Who sends their kid to Wakefield HS? Is it really that bad?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids attend Mclean HS so I do not have horse in this race. Both Yorktown and W-L HS are in the same tennis division as Mclean and my kids play varsity tennis for Mclean HS last year so I had a chance to see both Yorktown and W-L through sports, in this case, boys tennis.

W-L tennis team is very bad. It is so bad that all the starters players from Mclean sat out and sub with 3rd stringers and Mclean still beat W-L both times really bad. All of the players from W-L seemed to have very little outside private coaching and it showed. The Mclean players were very well fed during the tennis matches. There were plenty of food, fruit and drink for Mclean team while there was nothing but water for W-L. The tennis coach for W-L is a PE teacher from Long Fellow MS, very nice guy but his team was no match for Mclean. The support from the Mclean parents for the Mclean tennis team was kinda absurd, bordering on spoiling the players. There were 11 players on the Mclean tennis team graduated in 2017 and six of them went to UVA and the other five went to VA tech. Btw, all of the players from Mclean HS had outside private coaching, I guess it is because the Mclean parents just have more resources. They also had private academic tutoring as well.

Yorktown had an OK tennis team last year. They lost twice to Mclean but not as bad as W-L. All of the kids on the Yorktown tennis team were very good students. The support from the parents for Yorktown tennis team was not as strong as Mclean. About half of the kids on the Yorktown tennis had outside private coaching with the rest had very little.

Based on what I saw last year, it looks like the kids on the tennis team from Yorktown come from a wealthier families with strong parents so they are much more disciplines than kids from W-L.

Last year, Mclean finished 1st in the division while Yorktown finished 4th. W-L finished last. Mclean won the state 6A boys tennis title.

If you want to know how good a high school is in term of academic, just look at the school tennis team record. If the tennis team of that school does does well, that school has a sterling academic. Look around, Mclean, Langley, James Madison, and Marshalls all have excellent tennis program and an excellence academic school.

From what I read, Wakefield boys and tennis girls team are just outright bad. Therefore, one would come to the conclusion that academic performance at Wakefield HS has a lot to be desired, to put it gently. The same for W-L as well.

I want to believe that the author of this post is joking but sadly, I think s/he is serious.

Signed my brother played on an excellent high school tennis team and flunked out of college

[Anonymous]

Our DD is at Wakefield now, and DS will be going there in a year or so. The teachers are top-notch, and we have no complaints whatsoever about the administration or extracurricular activities. We have friends all over Arlington, and I'll be the first to admit we probably don't have the level of parent support (financial and physical) that our friends get at W-L and Yorktown. It's a very economically diverse school, with families from Arlington Ridge/Aurora Highlands in $1m+ homes intermingled with recent immigrant families living in AH apartments and UMC families from Claremont and Fairlington. For the most part the kids seem to either get along or simply leave each other alone. There isn't much bullying.

We feel confident our kids are getting a good education, so I feel no need to knock anyone else's choices. I'm sure students are getting a great education at McLean and Langley, and their parents are happy with that too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We moved out of Arlington for better schools. The fact that Arlington made its high schools double as rec centers was not a plus in our book.

This is absurd. The schools do not function as "community centers" other than to allow public access to the swimming pools. Unlike Fairfax county, Arlington does not have enough space/land or citizens to justify additional separate aquatic centers.

I feel you want to argue "better schools" fine, go ahead and make your case, but what a silly reason to cite.

I was responding to the Arlington poster claiming that having a pool at Wakefield was a big bonus.

The high school pools in Arlington were another negative for us. They make the schools smell like chlorine and it’s humid inside the buildings. We prefer the schools in FCPS that are more focused on academics, along with the separate, beautiful county rec centers like Oak-Marr.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We prefer the schools in FCPS that are more focused on academics, along with the separate, beautiful county rec centers like Oak-Marr.

Ah, but do they have winning tennis teams?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We prefer the schools in FCPS that are more focused on academics, along with the separate, beautiful county rec centers like Oak-Marr.

Ah, but do they have winning tennis teams?

DP, but the 6A tennis champions last year were McLean (boys) and Oakton (girls), and the 5A champions were TJ (boys) and Marshall (girls).

So it seems the answer is yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids attend Mclean HS so I do not have horse in this race. Both Yorktown and W-L HS are in the same tennis division as Mclean and my kids play varsity tennis for Mclean HS last year so I had a chance to see both Yorktown and W-L through sports, in this case, boys tennis.

