Mount Vernon?

[Anonymous]

Friends of ours are thinking about buying in this district, but I have never heard overwhelmingly positive things about it. From what I have gathered about the school, the administration doesn't seem to have it together. It has similar demographics to other schools in FCPS, but the scores are lower as is its reputation. I am interested as to why? I warned my friends about the school's reputation, but maybe folks here have a better idea of what the school is really like?

[Anonymous]

I should clarify that I mean Mount Vernon High in Alexandria.

[Anonymous]

Umm Does this happen at other FCPS high schools?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/in-the-pages-of-a-student-yearbook-a-battle-over-the-first-amendment/2015/12/23/35d05d68-a8d1-11e5-9b92-dea7cd4b1a4d_story.html

[Anonymous]

It's a toilet. Too many FARM and ESL kids.

[Anonymous]

See here's the thing there are schools in FCPS with higher FARMS and ESOL rates that have a better rep.

FARMS-53.13%
ESOL-15.48%

Schools like Annandale and Stuart have higher FARMS number but better reputations so what gives?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:See here's the thing there are schools in FCPS with higher FARMS and ESOL rates that have a better rep.

FARMS-53.13%
ESOL-15.48%

Schools like Annandale and Stuart have higher FARMS number but better reputations so what gives?

Your grasping for straws. If Mount Vernon is a toilet with 2 pounds of crap in it, Annandale and Stuart are toilets with 1.9 pounds of crap in it. They're all awful. Best to stay away . . . very far away.

And you'd know this how?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:See here's the thing there are schools in FCPS with higher FARMS and ESOL rates that have a better rep.

FARMS-53.13%
ESOL-15.48%

Schools like Annandale and Stuart have higher FARMS number but better reputations so what gives?

Your grasping for straws. If Mount Vernon is a toilet with 2 pounds of crap in it, Annandale and Stuart are toilets with 1.9 pounds of crap in it. They're all awful. Best to stay away . . . very far away.

And you'd know this how?

Yeah but why? There are similar demographics, FARMS and ESOL rates, but those schools seem to be held in a slightly better regard. Frankly why is Mount Vernon the lowest school in FCPS instead of Lee, Falls Church or Edison given the circumstances? Try to answer in a semi-educated way. This is not FairfaxUnderground.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:See here's the thing there are schools in FCPS with higher FARMS and ESOL rates that have a better rep.

FARMS-53.13%
ESOL-15.48%

Schools like Annandale and Stuart have higher FARMS number but better reputations so what gives?

Your grasping for straws. If Mount Vernon is a toilet with 2 pounds of crap in it, Annandale and Stuart are toilets with 1.9 pounds of crap in it. They're all awful. Best to stay away . . . very far away.

And you'd know this how?

Yeah but why? There are similar demographics, FARMS and ESOL rates, but those schools seem to be held in a slightly better regard. Frankly why is Mount Vernon the lowest school in FCPS instead of Lee, Falls Church or Edison given the circumstances? Try to answer in a semi-educated way. This is not FairfaxUnderground.

With the new Mosaic district, the upper-income inside-the-Beltway neighborhoods it got from Annandale, and the attractive outside the Beltway neighborhoods, Falls Church HS is seeing increased support form the community. When the school is renovated, that will only add to the appeal of the school. And unlike Mount Vernon HS, Falls Church is close to a number of affluent commercial centers like Tysons Corner and the Mosaic district.

[Anonymous]

its the students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:its the students

Exactly. The school, the teachers, the administrators make zero difference. Honestly, I don't even know why we have them.

[Anonymous]

I've only heard second hand about all of these schools because I'm a teacher and was recently looking at all different areas to buy a house. Honestly, I didn't hear great things about ANY of those schools. Lee, Stuart and the others were not recommended over Mt. Vernon. I was told to stay away from all of them for my own children. I have friends of friends of friends of friends who supposedly like working st Mt. Vernon. These schools all have high free and reduced lunch populations and higher populations of ESOL students. As a teacher I can tell you it definitely presents challenges in the classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've only heard second hand about all of these schools because I'm a teacher and was recently looking at all different areas to buy a house. Honestly, I didn't hear great things about ANY of those schools. Lee, Stuart and the others were not recommended over Mt. Vernon. I was told to stay away from all of them for my own children. I have friends of friends of friends of friends who supposedly like working st Mt. Vernon. These schools all have high free and reduced lunch populations and higher populations of ESOL students. As a teacher I can tell you it definitely presents challenges in the classroom.

I would not want you as a teacher for my children anyway. You don't seem up for any challenge, really.

[Anonymous]

We were zoned for this pyramid and moved. (My kids are only 6...)

Look at the feeder schools. Our elementary school (Mount Vernon Woods) had a FARMS rate of over 80% and an ESL rate of 54%. That's a pretty high concentration of poverty. Riverside is high as well - 65% FARMS and almost 40% ESL. As you look through the feeder schools, you'll see there's a pretty big disparity between schools like Mount Vernon Woods and Fort Belvoir.

You can see them all here - it's the Mount Vernon pyramid: http://commweb.fcps.edu/directory/bypyramid.cfm

My personal experience at Mount Vernon Woods was, on the whole, quite good. From what I've heard about MVHS, if you're a kid that wanted to excel you had lots of opportunity to do so. However, the school has challenges that others don't have to face due to poverty and other factors. We left primarily to get purchase a house and to move schools. I couldn't afford a house in the better districts of Fairfax County, so I moved to a place where I could have both.

[Anonymous]

Mount Vernon has the lowest SAT scores. Other low-performers like Stuart and Lee are somewhat in same area, but slightly higher.

My theory is some schools like Stuart have some higher priced areas like Lake Barcroft feeding into them so they have some higher educated families than Mount Vernon.

Overall I have heard that the lower performing schools don't perform for the same reasons, demographics. That is tough for teachers and many will leave for greener pastures.

[Anonymous]

It is the only school that never breaks 500 on the SATs. Interesting.