Falls Church City Schools

[Anonymous]

I'm having a lot of trouble finding information about Falls Church City Schools. We are considering buying a house in the district and it appears in US News etc. schools are ranked much lower than Fairfax (Mclean/Marshall/Madison) but I'm wondering what the real world experience is. We are interested in everything from elementary through high school since we are planning to stay for good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm having a lot of trouble finding information about Falls Church City Schools. We are considering buying a house in the district and it appears in US News etc. schools are ranked much lower than Fairfax (Mclean/Marshall/Madison) but I'm wondering what the real world experience is. We are interested in everything from elementary through high school since we are planning to stay for good.

When you say "much lower," the high school is ranked #14 in the entire state, which is nothing to sneeze at.

That being said, I only have experience with the elementary schools so far and have been very pleased. The district is small, which is good and bad. The cohort will mostly be together throughout their schooling except for those who move into and out of the school district. Because there are not multiple schools that cover each grade level, there is also no worry about redistricting which seems to be a concern for those on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Search DCUM. There are many posts about FCCPS already.

[Anonymous]

I think you have found one of the gems of the public school model. If I could have done it again that’s where I’d go.

[Anonymous]

Real world experience. Smaller schools means fewer program offerings and opportunities. Small had advantages and disadvantages. Both are magnified in high school. Search the forum for lots of discussion but do a lot of research before you buy to see if their IB offerings and MYP and standards based grading is right for your family. They drastically changed everything in the past few years. Some like it. Others do not.

[Anonymous]

Our biggest issue with FCCPS was that it was such a small community and really brought back bad memories of being a minority in a small homogenous community to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm having a lot of trouble finding information about Falls Church City Schools. We are considering buying a house in the district and it appears in US News etc. schools are ranked much lower than Fairfax (Mclean/Marshall/Madison) but I'm wondering what the real world experience is. We are interested in everything from elementary through high school since we are planning to stay for good.

When you say "much lower," the high school is ranked #14 in the entire state, which is nothing to sneeze at.

That being said, I only have experience with the elementary schools so far and have been very pleased. The district is small, which is good and bad. The cohort will mostly be together throughout their schooling except for those who move into and out of the school district. Because there are not multiple schools that cover each grade level, there is also no worry about redistricting which seems to be a concern for those on DCUM.

The downside of this is that your kids are stuck with the same cohort from K-12, and you can't get away from them, LOL!

[Anonymous]

Versus a 3,000 super sized school that barely knows your kid’s name? This area is obsessed with artisanal - except when it come to its schools. Super strange to me - and I call school district employees on here who have major pension, healthcare, salary skin in the game. I think the intellectual honest thing to say is that you have a bias - you work for them and don’t want to see the model fail. Why don’t you just say it? It’s super obvious with all of the verbal gymnastics you play around defending failure. FCPS and MCPS here’s looking at you...

I like Costco for certain things but not for high school...

[Anonymous]

My kids are only in elementary school but we have been happy with the school and the community. We love the small school size and district. My 4th grader has made a lot of friends and enjoys seeing her classmates on the various community rec sports teams. With FCC it’s the small school plus the community that make it a great young childhood experience. Will that feel stifling when kids are in High School, maybe, but for now I feel like we live in Mayberry. Also for what it’s worth, we are a Latino family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm having a lot of trouble finding information about Falls Church City Schools. We are considering buying a house in the district and it appears in US News etc. schools are ranked much lower than Fairfax (Mclean/Marshall/Madison) but I'm wondering what the real world experience is. We are interested in everything from elementary through high school since we are planning to stay for good.

When you say "much lower," the high school is ranked #14 in the entire state, which is nothing to sneeze at.

That being said, I only have experience with the elementary schools so far and have been very pleased. The district is small, which is good and bad. The cohort will mostly be together throughout their schooling except for those who move into and out of the school district. Because there are not multiple schools that cover each grade level, there is also no worry about redistricting which seems to be a concern for those on DCUM.

The downside of this is that your kids are stuck with the same cohort from K-12, and you can't get away from them, LOL!

That may not be a downside.

[Anonymous]

FCC is overrated in my view. It’s very small and insular.

[Anonymous]

It's great if you're white and wealthy, average if you're Asian and wealthy, otherwise sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm having a lot of trouble finding information about Falls Church City Schools. We are considering buying a house in the district and it appears in US News etc. schools are ranked much lower than Fairfax (Mclean/Marshall/Madison) but I'm wondering what the real world experience is. We are interested in everything from elementary through high school since we are planning to stay for good.

When you say "much lower," the high school is ranked #14 in the entire state, which is nothing to sneeze at.

That being said, I only have experience with the elementary schools so far and have been very pleased. The district is small, which is good and bad. The cohort will mostly be together throughout their schooling except for those who move into and out of the school district. Because there are not multiple schools that cover each grade level, there is also no worry about redistricting which seems to be a concern for those on DCUM.

The downside of this is that your kids are stuck with the same cohort from K-12, and you can't get away from them, LOL!

That may not be a downside.

It is a downside if your child gets labeled as different and it sticks with them for 12 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids are only in elementary school but we have been happy with the school and the community. We love the small school size and district. My 4th grader has made a lot of friends and enjoys seeing her classmates on the various community rec sports teams. With FCC it’s the small school plus the community that make it a great young childhood experience. Will that feel stifling when kids are in High School, maybe, but for now I feel like we live in Mayberry. Also for what it’s worth, we are a Latino family.

How do you feel about what they tried to do to La Tingeria?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Versus a 3,000 super sized school that barely knows your kid’s name? This area is obsessed with artisanal - except when it come to its schools. Super strange to me - and I call school district employees on here who have major pension, healthcare, salary skin in the game. I think the intellectual honest thing to say is that you have a bias - you work for them and don’t want to see the model fail. Why don’t you just say it? It’s super obvious with all of the verbal gymnastics you play around defending failure. FCPS and MCPS here’s looking at you...

I like Costco for certain things but not for high school...

What are you trying to say?