W-L tennis team is very bad. It is so bad that all the starters players from Mclean sat out and sub with 3rd stringers and Mclean still beat W-L both times really bad. All of the players from W-L seemed to have very little outside private coaching and it showed. The Mclean players were very well fed during the tennis matches. There were plenty of food, fruit and drink for Mclean team while there was nothing but water for W-L. The tennis coach for W-L is a PE teacher from Long Fellow MS, very nice guy but his team was no match for Mclean. The support from the Mclean parents for the Mclean tennis team was kinda absurd, bordering on spoiling the players. There were 11 players on the Mclean tennis team graduated in 2017 and six of them went to UVA and the other five went to VA tech. Btw, all of the players from Mclean HS had outside private coaching, I guess it is because the Mclean parents just have more resources. They also had private academic tutoring as well.

Yorktown had an OK tennis team last year. They lost twice to Mclean but not as bad as W-L. All of the kids on the Yorktown tennis team were very good students. The support from the parents for Yorktown tennis team was not as strong as Mclean. About half of the kids on the Yorktown tennis had outside private coaching with the rest had very little.

Based on what I saw last year, it looks like the kids on the tennis team from Yorktown come from a wealthier families with strong parents so they are much more disciplines than kids from W-L.

Last year, Mclean finished 1st in the division while Yorktown finished 4th. W-L finished last. Mclean won the state 6A boys tennis title.

If you want to know how good a high school is in term of academic, just look at the school tennis team record. If the tennis team of that school does does well, that school has a sterling academic. Look around, Mclean, Langley, James Madison, and Marshalls all have excellent tennis program and an excellence academic school.

From what I read, Wakefield boys and tennis girls team are just outright bad. Therefore, one would come to the conclusion that academic performance at Wakefield HS has a lot to be desired, to put it gently. The same for W-L as well.

Please post every day. This stuff is comedy gold.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We moved out of Arlington for better schools. The fact that Arlington made its high schools double as rec centers was not a plus in our book.

This is absurd. The schools do not function as "community centers" other than to allow public access to the swimming pools. Unlike Fairfax county, Arlington does not have enough space/land or citizens to justify additional separate aquatic centers.

I feel you want to argue "better schools" fine, go ahead and make your case, but what a silly reason to cite.

I was responding to the Arlington poster claiming that having a pool at Wakefield was a big bonus.

The high school pools in Arlington were another negative for us. They make the schools smell like chlorine and it’s humid inside the buildings. We prefer the schools in FCPS that are more focused on academics, along with the separate, beautiful county rec centers like Oak-Marr.

Well, I'm in Fairfax and would love for my kids to be able to stay at school for swim/dive practice rather than taking a bus to a rec center. Also, that fact that Arlington public schools have pools doesn't make them any less focused on academics than FCPS schools. I wouldn't move because of that because my kids are happy where they are, and I most certainly wouldn't use it to bash a school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We prefer the schools in FCPS that are more focused on academics, along with the separate, beautiful county rec centers like Oak-Marr.

Ah, but do they have winning tennis teams?

Tennis courts don't smell. That's the difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids attend Mclean HS so I do not have horse in this race. Both Yorktown and W-L HS are in the same tennis division as Mclean and my kids play varsity tennis for Mclean HS last year so I had a chance to see both Yorktown and W-L through sports, in this case, boys tennis.

W-L tennis team is very bad. It is so bad that all the starters players from Mclean sat out and sub with 3rd stringers and Mclean still beat W-L both times really bad. All of the players from W-L seemed to have very little outside private coaching and it showed. The Mclean players were very well fed during the tennis matches. There were plenty of food, fruit and drink for Mclean team while there was nothing but water for W-L. The tennis coach for W-L is a PE teacher from Long Fellow MS, very nice guy but his team was no match for Mclean. The support from the Mclean parents for the Mclean tennis team was kinda absurd, bordering on spoiling the players. There were 11 players on the Mclean tennis team graduated in 2017 and six of them went to UVA and the other five went to VA tech. Btw, all of the players from Mclean HS had outside private coaching, I guess it is because the Mclean parents just have more resources. They also had private academic tutoring as well.

Yorktown had an OK tennis team last year. They lost twice to Mclean but not as bad as W-L. All of the kids on the Yorktown tennis team were very good students. The support from the parents for Yorktown tennis team was not as strong as Mclean. About half of the kids on the Yorktown tennis had outside private coaching with the rest had very little.

Based on what I saw last year, it looks like the kids on the tennis team from Yorktown come from a wealthier families with strong parents so they are much more disciplines than kids from W-L.

Last year, Mclean finished 1st in the division while Yorktown finished 4th. W-L finished last. Mclean won the state 6A boys tennis title.

If you want to know how good a high school is in term of academic, just look at the school tennis team record. If the tennis team of that school does does well, that school has a sterling academic. Look around, Mclean, Langley, James Madison, and Marshalls all have excellent tennis program and an excellence academic school.

