Which fcps high school do you hear the worst stories about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP is exactly the type of ratings-obsessed person who leads many to consider fleeing to other jurisdictions. God forbid your average test scores arguably tip you into the bottom third of FCPS high schools - no matter that FCPS is the highest performing of any of the large school districts in the DC region - someone will call it out as if the school is a basket case. By the same logic, W-L in Arlington is in the bottom half of schools in APS, and Gid forbid PP looks at some of the Loudoun stats. Ridiculous.

Hello Westfield parent! Did you read what I said before you decided it was ridiculous? I didn't say Westfield was terrible. In fact I said it was not a bad school, and probably did have some great students And also made the point that if you want to buy in the Herndon/ Chantilly area, you can buy into better schools without spending more money. (And you haven't pointed to anything that makes my assertion that Chantilly and Oakton are stronger incorrect). And yes, when we moved, I looked carefully at the demographics, test scores, etc of the schools before we bought. Maybe that makes me rating obsessed. But, I can't imagine making huge decisions like which house to buy and where to educate my kids without doing the research. If you can, more power to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:honestly, the insanity that is Fairfax County is making me think moving to PWC or Stafford is the better choice for our family. My husband works north of Fredericksburg and our first is an average student. Getting away from the pressure cooker might be a welcome change in general. FCPS has made it pretty obvious that they cater to the upper class and gifted.

This is exactly what we're thinking too. We've had it up to here with FCPS bending over backwards for the "gifted" students, AAP, etc. I'd love a normal high school environment for my kids.

FYI, fcps does not have AAP in high school. It stops in middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:honestly, the insanity that is Fairfax County is making me think moving to PWC or Stafford is the better choice for our family. My husband works north of Fredericksburg and our first is an average student. Getting away from the pressure cooker might be a welcome change in general. FCPS has made it pretty obvious that they cater to the upper class and gifted.

This is exactly what we're thinking too. We've had it up to here with FCPS bending over backwards for the "gifted" students, AAP, etc. I'd love a normal high school environment for my kids.

FYI, fcps does not have AAP in high school. It stops in middle school.

PP here, and you're right. I just meant the whole competitive atmosphere starts in elementary school and continues through high school. It's a turn off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:honestly, the insanity that is Fairfax County is making me think moving to PWC or Stafford is the better choice for our family. My husband works north of Fredericksburg and our first is an average student. Getting away from the pressure cooker might be a welcome change in general. FCPS has made it pretty obvious that they cater to the upper class and gifted.

This is exactly what we're thinking too. We've had it up to here with FCPS bending over backwards for the "gifted" students, AAP, etc. I'd love a normal high school environment for my kids.

You get that "AAP services" in HS are open enrollment honors/AP/ IB, right? You're against these things?

PP again - to clarify, yes, I "get" that AP/IB classes in high school are open to all, as they should be. I just meant that all the competitive hype leading up to high school (AAP) is so completely overblown. That's what we're sick of. So actually, I'm thinking high school might just be a breath of fresh air for our family, since we won't have to deal with any AAP nonsense, and our kids will be able to enroll in any AP class they choose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:honestly, the insanity that is Fairfax County is making me think moving to PWC or Stafford is the better choice for our family. My husband works north of Fredericksburg and our first is an average student. Getting away from the pressure cooker might be a welcome change in general. FCPS has made it pretty obvious that they cater to the upper class and gifted.

This is exactly what we're thinking too. We've had it up to here with FCPS bending over backwards for the "gifted" students, AAP, etc. I'd love a normal high school environment for my kids.

FYI, fcps does not have AAP in high school. It stops in middle school.

PP here, and you're right. I just meant the whole competitive atmosphere starts in elementary school and continues through high school. It's a turn off.

It sounds like you're trying to make peace with your own impending move to an area with less challenging schools, for whatever reason. It's like you'll feel better about it if you burn all your bridges on the way out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:honestly, the insanity that is Fairfax County is making me think moving to PWC or Stafford is the better choice for our family. My husband works north of Fredericksburg and our first is an average student. Getting away from the pressure cooker might be a welcome change in general. FCPS has made it pretty obvious that they cater to the upper class and gifted.

