the "great schools" vs. the "avoid schools" -- education quality vs. college admissions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We bought a house with an impressive lot and gorgeous kitchen. We were very enthusiastic about having a school rated 10 by greatschools.com. But the county decided to close this excellent school. Now our kids attend a not so great school full of mediocre people working for the check.

I so sick of you Clifton whiners. Are you still wasting our money by suing the school system?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many African-American or Hispanic students are there at Langley?

Is that seriously your only benchmark for diversity? There are kids from probably every nation who attend Langley. I'd call that diversity.

np here. this is what bothers me about calls for diversity. We really should define it based on SES diversity and stop fixating on skin color.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We bought a house with an impressive lot and gorgeous kitchen. We were very enthusiastic about having a school rated 10 by greatschools.com. But the county decided to close this excellent school. Now our kids attend a not so great school full of mediocre people working for the check.

Clifton?

You're right

Why did the school get closed?

Too small a site and too expensive to renovate/rebuild for the number of students that would have been served. It is still a very sore spot in Clifton, several years later.

Instead of renovating park and library buildings FC should have invested in this school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We bought a house with an impressive lot and gorgeous kitchen. We were very enthusiastic about having a school rated 10 by greatschools.com. But the county decided to close this excellent school. Now our kids attend a not so great school full of mediocre people working for the check.

Clifton?

You're right

Why did the school get closed?

Too small a site and too expensive to renovate/rebuild for the number of students that would have been served. It is still a very sore spot in Clifton, several years later.

Instead of renovating park and library buildings FC should have invested in this school.

It wasn't that it was too expensive to renovate. There was some poltical horse-trading involved and Clifton ES lost, which didn't make sense, objectively speaking. I'm not one of the families affected, but I can understand why they're stll mad. It was an old community school, important to the neighborhood, and was not closed for the usual reasons community schools are closed (declining student population). It's been years, but I wonder if it would be feasible to reopen the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We bought a house with an impressive lot and gorgeous kitchen. We were very enthusiastic about having a school rated 10 by greatschools.com. But the county decided to close this excellent school. Now our kids attend a not so great school full of mediocre people working for the check.

Clifton?

You're right

Why did the school get closed?

Too small a site and too expensive to renovate/rebuild for the number of students that would have been served. It is still a very sore spot in Clifton, several years later.

Instead of renovating park and library buildings FC should have invested in this school.

It is disgusting how they put politics above excellent education.

It wasn't that it was too expensive to renovate. There was some poltical horse-trading involved and Clifton ES lost, which didn't make sense, objectively speaking. I'm not one of the families affected, but I can understand why they're stll mad. It was an old community school, important to the neighborhood, and was not closed for the usual reasons community schools are closed (declining student population). It's been years, but I wonder if it would be feasible to reopen the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many African-American or Hispanic students are there at Langley?

Is that seriously your only benchmark for diversity? There are kids from probably every nation who attend Langley. I'd call that diversity.

np here. this is what bothers me about calls for diversity. We really should define it based on SES diversity and stop fixating on skin color.

Regardless of how you get there, a truly diverse school will have more than token representation from the two largest minority groups in the US. And yes, SES diversity is important as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many African-American or Hispanic students are there at Langley?

Is that seriously your only benchmark for diversity? There are kids from probably every nation who attend Langley. I'd call that diversity.

np here. this is what bothers me about calls for diversity. We really should define it based on SES diversity and stop fixating on skin color.

Regardless of how you get there, a truly diverse school will have more than token representation from the two largest minority groups in the US. And yes, SES diversity is important as well.

Maybe to you, but the fact is that people pay a premium to live in the school districts with the highest test scores and top ratings, regardless of whether they happen to tick off your diversity criteria.

[Anonymous]

State schools want geographic diversity and have targets at certain high schools. Or whatever are the latest buzz words. However differentiating between the to 25 to 30% is difficult.

[Anonymous]

On the one hand, I see so many times that X, Y and Z are the best schools (high pass rates, high SATs, not many low performers or poor kids)... and we all want our kids to go to these schools with proven track records (results).

On the other hand, I hear that it is really hard to get into our local state schools (i.e. WM, VT, UVA) from these schools b/c your kids are compared to the other high achieving kids. But, supposedly, it is easier to get into these colleges from the lesser pyramids b/c you look better compared to the other kids in the class.

