Best School District in NoVa

[Anonymous]

If being able to afford to live there was not a concern, and the commute to your job was not a concern, which do you think is the best school district in the Northern Virginia area?

I would suggest that maybe it's the one that offers the best education to all students....the average ones, the gifted ones, the challenged ones, including those who qualify for special ed, also minorities and low income students.

I know no school district is perfect, and many factors go into a decision as to where to live and what schools to send your kids to. However, I'm wondering if the criteria is simply best education, which would you choose?

Feel free to say why also.

[Anonymous]

The districts are so large and contain so many variables, I think it's tough to say which is the best.

[Anonymous]

Do you mean pyramid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The districts are so large and contain so many variables, I think it's tough to say which is the best.

Exactly this. Also, parents are looking for the ideal situation for their children, not the system that meets the most people's needs. What's the point of a smorgasbord of offerings of varying quality if your needs are pretty focused in just a couple of areas?

[Anonymous]

Chesterbook Spring Hill and Nottingham elementary feeder neighborhoods

The rest are too far away or are AAP centers which tend to not have a neighborhood feel because of all the oob students

[Anonymous]

Do you have an AAP kid? A SN kid? Want a good shot at TJ? Want a"normal" school experience that avoids TJ crazy? Are sports important? What about "diversity"? And speaking of diversity, what does that mean to you. Is a half Asian school diverse? What is your commute (and this is huge). Is AP or In better for your kid.

Fact is, FCPS has some excellent high schools with excellent feeders. Really, there are 6-8 high schools that are top notch (besides TJ) and each of them as strong feeders. Most people will tell you their feeder situation is "best". Which means it's best for them, their family, their commute and their kids-- even assuming no budget constraints. Without knowing what your top priorities are in a school, there is no real answer. We love our feeder (Oak Hill/Carson (both as AAP)/ and Chantilly, but kids at TJ). But it works for us. Very strong academics, TJ feeder, lots of different nationalities, and families we feel comfortable with. Other people would hate this option.

that said, no school can be everything for every kid. It's not gonna happen. So look at what's right for your kids.

[Anonymous]

OP here--one dilemma of choosing a district like Fairfax is that you might choose a pyramid that seems great when your children are elementary age, only to find later on that the county has redistricted for whatever reason and now your high school is not the one you thought it would be.

This is not a concern at all if you choose Arlington, Alexandria or Falls Church City.

So I guess I'm saying, does anyone think Fairfax is so good as a whole that this is not that much of a negative?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here--one dilemma of choosing a district like Fairfax is that you might choose a pyramid that seems great when your children are elementary age, only to find later on that the county has redistricted for whatever reason and now your high school is not the one you thought it would be.

This is not a concern at all if you choose Arlington, Alexandria or Falls Church City.

So I guess I'm saying, does anyone think Fairfax is so good as a whole that this is not that much of a negative?

First, take a real look at Arlingtons high school issues long term. They have a significant problem in the pipeline, since they can't seem to get on board with a 4th comprehensive high school. If you have ES kids, right now the plan seems to be to do high school in two shifts, or have an online campus. Or maybe something else. It's a mess for kids ten years out and there just are not enough seats, with no plan to address it.

Also ACPS just sucks. Sorry, but TC Williams is hard to defend. FCCS is certainly better, but not great.

As for FCPS, you are fine-- depending on what part of the county you live in. A kid who gets rezoned from Oakton to Chantilly or Madison, or from Langley to McLean or LBSS to Robinson or West Springfield will be fine. Things get dicey on the borders between good schools and bad ones. But, there are lots of areas where even if rezoning happens, you still end up in a good school. And it should be evident from looking at zoning maps and projected capacity where rezoning is a risk. . If your buy a house in an overenrolled school that is GS 8, and is a mile from an underenrolled GS 2 school zone, that's a risk. Vienna is not a risk any way you look at the numbers.

[Anonymous]

But redistricting is a possibility in all districts you mention except in FCC, OP. Not sure what you're getting at.

[Anonymous]

Too many variables. So family specific.

