Lee High School in Springfield

[Anonymous]

I don't think Lee is bad. Any high school in Fairfax County will be decent. I just don't see anything about it to blow you away.

Class sizes are probably smaller than at some high schools but, as FCPS schools go, it's fairly low on the Challenge Index: http://commweb.fcps.edu/newsreleases/newsrelease.cfm?newsid=2490

It's unrated by US News: http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia/districts/fairfax-county-public-schools

It's an IB school, without AP, but the percentage of seniors getting IB diplomas is only around 6%: http://www.fcps.edu/cco/pr/apib/2013/table11.pdf

The SAT scores are usually in the bottom five in FCPS, and there were no National Merit Semi-Finalists from Lee in 2013, 2012 or 2011.

There's no Academy there, as at some county schools, offering unique vocational programs.

I do think that there may be some kids who might get "lost" academically or socially in a bigger school who would fare better and be happier at a smaller school like Lee, but most parents play the averages.

[Anonymous]

The FBI relocation to Springfield is a long shot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The FBI relocation to Springfield is a long shot.

Yes, the proposed location is already a "secret" CIA building. It ain't gonna happen.

But the new mall should be nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The FBI relocation to Springfield is a long shot.

I don't know about long shot. Seems to me it has just a good a shot as the other locations being proposed. Maybe it will happen, maybe it won't, but I wouldn't say long shot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think Lee is bad. Any high school in Fairfax County will be decent. I just don't see anything about it to blow you away.

Class sizes are probably smaller than at some high schools but, as FCPS schools go, it's fairly low on the Challenge Index: http://commweb.fcps.edu/newsreleases/newsrelease.cfm?newsid=2490

It's unrated by US News: http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia/districts/fairfax-county-public-schools

It's an IB school, without AP, but the percentage of seniors getting IB diplomas is only around 6%: http://www.fcps.edu/cco/pr/apib/2013/table11.pdf

The SAT scores are usually in the bottom five in FCPS, and there were no National Merit Semi-Finalists from Lee in 2013, 2012 or 2011.

There's no Academy there, as at some county schools, offering unique vocational programs.

I do think that there may be some kids who might get "lost" academically or socially in a bigger school who would fare better and be happier at a smaller school like Lee, but most parents play the averages.

I think this is a great summary of a Lee. It is just sort of an average high school. Not great and not awful. A motivated kid can do well there and an unmotivated kid can do poorly there. Sometimes the schools in Fairfax County that are the lowest performing schools get talked about on this forum like they need to be avoided like the plague because they are just so filled with FARMS and ESL students that any non-FARM, non-ESL student there is going to suffer. I think there are schools like that out there, I just don't think Lee or any of the high schools in Fairfax County are quite there (at least not yet).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think Lee is bad. Any high school in Fairfax County will be decent. I just don't see anything about it to blow you away.

Class sizes are probably smaller than at some high schools but, as FCPS schools go, it's fairly low on the Challenge Index: http://commweb.fcps.edu/newsreleases/newsrelease.cfm?newsid=2490

It's unrated by US News: http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia/districts/fairfax-county-public-schools

It's an IB school, without AP, but the percentage of seniors getting IB diplomas is only around 6%: http://www.fcps.edu/cco/pr/apib/2013/table11.pdf

The SAT scores are usually in the bottom five in FCPS, and there were no National Merit Semi-Finalists from Lee in 2013, 2012 or 2011.

There's no Academy there, as at some county schools, offering unique vocational programs.

I do think that there may be some kids who might get "lost" academically or socially in a bigger school who would fare better and be happier at a smaller school like Lee, but most parents play the averages.

I think this is a great summary of a Lee. It is just sort of an average high school. Not great and not awful. A motivated kid can do well there and an unmotivated kid can do poorly there. Sometimes the schools in Fairfax County that are the lowest performing schools get talked about on this forum like they need to be avoided like the plague because they are just so filled with FARMS and ESL students that any non-FARM, non-ESL student there is going to suffer. I think there are schools like that out there, I just don't think Lee or any of the high schools in Fairfax County are quite there (at least not yet).

Before it gets there - With the change from clusters to regions and more resources available, what's your thoughts on what's needed to help Lee? mentoring programs? more resources at ES level?
Are there substantial number of students transferring out for AP or World Language? We're planning to stay in this area long term with kids currently in ES and wondering what we can do to help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think Lee is bad. Any high school in Fairfax County will be decent. I just don't see anything about it to blow you away.

