Has there always been a bus stop for TJ at Mclean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not a troll. The students are picked up at the Westmoreland side entrance across from the rock. This is also the carline drop off point for Mclean students. The carline is being paused every morning so that the TJ students can board their bus. Why isn’t the TJ pick-up at Longfellow or another school that is already in session by that time?

Longfellow is close to Haycock so if there is already a stop at Haycock that would be duplicative. McLean is a couple of miles further up Westmoreland.

Honestly, as a McLean parent I can tell you that you had better learn to roll with the punches unless you want to be miserable. You can focus on the positive - the extensive roof work that was completed over the summer, the girl’s softball team that won a state championship in the spring and/or the It’s Academic team that won back-to-back titles - or you can focus on the negatives, such as their not completing the bathroom renovations on schedule as promised. There will continue to be building-related issues for years to come, and quite honestly it’s not going to get any better even after Tholen is gone (neither of the candidates running to replace her is treating the facilities issues at MHS as a priority).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, there has been a TJ stop there and at Haycock.

Is the bus running exceptionally late this year? These students were not waiting in front of the school entrance last year. I don’t need TJ parents clogging up the carline. TJ sucks up enough resources while Mclean can’t even get the bathrooms renovated or the a/c turned on before the start of the school year. It’s absurd that Mclean is now a bus stop for another school.

No one on this board feels bad for the McLean students. If it is truly so horrible, I think there’s openings at Mount Vernon and Lewis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I rode the TJ bus (from another school) in my day.
You realize that those students goingto TJ who are being first bused to McLean have a really long commutte and would otherwise be going to mclean and using their bus services, right>?

Oh, I meant to add, the TJ kids probably already feel like second class citizens being made to wait, etc., at McLean, if that makes you feel better. I bussed through two separate high schools near McLean (although this was years ago), we sat in a cluster on the floor, while all the kids went to school around us, and we waited, for our bus to arrive. It never occured to me they could have a place for us to exist while we waited for the bus.

There is no scenario where TJ students feel like “second-class citizens.” Their school gets a disproportionate amount of FCPS attention and resources and the school was fully renovated a few years ago.

Having said that, it really doesn’t bother me in the slightest if they get picked up at McLean. I guess they could explore doing a pick-up at the Langley Shopping Center off Chain Bridge instead (Potomac School, for example, does a pick-up there).

[Anonymous]

I was a TJ student. I felt really spoiled. But when I look back, the lack of a waiting area (we would wait around 30 minutes) for us was odd. We had to kind of figure out where to physically wait/exist and there was no space. No chairs, no where to sit outside the ground, even in the winter -- and then, the students at the school we were waiting at would have to squeeze around us. Basically it was clear in retrospect that the school we were waiting at didn't want us to exist.

[Anonymous]

This is not a new bus stop at Mclean. I think the TJ bus just might be running late. I drove by Haycock today and the kids were still waiting there later than I think the bus typically used to pick up.

[Anonymous]

I thought TJ would do pickups at all the local HSs?

[Anonymous]

McLean high school has a group of highly advanced students who are without a CS teacher. Why don’t they just bus those kids to TJ? Or bring the teachers to the different schools? I know this is an issue at Langley. There are students at these high schools who are maxing out on what is offered at their local high school. As someone who is somewhat new to the area, it seems very silly to limit access to senior year classes based on what the child did in 7th grade. Why not open the opportunity up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:McLean high school has a group of highly advanced students who are without a CS teacher. Why don’t they just bus those kids to TJ? Or bring the teachers to the different schools? I know this is an issue at Langley. There are students at these high schools who are maxing out on what is offered at their local high school. As someone who is somewhat new to the area, it seems very silly to limit access to senior year classes based on what the child did in 7th grade. Why not open the opportunity up?

That’s part of a broader discussion about whether TJ would function better as a full-time academy offering only courses available nowhere else to more students (who would otherwise remain as a base school) than as a full/time school.

Suffice it to say that there’s no interest among FCPS leadership in doing anything other than what TJ is currently doing, which is expanding its class sizes (to about 550 kids per grade vs. 475) and allocating seats more widely across the participating jurisdictions.

The fact that Langley or McLean students may not have a teacher for a course or a desired course may not be available isn’t going to be treated any differently than, say, an elementary school elsewhere in the county without a PE or music teacher. Sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a TJ student. I felt really spoiled. But when I look back, the lack of a waiting area (we would wait around 30 minutes) for us was odd. We had to kind of figure out where to physically wait/exist and there was no space. No chairs, no where to sit outside the ground, even in the winter -- and then, the students at the school we were waiting at would have to squeeze around us. Basically it was clear in retrospect that the school we were waiting at didn't want us to exist.

It seems like that would be an FCPS responsibility rather than a school-specific obligation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a TJ student. I felt really spoiled. But when I look back, the lack of a waiting area (we would wait around 30 minutes) for us was odd. We had to kind of figure out where to physically wait/exist and there was no space. No chairs, no where to sit outside the ground, even in the winter -- and then, the students at the school we were waiting at would have to squeeze around us. Basically it was clear in retrospect that the school we were waiting at didn't want us to exist.

It seems like that would be an FCPS responsibility rather than a school-specific obligation.

Maybe Mclean will finally receive an expansion if only to accommodate the second class TJ students who don’t have any place to sit while they wait for their second bus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McLean high school has a group of highly advanced students who are without a CS teacher. Why don’t they just bus those kids to TJ? Or bring the teachers to the different schools? I know this is an issue at Langley. There are students at these high schools who are maxing out on what is offered at their local high school. As someone who is somewhat new to the area, it seems very silly to limit access to senior year classes based on what the child did in 7th grade. Why not open the opportunity up?