Our #1 priority was short commutes for quality of life. So most of Fairfax is out and I would rather avoid the AAP scene in any case. FCC felt too small -- not as many resources or options if you're kid is on the extreme end of anything. Alexandria is a non-starter. So Arlington it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here--one dilemma of choosing a district like Fairfax is that you might choose a pyramid that seems great when your children are elementary age, only to find later on that the county has redistricted for whatever reason and now your high school is not the one you thought it would be.

This is not a concern at all if you choose Arlington, Alexandria or Falls Church City.

So I guess I'm saying, does anyone think Fairfax is so good as a whole that this is not that much of a negative?

It is a concern if you choose Arlington. People just got moved out of W-L (good) to Wakefield (not so good). APS also is facing major capacity issues, particularly at the high school level.

It is not a concern at the middle or high school levels if you choose Alexandria, but it might be a concern at the elementary level, as they change ES boundaries in ACPS. It is not a concern in Falls Church City, but then your child is with the same small group of kids from K-12, which some think is a bit incestuous.

Your best bet is to buy in an area where all the nearby schools are good. McLean and the eastern parts of Great Falls are is a prime example, but there are others: the northern-most parts of Arlington, the Town of Vienna, Chantilly, the area near Frost/Woodson, the areas near West Springfield HS that are not near Lee, etc.

[Anonymous]

Arlington has the most money per pupil. So it is safer, but more expensive and not necessarily worth the extra cost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here--one dilemma of choosing a district like Fairfax is that you might choose a pyramid that seems great when your children are elementary age, only to find later on that the county has redistricted for whatever reason and now your high school is not the one you thought it would be.

This is not a concern at all if you choose Arlington, Alexandria or Falls Church City.

So I guess I'm saying, does anyone think Fairfax is so good as a whole that this is not that much of a negative?

First, take a real look at Arlingtons high school issues long term. They have a significant problem in the pipeline, since they can't seem to get on board with a 4th comprehensive high school. If you have ES kids, right now the plan seems to be to do high school in two shifts, or have an online campus. Or maybe something else. It's a mess for kids ten years out and there just are not enough seats, with no plan to address it.

Also ACPS just sucks. Sorry, but TC Williams is hard to defend. FCCS is certainly better, but not great.

As for FCPS, you are fine-- depending on what part of the county you live in. A kid who gets rezoned from Oakton to Chantilly or Madison, or from Langley to McLean or LBSS to Robinson or West Springfield will be fine. Things get dicey on the borders between good schools and bad ones. But, there are lots of areas where even if rezoning happens, you still end up in a good school. And it should be evident from looking at zoning maps and projected capacity where rezoning is a risk. . If your buy a house in an overenrolled school that is GS 8, and is a mile from an underenrolled GS 2 school zone, that's a risk. Vienna is not a risk any way you look at the numbers.

This. ACPS is not only awful, but actively plays internal-politics games with children whose parents complain. The ACPS school board is incompetent and self-serving (there is not a single decent school board member). Stay away. If you have a school-age child, do NOT live in Alexandria.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Arlington has the most money per pupil. So it is safer, but more expensive and not necessarily worth the extra cost.

And more money per pupil is great. Even better-- SPENDING ON A NEW HIGH SCHOOL. I'm not sure how much you care about the extra $400 per pupil or whatever it is when you are decide in general if your high school kid is going to do the 6-12 shift or the 1-7 one. APS has got to get a HS capacity plan. Like yesterday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington has the most money per pupil. So it is safer, but more expensive and not necessarily worth the extra cost.

And more money per pupil is great. Even better-- SPENDING ON A NEW HIGH SCHOOL. I'm not sure how much you care about the extra $400 per pupil or whatever it is when you are decide in general if your high school kid is going to do the 6-12 shift or the 1-7 one. APS has got to get a HS capacity plan. Like yesterday.

This is the elephant in the room in Arlington. You really can't expect people to jump up and down about how much Arlington spends per student, when it has no real plan for how it is going to deal with the high overcrowding problem. You can claim it's because APS is just too popular for its own good, but much of this is a problem of APS's own making, due to replacing older facilities with newer buildings that were built to handle fewer buildings than the older buildings.