Woodson and West Springfield High School

[Anonymous]

Slacker parent here hoping WSHS meets our slacker needs. Not sure yet, our oldest is at Irving.

My husband and I refer to ourselves as “adequate parents.” Not neglectful, but not at the DCUM standard. Just the basics: school music lessons, and rec sports, plenty of video games and hanging out.

I was not a slacker kid, but I learned to embrace the slacker life style in college in the 90s. Sorry we are bringing the averages down, but someone has to do it.

[Anonymous]

WSHS graduate (long ago) and WS is my hometown. Due to the high numbers of military-affiliated students, it’s not unusual to be the “new kid” at any point in the school year or grade. Just FYI. Of course, this has its pros and cons.

Woodson was always the HS with laudable athletic achievements- a real powerhouse. Still think of it as such.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WSHS graduate (long ago) and WS is my hometown. Due to the high numbers of military-affiliated students, it’s not unusual to be the “new kid” at any point in the school year or grade. Just FYI. Of course, this has its pros and cons.

Woodson was always the HS with laudable athletic achievements- a real powerhouse. Still think of it as such.

Woodson hasn’t been good at sports for a while. I think the girls lacrosse team was good a while back but it’s been years. WS isn’t much better except it’s been good at track and cross country. Lake Braddock is much stronger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, I'm glad to hear about the different choices for friend groups. High school can be clicky by nature and I'm glad that there can be some relief for that. I am aware about woodson and the academic pressure, I'm sure you would find the same in a lot of high schools. I'm concerned about my child being in a friendly environment, and not in a hyper competitive one.

We are leaving FCPS this summer for that reason. Everything is hyper competitive—sports, music, drama, academics. If this is truly your goal, then I would pause. I’ve taught HS in the county for a long time and really like a lot of things FCPS has, but a laid back atmosphere is not one of them.

If you are set on one of those two schools though, I’d choose WSHS. Woodson is intense (or was when I was teaching there a few years ago).

A huge part of that is because of the ridiculously large size of the HSs here. There are only so many slots on sports teams, in plays, etc. so big schools drive more competition for the limited slots.

[Anonymous]

Woodson is boring. The smart kids I know go to McLean and Oakton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Slacker parent here hoping WSHS meets our slacker needs. Not sure yet, our oldest is at Irving.

My husband and I refer to ourselves as “adequate parents.” Not neglectful, but not at the DCUM standard. Just the basics: school music lessons, and rec sports, plenty of video games and hanging out.

I was not a slacker kid, but I learned to embrace the slacker life style in college in the 90s. Sorry we are bringing the averages down, but someone has to do it.

Will you be my friend? granted my kid is a rising senior at WSHS so last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WSHS graduate (long ago) and WS is my hometown. Due to the high numbers of military-affiliated students, it’s not unusual to be the “new kid” at any point in the school year or grade. Just FYI. Of course, this has its pros and cons.

Woodson was always the HS with laudable athletic achievements- a real powerhouse. Still think of it as such.

Woodson hasn’t been good at sports for a while. I think the girls lacrosse team was good a while back but it’s been years. WS isn’t much better except it’s been good at track and cross country. Lake Braddock is much stronger.

Didn’t the Woodson Boys Basketball team win states around six years ago. That’s not that long ago. They have a number of recent state championship teams.

[Anonymous]

The schools are very similiar. I wouldn’t call WS middle class when most homes are over $800k.

And yes Woodson had a reputation of being high pressure but people on these boards use to say it was because it was less wealthy than neighboring areas so the kids had to try harder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Woodson is boring. The smart kids I know go to McLean and Oakton.

Oakton is a level or two below Mclean and Langley

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Woodson is boring. The smart kids I know go to McLean and Oakton.

Oakton is a level or two below Mclean and Langley

No one actually believes this IRL; only a bored DCUM troll would say something like this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Woodson is boring. The smart kids I know go to McLean and Oakton.

Oakton is a level or two below Mclean and Langley

No one actually believes this IRL; only a bored DCUM troll would say something like this.

I like dumping on Langley and McLean as much as the next guy, but it's undeniably true that those two schools are a notch above the rest. Look at SATs and especially AP pass rates. Most FCPS schools are objectively much more middle-tier than parents here like to believe.

Of course, most parents will sing the praises of their pyramid in an effort to impress the Joneses.

[Anonymous]

AND the discussion WAS NOT about Langley & McLean

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are similar. West Springfield is more middle class, Woodson is more pressure cooker, but these differences are really small. Basically, they are both good suburban high schools with lots of options for classes and friend groups.

The term "pressure cooker" is a trope used by parents to try and disparage other schools with more high-performing kids.

Woodson gets the "pressure cooker" label because for many years it was known for suicide clusters.

I don't believe it still faces this issue, but the reputation has stuck for now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Slacker parent here hoping WSHS meets our slacker needs. Not sure yet, our oldest is at Irving.

My husband and I refer to ourselves as “adequate parents.” Not neglectful, but not at the DCUM standard. Just the basics: school music lessons, and rec sports, plenty of video games and hanging out.

I was not a slacker kid, but I learned to embrace the slacker life style in college in the 90s. Sorry we are bringing the averages down, but someone has to do it.

I have 2 overachievers and in slacker at WSHS. All were/are happy, including the slacker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WSHS graduate (long ago) and WS is my hometown. Due to the high numbers of military-affiliated students, it’s not unusual to be the “new kid” at any point in the school year or grade. Just FYI. Of course, this has its pros and cons.

Woodson was always the HS with laudable athletic achievements- a real powerhouse. Still think of it as such.

Woodson hasn’t been good at sports for a while. I think the girls lacrosse team was good a while back but it’s been years. WS isn’t much better except it’s been good at track and cross country. Lake Braddock is much stronger.

WSHS is very strong at baseball too.

I could be wrong, but I believe WS was better in football last season that LB, until the QB was injured.