Someone tell me about Luther Jackson Middle School

[Anonymous]

I have a co-worker whose two daughters are at Jackson. Basically, her opinion is that if your kids are in the honors classes, the school is fine. If they are not, the classes are more hit or miss. Not because the teachers are bad, but because some of the other students are not as motivated and there are more discipline issues.

[Anonymous]

it is majority minority school with pretty high FARM rates but the test scores are OK not stellar. I would avoid it unless you have some time to let gentrification of the feeding area play out with all the new development that is occurring currently.

http://www.greatschools.org/cgi-bin/va/other/539#toc

[Anonymous]

It gets an "8" on GreatSchools. Obviously having a GT/AAP center helps with those numbers, but the AAP center at Jackson is still smaller than at schools like Carson and Longfellow, so the "8" would seem to be pretty good.

[Anonymous]

We moved out of the boundary before my daughter hit school age, but the people I knew with kids actually attending Luther Jackson (and FCHS) were happy with how their kids were doing there.

Traffic is definitely a pain right there, though. That 50/Gallows intersection is pretty much the 3rd circle of hell. (I had to drive through there daily from metro to daycare and used a lot of bad words.)

[Anonymous]

I"m not sure why everyone keeps inferring that parents get a choice as to what public school their kids are sent to. It id all based on your address. We had no choice. Our daughter could either go to Luther Jackson or a private school. We looked into a private school, found that they, even though religious, seemed to be "all about they money" we ended up sending her to Luther. It seems like a great school. She likes almost all of her teachers and has met a lovely variety of friends. She is in advanced classes, so that is all we have to go by.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I"m not sure why everyone keeps inferring that parents get a choice as to what public school their kids are sent to. It id all based on your address. We had no choice. Our daughter could either go to Luther Jackson or a private school. We looked into a private school, found that they, even though religious, seemed to be "all about they money" we ended up sending her to Luther. It seems like a great school. She likes almost all of her teachers and has met a lovely variety of friends. She is in advanced classes, so that is all we have to go by.

The "choice" involving Jackson in some cases is whether to go to the AAP Center at Jackson or stay at Thoreau, if it's your base school. Some parents keep their kids at Thoreau. If Jackson is your base school, you have no choice. More of the parents with AAP kids in the Thoreau district seem to be sending their kids to Jackson in any event.

[Anonymous]

We also moved out of boundary and it was a reason(not the major reason) for moving. Who know though what it will be like in the next 10 years... anything can happen

[Anonymous]

We are facing the choice between "Thoreau and take honors, versus Jackson AAP center" decision soon.

I have heard over the years a little of the "Jackson is rough" rumors but heard far more that "Jackson is great in the AAP center," both from elementary teachers sending kids there and parents with kids there. I think Jackson's lousy location (lousy from the construction/roads/traffic point of view) colors opinions, as does some long-past "reputation" it seemed to have that still gets mentioned by parents who don't have kids there.

I would love to see posts from parents who do currently have kids in the Jackson AAP center or who have recently had kids there, and who chose Jackson AAP over Thoreau. I'd like to see them address why they made that particular choice and how it worked for them.

I hear very positive things about Thoreau as well, and always have. It would help us make the choice to hear other kids' experiences and why families made the choice of Jackson over Thoreau -- or Thoreau over Jackson.

[Anonymous]

Jackson has nicer fields. Three tennis courts and basketball courts too.

[Anonymous]

I have a child at Jackson. We chose it over Thoreau because of the AAP program, and I am glad we did. My child is having a fabulous, wonderful, exceptional experience there, both socially and academically.

I have seen NO evidence of roughness, and I have volunteered at the school and on field trips. Either this rumor is woefully out of date or it is based in fear, but either way, it is not accurate.

The construction is real and is a nuisance but not significant because (1) it doesn't affect me much because my kid takes the bus, and (2) I think it's nearing its end anyhow.

Luther Jackson's location did seem very far away to me at first, but I have since had occasion to drive to Kilmer fairly regularly, and find that it is exactly the same distance from Louise Archer as Luther Jackson.

All in all, we are very happy with our choice.

[Anonymous]

Too bad we're only hearing from white english speaking middle class people. Where are the comments from the non english speaking poor who can't benefit from AAP?

[Anonymous]

They aren't on this forum, but attend a Luther Jackson PTA meeting and you are sure to meet some of them. You can also come talk to some of my neighbors. Ans why do you assume that "the non-English-speaking poor can't benefit from AAP?"

[Anonymous]

Any, this thread seemed to have died out last October. Why is it coming up again?

[Anonymous]

a trolling we will go....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Too bad we're only hearing from white english speaking middle class people. Where are the comments from the non english speaking poor who can't benefit from AAP?

Interesting. The post prior to this one was from October, 2012, and now here comes someone out of the blue raising race. What a remarkable person, who can tell the race AND class of people who post anonymously and who don't provide photos or income data! Wow!