Seeking advice on Fairfax County Public High Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thank you all who replied so quickly with your thoughts on specific schools in the FCPS system. We've been torn between Falls Church and Fairfax, partly because of choice and availability of good housing options. Honestly, I have two "middle of the road" kids and I'm looking for a solid school with teachers open to dialogue with well-meaning parents. Sounds like we should be able to find that in either case.

And thanks, too, to the folks who called out the Angry Ranters on my behalf.

An anger ranter, I am not.

It is not ranting to passionately describe the reasons FCPS is an enormously overrated school system. In different schools they call it by different names, but in essence throughout the Fairfax County the students are placed in groups for 12 years to teach and entertain themselves. Your children have an international perspective and they are going to be board out of their minds sitting in groups with students who have never travelled beyond Great Falls discussing such topics as to how and why lint happens to accumulate in one's navel.

Middle of the road kids are the ones who fall through the cracks most often in FCPS.

So what do you want OP to do? Seriously? Move? Homeschool?

You could make either of those points without your drawn out rants about formal schooling and FCPS, in particular.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thank you all who replied so quickly with your thoughts on specific schools in the FCPS system. We've been torn between Falls Church and Fairfax, partly because of choice and availability of good housing options. Honestly, I have two "middle of the road" kids and I'm looking for a solid school with teachers open to dialogue with well-meaning parents. Sounds like we should be able to find that in either case.

And thanks, too, to the folks who called out the Angry Ranters on my behalf.

An anger ranter, I am not.

It is not ranting to passionately describe the reasons FCPS is an enormously overrated school system. In different schools they call it by different names, but in essence throughout the Fairfax County the students are placed in groups for 12 years to teach and entertain themselves. Your children have an international perspective and they are going to be board out of their minds sitting in groups with students who have never travelled beyond Great Falls discussing such topics as to how and why lint happens to accumulate in one's navel.

Middle of the road kids are the ones who fall through the cracks most often in FCPS.

So what do you want OP to do? Seriously? Move? Homeschool?

You could make either of those points without your drawn out rants about formal schooling and FCPS, in particular.

Probably one of the same posters who complains in other threads about how Langley's a bad place because there are kids from Great Falls who've gone on so many vacations abroad with their parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thank you all who replied so quickly with your thoughts on specific schools in the FCPS system. We've been torn between Falls Church and Fairfax, partly because of choice and availability of good housing options. Honestly, I have two "middle of the road" kids and I'm looking for a solid school with teachers open to dialogue with well-meaning parents. Sounds like we should be able to find that in either case.

And thanks, too, to the folks who called out the Angry Ranters on my behalf.

An anger ranter, I am not.

It is not ranting to passionately describe the reasons FCPS is an enormously overrated school system. In different schools they call it by different names, but in essence throughout the Fairfax County the students are placed in groups for 12 years to teach and entertain themselves. Your children have an international perspective and they are going to be board out of their minds sitting in groups with students who have never travelled beyond Great Falls discussing such topics as to how and why lint happens to accumulate in one's navel.

Middle of the road kids are the ones who fall through the cracks most often in FCPS.

So what do you want OP to do? Seriously? Move? Homeschool?

You could make either of those points without your drawn out rants about formal schooling and FCPS, in particular.

I regret that you feel my explanations are drawn out beyond your interest in the matter. However, I am compelled to provide examples of problems which exist in FCPS which is the topic of discussion. The original posting said they were interested in FCPS, but they were willing to consider other school districts inside the Beltway. I have simply provided information. They seem to have other alternatives. However, if every school district in the region has the same problems of disengaged teachers using group learning to the point of crushing their student's interests in learning then perhaps OP really has no other viable options.

[Anonymous]

I'll venture a wild guess here: there's not a single kid in Great Falls who has "never travelled beyond Great Falls." But my mind sticks at images of these poor kids being "board out of their minds." Oh dear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thank you all who replied so quickly with your thoughts on specific schools in the FCPS system. We've been torn between Falls Church and Fairfax, partly because of choice and availability of good housing options. Honestly, I have two "middle of the road" kids and I'm looking for a solid school with teachers open to dialogue with well-meaning parents. Sounds like we should be able to find that in either case.

