Is Lake Barcroft a hidden gem?

[Anonymous]

No. There are some interesting houses in the neighborhood here are there, for sure. But overall I don't like it. I did consider it briefly but had already lived not far from the area and just didn't like it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to live in that area but have since moved. Schools are terrible and I don't think the lake is reason enough to stay. My friends who remain in the area send kids to private schools.

Annandale has great places to eat, though. But I wouldn't buy a house just to get some good takeout.

Do tell what you mean by "schools are terrible"?

Were the Justice High students admitted this year or last year to Princeton, American, Notre Dame, Yale, Syracuse, Cal Tech, Ohio State, Michigan, Wesleyan, Penn State, UVA, William & Mary, UCLA, JMU, GW, Georgia, Smith, Clemson, Rutgers, USC, Virginia Tech, Middlebury, Georgetown, Maryland, Pitt, and W&L not served well?

Oh, come off it. Justice is a troubled school with — among other things — high student poverty rates, high teacher turnover rates, and low academic achievement. It’s at the bottom of the barrel along with the likes of Lewis and Annandale. Sure, some students go on to prestigious colleges and universities (Justice like all FCPS high schools is large) but don’t give off an impression that that’s typical. Those kids are in a very small minority.

Do you have direct experience with the school?

I worked at Justice when I with FCPS. Left recently. PP’s post is true. It’s also pretty tame. Justice is plagued by fights, drugs, broken families, many indifferent teachers, and an unstable administration. Student need is high and often not met. There’s a reason why many wealthy families in the pyramid go private.

This. PPs can call it racist all they want but the fact remains that Justice has high rates of violence, gang presence, and other issues which plague low socioeconomic enclaves. The FCPS stats also show that Justice is 40% English Learner, which seems crazy high to me, and 65% reduced fee/free lunch. I'm Hispanic. I grew up in a majority Hispanic town and family went to Hispanic schools. It was a terrible experience fraught with drugs, gun violence, and number of issues which children should not be exposed to. So call me racist all you want. I left Annandale and would never send my kids there, having grown up in similar circumstances. In fact, almost everyone of my family members who grew up in Hispanic majority areas look to find safer places to send their kids. I find it crazy that only non-minorities think that these types of schools are just fine and ignore the obvious issues. Justice is just not worth it for families who can afford homes elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to live in that area but have since moved. Schools are terrible and I don't think the lake is reason enough to stay. My friends who remain in the area send kids to private schools.

Annandale has great places to eat, though. But I wouldn't buy a house just to get some good takeout.

Do tell what you mean by "schools are terrible"?

Were the Justice High students admitted this year or last year to Princeton, American, Notre Dame, Yale, Syracuse, Cal Tech, Ohio State, Michigan, Wesleyan, Penn State, UVA, William & Mary, UCLA, JMU, GW, Georgia, Smith, Clemson, Rutgers, USC, Virginia Tech, Middlebury, Georgetown, Maryland, Pitt, and W&L not served well?

Oh, come off it. Justice is a troubled school with — among other things — high student poverty rates, high teacher turnover rates, and low academic achievement. It’s at the bottom of the barrel along with the likes of Lewis and Annandale. Sure, some students go on to prestigious colleges and universities (Justice like all FCPS high schools is large) but don’t give off an impression that that’s typical. Those kids are in a very small minority.

Do you have direct experience with the school?

I worked at Justice when I with FCPS. Left recently. PP’s post is true. It’s also pretty tame. Justice is plagued by fights, drugs, broken families, many indifferent teachers, and an unstable administration. Student need is high and often not met. There’s a reason why many wealthy families in the pyramid go private.

