Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not all about taunting or bullying. It's just a pervasive feeling that the GenEd kids are an afterthought. That they are lesser. That they aren't worthy.

Exactly. I've never seen outright bullying - but exactly what PP said. It's a constant superiority complex on the part of the AAP kids (and parents) that is very obvious. Even some of the staff acts like AAP kids can do no wrong. It's ridiculous.

Please share the name of the school.

It's already been mentioned and I'm not going to name it again.

As pp said, there is LA or Colvin Run. Did we miss it? Is it another center? Certainly if it is schoolwide then your anonymous post isn't going to bring unwanted attention to the problem.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading these posts, I don't see a lot of AAP parents who are saying mean things about Gen Ed kids-- but boy is it clear that there are a lot of Gen Ed parents who are very vocal about not wanting AAP kids in their school. If you think your kids don't pick up on that attitude, you're wrong. Also, I've had kids in 3 FCPS schools at various levels, some AAP Centers and some LLIV a centers, and I have yet to run across a PTA a that isn't grateful for every parent volunteer-- AAP or Gen Ed. If you want a say in how your school is run, show up and volunteer, instead of griping on DCUM.

It's not a matter of not wanting AAP kids in our schools - but in many centers, AAP kids become the majority and the dynamic between them and the Gen Ed kids isn't healthy. It's not right for Gen Ed kids to be looked at as if they're somehow "less than" simply because they are not as well-represented as their AAP counterparts. AAP kids should never be a majority, at any school; they should be the exception to the rule.

So it's "healthy" to have Gen Ed kids outnumber AAP kids, but not vice versa? Why? In both my DCs Centers (one ES one MS) the breakdown is something like 60/40 (with AAP being 60) for 3-6, but in the ES, a lot less than 50% AAP, considering the whole school. In other words, there is a critical mass of both Gen Ed and AAP. What's wrong with that? At DDs slumber party, she had friends from her AAP class, from her GS troop (one was Gen Ed and I honestly don't know about the other) and her Science Olympiad partner (once again, not sure if Gen Ed or AAP). Oh yeah, and a Gen Ed friend from her base school. The classroom should be only one of several places healthy, well adjusted kids socialize, and the AAP/ Gen Ed distinction is only a big deal if the parents make it one. In our house we don't, and I hate it when other parents get their nose out of joint and make her school environment unpleasant. She just wants to show up, learn, play her instrument (a big deal to her) and be friends with anyone (in school, extracurriculars, her sport, her strings class) who wants to be friends with her. She certainly didn't ask to get put in the middle of FCPS AAP politics and she shouldn't be made to feel unwelcome (and, FWIW, we kept her at the LLIV center until we moved.,but her new base school only has 3-4 AAP qualified kids per grade).

Anonymous wrote:

It's already been mentioned and I'm not going to name it again.

It's an underlying current throughout the system.

How many center schools have your children and their friends attended, that you know how pervasive this taint is?

It's already been mentioned and I'm not going to name it again.

It's an underlying current throughout the system.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading these posts, I don't see a lot of AAP parents who are saying mean things about Gen Ed kids-- but boy is it clear that there are a lot of Gen Ed parents who are very vocal about not wanting AAP kids in their school. If you think your kids don't pick up on that attitude, you're wrong. Also, I've had kids in 3 FCPS schools at various levels, some AAP Centers and some LLIV a centers, and I have yet to run across a PTA a that isn't grateful for every parent volunteer-- AAP or Gen Ed. If you want a say in how your school is run, show up and volunteer, instead of griping on DCUM.

It's not a matter of not wanting AAP kids in our schools - but in many centers, AAP kids become the majority and the dynamic between them and the Gen Ed kids isn't healthy. It's not right for Gen Ed kids to be looked at as if they're somehow "less than" simply because they are not as well-represented as their AAP counterparts. AAP kids should never be a majority, at any school; they should be the exception to the rule.

In many Centers, AAP students are not the majority.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not all about taunting or bullying. It's just a pervasive feeling that the GenEd kids are an afterthought. That they are lesser. That they aren't worthy.

Exactly. I've never seen outright bullying - but exactly what PP said. It's a constant superiority complex on the part of the AAP kids (and parents) that is very obvious. Even some of the staff acts like AAP kids can do no wrong. It's ridiculous.

Please share the name of the school.

It's already been mentioned and I'm not going to name it again.

So it is either Louise Archer or Colvin Run, based on my fast perusal of this long thread.

There have been several posters on this thread stating they have not seen "a constant superiority complex" at their Center schools. I have no idea if any have posted about Louise Archer or Colvin Run, but I suppose it can be possible.

If you look at the Louise Archer and Colvin Run class size numbers, it is easy to see how such an environment could be created. (From last school year, 75% of the 5th graders at Louise Archer are in AAP classrooms?!? At our Center school it was 45% in AAP in 5th grade.)

But -- there are many others Center schools without such extremes in numbers. Therefore, not all Center schools are that way.

What is true in one part of the county is not necessarily true in another part of the county.