This is exactly what we're thinking too. We've had it up to here with FCPS bending over backwards for the "gifted" students, AAP, etc. I'd love a normal high school environment for my kids.

You get that "AAP services" in HS are open enrollment honors/AP/ IB, right? You're against these things?

PP again - to clarify, yes, I "get" that AP/IB classes in high school are open to all, as they should be. I just meant that all the competitive hype leading up to high school (AAP) is so completely overblown. That's what we're sick of. So actually, I'm thinking high school might just be a breath of fresh air for our family, since we won't have to deal with any AAP nonsense, and our kids will be able to enroll in any AP class they choose.

There is no "AAP pressure" in some schools... and I don't mean schools that are high FARMS or ESOL. Maybe AAP is a big deal where your kids are at now, but it isn't that way in every school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:honestly, the insanity that is Fairfax County is making me think moving to PWC or Stafford is the better choice for our family. My husband works north of Fredericksburg and our first is an average student. Getting away from the pressure cooker might be a welcome change in general. FCPS has made it pretty obvious that they cater to the upper class and gifted.

This is exactly what we're thinking too. We've had it up to here with FCPS bending over backwards for the "gifted" students, AAP, etc. I'd love a normal high school environment for my kids.

FYI, fcps does not have AAP in high school. It stops in middle school.

PP here, and you're right. I just meant the whole competitive atmosphere starts in elementary school and continues through high school. It's a turn off.

It sounds like you're trying to make peace with your own impending move to an area with less challenging schools, for whatever reason. It's like you'll feel better about it if you burn all your bridges on the way out.

+100. Hey-- embrace mediocrity if that's what floats your boat.

[Anonymous]

Langley High School. Just petty mean rich spoiled teenagers with vain superficial rich parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:honestly, the insanity that is Fairfax County is making me think moving to PWC or Stafford is the better choice for our family. My husband works north of Fredericksburg and our first is an average student. Getting away from the pressure cooker might be a welcome change in general. FCPS has made it pretty obvious that they cater to the upper class and gifted.

This is exactly what we're thinking too. We've had it up to here with FCPS bending over backwards for the "gifted" students, AAP, etc. I'd love a normal high school environment for my kids.

You get that "AAP services" in HS are open enrollment honors/AP/ IB, right? You're against these things?

PP again - to clarify, yes, I "get" that AP/IB classes in high school are open to all, as they should be. I just meant that all the competitive hype leading up to high school (AAP) is so completely overblown. That's what we're sick of. So actually, I'm thinking high school might just be a breath of fresh air for our family, since we won't have to deal with any AAP nonsense, and our kids will be able to enroll in any AP class they choose.

There is no "AAP pressure" in some schools... and I don't mean schools that are high FARMS or ESOL. Maybe AAP is a big deal where your kids are at now, but it isn't that way in every school.

Wild guess here-- you're the pissed off Gen Ed parent in a "toxic" Center school (GBW??) who spend so much time looking for a fight on the AAP board and declaring everything "ridiculous"? Yeah-- not every Center is overcrowded and toxic. I'm sorry yours is. And AAP classrooms will still be a fact of life, even if there is a huge push to go LLIV in every school that can support it. And, genuinely Not trying to be snarky here, the more you rage against AAP, the more you look like a parent whose bitter because their child didn't make the cut.

[Anonymous]

why would every pwc school be mediocre? PWC comes in 12th in the nation in median income.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-income_counties_in_the_United_States

There are challenges just like any other system. But they have most of the same programs available in fcps.

[Anonymous]

funny thing - there is definitely more than one person posting on this thread that is unhappy with the environment in fcps in general.

I'm a poster who is only thinking about moving (so no "impending move"), and it isn't about schools, but a less high pressure system where people aren't so obsessed with status sounds nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:honestly, the insanity that is Fairfax County is making me think moving to PWC or Stafford is the better choice for our family. My husband works north of Fredericksburg and our first is an average student. Getting away from the pressure cooker might be a welcome change in general. FCPS has made it pretty obvious that they cater to the upper class and gifted.

