Anonymous
Post 11/23/2015 12:03     Subject: Cooper Middle School New AAP center
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We would have applied to private school for middle school had we known the option for the center would be removed for Fall 2016. Some of the kids at Spring Hill have already received a form to declare their middle school. To push this through for next Fall is ridiculous and so typical of Janie Strauss and how she maneuvers.


PP, would you mind sharing why you would choose private over Cooper? What is it that Cooper does not offer? I have a younger child (4th grader) and am wondering what I should be looking for as things shift over the next few years.


It's not so much about Cooper being horrible (although the physical plant is a dump and badly in need of a renovation, which is at least 5 years off). It's more that Longfellow gets amazingly rave reviews from parents and has well known teachers, esp for math which is my DC's strength. It is also a Governor's school-the students consistently place 1st in things like Science Olympiad competitions (which is also an interest for my kid). See below (posted on the school's website):

2014 and 2015 Governor's Award for Educational Excellence

2014 and 2015 Yearbook National Award of Excellence

2015 Fairfax County “Leadership Award” Nominee Michelle Padgett

2015 Longfellow Teacher of the Year: Brad Zimmerman

2015 CTY Talent Search - Longfellow is in the top 10 schools in the world

2015 Quiz Bowl Team - 1st Place at National History Bowl

2015 Blue Ribbon Award for Excellence from the The National Band Association

2015 Virginia Science Olympiad - 1st Place Team

2015 Regional Science Bowl - 1st place Team

- Carole Kihm, named the 2014 Outstanding Middle School Principal of Virginia by the Virginia Association of Secondary School Principals (VASSP) -View Press Release

So, the desire for Longfellow over Cooper at this juncture is easy to see-I too have younger kids too, so I am hoping Cooper will become an equally strong center, but it will take time (probably 5-10 years).
Anonymous
Post 11/23/2015 11:41     Subject: Cooper Middle School New AAP center
You can still apply for private for next year.
Anonymous
Post 11/23/2015 11:37     Subject: Cooper Middle School New AAP center
Anonymous wrote:We would have applied to private school for middle school had we known the option for the center would be removed for Fall 2016. Some of the kids at Spring Hill have already received a form to declare their middle school. To push this through for next Fall is ridiculous and so typical of Janie Strauss and how she maneuvers.


You should have hedged your bets and not rely on one politician's statement in an election year to drive your decisions.
Anonymous
Post 11/23/2015 11:36     Subject: Cooper Middle School New AAP center
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We would have applied to private school for middle school had we known the option for the center would be removed for Fall 2016. Some of the kids at Spring Hill have already received a form to declare their middle school. To push this through for next Fall is ridiculous and so typical of Janie Strauss and how she maneuvers.


If you had been paying attention to the school board in the past 3-5 years, you would have known. The writing has been on the wall for years. If anything, it is surprising that is has taken so long.


Some folks at our elementary school specifically asked and were told by Janie and our principal that it would not be happening for next Fall. They were obviously lied to given the election year-and now that the election is over, the agenda moves forward. Despicable.


Janie is one of twelve. I am not a supporter of hers anyway. However, it has been in the works for years and not just for Cooper. It makes the most sense for the 2016-2017 school year as there is a bulge in the 6th grade AAP class.
Anonymous
Post 11/23/2015 11:33     Subject: Cooper Middle School New AAP center
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We would have applied to private school for middle school had we known the option for the center would be removed for Fall 2016. Some of the kids at Spring Hill have already received a form to declare their middle school. To push this through for next Fall is ridiculous and so typical of Janie Strauss and how she maneuvers.


If you had been paying attention to the school board in the past 3-5 years, you would have known. The writing has been on the wall for years. If anything, it is surprising that is has taken so long.


Agreed, and I can't believe some of the Langley parents are still complaining about Janie Strauss winning her race. At some point they will realize that, if they wanted to unseat Janie, they needed to find a Dranesville candidate who stood for more than just placing the interests of Langley parents over those of everyone else in the district and county.


The only way is to get he Democrats to endorse a different person.
Anonymous
Post 11/23/2015 11:03     Subject: Cooper Middle School New AAP center
Anonymous wrote:We would have applied to private school for middle school had we known the option for the center would be removed for Fall 2016. Some of the kids at Spring Hill have already received a form to declare their middle school. To push this through for next Fall is ridiculous and so typical of Janie Strauss and how she maneuvers.


PP, would you mind sharing why you would choose private over Cooper? What is it that Cooper does not offer? I have a younger child (4th grader) and am wondering what I should be looking for as things shift over the next few years.
Anonymous
Post 11/23/2015 10:19     Subject: Cooper Middle School New AAP center
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We would have applied to private school for middle school had we known the option for the center would be removed for Fall 2016. Some of the kids at Spring Hill have already received a form to declare their middle school. To push this through for next Fall is ridiculous and so typical of Janie Strauss and how she maneuvers.


If you had been paying attention to the school board in the past 3-5 years, you would have known. The writing has been on the wall for years. If anything, it is surprising that is has taken so long.


Agreed, and I can't believe some of the Langley parents are still complaining about Janie Strauss winning her race. At some point they will realize that, if they wanted to unseat Janie, they needed to find a Dranesville candidate who stood for more than just placing the interests of Langley parents over those of everyone else in the district and county.
Anonymous
Post 11/23/2015 10:09     Subject: Cooper Middle School New AAP center
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We would have applied to private school for middle school had we known the option for the center would be removed for Fall 2016. Some of the kids at Spring Hill have already received a form to declare their middle school. To push this through for next Fall is ridiculous and so typical of Janie Strauss and how she maneuvers.


