FYI, Alexandria does offer foreign languages in elementary school, but only at a few schools. Generally the worst performing ones that allows open admissions. It is used to try to attract more middle class families to attend schools in poorer neighborhoods to boost their scores.

I seriously doubt many out of boundary families take advantage of this

We're upper middler class, and considering doing so, provided we can get a spot. I have heard good things about the Spanish immersion program at Mt. Vernon. I am very interested in my little one learning to speak Spanish, and we are not native speakers. It sounds like a really interesting program.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

FYI, Alexandria does offer foreign languages in elementary school, but only at a few schools. Generally the worst performing ones that allows open admissions. It is used to try to attract more middle class families to attend schools in poorer neighborhoods to boost their scores.

I seriously doubt many out of boundary families take advantage of this.

This is untrue. I sub for ACPS and the two schools that offer Spanish immersion are not the lowest-performing ones.

The schools are Mt. Vernon and John Adams. The test scores for both are terrible. They are both low performing. Mt. Vernon looks it had lower scores than Jefferson Houston in a lot of categories even.

I really don't understand the incessant criticism of the Alexandria City public system.

We enrolled our child at two very well-known, and I think highly-regarded, private schools. We experienced invasive parents, truly weak academics, and Lord Of The Flies behavior even among the younger kids. We found private school heads to be behaviorally similar to legal recruiters.

We yanked our daughter out, in disgust, and sent her to an ACPS school (Charles Barrett) starting in third grade. It has been more wonderful than I imagined any school could be, especially once her very patient third grade teacher got her up to speed in math after very weak prior instruction. We know several private-school refugees in the ACPS system. We've toured GW, we know many GW parents and kids, and we've been to TC repeatedly. We know many recent grads, all of who have done genuinely well. The ACPS that has been described in these messages is completely unknown to us.

We've heard only a few real ACPS horror stories, and they were molehills compared to what we've directly observed at private schools. And the vast majority of the area private schools basically do not accommodate more academically advanced students.

Anonymous wrote:

FYI, Alexandria does offer foreign languages in elementary school, but only at a few schools. Generally the worst performing ones that allows open admissions. It is used to try to attract more middle class families to attend schools in poorer neighborhoods to boost their scores.

I seriously doubt many out of boundary families take advantage of this.

This is untrue. I sub for ACPS and the two schools that offer Spanish immersion are not the lowest-performing ones.

Anonymous wrote:Just an FYI for those who are upset that Alexandria does not offer foreign language in the elementary schools, I have two children in FCPS schools (in Vienna) and they don't get foreign language in the elementary school either. There are *some* schools that are part of the FLES (foreign language in the elementary schools) program, but it is by no means all of them. Our school does offer a PTA-driven FLEX program which is an after-school foreign language program that parents pay for. It is once per week. Not every school offers that either, though.

FYI, Alexandria does offer foreign languages in elementary school, but only at a few schools. Generally the worst performing ones that allows open admissions. It is used to try to attract more middle class families to attend schools in poorer neighborhoods to boost their scores.

I seriously doubt many out of boundary families take advantage of this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No, not really. This is bullshit.

Just wait, honey. You were probably a mean girl yourself.

Again with the assumptions, love. That would be physically impossible.

You don't even condescend well. How much do you suck?

Check your closet. You may find some pumps and yoga pants among the Nikes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No, not really. This is bullshit.

Just wait, honey. You were probably a mean girl yourself.

Again with the assumptions, love. That would be physically impossible.

You don't even condescend well. How much do you suck?

Anonymous wrote:Ipads in an elementary school is laughable.

If you want to teach a first grader to type at least let them use a laptop with a keyboard.
I would be mortified if I found out that my first grader was using an ipad at school. First graders should still be working on their handwriting at this age and I can guarantee their parents are much less likely to have them work on their handwriting at home than they are to let them play on an ipad.

I'm surprised you think working with technology and working on handwriting are mutually exclusive endeavors.

You want to talk about why you're really lashing out?

You can always homeschool. Rich "mean girls" in Bethesda will do just as big a number on your kid as a kid from a Section 8 project in Alexandria, if not a bigger one, since the former are more likely to know exactly which buttons to push to make a sensitive kid miserable.

Certainly kids in upper class areas can be mean and cruel, but I'm more worried about physical violence than teasing or hurt feelings. Also, I am sure that many of the kids from section 8 are nice kids at heart, but the problems they are experiencing at home could easily creep into school, causing more disruptions in class and less focus on learning, which is what school is supposed to be about.

Anonymous wrote:
No, not really. This is bullshit.

Just wait, honey. You were probably a mean girl yourself.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
NP here. I meant to ask; 'boob day' and 'dangerous to go to the bathroom alone'??? WTH? That is all a parent needs to hear. Are kids getting abused there and noone cares???? When I think about the girl you described, my stomach turns. Nothing could make me do this to my DD.

You can always homeschool. Rich "mean girls" in Bethesda will do just as big a number on your kid as a kid from a Section 8 project in Alexandria, if not a bigger one, since the former are more likely to know exactly which buttons to push to make a sensitive kid miserable.

No, not really. This is bullshit.

Anonymous wrote:
NP here. I meant to ask; 'boob day' and 'dangerous to go to the bathroom alone'??? WTH? That is all a parent needs to hear. Are kids getting abused there and noone cares???? When I think about the girl you described, my stomach turns. Nothing could make me do this to my DD.

You can always homeschool. Rich "mean girls" in Bethesda will do just as big a number on your kid as a kid from a Section 8 project in Alexandria, if not a bigger one, since the former are more likely to know exactly which buttons to push to make a sensitive kid miserable.

Ipads in an elementary school is laughable.

If you want to teach a first grader to type at least let them use a laptop with a keyboard.
I would be mortified if I found out that my first grader was using an ipad at school. First graders should still be working on their handwriting at this age and I can guarantee their parents are much less likely to have them work on their handwriting at home than they are to let them play on an ipad.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10:00 poster.. I heard about boob day quite a while back. When did the experiences that you describe occur?

Asking because given the transitional nature of the ACPS, current information is definitely more relevant.

The conversation I had with the principal was last year, school year 2010-2011.

What are you talking about, the "transitional nature of the ACPS?" It's the same as it ever was, with a screwed up administration and dysfunctional policymaking body.

NP here. I meant to ask; 'boob day' and 'dangerous to go to the bathroom alone'??? WTH? That is all a parent needs to hear. Are kids getting abused there and noone cares???? When I think about the girl you described, my stomach turns. Nothing could make me do this to my DD.

Just an FYI for those who are upset that Alexandria does not offer foreign language in the elementary schools, I have two children in FCPS schools (in Vienna) and they don't get foreign language in the elementary school either. There are *some* schools that are part of the FLES (foreign language in the elementary schools) program, but it is by no means all of them. Our school does offer a PTA-driven FLEX program which is an after-school foreign language program that parents pay for. It is once per week. Not every school offers that either, though.