Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I emailed Gatehouse (student transfers) about this issue (I have a high schooler who needs to stick with a language she started but wants to switch to AP, her language not available at closest AP school.) and they were completely dismissive. Basically too bad, so sad, go talk to your school counselor (who had already advised us to email Gatehouse)

Who can I escalate to?

I don't think it is going to change. They realized that kids are using languages to transfer out of lower ranked schools to higher ranked schools. It will be interesting to see how the number of transfers drop at Langley, Oakton, WSHS, and the like. I know people used language to transfer from Herndon to Langley, those kids will have to stay at Herndon unless they transfer to SLHS for IB. SLHS sent kids to Langley, Westfield, and Oakton for AP and language, I would guess that those kids will now be told they have to go to Herndon.

The point is to decrease the number of students at schools close to capacity and stop kids from transferring out of lower ranked schools. They did not close the IB to AP loop hole but removing the language alters what schools can move to from IB for AP, no idea if that will make transferring less interesting.

But students haven't been allowed to transfer to schools at or exceeding capacity in the past either.
If a school has capacity, who cares if students are transferring in? Is it worth punishing some 15 year old?

i think the boundary review may have opened some people’s eyes to transfers. especially now that some changes put schools at higher capacities. i think if a kid is in 9th and in the language they should be able to continue (same with immersion kids). but for kids who haven’t reached high school and just have an interest in a language shouldn’t get to switch schools for one class

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I emailed Gatehouse (student transfers) about this issue (I have a high schooler who needs to stick with a language she started but wants to switch to AP, her language not available at closest AP school.) and they were completely dismissive. Basically too bad, so sad, go talk to your school counselor (who had already advised us to email Gatehouse)

Who can I escalate to?

I don't think it is going to change. They realized that kids are using languages to transfer out of lower ranked schools to higher ranked schools. It will be interesting to see how the number of transfers drop at Langley, Oakton, WSHS, and the like. I know people used language to transfer from Herndon to Langley, those kids will have to stay at Herndon unless they transfer to SLHS for IB. SLHS sent kids to Langley, Westfield, and Oakton for AP and language, I would guess that those kids will now be told they have to go to Herndon.

The point is to decrease the number of students at schools close to capacity and stop kids from transferring out of lower ranked schools. They did not close the IB to AP loop hole but removing the language alters what schools can move to from IB for AP, no idea if that will make transferring less interesting.

But students haven't been allowed to transfer to schools at or exceeding capacity in the past either.
If a school has capacity, who cares if students are transferring in? Is it worth punishing some 15 year old?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I emailed Gatehouse (student transfers) about this issue (I have a high schooler who needs to stick with a language she started but wants to switch to AP, her language not available at closest AP school.) and they were completely dismissive. Basically too bad, so sad, go talk to your school counselor (who had already advised us to email Gatehouse)

Who can I escalate to?

I don't think it is going to change. They realized that kids are using languages to transfer out of lower ranked schools to higher ranked schools. It will be interesting to see how the number of transfers drop at Langley, Oakton, WSHS, and the like. I know people used language to transfer from Herndon to Langley, those kids will have to stay at Herndon unless they transfer to SLHS for IB. SLHS sent kids to Langley, Westfield, and Oakton for AP and language, I would guess that those kids will now be told they have to go to Herndon.

The point is to decrease the number of students at schools close to capacity and stop kids from transferring out of lower ranked schools. They did not close the IB to AP loop hole but removing the language alters what schools can move to from IB for AP, no idea if that will make transferring less interesting.

But students haven't been allowed to transfer to schools at or exceeding capacity in the past either.
If a school has capacity, who cares if students are transferring in? Is it worth punishing some 15 year old?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what are we saying--that a student who enrolled last year as a freshman for a particular a language at a different school will not be able to pupil place into that school this upcoming year as a sophomore to continue the language? Is that what FCPS is saying? If so, shouldnt they send out this email to all parents since it's a major change?

That is an unknown. Rising 9th graders are not being given the option, that is what is being reported at the moment.

What do you mean it's an "unknown"?! Shouldn't FCPS know already what it plans to do? My point is, shouldn't they be clear with guidance on this to ALL students who are affected or potentially could be affected? Isn't it crazy that this is being done without proper socialization to parents and students???

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what are we saying--that a student who enrolled last year as a freshman for a particular a language at a different school will not be able to pupil place into that school this upcoming year as a sophomore to continue the language? Is that what FCPS is saying? If so, shouldnt they send out this email to all parents since it's a major change?

That is an unknown. Rising 9th graders are not being given the option, that is what is being reported at the moment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I emailed Gatehouse (student transfers) about this issue (I have a high schooler who needs to stick with a language she started but wants to switch to AP, her language not available at closest AP school.) and they were completely dismissive. Basically too bad, so sad, go talk to your school counselor (who had already advised us to email Gatehouse)

Who can I escalate to?