This is exactly what we're thinking too. We've had it up to here with FCPS bending over backwards for the "gifted" students, AAP, etc. I'd love a normal high school environment for my kids.

You get that "AAP services" in HS are open enrollment honors/AP/ IB, right? You're against these things?

PP again - to clarify, yes, I "get" that AP/IB classes in high school are open to all, as they should be. I just meant that all the competitive hype leading up to high school (AAP) is so completely overblown. That's what we're sick of. So actually, I'm thinking high school might just be a breath of fresh air for our family, since we won't have to deal with any AAP nonsense, and our kids will be able to enroll in any AP class they choose.

There is no "AAP pressure" in some schools... and I don't mean schools that are high FARMS or ESOL. Maybe AAP is a big deal where your kids are at now, but it isn't that way in every school.

Wild guess here-- you're the pissed off Gen Ed parent in a "toxic" Center school (GBW??) who spend so much time looking for a fight on the AAP board and declaring everything "ridiculous"? Yeah-- not every Center is overcrowded and toxic. I'm sorry yours is. And AAP classrooms will still be a fact of life, even if there is a huge push to go LLIV in every school that can support it. And, genuinely Not trying to be snarky here, the more you rage against AAP, the more you look like a parent whose bitter because their child didn't make the cut.

I'm not the poster in question, but I also don't support AAP and I'm not bitter, because my child is only in K. I just don't think there should be a cut to be made in the first place, especially in only 1st and 2nd grade, when the advantage goes to students who are just older, have developed faster, are girls, are white and middle class in a FARM heavy school, and so on. As a teacher, I saw lots of kids go to AAP and maybe like one or two who were truly gifted and the others were just good students or a little more mature sooner than other kids. And of course, all the parent placements, which were without question ordinary kids, often not even very good students. What really bugs me is that there is a myth of a gifted child who needs a different classroom, but that describes only the tiniest percentage of AAP kids, and not nearly enough to justify a whole huge program. I also don't like that it removed the best and brightest from our schools, leaving only the middle and low, and then diverts the best resources to those children. All children would benefit from the kinds of resources available in the AAP program. The whole thing is simply unhealthy, unfair, illogical, and elitist. It isn't good for our schools and it isn't good for kids. It advantages a small number of children who are not any more worthy and the rest. The system needs to go - it is simply unjustifiable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:honestly, the insanity that is Fairfax County is making me think moving to PWC or Stafford is the better choice for our family. My husband works north of Fredericksburg and our first is an average student. Getting away from the pressure cooker might be a welcome change in general. FCPS has made it pretty obvious that they cater to the upper class and gifted.

This is exactly what we're thinking too. We've had it up to here with FCPS bending over backwards for the "gifted" students, AAP, etc. I'd love a normal high school environment for my kids.

You get that "AAP services" in HS are open enrollment honors/AP/ IB, right? You're against these things?

PP again - to clarify, yes, I "get" that AP/IB classes in high school are open to all, as they should be. I just meant that all the competitive hype leading up to high school (AAP) is so completely overblown. That's what we're sick of. So actually, I'm thinking high school might just be a breath of fresh air for our family, since we won't have to deal with any AAP nonsense, and our kids will be able to enroll in any AP class they choose.

There is no "AAP pressure" in some schools... and I don't mean schools that are high FARMS or ESOL. Maybe AAP is a big deal where your kids are at now, but it isn't that way in every school.

Wild guess here-- you're the pissed off Gen Ed parent in a "toxic" Center school (GBW??) who spend so much time looking for a fight on the AAP board and declaring everything "ridiculous"? Yeah-- not every Center is overcrowded and toxic. I'm sorry yours is. And AAP classrooms will still be a fact of life, even if there is a huge push to go LLIV in every school that can support it. And, genuinely Not trying to be snarky here, the more you rage against AAP, the more you look like a parent whose bitter because their child didn't make the cut.

