NoVa

[Anonymous]

Today, I met the third person in 2 weeks that told me that although Fairfax county schools are considered to be amazing, they are pulling their child out and sending them to another school.

One parents said I should consider schools in Fall Church since the school district is smaller.
What do you all think? And what schools would you reccommend?

[Anonymous]

We are in the City of Falls Church school district. I love it way more that MoCo school my child attended before...
No experience with the Fairfax County Public Schools.

[Anonymous]

It depends on the reason they gave for pulling their kids. My neighbor sends her kids to Catholic school because she thinks some of the kids at the local MS and HS are "rough". Why, some of them drop out of school and won't go to college (gasp!). The irony of it is that DH went to the Catholic schools she's sending her kids and he doesn't think his education was any better than what the public schools provided. His parents sent him there because they wanted him to have a religious education. The demographics of the Catholic schools has definitely changed since he went there and many more students come from families with money (not to say all students are rich, there are just more wealthy families sending their kids there now). The students at the private school may get higher test/graduation/college scores, etc., but that doesn't mean they're better educated or have better opportunities.

We have 3 kids in the Fairfax County system now. Our oldest will be in middle school next year and we see no need to move any of them to private school. We have no compelling reason to do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Today, I met the third person in 2 weeks that told me that although Fairfax county schools are considered to be amazing, they are pulling their child out and sending them to another school.

One parents said I should consider schools in Fall Church since the school district is smaller.
What do you all think? And what schools would you reccommend?

There are definitely pressures in Fairfax right now - increasing enrollment, larger class sizes, and a bureaucratic mind-set (including at some of the so-called "top" schools). It's easy to respond that some parents coddle their children, but there are a lot of teachers and administrators in Fairfax schools who are not only content, but happy, to let average and even above-average students slip through the cracks.

I would consider the Falls Church city schools for the reason mentioned. It is a much smaller system. In general, the private schools in NoVa aren't comparable to what you'd find in DC or Montgomery County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Today, I met the third person in 2 weeks that told me that although Fairfax county schools are considered to be amazing, they are pulling their child out and sending them to another school.

One parents said I should consider schools in Fall Church since the school district is smaller.
What do you all think? And what schools would you reccommend?

We did FCPS K-3 and left for private school for 4-8. Since our local public high school has an excellent reputation we gave public school another chance, but once again decided to move on to private school. Looking back I wish we had left public school upon entering 2nd grade and never returned.

I do think you might have better luck with the Falls Church City schools. FCPS is so large and IME impersonal. This can be compensated for at the elementary level with great teachers. The high schools are soooooooo big! If I were to choose a high school within the FCPS system I would disregard the test score hype and opt for the smallest high school within the system that I could find.

[Anonymous]

It depends on the individual school in Fairfax County. The entire school system is well funded, (even in these tight times), but some schools are going to be better than others - all depending on parent participation. If you send your kids to a school that is a majority townhouse/apartment/condo area, it is not going to be very good because the parents aren't involved.

If you are sending them to a school in a majority single family home section, the parents will be involved and the school will be strong. You get out of the schools what you are willing to put in when all is said and done. Writing a check doesn't make it a great school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It depends on the individual school in Fairfax County. The entire school system is well funded, (even in these tight times), but some schools are going to be better than others - all depending on parent participation. If you send your kids to a school that is a majority townhouse/apartment/condo area, it is not going to be very good because the parents aren't involved.

If you are sending them to a school in a majority single family home section, the parents will be involved and the school will be strong. You get out of the schools what you are willing to put in when all is said and done. Writing a check doesn't make it a great school.

Of course, one must own a single family home before they care about their child's education.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for your responses. It's quite helpful. Poster 15:43, you mentioned the Fairfax schools were better than the MoCo one you were at before. I curently
live in DC and am also looking at schools in MoCo. Would you be willing to share which school your family attended there?

Regarding Falls Church, what schools do you all like?
Thanks so much

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Poster 15:43, you mentioned the Fairfax schools were better than the MoCo one you were at before. I curently
live in DC and am also looking at schools in MoCo. Would you be willing to share which school your family attended there?