From what I read, Wakefield boys and tennis girls team are just outright bad. Therefore, one would come to the conclusion that academic performance at Wakefield HS has a lot to be desired, to put it gently. The same for W-L as well.

I want to believe that the author of this post is joking but sadly, I think s/he is serious.

Signed my brother played on an excellent high school tennis team and flunked out of college

+1. All that the good tennis team indicates is that parents have a lot more disposable income to get private coaching and that other parents at the school also likely have disposable income to spend on private academic tutors. I'm pretty sure, for the most part, the tennis players aren't the ones doing the academic heavy lifting at those schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids attend Mclean HS so I do not have horse in this race. Both Yorktown and W-L HS are in the same tennis division as Mclean and my kids play varsity tennis for Mclean HS last year so I had a chance to see both Yorktown and W-L through sports, in this case, boys tennis.

W-L tennis team is very bad. It is so bad that all the starters players from Mclean sat out and sub with 3rd stringers and Mclean still beat W-L both times really bad. All of the players from W-L seemed to have very little outside private coaching and it showed. The Mclean players were very well fed during the tennis matches. There were plenty of food, fruit and drink for Mclean team while there was nothing but water for W-L. The tennis coach for W-L is a PE teacher from Long Fellow MS, very nice guy but his team was no match for Mclean. The support from the Mclean parents for the Mclean tennis team was kinda absurd, bordering on spoiling the players. There were 11 players on the Mclean tennis team graduated in 2017 and six of them went to UVA and the other five went to VA tech. Btw, all of the players from Mclean HS had outside private coaching, I guess it is because the Mclean parents just have more resources. They also had private academic tutoring as well.

Yorktown had an OK tennis team last year. They lost twice to Mclean but not as bad as W-L. All of the kids on the Yorktown tennis team were very good students. The support from the parents for Yorktown tennis team was not as strong as Mclean. About half of the kids on the Yorktown tennis had outside private coaching with the rest had very little.

Based on what I saw last year, it looks like the kids on the tennis team from Yorktown come from a wealthier families with strong parents so they are much more disciplines than kids from W-L.

Last year, Mclean finished 1st in the division while Yorktown finished 4th. W-L finished last. Mclean won the state 6A boys tennis title.

If you want to know how good a high school is in term of academic, just look at the school tennis team record. If the tennis team of that school does does well, that school has a sterling academic. Look around, Mclean, Langley, James Madison, and Marshalls all have excellent tennis program and an excellence academic school.

From what I read, Wakefield boys and tennis girls team are just outright bad. Therefore, one would come to the conclusion that academic performance at Wakefield HS has a lot to be desired, to put it gently. The same for W-L as well.

Holy shit. The only thing this did was make me glad my kids don't go to McLean.

(I went to McLean. My kids will go to Wakefield. None of us play tennis.)

[Anonymous]

Wakefield may improve demographics and all the changes that come with that-more parental and financial support, more college-bound cohorts. But it may go backwards too. The school board in their continued north Arlington people pleasing ways, moved more lower income neighborhoods to Wakefield. And, there was a push by many to create a new comprehensive high school next to Henry. If they do that, all of the oak ridge families will be zoned out of Wakefield to the new high school. That would really change the demographics of Wakefield and cause a huge exodus of upper middle class families of all races from south Arlington.

OP, compare the extra curriculars at the two schools. That tells you a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids attend Mclean HS so I do not have horse in this race. Both Yorktown and W-L HS are in the same tennis division as Mclean and my kids play varsity tennis for Mclean HS last year so I had a chance to see both Yorktown and W-L through sports, in this case, boys tennis.

W-L tennis team is very bad. It is so bad that all the starters players from Mclean sat out and sub with 3rd stringers and Mclean still beat W-L both times really bad. All of the players from W-L seemed to have very little outside private coaching and it showed. The Mclean players were very well fed during the tennis matches. There were plenty of food, fruit and drink for Mclean team while there was nothing but water for W-L. The tennis coach for W-L is a PE teacher from Long Fellow MS, very nice guy but his team was no match for Mclean. The support from the Mclean parents for the Mclean tennis team was kinda absurd, bordering on spoiling the players. There were 11 players on the Mclean tennis team graduated in 2017 and six of them went to UVA and the other five went to VA tech. Btw, all of the players from Mclean HS had outside private coaching, I guess it is because the Mclean parents just have more resources. They also had private academic tutoring as well.

Yorktown had an OK tennis team last year. They lost twice to Mclean but not as bad as W-L. All of the kids on the Yorktown tennis team were very good students. The support from the parents for Yorktown tennis team was not as strong as Mclean. About half of the kids on the Yorktown tennis had outside private coaching with the rest had very little.

