Westfield HS feedback
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Anonymous
| I would like to get feedback from parents who have their kids attending (or recently attended) Westfield HS. I keep hearing Chantilly HS is the school to go, but demographics for Westfield HS are probably similar to Chantilly HS and so was wondering what's with the not so good feedback and lower rating for Westfield. |
Anonymous
| I have only heard good things about Westfield from our neighbors (except for one complaint that its hard to get on to the sports teams b/c the school is so big), the very nice lifeguards at our HOA pool attend or did attend Westfield, and there are some Westfield HS "buddies" that come to our child's elementary school. So my impression is only positive, but I don't know anything specific about the academics. |
Anonymous
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Okay, first off. No the same demographics
Chantilly: ELL 6% FARMS: 17.5% Asian: 31% White: 44% Hispanic/ AA: 20% Westfield: ELL: 10% FARMS: 27% Asian: 21% White: 41% Hispanic/AA: 34% So, they have about the same percent of white kids, but that's it. Westfield is higher FARMS, higher ELL, and higher Hispanic and AA. Chantilly is higher Asian. I'll let you draw your own conclusions on what this means. But DD ias at Carson AAP, and has 3 close friends in the AAP program who are planning to Place from Westfield to Chantilly "for the STEM Academy". A friend who teaches at Chantilly (and is pupil placing her DD from Westfield to Chantilly says that they now have more kids trying to transfer from Westfield to Chantilly ("for the academy") and have to look at the underlying merit (read: kids in honors math and honors/AAP science in MS). There are also ru,pmors among western county that both Herndon HS and Westfield HS has MS-13. But, noe real way to verify that. |
Anonymous
| ^^ sorry, iphone lacks proofing. But, a Chantilly teacher said that they have more kids applying to transfer in as freshman for the academy than they have spots. |
Anonymous
| Are you allowed to transfer from Westfield HS to Chantilly HS without actually moving to an area assigned to Chantilly? |
Anonymous
Yes, you can apply (but see the above for too many applications out of Westfield part). The justification is that you are transferring for the Chantilly Governor's STEM Academy, which is a program not available at Westfield. Google "FCPS pupil placement" and look at "academy transfers." You can transfer for your freshman year onward, even though you might not take academy class until 11th. But it only gets renewed each year of you are on a path to take a certain number of or a sequence of academy classes. Which is not hard, because the have engineering/ CS/ robotics, etc tracks. The downside? No busing for any pupil placement but TJ. So parents are on the hook for transportation. But a lot of the Westfield boundary is near the school, and I believe there is a general public bus route. Plus the library across the street where kids can study until they can be picked up. |
Anonymous
| Another example of parents exploiting pupil placement options in FCPS to engage in demographic arbitrage. |
Anonymous
Yes. I fully support this EXPLOITATION rather than expose my kids to danger of messing up their life. |
Anonymous
+1. FCPS is full of parents "exploiting" AAP, immersion, magnet ESs, pupil placement for AP, IB, Academy classes, HS foreign language sequence, TJ, etc. to move their child to the school that best meets their individual learning needs and/or interests. How dare these HS parents do Academy, AP/IB etc placement? It should be available to evenyone!! Oh wait. ... Seriously dude, get a grip. Someone from Westfield pupil places to Chantilly for the Academy. I pupil placed from Chantilly to SLHS in February for IB, and then, once decisions were released, amended that and pupil placed to TJ. All othis is completely legal and above board. It is not like committing residency fraud, etc. If you are against school choice, take it up with the school board. |
Anonymous
You sound like a real jerk. Not everyone is equally situated to take advantage of these "choices," and there's nothing wrong with making sure those who do have bona fide reasons. |
Anonymous
There are only 5 academic reasons to pupil place: foreign language, academy, TJ, AP and IB. You DO have to give a bona fide reason, and fill out paperwork, and sign an agreement. And placement is subject to renewal every year. If your kid is not following through with the course sequence, they are not renewed. How do you propose to read someone's mind and tell whether someone is transferring to Chantilly for the Academy vs. because it is a better school, if they follow the rules to stay and take the required Academy classes do abide by the contract? Maybe polygraph parents and kids? And no, everyone is not equally situated to pupil place. SES and family circumstances play a role. As they do in the ability to buy into a school district, the ability to AAP and TJ prep, and the ability to get outside SAT coaching, etc., etc. SES has always played a huge role in educational achievement. The most FCPS can do is make pupil placement as fair as possible. Everyone can apply, and the rules are the same for everyone. What more do you expect? The only thing I can think of is busing for pupil placement. But having seen the logistical nightmare of TJ busing in action, which is about half of the kids who attend one small high school, it is hard to imagine. Pupil placed kids can get afree public bus pass though, and most schools have a stop very near the school. |
Anonymous
You can't read someone's mind, but you can establish more rigorous criteria than, say, taking 2 AP courses to justify pupil placement out of an IB school to an AP school, and you can make sure the students actually follow through on those undertakings. You can consider whether it makes sense to have an academy program at, say, Chantilly, but not at Herndon or Westfield. You can consider whether concentrating IB schools in the poorest part of the county makes sense, since it means IB participation is likely to be limited; none of those IB schools will get pupil placements from multiple AP schools; and people will use IB as an excuse to pupil place to a higher-SES AP school (see, e.g., Lee transfers). You can look at who actually avails of pupil placement options, and who cannot or does not. And, then, based on all that information, you can evaluate who gains and who loses from the current system of "choice," and whether it should be retained in its current form or modified. |
Anonymous
4 AP classes, not 2, and 3 APs by the of 11th. Necessary pre-reps before 11th, and lied plan. (can't say you will take Calc in 11th with geometry in 9th or AP Spanish in 11th with Spanish I in 9th. And again. Placement is for one year. Not reapproved if the kid is not on track to follow through with their AP/IB pupil placement plan. And the kid returns to base school. Sorry Chantilly got the Academy and not Westfield. For several years after it was put in, the Academy was considered a drawback, because it brought in voc-tech kids who pulled down SATs. That dynamic has shifted, with expanded high level STEM offferings and public-private partnerships. But, it's attractive because Chantilly implemented it well. At the time it was established, I doubt Westfield wanted it. |
Anonymous
| ^^ written plan do APS. Not lied. |
Anonymous
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More like Chantilly got the STEM academy when Kathy Smith, who lived in the Chantilly district, was on the School Board. You do know how she drove down the FARMS rates at Poplar Tree, her neighborhood school, and tripled them at Virginia Run during her tenure?
In theory, "school choice" sounds like apple pie, but in practice it tends to magnify disparities among schools. |