Falls Church or Edison
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Anonymous
| I know for some of you either is an option but my hhi has limited my home buying to those to school areas. Is one school preferable over another? I'm not interested in going future west (commute would kill me). Are there any parents of these high schools that can offer insight? Not looking for test scores. My kids are not school aged yet so I don't know if they're average students or Einsteins (although I suspect DS has artistic talent, you need to see my walls). |
Anonymous
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I met a FCHS dad of two at a party last summer. One kid had graduated from FC the previous year, one kid was still in the system. He was very happy with the school. His kids had done and were doing well, and his son liked that the smaller size made it easier to get a spot on a sports team.
I lived near FCHS for 12 years and commuted to DC and a few other places, and the commute was pretty good. you have a lot of options when you live near 495, 29, 50 and 66. I think it's easy to forget that even one of the lower-ranking schools in FFX is still in a very good school district. You get all the FFX county resources while spending at least $100K less than you would on a house zoned for a "better" HS. |
Anonymous
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Stay focused on elementary first.
I would try to get into an immersion program before worrying about HS. |
Anonymous
Not a good plan. I did that and my kids loved the neighbors, made great neighborhood friends, but the middle school and high school aren't very good. It's difficult to uproot kids from friends they've known for years. Plus, why would you want to make a choice with a high likelihood that you will want to move. |
Anonymous
| Falls Church. |
Anonymous
| We had a similar dilemma and chose the Edison pyramid. So far we are very happy. Very friendly community and great for young kids. My kids are 7 and under so I can't speak for the high school but I know there are tons of young families here. For us, the houses we liked were close to 66 and could not get over the HOV restrictions. We live close to 395/95/495/286 now. Still have traffic but at least we can get on. Good housing options for big price ranges. Kingstowne has many affordable options. We live in a nice single family house neighborhood. |
Anonymous
Just wanted to add that Van Dorn can also get backed up but not nearly as much as 50 during rush hour. |
Anonymous
| Both are fine but Falls Church has AP and Edison is IB. |
Anonymous
| I don't know about schools but Edison will give you more house for your money. |
Anonymous
There are lots of options besides 66 for getting into the city, which is one of the reasons I like the falls church area so much. 50 works well most mornings for me, but if there is a problem, there's Lee Hwy, Washington Blvd, Wilson Blvd all as options. And relatively easy access to all 4 bridges. I'm a Falls Church HS graduate, so admittedly biased, but I think very highly of the school. It didn't have a good reputation when I went there, and I get the sense that hasn't changed much, but the small size meant that I had wide options in what I could be involved in, and I still had all of the academic options that I wanted as well. I honestly didn't think I would stay in the area, but here I am nearly 20 years later living in the FCHS pyramid, and I strongly suspect that will still be the case when my DD enters high school down the road (she's in 2nd grade now). The main thing that concerns me is the fact that the building itself is long overdue for renovation, so if Edison is in better physical shape that might be something to consider. The point that earlier posters made about remembering that all high schools in fairfax are still leaps and bounds above most in the country is a really important thing to keep in mind I think. I also think that the administration plays a big role in the experience at the school, and given that your kids are still very far away from being in HS, its a hard thing to base your decision on now. So pick which area you like better based on the commute/amenities/house and go with it 
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Anonymous
Our kids go to Edison and I agree with the above poster that either school would be fine. Our kids were in the Rose Hill Elementary School partial Spanish immersion program. RHES is, I believe, the only FCPS immersion school where in-district kids are given first preference for the immersion lottery. So, if you're interested in immersion and want a pretty much guaranteed spot in an immersion school, buy a place in the Rose Hill district. We were happy enough with RHES. It's a Title 1 school but I thought the teachers were fabulous. Our kids tested into the AAP program but we kept them in immersion. We LOVED Mark Twain MS. Fabulous school. We don't love Edison as much (it was really the MS administration that made MTMS. You can really tell the leadership there is excellent). Edison hasn't been a great but we're still happy with it and our kids like it a lot. So, in short, I would look for factors other than 'school' when making a house buying decision. I work at USPTO in Alexandria and having a short commute can't be under emphasized. Good luck! |
Anonymous
| Both suck |
Anonymous
This is NOT accurate btw about Rose Hill. One of my good friends did this and her ds was 15th on the 30 person wait list. Everyone thinks it's a shoe in if you live in bounds and it's not. |
Anonymous
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I don't know much of either school, but our DC attends LJMS and lots of DCs friends will attend FCHS.
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Anonymous
It was true the 10 years we were at Rose Hill. The only kids on the waitlist for K were out of district. I believe after K, out of district kids get priority rather than in district kids. Was your friend trying to get her kids in at the K level or 1st grade? After 2nd grade, they don't accept kids that weren't in an immersion program elsewhere unless they are native Spanish speakers. |