McLean High School Leadership updates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought schools send a profile and colleges only worry about students taking the most challenging programming available at their school ( not the county). So a McLean student is judged on different standards than a student at Justice, correct? My understanding is that there is a profile per individual high school. So would capping it really disadvantage anyone?

You're asking admissions folks to spend a lot of time they may not have to delve into individual school profiles. And even if they do, they could simply conclude one school is now offering a less rigorous education than another, or than it used to, and assess students' applications accordingly.

Expecting Raven Jones to play nanny and limit the number of AP courses a student can take is silly. Again, if this is truly a burning issue, let FCPS adopt a county-wide policy and enforce it consistently.

You're funny! FCPS can't do anything right. Their track record with parents and kids speaks for itself, so expecting them to roll out something standardized and sensible is genuinely laughable.

Ms. Jones is the one making the case that AP overload and high schooler mental health issues are "causally" linked (her word). So it's entirely within her power to address this for McLean students specifically, without needing to take it district-wide. She is absolutely capable of doing exactly that. And admissions officers do review the school profile updates that each high school submits. Without reading those, they'd have no way of understanding the applicant pool from that school. That makes this a far more manageable, targeted fix -- versus an FCPS-wide initiative that they would inevitably bungle.

I think kids at Mclean would actually like this, if it was done school-wide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought schools send a profile and colleges only worry about students taking the most challenging programming available at their school ( not the county). So a McLean student is judged on different standards than a student at Justice, correct? My understanding is that there is a profile per individual high school. So would capping it really disadvantage anyone?

You're asking admissions folks to spend a lot of time they may not have to delve into individual school profiles. And even if they do, they could simply conclude one school is now offering a less rigorous education than another, or than it used to, and assess students' applications accordingly.

Expecting Raven Jones to play nanny and limit the number of AP courses a student can take is silly. Again, if this is truly a burning issue, let FCPS adopt a county-wide policy and enforce it consistently.

You're funny! FCPS can't do anything right. Their track record with parents and kids speaks for itself, so expecting them to roll out something standardized and sensible is genuinely laughable.

Ms. Jones is the one making the case that AP overload and high schooler mental health issues are "causally" linked (her word). So it's entirely within her power to address this for McLean students specifically, without needing to take it district-wide. She is absolutely capable of doing exactly that. And admissions officers do review the school profile updates that each high school submits. Without reading those, they'd have no way of understanding the applicant pool from that school. That makes this a far more manageable, targeted fix -- versus an FCPS-wide initiative that they would inevitably bungle.

So one poster claims McLean parents are particularly litigious and the next suggests the principal unilaterally impose restrictions on the number of AP courses McLean High kids can take compared to students at other high schools in FCPS?

These observations aren’t easily reconciled.

[Anonymous]

This was the presentation on advanced academics at McLean from January 2026. It strikes a tone similar to that in prior presentations when Ellen Reilly was principal (namely, that students should not overload themselves with AP classes but carefully determine the right number, if any, to take).

https://mcleanhs.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/inline-files/Advanced%20Academics%20Night%20January%202026.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This was the presentation on advanced academics at McLean from January 2026. It strikes a tone similar to that in prior presentations when Ellen Reilly was principal (namely, that students should not overload themselves with AP classes but carefully determine the right number, if any, to take).

https://mcleanhs.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/inline-files/Advanced%20Academics%20Night%20January%202026.pdf

I remember a similar tone and presentation from the Principal before Reilly too. (My oldest graduated a while ago)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This was the presentation on advanced academics at McLean from January 2026. It strikes a tone similar to that in prior presentations when Ellen Reilly was principal (namely, that students should not overload themselves with AP classes but carefully determine the right number, if any, to take).

https://mcleanhs.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/inline-files/Advanced%20Academics%20Night%20January%202026.pdf

I remember a similar tone and presentation from the Principal before Reilly too. (My oldest graduated a while ago)

When did your oldest graduate? Reilly was there for a long time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This was the presentation on advanced academics at McLean from January 2026. It strikes a tone similar to that in prior presentations when Ellen Reilly was principal (namely, that students should not overload themselves with AP classes but carefully determine the right number, if any, to take).

https://mcleanhs.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/inline-files/Advanced%20Academics%20Night%20January%202026.pdf

I remember a similar tone and presentation from the Principal before Reilly too. (My oldest graduated a while ago)

When did your oldest graduate? Reilly was there for a long time.

