Which fcps high school do you hear the worst stories about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People have a really bad habit on this board of attributing all posts with an opinion opposite of theirs to just one poster.

I am a base GBW parent. I don't hate the program or the kids, but the overcrowding situation is out of control. And there is absolutely a problem with us vs. them at our school. It's great that other schools don't have that issue - wish our school could figure it out. Maybe it will get better with poplar tree center opening, who knows?

But this post isn't even about aap. It started about high schools, but the attitudes on this board are indicative of an overarching problem in fcps. I just don't buy that kids can only get a good education/be challenged in schools with the rich and gifted. Fairfax has a huge concentration of type a's, ultra competitive parents, tiger parents, whatever you want to call them - and that kind of pressure is not necessarily good and/or healthy for kids.

We may or may not move - and our reasons are more commute/family time related. But I do wonder if moving to a system that isn't so stuffed full of families who see anything less than top of the class, rich and powerful as the end all be all would be overall a more positive experience for our kids.

+1. Who says that the only good schools are rich and gifted? I will say that it makes no sense to me that Center GE parents gripe about AAP kids in their school, and Base GE parents gripe about the "best and brightest" being drained off. But let's call it what it is: the politics of real estate values. Center ESs /MSs tend to be the strongest schools, probably because AAP kids pull up test scores. So, the RE values for GBW, LA, Lemon Road, Oak Hill, Hunters Woods, Carson, Rocky Run, Longfellow are higher.

[Anonymous]

In the case of Greenbriar, the base neighborhood is one of the last neighborhoods in the area that still has homes under $500k. So It may have helped real estate a little, but nota huge bump.

I will say that I am happy to hear that not everyone is of the opinion that the only good schools are the ones in the extremely high ses zones or the centers. I know I've met others who don't think that, but it is indeed a strong opinion amongst a certain segment of our school population as well as on this board.

There is definitely snobbery at play, though, when any system that isn't fcps is called mediocre and less challenging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In the case of Greenbriar, the base neighborhood is one of the last neighborhoods in the area that still has homes under $500k. So It may have helped real estate a little, but nota huge bump.

I will say that I am happy to hear that not everyone is of the opinion that the only good schools are the ones in the extremely high ses zones or the centers. I know I've met others who don't think that, but it is indeed a strong opinion amongst a certain segment of our school population as well as on this board.

There is definitely snobbery at play, though, when any system that isn't fcps is called mediocre and less challenging.

I think that there is a lot of pushback among NOVA parents that FCPS kids need much betterGPAs & more APs to get into UVA, WM & VT than kids from other areas of the state. Also if we are paying so much $$ for housing, we want to think that the schools are great.

[Anonymous]

14:15, I can certainly understand that. It's just when it leads to nasty comments about inferior schools and not caring about kids education when it goes too far.

[Anonymous]

The struggling schools - Lee, Stuart, Mt Vernon- they need IB for tracking. It's a lifeline for their higher achieving students.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:honestly, the insanity that is Fairfax County is making me think moving to PWC or Stafford is the better choice for our family. My husband works north of Fredericksburg and our first is an average student. Getting away from the pressure cooker might be a welcome change in general. FCPS has made it pretty obvious that they cater to the upper class and gifted.

This is exactly what we're thinking too. We've had it up to here with FCPS bending over backwards for the "gifted" students, AAP, etc. I'd love a normal high school environment for my kids.

You get that "AAP services" in HS are open enrollment honors/AP/ IB, right? You're against these things?

PP again - to clarify, yes, I "get" that AP/IB classes in high school are open to all, as they should be. I just meant that all the competitive hype leading up to high school (AAP) is so completely overblown. That's what we're sick of. So actually, I'm thinking high school might just be a breath of fresh air for our family, since we won't have to deal with any AAP nonsense, and our kids will be able to enroll in any AP class they choose.

There is no "AAP pressure" in some schools... and I don't mean schools that are high FARMS or ESOL. Maybe AAP is a big deal where your kids are at now, but it isn't that way in every school.

