Great Falls or Reston?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I both work in Tysons and we have a 2 and 4 year old. Heavily debating where to live but narrowed it down to Reston or Great Falls. He's pushing for Great Falls I'm pushing for Reston - his main points are GF's schools and my main points are Reston's trails/walkability/things to do and feels more like a community. We both love the mid-century modern/contemporary homes that we've found in both places and that there still is a lot of nature.

We don't particularly care for Vienna/Burke/Oakton.

I know there are a ton of threads and I've read through most of them, but tell me things I need to know!

I lived in Reston, now live in Great Falls. Reston’s downside is the heavy-handed homeowners association. The plus side is the pools, though you can join for a fee if you live in Great Falls

Great Falls, Reston, Vienna, and Oakton are huge geographically. OP needs the FCPS boundary maps and the school locator tool. 2 schools in North Reston go to Herndon. Some Vienna addresses go to South Lakes and Langley. Then are some weird boundaries to Marshall...Some Great Falls blends into Mclean. GF has a swim club.

https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/Wall%20Boundary%20Map_ES_table.pdf
Label 495 is core Tysons and the FCPS map is an idea for target areas for Tysons commuting.

[Anonymous]

Great Falls (and the parts of Herndon that are zoned for Langley) are mostly comprised of:

1) Old people, and
2) Young families who moved there for Langley and now regret living in a old folks home

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great Falls (and the parts of Herndon that are zoned for Langley) are mostly comprised of:

1) Old people, and
2) Young families who moved there for Langley and now regret living in a old folks home

Just stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I have talked with many of the parents on our street and no one has said word one about problems at South Lakes. I have friends who teach at South Lakes and they have no concerns with sending their kids to South Lakes. The kids I know who have graduated from there, neighbors kids, babysitters, and the like have been happy with their four years at the school.

OK, but that's now. The OP needs to consider what SLHS will be like ten years from now.

If you look at the demographics of the schools that feed SLHS (Dogwood, Forest Edge, Fox Mill, Hunters Woods) it is obvious that in ten years, SLHS will have a higher percentage of blacks and Hispanics, and a lower percentage of whites, than it does now, as well as a higher percentage of economically "disadvantaged". It won't be quite as "diverse" as Herndon HS, but getting there.

You may or may not regard this as a bad thing. Perhaps you will revel in the rich, vibrant diversity!

And who knows what the school board will decide to do to... adjust... Langley HS in the meantime.

Aren’t you lovely?

Langley has a toxic culture and it starts with people like you.

Are you also pretending you'd send your kid to a crappy school full of poor, non-English speaking kids?

“Full of”...snort.

Langley has alumni who’ve killed each other, kids who’ve killed themselves, kids murdered by their parents, a principal fired from his next job for not reporting abuse, and kids taken on trips abroad by a German teacher to engage in underaged drinking and sex in his presence.

I’ll take South Lakes, thanks.

Math is hard for you, isn't it? You should go shopping.

Langley (65% white)
Offenses in 2017-18:
Alcohol, Tobacco, And Other Drug Offenses 14
Disorderly Or Disruptive Behavior Offenses 25
Offenses Against Staff 1
Offenses Against Student 7
Other Offenses Against Persons 8
Property Offenses 2
Technology Offenses 0
Weapons Offenses 1
All Other Offenses 4
(62 total offenses)

SLHS (45% white)
Offenses in 2017-18:
Alcohol, Tobacco, And Other Drug Offenses 73
Disorderly Or Disruptive Behavior Offenses 65
Offenses Against Staff 3
Offenses Against Student 28
Other Offenses Against Persons 11
Property Offenses 5
Technology Offenses 3
Weapons Offenses 2
All Other Offenses 1
(191 total offenses)

Mt Vernon HS (18% white)
Offenses in 2017-18:
Alcohol, Tobacco, And Other Drug Offenses 30
Disorderly Or Disruptive Behavior Offenses 128
Offenses Against Staff 5
Offenses Against Student 34
Other Offenses Against Persons 46
Property Offenses 6
Technology Offenses 3
Weapons Offenses 2
All Other Offenses 12
(266 total offenses, down from 309 the previous year)

Wow. Nothing like looking at the numbers.

