Camelot ES and Falls Church HS

[Anonymous]

My husband and I are on the verge of making an offer on a house. The big reason that I am hesitating is because it is allocated to Camelot ES and Falls Church HS Schools. There test scores are on the low end for FFX County for both of these schools. That being said it is Fairfax County and overall the reputation is pretty favorable. Our child is just over 1...so there would be some time before she attended.

Does anyone have specific experience with either of these schools. Any reason we should stay away?

I've read all there is to read to the county website and greatschools.net.

[Anonymous]

We are in the same pyramid, but our ES is not Camelot. I know lots of families at Camelot and they all like it.

Just some random thoughts. The MS is Jackson and the HS is FCHS. I know lots of people with kids at both who are very, very happy. People on this board may be rude and people IRL may give you the,"Oh...well, how's that going for you?" kind of response. These schools are very diverse and have lots of kids for whom English is not their first language which leads to lower scores. People talk about gangs and drues, but the truth is there are gangs and drugs at every FCPS high school. The stories I hear about the drug culture at Langley make my hair stand on end.

FWIW, we moved here when I was pregnant with our oldest and thought all FCPS was good. I still believe that, BUT I am now better acquainted with the perceived hierarchy of many of these schools. If you think you will not be comfortable with Jackson/Fall Church, then consider close by neighborhoods that feed into Frost/Woodson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in the same pyramid, but our ES is not Camelot. I know lots of families at Camelot and they all like it.

Just some random thoughts. The MS is Jackson and the HS is FCHS. I know lots of people with kids at both who are very, very happy. People on this board may be rude and people IRL may give you the,"Oh...well, how's that going for you?" kind of response. These schools are very diverse and have lots of kids for whom English is not their first language which leads to lower scores. People talk about gangs and drues, but the truth is there are gangs and drugs at every FCPS high school. The stories I hear about the drug culture at Langley make my hair stand on end.

FWIW, we moved here when I was pregnant with our oldest and thought all FCPS was good. I still believe that, BUT I am now better acquainted with the perceived hierarchy of many of these schools. If you think you will not be comfortable with Jackson/Fall Church, then consider close by neighborhoods that feed into Frost/Woodson.

Exactly what gangs are rampaging through Langley, Madison or TJ?

[Anonymous]

All I can tell you is that I have been told by FCPS admins that there is gang activity at every high school. Maybe the activity is to sell drugs vs recruiting membership, but it is still there. And drug and alcohol use is certainly present at all schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All I can tell you is that I have been told by FCPS admins that there is gang activity at every high school. Maybe the activity is to sell drugs vs recruiting membership, but it is still there. And drug and alcohol use is certainly present at all schools.

Agree with this, although maybe not TJ since you have to apply to get in, but who knows? I work at a FCPS high school that is considered a "good" school and we probably have 5-10 people who are either in a gang or are associated with a gang (so says our school police officer). Does this mean they are running around the halls terrorizing students and trying to recruit them? No, but they are there going to school just like everyone else. All FCPS high schools have a police officer in the school and they are usually well aware of who is a threat or who is active in a gang. It is just a fact of life in suburban Washington, DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in the same pyramid, but our ES is not Camelot. I know lots of families at Camelot and they all like it.

Just some random thoughts. The MS is Jackson and the HS is FCHS. I know lots of people with kids at both who are very, very happy. People on this board may be rude and people IRL may give you the,"Oh...well, how's that going for you?" kind of response. These schools are very diverse and have lots of kids for whom English is not their first language which leads to lower scores. People talk about gangs and drues, but the truth is there are gangs and drugs at every FCPS high school. The stories I hear about the drug culture at Langley make my hair stand on end.

FWIW, we moved here when I was pregnant with our oldest and thought all FCPS was good. I still believe that, BUT I am now better acquainted with the perceived hierarchy of many of these schools. If you think you will not be comfortable with Jackson/Fall Church, then consider close by neighborhoods that feed into Frost/Woodson.