Wild guess here-- you're the pissed off Gen Ed parent in a "toxic" Center school (GBW??) who spend so much time looking for a fight on the AAP board and declaring everything "ridiculous"? Yeah-- not every Center is overcrowded and toxic. I'm sorry yours is. And AAP classrooms will still be a fact of life, even if there is a huge push to go LLIV in every school that can support it. And, genuinely Not trying to be snarky here, the more you rage against AAP, the more you look like a parent whose bitter because their child didn't make the cut.

I'm not the poster in question, but I also don't support AAP and I'm not bitter, because my child is only in K. I just don't think there should be a cut to be made in the first place, especially in only 1st and 2nd grade, when the advantage goes to students who are just older, have developed faster, are girls, are white and middle class in a FARM heavy school, and so on. As a teacher, I saw lots of kids go to AAP and maybe like one or two who were truly gifted and the others were just good students or a little more mature sooner than other kids. And of course, all the parent placements, which were without question ordinary kids, often not even very good students. What really bugs me is that there is a myth of a gifted child who needs a different classroom, but that describes only the tiniest percentage of AAP kids, and not nearly enough to justify a whole huge program. I also don't like that it removed the best and brightest from our schools, leaving only the middle and low, and then diverts the best resources to those children. All children would benefit from the kinds of resources available in the AAP program. The whole thing is simply unhealthy, unfair, illogical, and elitist. It isn't good for our schools and it isn't good for kids. It advantages a small number of children who are not any more worthy and the rest. The system needs to go - it is simply unjustifiable.

AAP doesn't get additional resources, just different. You ignorance is showing.

+1. What extra resources besides busing Center kids (and many of these kids would have to bus to their base school anyway). I keep seeing the "they drain resources" argument, but no one can point out what these supposed resources are. In fact, FCAG issued a report showing AAP ES kids were significantly more likely to be in classes of 35 than GE kids.

I know what I'm talking about - just in full-time administrators in central admin, people who work on the AAP programs, there is probably close to 1 million dollars in raw salary, and that includes only central staff, only salary, no support staff (i.e. receptionists and so on, office work directed that way, etc), no benefits, no retirement. Now add in the admin staff required for the centers themselves - do you think they run themselves? Just think about the amount of paperwork generated by the AAP program at just the elementary level, and you could probably shave a million or two off the budget by getting rid of all that. And of course, the busing.

[Anonymous]

Of high pressure is a concern - then steer clear of Woodson. What the hell happened over there?

[Anonymous]

The thing is, everyone has complaints about their high school, whether it's FCPS or another county. Whether they attended recently, or back in the 80's. High school is (generally) a universally bad experience. There will always be the rich kids, the jocks, the smart kids, etc. etc. That's what high school is! A bunch of cliques and you're lucky if you find yourself some like-minded friends. I went to school in the midwest, and all of these descriptions could have applied to my very middle-of-the-road high school.

Good luck finding the "perfect" school, because it doesn't exist. Teens are teens, the whole world over.

Truth.

[Anonymous]

Why are people discussing ES and budgets? The thread is about HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Langley, yes. Mostly about spoiled, entitled kids and parents with outsized egos.

Also, terrible mix of privilege and wealth and recreational drugs and competition over has and has more.

Yet another thread that devolves into Langley hate. I'm a Langley parent and the above is nonsense. Of course, if you had children who actually attended this school, you'd know that. Stop spreading these disgusting rumors about a school and student body about which you know nothing.

Mine did. And what that poster put up is absolutely true.

[Anonymous]

One only needs to see the student cars rolling into the Langley parking lot.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:They are all awful and so smugly self-satisfied. FCPS is a self-contained provincial asylum which sends about 90% of its students to roughly five in-state universities. These poor kids are born, live their lives and die without ever leaving the confines of the Commonwealth of Virgnia.

Their students graduate woefully unprepared for the rigors of life and college academics.

Sorry your kid didn't get into a decent Va. school. You are an idiot.

This is a typical response from a mindless FCPS student lacking any and all analytical skills. Rather than supporting your position with a reasoned argument you make false assumptions and personal attacks. This FCPS student like many others would destroy others rather than listening and spending the time and effort required to improve themselves.

Hurry up and get out of bed. You are already late for two-a-days!

