Jackson Middle School

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have recent feedback on this MS?
Interested in hearing from parents who have kids who actually go there or went there in the past couple years.

[Anonymous]

We have one there now and another that was there 2 yrs ago. Both were AAP and had an overall good experience. Teaching was variable- some great teachers and some more challenging but I think that happens everywhere.

[Anonymous]

My child was there a few years ago - also AAP. I thought the AAP teachers were excellent. Math was hit-or-miss - math 7H was meh, algebra teacher was excellent. The school building is run down and mint green hospital tile. The afterschool program was robust, and my kid liked staying.

My kid also did theater while they were there - the theater teacher is A LOT, but there were tons of ways to be involved in the shows beyond acting and our kid really enjoyed it and is still friends with LJ Drama friends that are at other HSs.

The big downside for us was the band director. He does nothing to promote love of music and did not pass on any information to the kids in pyramids other than Falls Church about HS band. Our base school, Thoreau, had a much better band program.

My kid picked LJ because it's where the vast majority of their friends went. One or two friends' parents decided they LJ wasn't "safe enough" for their kid. Mine never felt unsafe, but they definitely felt there were more hallway and cafeteria yelling matches/pushing (not full-blown fights) than their other schools. If they had it they may have picked Thoreau, but more because of the better band program and that 90% of their HS friends went there and they would have met them sooner.

[Anonymous]

Oh, and my kid really liked the principal, Raven Jones. Never had any issued we had to deal with the admin on, but kid said she was around a lot, talked to the kids, attended a lot of their events, and was very friendly and engaging. We saw her at a few band/theater evening events, and she was always very pleasant and circulating.

[Anonymous]

Raven Jones is now principal at McLean High School.

[Anonymous]

I had student there and currently and have another.

So far I have no complaints about LJ, the teachers have all but one been at least very good and I think about half have been terrific.

Former Principal Jones was terrific, the new Principal hasn't been there long enough to really be known.

To the comment about the band director, I have a band kid now who likes it and liked it at the feeder ES. I am not aware of other MS' having more downstream involvement.

The after school activities IMO are very very robust, and the new director of that program has enhanced it from what was already terrific the last 2 years.

[Anonymous]

My now-10th grader loved everything about LJ. Yes, the building is old and rundown but that did not effect his experience. There were definitely a lot of fights in the hallways but none of DS's friends were ever involved in any way. Out of 14 classes over two years, DS had only two teachers that were not good, but the rest were either very good or excellent. Agree that the after-school program is robust. My other AAP kid chose Thoreau because his friends were going there. He is only in 7th grade but so far I am less impressed with the work I see him doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the comment about the band director, I have a band kid now who likes it and liked it at the feeder ES. I am not aware of other MS' having more downstream involvement.

My kid is now at Madison, which has a very active band program. Every year, they host a "pyramid night" for 6th-8th graders to come and play with the band as a recruitment event. (We weren't aware of it in 6th because the season was cancelled for COVID.) I believe Oakton has a similar program. Invitations are also sent for concerts and other events - we got one for Falls Church HS and none for Oakton or Madison.

The LJ band director never shared this info with the kids, even though I know the Madison directors sends it to Jackson, Thoreau, and Kilmer. My kid has never seen another LJ kid at Madison band pyramid night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the comment about the band director, I have a band kid now who likes it and liked it at the feeder ES. I am not aware of other MS' having more downstream involvement.

My kid is now at Madison, which has a very active band program. Every year, they host a "pyramid night" for 6th-8th graders to come and play with the band as a recruitment event. (We weren't aware of it in 6th because the season was cancelled for COVID.) I believe Oakton has a similar program. Invitations are also sent for concerts and other events - we got one for Falls Church HS and none for Oakton or Madison.

The LJ band director never shared this info with the kids, even though I know the Madison directors sends it to Jackson, Thoreau, and Kilmer. My kid has never seen another LJ kid at Madison band pyramid night.

I didn't have a band kid at LJMS the last two years, but a student, and knew all about the pyramid band event. It was in communications from the principal.