I'm not the poster in question, but I also don't support AAP and I'm not bitter, because my child is only in K. I just don't think there should be a cut to be made in the first place, especially in only 1st and 2nd grade, when the advantage goes to students who are just older, have developed faster, are girls, are white and middle class in a FARM heavy school, and so on. As a teacher, I saw lots of kids go to AAP and maybe like one or two who were truly gifted and the others were just good students or a little more mature sooner than other kids. And of course, all the parent placements, which were without question ordinary kids, often not even very good students. What really bugs me is that there is a myth of a gifted child who needs a different classroom, but that describes only the tiniest percentage of AAP kids, and not nearly enough to justify a whole huge program. I also don't like that it removed the best and brightest from our schools, leaving only the middle and low, and then diverts the best resources to those children. All children would benefit from the kinds of resources available in the AAP program. The whole thing is simply unhealthy, unfair, illogical, and elitist. It isn't good for our schools and it isn't good for kids. It advantages a small number of children who are not any more worthy and the rest. The system needs to go - it is simply unjustifiable.

AAP doesn't get additional resources, just different. You ignorance is showing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:funny thing - there is definitely more than one person posting on this thread that is unhappy with the environment in fcps in general.

I'm a poster who is only thinking about moving (so no "impending move"), and it isn't about schools, but a less high pressure system where people aren't so obsessed with status sounds nice.

That's ok. Not everyone's children can be leaders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:honestly, the insanity that is Fairfax County is making me think moving to PWC or Stafford is the better choice for our family. My husband works north of Fredericksburg and our first is an average student. Getting away from the pressure cooker might be a welcome change in general. FCPS has made it pretty obvious that they cater to the upper class and gifted.

This is exactly what we're thinking too. We've had it up to here with FCPS bending over backwards for the "gifted" students, AAP, etc. I'd love a normal high school environment for my kids.

You get that "AAP services" in HS are open enrollment honors/AP/ IB, right? You're against these things?

PP again - to clarify, yes, I "get" that AP/IB classes in high school are open to all, as they should be. I just meant that all the competitive hype leading up to high school (AAP) is so completely overblown. That's what we're sick of. So actually, I'm thinking high school might just be a breath of fresh air for our family, since we won't have to deal with any AAP nonsense, and our kids will be able to enroll in any AP class they choose.

There is no "AAP pressure" in some schools... and I don't mean schools that are high FARMS or ESOL. Maybe AAP is a big deal where your kids are at now, but it isn't that way in every school.

Wild guess here-- you're the pissed off Gen Ed parent in a "toxic" Center school (GBW??) who spend so much time looking for a fight on the AAP board and declaring everything "ridiculous"? Yeah-- not every Center is overcrowded and toxic. I'm sorry yours is. And AAP classrooms will still be a fact of life, even if there is a huge push to go LLIV in every school that can support it. And, genuinely Not trying to be snarky here, the more you rage against AAP, the more you look like a parent whose bitter because their child didn't make the cut.

I'm not the poster in question, but I also don't support AAP and I'm not bitter, because my child is only in K. I just don't think there should be a cut to be made in the first place, especially in only 1st and 2nd grade, when the advantage goes to students who are just older, have developed faster, are girls, are white and middle class in a FARM heavy school, and so on. As a teacher, I saw lots of kids go to AAP and maybe like one or two who were truly gifted and the others were just good students or a little more mature sooner than other kids. And of course, all the parent placements, which were without question ordinary kids, often not even very good students. What really bugs me is that there is a myth of a gifted child who needs a different classroom, but that describes only the tiniest percentage of AAP kids, and not nearly enough to justify a whole huge program. I also don't like that it removed the best and brightest from our schools, leaving only the middle and low, and then diverts the best resources to those children. All children would benefit from the kinds of resources available in the AAP program. The whole thing is simply unhealthy, unfair, illogical, and elitist. It isn't good for our schools and it isn't good for kids. It advantages a small number of children who are not any more worthy and the rest. The system needs to go - it is simply unjustifiable.

AAP doesn't get additional resources, just different. You ignorance is showing.

But the PP is a teacher. A teacher must know, correct? All that professional development and all?