McLean High School Leadership updates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ is so invested in its outcomes that it over-supports kids and is easier in regular classes to give kids time for APs, etc. It's nice but unfair to the top students at other HS.

McLean has about 40 kids going to UVA this year and kids going to Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, Oxford, LSE, Penn, Columbia, Chicago, Duke, Dartmouth, Cornell, Carnegie-Mellon, Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, Emory, and Washington U, among other places. It seems to be doing OK even without the “over-support” that kids are supposedly getting elsewhere.

This is an impressive list, no doubt the McLean students are doing some amazing things. But the og post is about the new leadership, not the student body.

[Anonymous]

100% agree that outcomes at MHS are about the student body and decidedly not about the leadership. Lack of 504 implementation is evidence of failure to manage. It’s very Wild West.

[Anonymous]

I wonder how those complaining about McLean will feel in a few years when FCPS completes the facilities assessment, concludes the costs of renovating McLean would be excessive, and decides to close the school and move the kids to Langley, Marshall, and Falls Church.

[Anonymous]

Wait, MHS doesn't follow 504s? Really? Asking because my daughter is moving to MHS next year with a 504. It's been in place since elementary school. I didn't know this was an issue. How do parents handle this? And, why isn't the administration honoring these?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait, MHS doesn't follow 504s? Really? Asking because my daughter is moving to MHS next year with a 504. It's been in place since elementary school. I didn't know this was an issue. How do parents handle this? And, why isn't the administration honoring these?

Of course McLean follows 504s. But as with all schools, some teachers are better at following them than others. PP was not fair to make a blanket statement that the whole school doesn't follow 504s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are impressions about how invested the new principal is in the school community? Is she here long term?

I get the impression that Jones will be here for awhile, but not super long like Reilly was. I'd give her 6-8 years before she moves on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait, MHS doesn't follow 504s? Really? Asking because my daughter is moving to MHS next year with a 504. It's been in place since elementary school. I didn't know this was an issue. How do parents handle this? And, why isn't the administration honoring these?

You could contact those handling special education at the school (see below) if you have questions.

https://mcleanhs.fcps.edu/academics/departments/special-education-category-A

https://mcleanhs.fcps.edu/academics/departments/special-education-category-b

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are impressions about how invested the new principal is in the school community? Is she here long term?

I get the impression that Jones will be here for awhile, but not super long like Reilly was. I'd give her 6-8 years before she moves on.

The average tenure of a principal in FCPS is something like five years. Reilly's 13 years as the MHS principal was definitely longer than the norm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait, MHS doesn't follow 504s? Really? Asking because my daughter is moving to MHS next year with a 504. It's been in place since elementary school. I didn't know this was an issue. How do parents handle this? And, why isn't the administration honoring these?

You could contact those handling special education at the school (see below) if you have questions.

https://mcleanhs.fcps.edu/academics/departments/special-education-category-A

https://mcleanhs.fcps.edu/academics/departments/special-education-category-b

504s are not under the Special Ed umbrella in FCPS. They are handled through the Guidance Department. If you want more info about how 504s are handled, contact your child's counselor.

[Anonymous]

I feel like there's been a lot of controversy over the removal of Chinese from their offering. It seems that quite a few parents blame the administration for this lapse. There was apparently a FOIA filed about it. Some of my neighbors say that the FOIA shows culpability. So I don't know. Seems like the principal really does talk the talk but may not be the most effective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like there's been a lot of controversy over the removal of Chinese from their offering. It seems that quite a few parents blame the administration for this lapse. There was apparently a FOIA filed about it. Some of my neighbors say that the FOIA shows culpability. So I don't know. Seems like the principal really does talk the talk but may not be the most effective.

Chinese language instruction has been reinstated at McLean, at least for 2026-27.

People affected still weren't happy with how it was handled, but it looks like the principal did a bit of a mea culpa, and ultimately more senior FCPS staff gave the school some staffing flexibility to retain the language courses and teacher next year. Similar things could happen at a bunch of schools over the coming years with boundary changes and looming enrollment declines.

https://thehighlandernews.com/42268/news/chinese-language-reinstated-at-mclean-amid-community-criticism/