Agreed. The above post is silly, and weirdly bitter.
Yes, there is certainly a push to place into the top in state schools. The competiton to get in from FFx county is very real. An equally talented out of state student is worth more to admissions. I remember when I was looking out of state for college in the 90's. There was an 80,000 dollar difference in tuition back then. I shudder to think of what that would be today.
Yes, savy parents and students take advantage of Virginia's excellent public universities. Graduating without any debt allowed me to move to NYC and persue my dreams. I felt sorry for my co co workers who had massive debt from college.

I could not believe how absolutely toxic this past year's college admissions were! My DD did not apply to any VA schools (we can afford to pay private) and instead chose a small private good southern school, but even with a 5.0 GPA, two 5s and a 4 on her APs, high test score, and many awards, she was flat-out denied at so many schools she applied to due to the competition and the fact she can't check a box.

We are happy with where she got in, but I have been very outspoken to others coming up the pike about how toxic the atmosphere is and not to take rejections personally.

I don't remember it being this bad when I was applying.

[Anonymous]

Is it possible to have a 5.0 now? How can this be? Aren't regular A's 4.0? The weighted A's would have to 6s or something to bring the average up to a 5.0. Or, pp, are you just blowing smoke?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are all awful and so smugly self-satisfied. FCPS is a self-contained provincial asylum which sends about 90% of its students to roughly five in-state universities. These poor kids are born, live their lives and die without ever leaving the confines of the Commonwealth of Virgnia.

Their students graduate woefully unprepared for the rigors of life and college academics.

Sorry your kid didn't get into a decent Va. school. You are an idiot.

This is a typical response from a mindless FCPS student lacking any and all analytical skills. Rather than supporting your position with a reasoned argument you make false assumptions and personal attacks. This FCPS student like many others would destroy others rather than listening and spending the time and effort required to improve themselves.

Hurry up and get out of bed. You are already late for two-a-days!

Agreed. The above post is silly, and weirdly bitter.
Yes, there is certainly a push to place into the top in state schools. The competiton to get in from FFx county is very real. An equally talented out of state student is worth more to admissions. I remember when I was looking out of state for college in the 90's. There was an 80,000 dollar difference in tuition back then. I shudder to think of what that would be today.
Yes, savy parents and students take advantage of Virginia's excellent public universities. Graduating without any debt allowed me to move to NYC and persue my dreams. I felt sorry for my co co workers who had massive debt from college.

I could not believe how absolutely toxic this past year's college admissions were! My DD did not apply to any VA schools (we can afford to pay private) and instead chose a small private good southern school, but even with a 5.0 GPA, two 5s and a 4 on her APs, high test score, and many awards, she was flat-out denied at so many schools she applied to due to the competition and the fact she can't check a box.

We are happy with where she got in, but I have been very outspoken to others coming up the pike about how toxic the atmosphere is and not to take rejections personally.

I don't remember it being this bad when I was applying.

I don't understand how admissions were "toxic" for you and your daughter. She applied to schools with good grades, scores, etc. and didn't get into some. Seems to be a pretty common experience these days with so many kids applying to so many colleges. And she got into a good private southern school. What was toxic about your experience?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The thing is, everyone has complaints about their high school, whether it's FCPS or another county. Whether they attended recently, or back in the 80's. High school is (generally) a universally bad experience. There will always be the rich kids, the jocks, the smart kids, etc. etc. That's what high school is! A bunch of cliques and you're lucky if you find yourself some like-minded friends. I went to school in the midwest, and all of these descriptions could have applied to my very middle-of-the-road high school.

Good luck finding the "perfect" school, because it doesn't exist. Teens are teens, the whole world over.

+1000
There's a reason movies like "The Breakfast Club" resonated with so many people. High school, generally, sucks. Those of you trying to make one particular high school or another out to be this horrible experience clearly have a significant chip on their shoulders, for whatever reason. High school, no matter where it is and no matter the demographics, will generally be a stressful experience for most kids. There are always going to be cliques, drugs, sex, mean girls, bullies, whatever. So please: those of you obsessed with tearing down certain schools, do a little soul-searching and come back to us once you've found the perfect high school. It doesn't exist.