Class sizes are probably smaller than at some high schools but, as FCPS schools go, it's fairly low on the Challenge Index: http://commweb.fcps.edu/newsreleases/newsrelease.cfm?newsid=2490

It's unrated by US News: http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia/districts/fairfax-county-public-schools

It's an IB school, without AP, but the percentage of seniors getting IB diplomas is only around 6%: http://www.fcps.edu/cco/pr/apib/2013/table11.pdf

The SAT scores are usually in the bottom five in FCPS, and there were no National Merit Semi-Finalists from Lee in 2013, 2012 or 2011.

There's no Academy there, as at some county schools, offering unique vocational programs.

I do think that there may be some kids who might get "lost" academically or socially in a bigger school who would fare better and be happier at a smaller school like Lee, but most parents play the averages.

I think this is a great summary of a Lee. It is just sort of an average high school. Not great and not awful. A motivated kid can do well there and an unmotivated kid can do poorly there. Sometimes the schools in Fairfax County that are the lowest performing schools get talked about on this forum like they need to be avoided like the plague because they are just so filled with FARMS and ESL students that any non-FARM, non-ESL student there is going to suffer. I think there are schools like that out there, I just don't think Lee or any of the high schools in Fairfax County are quite there (at least not yet).

Before it gets there - With the change from clusters to regions and more resources available, what's your thoughts on what's needed to help Lee? mentoring programs? more resources at ES level?
Are there substantial number of students transferring out for AP or World Language? We're planning to stay in this area long term with kids currently in ES and wondering what we can do to help.

Currently, Lee usually is one of the top two or three high schools in the county in terms of losing students to AP schools every year via pupil placements.

Getting rid of the IB program at Lee would probably help the school, as fewer kids could pupil place to West Springfield and Hayfield. Students who wanted IB could still go to Annandale or Edison.

The other main thing that would assist Lee is outside the control of FCPS, and that is commercial redevelopment in Central Springfield that attracts people to some of the residential neighborhoods that are currently run-down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think Lee is bad. Any high school in Fairfax County will be decent. I just don't see anything about it to blow you away.

Class sizes are probably smaller than at some high schools but, as FCPS schools go, it's fairly low on the Challenge Index: http://commweb.fcps.edu/newsreleases/newsrelease.cfm?newsid=2490

It's unrated by US News: http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia/districts/fairfax-county-public-schools

It's an IB school, without AP, but the percentage of seniors getting IB diplomas is only around 6%: http://www.fcps.edu/cco/pr/apib/2013/table11.pdf

The SAT scores are usually in the bottom five in FCPS, and there were no National Merit Semi-Finalists from Lee in 2013, 2012 or 2011.

There's no Academy there, as at some county schools, offering unique vocational programs.

I do think that there may be some kids who might get "lost" academically or socially in a bigger school who would fare better and be happier at a smaller school like Lee, but most parents play the averages.

I think this is a great summary of a Lee. It is just sort of an average high school. Not great and not awful. A motivated kid can do well there and an unmotivated kid can do poorly there. Sometimes the schools in Fairfax County that are the lowest performing schools get talked about on this forum like they need to be avoided like the plague because they are just so filled with FARMS and ESL students that any non-FARM, non-ESL student there is going to suffer. I think there are schools like that out there, I just don't think Lee or any of the high schools in Fairfax County are quite there (at least not yet).

Before it gets there - With the change from clusters to regions and more resources available, what's your thoughts on what's needed to help Lee? mentoring programs? more resources at ES level?
Are there substantial number of students transferring out for AP or World Language? We're planning to stay in this area long term with kids currently in ES and wondering what we can do to help.

I don't know that I have any good answers to this. I will say that I do wonder about the pupil placement from Lee for AP. A significant percentage of the Lee pyramid is actually located closer to West Springfield HS than to Lee HS. There are some areas in the Daventry neighborhood where kids attend Irving MS, but Lee HS. I would not be surprised at all if a good number of high performing students pupil place to West Springfield to take AP courses. Seems to me that could create some brain drain from Lee that helps to depress test scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The FBI relocation to Springfield is a long shot.

