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I agree, though it may create an interesting dynamic with one's neighbors when someone tries to place his or her kids at an out-of-boundary school in the same school system, and then decides to homeschool only when they can't get in those other schools.
I've heard of people trying to do that in Fairfax (Mantua ES and Frost MS). And of people who found a particular nabe acceptable ONLY because the kid got into the GT center, or into The High School That Must Not Be Named. Heck, if our DD hadn't gotten into The High School That Must Not Be Named, we might have continued to homeschool.
But I'm not sure why someone would tell their neighbors about the their application to an out of boundary school, until the kid is actually attending. I mean here in suburbia "Where is junior applying to college?" is a routine ice breaker. Do folks in Eckington lean over the back fence and ask "So, is your kid trying to get into elementary school in upper Northwest?"
edited: I see you have already edited your post. To clarify to readers, I posted this BEFORE JEB mentioned the relative numbers of out of boundary apps. I am not surprised that there are FEWER such apps in Fairfax county. But they DO exist. And I still fail to see that that creates a huge neighborhood issue. Despite pot stirring by the WaPo. Anyone who actually LIVES in the District have any input on that?
I've heard of people trying to do that in Fairfax (Mantua ES and Frost MS). And of people who found a particular nabe acceptable ONLY because the kid got into the GT center, or into The High School That Must Not Be Named. Heck, if our DD hadn't gotten into The High School That Must Not Be Named, we might have continued to homeschool.
But I'm not sure why someone would tell their neighbors about the their application to an out of boundary school, until the kid is actually attending. I mean here in suburbia "Where is junior applying to college?" is a routine ice breaker. Do folks in Eckington lean over the back fence and ask "So, is your kid trying to get into elementary school in upper Northwest?"
edited: I see you have already edited your post. To clarify to readers, I posted this BEFORE JEB mentioned the relative numbers of out of boundary apps. I am not surprised that there are FEWER such apps in Fairfax county. But they DO exist. And I still fail to see that that creates a huge neighborhood issue. Despite pot stirring by the WaPo. Anyone who actually LIVES in the District have any input on that?
And I edited my post before I saw your latest post.
In any event, I didn't say people don't ever try to arrange transfers in Fairfax or Arlington. Clearly it happens, but not with the same frequency, particularly at the elementary and middle school level.
When I lived in a DC neighborhood, school placement was a regular topic of conversation - among parents who were seeking out-of-boundary placements, those who were trying hard to rally others to send their kids to the neighborhood school, those who were going private, and those who were exhausted trying to map out the various options and already planning their move to other jurisdictions. Some of those conversations were more pleasant than others.
And I edited my post before I saw your latest post.
In any event, I didn't say people don't ever try to arrange transfers in Fairfax or Arlington. Clearly it happens, but not with the same frequency, particularly at the elementary and middle school level.
When I lived in a DC neighborhood, school placement was a regular topic of conversation - among parents who were seeking out-of-boundary placements, those who were trying hard to rally others to send their kids to the neighborhood school, those who were going private, and those who were exhausted trying to map out the various options and already planning their move to other jurisdictions. Some of those conversations were more pleasant than others.
I guess someone who proclaims their disdain for the local neighborhood school to people who are not only sending their kid to it, but trying to rally support for it, has to live with the consequences of their words. Whether it was about our own issues with FCPS, or our views of the Virginia public U's versus out of state privates in terms of fit for our DD, we learned to be discrete, to make our opinions known in appropriate places, and generally to smile and nod when necessary.
"“It’s such a resource-rich city. If there’s anywhere you can home-school and get so much out of it, it’s here,†said Farrar Williams, a Columbia Heights mother who home-schools her twin 7-year-old sons."
This strikes me as really true. During OUR homeschool year, we went into the district alot, using the museums especially to supplement our curriculum. Now that there is a growing support network in the District for home schoolers, it could really take off.
That probably deserves a thread of its own though.
"Our school of hard knocks got written up in US News"
- Also in The Arlington Rap.
Meanwhile, the Post noted today that parents in some of the "trendy" neighborhoods in DC are choosing to homeschool their kids because they aren't comfortable with their neighborhood schools and were unable to place them in the handful of public elementary schools that they consider acceptable (in more expensive neighborhoods)...
OP - congratulations on finding a place you like in the area.
