Alexandria's ban on Thomas Jefferson magnet school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bumping this old thread - ACPS residents, is this likely to change?

No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bumping this old thread - ACPS residents, is this likely to change?

No.[/quote

To whoever brought up this older thread on an important topic: please know it is pretty much shunned by DCUM to bring up years prior topics, even if valid.

The preferred way by DCUM is to start a "new thread" by using the promts on the left to start a new thread under VA Public Schools. That said, your question remains a hot topic for many of us in Alexandria City Virginia!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good for Alexandria. The jury is still out on whether TJ has had a positive or negative impact on other NoVa schools.

Does anyone really doubt for a second that the TJ "magnet' has indeed been a magnet that attracts families for whom education is a priority to Fairfax County?

Fairfax has the highest SAT scores of any major public school system in the region. It has 8 of the top 10 high schools in Virginia, according to the latest US News rankings, and others in the top 25.

FCPS has many kids who aspire to attend TJ. If they aren't admitted, they don't quit, but often go on to excel at schools like McLean, Oakton, Chantilly and Langley (the top pyramids for sending kids to TJ).

If there has been a negative effect, it likely has been more localized. Prior to TJHSST, there was a Jefferson HS. When that school was closed as a neighborhood school, the lower-income apartments near Landmark that had attended Jefferson were sent to Annandale HS, which already had low-income apartments just inside the Beltway. It led to overcrowding at Annandale that, over time, has seen the FCPS School Board systematically strip Annandale of multiple single-family neighborhoods and reassign them to other schools. Poe MS, which feeds to Annandale, is now the poorest middle school in the county. These schools would have more poverty now than in the mid-80s, just like Glasgow MS and Justice HS today are much poorer than Glasgow MS and Stuart HS were in the mid-80s. But the conversion of Jefferson to TJHSST may have accelerated some of the changes.

If the jury is out on anything, it's whether Alexandria's policy retains high-achieving kids in ACPS or leads more education-focused families to avoid ACPS altogether.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good for Alexandria. The jury is still out on whether TJ has had a positive or negative impact on other NoVa schools.

Does anyone really doubt for a second that the TJ "magnet' has indeed been a magnet that attracts families for whom education is a priority to Fairfax County?

Fairfax has the highest SAT scores of any major public school system in the region. It has 8 of the top 10 high schools in Virginia, according to the latest US News rankings, and others in the top 25.

FCPS has many kids who aspire to attend TJ. If they aren't admitted, they don't quit, but often go on to excel at schools like McLean, Oakton, Chantilly and Langley (the top pyramids for sending kids to TJ).

If there has been a negative effect, it likely has been more localized. Prior to TJHSST, there was a Jefferson HS. When that school was closed as a neighborhood school, the lower-income apartments near Landmark that had attended Jefferson were sent to Annandale HS, which already had low-income apartments just inside the Beltway. It led to overcrowding at Annandale that, over time, has seen the FCPS School Board systematically strip Annandale of multiple single-family neighborhoods and reassign them to other schools. Poe MS, which feeds to Annandale, is now the poorest middle school in the county. These schools would have more poverty now than in the mid-80s, just like Glasgow MS and Justice HS today are much poorer than Glasgow MS and Stuart HS were in the mid-80s. But the conversion of Jefferson to TJHSST may have accelerated some of the changes.

If the jury is out on anything, it's whether Alexandria's policy retains high-achieving kids in ACPS or leads more education-focused families to avoid ACPS altogether.

I don't think Alexandria's TJ policy is responsible for much of the flight from ACPS---people have other reasons for leaving. TJ is not the be all end all. Just look at the TC Williams senior who just won that $250K science prize and is going to Harvard to study astrophysics next year. Alexandria's TJ policy didn't matter much for her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good for Alexandria. The jury is still out on whether TJ has had a positive or negative impact on other NoVa schools.

Does anyone really doubt for a second that the TJ "magnet' has indeed been a magnet that attracts families for whom education is a priority to Fairfax County?

Fairfax has the highest SAT scores of any major public school system in the region. It has 8 of the top 10 high schools in Virginia, according to the latest US News rankings, and others in the top 25.

FCPS has many kids who aspire to attend TJ. If they aren't admitted, they don't quit, but often go on to excel at schools like McLean, Oakton, Chantilly and Langley (the top pyramids for sending kids to TJ).

If there has been a negative effect, it likely has been more localized. Prior to TJHSST, there was a Jefferson HS. When that school was closed as a neighborhood school, the lower-income apartments near Landmark that had attended Jefferson were sent to Annandale HS, which already had low-income apartments just inside the Beltway. It led to overcrowding at Annandale that, over time, has seen the FCPS School Board systematically strip Annandale of multiple single-family neighborhoods and reassign them to other schools. Poe MS, which feeds to Annandale, is now the poorest middle school in the county. These schools would have more poverty now than in the mid-80s, just like Glasgow MS and Justice HS today are much poorer than Glasgow MS and Stuart HS were in the mid-80s. But the conversion of Jefferson to TJHSST may have accelerated some of the changes.

