Life in Falls Church

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Anonymous wrote:FCC is not diverse, if that matters to you.

What does that even mean?

I mean, it's pretty uniformly affluent, so there's that.

What many people describe as school quality is just a reflection of the school's SES/demographics. The schools offer the same curriculum and it could be argued the same kid would do the same at any of them.

This is true of all the high outcome schools in the area, the difference in FCC lies mostly in parents ability to communicate with and know those in positions of authority or elected officials such as school board members. This doesn't matter to some people but to many it does.

I actually think the ability to know and communicate with elected officials is a big deal. In FCC, the school board members are parents first, and are on the school board b/c they are invested in their kids, and other kids, education. In APS and FCPS the school board members are, by and large, more politically inclined. You see this playout both during the pandemic with the school reopening debates, and more recently with the calendar religious holidays discussions. I'll use the calendar example b/c I hope we will never be in a closed schools situation again. FCCPS adopted the religious holidays calendar similar to APS's for the school year 2021-22. The school board heard from so many parents, who they knew personally, that it wasn't working. So they changed it. They listened, and adopted a new calendar policy that is much better. They weren't so worried about how their vote might impact their political future- rather they were focused on what calendar would result in the best educational outcomes for the greatest number of students.

Another thing I like about FCC is how close and walkable everything is. In terms of schools closed camps etc- while it may be true that bigger vendors are focused on fairfax, the falls church community center is focused on falls church. It offers great schools out camps, and they are convenient for everyone. I can safely tell my kids that they can take any class offered through fcc parks and recs b/c I know it will be in FCC, and thus convenient.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:"downtown vibe??" I'm not sure what you're referring to here. Do you just mean that there are things you can walk to?

Yes, just the sense of some walkability compared to many of the suburbs in Northern Virginia that seem almost exclusively car-bound. Again, we are searching from a distance and not from the area so we might not be seeing things correctly.

It's not really as walkable as it seems, honestly. The roads are very busy and other than a couple blocks, there isn't much to walk to. That may change with the new developments popping up, but I'm just concerned that it will make the roads even busier and unsafe.

It's walkable enough for the middle school and high school students to swarm Birch and Broad after dismissal. I'm another 22043 interloper who uses a few services in FCC and I've never gotten a "small town" vibe from it. It's sandwiched between Tysons and Arlington! It's by no means an isolated community, and when we're at swim class or the pediatrician or picking up dinner, we don't feel like outsiders. The vibe is no different from running to the dentist in Tysons, or going to a store in McLean. Maybe it's different if you live there, but this area is just so densely populated that any activities you do outside of school is going to overlap with multiple school clusters.

Don't live in FCC, as have no interest in paying higher taxes or sending my kids to IB schools like Meridian (prefer AP), but one thing I've noticed is that the FCC residents seem to be much more invested in local elections. In particular, if you drive around FCC near an election, it seems like every house or every other house has campaign signs out in front, presumably supporting someone they know running for local office. Cross a block or two into parts of 22046 that are in the county, and there are far fewer signs.

It's a mixed bag. Not sure I'd really want to get pressured by a neighbor to put up their campaign signs in my yard, but some of the local representatives in Fairfax County (thinking of the low-life, despicable Karl Frisch) could care less about being responsive to the needs of the community.

Meridian HS is only IB? They don't have any APs?

What are the schools that have both?

In NoVa, it's really Washington-Liberty in APS that has full IB and a full menu of AP courses. Some IB schools like Meridian and Robinson offer a few AP courses like AP Calculus and AP Government, but not many. And you can't offer IB unless you offer the full IB program.

In FCPS, you can pupil place into a different school if they don’t offer the one (AP or IB) that you want.

The difference is that at W-L you can take both AP and IB courses. Also, in FCPS, your AP or IB option may be nowhere near where you live. So, for example, if you're at Marshall (IB) and want AP at McLean, you can pretty much forget about it because McLean is so crowded. Instead, you might be given the option to send your kid to Fairfax, miles away. Or, if you're at McLean, and want IB, you can't necessarily count on being able to pupil place to Marshall. Instead, you might be given the option to send your kid to Annandale, miles away.

[Anonymous]

My kid is at Meridian in FCC, taking both IB and AP classes. Not aiming for the full IB diploma, but easily able to find classes that challenge.

[Anonymous]

Lots of comments on FCC schools being too small. That’s the reason we moved there! facts are important. Meridian HS averages about 215 kids per grade and the total size I believe is about 900 ish. Fairfax HS’s are about 2500 total. Just depends what you are looking for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of comments on FCC schools being too small. That’s the reason we moved there! facts are important. Meridian HS averages about 215 kids per grade and the total size I believe is about 900 ish. Fairfax HS’s are about 2500 total. Just depends what you are looking for.

FCC schools are small relative to Fairfax and Arlington but it’s regular size for a lot of suburban schools in the country

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of comments on FCC schools being too small. That’s the reason we moved there! facts are important. Meridian HS averages about 215 kids per grade and the total size I believe is about 900 ish. Fairfax HS’s are about 2500 total. Just depends what you are looking for.

Does that mean they have fewer choices for classes, activities, and sports? Or is all that pretty much the same as other bigger schools?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:"downtown vibe??" I'm not sure what you're referring to here. Do you just mean that there are things you can walk to?

Yes, just the sense of some walkability compared to many of the suburbs in Northern Virginia that seem almost exclusively car-bound. Again, we are searching from a distance and not from the area so we might not be seeing things correctly.

