Do you have a child at Mary Ellen Henderson and/or Thomas Jefferson in City of Falls Church?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Longfellow is run like a prison.

With tiger-mom wardens...who focus their entire lives on making sure you know that their child is smarter/better/faster than your child...whether you care or not.

Yep. They are out there. We found them relatively easy to ignore, which allowed us to appreciate the many positive things at the school. It was harder for us to ignore the poor teachers and administration at our prior middle school, where the principal was known for yelling at children in the hallways but otherwise totally MIA.

The thread is about MEH, not Longfellow, but our experience at the latter was quite positive and does speak to the idea that no one ever likes middle schools.

I have had a different experience. 2E children are under served and the Principal balkanizes her populations as if none intersect ("I have my AAP students, my Gen Ed students, my ESOL students and my special ed students.") Most parents like it since most parents do not have children who need something to be able to succeed. I don't evaluate a school based on how successful they are with the easy to teach students.

[Anonymous]

Well, YMMV. For us, we entered Longfellow when it was in the middle of a big renovation and its enrollment was spiking, but everyone was incredibly friendly and the teachers were quite good. We'd come from another FCPS middle school where the building had recently been renovated and looked great, but the front-office staff was rude, the principal stayed behind a closed door dealing with her personal problems when she wasn't in the hallways yelling at kids not to have any physical contact with one another, and the teachers were uneven at best. We'd just assumed middle schools were stressful places until we moved to Longfellow, which was very well-run in comparison. I have to give Carole Kihm much of the credit for that, because it is a big school with kids all over the academic spectrum there, as well as a lot of demanding parents. I liked the other (more relaxed) parents at our prior school more, but the school itself just wasn't as good.

[Anonymous]

Just like Longfellow parents to turn a thread about a completely different school into a thread about how great Longfellow is. Give me a break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just like Longfellow parents to turn a thread about a completely different school into a thread about how great Longfellow is. Give me a break.

The thread turned into a discussion as to whether people dislike all middle schools or whether there's something specific about MEH that people dislike. The Longfellow posts kept the thread alive a bit longer. Get over yourself.