Twain Middle School vs George Washington Middle School

[Anonymous]

I will be relocating to Alexandria this fall for a one year fellowship at NSF. My son will be in 7th grade. We are looking at apartments that are walking/biking distance from NSF's new location (by the Eisenhower Metro) and these are the two middle schools that are zoned in the area. Since we will only be there for one year we are not concerned about the high school, only the middle school. Just a little info about him...My son is coming from a school in Oklahoma (Title 1, roughly 400 students per grade) that had a suburban/rural feel. He is very smart but has ADHD which had led to issues with focus and organization. I want him to be in a school with teachers who know how to tap into his potential and not just write him off because of his ADHD. Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will be relocating to Alexandria this fall for a one year fellowship at NSF. My son will be in 7th grade. We are looking at apartments that are walking/biking distance from NSF's new location (by the Eisenhower Metro) and these are the two middle schools that are zoned in the area. Since we will only be there for one year we are not concerned about the high school, only the middle school. Just a little info about him...My son is coming from a school in Oklahoma (Title 1, roughly 400 students per grade) that had a suburban/rural feel. He is very smart but has ADHD which had led to issues with focus and organization. I want him to be in a school with teachers who know how to tap into his potential and not just write him off because of his ADHD. Thoughts?

Twain, most definitely.

[Anonymous]

Exactly how smart is your kid? Has he been tested to be above 97th percentile on national tests (CogAT, Otis Lenin, etc. or WISC)? If so, make sure those tests are brought to the attention of FCPS and see if your kid can get into the AAP (advanced academic program) in Twain. You will be very happy with that.

As for ADHD -- the teachers in AAP are very used to that.

[Anonymous]

Twain, hands down.
Great principal, IB program for middle school, Nice school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will be relocating to Alexandria this fall for a one year fellowship at NSF. My son will be in 7th grade. We are looking at apartments that are walking/biking distance from NSF's new location (by the Eisenhower Metro) and these are the two middle schools that are zoned in the area. Since we will only be there for one year we are not concerned about the high school, only the middle school. Just a little info about him...My son is coming from a school in Oklahoma (Title 1, roughly 400 students per grade) that had a suburban/rural feel. He is very smart but has ADHD which had led to issues with focus and organization. I want him to be in a school with teachers who know how to tap into his potential and not just write him off because of his ADHD. Thoughts?

The metro is in Alexandria City and one of the middle schools in the City is George Washington but you also want to make sure and check the official boundary locator for the City. There is another middle school - Hammond. There are plenty of apartments in Alexandria City as well as condos.

Twain is a middle school in Fairfax County part of Alexandria. The only apartments I can think of near the school are Rose Hill. The rest of the area is SFH and townhouses.

[Anonymous]

Lots of rental houses in Twain area bc of military families. Also, there's a big apartment complex by Huntington metro station, but I'm not sure if it's in Twains district. It is in Edison HS district which Twain feeds.
Check 22303 and 22310 for Twain.

[Anonymous]

There's also private Burgundy Farm which might be of interest to a science child but it's expensive and less structured than Twain for ADD .

[Anonymous]

DO NOT LET YOUR CHILD attend George Washington Middle School under any circumstances! The principal is a puppet controlled by the white/rich/entitled Old Town and Del Ray parents. The school is equally divided by African Americans, Hispanics and Whites. Most white kids are placed in honors classes even if they don't qualified just because their white parents don't want their kids in "regular" classes (if you know what I mean). The school has a HUGE behavioral problem, no accountability, principal is bias and only supports the teachers he "likes", school counselors never support teachers, grade level principals are totally inept. I ended up moving out of the area so my daughter could attend a Fairfax County school. By the way, the other middle school... Hammond is EVEN WORSE!

[Anonymous]

Twain has a good reputation. It's bigger than your current school, but not as large as most middle schools in FCPS and less chaotic than George Washington.

[Anonymous]

I would suggest the condos near the kingstowne town center and lake fir a rental. Or the apartments off of Van Dorn. But do not rent in Rose Hill.

[Anonymous]

GW’s building is physically falling down. Alexandria is wasting a bunch of time and $$ to fight an alleged capacity problem that doesn’t exist. Meanwhile, over 1/4 of its school buildings are not up to code. GW has had something like ten plant shutdowns on school days over the last year. Don’t.

[Anonymous]

Yeap.... gas leaks every week and asbestos in the classrooms and an idiotic principal...

[Anonymous]

yes... gas leaks, mold and asbestos at GW

[Anonymous]

IDIOTIC PRINCIPAL it is...... a bully and evil man.... students hate him, most parents dislike him (unless ... ) Worst school ever.

[Anonymous]

Twain is pretty good and feeds into Edison, which was recently renovated and has a good Academy program. Negative for some is that it’s IB.