Sure, if you are a super involved, super smart kid, you'll get attention and invites to great colleges wherever you go. But, what if you are a pretty smart kid who needs good teachers to inspire you and would prefer to avoid a lot of behavior scariness in the peer group.... then what? You won't be among the top kids at the "great" HSs

It is not the end of the world to live in VA and go to a school that is not UVA, WM or VT. Outside of those three schools, students are not going to have to worry too much about comparisons to peers in their own HS. Buy a house you can afford in a cluster that you like, and encourage your pretty smart kid to do her best. 99.99% of colleges aren't going to have a large pool of applicants from any one VA high school, so they are going to take the grades, test scores and ECs for what they are. They can't compare your kid to kids from her HS who didn't apply!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many African-American or Hispanic students are there at Langley?

Is that seriously your only benchmark for diversity? There are kids from probably every nation who attend Langley. I'd call that diversity.

np here. this is what bothers me about calls for diversity. We really should define it based on SES diversity and stop fixating on skin color.

Regardless of how you get there, a truly diverse school will have more than token representation from the two largest minority groups in the US. And yes, SES diversity is important as well.

Maybe to you, but the fact is that people pay a premium to live in the school districts with the highest test scores and top ratings, regardless of whether they happen to tick off your diversity criteria.

Wow. You mean some people pay extra money just to make sure their kids are completely and totally sequestered from poor brown kids?? Shocking! I had no idea!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many African-American or Hispanic students are there at Langley?

Is that seriously your only benchmark for diversity? There are kids from probably every nation who attend Langley. I'd call that diversity.

np here. this is what bothers me about calls for diversity. We really should define it based on SES diversity and stop fixating on skin color.

Regardless of how you get there, a truly diverse school will have more than token representation from the two largest minority groups in the US. And yes, SES diversity is important as well.

Maybe to you, but the fact is that people pay a premium to live in the school districts with the highest test scores and top ratings, regardless of whether they happen to tick off your diversity criteria.

Wow. You mean some people pay extra money just to make sure their kids are completely and totally sequestered from poor brown kids?? Shocking! I had no idea!!

No, they just pay for good schools and don't fret about some arbitrary "diversity" quotas. Your post assumes schools with poor brown kids are bad, which may often be the case, but it suggests that perhaps you're not quite as enlightened as you like to think you are. Perhaps you have some regrets about where you bought, and trotting out the diversity card makes you feel better.

[Anonymous]

It wasn't that it was too expensive to renovate. There was some poltical horse-trading involved and Clifton ES lost, which didn't make sense, objectively speaking. I'm not one of the families affected, but I can understand why they're stll mad. It was an old community school, important to the neighborhood, and was not closed for the usual reasons community schools are closed (declining student population). It's been years, but I wonder if it would be feasible to reopen the school.

FCPS does not like community schools. Even poor ones. Look what they did against the wishes of the families at Graham Road. They wanted to keep their community school--one the parents with no transportation could easily access. Look at all the magnets and centers around the county. This is the elimination of community schools. It is damaging to the whole system and creates disconnects. I have taught in "community schools" and schools where the kids were almost all bussed in. It is a lot easier to get parents in for events and conferences when the school is in the community. It fosters lots of healthy benefits. It helps create pride in your own communities and neighborhoods. And, no, I do not live in Clifton--but it was given a rotten deal. It split up the community. Why? Probably to enhance some other nearby schools which are now overcrowded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, keep in mind that ultra-wealthy kids and the schools that serve them often have their own set of issues. Maybe not the same issues as poor kids, but issues nonetheless. Think drugs, entitlement, lack of diversity, etc., etc.

What does lack of diversity do? Disrupt class, cause poor PTA involvement? Are the elementary school kids doing drugs wait that's in the poor kids schools.

Rich kids do a ton of drugs. They also usually have cars to get around to do them.

[Anonymous]

Clifton was closed because it was small, not code-compliant, and projected to lose students. Rather than spend money to renovate it, FCPS took the suggestion of the School Board member who represented Clifton at the time to close the school and use the savings to renovate West Springfield HS earlier. I don't hear a lot of WSHS parents complaining about that decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, keep in mind that ultra-wealthy kids and the schools that serve them often have their own set of issues. Maybe not the same issues as poor kids, but issues nonetheless. Think drugs, entitlement, lack of diversity, etc., etc.

What does lack of diversity do? Disrupt class, cause poor PTA involvement? Are the elementary school kids doing drugs wait that's in the poor kids schools.

Rich kids do a ton of drugs. They also usually have cars to get around to do them.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And poor kids can barely read and are all in gangs, and middle-class kids drink like fish,, spend all their spare time sexting each other, and get molested by their band directors.