2015. Reilly came their sophomore or junior year I think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This was the presentation on advanced academics at McLean from January 2026. It strikes a tone similar to that in prior presentations when Ellen Reilly was principal (namely, that students should not overload themselves with AP classes but carefully determine the right number, if any, to take).

https://mcleanhs.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/inline-files/Advanced%20Academics%20Night%20January%202026.pdf

I remember a similar tone and presentation from the Principal before Reilly too. (My oldest graduated a while ago)

When did your oldest graduate? Reilly was there for a long time.

2015. Reilly came their sophomore or junior year I think.

Reilly came in the fall of 2012 and was principal until 2025. She followed Deborah Jackson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought schools send a profile and colleges only worry about students taking the most challenging programming available at their school ( not the county). So a McLean student is judged on different standards than a student at Justice, correct? My understanding is that there is a profile per individual high school. So would capping it really disadvantage anyone?

You're asking admissions folks to spend a lot of time they may not have to delve into individual school profiles. And even if they do, they could simply conclude one school is now offering a less rigorous education than another, or than it used to, and assess students' applications accordingly.

Expecting Raven Jones to play nanny and limit the number of AP courses a student can take is silly. Again, if this is truly a burning issue, let FCPS adopt a county-wide policy and enforce it consistently.

You're funny! FCPS can't do anything right. Their track record with parents and kids speaks for itself, so expecting them to roll out something standardized and sensible is genuinely laughable.

Ms. Jones is the one making the case that AP overload and high schooler mental health issues are "causally" linked (her word). So it's entirely within her power to address this for McLean students specifically, without needing to take it district-wide. She is absolutely capable of doing exactly that. And admissions officers do review the school profile updates that each high school submits. Without reading those, they'd have no way of understanding the applicant pool from that school. That makes this a far more manageable, targeted fix -- versus an FCPS-wide initiative that they would inevitably bungle.

So one poster claims McLean parents are particularly litigious and the next suggests the principal unilaterally impose restrictions on the number of AP courses McLean High kids can take compared to students at other high schools in FCPS?

These observations aren’t easily reconciled.

Here are the facts:
(1) College admissions are determined by comparing students within the high school, not external to the high school or broader FCPS community. When you implement a policy school-wide, you naturally level out the playing field for all students. It makes the entire process a whole lot more stable for the kids.
(2) Ms. Jones most definitely has the ability to restrict the number of APs a student can take per year based on some statistical analysis on previous years and defend the new policy as a data informed change that will help the student body in the long run.
(3) Parents may be upset but litigating this would likely take much longer than the overall benefit to each individual family. Litigating also requires data. Data available to Ms. Jones are the numerous students who show up crying and anxiety-prone to their counselors, data on the number of kids whose score on the AP trails off as the number of APs are stacked. Overall, the data will be on Ms. Jones' side and not those of the parents. Parents are fighting for the perceived competitiveness of their student, which again, would be equitable because the policy has been administered school-wide, so you're not disadvantaging one kid over another.

++++++++++++++

Are there still risks? Sure! But can you see a change happening with the student body experience at Mclean over the course of a few years--absolutely! Will that change be material to what Ms. Jones is promoting--absolutely! So, again, if she wants to take action to align with her words, this is the path to do it. Otherwise, she should just stop talking about it because most students/parents understand it's all 'bs' talk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought schools send a profile and colleges only worry about students taking the most challenging programming available at their school ( not the county). So a McLean student is judged on different standards than a student at Justice, correct? My understanding is that there is a profile per individual high school. So would capping it really disadvantage anyone?

You're asking admissions folks to spend a lot of time they may not have to delve into individual school profiles. And even if they do, they could simply conclude one school is now offering a less rigorous education than another, or than it used to, and assess students' applications accordingly.

