Buying in Old Town: Information wanted on Lyles-Crouch Traditional Elementary

[Anonymous]

Our daughter is a newborn, but we just bought in Old Town Alexandria and are in the Lyles-Crouch Traditional district. Any information on the school would be helpful. I see the thread on Alexandria Public Schools and will read it too.

[Anonymous]

OP - please do not freak out when you read that thread ... it's a highly-skewed and strange distortion of reality. Your school is excellent, but more importantly: you do not need to even think about this now. Focus on loving that baby and taking good care of yourself, and try to enjoy the here and now because it will slip by quickly. Anything you read today - even if it is true - will not be the case by the time your child is ready for school.

And in the meantime, Old Town is an awesome place to live!

Wishing you all the best!

[Anonymous]

I posted on the other thread and OP that thread is not skewed or distorted. You have to actually live in the City for a while and be part of th education system too see what really goes on.

[Anonymous]

OP - I disagree - the other thread is bizarre. I know firsthand - having two kids at the school - that LCTA is a fantastic school and a wonderful community of Old Town Families - enjoy your baby and consider yourself lucky if you are in the district. Lots can and will happen between now and then, LCTA has been going strong for quite a few years now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - I disagree - the other thread is bizarre. I know firsthand - having two kids at the school - that LCTA is a fantastic school and a wonderful community of Old Town Families - enjoy your baby and consider yourself lucky if you are in the district. Lots can and will happen between now and then, LCTA has been going strong for quite a few years now.

Yes, but your children are in the school and OP's children are not guaranteed to be admitted even if her house is in boundary. And come back when your kids hit middle school and tell me the other "thread is bizarre". Wait to you realize that your little upper middle class student body all goes to one of the two very terrible middle schools and your child along with the rest of the LCTA crowd quickly becomes a very tiny minority. Then they all go on to the same high school together which did so has failed every year and that last year the faced the prospect of having to close down! The managed to be the only high school in the entire NOVA to earn this distinction. I know, I know, they have a grand turn around plan in place....

[Anonymous]

I actually wrote some of the posts in the other thread, and it is not bizarre. That said, most of the discussion is specific to one school, and, in fact, reflects upon the have/have not divisions in the school system. I have several friends who sent their children to Lyles-Crouch and were very pleased with the school. The only complaint I've heard is the problem with space, and they seem to be trying to take care of that by eliminating the lottery and not accepting all in-boundary students.

However, I do have to say that I can't think of anyone I know who sends their kids to middle school in Alexandria public schools. I have one friend who was a big supporter of public education who was very enthusiastic and positive about it, and her child lasted one year. Some do go back for high school.

[Anonymous]

I met several, and these were people whose children could certain afford other options. Their children are in honors, and say it is good. That said, there is trouble there if you go looking for it - though come to think of it, that was my junior high experience as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I met several, and these were people whose children could certain afford other options. Their children are in honors, and say it is good. That said, there is trouble there if you go looking for it - though come to think of it, that was my junior high experience as well.

Did you every consider that while there parents might have been able to afford other options but their child was not able to get into any of the private schools to which they applied so they had no choice?

[Anonymous]

My DC is at TC Williams now after doing private K-8. She is friends now with many kids who went to GW Middle School. The students at the top of the class (comprised mainly of kids who went to either GW or Hammond) are certainly as smart as those at private school. And many of them are ahead of her in math -- Alexandria public schools allow students to take algebra in 7th grade and geometry in 8th. These kids then take algebra II/trig in 9th, pre-calculus in 10th, and AP calculus in 11th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I met several, and these were people whose children could certain afford other options. Their children are in honors, and say it is good. That said, there is trouble there if you go looking for it - though come to think of it, that was my junior high experience as well.

Did you every consider that while there parents might have been able to afford other options but their child was not able to get into any of the private schools to which they applied so they had no choice?

Why can you and some like you not believe that there are parents of means who do believe in the value of public education, do send their smart children to Alexandria City schools, including middle and high school, and at the same time value a good education? I also know quite a few parents with honors kids at GW and TC, who could send them to private. Private isn't all that exclusive, either, except in terms of money.