Since you seem only to be blocks from these neighborhoods anyway, I would highly suggest that you opt to live in the boundaries of Frost and Woodson. Both are good schools, but Woodson has a sparkling reputation. Personally, I am more impressed with Woodson than Langley -- Langley's student body is pretty much made up exclusively of kids from very affluent families. Consequently, if Langely did not get the numbers they have on test scores and such, then somebody at Langely would have to be screwing up big time. Woodson on the other hand is a student body made up of almost exclusively middle class kids and they score wonderfully. I happen to believe that test scores are not everything, so I will also go on to tell you how impressed I am with what I have seen of the Woodson parent community -- very supportive and hands on.

And for the record, I am not a Woodson parent. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since you seem only to be blocks from these neighborhoods anyway, I would highly suggest that you opt to live in the boundaries of Frost and Woodson. Both are good schools, but Woodson has a sparkling reputation. Personally, I am more impressed with Woodson than Langley -- Langley's student body is pretty much made up exclusively of kids from very affluent families. Consequently, if Langely did not get the numbers they have on test scores and such, then somebody at Langely would have to be screwing up big time. Woodson on the other hand is a student body made up of almost exclusively middle class kids and they score wonderfully. I happen to believe that test scores are not everything, so I will also go on to tell you how impressed I am with what I have seen of the Woodson parent community -- very supportive and hands on.

And for the record, I am not a Woodson parent. Good luck.

The notion that Woodson is comprised of "almost exclusively middle class kids" is plainly incorrect, unless you have a NoVa-adjusted definition of what it means to be "middle class." Woodson also has very few lower-income students and few minority students. Its test scores are about what you'd expect for a school with its demographics, just as are Falls Church's.

[Anonymous]

Exactly PP. You'd have to search pretty hard to find a house in a Woodson neighborhood worth less than $500K even these days. Falls Church has a much more economically diverse catchment area and it's scores reflect that. I know lots of people whose kids go to FCHS and gangs are not exactly rampaging through the halls there either.

[Anonymous]

9:55 PP - thanks for your input. If I stay in our current neighborhood, my daughter will go to Jackson and Falls Church. I've heard some bad things so I've been a little nervous. She's only 1, though, and I've thought about moving anyway, so who knows where we'll end up. And who knows what the demographics or test scores of ANY school will look like in 12-13 years!

I've looked in Woodson and Oakton areas, but it is TOUGH to find a house for a decent price that doesn't come with a painful commute. So I'm tempted to keep my townhouse with the smaller mortgage and easy metro commute and hope my kid would be fine anywhere.

While there may not be overt gang activity in every school, there is drug activity in even the best high schools. My friends and I joke that the type of drug depends on the school. Poor school - pot. Rich school - coke. And apparently in Chantilly recently, if you read the Post - heroin. Eek.

[Anonymous]

Just plan on your 1 year-old wanting to take German in high school and you can pupil place into Woodson.

[Anonymous]

Historically there have been large pupil placements out of Falls Church HS - mostly to Marshall but also to Stuart and Woodson. It is easier to transfer to Marshall and Stuart because those schools have IB programs (which Falls Church does not), but there are also a fair number of transfers to Woodson.

[Anonymous]

I'm the mother of the 1-year-old in Falls Church area. It's so stupid that I'm even thinking about this so early! But it's a good time to buy, and I'd prefer to move before she's even in school, so she wouldn't have to change districts midstream. My plan B is to stay in our current house until she's in junior high, then move to Oakton, since Jackson is the feeder for both and I figure she'd have friends from middle school to make a new high school less traumatic.

(my parents moved a lot when i was in elementary school - it was hard making new friends every 2 years. i don't want my daughter subjected to that if i can help it.)

[Anonymous]

PP I would not move for the potential MS or HS that your 1 year old would attend. The boundaries in FCPS are way too fickle for that.

[Anonymous]

Here's an interesting Washingtonian article about neighboring JEB Stuart HS. Watch the YouTube video only if you're prepared to choke up a little...

http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/people/13903.html

[Anonymous]

19:55 poster - that thought has crossed my mind! I live in 22031. According to my neighbor, who has a son a bit younger than myself, our zip code was divided up right before her son went to high school. The zip was originally Oakton or Woodson (can't remember which she said) and was split into 4 pieces served by Oakton, Woodson, Fairfax and Falls Church high schools. Her son ended up getting into TJ so it wasn't a factor, but she said a lot of parents were pretty ticked. Houses directly across route 50 from my house are slated for Woodson and houses across 29 from us are slated for Oakton, so who knows, the boundaries could change again.