Just moved, what is with county school districts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Public school?

Yeah - it is like that here.

You don’t need a real estate agent; just start with Great Schools.

Don't use Great Schools--it has a lot of problems with its data and how it calculates its score. Use state data on schools if you care about the state standardized testing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Public school?

Yeah - it is like that here.

You don’t need a real estate agent; just start with Great Schools.

Except they forgot to mention that great schools is useless. All that tells you is the HHI average for an area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Public school?

Yeah - it is like that here.

You don’t need a real estate agent; just start with Great Schools.

Don't use Great Schools--it has a lot of problems with its data and how it calculates its score. Use state data on schools if you care about the state standardized testing.

That might be useful if it's broken out by demographic data like racial cohort and SES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Public school?

Yeah - it is like that here.

You don’t need a real estate agent; just start with Great Schools.

Except they forgot to mention that great schools is useless. All that tells you is the HHI average for an area.

Not even that--because they add in 'equity' measures that mean if a school has a high HHI but a pocket of low income families it will get a lower score than a school with lower scores but no gaps. Also it's calculated relative to an area so even if the worst school in a really high achieving county is far better than the average school in another county it will get a lower score. Dumbest scoring tool ever.

[Anonymous]

The county school districts goes back to when most of the south was pretty sparsely populated. Fairfax County didn’t start growing until the 1960s. Places that were rural or small townish in the 80s or even the 90s are now suburbs and exurbs, or even mid-size cities of their own, but they still retain the public service/school structure of a time when they had a much lower population. I grew up in the Midwest where all the cities and suburbs had their own city schools and governments, and you only had county-wide or regional schools in sparsely populated areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG. Ignore these crazy people. Yes, the schools here are set up by county, it's bizarre, but there is a lot of variance within each county. All the school systems here are great.

County schools are the norm in the south. If you want township schools with perfectly gerrymandered districts to ensure poor kids are kept out, you need to move further north

+1

+2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the difference between Prince William and Loudoun? Is there also a large disparity between west and east Loudoun? Some schools in the west are nearly 85% white and 2% asian while in Ashburn are 45% white 25% asian.

Western Loudon is a miserable commute to job centers between Dulles and Tysons. Eastern Loudon is an easy commute

Western Loudoun folks are farmers

And majority Republican. When there are crazy people yelling at the School Board meetings, 100% they are from west of Leesburg.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the difference between Prince William and Loudoun? Is there also a large disparity between west and east Loudoun? Some schools in the west are nearly 85% white and 2% asian while in Ashburn are 45% white 25% asian.

Western Loudon is a miserable commute to job centers between Dulles and Tysons. Eastern Loudon is an easy commute

Western Loudoun folks are farmers

And majority Republican. When there are crazy people yelling at the School Board meetings, 100% they are from west of Leesburg.

Well the school board’s policy’s are crazy, so there’s that. Have fun coping next Wednesday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the difference between Prince William and Loudoun? Is there also a large disparity between west and east Loudoun? Some schools in the west are nearly 85% white and 2% asian while in Ashburn are 45% white 25% asian.

Western Loudon is a miserable commute to job centers between Dulles and Tysons. Eastern Loudon is an easy commute

Western Loudoun folks are farmers

Luddites and poors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG. Ignore these crazy people. Yes, the schools here are set up by county, it's bizarre, but there is a lot of variance within each county. All the school systems here are great.

MCPS employee.

This is only said here - and the PP characterization was spot on: dumpster fire.

Here’s a recent quote from an MCPS teacher:

“ I’m an elementary teacher. I am so thankful that my kids are in high school so they are almost out of the disaster known as MCPS. If they were in elementary I would have to find a way to send them to private. No children should have to attend some of these chaotic and unsafe schools. A student in the school I work at hit 18 (yes 18) students in one day in his class last week. Additionally he stuck several kids heads into trash cans. And this is not a one off. (Btw, don’t worry because I’m sure the half day in school suspension will really change things). How are kids supposed to learn when they are scared all the time?

I really wish that I could get out, but I’m too vested and will remain until I can retire. I don’t think it’s as much white flight as higher SES flight. If you have the means, you’re desperate to get out. As the whites traditionally have more means, you’re seeing a greater exodus. Just wish I could follow them…”

This was in the MCPS thread.

[Anonymous]

Lifelong Virginian here. How do other states do school districts if not by County? What would the districts be here? Like Fairfax City and Lorton and Burke would each be their own district?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the difference between Prince William and Loudoun? Is there also a large disparity between west and east Loudoun? Some schools in the west are nearly 85% white and 2% asian while in Ashburn are 45% white 25% asian.

Western Loudon is a miserable commute to job centers between Dulles and Tysons. Eastern Loudon is an easy commute

Western Loudoun folks are farmers

And majority Republican. When there are crazy people yelling at the School Board meetings, 100% they are from west of Leesburg.

Well the school board’s policy’s are crazy, so there’s that. Have fun coping next Wednesday.

I know it's so crazy they try to educate all children and provide the same opportunities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lifelong Virginian here. How do other states do school districts if not by County? What would the districts be here? Like Fairfax City and Lorton and Burke would each be their own district?

In New England, it's done by town. This results in a lot of duplication of administrative services and added bureaucracy. It also creates a lot of have an have not areas since wealthier areas inevitably have more resources to fund schools whereas poorer areas are on their own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lifelong Virginian here. How do other states do school districts if not by County? What would the districts be here? Like Fairfax City and Lorton and Burke would each be their own district?

In New England, it's done by town. This results in a lot of duplication of administrative services and added bureaucracy. It also creates a lot of have an have not areas since wealthier areas inevitably have more resources to fund schools whereas poorer areas are on their own.

No wonder the taxes are so insanely high in places like Connecticut; RI, Massachusetts, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lifelong Virginian here. How do other states do school districts if not by County? What would the districts be here? Like Fairfax City and Lorton and Burke would each be their own district?

It would probably be split by the County Districts. So there would probably be 8 districts within Virginia that would be like Dranesville School District, Franconia School District, Springfield School District, etc.