Anyone know what is going on a Woodson?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a message on Facebook and email from FCPS about mental health awareness for May. The message encouraged students to talk to a school counselor or psychologist. I would really encourage FCPS to change this language, because school counselors are not always effective. I'm sure there are wonderful stories of counselors helping kids but I have not heard a single one. Kids need to go to multiple outlets with their issues. Our experience with a school counselor was that I had a 20 minute long conversation with her and she said she'd meet with my child right away- 4 months went by and my child was desperate and lost trust in the school entirely. Do not entrust your child's well being to school staff. There are parents who are putting pressure on kids, but kids need to talk to their parents, friends, other trusted adults in addition to or even instead of school staff.

If school counselors had the slightest clue how to deal with bullying, they would do it. I don't question intent, they have good hearts. They do not have any solutions. They do not use any disciplinary actions against bullies. They gave me suggestions to deal with bullying like my kid was 4 years old. Schools cannot handle bullying of any variety. Our only choice was to leave for private.

I second this.
My dd's counselor doesn't even know the graduation requirements. I definitely wouldn't trust him with her mental health

Agree. They actually did more damage. Dr Obershneider in Asburn really gets it, if anyone is interested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2 issues: the big picture/and how the family can deal
Argue all you want about space at Va colleges, that's not changing.
If you don't like your kid's Va college choices, send them out-of-state - that puts the pressure on you financially
but takes the much of the pressure off your kids.

Yes. We pay 60k at Emory, only to have them announce that illegals now get a free ride.

Are you serious?? That was one of the school's my son was going to apply to, but it's now out of the running if they're really doing this. Unbelievable.

[Anonymous]

*schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2 issues: the big picture/and how the family can deal
Argue all you want about space at Va colleges, that's not changing.
If you don't like your kid's Va college choices, send them out-of-state - that puts the pressure on you financially
but takes the much of the pressure off your kids.

Yes. We pay 60k at Emory, only to have them announce that illegals now get a free ride.

Are you serious?? That was one of the school's my son was going to apply to, but it's now out of the running if they're really doing this. Unbelievable.

Exactly. Shame on them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2 issues: the big picture/and how the family can deal
Argue all you want about space at Va colleges, that's not changing.
If you don't like your kid's Va college choices, send them out-of-state - that puts the pressure on you financially
but takes the much of the pressure off your kids.

Yes. We pay 60k at Emory, only to have them announce that illegals now get a free ride.

Are you serious?? That was one of the school's my son was going to apply to, but it's now out of the running if they're really doing this. Unbelievable.

Exactly. Shame on them.

i

Okay you two (or more). Your thread to gripe about illegal immigration and Emory is here:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/640447.page

People are having a field day with this in politics. As the person who brought this up knows, since s/he made an identical comment there.

Now, back to what is going on at Woodson, which has almost nothing to do with illegal immigration or Emory.

[Anonymous]

The gifted are not at TJ; they know better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The gifted are not at TJ; they know better.

So where are they?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2 issues: the big picture/and how the family can deal
Argue all you want about space at Va colleges, that's not changing.
If you don't like your kid's Va college choices, send them out-of-state - that puts the pressure on you financially
but takes the much of the pressure off your kids.

Yes. We pay 60k at Emory, only to have them announce that illegals now get a free ride.

Are you serious?? That was one of the school's my son was going to apply to, but it's now out of the running if they're really doing this. Unbelievable.

Exactly. Shame on them.

i

Okay you two (or more). Your thread to gripe about illegal immigration and Emory is here:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/640447.page

People are having a field day with this in politics. As the person who brought this up knows, since s/he made an identical comment there.

Now, back to what is going on at Woodson, which has almost nothing to do with illegal immigration or Emory.

Emory is the new Langley.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2 issues: the big picture/and how the family can deal
Argue all you want about space at Va colleges, that's not changing.
If you don't like your kid's Va college choices, send them out-of-state - that puts the pressure on you financially
but takes the much of the pressure off your kids.

Yes. We pay 60k at Emory, only to have them announce that illegals now get a free ride.

Are you serious?? That was one of the school's my son was going to apply to, but it's now out of the running if they're really doing this. Unbelievable.

Exactly. Shame on them.

i

Okay you two (or more). Your thread to gripe about illegal immigration and Emory is here:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/640447.page

People are having a field day with this in politics. As the person who brought this up knows, since s/he made an identical comment there.

Now, back to what is going on at Woodson, which has almost nothing to do with illegal immigration or Emory.

Emory is the new Langley.