This. PPs can call it racist all they want but the fact remains that Justice has high rates of violence, gang presence, and other issues which plague low socioeconomic enclaves. The FCPS stats also show that Justice is 40% English Learner, which seems crazy high to me, and 65% reduced fee/free lunch. I'm Hispanic. I grew up in a majority Hispanic town and family went to Hispanic schools. It was a terrible experience fraught with drugs, gun violence, and number of issues which children should not be exposed to. So call me racist all you want. I left Annandale and would never send my kids there, having grown up in similar circumstances. In fact, almost everyone of my family members who grew up in Hispanic majority areas look to find safer places to send their kids. I find it crazy that only non-minorities think that these types of schools are just fine and ignore the obvious issues. Justice is just not worth it for families who can afford homes elsewhere.

Well said! Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lake Barcroft is totally over rated. It's expensive for what you get: bad schools, sewage filled lake...just not worth it and that's why so many people are selling their houses there right now.

So many? I see a few houses for sale. And typically those when listed the homes don’t stay on the market very long.

For the most part, people that trash our schools on this board have no personal experience with the schools.

Nice try 10 homes at least for a very small area some of which have been on the market for months.

Anyone can check on the schools and see they are not great at all.

There are only six houses in the Lake Barcroft development on the market now. Other houses to which you’re referring are in nearby neighborhoods that aren’t part of Lake Barcroft.

The market is hot sometimes and less so at other times. In an area about the same size as Lake Barcroft in the Langley district (the areas off Balls Hill Road), 13 houses are for sale. Does that mean the schools there suck or people are fleeing the area because of the construction projects near 495?

There are 10 in lake barcroft, 14 in surrounding areas! Many have been on the market MONTHS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lake Barcroft is totally over rated. It's expensive for what you get: bad schools, sewage filled lake...just not worth it and that's why so many people are selling their houses there right now.

So many? I see a few houses for sale. And typically those when listed the homes don’t stay on the market very long.

For the most part, people that trash our schools on this board have no personal experience with the schools.

Nice try 10 homes at least for a very small area some of which have been on the market for months.

Anyone can check on the schools and see they are not great at all.

There are only six houses in the Lake Barcroft development on the market now. Other houses to which you’re referring are in nearby neighborhoods that aren’t part of Lake Barcroft.

The market is hot sometimes and less so at other times. In an area about the same size as Lake Barcroft in the Langley district (the areas off Balls Hill Road), 13 houses are for sale. Does that mean the schools there suck or people are fleeing the area because of the construction projects near 495?

There are 10 in lake barcroft, 14 in surrounding areas! Many have been on the market MONTHS.

False.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to live in that area but have since moved. Schools are terrible and I don't think the lake is reason enough to stay. My friends who remain in the area send kids to private schools.

Annandale has great places to eat, though. But I wouldn't buy a house just to get some good takeout.

Do tell what you mean by "schools are terrible"?

Were the Justice High students admitted this year or last year to Princeton, American, Notre Dame, Yale, Syracuse, Cal Tech, Ohio State, Michigan, Wesleyan, Penn State, UVA, William & Mary, UCLA, JMU, GW, Georgia, Smith, Clemson, Rutgers, USC, Virginia Tech, Middlebury, Georgetown, Maryland, Pitt, and W&L not served well?

Oh, come off it. Justice is a troubled school with — among other things — high student poverty rates, high teacher turnover rates, and low academic achievement. It’s at the bottom of the barrel along with the likes of Lewis and Annandale. Sure, some students go on to prestigious colleges and universities (Justice like all FCPS high schools is large) but don’t give off an impression that that’s typical. Those kids are in a very small minority.

Do you have direct experience with the school?

I worked at Justice when I with FCPS. Left recently. PP’s post is true. It’s also pretty tame. Justice is plagued by fights, drugs, broken families, many indifferent teachers, and an unstable administration. Student need is high and often not met. There’s a reason why many wealthy families in the pyramid go private.