Expecting Raven Jones to play nanny and limit the number of AP courses a student can take is silly. Again, if this is truly a burning issue, let FCPS adopt a county-wide policy and enforce it consistently.

You're funny! FCPS can't do anything right. Their track record with parents and kids speaks for itself, so expecting them to roll out something standardized and sensible is genuinely laughable.

Ms. Jones is the one making the case that AP overload and high schooler mental health issues are "causally" linked (her word). So it's entirely within her power to address this for McLean students specifically, without needing to take it district-wide. She is absolutely capable of doing exactly that. And admissions officers do review the school profile updates that each high school submits. Without reading those, they'd have no way of understanding the applicant pool from that school. That makes this a far more manageable, targeted fix -- versus an FCPS-wide initiative that they would inevitably bungle.

So one poster claims McLean parents are particularly litigious and the next suggests the principal unilaterally impose restrictions on the number of AP courses McLean High kids can take compared to students at other high schools in FCPS?

These observations aren’t easily reconciled.

Here are the facts:
(1) College admissions are determined by comparing students within the high school, not external to the high school or broader FCPS community. When you implement a policy school-wide, you naturally level out the playing field for all students. It makes the entire process a whole lot more stable for the kids.
(2) Ms. Jones most definitely has the ability to restrict the number of APs a student can take per year based on some statistical analysis on previous years and defend the new policy as a data informed change that will help the student body in the long run.
(3) Parents may be upset but litigating this would likely take much longer than the overall benefit to each individual family. Litigating also requires data. Data available to Ms. Jones are the numerous students who show up crying and anxiety-prone to their counselors, data on the number of kids whose score on the AP trails off as the number of APs are stacked. Overall, the data will be on Ms. Jones' side and not those of the parents. Parents are fighting for the perceived competitiveness of their student, which again, would be equitable because the policy has been administered school-wide, so you're not disadvantaging one kid over another.

++++++++++++++

Are there still risks? Sure! But can you see a change happening with the student body experience at Mclean over the course of a few years--absolutely! Will that change be material to what Ms. Jones is promoting--absolutely! So, again, if she wants to take action to align with her words, this is the path to do it. Otherwise, she should just stop talking about it because most students/parents understand it's all 'bs' talk.

I don’t think it’s BS for a principal to caution students and their families against overload, but neither do I think she should put McLean kids who can handle more AP classes at a disadvantage compared to students at other AP schools like Langley and Yorktown, or students pursuing a full IB diploma at an IB school. McLean’s college admissions are regularly as strong as any high school in FCPS besides TJ, so clearly many kids can handle a lot of AP courses without destroying their GPAs and/or mental health in the process.

When Raven Jones arrived, she said she did not intend to make major changes; this would be a big one. Ellen Reilly was the MHS principal for 13 years because she did a good job of understanding and working with the community. If Jones unilaterally caps the number of AP courses MHS kids can take, one suspects her tenure will be much shorter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought schools send a profile and colleges only worry about students taking the most challenging programming available at their school ( not the county). So a McLean student is judged on different standards than a student at Justice, correct? My understanding is that there is a profile per individual high school. So would capping it really disadvantage anyone?

You're asking admissions folks to spend a lot of time they may not have to delve into individual school profiles. And even if they do, they could simply conclude one school is now offering a less rigorous education than another, or than it used to, and assess students' applications accordingly.

Expecting Raven Jones to play nanny and limit the number of AP courses a student can take is silly. Again, if this is truly a burning issue, let FCPS adopt a county-wide policy and enforce it consistently.

You're funny! FCPS can't do anything right. Their track record with parents and kids speaks for itself, so expecting them to roll out something standardized and sensible is genuinely laughable.

Ms. Jones is the one making the case that AP overload and high schooler mental health issues are "causally" linked (her word). So it's entirely within her power to address this for McLean students specifically, without needing to take it district-wide. She is absolutely capable of doing exactly that. And admissions officers do review the school profile updates that each high school submits. Without reading those, they'd have no way of understanding the applicant pool from that school. That makes this a far more manageable, targeted fix -- versus an FCPS-wide initiative that they would inevitably bungle.