Regarding Falls Church, what schools do you all like?
Thanks so much

As I indicated before I do not have an experience with Fairfax County Public schools.
As for the MoCo, my lived was in a very expensive neighborhood. The school was excellent. But I just didn't like the curriculum: too academic, arts/PE/music/computer class is only once a week.
Now my child goes to the Falls Church City public schools. It is a very small but very balanced public school system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for your responses. It's quite helpful. Poster 15:43, you mentioned the Fairfax schools were better than the MoCo one you were at before. I curently
live in DC and am also looking at schools in MoCo. Would you be willing to share which school your family attended there?

Regarding Falls Church, what schools do you all like?
Thanks so much

I think most of the pps were talking about Falls Church City. Within Falls Church City, there is only one middle school (Henderson) and one high school (George Mason). I am not sure about elementary schools. Most of Falls CHurch is part of Fairfax County...schools there are good, too, but it is a much bigger county (for better or for worse).

[Anonymous]

A couple of my teacher friends have said that middle schools all over the area are of questionable quality - it's a weird, rough age for kids and even the "best" schools reflect that.

To the 11:55 poster - some of the "worst" schools in the DC area have plenty of single-family homes that feed into them, and some of the best have plenty of kids that come from townhouses/condos because this area has single-family homes that cost $200K and condos that cost $1M+. there are plenty of single-family homes in S. Arlington and parts of Alexandria, and the schools there aren't terribly highly-regarded. And even the public high schools in the ritziest parts of northwest DC are not that great, even when surrounded by million dollar rowhouses or $500K+ condos.

[Anonymous]

Of course, one must own a single family home before they care about their child's education.

I think her point was that in many parts of the county, the higher income areas are the single family home areas, and in those areas, there are more parents who have free time to be involved at the schools, specifically moms who don't work outside the home or who work part-time. My experience at FCPS is that in our school boundary (almost all SFHs with a few townhouses) there are a lot of SAHMs who spend a LOT of time in the school. We have a very active PTA that does a lot to support programs at the school.

In other areas, there is a higher percentage of families with only one parent in the home or with both parents working full-time, and hence those parents are not able to spend as much time in the school.

I think the PP was using housing as a shorthand for income/socioeconomic status. That does not hold true in all areas (e.g., places in DC or close-in with $1M condos v. $200K SFHs) but in much of Fairfax County, it does.

We have been extremely happy with our FCPS elementary school, but I think it's very school-specific.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It depends on the individual school in Fairfax County. The entire school system is well funded, (even in these tight times), but some schools are going to be better than others - all depending on parent participation. If you send your kids to a school that is a majority townhouse/apartment/condo area, it is not going to be very good because the parents aren't involved.

If you are sending them to a school in a majority single family home section, the parents will be involved and the school will be strong. You get out of the schools what you are willing to put in when all is said and done. Writing a check doesn't make it a great school.

This is one of the most obnoxious statements I have ever read. Nice stereotype. So if I send my kids to an FCPS school "in a majority single family home section" will they learn how to be pretentious like you? If so, we'll move into a condo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It depends on the individual school in Fairfax County. The entire school system is well funded, (even in these tight times), but some schools are going to be better than others - all depending on parent participation. If you send your kids to a school that is a majority townhouse/apartment/condo area, it is not going to be very good because the parents aren't involved.

If you are sending them to a school in a majority single family home section, the parents will be involved and the school will be strong. You get out of the schools what you are willing to put in when all is said and done. Writing a check doesn't make it a great school.

Not true. Our local elementary school has no apts or townhouses. Lousy academics and grotesque class sizes. FCPS has site based management. The best schools in FCPS are those with a committed long term teaching staff that continues onward and defies FCPS. Longfellow Middle School in Mclean is worth attending - crappy administrators can't seem to k1ll the academics due to excellent teachers accumulated over far more than a decade.

[Anonymous]

Every school is different, and every child is different. Parents who are lucky enough to afford it can take the private option when it turns out to be best. That's all you are observing.

Some kids really need small classes. Some kids really need a bustling environment with many children. Some kids really need strict and traditional, some need touchy-feely. That's all you are observing.

(My son is still in public but we have investigated private. There are trade-offs to both.)

As for "only people in SFH care about their kids" strain of thought: I grew up in a town with big houses and crappy schools. Our parents ALL could have bought smaller houses and better schools in the next town over and decided against it - apparently a fourth bedroom mattered more. So there. Everywhere you go in Fairfax there is a diversity of housing.