I don't know about long shot. Seems to me it has just a good a shot as the other locations being proposed. Maybe it will happen, maybe it won't, but I wouldn't say long shot.

Have you been down there lately???? The entire BRAC realignment (the 2005 BRAC law resulted in the transfer of more than 18,000 Department of Defense jobs to Fort Belvoir) has completely transformed the landscape. The secret CIA location no longer exists and now hosts the new buidlings and businesses that serve the Dept Defense. Some of the homes surrounding neighborhoods are selling in 24 hours at competitive prices.

Lee was an excellent school back in the 80s. It rivaled West Springfield HS and actually many W.Spring. neighborhoods were redistricted to Lee. The sports teams were VA State Champions. Boys and Girls won VA State Soccer the same year.

Then- in the 90s the area around the Mall fell to crap. The school got bad. The population attending changed. I have heard it is completely back at the upswing and have a revival of sorts---primarily due to the revilitization due to BRAC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The FBI relocation to Springfield is a long shot.

I don't know about long shot. Seems to me it has just a good a shot as the other locations being proposed. Maybe it will happen, maybe it won't, but I wouldn't say long shot.

Have you been down there lately???? The entire BRAC realignment (the 2005 BRAC law resulted in the transfer of more than 18,000 Department of Defense jobs to Fort Belvoir) has completely transformed the landscape. The secret CIA location no longer exists and now hosts the new buidlings and businesses that serve the Dept Defense. Some of the homes surrounding neighborhoods are selling in 24 hours at competitive prices.

Lee was an excellent school back in the 80s. It rivaled West Springfield HS and actually many W.Spring. neighborhoods were redistricted to Lee. The sports teams were VA State Champions. Boys and Girls won VA State Soccer the same year.

Then- in the 90s the area around the Mall fell to crap. The school got bad. The population attending changed. I have heard it is completely back at the upswing and have a revival of sorts---primarily due to the revilitization due to BRAC.

Sorry , not yet. It's going to take a decade at least after the rebuild of that area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The FBI relocation to Springfield is a long shot.

I don't know about long shot. Seems to me it has just a good a shot as the other locations being proposed. Maybe it will happen, maybe it won't, but I wouldn't say long shot.

Have you been down there lately???? The entire BRAC realignment (the 2005 BRAC law resulted in the transfer of more than 18,000 Department of Defense jobs to Fort Belvoir) has completely transformed the landscape. The secret CIA location no longer exists and now hosts the new buidlings and businesses that serve the Dept Defense. Some of the homes surrounding neighborhoods are selling in 24 hours at competitive prices.

Lee was an excellent school back in the 80s. It rivaled West Springfield HS and actually many W.Spring. neighborhoods were redistricted to Lee. The sports teams were VA State Champions. Boys and Girls won VA State Soccer the same year.

Then- in the 90s the area around the Mall fell to crap. The school got bad. The population attending changed. I have heard it is completely back at the upswing and have a revival of sorts---primarily due to the revilitization due to BRAC.

Sorry , not yet. It's going to take a decade at least after the rebuild of that area.

The residential areas near Garfield and Lynbrook ES have a long way to go. Saratoga is a different story.

[Anonymous]

To Summarize

The main issue here is a school having IB instead of AP

in almost any other case there are enough "smart" students to demand honors/AP classes

to me the only demos that matter is the elementary school because after that the kids are tracked and the demos of the school dont matter

So West Springfield might have 3 classes of honors vs 1 at Lee doesn't matter

I also agree with the big fish small pond theory. You have a better shot of getting in going to Lee vs W Springfield

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The FBI relocation to Springfield is a long shot.

I don't know about long shot. Seems to me it has just a good a shot as the other locations being proposed. Maybe it will happen, maybe it won't, but I wouldn't say long shot.

Have you been down there lately???? The entire BRAC realignment (the 2005 BRAC law resulted in the transfer of more than 18,000 Department of Defense jobs to Fort Belvoir) has completely transformed the landscape. The secret CIA location no longer exists and now hosts the new buidlings and businesses that serve the Dept Defense. Some of the homes surrounding neighborhoods are selling in 24 hours at competitive prices.

Lee was an excellent school back in the 80s. It rivaled West Springfield HS and actually many W.Spring. neighborhoods were redistricted to Lee. The sports teams were VA State Champions. Boys and Girls won VA State Soccer the same year.