So one poster claims McLean parents are particularly litigious and the next suggests the principal unilaterally impose restrictions on the number of AP courses McLean High kids can take compared to students at other high schools in FCPS?

These observations aren’t easily reconciled.

Here are the facts:
(1) College admissions are determined by comparing students within the high school, not external to the high school or broader FCPS community. When you implement a policy school-wide, you naturally level out the playing field for all students. It makes the entire process a whole lot more stable for the kids.
(2) Ms. Jones most definitely has the ability to restrict the number of APs a student can take per year based on some statistical analysis on previous years and defend the new policy as a data informed change that will help the student body in the long run.
(3) Parents may be upset but litigating this would likely take much longer than the overall benefit to each individual family. Litigating also requires data. Data available to Ms. Jones are the numerous students who show up crying and anxiety-prone to their counselors, data on the number of kids whose score on the AP trails off as the number of APs are stacked. Overall, the data will be on Ms. Jones' side and not those of the parents. Parents are fighting for the perceived competitiveness of their student, which again, would be equitable because the policy has been administered school-wide, so you're not disadvantaging one kid over another.

++++++++++++++

Are there still risks? Sure! But can you see a change happening with the student body experience at Mclean over the course of a few years--absolutely! Will that change be material to what Ms. Jones is promoting--absolutely! So, again, if she wants to take action to align with her words, this is the path to do it. Otherwise, she should just stop talking about it because most students/parents understand it's all 'bs' talk.

I don’t think it’s BS for a principal to caution students and their families against overload, but neither do I think she should put McLean kids who can handle more AP classes at a disadvantage compared to students at other AP schools like Langley and Yorktown, or students pursuing a full IB diploma at an IB school. McLean’s college admissions are regularly as strong as any high school in FCPS besides TJ, so clearly many kids can handle a lot of AP courses without destroying their GPAs and/or mental health in the process.

When Raven Jones arrived, she said she did not intend to make major changes; this would be a big one. Ellen Reilly was the MHS principal for 13 years because she did a good job of understanding and working with the community. If Jones unilaterally caps the number of AP courses MHS kids can take, one suspects her tenure will be much shorter.

For college admission purposes, you're not comparing a Langley or Yorktown student to a Mclean HS student. You're comparing within Mclean HS. I am sure the tiger-parent population would be up in arms, but I'm guessing the students (the actual beneficiaries of the policy) may actually thank her for having the guts to make a tough decision that is right for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This was the presentation on advanced academics at McLean from January 2026. It strikes a tone similar to that in prior presentations when Ellen Reilly was principal (namely, that students should not overload themselves with AP classes but carefully determine the right number, if any, to take).

https://mcleanhs.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/inline-files/Advanced%20Academics%20Night%20January%202026.pdf

This may be a move in the right direction. Back in the 80s and 90s students had to test in to AP classes, or a teacher recommendation was required, and they certainly couldn't take "all APs". Both the regular and AP classes were stronger then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought schools send a profile and colleges only worry about students taking the most challenging programming available at their school ( not the county). So a McLean student is judged on different standards than a student at Justice, correct? My understanding is that there is a profile per individual high school. So would capping it really disadvantage anyone?

You're asking admissions folks to spend a lot of time they may not have to delve into individual school profiles. And even if they do, they could simply conclude one school is now offering a less rigorous education than another, or than it used to, and assess students' applications accordingly.

Expecting Raven Jones to play nanny and limit the number of AP courses a student can take is silly. Again, if this is truly a burning issue, let FCPS adopt a county-wide policy and enforce it consistently.

You're funny! FCPS can't do anything right. Their track record with parents and kids speaks for itself, so expecting them to roll out something standardized and sensible is genuinely laughable.

Ms. Jones is the one making the case that AP overload and high schooler mental health issues are "causally" linked (her word). So it's entirely within her power to address this for McLean students specifically, without needing to take it district-wide. She is absolutely capable of doing exactly that. And admissions officers do review the school profile updates that each high school submits. Without reading those, they'd have no way of understanding the applicant pool from that school. That makes this a far more manageable, targeted fix -- versus an FCPS-wide initiative that they would inevitably bungle.