Incidents at Langley get under-reported because the parents lawyer up and throw hissy fits any time one of their coddled snowflakes gets so much as a detention. Still a troubled, toxic environment with too many parents who are elitist snobs and racists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have lived in both and DH prefers Reston for racial and socioeconomic diversity and length of commute to HS. We are both from the NVA area. GF area has a lot of really high levels of wealth. Reston has a lot of mix, including quite a bit of upper middle class but not as much extreme wealth (at least not in your face wealth, maybe stealth wealth).

The one thing I will warn you is that from our personal experience, elementary schools vary quite drastically even within Reston. Although they are all "fine," we have been at two very different ones and much prefer the one we are at now, due to significantly higher parental involvement, higher baseline academic standards, much lower teacher turnover, and fewer behavioral incidents. For us this correlated to the level of socioeconomics that fed into the elementary schools. YMMV.

Dogwood isn't "fine". Sunrise Valley is preferred.

By whom? If I could choose any ES in Reston, I'd choose Lake Anne, Terraset, or Hunter's Woods.

I guess it is not Reston but close enough that I count it, we love Fox Mill. We love the Japanese Immersions. Rachel Carson is suppose to be a great Middle School. South Lakes is a fine school, especially for families were the parents are engaged. We can walk to the grocery store and the Metro will be close by when it opens. There are two pools to pick from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have lived in both and DH prefers Reston for racial and socioeconomic diversity and length of commute to HS. We are both from the NVA area. GF area has a lot of really high levels of wealth. Reston has a lot of mix, including quite a bit of upper middle class but not as much extreme wealth (at least not in your face wealth, maybe stealth wealth).

The one thing I will warn you is that from our personal experience, elementary schools vary quite drastically even within Reston. Although they are all "fine," we have been at two very different ones and much prefer the one we are at now, due to significantly higher parental involvement, higher baseline academic standards, much lower teacher turnover, and fewer behavioral incidents. For us this correlated to the level of socioeconomics that fed into the elementary schools. YMMV.

Dogwood isn't "fine". Sunrise Valley is preferred.

By whom? If I could choose any ES in Reston, I'd choose Lake Anne, Terraset, or Hunter's Woods.

By people who prefer their kids to be around intelligent kids.

Percent that passed their reading / math SOLs "advanced":
Aldrin 25 / 36
Armstrong 17 / 30
Dogwood 1 / 4 = WORST
Forest Edge 9 / 19
Hunters Woods 20 / 18
Lake Anne 19 / 5
Sunrise Valley 31 / 30 = BEST
Terraset 10 / 5

Percent that failed their reading / math SOLs:
Aldrin 23 / 14
Armstrong 19 / 7
Dogwood 64 / 39 = WORST
Forest Edge 44 / 19
Hunters Woods 28 / 19
Lake Anne 35 / 38
Sunrise Valley 8 / 2 = BEST
Terraset 31 / 18

Conclusions:
1. The largest number of smart kids and the smallest number of stupid kids attend Sunrise Valley.
2. The smallest number of smart kids and the largest number of stupid kids attend Dogwood.
3. There are some smart kids at Lake Anne, Hunters Woods, Terraset but also a large number of stupid kids.

[Anonymous]

Incidents at Langley get under-reported because the parents lawyer up and throw hissy fits any time one of their coddled snowflakes gets so much as a detention. Still a troubled, toxic environment with too many parents who are elitist snobs and racists.

Ridiculous. Parental influence may affect the consequences of a disciplinary incident (what happens to the kid), but not the reporting of the incident itself.

If you seriously think that wealthy, intelligent kids commit "incidents" at the same rate as poor, stupid kids, I don't even know what to tell you other than statistics do not bear that out, and you need to work on your critical thinking skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Incidents at Langley get under-reported because the parents lawyer up and throw hissy fits any time one of their coddled snowflakes gets so much as a detention. Still a troubled, toxic environment with too many parents who are elitist snobs and racists.

Ridiculous. Parental influence may affect the consequences of a disciplinary incident (what happens to the kid), but not the reporting of the incident itself.