That’s part of a broader discussion about whether TJ would function better as a full-time academy offering only courses available nowhere else to more students (who would otherwise remain as a base school) than as a full/time school.

Suffice it to say that there’s no interest among FCPS leadership in doing anything other than what TJ is currently doing, which is expanding its class sizes (to about 550 kids per grade vs. 475) and allocating seats more widely across the participating jurisdictions.

The fact that Langley or McLean students may not have a teacher for a course or a desired course may not be available isn’t going to be treated any differently than, say, an elementary school elsewhere in the county without a PE or music teacher. Sorry.

LoCo is welcome to their Academies. Why would FCPS want to dismantle TJ to create another one of those?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t remember the crowd of students at the entrance last year. Why is the TJ stop at Mclean? Mclean is crowded enough and the car line is already a nightmare.

It was when my kids were at McLean ten years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McLean high school has a group of highly advanced students who are without a CS teacher. Why don’t they just bus those kids to TJ? Or bring the teachers to the different schools? I know this is an issue at Langley. There are students at these high schools who are maxing out on what is offered at their local high school. As someone who is somewhat new to the area, it seems very silly to limit access to senior year classes based on what the child did in 7th grade. Why not open the opportunity up?

That’s part of a broader discussion about whether TJ would function better as a full-time academy offering only courses available nowhere else to more students (who would otherwise remain as a base school) than as a full/time school.

Suffice it to say that there’s no interest among FCPS leadership in doing anything other than what TJ is currently doing, which is expanding its class sizes (to about 550 kids per grade vs. 475) and allocating seats more widely across the participating jurisdictions.

The fact that Langley or McLean students may not have a teacher for a course or a desired course may not be available isn’t going to be treated any differently than, say, an elementary school elsewhere in the county without a PE or music teacher. Sorry.

LoCo is welcome to their Academies. Why would FCPS want to dismantle TJ to create another one of those?

It wouldn’t dismantle TJ, but would allow more students access to the classes only offered at TJ. Academies help expand the access to educational opportunities. It’s a way to “grow the pie” so to speak. You can double the size of the students who have access to advanced classes. And allow students to still be part of their base community.

Do any of the candidates for SB have this as one of their agenda items?

And I can see why McLean parents whose kids don’t have a CS teacher are annoyed at a crowd of TJ kids who have an excess of CS teachers are blocking traffic every morning. It’s only natural.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McLean high school has a group of highly advanced students who are without a CS teacher. Why don’t they just bus those kids to TJ? Or bring the teachers to the different schools? I know this is an issue at Langley. There are students at these high schools who are maxing out on what is offered at their local high school. As someone who is somewhat new to the area, it seems very silly to limit access to senior year classes based on what the child did in 7th grade. Why not open the opportunity up?

That’s part of a broader discussion about whether TJ would function better as a full-time academy offering only courses available nowhere else to more students (who would otherwise remain as a base school) than as a full/time school.

Suffice it to say that there’s no interest among FCPS leadership in doing anything other than what TJ is currently doing, which is expanding its class sizes (to about 550 kids per grade vs. 475) and allocating seats more widely across the participating jurisdictions.

The fact that Langley or McLean students may not have a teacher for a course or a desired course may not be available isn’t going to be treated any differently than, say, an elementary school elsewhere in the county without a PE or music teacher. Sorry.

LoCo is welcome to their Academies. Why would FCPS want to dismantle TJ to create another one of those?

It wouldn’t dismantle TJ, but would allow more students access to the classes only offered at TJ. Academies help expand the access to educational opportunities. It’s a way to “grow the pie” so to speak. You can double the size of the students who have access to advanced classes. And allow students to still be part of their base community.

Do any of the candidates for SB have this as one of their agenda items?

And I can see why McLean parents whose kids don’t have a CS teacher are annoyed at a crowd of TJ kids who have an excess of CS teachers are blocking traffic every morning. It’s only natural.

No one wants this. If they did, they could move to LoCo and have it. Of course no SB candidate is running on this because no one wants this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McLean high school has a group of highly advanced students who are without a CS teacher. Why don’t they just bus those kids to TJ? Or bring the teachers to the different schools? I know this is an issue at Langley. There are students at these high schools who are maxing out on what is offered at their local high school. As someone who is somewhat new to the area, it seems very silly to limit access to senior year classes based on what the child did in 7th grade. Why not open the opportunity up?

That’s part of a broader discussion about whether TJ would function better as a full-time academy offering only courses available nowhere else to more students (who would otherwise remain as a base school) than as a full/time school.

Suffice it to say that there’s no interest among FCPS leadership in doing anything other than what TJ is currently doing, which is expanding its class sizes (to about 550 kids per grade vs. 475) and allocating seats more widely across the participating jurisdictions.

The fact that Langley or McLean students may not have a teacher for a course or a desired course may not be available isn’t going to be treated any differently than, say, an elementary school elsewhere in the county without a PE or music teacher. Sorry.

LoCo is welcome to their Academies. Why would FCPS want to dismantle TJ to create another one of those?

It wouldn’t dismantle TJ, but would allow more students access to the classes only offered at TJ. Academies help expand the access to educational opportunities. It’s a way to “grow the pie” so to speak. You can double the size of the students who have access to advanced classes. And allow students to still be part of their base community.

Do any of the candidates for SB have this as one of their agenda items?

And I can see why McLean parents whose kids don’t have a CS teacher are annoyed at a crowd of TJ kids who have an excess of CS teachers are blocking traffic every morning. It’s only natural.

No one wants this. If they did, they could move to LoCo and have it. Of course no SB candidate is running on this because no one wants this.

And it will just worsen the busing situation driving a handful of kids to another school. And do you really believe there’s just a bunch of CS I teachers at TJ sitting around doing nothing?