Mount Vernon?

[Anonymous]

Mount Vernon = Wakefield = Park View. Every big school system has its lowest performing school.

[Anonymous]

I spent a long time teaching in that pyramid. I didn't mind working there even though it was challenging but I would never send my kids there. Too many fights, too many discipline problems.

[Anonymous]

I think having a bad rep makes it tough. Educated people with money don't want to send their kids there. You don't get people investing in the school. Teachers don't want to teach there. Kids know that they go to the "ghetto" school with the low test scores. So on and so forth...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've only heard second hand about all of these schools because I'm a teacher and was recently looking at all different areas to buy a house. Honestly, I didn't hear great things about ANY of those schools. Lee, Stuart and the others were not recommended over Mt. Vernon. I was told to stay away from all of them for my own children. I have friends of friends of friends of friends who supposedly like working st Mt. Vernon. These schools all have high free and reduced lunch populations and higher populations of ESOL students. As a teacher I can tell you it definitely presents challenges in the classroom.

I would not want you as a teacher for my children anyway. You don't seem up for any challenge, really.

Then it works out well for both of us that I bought a house and teach in a different area. Affluent areas have different sets of challenges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think having a bad rep makes it tough. Educated people with money don't want to send their kids there. You don't get people investing in the school. Teachers don't want to teach there. Kids know that they go to the "ghetto" school with the low test scores. So on and so forth...

Is that the same issue Wakefield and TC Williams have? I guess in the case of Alexandria, more people will buy in the area and send their kids to privates.

[Anonymous]

FCPS needs to do a comprehensive evaluation of school boundaries, especially in the eastern section of the county where rapid demographic changes over the past decade have had the biggest negative impact. As they currently exist, High School boundaries concentrate poverty.

Also, students are being sent to high schools that are far away from their homes when other high schools are much closer. It makes it harder for students and parents to participate in school activities and probably costs the county more $ in terms of transportation costs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FCPS needs to do a comprehensive evaluation of school boundaries, especially in the eastern section of the county where rapid demographic changes over the past decade have had the biggest negative impact. As they currently exist, High School boundaries concentrate poverty.

Also, students are being sent to high schools that are far away from their homes when other high schools are much closer. It makes it harder for students and parents to participate in school activities and probably costs the county more $ in terms of transportation costs.

Absolutely true. But pigs will fly first.

[Anonymous]

Not if the ACLU gets involved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FCPS needs to do a comprehensive evaluation of school boundaries, especially in the eastern section of the county where rapid demographic changes over the past decade have had the biggest negative impact. As they currently exist, High School boundaries concentrate poverty.

Also, students are being sent to high schools that are far away from their homes when other high schools are much closer. It makes it harder for students and parents to participate in school activities and probably costs the county more $ in terms of transportation costs.

Note that some schools in the eastern part of the county have become more white and wealthy like Marshall. And Langley is the most white school in all of FCPS. Meanwhile new boundaries have only isolated schools like Annandale which used to be quite diverse and middle class, while they have helped schools like South Lakes in the western part of the county.

[Anonymous]

Look at West Springfield vs Lee. One school is well-to-do and lily-white while the school down the road is the opposite. West Potomac vs Mt. Vernon is similar, but the difference isn't quite as stark.

[Anonymous]

There's a fairly strong argument that the county ought to spend more time trying to upgrade certain areas, such as the Route 1 corridor, than worrying about school redistricting per se. If you just try to redistribute kids from more affluent areas to poorer schools, they leave, but if you facilitate the construction of something attractive, they'll come.

[Anonymous]

The County has been throwing money at the Rt. 1 corridor for years to attract development, but the school situation has gotten worse, not better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not if the ACLU gets involved.

Mt. Version and Lee have problems, sure. But thy are not failing schools. You really think that the ACLU doesn't have bigger battles to fight in the area of public education?

[Anonymous]

They are absolutely failing schools when compared with the rest of FCPS. The difference in test scores is astonishing and should not be tolerated by county taxpayers. Parents who live in those areas are bailing out because the schools are awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS needs to do a comprehensive evaluation of school boundaries, especially in the eastern section of the county where rapid demographic changes over the past decade have had the biggest negative impact. As they currently exist, High School boundaries concentrate poverty.

Also, students are being sent to high schools that are far away from their homes when other high schools are much closer. It makes it harder for students and parents to participate in school activities and probably costs the county more $ in terms of transportation costs.

Note that some schools in the eastern part of the county have become more white and wealthy like Marshall. And Langley is the most white school in all of FCPS. Meanwhile new boundaries have only isolated schools like Annandale which used to be quite diverse and middle class, while they have helped schools like South Lakes in the western part of the county.

Some of your facts are wrong. Marshall is actually slightly less white today than it was a decade ago. There are just a lot more kids there now due to the growth around Tysons. And Langley is not the whitest high school in the county - that would be Madison HS. There are other middle and elementary schools whiter than either of them. The whitest school in FCPS now is Waynewood ES in Alexandria at 87% white.

I do agree FCPS screwed Annandale HS (and to an even greater extent, Poe MS) from a demographic perspective by moving too many single family neighborhoods to other schools, but decided to boost South Lakes back in 2008.

In the case of Mount Vernon, it is notable that Mount Vernon is under-enrolled while nearby West Potomac is over-capacity, but the latest CIP is silent on the possibility of any boundary adjustment between the two schools. I think they believe that people who'll send their kids to West Potomac, which is about 40% FARMS, would balk at sending their kids to Mount Vernon, which is closer to 55% FARMS, and they'd just end up with two majority-FARMS schools instead.