If you had been paying attention to the school board in the past 3-5 years, you would have known. The writing has been on the wall for years. If anything, it is surprising that is has taken so long.


Some folks at our elementary school specifically asked and were told by Janie and our principal that it would not be happening for next Fall. They were obviously lied to given the election year-and now that the election is over, the agenda moves forward. Despicable.
Anonymous
Post 11/23/2015 10:04     Subject: Cooper Middle School New AAP center
Anonymous wrote:We would have applied to private school for middle school had we known the option for the center would be removed for Fall 2016. Some of the kids at Spring Hill have already received a form to declare their middle school. To push this through for next Fall is ridiculous and so typical of Janie Strauss and how she maneuvers.


If you had been paying attention to the school board in the past 3-5 years, you would have known. The writing has been on the wall for years. If anything, it is surprising that is has taken so long.
Anonymous
Post 11/23/2015 08:48     Subject: Cooper Middle School New AAP center
We would have applied to private school for middle school had we known the option for the center would be removed for Fall 2016. Some of the kids at Spring Hill have already received a form to declare their middle school. To push this through for next Fall is ridiculous and so typical of Janie Strauss and how she maneuvers.
Anonymous
Post 11/23/2015 07:25     Subject: Re:Cooper Middle School New AAP center
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous[b wrote:]I'm a Longfellow parent who will miss this peer group for my rising 6th grader. My 8th grader has found such a great group of new friends and like-minded kids from the Cooper kids and I know my 5th grader would have loved to have these additional peers. It will be a less good experience for her if they are not allowed to come.[/b]quote]

Not all Longfellow (and I'm sure there are some Kilmer parents out there too) feel the same way as you do, AAP hating Cooper oarent.


Not the PP, but I believe she said she's a Longfellow parent.
Anonymous
Post 11/23/2015 07:09     Subject: Re:Cooper Middle School New AAP center
Of course people have different personal opinions which is why at the end of the day the decision should be made based on the efficient use of facilities. It's flat-out ridiculous to overcrowd some schools with students who are zoned for Cooper while Cooper sits there under-capacity.
Anonymous
Post 11/23/2015 06:56     Subject: Re:Cooper Middle School New AAP center
Anonymous[b wrote:]I'm a Longfellow parent who will miss this peer group for my rising 6th grader. My 8th grader has found such a great group of new friends and like-minded kids from the Cooper kids and I know my 5th grader would have loved to have these additional peers. It will be a less good experience for her if they are not allowed to come.[/b]quote]

Not all Longfellow (and I'm sure there are some Kilmer parents out there too) feel the same way as you do, AAP hating Cooper oarent.
Anonymous
Post 11/23/2015 05:24     Subject: Cooper Middle School New AAP center
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Whatever-Cooper will quickly outpace both Longfellow and Kilmer as a successful center within a year or two because of the quality of its students! So much for oversize AAP being over!


People have been pointing out for years that a Langley pyramid-only center would immediately have a critical mass of AAP students. I guess you had to hear the words come out of your own mouth, with the extra snark, for the idea to finally register.

Of course, it'll be your job, not ours, to deal with the Cooper/Langley parents who want to keep Cooper an "AAP-free zone," and refer to AAP students like some invasive plant species.


Not the PP, but surely you can see how parents who have been so happy with Cooper being AAP-free would be upset at having it turn into yet another AAP factory, like Kilmer, Longfellow, etc. What this area needs is a *normal* middle school, free from all the TJ-mania and AAP competitiveness. The very fact that there hasn't been AAP at Cooper is what makes it such an attractive school for many families. Cooper has been turning out smart, happy, well-balanced, nice kids for decades. With the arrival of AAP and all the fanatical parents, I guess that's about to end.


Surely you can see that students at Kilmer and Longfellow are negatively affected as a result by the same action that Cooper has benefited.
Anonymous
Post 11/22/2015 22:26     Subject: Cooper Middle School New AAP center
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I have one-I was looking forward to getting my kid out of the base school district and meeting some new kids in MS-DC has not found a great peer group at the base and I was hoping MS would be different and a new opportunity for DC-think Longfellow would be better in that respect than Cooper. Don't think going private is the answer but too late anyway to apply at this point!


I would also love to get my child out of the base school district and into a new MS, but unfortunately, my child doesn't have a choice as to where he goes to school.


That's because your child isn't in AAP so he/she is not "special" enough to have a choice. Only AAP kids/parents have that choice and apparently many of them feel they can dictate just what kind of a center is and isn't good enough. So much for the idea of "public" school.

Sheesh. The sooner Cooper, Thoreau and all the other non-center middle schools in the crazy McLean, Vienna, Falls Church, Great Falls area are LLIV and kids "have" to attend their base middle school in these areas, the better.


I'm the PP and wholeheartedly agree with you. I've watched for years as AAP parents fret and stew over which school to send their child to; where will Larla thrive? Meanwhile, my child is stuck at his base school, for better or worse, with no such choice. And then when this point is brought up, the inevitable responses of, "Oh, get him into immersion! Then he can change schools!" All I want is the same opportunities and choices that AAP kids have had for too long. As you said, this is a public school system, not some a la carte menu from which only certain families are allowed to choose what works best for them.

As for your last paragraph, I agree that kids should have to attend their base schools. Just wish AAP wasn't part of the picture at all.