Then- in the 90s the area around the Mall fell to crap. The school got bad. The population attending changed. I have heard it is completely back at the upswing and have a revival of sorts---primarily due to the revilitization due to BRAC.

Sorry , not yet. It's going to take a decade at least after the rebuild of that area.

The residential areas near Garfield and Lynbrook ES have a long way to go. Saratoga is a different story.

Saratoga is basically West Springfield--though zoned Lee. Houses are selling very quickly there now. It is close to new BRACES area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think Lee is bad. Any high school in Fairfax County will be decent. I just don't see anything about it to blow you away.

Class sizes are probably smaller than at some high schools but, as FCPS schools go, it's fairly low on the Challenge Index: http://commweb.fcps.edu/newsreleases/newsrelease.cfm?newsid=2490

It's unrated by US News: http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia/districts/fairfax-county-public-schools

It's an IB school, without AP, but the percentage of seniors getting IB diplomas is only around 6%: http://www.fcps.edu/cco/pr/apib/2013/table11.pdf

The SAT scores are usually in the bottom five in FCPS, and there were no National Merit Semi-Finalists from Lee in 2013, 2012 or 2011.

There's no Academy there, as at some county schools, offering unique vocational programs.

I do think that there may be some kids who might get "lost" academically or socially in a bigger school who would fare better and be happier at a smaller school like Lee, but most parents play the averages.

I think this is a great summary of a Lee. It is just sort of an average high school. Not great and not awful. A motivated kid can do well there and an unmotivated kid can do poorly there. Sometimes the schools in Fairfax County that are the lowest performing schools get talked about on this forum like they need to be avoided like the plague because they are just so filled with FARMS and ESL students that any non-FARM, non-ESL student there is going to suffer. I think there are schools like that out there, I just don't think Lee or any of the high schools in Fairfax County are quite there (at least not yet).

Before it gets there - With the change from clusters to regions and more resources available, what's your thoughts on what's needed to help Lee? mentoring programs? more resources at ES level?
Are there substantial number of students transferring out for AP or World Language? We're planning to stay in this area long term with kids currently in ES and wondering what we can do to help.

I don't know that I have any good answers to this. I will say that I do wonder about the pupil placement from Lee for AP. A significant percentage of the Lee pyramid is actually located closer to West Springfield HS than to Lee HS. There are some areas in the Daventry neighborhood where kids attend Irving MS, but Lee HS. I would not be surprised at all if a good number of high performing students pupil place to West Springfield to take AP courses. Seems to me that could create some brain drain from Lee that helps to depress test scores.

This past year, there were 85 more students transferring out of Lee than transferring in, which is a pretty big margin. That's similar to what you see at Falls Church and Mount Vernon.

For whatever reason, Edison, which is also IB, tends to get more pupil placements into the school than out of the school. Anecdotally, I've heard that Edison makes an effort to recruit athletes to place into the school, but I don't know if that explains it or now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The FBI relocation to Springfield is a long shot.

I don't know about long shot. Seems to me it has just a good a shot as the other locations being proposed. Maybe it will happen, maybe it won't, but I wouldn't say long shot.

Have you been down there lately???? The entire BRAC realignment (the 2005 BRAC law resulted in the transfer of more than 18,000 Department of Defense jobs to Fort Belvoir) has completely transformed the landscape. The secret CIA location no longer exists and now hosts the new buidlings and businesses that serve the Dept Defense. Some of the homes surrounding neighborhoods are selling in 24 hours at competitive prices.

Lee was an excellent school back in the 80s. It rivaled West Springfield HS and actually many W.Spring. neighborhoods were redistricted to Lee. The sports teams were VA State Champions. Boys and Girls won VA State Soccer the same year.

Then- in the 90s the area around the Mall fell to crap. The school got bad. The population attending changed. I have heard it is completely back at the upswing and have a revival of sorts---primarily due to the revilitization due to BRAC.

Sorry , not yet. It's going to take a decade at least after the rebuild of that area.

But, if you are a young couple like me and my wife with young children or children on the way, these might be reasons to seriously consider purchasing in the Lee pyramid. You will get a discount on your housing prices now, and, if things do turn around and the schools zoned for Lee become more desirable, then you could profit from it. We bought in Saratoga last year and, while we did hesitate because of the reputation of the Lee pyramid, but we feel very good so far about our decision. Of course, I suppose time will tell.