Are the FCPS schools vastly superior than LCPS?

[Anonymous]

Both systems are terrible, and coast on their student population, the children of parents with advanced degrees and giant incomes to spend on tutoring centers if the home enrichment is not enough. If these kids went to the worst school in Baltimore they'd still do pretty well academically.

FCPS has one major advantage over Loudoun, in that they do offer differentiation in elementary school for particularly bright kids. At the very least, this offers something of a social refuge for advanced kids who want to talk nerdy with their peers.

FCPS's major disadvantage is it is entirely uniparty, whereas Loudoun hasn't finished purging the kulaks. This means that FCPS will leap full force on whatever thing is trendy, whereas implementation in Loudoun can sometimes be moderated or delayed until a new thing to leap on is available.

The baseline in Loudoun seems to be just a little bit higher for regular students. Not much, but a little.

I'd take whichever house is cheaper and put the rest of your money into Catholic or another inexpensive private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL, your realtor is just trying to make more money off of you by making you bid up the price of that one house in Franklin Farm. LCPS is just fine, go that route if you don't have a commute.

And you’ll probably save 100-200K.

Lots of kids and nice families on and near that street in Franklin Farm, including some that work at Navy, if that matters to OP.

There are nice families in Loudon, too. My point was that OP's realtor would point her to the house she'd make more money off of. The house in FF is nice, but it will go for well over list. Everything in that area has been bid up SO HIGH. You're lucky to have gotten in when you did. We've put down competitive offers in your neighborhood and lost them all.

You are correct as to Franklin Farm. I own a home south of Still Pond, and paid the price for a 15 year mortgage a la Dave Ramsey - paid in full years ago - just a different economy today. I receive inquiries to sell every month but I don’t know where I would go if I moved. I dislike condos and their association fees. It would take virtually no effort or time to sell at 4x what I paid for it, even with current interest rates. The unsolicited letters I receive are often personal in nature, describing their family and their needs. I found no complaints with FCPS schools (last one finished over 10 years ago). Both went to the top of the Ivy League (in hindsight not a good value but I come from a very poor background and wanted to support them). We definitely have been lucky

Please refrain from contributing outdated, irrelevant information. It has no value to the OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL, your realtor is just trying to make more money off of you by making you bid up the price of that one house in Franklin Farm. LCPS is just fine, go that route if you don't have a commute.

And you’ll probably save 100-200K.

Lots of kids and nice families on and near that street in Franklin Farm, including some that work at Navy, if that matters to OP.

There are nice families in Loudon, too. My point was that OP's realtor would point her to the house she'd make more money off of. The house in FF is nice, but it will go for well over list. Everything in that area has been bid up SO HIGH. You're lucky to have gotten in when you did. We've put down competitive offers in your neighborhood and lost them all.

You are correct as to Franklin Farm. I own a home south of Still Pond, and paid the price for a 15 year mortgage a la Dave Ramsey - paid in full years ago - just a different economy today. I receive inquiries to sell every month but I don’t know where I would go if I moved. I dislike condos and their association fees. It would take virtually no effort or time to sell at 4x what I paid for it, even with current interest rates. The unsolicited letters I receive are often personal in nature, describing their family and their needs. I found no complaints with FCPS schools (last one finished over 10 years ago). Both went to the top of the Ivy League (in hindsight not a good value but I come from a very poor background and wanted to support them). We definitely have been lucky

Please refrain from contributing outdated, irrelevant information. It has no value to the OP.

Lady, buying in your OG Franklin Farm house 30+ years ago when FCPS was a completely different school system is no longer relevant to this conversation.

[Anonymous]

to OP - you want churchill elementary, which is a feeder to Cooper and Langley. Or a house that feeds into McLean high school. FCPS of course

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both systems are terrible, and coast on their student population, the children of parents with advanced degrees and giant incomes to spend on tutoring centers if the home enrichment is not enough. If these kids went to the worst school in Baltimore they'd still do pretty well academically.

FCPS has one major advantage over Loudoun, in that they do offer differentiation in elementary school for particularly bright kids. At the very least, this offers something of a social refuge for advanced kids who want to talk nerdy with their peers.

FCPS's major disadvantage is it is entirely uniparty, whereas Loudoun hasn't finished purging the kulaks. This means that FCPS will leap full force on whatever thing is trendy, whereas implementation in Loudoun can sometimes be moderated or delayed until a new thing to leap on is available.

The baseline in Loudoun seems to be just a little bit higher for regular students. Not much, but a little.

I'd take whichever house is cheaper and put the rest of your money into Catholic or another inexpensive private.

No bias in this account.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, I have been looking at the following pyramids..

LCPS
Hillside ES > Eagle Ridge > Briar Woods

FCPS
Navy ES > Franklin > Oakton / Chantilly

briar woods is rated higher than both Oakton and Chantilly high school on the US news and world report

Honestly, it doesn’t matter

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, I have been looking at the following pyramids..