So, what's behind this persistent line of attack? No matter what anyone says about one place or another, in this case about a little mall, you retort with, "yeah, but DC public schools suck!"
I'm genuinely curious - I'm well aware of your bias against transit / walkable development in both cities and suburbs, but do you think people don't know that DC was and in many ways remains one of the worst school districts in the country? Is your insistence on attacking that particular aspect of the city coded racism or a statement of the obvious or simply the one place where families who would otherwise continue living in the city might be forced to make another choice?
I really want to understand your motivation; is it so bad that people are working from within the system to make it better or finding alternative ways or giving up on the public school system altogether and go to a nice place like Arlington for the sake of their kids? They all seem like viable options.
So, what's behind this persistent line of attack? No matter what anyone says about one place or another, in this case about a little mall, you retort with, "yeah, but DC public schools suck!"
I'm genuinely curious - I'm well aware of your bias against transit / walkable development in both cities and suburbs, but do you think people don't know that DC was and in many ways remains one of the worst school districts in the country? Is your insistence on attacking that particular aspect of the city coded racism or a statement of the obvious or simply the one place where families who would otherwise continue living in the city might be forced to make another choice?
I really want to understand your motivation; is it so bad that people are working from within the system to make it better or finding alternative ways or giving up on the public school system altogether and go to a nice place like Arlington for the sake of their kids? They all seem like viable options.
You might ask yourself instead why you felt compelled to make a post about Ballston. The OP is a newcomer to the area - you could have offered her congratulations and/or provided a link to the entire "Arlington Rap" by Remy (which she probably hasn't seen or heard). It's actually funny when heard as a whole.
But you didn't, and the one line you did quote got me thinking about other lines in the song that speak to some of Arlington's strengths, and their relevance in light of today's article in the Post.
But you didn't, and the one line you did quote got me thinking about other lines in the song that speak to some of Arlington's strengths, and their relevance in light of today's article in the Post.
The thing is though reading that article, my take away wasn't that it had anything new about the problems with DC city schools - it was mostly about how homeschooling is taking off. Yeah, WaPo DID put that in the context of pupil placements being harder to come by - but thats the WaPo, which IIUC has never been too keen on homeschooling (we find it hard to take seriously education coverage from a newspaper financed by Kaplan, and from Jay "schools should be scored by how many take AP's" Matthews.) My bet is that with the maturing of the nonfundie homeschool movement, driven by NCLB and the internet, its a natural that it becomes a big thing in a place with lots of great community learning resources (as the parent quoted above mentioned) and with lots of folks looking for alternatives to their neighborhood schools anyway. So my takeaway is that homeschooling is providing a new option, and will make DC even MORE attractive for families than it already is.
You might ask yourself instead why you felt compelled to make a post about Ballston. The OP is a newcomer to the area - you could have offered her congratulations and/or provided a link to the entire "Arlington Rap" by Remy (which she probably hasn't seen or heard). It's actually funny when heard as a whole.
But you didn't, and the one line you did quote got me thinking about other lines in the song that speak to some of Arlington's strengths, and their relevance in light of today's article in the Post.
Is this serious? They were talking specifically about the Ballston Mall and it's a funny line. Nothing more. Now you're trying to make it into some grand political issue? You have an inferiority complex beyond what a public forum can address and resolve. Perhaps a bad taste after your time in NYC, but no need to take it out on those of us who are happy.
Given the suburban nature of so much of DC proper, your constant attacks on the city and bolstering of the suburbs (even very urban ones) suggests tihere's something deeper at work here.
Is this serious? They were talking specifically about the Ballston Mall and it's a funny line. Nothing more. Now you're trying to make it into some grand political issue?
It is a funny line - for which the OP had absolutely no context, since you didn't provide her (a newcomer) with a link to the entire video:
Quoting it out of context, as you did, it comes across as a rather gratuitous put-down of Ballston. Well worth a citation of another line of the song reminding us that there are plenty of good reasons that people like the OP move to Arlington, including schools that are good and relatively hassle-free.
I'm happy to continue to debate the relative merits of living in cities and suburbs, TOD, and local school systems with you on various threads, but stop with the personal attacks, which go beyond the line and are clearly against the C-D Terms of Service.
Last edited by JD984; 09-08-2011 at 01:09 PM..
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