George Mason Elementary in Alexandria

[Anonymous]

Hi - We are new to the area, and our daughter will be starting at George Mason in the fall in first grade. Would love any feedback or advice from current or former parents. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Spectacular reputation locally. Wonderful school and community.

[Anonymous]

Do a search for George Mason and you'll see some older threads.

The school used to be pretty solid. It seems to me to be sliding. Not impressed with the principal, who is not as good as the preceding one. growing section 8 population who require a lot of teacher time.

It's still the top scorer test wise, though.

[Anonymous]

I have heard wonderful things as well! One interesting aspect is that, according to an administrator at the school, almost all of their students participate in instrumental music.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do a search for George Mason and you'll see some older threads.

The school used to be pretty solid. It seems to me to be sliding. Not impressed with the principal, who is not as good as the preceding one. growing section 8 population who require a lot of teacher time.

It's still the top scorer test wise, though.

Which buildings in the zone did not have Section 8 say five years ago, and have it now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do a search for George Mason and you'll see some older threads.

The school used to be pretty solid. It seems to me to be sliding. Not impressed with the principal, who is not as good as the preceding one. growing section 8 population who require a lot of teacher time.

It's still the top scorer test wise, though.

Which buildings in the zone did not have Section 8 say five years ago, and have it now?

The families in those buildings have more kids per family - 3 to 4 - vs. in the SFH in the George Mason zone - 1 to 2 and maybe a couple families with 3+.
So the growth in families is likely the younger kids are becoming school age so one family a couple years ago had 1 kid at the school, now there are 2 and next year there might be 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spectacular reputation locally. Wonderful school and community.

Hyperbole.

As ACPS schools go, it's one of the better ones. But that's not saying a whole lot. It's still ACPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do a search for George Mason and you'll see some older threads.

The school used to be pretty solid. It seems to me to be sliding. Not impressed with the principal, who is not as good as the preceding one. growing section 8 population who require a lot of teacher time.

It's still the top scorer test wise, though.

Which buildings in the zone did not have Section 8 say five years ago, and have it now?

The families in those buildings have more kids per family - 3 to 4 - vs. in the SFH in the George Mason zone - 1 to 2 and maybe a couple families with 3+.
So the growth in families is likely the younger kids are becoming school age so one family a couple years ago had 1 kid at the school, now there are 2 and next year there might be 3.

That implies that a few years ago the Section 8 families were smaller.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do a search for George Mason and you'll see some older threads.

The school used to be pretty solid. It seems to me to be sliding. Not impressed with the principal, who is not as good as the preceding one. growing section 8 population who require a lot of teacher time.

It's still the top scorer test wise, though.

Which buildings in the zone did not have Section 8 say five years ago, and have it now?

The families in those buildings have more kids per family - 3 to 4 - vs. in the SFH in the George Mason zone - 1 to 2 and maybe a couple families with 3+.
So the growth in families is likely the younger kids are becoming school age so one family a couple years ago had 1 kid at the school, now there are 2 and next year there might be 3.

That implies that a few years ago the Section 8 families were smaller.

I am not sure it's strictly Section 8. I think there is a mix of market rate as well and heavily Hispanic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do a search for George Mason and you'll see some older threads.

The school used to be pretty solid. It seems to me to be sliding. Not impressed with the principal, who is not as good as the preceding one. growing section 8 population who require a lot of teacher time.

It's still the top scorer test wise, though.

Which buildings in the zone did not have Section 8 say five years ago, and have it now?

The families in those buildings have more kids per family - 3 to 4 - vs. in the SFH in the George Mason zone - 1 to 2 and maybe a couple families with 3+.
So the growth in families is likely the younger kids are becoming school age so one family a couple years ago had 1 kid at the school, now there are 2 and next year there might be 3.

That implies that a few years ago the Section 8 families were smaller.

Maybe. All I can tell you is that the proportion of Section 8 families (euphemism for disadvantaged) is increasing without an increase in the number of teachers. I think, especially for K and 1, when a lot of these kids are hitting school for the first time, there should be at least an additional assistant teacher, i.e. two assistant teachers + 1 lead teacher, because the lead teacher has to spend a lot of time with kids who are just learning phonics while the kids who are farther along are given short shrift.

[Anonymous]

My child graduated from GM. I found that some so called section 8 kids and some white kids from SFH were equally behind. Don't believe the racists.

[Anonymous]

It's not racist to acknowledge that children who come from disadvantaged backgrounds come to preschool less prepared. While of course there are kids who love in SFH who have learning disabilities or need additional help, too, the issue is how prevalent and thorough school preparedness is among different SES families. sorry, but the correlation between low SES and less prepared kids is strong and wel-documented.

I've heard the principal comment on the challenges posed by kids who enter the school not speaking English or are entering a school setting for the first time. It's knee-jerk stupidity to try to wave these challenges away. As a progressive, I'm embarrassed by people like you because you make people who are left of center sound like idiots.

Section 8 kids are as entitled to education as any others. The problem arises when their needs for additional support means that children who come into K with phonemic awareness, phonics or even reading already are given proportionately less attention. The solution is obvious -- hire more teaching staff in the early grades.

[Anonymous]

My son just finished Kindergarten at GM. We love the school. Almost all the neighborhood kids go to the local school and there is a wonderful community feeling there. You see all the kids and parents walking together for drop-off and pick-up, everyone smiles at each other and says hello. The PTA seems supportive and involved. I have full faith in the teachers my son had. He came out of his first year there knowing how to read independently, and being very interested in science due to Ms. Nelson, the science teacher. Whenever I had questions or issues both the principal and the teacher were very responsive. Yes, there are several bus loads of students that come from poorer areas into the school. From my kid's description of his class, the "walkers" as he calls them (who are located close enough to walk, in the more expensive houses) were just as disruptive or likely not to follow the rules as the "bus riders" (who are more likely to come from the poorer areas). Luckily, I look at diversity as a positive. I wouldn't want my kids in classes just with the people who live in the square half mile around the school. That's not representative of the people they will meet in their lives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son just finished Kindergarten at GM. We love the school. Almost all the neighborhood kids go to the local school and there is a wonderful community feeling there. You see all the kids and parents walking together for drop-off and pick-up, everyone smiles at each other and says hello. The PTA seems supportive and involved. I have full faith in the teachers my son had. He came out of his first year there knowing how to read independently, and being very interested in science due to Ms. Nelson, the science teacher. Whenever I had questions or issues both the principal and the teacher were very responsive. Yes, there are several bus loads of students that come from poorer areas into the school. From my kid's description of his class, the "walkers" as he calls them (who are located close enough to walk, in the more expensive houses) were just as disruptive or likely not to follow the rules as the "bus riders" (who are more likely to come from the poorer areas). Luckily, I look at diversity as a positive. I wouldn't want my kids in classes just with the people who live in the square half mile around the school. That's not representative of the people they will meet in their lives.

+1. We chose it over SSSAS.

[Anonymous]

Curious- are those of you zoned for George Mason concerned about rezoning? We are on Russell Rd (close to Lloyds Lane) and my son will be starting K in the 2016/2017 school year. We are exploring private school in case we are not happy with the redistricting.We are currently zoned for George Mason.