This. PPs can call it racist all they want but the fact remains that Justice has high rates of violence, gang presence, and other issues which plague low socioeconomic enclaves. The FCPS stats also show that Justice is 40% English Learner, which seems crazy high to me, and 65% reduced fee/free lunch. I'm Hispanic. I grew up in a majority Hispanic town and family went to Hispanic schools. It was a terrible experience fraught with drugs, gun violence, and number of issues which children should not be exposed to. So call me racist all you want. I left Annandale and would never send my kids there, having grown up in similar circumstances. In fact, almost everyone of my family members who grew up in Hispanic majority areas look to find safer places to send their kids. I find it crazy that only non-minorities think that these types of schools are just fine and ignore the obvious issues. Justice is just not worth it for families who can afford homes elsewhere.

Annandale and Justice may be majority Hispanic schools but neither Annandale nor Falls Church is a majority Hispanic or majority poor area, so the experience is rather different than Brownsville TX or East Los Angeles.

Were you always consumed by this much self-loathing, or did you just pick it up to fit in with the DCUM crowd?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in Barcroft, and to get even with all of the haters (many on here) I always pee in pools in other neighborhoods whenever I get the chance. If haters are going to do things like call my home “Lake Poopcroft” or “Lake Barcrap”, then I’m going to pee in their pool, make that chlorine work a little extra hard. I’m not playing around. F around and find out.

Like we would even invite you to our pools.
Goodbye. PU. Smell ya later

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to live in that area but have since moved. Schools are terrible and I don't think the lake is reason enough to stay. My friends who remain in the area send kids to private schools.

Annandale has great places to eat, though. But I wouldn't buy a house just to get some good takeout.

Do tell what you mean by "schools are terrible"?

Were the Justice High students admitted this year or last year to Princeton, American, Notre Dame, Yale, Syracuse, Cal Tech, Ohio State, Michigan, Wesleyan, Penn State, UVA, William & Mary, UCLA, JMU, GW, Georgia, Smith, Clemson, Rutgers, USC, Virginia Tech, Middlebury, Georgetown, Maryland, Pitt, and W&L not served well?

Oh, come off it. Justice is a troubled school with — among other things — high student poverty rates, high teacher turnover rates, and low academic achievement. It’s at the bottom of the barrel along with the likes of Lewis and Annandale. Sure, some students go on to prestigious colleges and universities (Justice like all FCPS high schools is large) but don’t give off an impression that that’s typical. Those kids are in a very small minority.

Do you have direct experience with the school?

I worked at Justice when I with FCPS. Left recently. PP’s post is true. It’s also pretty tame. Justice is plagued by fights, drugs, broken families, many indifferent teachers, and an unstable administration. Student need is high and often not met. There’s a reason why many wealthy families in the pyramid go private.

This. PPs can call it racist all they want but the fact remains that Justice has high rates of violence, gang presence, and other issues which plague low socioeconomic enclaves. The FCPS stats also show that Justice is 40% English Learner, which seems crazy high to me, and 65% reduced fee/free lunch. I'm Hispanic. I grew up in a majority Hispanic town and family went to Hispanic schools. It was a terrible experience fraught with drugs, gun violence, and number of issues which children should not be exposed to. So call me racist all you want. I left Annandale and would never send my kids there, having grown up in similar circumstances. In fact, almost everyone of my family members who grew up in Hispanic majority areas look to find safer places to send their kids. I find it crazy that only non-minorities think that these types of schools are just fine and ignore the obvious issues. Justice is just not worth it for families who can afford homes elsewhere.

Annandale and Justice may be majority Hispanic schools but neither Annandale nor Falls Church is a majority Hispanic or majority poor area, so the experience is rather different than Brownsville TX or East Los Angeles.

Were you always consumed by this much self-loathing, or did you just pick it up to fit in with the DCUM crowd?

It still doesn't make them safe or objectively good schools. And I'm going to assume that you've never lived on the border. I don't see Annandale (some pockets) as being entirely different.