What a bizarre comment. Care to explain?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a nurse practitioner and WTW parent, I would argue that our school system is RESPONSIBLE because it takes a village. Kids spend the majority of their waking lives at school or performing work for school. The teachers at WTW know that homework is a problem and yet most don't do anything to fix it. FCPS also has a teacher task force to look at homework loads, but it's been stalled for two years.The WTW Director of Student Services, Dr. Carlin Floyd, gets it, but most of the administration at WTW and in FCPS Central Administration have their head in the sand. It's time that parents and students STAND UP and make their voices heard! Pleas consider honoring Minjoo's life by making a difference and start Speaking Truth to Power.

Maam/Sir, I've seen first hand bullying of my child in an FCPS school by a teacher. The teacher cornered and kept lecturing my child while he was crying. There was no fault of his but he was helping the situation and expressing his concerns. I stood there helpless.
In another situation, my child was physically attacked by his classmate. I asked a teacher to find out what happened but she did not get back to me on that. This is one of the reputed schools in FCPS. The administration keeps quiet about issues they don't want to solve and doesn't have the backbone to take the stance of fairness. They are HYPOCRITES. In a way, it is a learning experience for children but sometimes too young to have such bitter experiences as children. We are in a world where childhood is not as innocent and happy as few decades ago. All you can do as a parent is support your child and give them love and care to deal with the issues.

[Anonymous]

Clearly FCPS has looked into homework loads since they've now mostly eliminated homework at the elementary level. All without consulting elementary parents I might add.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have some friends whose kids go to Woodson. They've told me that the environment there is like a pressure cooker. Because the school is known for its high test scores, it's ingrained in the culture that it is very important that it be maintained. Test scores are everything.

That doesn't stand up to the logic test. If that were true, then schools like Langley, McLean, Madison, Oakton and others in the DMV area would also have a lot of suicides... but as far as I know, they don't. Something is going on. I suspect that when it happens once, there is a sense that it's a possibility for other kids. But, something needs to be done.

It's not just because they have a good test record. According to the students I've spoken with, it's the over the top culture of perfectionism and lofty standards, specific to Woodson's administration.

I do not doubt this. My daughter was brought to near emotional collapse at another FFX Cty school due to what she called, her inability to please staff and impossibly high standards. No matter what she did, no matter how high her grades were (and she was a straight A student), she felt as if they wanted her to do more and more and more. The administration of these high schools care only about their numbers it seems.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a nurse practitioner and WTW parent, I would argue that our school system is RESPONSIBLE because it takes a village. Kids spend the majority of their waking lives at school or performing work for school. The teachers at WTW know that homework is a problem and yet most don't do anything to fix it. FCPS also has a teacher task force to look at homework loads, but it's been stalled for two years.The WTW Director of Student Services, Dr. Carlin Floyd, gets it, but most of the administration at WTW and in FCPS Central Administration have their head in the sand. It's time that parents and students STAND UP and make their voices heard! Pleas consider honoring Minjoo's life by making a difference and start Speaking Truth to Power.

100% true. I made damn sure to let my voice be heard by the administration at my daughter's high school, and also spoke to students at the high school personally, which really pissed them off. Students still approach me on social media because they need someone to talk to who gets it.

Wrong focus. Teacher and adminstrators are merely responding to what the community wants. These threads are constantly focusing on school performance.

Parents often have the 'wrong focus'. Teachers and administrators need to have the cojones to stand up to parents and let the parents pull their child out of the school if they are unhappy. And don't tell me about elections - I pay a lot of tax dollars and most of that money goes to teaching kids who are here illegally, and those people still keep getting elected by the same idiots who demand so much of their kids, they destroy them in the process.

My close friend has been fighting this with me after seeing her son at a near collapse point, trying to jump through hoops to make these idiot teachers and administrators happy (they want their test scores and ranking, you see). I went to pick him up at a therapy appointment and told him that it is NOT him, that HE was fine and WILL be fine in life, that it's the morons in this area and the school system that's in the wrong, and just because they are the authority figures, it doesn't make them right. The therapist said "listen to her - she's 100% correct". The mental health professionals in this area are trying to help undo the destruction the schools are inflicting. My DD's pediatrician called my DD's high school abusive, and said he doesn't use that word lightly - that it's exactly what he means - and it's not normal for such a huge amount of kids in one area to need mental health services.

I had a long talk with my friend's son on the way home and really opened his eyes to the political warfare inside the school system. He needed to hear it - ALL students need to hear it.

Agree 100%, all high achieving schools get the badge of 'top school/Governor's award' at the cost of their student's blood. Shame on these school to tout their Trophies!!! No one in the administration cares about the health and happiness of the students. I've seen teachers preaching kids good values and at the same time bullying them to get their goals.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know if the school actually put any pressure on this child or if it was the parents and peers? My guess is the parents and peers put far more pressure on him than anyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if the school actually put any pressure on this child or if it was the parents and peers? My guess is the parents and peers put far more pressure on him than anyone else.

Woodson is caustic, and the condition exists due to many reasons, including but not limited to the school teachers, administrators, and staff.