One Fairfax

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On balance, TJ has been horrible for FCPS. As long as they can point to something "world class" (gag), it's easy to ignore what's become essentially third-world.

And closing a neighborhood high school in eastern Fairfax has over time screwed up the boundaries, concentrated poverty at Annandale, and forced some unlucky kids to cross both 495 and 395 to get to Edison. All so some tiger moms in McLean and Chantilly can boast about their TJ kids. It's the epitome of "Two Fairfaxes."

Well without TJ, I'm not sure Fairfax would be doing as well as it is. People want good schools and move here because of it. There's no reason to think that trend would continue if TJ went away. So probably TJ actually influences the other high schools for the better due to its popularity.

+1. TJ helps draw affluent and educated families to Fairfax County and FCPS. And affluent and educated workforce, especially in STEM, convinces companies to invest here. Fairfax County and FCPS does not support TJ out of the goodness of their hearts. TJ plays an important role in Fairfax County’s economic development.

TJ and the AAP feeders are part of the reason there are so few good private schools serving Fairfax County.

+ 1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually like the idea of tying TJ slots to a specific high school pyramid. I don't know why that hasn't caught on with all of this equity talk.

I agree with you and have also wondered why they don't do this. Sure, some people would try to game the system by moving to a different pyramid, but that could have the beneficial effect of spreading diversity around the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually like the idea of tying TJ slots to a specific high school pyramid. I don't know why that hasn't caught on with all of this equity talk.

I agree with you and have also wondered why they don't do this. Sure, some people would try to game the system by moving to a different pyramid, but that could have the beneficial effect of spreading diversity around the county.

I completely agree as well. It would also spread interest across the county because every school would essentially be a TJ feeder.

I have no idea why this hasn't been adopted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On balance, TJ has been horrible for FCPS. As long as they can point to something "world class" (gag), it's easy to ignore what's become essentially third-world.

And closing a neighborhood high school in eastern Fairfax has over time screwed up the boundaries, concentrated poverty at Annandale, and forced some unlucky kids to cross both 495 and 395 to get to Edison. All so some tiger moms in McLean and Chantilly can boast about their TJ kids. It's the epitome of "Two Fairfaxes."

Well without TJ, I'm not sure Fairfax would be doing as well as it is. People want good schools and move here because of it. There's no reason to think that trend would continue if TJ went away. So probably TJ actually influences the other high schools for the better due to its popularity.

Keep telling yourself that. It's getting a bit old.

+1. That area was much better when Jefferson High was still open.

[Anonymous]

Did they have IB then?

[Anonymous]

Keep in mind that suburbs deteriorate first close to the city and then further away. Probably the area was newer and there were less neighborhoods to compete with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind that suburbs deteriorate first close to the city and then further away. Probably the area was newer and there were less neighborhoods to compete with.

Right - proximity to schools can never be relevant if it calls into question how turning TJ into a magnet screwed the nearby communities.

[Anonymous]

Wasn't there talk in FCPS once of pooling all PTA/PTO resources from schools and redistributing them so that there would be "equity"? Is this part of the One Fairfax plan?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That will never happen. One Fairfax is for looks. They'll keep poverty concentrated in certain parts of the county.

Yes! This. There are parts of the county where the schools are majority minority and FCPS gives them NO resources. The schools provide a basic food program and that's about it. They don't provide enrichment opportunities. Kids in the places are brought up to a baseline that other kids in the area are already born in to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On balance, TJ has been horrible for FCPS. As long as they can point to something "world class" (gag), it's easy to ignore what's become essentially third-world.

And closing a neighborhood high school in eastern Fairfax has over time screwed up the boundaries, concentrated poverty at Annandale, and forced some unlucky kids to cross both 495 and 395 to get to Edison. All so some tiger moms in McLean and Chantilly can boast about their TJ kids. It's the epitome of "Two Fairfaxes."

Well without TJ, I'm not sure Fairfax would be doing as well as it is. People want good schools and move here because of it. There's no reason to think that trend would continue if TJ went away. So probably TJ actually influences the other high schools for the better due to its popularity.

+1. TJ helps draw affluent and educated families to Fairfax County and FCPS. And affluent and educated workforce, especially in STEM, convinces companies to invest here. Fairfax County and FCPS does not support TJ out of the goodness of their hearts. TJ plays an important role in Fairfax County’s economic development.

TJ and the AAP feeders are part of the reason there are so few good private schools serving Fairfax County.

+ 1

+100 For instance, the Amazon site selection team actually met with the TJ student government reps and 2 TJ students along with the principal before deciding to locate here. In 10 years the cumulative multiplier effect of Amazon and follow-on companies will be a huge anti-poverty boon to the Alexandria area where (it was about a 5x jobs multiplier in seatlle within 1 mile of Amazon's workforce in the seattle HQ over 10 years).