I don't think it is going to change. They realized that kids are using languages to transfer out of lower ranked schools to higher ranked schools. It will be interesting to see how the number of transfers drop at Langley, Oakton, WSHS, and the like. I know people used language to transfer from Herndon to Langley, those kids will have to stay at Herndon unless they transfer to SLHS for IB. SLHS sent kids to Langley, Westfield, and Oakton for AP and language, I would guess that those kids will now be told they have to go to Herndon.

The point is to decrease the number of students at schools close to capacity and stop kids from transferring out of lower ranked schools. They did not close the IB to AP loop hole but removing the language alters what schools can move to from IB for AP, no idea if that will make transferring less interesting.

Anonymous wrote:So what are we saying--that a student who enrolled last year as a freshman for a particular a language at a different school will not be able to pupil place into that school this upcoming year as a sophomore to continue the language? Is that what FCPS is saying? If so, shouldnt they send out this email to all parents since it's a major change?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The language transfer option was removed in the past month. It’s a shame that so many people seem to have abused that option, and now kids who legitimately have an interest in a particular language won’t be able to transfer.

“Abused” that option?
Why is this worse than using the remaining option of IB/AP transfers?

dp. Many kids didn't enroll in the language for which they transferred.

Yes, this.

Or they used the IB option to transfer to an AP school, but only took 1 AP class/year that was also offered at their base school, or switched to easier Dual Enrollment junior and senior year instead of AP.

Freshmen should never be allowed to transfer for AP. There are hardly any AP classes offered to freshmen, and those 1-2 classes could be offered at every school to completely eliminate freshmen AP transfers.

Easier Dual-Enrollment? At our school, those classes are more rigorous and better taught than the AP courses.

Dual is much easier than AP.

It is the bridge between honors and AP.

Uh, no, it’s not.

Sure is is.

But that is a different thread

DE is an actual college class taught by someone who has at least a masters in his/her subject area
AP is not a college class, though college credit *might* be awarded to students who do well on the AP exam. It is taught by any teacher who takes a one week class over the summer.

The DE classes are easier.

Many if not most of the AP teachers also have masters degrees, and are often the best teachers at the school.

If you ask the students and parents, it is fairly well established that DE is easier than both IB and AP classes.

Anonymous wrote:I emailed Gatehouse (student transfers) about this issue (I have a high schooler who needs to stick with a language she started but wants to switch to AP, her language not available at closest AP school.) and they were completely dismissive. Basically too bad, so sad, go talk to your school counselor (who had already advised us to email Gatehouse)

Who can I escalate to?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. So if the option has been removed yet the child still wants to take the language course and the course isn't available via FCPS Online or Virtual VA, what are the options for the child? My child is interested in Russian and we are in the Mclean HS district so we weren't thinking of doing this solely to get to Langley (because there's no difference in my mind between the two, except for capacity issues which I don't consider excessive) but my kid really wants to add Russian as a language when he gets to high school. What are the options on this?

My daughter went to Chantilly. They allowed her to take Russian at Nova via dual enrollment. They don't really tell you that this option is available but if you push for it your high school will let you do it. Some kids at Chantilly also take languages remotely at other schools (such as Chinese at Fairfax High School). This may be an option now as well - look into it.

OP again. Thank you for this info. The Longfellow counselors didn't mention this to me as a choice. What sucks even more than the abrupt change is that many FCPS schools don't even operate on the same rules. I have an older child at Mclean and I'm being told that my child cannot take Virtual Virginia classes at Mclean because Mclean doesn't "support it". And, then I hear that the same classes are being taken via VVa at other FCPS high schools. It's such a disjointed system. I've read on this board that FCPS should really be split up and I'm starting to agree more and more that it may indeed be warranted. It's a mess.

If she is at Lingfellow, then she is not a sophomore but an 8th grader picking freshman classes?

Then your solution is very easy.

She simply starts a new language at her zoned high school, McLean, when she begins high school in 9th grade.

She will end up with 4 years of one language for her college applications.

This is completely a non issue if she is currently an 8th grader at Longfellow.

Not the OP but it is an issue because they just changed the rules on language transfers and have not advertised that change clearly. Kids had been allowed to pupil place for languages up to this year. OPs DD wanted to take Russian, which required a change. It might not be a huge issue for some people but it sounds like the child was really interested in this language. Yes, the kid can take a different language but I am sure that is a disappointment to the child and the family.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. So if the option has been removed yet the child still wants to take the language course and the course isn't available via FCPS Online or Virtual VA, what are the options for the child? My child is interested in Russian and we are in the Mclean HS district so we weren't thinking of doing this solely to get to Langley (because there's no difference in my mind between the two, except for capacity issues which I don't consider excessive) but my kid really wants to add Russian as a language when he gets to high school. What are the options on this?

