Falls Church City Public Schools
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Anonymous
| How are the schools in FCC these days? Are they overcrowded? Interested in the elementary school and middle school and I have children in both. |
Anonymous
| Isn’t FCC in Fairfax? I don’t know if the right people will see your post here. |
Anonymous
No, FCPS is Fairfax and FCCPS is Falls Church City, which is properly on this board. -not OP |
Anonymous
| Not overcrowded. Not perfect but dramatically better than many other systems. The middle school is particularly good. I was super impressed at bts night this year about how enthusiastic all the teachers were. I find the administration to be super responsive and really want to do whatever they can to support students. |
Anonymous
|
All schools (preschool, K-2, 3-5, MS and HS) are below capacity. There are more students this fall than predicted by the school board’s fancy consultants, but we still have a ways to go before we are bursting at the seams. The expansion of Mount Daniel and the new high school have created some needed breathing room.
I think each school has its fantastic teachers and its so-so ones, but the good ones far, far outweigh the bad. The secondary campus (MS and HS) has Valerie Hardy at the head, and she is absolutely fantastic. Sets an excellent tone for her staff at all levels. |
Anonymous
This is someone from central office posting. Valerie Hardy is a wonderful person but doesn’t have direct contact with staff. There isn’t any setting of a tone. The high school is under capacity on paper only. They didn’t build enough classrooms and the classrooms they did build are too small. The administration is supportive and I agree with the above about the teachers. Many are excellent and the good outweigh the bad. This is true. Noonan, the superintendent, sets the tone and many staff have not been happy for a very long time. |
Anonymous
| I have children in the elementary schools and we are overall happy. Most teachers have been very good but there are definitely some duds. The school is responsive for the most part. |
Anonymous
| How is the elementary school’s ELA curriculum? Have they implemented structured literacy and a knowledge rich curriculum? I know they do IB in elementary school but that’s more theme based. |
Anonymous
They have, thankfully, turned away from Lucy Caulkins and are following the Science of Reading (more phonics instruction). My younger child is really benefiting from the phonics instruction. |
Anonymous
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Meridian HS has half the students of any other high school in the area (849).
In elementary my son rarely had class sizes over 15 or 16 (compared to 30+ in FCPS). |
Anonymous
This is a lie. |
Anonymous
Not a lie, pretty much every year. A few students would be added as the year went on to get to 18 or 20 but nowhere near 30 ever. You can verify the ratio on Great Schools and compare to nearby elementary schools. |
Anonymous
Adding they have tons of classrooms between 2 elementary schools. So there might be 15 K classes for example. |
Anonymous
| Not a lie. My kids have always have had between 16 and 20 kids in their classes. We have been in the district for 6 years. Kindergarten and 1st grades usually have two teachers. A main teacher and an assistant. |
Anonymous
| Anyone have experience with special Ed in FCCPS? Especially support for autistic/language learning disabled students? |