And thanks, too, to the folks who called out the Angry Ranters on my behalf.

An anger ranter, I am not.

It is not ranting to passionately describe the reasons FCPS is an enormously overrated school system. In different schools they call it by different names, but in essence throughout the Fairfax County the students are placed in groups for 12 years to teach and entertain themselves. Your children have an international perspective and they are going to be board out of their minds sitting in groups with students who have never travelled beyond Great Falls discussing such topics as to how and why lint happens to accumulate in one's navel.

Middle of the road kids are the ones who fall through the cracks most often in FCPS.

I'm going out on a limb here and calling this an exaggeration. I'm pretty sure no teachers in FCPS spend any appreciable amount of time having their students discuss how lint happens to accumulate in one's navel. I could see how a kid who had to do this would be "board" however.

[Anonymous]

Although the State Department is the poor cousin of NSA and CIA, I am still surprised that you still have not heard of smart phones yet. You should look into them when you return home from your trade consulate duty in Mongolia.

They are marvelous devices with many interesting functions. However, with new technologies there are often times glitches. One of those glitches with smartphones is that they have a function called autocorrect which occasionally will change a word like bored to board.

People living in the modern world are familiar and forgiving of such tech glitches. However, don't worry about it once you return to the U.S. you'll be back up to speed ion six months or so.

In the mean time perhaps you can hang out with FCPS English teachers who are incapable of teaching Shakespeare, but who are always willing to massively reduce a student's grade if they actually used the word board instead of their intended meaning of bored.

[Anonymous]

Is ion a measure of time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Although the State Department is the poor cousin of NSA and CIA, I am still surprised that you still have not heard of smart phones yet. You should look into them when you return home from your trade consulate duty in Mongolia.

They are marvelous devices with many interesting functions. However, with new technologies there are often times glitches. One of those glitches with smartphones is that they have a function called autocorrect which occasionally will change a word like bored to board.

People living in the modern world are familiar and forgiving of such tech glitches. However, don't worry about it once you return to the U.S. you'll be back up to speed ion six months or so.

In the mean time perhaps you can hang out with FCPS English teachers who are incapable of teaching Shakespeare, but who are always willing to massively reduce a student's grade if they actually used the word board instead of their intended meaning of bored.

I doubt the poster who called you to task for failing to spell-check your post was the OP, so insulting State Department personnel won't make your argument more credible.

You might want to look into area programs for adults with Asperger's. I think they will be helpful for you - honestly - than spending so much time on this forum making comments that really don't help other posters obtain the information they are seeking. If someone wanted to discuss whether there is too much reliance in FCPS on group assignments, they would ask. That was not the OP's question. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your advise and I'll return your kindness. Insulting me will not make your case any more credible either.

You also insult people with disabilities to suggest passion is a cognitive disorder. Perhaps here in lies the crux of the matter. FCPS teachers believe that the passionate love of learning warrants suspicion and what is not understood should be belittled and scorned.

At any rate the OP may not have any options besides FCPS, however, they now know what to expect and can plan accordingly.

It would still be good to hear accounts of fascinating, exciting, funny, inspiring, dramatic, life changing knowledge FCPS students will share with their parents when they return home from school today.

[Anonymous]

Egads! Poor OP. Please come back to Washington. Clearly the nuts have taken over, but there are still some sane people here -- seeking other sane people.

As for high schools... I've heard good things about Falls Church, McLean, and also James Madison in Vienna. I would avoid Marshall if it were me. It is not a bad school by any means, but I think the other 3 fit your description better.

Langley is a terrific school academically, but a bit of a pressure cooker. Not sure it would be a good place for a struggling student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for your advise and I'll return your kindness. Insulting me will not make your case any more credible either.

You also insult people with disabilities to suggest passion is a cognitive disorder. Perhaps here in lies the crux of the matter. FCPS teachers believe that the passionate love of learning warrants suspicion and what is not understood should be belittled and scorned.

