Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just looked at the 2020 census and school data and I'm curious. Does anyone know if ACPC has an issue with out of district kids enrolling through fraudulent means?


https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/alexandriacitycountyvirginia/PST045219

Go to the morning drop off at any of the east end elemntary schools. A solid 35% of the cars have Maryland tags. Residency fraud is rampant. Two of my DS's good friends live in Oxon Hill.

Nothing is done about it. Guess why.

I suspect (but maybe someone else can confirm) that it depends on how much the principal wants to press the issue.

Question for you PP--any idea why your son's friends' families commit fraud to enter a school system that no one seems particularly thrilled with?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just looked at the 2020 census and school data and I'm curious. Does anyone know if ACPC has an issue with out of district kids enrolling through fraudulent means?


https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/alexandriacitycountyvirginia/PST045219

Go to the morning drop off at any of the east end elemntary schools. A solid 35% of the cars have Maryland tags. Residency fraud is rampant. Two of my DS's good friends live in Oxon Hill.

Nothing is done about it. Guess why.

I suspect (but maybe someone else can confirm) that it depends on how much the principal wants to press the issue.

It should be a law enforcement issue. They are literally stealing city, and in the case of Maryland residents, state resources

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have heard for so many years that ACPS is not a great school district. But why is that the case? Many Alexandria residents care about education, pay high taxes and support the city bettering the schools. It seems like there is an invisible barrier to progress here and I can't understand why that is. Not much seems to have changed in decades. Can anyone provide any insights?

When we moved here over 25 years ago, ACPS stunk. People told us not to plan to stay if we plan to have kids, unless we plan to pay private tuition. There have been various scapegoats over the years, but from what I can tell, problems seem to center around too much poverty, too much SEL, too much farms, and related issues. This leads to UMC flight – either to a different city, such as Falls Church, or to private schools in the area.

Not necessarily. DD has been zoned for JH since kinder, and she's had a few friends (UMC) move elsewhere in Old Town and as a result get zoned for different ACPS elementary schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just looked at the 2020 census and school data and I'm curious. Does anyone know if ACPC has an issue with out of district kids enrolling through fraudulent means?


https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/alexandriacitycountyvirginia/PST045219

Go to the morning drop off at any of the east end elemntary schools. A solid 35% of the cars have Maryland tags. Residency fraud is rampant. Two of my DS's good friends live in Oxon Hill.

Nothing is done about it. Guess why.

I suspect (but maybe someone else can confirm) that it depends on how much the principal wants to press the issue.

Anonymous wrote:I have heard for so many years that ACPS is not a great school district. But why is that the case? Many Alexandria residents care about education, pay high taxes and support the city bettering the schools. It seems like there is an invisible barrier to progress here and I can't understand why that is. Not much seems to have changed in decades. Can anyone provide any insights?

When we moved here over 25 years ago, ACPS stunk. People told us not to plan to stay if we plan to have kids, unless we plan to pay private tuition. There have been various scapegoats over the years, but from what I can tell, problems seem to center around too much poverty, too much SEL, too much farms, and related issues. This leads to UMC flight – either to a different city, such as Falls Church, or to private schools in the area.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not convinced that the size of the schools is the/an issue. Lake Braddock and Robinson were each 4k students back when I attended in the 1990s (albeit a combined 7-12 grades) and I'm sure they're larger now. We all certainly felt the size, but it wasn't a detriment - it was simply our reality. Like living in NYC instead of Des Moines - neither is better than the other, per se.

Though I do appreciate the complaints about sports team sizes.

Either way, my daughter is thriving at GWMS. We'll keep our fingers crossed for ACHS.

As a native of NYC and former ACPS parent, I assure you this is comparison is deeply flawed.

I'm glad you're happy at GW. We liked GW, too. But it's indeed excessively, unambiguously overcrowded. And that affects almost everyting else. Glad your daughter is thriving there, but kids do get lost in the shuffle there. And the English/language arts curriculum is terrible.

If your child can thrive at GWMS, then ACHS will be great. Our experience at GWMS was and is absolutely awful. I can't wait to get #2 out of there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Robinson, Lake Braddock, and Alexandria are all around 4,000 in student enrollment. But, with grades 7-12 the other two schools have around 660 students per grade whereas ACHS has 1,000 per grade. That indeed makes a difference!

