who are trying to sidedoor into an option lottery school are also selfish since there's a waitlist of kids trying to get in. H-B has a number of kids who don't seem to be coming from the waitlist showing up.

How do you know this? Please be specific. You know the names of kids on the waitlist and the names of kids now going to H-B? You know the position of kids on the waitlist and that kids are now at H-B and they could not possibly be off the waitlist at this point? You used the plural--this is multiple kids? From which base schools? How do you know this? Social media? Family friends? You work at APS central?

Thank you. I bet you'll get no answer. People like their conspiracy theories about HB.

Agree -- "undeserving kids are getting into H-B" is the Arlington version of "immigrants are eating cats and dogs" -- red meat to a very specific constituency

Unmm, are you saying that APS Admin has zero say in sending kids who are struggling at their home school to HB? I know this for a fact to be wrong. Our neighbors child was waitlisted at HB. Reallly had a tough freshman year. Very involved parents. Child was placed at HB sophomore year. Child has several learning differences as well as medical needs. Not debilitating but still. APS moved this kid. It’s been really wonderful for this kid and kids family. May make a huge difference in his whole life for all I know.

I still think it’s deeply wrong and unfair. Either it’s a straight lottery and an unbiased waitlist or it isn’t. I don’t administrators should get to make this call. Sorry. I know people will disagree.

Are you saying that the kid got special treatment and didn't just get in off the waitlist? How does this work? Who made the decision? "APS Admin" is very vague.

Nope. You are an HB apologist. APS says it retains the right to move kids. Ask the Duran. This IS NOT SOME SUPER SECRET THING.

OK, the enrollment in June for HB was:

6th: 81
7th: 82
8th: 79
9th: 137
10th: 113
11th: 113
12th: 113

So, maybe a couple of kids leave (people move, kids change their mind) each year and a couple of kids move off the wait list and a couple of kids have admin transfers but there is no evidence that there is massive gaming of the system. The initial lotteries for 6th and 9th are open to the public so I don't see how school board members or anyone else manipulates those. After that, there are pretty limited opportunities for APS admins to give someone a place outside the wait list since a place has to open in the right grade--it's hard to see how anyone would know of multiple times this is has happened when it has to be rare if it happens at all.

It happens every year. Agree with you that it’s “rare” in the sense of proportional to the overall population of HB and also APS. And I don’t begrudge the families who need that outlet; for the kid we know, the move has been night and day. My problem is that it’s happening at all. I do not support HB, sorry, I think it has no real pedagogy and should be discontinued. I also would never send my children there, as they are STEM and sports focused. But, there are families lining up to get in. It’s a public good and APS says it’s a strict lottery, blind, etc. Then they go a let in admin transfers. Any such transfers are deeply problematic because the whole point of a blind lottery waitlist is to simply move down the waitlist but instead discretion is afforded to APS staff. The entire point of the lottery was to remove staff discretion, as the discretion isn’t race or need or otherwise blind.

If you don't have kids there, how do you know what the pedagogy is (which, by the way, focuses on self-directed learning)? How do you know the extent to which teachers use flipped classrooms, student-directed days, project-driven learning, inquiry-based learning, etc.? Or the extent to which the school as a whole supports and scaffolds self-management, choice, independence, and responsibility to facilitate these learning approaches? And the extent to which this differs from the comprehensive high schools?

Well, sorry for you lady, but your beloved school isn’t a private school supported by the parents and alumna who believe in the pedagogy. You school is PUBLIC paid for by all of residents of Arlington county and we all get a say—not just those special few who attend. And, your school has done in my opinion a terrible job of convincing me—a long long time resident that it has a differential pedagogy. Your dumb self directed BS make it sound like Montessori which is really self directed. HB is not self directed, is not Montessori, and should be shut down.

This seems a little…unhinged.

I’m also surprised that you would bring up Montessori, the only program for “regular” students in APS that gets extra classroom staff (which begs the question of why they are needed if the students are self directed….?). H-B has the same planning factors as the other middle/high schools, so what difference does it make to the PUBLIC? (And if you bring up countywide transportation I’ll counter with sports and call it even.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a kid who got in through some "special process." She was a friend of my daughter's. My daughter's group of friends all applied in 8th grade and discussed their lottery number. This particular girl got a lottery number in the 50s or so, making it extremely unlikely she'd get in for HS. Her parents were very upset because their older child went there and the younger sister had some issues at her middle school (family didn't feel supported when they were going through a tragedy). Next thing I know, it's Sept. and I find out the girl is going to HB!

I asked a neighbor about it whose child was also at HB and is friends with this family. She said something to the effect of they got in through a special process. I tried to ask more about this, but she was vague and clearly didn't want to discuss it.

Ok, if a couple of kids get in because of bullying or mental health or some other personally difficult circumstance, I'm ok with that. That's not a conspiracy or insider connections.