So one poster claims McLean parents are particularly litigious and the next suggests the principal unilaterally impose restrictions on the number of AP courses McLean High kids can take compared to students at other high schools in FCPS?

These observations aren’t easily reconciled.

Here are the facts:
(1) College admissions are determined by comparing students within the high school, not external to the high school or broader FCPS community. When you implement a policy school-wide, you naturally level out the playing field for all students. It makes the entire process a whole lot more stable for the kids.
(2) Ms. Jones most definitely has the ability to restrict the number of APs a student can take per year based on some statistical analysis on previous years and defend the new policy as a data informed change that will help the student body in the long run.
(3) Parents may be upset but litigating this would likely take much longer than the overall benefit to each individual family. Litigating also requires data. Data available to Ms. Jones are the numerous students who show up crying and anxiety-prone to their counselors, data on the number of kids whose score on the AP trails off as the number of APs are stacked. Overall, the data will be on Ms. Jones' side and not those of the parents. Parents are fighting for the perceived competitiveness of their student, which again, would be equitable because the policy has been administered school-wide, so you're not disadvantaging one kid over another.

++++++++++++++

Are there still risks? Sure! But can you see a change happening with the student body experience at Mclean over the course of a few years--absolutely! Will that change be material to what Ms. Jones is promoting--absolutely! So, again, if she wants to take action to align with her words, this is the path to do it. Otherwise, she should just stop talking about it because most students/parents understand it's all 'bs' talk.

I don’t think it’s BS for a principal to caution students and their families against overload, but neither do I think she should put McLean kids who can handle more AP classes at a disadvantage compared to students at other AP schools like Langley and Yorktown, or students pursuing a full IB diploma at an IB school. McLean’s college admissions are regularly as strong as any high school in FCPS besides TJ, so clearly many kids can handle a lot of AP courses without destroying their GPAs and/or mental health in the process.

When Raven Jones arrived, she said she did not intend to make major changes; this would be a big one. Ellen Reilly was the MHS principal for 13 years because she did a good job of understanding and working with the community. If Jones unilaterally caps the number of AP courses MHS kids can take, one suspects her tenure will be much shorter.

For college admission purposes, you're not comparing a Langley or Yorktown student to a Mclean HS student. You're comparing within Mclean HS. I am sure the tiger-parent population would be up in arms, but I'm guessing the students (the actual beneficiaries of the policy) may actually thank her for having the guts to make a tough decision that is right for them.

I don’t agree. It may hold true for some big state schools that are always going to receive a lot of applications from MHS kids and admit some. It doesn’t necessarily hold true for other schools.

You can “guess” that some students would welcome a cap on AP courses; I can guarantee you that other students and their families would not welcome it. You do know that AP credits allow kids at some schools to reduce tuition payments and graduate early, right? And coming on the heels of a year in which MHS college admissions were again impressive, including many T20 admits and around 40 kids heading to UVA, it would be a particularly ballsy move.

I suggest you work with your own kids to figure out what is right for them, and not ask a principal to embark on a course that would likely lead to many calls for her replacement. And if you conclude you are uncomfortable with the culture at McLean and its peer AP schools in FCPS, there are other schools out there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought schools send a profile and colleges only worry about students taking the most challenging programming available at their school ( not the county). So a McLean student is judged on different standards than a student at Justice, correct? My understanding is that there is a profile per individual high school. So would capping it really disadvantage anyone?

You're asking admissions folks to spend a lot of time they may not have to delve into individual school profiles. And even if they do, they could simply conclude one school is now offering a less rigorous education than another, or than it used to, and assess students' applications accordingly.

Expecting Raven Jones to play nanny and limit the number of AP courses a student can take is silly. Again, if this is truly a burning issue, let FCPS adopt a county-wide policy and enforce it consistently.

You're funny! FCPS can't do anything right. Their track record with parents and kids speaks for itself, so expecting them to roll out something standardized and sensible is genuinely laughable.