If the jury is out on anything, it's whether Alexandria's policy retains high-achieving kids in ACPS or leads more education-focused families to avoid ACPS altogether.

I don't think Alexandria's TJ policy is responsible for much of the flight from ACPS---people have other reasons for leaving. TJ is not the be all end all. Just look at the TC Williams senior who just won that $250K science prize and is going to Harvard to study astrophysics next year. Alexandria's TJ policy didn't matter much for her.

That's fantastic. But the policy will never change, or even seriously be reconsidered, so long as people simply substitute anecdotes for data and analysis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good for Alexandria. The jury is still out on whether TJ has had a positive or negative impact on other NoVa schools.

Does anyone really doubt for a second that the TJ "magnet' has indeed been a magnet that attracts families for whom education is a priority to Fairfax County?

Fairfax has the highest SAT scores of any major public school system in the region. It has 8 of the top 10 high schools in Virginia, according to the latest US News rankings, and others in the top 25.

FCPS has many kids who aspire to attend TJ. If they aren't admitted, they don't quit, but often go on to excel at schools like McLean, Oakton, Chantilly and Langley (the top pyramids for sending kids to TJ).

If there has been a negative effect, it likely has been more localized. Prior to TJHSST, there was a Jefferson HS. When that school was closed as a neighborhood school, the lower-income apartments near Landmark that had attended Jefferson were sent to Annandale HS, which already had low-income apartments just inside the Beltway. It led to overcrowding at Annandale that, over time, has seen the FCPS School Board systematically strip Annandale of multiple single-family neighborhoods and reassign them to other schools. Poe MS, which feeds to Annandale, is now the poorest middle school in the county. These schools would have more poverty now than in the mid-80s, just like Glasgow MS and Justice HS today are much poorer than Glasgow MS and Stuart HS were in the mid-80s. But the conversion of Jefferson to TJHSST may have accelerated some of the changes.

If the jury is out on anything, it's whether Alexandria's policy retains high-achieving kids in ACPS or leads more education-focused families to avoid ACPS altogether.

I don't think Alexandria's TJ policy is responsible for much of the flight from ACPS---people have other reasons for leaving. TJ is not the be all end all. Just look at the TC Williams senior who just won that $250K science prize and is going to Harvard to study astrophysics next year. Alexandria's TJ policy didn't matter much for her.

That's fantastic. But the policy will never change, or even seriously be reconsidered, so long as people simply substitute anecdotes for data and analysis.

I got news for you---the policy will never change whether you like anecdotes or not.

[Anonymous]

Such a shame. TJ is actually in the Alexandria part of Fairfax. But I guess Alexandria City is favors circling the wagons and ignoring the outside world.

[Anonymous]

Why? It makes no sense? It's so close to Alexandria. I'm surprised Amazon didn't demand Alexandria participate. Hopefully soon Loudoun will leave freeing up space for Alexandria to join in. That makes much more sense.

[Anonymous]

I have a kid at TJ and there are definitely highly educated parents with smart kids refusing to buy in Alexandria because of the schools in general and TJ policy specifically. As in, I personally know several people in my neighborhood who avoids ACPS when house hunting. Because the schools. TJ improves the AAP middle schools as kids work towards applying. And kids who just miss TJ attend Oakton, McLean, Langley, Chantilly and form a smart, motivated core in the top 10% of their class. (I have one of these kids too).

Not having access to TJ hurts ACPS and Alexandria property values. We are looking at moving to Alexandria— after our kids start college and we don’t have to put them in the school system or pay for private.

But, I’m fine with ACPS doing it’s own thing. TJ has a 15% admit rate. There are plenty of smart, motivated FCPS kids to fill the slots ACPS isn’t using.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid at TJ and there are definitely highly educated parents with smart kids refusing to buy in Alexandria because of the schools in general and TJ policy specifically. As in, I personally know several people in my neighborhood who avoids ACPS when house hunting. Because the schools. TJ improves the AAP middle schools as kids work towards applying. And kids who just miss TJ attend Oakton, McLean, Langley, Chantilly and form a smart, motivated core in the top 10% of their class. (I have one of these kids too).

Not having access to TJ hurts ACPS and Alexandria property values. We are looking at moving to Alexandria— after our kids start college and we don’t have to put them in the school system or pay for private.

But, I’m fine with ACPS doing it’s own thing. TJ has a 15% admit rate. There are plenty of smart, motivated FCPS kids to fill the slots ACPS isn’t using.

People do this, yes, but anyone who doesn't buy in Alexandria because of the TJ policy really needs a reality check.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid at TJ and there are definitely highly educated parents with smart kids refusing to buy in Alexandria because of the schools in general and TJ policy specifically. As in, I personally know several people in my neighborhood who avoids ACPS when house hunting. Because the schools. TJ improves the AAP middle schools as kids work towards applying. And kids who just miss TJ attend Oakton, McLean, Langley, Chantilly and form a smart, motivated core in the top 10% of their class. (I have one of these kids too).