Is that because your kid got in already and you're not on the waitlist???? It's obviously not fair. And it's more than a couple. The whole lottery process is deliberately opaque. The results should be published without identifiable names and the waitlist # movement should be publicly updated on a spreadsheet as kids come and go.

Anonymous wrote:I know a kid who got in through some "special process." She was a friend of my daughter's. My daughter's group of friends all applied in 8th grade and discussed their lottery number. This particular girl got a lottery number in the 50s or so, making it extremely unlikely she'd get in for HS. Her parents were very upset because their older child went there and the younger sister had some issues at her middle school (family didn't feel supported when they were going through a tragedy). Next thing I know, it's Sept. and I find out the girl is going to HB!

I asked a neighbor about it whose child was also at HB and is friends with this family. She said something to the effect of they got in through a special process. I tried to ask more about this, but she was vague and clearly didn't want to discuss it.

Ok, if a couple of kids get in because of bullying or mental health or some other personally difficult circumstance, I'm ok with that. That's not a conspiracy or insider connections.

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:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And Paul Weiss teaches at HB. He has no chance, but if he did, that’s a very HB/Option heavy sb.

No wonder the Montessori vote went the way that it did!

Don’t Miranda Turner’s kids go to MPSA? She voted against her own interest

I am so confused by Miranda Turner’s vote when she kids at MPSA. Anyone understand this?

Her kids will have moved on to HB-W along like Mary's and Bethany's kids before her by the time MPSA is finished.

I see. So selfish.

People who are trying to sidedoor into an option lottery school are also selfish since there's a waitlist of kids trying to get in. H-B has a number of kids who don't seem to be coming from the waitlist showing up.

How do you know this? Please be specific. You know the names of kids on the waitlist and the names of kids now going to H-B? You know the position of kids on the waitlist and that kids are now at H-B and they could not possibly be off the waitlist at this point? You used the plural--this is multiple kids? From which base schools? How do you know this? Social media? Family friends? You work at APS central?

Thank you. I bet you'll get no answer. People like their conspiracy theories about HB.

Agree -- "undeserving kids are getting into H-B" is the Arlington version of "immigrants are eating cats and dogs" -- red meat to a very specific constituency

Unmm, are you saying that APS Admin has zero say in sending kids who are struggling at their home school to HB? I know this for a fact to be wrong. Our neighbors child was waitlisted at HB. Reallly had a tough freshman year. Very involved parents. Child was placed at HB sophomore year. Child has several learning differences as well as medical needs. Not debilitating but still. APS moved this kid. It’s been really wonderful for this kid and kids family. May make a huge difference in his whole life for all I know.

I still think it’s deeply wrong and unfair. Either it’s a straight lottery and an unbiased waitlist or it isn’t. I don’t administrators should get to make this call. Sorry. I know people will disagree.

Are you saying that the kid got special treatment and didn't just get in off the waitlist? How does this work? Who made the decision? "APS Admin" is very vague.

Nope. You are an HB apologist. APS says it retains the right to move kids. Ask the Duran. This IS NOT SOME SUPER SECRET THING.

OK, the enrollment in June for HB was:

6th: 81
7th: 82
8th: 79
9th: 137
10th: 113
11th: 113
12th: 113

So, maybe a couple of kids leave (people move, kids change their mind) each year and a couple of kids move off the wait list and a couple of kids have admin transfers but there is no evidence that there is massive gaming of the system. The initial lotteries for 6th and 9th are open to the public so I don't see how school board members or anyone else manipulates those. After that, there are pretty limited opportunities for APS admins to give someone a place outside the wait list since a place has to open in the right grade--it's hard to see how anyone would know of multiple times this is has happened when it has to be rare if it happens at all.

It happens every year. Agree with you that it’s “rare” in the sense of proportional to the overall population of HB and also APS. And I don’t begrudge the families who need that outlet; for the kid we know, the move has been night and day. My problem is that it’s happening at all. I do not support HB, sorry, I think it has no real pedagogy and should be discontinued. I also would never send my children there, as they are STEM and sports focused. But, there are families lining up to get in. It’s a public good and APS says it’s a strict lottery, blind, etc. Then they go a let in admin transfers. Any such transfers are deeply problematic because the whole point of a blind lottery waitlist is to simply move down the waitlist but instead discretion is afforded to APS staff. The entire point of the lottery was to remove staff discretion, as the discretion isn’t race or need or otherwise blind.

If you don't have kids there, how do you know what the pedagogy is (which, by the way, focuses on self-directed learning)? How do you know the extent to which teachers use flipped classrooms, student-directed days, project-driven learning, inquiry-based learning, etc.? Or the extent to which the school as a whole supports and scaffolds self-management, choice, independence, and responsibility to facilitate these learning approaches? And the extent to which this differs from the comprehensive high schools?