My daughter went to Chantilly. They allowed her to take Russian at Nova via dual enrollment. They don't really tell you that this option is available but if you push for it your high school will let you do it. Some kids at Chantilly also take languages remotely at other schools (such as Chinese at Fairfax High School). This may be an option now as well - look into it.

OP again. Thank you for this info. The Longfellow counselors didn't mention this to me as a choice. What sucks even more than the abrupt change is that many FCPS schools don't even operate on the same rules. I have an older child at Mclean and I'm being told that my child cannot take Virtual Virginia classes at Mclean because Mclean doesn't "support it". And, then I hear that the same classes are being taken via VVa at other FCPS high schools. It's such a disjointed system. I've read on this board that FCPS should really be split up and I'm starting to agree more and more that it may indeed be warranted. It's a mess.

If she is at Lingfellow, then she is not a sophomore but an 8th grader picking freshman classes?

Then your solution is very easy.

She simply starts a new language at her zoned high school, McLean, when she begins high school in 9th grade.

She will end up with 4 years of one language for her college applications.

This is completely a non issue if she is currently an 8th grader at Longfellow.

OP here. I have two kids. One is at McLean and is being denied online course options that other FCPS schools (like the Chantilly mom was noting above) are allowing. The rules are clearly not being applied consistently. My son (the one at Longfellow) wants to take Russian for specific academic and career reasons. He’s already taking Spanish and will be fluent by graduation, so he’s intentionally doubling up. Telling a student to abandon a carefully planned future because of arbitrary FCPS barriers is not something any parent should accept. I’m willing to enroll him in an accredited online program, but McLean counselors are making it extremely difficult to get online credits approved. Most districts accept outside credit when they can’t provide the course themselves. FCPS, apparently, does not want to promote an equitable arrangement across all schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. So if the option has been removed yet the child still wants to take the language course and the course isn't available via FCPS Online or Virtual VA, what are the options for the child? My child is interested in Russian and we are in the Mclean HS district so we weren't thinking of doing this solely to get to Langley (because there's no difference in my mind between the two, except for capacity issues which I don't consider excessive) but my kid really wants to add Russian as a language when he gets to high school. What are the options on this?

My daughter went to Chantilly. They allowed her to take Russian at Nova via dual enrollment. They don't really tell you that this option is available but if you push for it your high school will let you do it. Some kids at Chantilly also take languages remotely at other schools (such as Chinese at Fairfax High School). This may be an option now as well - look into it.

OP again. Thank you for this info. The Longfellow counselors didn't mention this to me as a choice. What sucks even more than the abrupt change is that many FCPS schools don't even operate on the same rules. I have an older child at Mclean and I'm being told that my child cannot take Virtual Virginia classes at Mclean because Mclean doesn't "support it". And, then I hear that the same classes are being taken via VVa at other FCPS high schools. It's such a disjointed system. I've read on this board that FCPS should really be split up and I'm starting to agree more and more that it may indeed be warranted. It's a mess.

If she is at Lingfellow, then she is not a sophomore but an 8th grader picking freshman classes?

Then your solution is very easy.

She simply starts a new language at her zoned high school, McLean, when she begins high school in 9th grade.

She will end up with 4 years of one language for her college applications.

This is completely a non issue if she is currently an 8th grader at Longfellow.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. So if the option has been removed yet the child still wants to take the language course and the course isn't available via FCPS Online or Virtual VA, what are the options for the child? My child is interested in Russian and we are in the Mclean HS district so we weren't thinking of doing this solely to get to Langley (because there's no difference in my mind between the two, except for capacity issues which I don't consider excessive) but my kid really wants to add Russian as a language when he gets to high school. What are the options on this?

My daughter went to Chantilly. They allowed her to take Russian at Nova via dual enrollment. They don't really tell you that this option is available but if you push for it your high school will let you do it. Some kids at Chantilly also take languages remotely at other schools (such as Chinese at Fairfax High School). This may be an option now as well - look into it.

OP again. Thank you for this info. The Longfellow counselors didn't mention this to me as a choice. What sucks even more than the abrupt change is that many FCPS schools don't even operate on the same rules. I have an older child at Mclean and I'm being told that my child cannot take Virtual Virginia classes at Mclean because Mclean doesn't "support it". And, then I hear that the same classes are being taken via VVa at other FCPS high schools. It's such a disjointed system. I've read on this board that FCPS should really be split up and I'm starting to agree more and more that it may indeed be warranted. It's a mess.

If she is at Lingfellow, then she is not a sophomore but an 8th grader picking freshman classes?

Then your solution is very easy.

She simply starts a new language at her zoned high school, McLean, when she begins high school in 9th grade.

She will end up with 4 years of one language for her college applications.

This is completely a non issue if she is currently an 8th grader at Longfellow.