Ms. Jones is the one making the case that AP overload and high schooler mental health issues are "causally" linked (her word). So it's entirely within her power to address this for McLean students specifically, without needing to take it district-wide. She is absolutely capable of doing exactly that. And admissions officers do review the school profile updates that each high school submits. Without reading those, they'd have no way of understanding the applicant pool from that school. That makes this a far more manageable, targeted fix -- versus an FCPS-wide initiative that they would inevitably bungle.

So one poster claims McLean parents are particularly litigious and the next suggests the principal unilaterally impose restrictions on the number of AP courses McLean High kids can take compared to students at other high schools in FCPS?

These observations aren’t easily reconciled.

Here are the facts:
(1) College admissions are determined by comparing students within the high school, not external to the high school or broader FCPS community. When you implement a policy school-wide, you naturally level out the playing field for all students. It makes the entire process a whole lot more stable for the kids.
(2) Ms. Jones most definitely has the ability to restrict the number of APs a student can take per year based on some statistical analysis on previous years and defend the new policy as a data informed change that will help the student body in the long run.
(3) Parents may be upset but litigating this would likely take much longer than the overall benefit to each individual family. Litigating also requires data. Data available to Ms. Jones are the numerous students who show up crying and anxiety-prone to their counselors, data on the number of kids whose score on the AP trails off as the number of APs are stacked. Overall, the data will be on Ms. Jones' side and not those of the parents. Parents are fighting for the perceived competitiveness of their student, which again, would be equitable because the policy has been administered school-wide, so you're not disadvantaging one kid over another.

++++++++++++++

Are there still risks? Sure! But can you see a change happening with the student body experience at Mclean over the course of a few years--absolutely! Will that change be material to what Ms. Jones is promoting--absolutely! So, again, if she wants to take action to align with her words, this is the path to do it. Otherwise, she should just stop talking about it because most students/parents understand it's all 'bs' talk.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought schools send a profile and colleges only worry about students taking the most challenging programming available at their school ( not the county). So a McLean student is judged on different standards than a student at Justice, correct? My understanding is that there is a profile per individual high school. So would capping it really disadvantage anyone?

You're asking admissions folks to spend a lot of time they may not have to delve into individual school profiles. And even if they do, they could simply conclude one school is now offering a less rigorous education than another, or than it used to, and assess students' applications accordingly.

Expecting Raven Jones to play nanny and limit the number of AP courses a student can take is silly. Again, if this is truly a burning issue, let FCPS adopt a county-wide policy and enforce it consistently.

You're funny! FCPS can't do anything right. Their track record with parents and kids speaks for itself, so expecting them to roll out something standardized and sensible is genuinely laughable.

Ms. Jones is the one making the case that AP overload and high schooler mental health issues are "causally" linked (her word). So it's entirely within her power to address this for McLean students specifically, without needing to take it district-wide. She is absolutely capable of doing exactly that. And admissions officers do review the school profile updates that each high school submits. Without reading those, they'd have no way of understanding the applicant pool from that school. That makes this a far more manageable, targeted fix -- versus an FCPS-wide initiative that they would inevitably bungle.

So one poster claims McLean parents are particularly litigious and the next suggests the principal unilaterally impose restrictions on the number of AP courses McLean High kids can take compared to students at other high schools in FCPS?

These observations aren’t easily reconciled.

Here are the facts:
(1) College admissions are determined by comparing students within the high school, not external to the high school or broader FCPS community. When you implement a policy school-wide, you naturally level out the playing field for all students. It makes the entire process a whole lot more stable for the kids.
(2) Ms. Jones most definitely has the ability to restrict the number of APs a student can take per year based on some statistical analysis on previous years and defend the new policy as a data informed change that will help the student body in the long run.
(3) Parents may be upset but litigating this would likely take much longer than the overall benefit to each individual family. Litigating also requires data. Data available to Ms. Jones are the numerous students who show up crying and anxiety-prone to their counselors, data on the number of kids whose score on the AP trails off as the number of APs are stacked. Overall, the data will be on Ms. Jones' side and not those of the parents. Parents are fighting for the perceived competitiveness of their student, which again, would be equitable because the policy has been administered school-wide, so you're not disadvantaging one kid over another.