It's not really as walkable as it seems, honestly. The roads are very busy and other than a couple blocks, there isn't much to walk to. That may change with the new developments popping up, but I'm just concerned that it will make the roads even busier and unsafe.

It's walkable enough for the middle school and high school students to swarm Birch and Broad after dismissal. I'm another 22043 interloper who uses a few services in FCC and I've never gotten a "small town" vibe from it. It's sandwiched between Tysons and Arlington! It's by no means an isolated community, and when we're at swim class or the pediatrician or picking up dinner, we don't feel like outsiders. The vibe is no different from running to the dentist in Tysons, or going to a store in McLean. Maybe it's different if you live there, but this area is just so densely populated that any activities you do outside of school is going to overlap with multiple school clusters.

Agree that the small town feel is manufactured - we also live in 22043 and do everything in FCC. Most of the people we run into in "the little city" are people we know that are just like us. Swim class, camp, rec sports -- it's all Fairfax County kids!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op I live nearby in Westover, neighborhood nearby over the line in Arlington, and have a lot of friends in FCC because I grew up in this area so we are a little scattered now. I think they would describe it the way you did and all are very happy. We were looking in both westover and FCC when we bought for the same reasons you are. We are very happy in westover and I feel confident we would have been happy in FCC too. Posters on here will always have some negativity of these slightly more walkable areas with high price tags for a variety of reasons so take some of it with a grain of salt. I think if you talked to most FCC'ers on the street they would say they agree with your assessment and are happy!

I think Westover is a lot more walkable than FCC - OP, you should definitely look at Westover, we lived there when our kids were little and it's a great little area!

[Anonymous]

Look, the schools are fantastic, the community is a little homogeneous, and it doesn't have the "small town feel" that people think it does. Also, traffic is always bad except on the small roads. Oh, by the way, the speed limit is about to be 20 on those small roads, but it's okay because the police force is basically non existent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We looked in FCC but ended up just over the line in Arlington where are taxes are half the price of similar priced homes in FCC. I really like both jurisdictions. My kids do some camps and activities through Falls Church Rec since some are closer than parts of Arlington. Lots of good parks and cute walkable area. We can walk to the EFC metro. Good schools, tons of kids in our neighborhood, and both the Falls Church and Westover farmers markets are really nice. I suggest also looking in the parts of Arlington that border FCC since there is very little housing stock around here.

Factually incorrect. Arlington property taxes are about 1% versus FCC at about 1.3%. So it is not "twice as much". Besides, Arlington houses are more expensive, even for smaller, older and lacking possibilities for upgrades or enlargement. This is the reason we bought in FCC, and have since loved it. We are white but consider ourselves diverse since we are both first generation immigrants from Eastern Europe.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Lots of comments on FCC schools being too small. That’s the reason we moved there! facts are important. Meridian HS averages about 215 kids per grade and the total size I believe is about 900 ish. Fairfax HS’s are about 2500 total. Just depends what you are looking for.

Does that mean they have fewer choices for classes, activities, and sports? Or is all that pretty much the same as other bigger schools?

They don’t have all the same activities and offerings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From friends who live there, it's way too small if you don't like people who gossip, think that FCC is THE BOMB, and are all up in your business. The schools are excellent, but they are also very small, so you are going to be going to school with the same kids from K-12. Plus the property taxes are higher than surrounding areas.

It is a great place to live I'm sure, but I prefer Arlington which is much bigger.

I used to live there and agree with all of this. I don't miss it. Someone else in this thread said if you are a "joiner".you will like it. I am not so maybe that's part of it.

[Anonymous]

Arlington property prices exploded with the Amazon HQ2 arrival.
So if you can't afford FCC, then Falls Church just north of the city in FFX County is a great and possibly smarter financially choice.
just bigger schools and sometimes bigger class sizes, Longfellow Elementary is almost 900 kids. FCC class sizes are about the same as private schools like Congressional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Arlington property prices exploded with the Amazon HQ2 arrival.
So if you can't afford FCC, then Falls Church just north of the city in FFX County is a great and possibly smarter financially choice.
just bigger schools and sometimes bigger class sizes, Longfellow Elementary is almost 900 kids. FCC class sizes are about the same as private schools like Congressional.

I meant Haycock Elementary, Longfellow is the middle school.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:FCC is not diverse, if that matters to you.

It does. I will definitely look more at that. I assume that includes the schools (i.e. they don't draw from nearby communities?)

Correct - many years ago the then-town of Falls Church (which is now Falls Church City) redrew its borders to exclude the town's Black neighborhood to disenfranchise the Black residents and keep them from voting in local elections. The area that was carved out is now part of Fairfax County, rather than Falls Church City, and is heavily Hispanic today. The kids there go to Falls Church High (which is part of the Fairfax County schools) rather than to Meridian High (which is the Falls Church City high school).

OP in every thread about FCC this poster, or someone else I guess, always posts this information about FC from more than 60 years ago as if Arlington and Fairfax and other nearby areas of NoVa weren't also segregated and in no hurry to integrate. Falls Church City has been a progressive city full of highly educated people for many decades now and the schools are currently 65% white and 35% minority. That's not as diverse as many other schools but they are hardly trying to keep the city or the schools segregated, that's just ignorant and incorrect.

+1. When pressed they admit it was in the 1940s and 1950s when all growing suburban towns did this. It’s a ridiculous assertion. I lived in McLean for 30 years and I’ve never heard of this allegation anywhere but here. By the same poster