LCPS
Hillside ES > Eagle Ridge > Briar Woods

FCPS
Navy ES > Franklin > Oakton / Chantilly

briar woods is rated higher than both Oakton and Chantilly high school on the US news and world report

Honestly, it doesn’t matter

but thats not true. the latest US News ranking is Oakton - 282/ Chantilly - 465 / Briar Woods 721

[Anonymous]

Most the LCPS high schools are smaller than the FCPS high schools. So FCPS schools may end up offering more variety of AP classes/clubs, but there will be more competition from classmates.

[Anonymous]

The Eagle Ridge feeder elementaries are ok. There is a FUTURA gifted program, that is not as intensive as AAP, but I hear they have recently changed it(Futura) so it is in school and not a bus to centers.

Fairfax tends to have a lot of fads in their teaching with a poor reading curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Realtors aren’t allowed to make those comments, so I’d take whatever she said with a grain of salt.

If you are looking for gifted programming, FCPS is much more robust in elementary.

If you’re looking at high school, it’s the same.

Allowed? Who enforces this?

In Virginia, the Fair Housing Office. But also HUD and the Real Estate Board in Virginia. The agent’s broker would probably fire the agent if they knew what was said because of the legal hellscape they just exposed the broker to.

For more specifics : https://www.nar.realtor/articles/steering-schools-and-equal-professional-service

“Steering” under the Fair Housing Act is the process of influencing a buyer’s choice of communities based upon the buyer’s race, color, religion, gender, disability, familial status, or national origin. Steering on the basis of any of the characteristics defined under the Fair Housing Act is not only unethical, it’s illegal because it limits the housing opportunities available to that buyer. Steering occurs when an agent limits the housing options available to a buyer by directing prospective homebuyers interested in equivalent properties to different neighborhoods or communities or even different parts of the same development according to the buyer’s race or other characteristics protected under the Fair Housing Act. One way such “directing” can occur is through comments by an agent, either positive or negative, about a community. For example, if an agent limits or does not provide housing options to a buyer in a community because of the community’s racial composition, that agent may effectively be making housing unavailable. Or if an agent expresses his or her own positive or negative views about certain communities or schools, the purpose of which is to direct a buyer either towards or away from a community, then that agent may be stating a housing preference based on race or familial status or religion. These would be violations of the Fair Housing Act and of the REALTORS® Code of Ethics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Realtors aren’t allowed to make those comments, so I’d take whatever she said with a grain of salt.

If you are looking for gifted programming, FCPS is much more robust in elementary.

If you’re looking at high school, it’s the same.

Allowed? Who enforces this?

In Virginia, the Fair Housing Office. But also HUD and the Real Estate Board in Virginia. The agent’s broker would probably fire the agent if they knew what was said because of the legal hellscape they just exposed the broker to.

For more specifics : https://www.nar.realtor/articles/steering-schools-and-equal-professional-service

“Steering” under the Fair Housing Act is the process of influencing a buyer’s choice of communities based upon the buyer’s race, color, religion, gender, disability, familial status, or national origin. Steering on the basis of any of the characteristics defined under the Fair Housing Act is not only unethical, it’s illegal because it limits the housing opportunities available to that buyer. Steering occurs when an agent limits the housing options available to a buyer by directing prospective homebuyers interested in equivalent properties to different neighborhoods or communities or even different parts of the same development according to the buyer’s race or other characteristics protected under the Fair Housing Act. One way such “directing” can occur is through comments by an agent, either positive or negative, about a community. For example, if an agent limits or does not provide housing options to a buyer in a community because of the community’s racial composition, that agent may effectively be making housing unavailable. Or if an agent expresses his or her own positive or negative views about certain communities or schools, the purpose of which is to direct a buyer either towards or away from a community, then that agent may be stating a housing preference based on race or familial status or religion. These would be violations of the Fair Housing Act and of the REALTORS® Code of Ethics.

No evidence that the agent said anything based on race or other relevant characteristics. More likely the agent was trying to sell a particular house and touted FCPS over LCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, I have been looking at the following pyramids..

LCPS
Hillside ES > Eagle Ridge > Briar Woods

FCPS
Navy ES > Franklin > Oakton / Chantilly

My kids went/go to Franklin and Oakton. We were thrilled with Franklin's teachers and their care of students.

Oakton has been a very good experience, as well, but not quite as nurturing as Franklin was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, I have been looking at the following pyramids..

LCPS
Hillside ES > Eagle Ridge > Briar Woods

FCPS
Navy ES > Franklin > Oakton / Chantilly

My kids went/go to Franklin and Oakton. We were thrilled with Franklin's teachers and their care of students.

Oakton has been a very good experience, as well, but not quite as nurturing as Franklin was.

Thats great to know ! Did they go to an elementary school in the same pyramid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, I have been looking at the following pyramids..

LCPS
Hillside ES > Eagle Ridge > Briar Woods

FCPS
Navy ES > Franklin > Oakton / Chantilly

My kids went/go to Franklin and Oakton. We were thrilled with Franklin's teachers and their care of students.

Oakton has been a very good experience, as well, but not quite as nurturing as Franklin was.

Thats great to know ! Did they go to an elementary school in the same pyramid? [/quote
One went to Waples Mill briefly, but we moved here only a few years ago.

[Anonymous]

LCPS has a more homogeneous population. I would say for a stronger student, FCPS is better.