At any rate the OP may not have any options besides FCPS, however, they now know what to expect and can plan accordingly.

It would still be good to hear accounts of fascinating, exciting, funny, inspiring, dramatic, life changing knowledge FCPS students will share with their parents when they return home from school today.

It was not an insult. It was an honest assessment based on the frequency and content of your posts, which suggest some difficulty in social interactions, of which threads such as this are one example. If you would not find that type of assistance helpful, hopefully you'll find something else. The notion that the OP will "plan accordingly" based on your comments is fanciful at best, and you need to understand that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Egads! Poor OP. Please come back to Washington. Clearly the nuts have taken over, but there are still some sane people here -- seeking other sane people.

As for high schools... I've heard good things about Falls Church, McLean, and also James Madison in Vienna. I would avoid Marshall if it were me. It is not a bad school by any means, but I think the other 3 fit your description better.

Langley is a terrific school academically, but a bit of a pressure cooker. Not sure it would be a good place for a struggling student.

I would put Madison in the same category, in terms of having a somewhat "one-size-fits-all" culture/reputation, and favor Falls Church, Marshall or McLean over either for a student with an IEP.

[Anonymous]

Of course the OP will plan accordingly and take what has been said about FCPS into consideration. Inasmuch as you've only focused on criticizing me they certainly won't take your thoughts into considering when placing their children.

Days into this and still no one can articulate any specific reasons related to circulum and instruction they would send their children to be educated by FCPS.

Perhaps today there will be more than a trickle of stories about quality instruction in FCPS today. The reason so few people have anything good to say about FCPS is because the instruction is so poor. The teachers fail to inspire the students. The teachers fail to communicate with the students. There is no joy of learning in Fairfax County Public Schools and the parents know it!

Yesterday, the teachers of FCPS were challenged to make their instruction better today and to begin anew. Hopefully they listened and they have recommitted themselves to the Art of Instruction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of course the OP will plan accordingly and take what has been said about FCPS into consideration. Inasmuch as you've only focused on criticizing me they certainly won't take your thoughts into considering when placing their children.

Days into this and still no one can articulate any specific reasons related to circulum and instruction they would send their children to be educated by FCPS.

Perhaps today there will be more than a trickle of stories about quality instruction in FCPS today. The reason so few people have anything good to say about FCPS is because the instruction is so poor. The teachers fail to inspire the students. The teachers fail to communicate with the students. There is no joy of learning in Fairfax County Public Schools and the parents know it!

Yesterday, the teachers of FCPS were challenged to make their instruction better today and to begin anew. Hopefully they listened and they have recommitted themselves to the Art of Instruction.

Frankly, the way you present yourself -- drawn out, unnecessarily complex sentence structure, odd word choice, repetitiveness of your arguments -- makes me think that while in school you were identified as very bright, but you were an underachiever, either by choice on personal principle or because some teacher didn't take an active interest in your way of thinking. Maybe a combination of both?

Who knows, but your vehemence in this thread is serving no one, not even yourself and your agenda to single handedly disillusion everyone of FCPS' mostly positive reputation.

If you are so intent on county teachers improving I'm sure your sharp mind can identify a better method than serial posting on an Internet forum.

[Anonymous]

^^^ dude you are so giving me a headache.


As to the point of the actual post sans recurring crazy person: if your child has an IEP, I would not recommend Woodson in Fairfax. Based on my experience, and that of other parents of IEP kids at the school. I can't speak to other schools. BUT...I also have 2 boys in the school system, both are advanced/in AP Honors settings and they are thriving.

"Middle of the road" kids, I think, at Woodson at least--get lost. The school is pretty focused on the advanced set first, the "average" kid second, and IEP kids are getting lost in the mix.

Again, other schools in the district might handle this better. But we did a LOT of research and moved into Woodson's zone specifically becasue it was supposed to be "the best" at IEP issues in Fairfax county, and no suck luck. It's been a pretty sad experience.