Right, as I noted.

But why does a broader age distribution make a 4000-student school better than one with a tighter age grouping? Aside from the sports team issues noted above, why does 4000 9-12 kids = bad but 4000 7-12 kids = okay?

Each grade likely has smaller classes, more opportunities for extracurriculares, etc. 7th graders likely aren’t going to compete with 12th graders to get into the same classes, sports or activities. There are times for sure but having less students per raid certainly makes a difference.

Anonymous wrote:I just looked at the 2020 census and school data and I'm curious. Does anyone know if ACPC has an issue with out of district kids enrolling through fraudulent means?


https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/alexandriacitycountyvirginia/PST045219

Go to the morning drop off at any of the east end elemntary schools. A solid 35% of the cars have Maryland tags. Residency fraud is rampant. Two of my DS's good friends live in Oxon Hill.

Nothing is done about it. Guess why.

I just looked at the 2020 census and school data and I'm curious. Does anyone know if ACPC has an issue with out of district kids enrolling through fraudulent means?


https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/alexandriacitycountyvirginia/PST045219

Anonymous wrote:Having had kids at various schools over the years including expensive privates I have to say, and my kids would agree, that Lyles Crouch was our absolutely favorite school of them all. Great teachers, amazing community, and so many go on to attend top college or vocational programs. The place was so well run - such a focus on kindness and character. An amazing foundation. Wish all of the ACPS schools could follow their model.

Agreed. And the fact that the other elementary schools don't is inequitable, but I don't think we'll hear the superintendent add that to his talking points about equity.

Ah sorry for the jargon. Here is a good explanation of Curriculum Tiers. Basically evidenced based.

http://www.rtinetwork.org/essential/tieredinstruction/tiered-instruction-and-intervention-rti-model

Anonymous wrote:Having had kids at various schools over the years including expensive privates I have to say, and my kids would agree, that Lyles Crouch was our absolutely favorite school of them all. Great teachers, amazing community, and so many go on to attend top college or vocational programs. The place was so well run - such a focus on kindness and character. An amazing foundation. Wish all of the ACPS schools could follow their model.

I’m the MCPS ‘culture’ poster. Without going into too much detail about where we landed (and it wouldn’t help you anyways since we are in Maryland) we really drilled down and studied curriculum choices. That’s the ‘blocking and tackling’ of schools. If your public school picks a Tier 1 curriculum then you 1) Believe in your teachers 2) Believe in your students (ie not a fixed mindset). If you care about the least - we found you care about the advanced as well. The one thing I will say is it is considered two tiers BELOW MCPS’ reputation (which if you are in VA you are not seeing the decline).

The warning to look for: when you see poor curriculum choices - Lucy Caulkins- that’s your message right there: time to go. We stayed for the MCPS version of that (Curriculum 2.0), got the T-shirt, homeschooled to advance and then moved. Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having had kids at various schools over the years including expensive privates I have to say, and my kids would agree, that Lyles Crouch was our absolutely favorite school of them all. Great teachers, amazing community, and so many go on to attend top college or vocational programs. The place was so well run - such a focus on kindness and character. An amazing foundation. Wish all of the ACPS schools could follow their model.

Kids left Lyles Crouch to go onto great colleges and vocational schools? Fascinating.

Presumably after their parents enrolled them in private school.

Anonymous wrote:Having had kids at various schools over the years including expensive privates I have to say, and my kids would agree, that Lyles Crouch was our absolutely favorite school of them all. Great teachers, amazing community, and so many go on to attend top college or vocational programs. The place was so well run - such a focus on kindness and character. An amazing foundation. Wish all of the ACPS schools could follow their model.

Kids left Lyles Crouch to go onto great colleges and vocational schools? Fascinating.

Having had kids at various schools over the years including expensive privates I have to say, and my kids would agree, that Lyles Crouch was our absolutely favorite school of them all. Great teachers, amazing community, and so many go on to attend top college or vocational programs. The place was so well run - such a focus on kindness and character. An amazing foundation. Wish all of the ACPS schools could follow their model.