Well, sorry for you lady, but your beloved school isn’t a private school supported by the parents and alumna who believe in the pedagogy. You school is PUBLIC paid for by all of residents of Arlington county and we all get a say—not just those special few who attend. And, your school has done in my opinion a terrible job of convincing me—a long long time resident that it has a differential pedagogy. Your dumb self directed BS make it sound like Montessori which is really self directed. HB is not self directed, is not Montessori, and should be shut down.

sorry to tell you lady, but you're really not that important. my school does not have to convince YOU personally.

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:

Anonymous wrote:And Paul Weiss teaches at HB. He has no chance, but if he did, that’s a very HB/Option heavy sb.

No wonder the Montessori vote went the way that it did!

Don’t Miranda Turner’s kids go to MPSA? She voted against her own interest

I am so confused by Miranda Turner’s vote when she kids at MPSA. Anyone understand this?

Her kids will have moved on to HB-W along like Mary's and Bethany's kids before her by the time MPSA is finished.

I see. So selfish.

People who are trying to sidedoor into an option lottery school are also selfish since there's a waitlist of kids trying to get in. H-B has a number of kids who don't seem to be coming from the waitlist showing up.

How do you know this? Please be specific. You know the names of kids on the waitlist and the names of kids now going to H-B? You know the position of kids on the waitlist and that kids are now at H-B and they could not possibly be off the waitlist at this point? You used the plural--this is multiple kids? From which base schools? How do you know this? Social media? Family friends? You work at APS central?

Thank you. I bet you'll get no answer. People like their conspiracy theories about HB.

Agree -- "undeserving kids are getting into H-B" is the Arlington version of "immigrants are eating cats and dogs" -- red meat to a very specific constituency

Unmm, are you saying that APS Admin has zero say in sending kids who are struggling at their home school to HB? I know this for a fact to be wrong. Our neighbors child was waitlisted at HB. Reallly had a tough freshman year. Very involved parents. Child was placed at HB sophomore year. Child has several learning differences as well as medical needs. Not debilitating but still. APS moved this kid. It’s been really wonderful for this kid and kids family. May make a huge difference in his whole life for all I know.

I still think it’s deeply wrong and unfair. Either it’s a straight lottery and an unbiased waitlist or it isn’t. I don’t administrators should get to make this call. Sorry. I know people will disagree.

Are you saying that the kid got special treatment and didn't just get in off the waitlist? How does this work? Who made the decision? "APS Admin" is very vague.

Nope. You are an HB apologist. APS says it retains the right to move kids. Ask the Duran. This IS NOT SOME SUPER SECRET THING.

OK, the enrollment in June for HB was:

6th: 81
7th: 82
8th: 79
9th: 137
10th: 113
11th: 113
12th: 113

So, maybe a couple of kids leave (people move, kids change their mind) each year and a couple of kids move off the wait list and a couple of kids have admin transfers but there is no evidence that there is massive gaming of the system. The initial lotteries for 6th and 9th are open to the public so I don't see how school board members or anyone else manipulates those. After that, there are pretty limited opportunities for APS admins to give someone a place outside the wait list since a place has to open in the right grade--it's hard to see how anyone would know of multiple times this is has happened when it has to be rare if it happens at all.

It happens every year. Agree with you that it’s “rare” in the sense of proportional to the overall population of HB and also APS. And I don’t begrudge the families who need that outlet; for the kid we know, the move has been night and day. My problem is that it’s happening at all. I do not support HB, sorry, I think it has no real pedagogy and should be discontinued. I also would never send my children there, as they are STEM and sports focused. But, there are families lining up to get in. It’s a public good and APS says it’s a strict lottery, blind, etc. Then they go a let in admin transfers. Any such transfers are deeply problematic because the whole point of a blind lottery waitlist is to simply move down the waitlist but instead discretion is afforded to APS staff. The entire point of the lottery was to remove staff discretion, as the discretion isn’t race or need or otherwise blind.

If you don't have kids there, how do you know what the pedagogy is (which, by the way, focuses on self-directed learning)? How do you know the extent to which teachers use flipped classrooms, student-directed days, project-driven learning, inquiry-based learning, etc.? Or the extent to which the school as a whole supports and scaffolds self-management, choice, independence, and responsibility to facilitate these learning approaches? And the extent to which this differs from the comprehensive high schools?

Well, sorry for you lady, but your beloved school isn’t a private school supported by the parents and alumna who believe in the pedagogy. You school is PUBLIC paid for by all of residents of Arlington county and we all get a say—not just those special few who attend. And, your school has done in my opinion a terrible job of convincing me—a long long time resident that it has a differential pedagogy. Your dumb self directed BS make it sound like Montessori which is really self directed. HB is not self directed, is not Montessori, and should be shut down.