++++++++++++++

Are there still risks? Sure! But can you see a change happening with the student body experience at Mclean over the course of a few years--absolutely! Will that change be material to what Ms. Jones is promoting--absolutely! So, again, if she wants to take action to align with her words, this is the path to do it. Otherwise, she should just stop talking about it because most students/parents understand it's all 'bs' talk.

I don’t think it’s BS for a principal to caution students and their families against overload, but neither do I think she should put McLean kids who can handle more AP classes at a disadvantage compared to students at other AP schools like Langley and Yorktown, or students pursuing a full IB diploma at an IB school. McLean’s college admissions are regularly as strong as any high school in FCPS besides TJ, so clearly many kids can handle a lot of AP courses without destroying their GPAs and/or mental health in the process.

When Raven Jones arrived, she said she did not intend to make major changes; this would be a big one. Ellen Reilly was the MHS principal for 13 years because she did a good job of understanding and working with the community. If Jones unilaterally caps the number of AP courses MHS kids can take, one suspects her tenure will be much shorter.

For college admission purposes, you're not comparing a Langley or Yorktown student to a Mclean HS student. You're comparing within Mclean HS. I am sure the tiger-parent population would be up in arms, but I'm guessing the students (the actual beneficiaries of the policy) may actually thank her for having the guts to make a tough decision that is right for them.

I don’t agree. It may hold true for some big state schools that are always going to receive a lot of applications from MHS kids and admit some. It doesn’t necessarily hold true for other schools.

You can “guess” that some students would welcome a cap on AP courses; I can guarantee you that other students and their families would not welcome it. You do know that AP credits allow kids at some schools to reduce tuition payments and graduate early, right? And coming on the heels of a year in which MHS college admissions were again impressive, including many T20 admits and around 40 kids heading to UVA, it would be a particularly ballsy move.

I suggest you work with your own kids to figure out what is right for them, and not ask a principal to embark on a course that would likely lead to many calls for her replacement. And if you conclude you are uncomfortable with the culture at McLean and its peer AP schools in FCPS, there are other schools out there.

But that's not the point! The point, if we are to take your response seriously, is then for Ms. Jones to stop talking 'bs' about limiting the AP load. Just don't talk the talk. That's all I'm saying. If you can't/wont do anything about it because you're too chicken-$% about "calls for replacement," then just STFU about it. Don't sit there and take up all the mental space and ask parents/kids to make this decision, which no parent/kid will make because then it TRULY puts them at a disadvantage as compared to the student who didn't take your advice. So ... let it go!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought schools send a profile and colleges only worry about students taking the most challenging programming available at their school ( not the county). So a McLean student is judged on different standards than a student at Justice, correct? My understanding is that there is a profile per individual high school. So would capping it really disadvantage anyone?

You're asking admissions folks to spend a lot of time they may not have to delve into individual school profiles. And even if they do, they could simply conclude one school is now offering a less rigorous education than another, or than it used to, and assess students' applications accordingly.

Expecting Raven Jones to play nanny and limit the number of AP courses a student can take is silly. Again, if this is truly a burning issue, let FCPS adopt a county-wide policy and enforce it consistently.

You're funny! FCPS can't do anything right. Their track record with parents and kids speaks for itself, so expecting them to roll out something standardized and sensible is genuinely laughable.

Ms. Jones is the one making the case that AP overload and high schooler mental health issues are "causally" linked (her word). So it's entirely within her power to address this for McLean students specifically, without needing to take it district-wide. She is absolutely capable of doing exactly that. And admissions officers do review the school profile updates that each high school submits. Without reading those, they'd have no way of understanding the applicant pool from that school. That makes this a far more manageable, targeted fix -- versus an FCPS-wide initiative that they would inevitably bungle.

So one poster claims McLean parents are particularly litigious and the next suggests the principal unilaterally impose restrictions on the number of AP courses McLean High kids can take compared to students at other high schools in FCPS?

These observations aren’t easily reconciled.

