Hayfield Farms Schools

[Anonymous]

Good morning. Does anyone have the straight dope on the Hayfiled Farms schools? While it's clear that it's no Langley, I was wondering if anyone either had children in the district or had knowledge of the quality of education, life, etc. there. We've heard decidedly mixed things about the school ranging from, "Your child will cut class and smoke crack in the bathroom of the McDonald's across the street as a gang initiation" to "It's not the best fairfax county school, but it's still an above average public school."

Personally, I can't see how a school with a Planeterium could be that bad, but I'd be curious to hear thoughts from others.

Thanks!!!!

[Anonymous]

I have a lot of friends who have children in the Hayfield pyramid, but they are still at the elementary level. They are very pleased with the school and say that there is a very strong and active parent community which really benefits the children and the school. It is hard for me to imagine that children who have had an excellent, supported elementary experience would enter Hayfield High and then just fall apart ... and the parents would likely still be involved, but at more of a distance, which is common at the high school level. I too have heard the comments you cite in your post, but I think there will always be a certain cohort who skip school and so forth. Chances are YOUR child will not be a part of that group because of the guidance you provide at home and because of the soldi connections your child has hopefully made in the early years with kids who have similarly involved parents.

[Anonymous]

one of our daycare caregivers has two children at Hayfield and she says they're very happy with it. I don't really know much more than that. From what I've gathered, it's an average/middling secondary school in an above-average school district. Which would probably also describe my high school. I grew up in the midwest and attended school in an exemplary school district, but my high school was probably 3rd of the 5 in the district. I got a good education and went on to a good college and felt very well-prepared for college. There were some burnout kids but also some incredibly smart, involved kids. My district was pretty segregated so my high school was overwhelmingly white, but it did have a fairly wide range of parental income.

It can be really easy to totally freak out when you read these boards. I freak out sometimes that if I stay in my current house, my kid will languish in the academic wasteland that is apparently Falls Church High. Posters can have you convinced that your child is doomed to failure if he or she isn't going to Langley or Bethesda-Chevy Chase. What they forget is that there's also some value to not being a teeny-tiny fish in a lily white pressure-cooker pond. What happens if you buy a $1M house so your kid has a better shot at Harvard and then the kid turns out to be stupid or unmotivated for school?

[Anonymous]

Agree with the prior posters about Hayfield - there's a large cohort of academically motivated students at Hayfield (as well as other students who aren't so motivated).

I'm not so sure that's the case at Falls Church High, where many of the stronger students transfer every year to other neighboring schools (primarily Marshall, Stuart and Woodson). In recent years, Falls Church has been one of the Fairfax high schools with the most out-bound transfers.