Touring elementary school
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Anonymous
| Did FCPS used to offer opportunities for parents to visit/tour elementary schools before deciding to enroll their child? I thought I read people mentioning this here, but maybe I’m misremembering? Or were these offered pre-covid? I called Haycock’s main office and was told they don’t allow this, but the person I spoke with didn’t know if they ever had. |
Anonymous
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You make it sound like you get to choose which ES your kid can go to based on your opinion of touring said school. It doesn't work like that.
Is that what you mean? |
Anonymous
Yes, they used to do in-person tours at Haycock but apparently haven’t resumed since Covid. https://haycockes.fcps.edu/about/tours-our-school |
Anonymous
That’s not how I read OP. You could ask for a tour before deciding whether to buy in an area or deciding whether to send your kid to public school as opposed to private or parochial school. |
Anonymous
| I think it depends on the school and availability of the principal. The principal at our Title 1 school has no problem taking parents on a tour. One of our neighbors has twins and missed the kindergarten orientation because of COVID. They said the principal worked with them to take them all on a tour when they were better. |
Anonymous
We toured haycock about 10 years ago. Plus parents can choose where to buy a home so yes, you can pick a school based off the tour. |
Anonymous
| Our school did it when I was a teacher. It's the principal's choice, but I also wouldn't trust the person who told you that on the phone. Email the principal instead, |
Anonymous
Thank you for this tip, we’ll do that. |
Anonymous
| Stop wasting the administrators’ time. None of them want to see if they pass your litmus test. |
Anonymous
| What are you expecting to see/not see? I couldn’t imagine a tour of an ES being the tipping point for buying a house in a particular area. (…and in this area by the time you schedule the tour you probably missed out on buying the house!) 🤣 |
Anonymous
| Yes, you can certainly request a tour. We have several tours per year at our Vienna area school. Many families like to see the school before deciding between public and private. In fact, we had a family touring last week. |
Anonymous
Condition/cleanliness of the building, admin personalities/priorities, messaging in the halls/classroom, quality of the equipment, lunch menus. When we did a tour, student's were not present. Given that some schools are "desirable" some people need to see if its worth "less house" for a more desirable school pyramid or if one should go for a different school within that pyramid. |
Anonymous
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As a parent of children who go to our local public elementary school, I don’t really want random people touring the buildings all the time. It seems creepy.
If you have a rising kindergartener and are already enrolled, I get them giving tours for the new families. |
Anonymous
+1... also the hallway artwork and stories and projects and after-school activity posters and so-on can give you some feel of the culture of the school as well. It's not perfect but it's better than nothing. As a parent I have no problem with other prospective parents likewise wanting to do some baseline level of due diligence and getting a level of comfort before enrolling their child when my kids are there. I don't really want my kids going to school with families who are opposed to supervised school visits. It seems paranoid. |
Anonymous
How about if some woman on the tour wants to talk to the kids and see if they like the school? OK if some rando just talks to a kid on the playground? How about if some man on the tour takes a couple of classroom pictures with your kids in them? Yuck. If they want a tour, let the principal do it after hours. |