Info on Falls Church and Annandale elementary schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We all don't define "the best school zone possible" that same way. I am highly educated and want the same for my kids but we are an African American family and I have no interest in sending my child to a school in McLean where there are only a handful of black kids. We are looking for school districts that are both very good (not necessarily the highest test scores, but certainly very good) and diverse. We can afford to live in McLean and Vienna but choose not too. For us, West Springfield area is probably going to be where we end up.

Do you extend the same understanding to White parents who wish to avoid majority non-White schools such as Stuart, Lee, Mount Vernon, Falls Church, and Annandale?

Potential problem is, too many parents do this (perceived best interest of their kids) and voila! We get re-segregation. I don't know what, if anything, should be done about that.

As for racial makeup: McLean is 3% Black, West Springfield is 7%, Robison is 6%, Lee is 16%.

Mount Vernon, West Potomac, Hayfield, South Lakes, and Edison are all over 20% Black.

As for diverse (at least 15% of Asians/Blacks/Hispanics/Whites), Lee is 25/16/25/30 and Annandale is 22/15/28/31. Hayfield misses out with 14% Asian.

There will be AAP, AP/IB, etc., etc., available at any FCPS school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Do you extend the same understanding to White parents who wish to avoid majority non-White schools such as Stuart, Lee, Mount Vernon, Falls Church, and Annandale?

Potential problem is, too many parents do this (perceived best interest of their kids) and voila! We get re-segregation. I don't know what, if anything, should be done about that.

As for racial makeup: McLean is 3% Black, West Springfield is 7%, Robison is 6%, Lee is 16%.

Mount Vernon, West Potomac, Hayfield, South Lakes, and Edison are all over 20% Black.

As for diverse (at least 15% of Asians/Blacks/Hispanics/Whites), Lee is 25/16/25/30 and Annandale is 22/15/28/31. Hayfield misses out with 14% Asian.

There will be AAP, AP/IB, etc., etc., available at any FCPS school.

I think you heard one AA parent state that "the best school zone possible" for her family might be one where there are more AA students than at, say, Langley or Madison, and the school's overall reputation is sound. Most schools in Fairfax County fit that bill, and West Springfield is one of them. It doesn't mean there's not another AA family that might not make a different assessment.

Overall, in Fairfax, in the past few years, the number of Black and Asian students has increased modestly, the number of White students has decreased modestly, and the number of Hispanic students has increased substantially. You might be interested to know, however, that between 2007 and 2009, the number of White students actually increased (in absolute numbers) at Annandale, Fairfax, Hayfield, Madison, Marshall, McLean, Robinson, South Lakes, Stuart, and West Springfield, while decreasing (again in absolute numbers) at schools such as Langley, Oakton and Woodson. Many of the schools where the number of White students increased were minority-White schools, including Annandale, Fairfax, Hayfield, South Lakes and Stuart. This suggests that White parents are not running for the exits, and themselves certainly have a range of perspectives as to "the best school zones possible" for their families.

My guess is that some schools might reach a "tipping point" in the future where they have so many ESOL/FRR students that parents with the means to do so - regardless of ethnicity - will not send their kids to those schools. To some extent, this already seems to have happened at a few elementary schools, but the high schools draw from more diverse geographic areas.