Not having access to TJ hurts ACPS and Alexandria property values. We are looking at moving to Alexandria— after our kids start college and we don’t have to put them in the school system or pay for private.

But, I’m fine with ACPS doing it’s own thing. TJ has a 15% admit rate. There are plenty of smart, motivated FCPS kids to fill the slots ACPS isn’t using.

People do this, yes, but anyone who doesn't buy in Alexandria because of the TJ policy really needs a reality check.

Maybe Alexandria needs a reality check about how its anti-TJ policies repel many highly educated parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid at TJ and there are definitely highly educated parents with smart kids refusing to buy in Alexandria because of the schools in general and TJ policy specifically. As in, I personally know several people in my neighborhood who avoids ACPS when house hunting. Because the schools. TJ improves the AAP middle schools as kids work towards applying. And kids who just miss TJ attend Oakton, McLean, Langley, Chantilly and form a smart, motivated core in the top 10% of their class. (I have one of these kids too).

Not having access to TJ hurts ACPS and Alexandria property values. We are looking at moving to Alexandria— after our kids start college and we don’t have to put them in the school system or pay for private.

But, I’m fine with ACPS doing it’s own thing. TJ has a 15% admit rate. There are plenty of smart, motivated FCPS kids to fill the slots ACPS isn’t using.

People do this, yes, but anyone who doesn't buy in Alexandria because of the TJ policy really needs a reality check.

Maybe Alexandria needs a reality check about how its anti-TJ policies repel many highly educated parents.

I'm all for educated parents staying in Alexandria, but you can take that extremist tiger-mom bullshit somewhere else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid at TJ and there are definitely highly educated parents with smart kids refusing to buy in Alexandria because of the schools in general and TJ policy specifically. As in, I personally know several people in my neighborhood who avoids ACPS when house hunting. Because the schools. TJ improves the AAP middle schools as kids work towards applying. And kids who just miss TJ attend Oakton, McLean, Langley, Chantilly and form a smart, motivated core in the top 10% of their class. (I have one of these kids too).

Not having access to TJ hurts ACPS and Alexandria property values. We are looking at moving to Alexandria— after our kids start college and we don’t have to put them in the school system or pay for private.

But, I’m fine with ACPS doing it’s own thing. TJ has a 15% admit rate. There are plenty of smart, motivated FCPS kids to fill the slots ACPS isn’t using.

People do this, yes, but anyone who doesn't buy in Alexandria because of the TJ policy really needs a reality check.

I just heard terrible things about the schools overall - especially TC Williams. I have friends that moved to get away from TC Williams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid at TJ and there are definitely highly educated parents with smart kids refusing to buy in Alexandria because of the schools in general and TJ policy specifically. As in, I personally know several people in my neighborhood who avoids ACPS when house hunting. Because the schools. TJ improves the AAP middle schools as kids work towards applying. And kids who just miss TJ attend Oakton, McLean, Langley, Chantilly and form a smart, motivated core in the top 10% of their class. (I have one of these kids too).

Not having access to TJ hurts ACPS and Alexandria property values. We are looking at moving to Alexandria— after our kids start college and we don’t have to put them in the school system or pay for private.

But, I’m fine with ACPS doing it’s own thing. TJ has a 15% admit rate. There are plenty of smart, motivated FCPS kids to fill the slots ACPS isn’t using.

People do this, yes, but anyone who doesn't buy in Alexandria because of the TJ policy really needs a reality check.

Maybe Alexandria needs a reality check about how its anti-TJ policies repel many highly educated parents.

I'm all for educated parents staying in Alexandria, but you can take that extremist tiger-mom bullshit somewhere else.

There's nothing extremist about wanting TJ to be a potential option. You are part of the reason ACPS is so mediocre (at best).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid at TJ and there are definitely highly educated parents with smart kids refusing to buy in Alexandria because of the schools in general and TJ policy specifically. As in, I personally know several people in my neighborhood who avoids ACPS when house hunting. Because the schools. TJ improves the AAP middle schools as kids work towards applying. And kids who just miss TJ attend Oakton, McLean, Langley, Chantilly and form a smart, motivated core in the top 10% of their class. (I have one of these kids too).

Not having access to TJ hurts ACPS and Alexandria property values. We are looking at moving to Alexandria— after our kids start college and we don’t have to put them in the school system or pay for private.

But, I’m fine with ACPS doing it’s own thing. TJ has a 15% admit rate. There are plenty of smart, motivated FCPS kids to fill the slots ACPS isn’t using.

People do this, yes, but anyone who doesn't buy in Alexandria because of the TJ policy really needs a reality check.

I just heard terrible things about the schools overall - especially TC Williams. I have friends that moved to get away from TC Williams.

Funny, I've heard nothing but good things about TC Williams. They seem to do a good job supporting motivated, high-achieving students. It's the middle school that's the weakest link.