Here are the facts:
(1) College admissions are determined by comparing students within the high school, not external to the high school or broader FCPS community. When you implement a policy school-wide, you naturally level out the playing field for all students. It makes the entire process a whole lot more stable for the kids.
(2) Ms. Jones most definitely has the ability to restrict the number of APs a student can take per year based on some statistical analysis on previous years and defend the new policy as a data informed change that will help the student body in the long run.
(3) Parents may be upset but litigating this would likely take much longer than the overall benefit to each individual family. Litigating also requires data. Data available to Ms. Jones are the numerous students who show up crying and anxiety-prone to their counselors, data on the number of kids whose score on the AP trails off as the number of APs are stacked. Overall, the data will be on Ms. Jones' side and not those of the parents. Parents are fighting for the perceived competitiveness of their student, which again, would be equitable because the policy has been administered school-wide, so you're not disadvantaging one kid over another.

++++++++++++++

Are there still risks? Sure! But can you see a change happening with the student body experience at Mclean over the course of a few years--absolutely! Will that change be material to what Ms. Jones is promoting--absolutely! So, again, if she wants to take action to align with her words, this is the path to do it. Otherwise, she should just stop talking about it because most students/parents understand it's all 'bs' talk.

I don’t think it’s BS for a principal to caution students and their families against overload, but neither do I think she should put McLean kids who can handle more AP classes at a disadvantage compared to students at other AP schools like Langley and Yorktown, or students pursuing a full IB diploma at an IB school. McLean’s college admissions are regularly as strong as any high school in FCPS besides TJ, so clearly many kids can handle a lot of AP courses without destroying their GPAs and/or mental health in the process.

When Raven Jones arrived, she said she did not intend to make major changes; this would be a big one. Ellen Reilly was the MHS principal for 13 years because she did a good job of understanding and working with the community. If Jones unilaterally caps the number of AP courses MHS kids can take, one suspects her tenure will be much shorter.

For college admission purposes, you're not comparing a Langley or Yorktown student to a Mclean HS student. You're comparing within Mclean HS. I am sure the tiger-parent population would be up in arms, but I'm guessing the students (the actual beneficiaries of the policy) may actually thank her for having the guts to make a tough decision that is right for them.

I don’t agree. It may hold true for some big state schools that are always going to receive a lot of applications from MHS kids and admit some. It doesn’t necessarily hold true for other schools.

You can “guess” that some students would welcome a cap on AP courses; I can guarantee you that other students and their families would not welcome it. You do know that AP credits allow kids at some schools to reduce tuition payments and graduate early, right? And coming on the heels of a year in which MHS college admissions were again impressive, including many T20 admits and around 40 kids heading to UVA, it would be a particularly ballsy move.

I suggest you work with your own kids to figure out what is right for them, and not ask a principal to embark on a course that would likely lead to many calls for her replacement. And if you conclude you are uncomfortable with the culture at McLean and its peer AP schools in FCPS, there are other schools out there.

But that's not the point! The point, if we are to take your response seriously, is then for Ms. Jones to stop talking 'bs' about limiting the AP load. Just don't talk the talk. That's all I'm saying. If you can't/wont do anything about it because you're too chicken-$% about "calls for replacement," then just STFU about it. Don't sit there and take up all the mental space and ask parents/kids to make this decision, which no parent/kid will make because then it TRULY puts them at a disadvantage as compared to the student who didn't take your advice. So ... let it go!

You can read the separate thread on AP courses and see families from plenty of other schools saying their kids also handled a lot of AP courses.

As for Jones, there’s something to be said for setting the tone at the top, and I see nothing wrong with a principal saying students need to avoid overload and make their own assessments with their families and counselors as to how much they can handle. If that gives a student whose family might be pushing them to take all AP courses some ammunition to push back and say even the principal has said it’s not always a good idea to take 4 or 5 AP courses, that’s not a bad thing. And it’s pretty much what Reilly told people as well.

So I reject the idea that Jones’ only alternatives are to unilaterally limit the number of AP courses students can take, which would make MHS an outlier in FCPS, or say nothing about the topic.