If you seriously think that wealthy, intelligent kids commit "incidents" at the same rate as poor, stupid kids, I don't even know what to tell you other than statistics do not bear that out, and you need to work on your critical thinking skills.

Langley has many wealthy, stupid students, and South Lakes has many poor, intelligent kids. The former are just more likely to have aggressive parents who know how to work the system and intimidate school officials into treating their children with kid gloves.

South Lakes is a much healthier, more diverse environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have lived in both and DH prefers Reston for racial and socioeconomic diversity and length of commute to HS. We are both from the NVA area. GF area has a lot of really high levels of wealth. Reston has a lot of mix, including quite a bit of upper middle class but not as much extreme wealth (at least not in your face wealth, maybe stealth wealth).

The one thing I will warn you is that from our personal experience, elementary schools vary quite drastically even within Reston. Although they are all "fine," we have been at two very different ones and much prefer the one we are at now, due to significantly higher parental involvement, higher baseline academic standards, much lower teacher turnover, and fewer behavioral incidents. For us this correlated to the level of socioeconomics that fed into the elementary schools. YMMV.

Dogwood isn't "fine". Sunrise Valley is preferred.

By whom? If I could choose any ES in Reston, I'd choose Lake Anne, Terraset, or Hunter's Woods.

By people who prefer their kids to be around intelligent kids.

Percent that passed their reading / math SOLs "advanced":
Aldrin 25 / 36
Armstrong 17 / 30
Dogwood 1 / 4 = WORST
Forest Edge 9 / 19
Hunters Woods 20 / 18
Lake Anne 19 / 5
Sunrise Valley 31 / 30 = BEST
Terraset 10 / 5

Percent that failed their reading / math SOLs:
Aldrin 23 / 14
Armstrong 19 / 7
Dogwood 64 / 39 = WORST
Forest Edge 44 / 19
Hunters Woods 28 / 19
Lake Anne 35 / 38
Sunrise Valley 8 / 2 = BEST
Terraset 31 / 18

Conclusions:
1. The largest number of smart kids and the smallest number of stupid kids attend Sunrise Valley.
2. The smallest number of smart kids and the largest number of stupid kids attend Dogwood.
3. There are some smart kids at Lake Anne, Hunters Woods, Terraset but also a large number of stupid kids.

Person trying to talk numbers, stop. You don't understand them.

OP, go to the FCPS site and look at each school in the areas you are interested in.

[Anonymous]

Langley is a better school. That’s for sure. Schools are generally better in GreatFalls. Great Falls elementary school has the Japanese immersion program in additon to local level iv aap.

Reston has more jobs and a metro station. In the end they are quite different places.

[Anonymous]

Reston, hands down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Langley is a better school. That’s for sure. Schools are generally better in GreatFalls. Great Falls elementary school has the Japanese immersion program in additon to local level iv aap.

Reston has more jobs and a metro station. In the end they are quite different places.

Fox Mill has Japanese Immersion and is 2 miles or so from Reston Town Center. I get that it is not in Reston but you can pretty much enjoy Reston but join a different pool. Hell, my kid goes to Reston Association Camps.

[Anonymous]

Our first daughter's first daycare was in Fox Mill. I would drop her off then go park my car at the Herndon Park & Ride, ride the bus to WFC, and metro in to Ballston.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our first daughter's first daycare was in Fox Mill. I would drop her off then go park my car at the Herndon Park & Ride, ride the bus to WFC, and metro in to Ballston.

That Park and Ride will be a Silver Line stop in September.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our first daughter's first daycare was in Fox Mill. I would drop her off then go park my car at the Herndon Park & Ride, ride the bus to WFC, and metro in to Ballston.

That Park and Ride will be a Silver Line stop in September.

I know. We left Reston in 2011 - it is crazy how much has changed in 8+ years. I also used the Wiehle Park & Ride, which is now the current Reston Metro station.

Fox Mill is a great neighborhood - it was on our short list as we were househunting to move up from our dinky North Point TH. We wound up in Greenbriar, but definitely would have been happy in Fox Mill.