Based on what I saw last year, it looks like the kids on the tennis team from Yorktown come from a wealthier families with strong parents so they are much more disciplines than kids from W-L.

Last year, Mclean finished 1st in the division while Yorktown finished 4th. W-L finished last. Mclean won the state 6A boys tennis title.

If you want to know how good a high school is in term of academic, just look at the school tennis team record. If the tennis team of that school does does well, that school has a sterling academic. Look around, Mclean, Langley, James Madison, and Marshalls all have excellent tennis program and an excellence academic school.

From what I read, Wakefield boys and tennis girls team are just outright bad. Therefore, one would come to the conclusion that academic performance at Wakefield HS has a lot to be desired, to put it gently. The same for W-L as well.

Please post every day. This stuff is comedy gold.

From what I’ve read on DCUM - they do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1. All that the good tennis team indicates is that parents have a lot more disposable income to get private coaching and that other parents at the school also likely have disposable income to spend on private academic tutors. I'm pretty sure, for the most part, the tennis players aren't the ones doing the academic heavy lifting at those schools.

my kid graduated from Mclean HS last year and he knows most of the graduating seniors on the tennis team. A lot of those seniors ended up at UVa. You might laugh at what the previous posts about Mclean HS and tennis team but there are lot of truth to that. Where I send my kids to schools based on these factors:

#1: how much parental support for the school? It seems like there are lot of parental supports from both Mclean and Langley,
#2: how much money does the PTA have? I was told that Mclean HS has about 100k in PTA fund while Langley has about 350k in PTA fund. That money can do lot of wonder for the school when there are lot of funding cut from the FCPS. The money can be used to support lot of after school activities,
#3: the percentage of Asians enrollment at the school? The higher the number, the better. Asians are the hardest working students and they outperform everyone including white students. This creates better competition,
#4: How many students in that school have tutoring outside the school? The more tigers' mom you have at the school, the better. That will foster better competition,
#5: Does the school have a golf and crew team? If it does, then it is a school in an affluent neighborhood,

I did some research and the past five Virginia state championship in tennis in boys and girls for both 5A and 6A come from top 5 schools in Virginia, Mclean, Oakton, Chantilly, Woodson, Lake Braddock, so yes, there is a correlation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1. All that the good tennis team indicates is that parents have a lot more disposable income to get private coaching and that other parents at the school also likely have disposable income to spend on private academic tutors. I'm pretty sure, for the most part, the tennis players aren't the ones doing the academic heavy lifting at those schools.

my kid graduated from Mclean HS last year and he knows most of the graduating seniors on the tennis team. A lot of those seniors ended up at UVa. You might laugh at what the previous posts about Mclean HS and tennis team but there are lot of truth to that. Where I send my kids to schools based on these factors:

#1: how much parental support for the school? It seems like there are lot of parental supports from both Mclean and Langley,
#2: how much money does the PTA have? I was told that Mclean HS has about 100k in PTA fund while Langley has about 350k in PTA fund. That money can do lot of wonder for the school when there are lot of funding cut from the FCPS. The money can be used to support lot of after school activities,
#3: the percentage of Asians enrollment at the school? The higher the number, the better. Asians are the hardest working students and they outperform everyone including white students. This creates better competition,
#4: How many students in that school have tutoring outside the school? The more tigers' mom you have at the school, the better. That will foster better competition,
#5: Does the school have a golf and crew team? If it does, then it is a school in an affluent neighborhood,

I did some research and the past five Virginia state championship in tennis in boys and girls for both 5A and 6A come from top 5 schools in Virginia, Mclean, Oakton, Chantilly, Woodson, Lake Braddock, so yes, there is a correlation.

Now that Wakefield has a pool, the race is on. Let's see if Wakefield can dominate in swimming since the kids don't have to take a bus to a swimming pool, and if McLean can keep in winning in tennis since, I dunno, they get plenty of snacks and juice boxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. I don't doubt that Langley and McLean are excellent schools. But I am looking for a different kind of community. I am still not convinced that W-L is a better option then Wakefield, especially given the higher cost of homes in that district. I like the Oakridge school neighborhood. Also I played tennis in high school, and none of my teammates had private lessons. Somehow we turned out ok.

We have lived in Oakridge neighborhood for nearly 15 years. It is a wonderful community on many levels. Our kids have been APS the whole way through and, while not perfect, have been really positive overall. They may apply to other public HS but we have zero hesitation if they choose to attend Wakefield. Our friends with kids there have been very pleased and kids have gotten in to very strong, competitive colleges and universities.