Anonymous wrote:Reading these posts, I don't see a lot of AAP parents who are saying mean things about Gen Ed kids-- but boy is it clear that there are a lot of Gen Ed parents who are very vocal about not wanting AAP kids in their school. If you think your kids don't pick up on that attitude, you're wrong. Also, I've had kids in 3 FCPS schools at various levels, some AAP Centers and some LLIV a centers, and I have yet to run across a PTA a that isn't grateful for every parent volunteer-- AAP or Gen Ed. If you want a say in how your school is run, show up and volunteer, instead of griping on DCUM.

It's not a matter of not wanting AAP kids in our schools - but in many centers, AAP kids become the majority and the dynamic between them and the Gen Ed kids isn't healthy. It's not right for Gen Ed kids to be looked at as if they're somehow "less than" simply because they are not as well-represented as their AAP counterparts. AAP kids should never be a majority, at any school; they should be the exception to the rule.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not all about taunting or bullying. It's just a pervasive feeling that the GenEd kids are an afterthought. That they are lesser. That they aren't worthy.

Exactly. I've never seen outright bullying - but exactly what PP said. It's a constant superiority complex on the part of the AAP kids (and parents) that is very obvious. Even some of the staff acts like AAP kids can do no wrong. It's ridiculous.

Please share the name of the school.

It's already been mentioned and I'm not going to name it again.

Reading these posts, I don't see a lot of AAP parents who are saying mean things about Gen Ed kids-- but boy is it clear that there are a lot of Gen Ed parents who are very vocal about not wanting AAP kids in their school. If you think your kids don't pick up on that attitude, you're wrong. Also, I've had kids in 3 FCPS schools at various levels, some AAP Centers and some LLIV a centers, and I have yet to run across a PTA a that isn't grateful for every parent volunteer-- AAP or Gen Ed. If you want a say in how your school is run, show up and volunteer, instead of griping on DCUM.

Anonymous wrote:They come home and tell me about how they hate being seen as "lesser" in their own school.

Please share the name of the school.

Anonymous wrote:That feeling is not present in the schools I've been involved with. It is present among some parents of kids in GE, such as those who endlessly post on DCUM about their hate for AAP. Those feelings are obvious to their children and do harm. Stop acting like you think your kid is mistreated and he or she will be just fine.

Similarly, those parents of kids in AAP who think their kids are better need to stop. That trickles down to their kids and causes harm.

If all the parents just shut up about it, the kids will get along fine.

I've never said one word to my kids about how I feel about centers - ever. They come home and tell me about how they hate being seen as "lesser" in their own school. I've simply told them that they are in no way lesser to anyone and that it's a shame some kids believe they're better than others.

On the other hand, there are plenty of parents who crow to their kids about "how smart" they are because they got into AAP.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not all about taunting or bullying. It's just a pervasive feeling that the GenEd kids are an afterthought. That they are lesser. That they aren't worthy.

Exactly. I've never seen outright bullying - but exactly what PP said. It's a constant superiority complex on the part of the AAP kids (and parents) that is very obvious. Even some of the staff acts like AAP kids can do no wrong. It's ridiculous.

Please share the name of the school.

Anonymous wrote:It's not all about taunting or bullying. It's just a pervasive feeling that the GenEd kids are an afterthought. That they are lesser. That they aren't worthy.

Exactly. I've never seen outright bullying - but exactly what PP said. It's a constant superiority complex on the part of the AAP kids (and parents) that is very obvious. Even some of the staff acts like AAP kids can do no wrong. It's ridiculous.

Anonymous wrote:haha - the extracurricular activities at our center school are an absolute joke. And please, the parents do NOT show up for the PTA - as long as they can get their precious babies into the couple ultracompetitive academic clubs that have hogged all the meeting spaces while not making these families be PTA members, the AAP parents don't show up.

This is true at our center as well. There is no feeling of community since the kids come from a wide area. The kids for whom the center is their base have the most involved parents.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:right, let's all move - that seems like the sane solution.

I'm not the person you accuse of being a belly-acher, but we CANNOT move right now. I'm so glad that you can actually weather losing money, but a lot of us cannot. We bought several years ago and our income has gone down rather than up and the areas we would want to move to are more expensive than the one we currently live in (which actually is one of the cheapest SFH communities in the county).

I hate this "well, MY school isn't like that" nonsense. It definitely is an "I've got mine, screw everyone else" mentality. I have a GenEd child with an LD in one of the 2 schools that were mentioned above as a toxic environment for non-AAP children. While her teachers have been fantastic, the separation between the base GenEd and the AAP students is so blatant. Why should ANY child in our system be made to feel lesser? Just because YOUR child doesn't feel that way, it doesn't mean it isn't happening.

+100
As long as the AAP kids are happy, screw the Gen Ed students. My God, what would happen if there were no centers? The horror.

Aap parent here. What the hell do you want me to do? Tell me specifically.

No one's asking you to do anything. Many of us would like FCPS to discontinue centers and send all kids back to their base schools. It's very simple.