This has nothing to do with self-loathing and nowhere did I state anything having to do with loathing. I'm merely stating a basic fact. Schools with low socioeconomic populations present with a different set of issues than those in higher socioeconomic areas. And low socioeconomic problems include low educational standards, drugs, gang violence, disciplinary issues, among others. This has nothing to do with race and everything to do with wealth. I'd argue that races in similar wealth brackets share more in common than those of the same race at opposite ends of the socioeconomic ladder. That's what's at play here. Anyone who has means (white, latino, black, asian, etc.) will always take their kids away from schools like Justice. It's not racism. It's safety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to live in that area but have since moved. Schools are terrible and I don't think the lake is reason enough to stay. My friends who remain in the area send kids to private schools.

Annandale has great places to eat, though. But I wouldn't buy a house just to get some good takeout.

Do tell what you mean by "schools are terrible"?

Were the Justice High students admitted this year or last year to Princeton, American, Notre Dame, Yale, Syracuse, Cal Tech, Ohio State, Michigan, Wesleyan, Penn State, UVA, William & Mary, UCLA, JMU, GW, Georgia, Smith, Clemson, Rutgers, USC, Virginia Tech, Middlebury, Georgetown, Maryland, Pitt, and W&L not served well?

Oh, come off it. Justice is a troubled school with — among other things — high student poverty rates, high teacher turnover rates, and low academic achievement. It’s at the bottom of the barrel along with the likes of Lewis and Annandale. Sure, some students go on to prestigious colleges and universities (Justice like all FCPS high schools is large) but don’t give off an impression that that’s typical. Those kids are in a very small minority.

Do you have direct experience with the school?

I worked at Justice when I with FCPS. Left recently. PP’s post is true. It’s also pretty tame. Justice is plagued by fights, drugs, broken families, many indifferent teachers, and an unstable administration. Student need is high and often not met. There’s a reason why many wealthy families in the pyramid go private.

This. PPs can call it racist all they want but the fact remains that Justice has high rates of violence, gang presence, and other issues which plague low socioeconomic enclaves. The FCPS stats also show that Justice is 40% English Learner, which seems crazy high to me, and 65% reduced fee/free lunch. I'm Hispanic. I grew up in a majority Hispanic town and family went to Hispanic schools. It was a terrible experience fraught with drugs, gun violence, and number of issues which children should not be exposed to. So call me racist all you want. I left Annandale and would never send my kids there, having grown up in similar circumstances. In fact, almost everyone of my family members who grew up in Hispanic majority areas look to find safer places to send their kids. I find it crazy that only non-minorities think that these types of schools are just fine and ignore the obvious issues. Justice is just not worth it for families who can afford homes elsewhere.

Annandale and Justice may be majority Hispanic schools but neither Annandale nor Falls Church is a majority Hispanic or majority poor area, so the experience is rather different than Brownsville TX or East Los Angeles.

Were you always consumed by this much self-loathing, or did you just pick it up to fit in with the DCUM crowd?

It still doesn't make them safe or objectively good schools. And I'm going to assume that you've never lived on the border. I don't see Annandale (some pockets) as being entirely different.

This has nothing to do with self-loathing and nowhere did I state anything having to do with loathing. I'm merely stating a basic fact. Schools with low socioeconomic populations present with a different set of issues than those in higher socioeconomic areas. And low socioeconomic problems include low educational standards, drugs, gang violence, disciplinary issues, among others. This has nothing to do with race and everything to do with wealth. I'd argue that races in similar wealth brackets share more in common than those of the same race at opposite ends of the socioeconomic ladder. That's what's at play here. Anyone who has means (white, latino, black, asian, etc.) will always take their kids away from schools like Justice. It's not racism. It's safety.

I can’t even begin to tell you just how pathologically full of shit you are.

There are lots of people with substantial means in the Justice pyramid sending their kids to the public schools. The experience of their kids is going to be different from the experience of the poorer kids who live in Culmore or Bailey’s Crossroads, given their different backgrounds and economic circumstances, but they are not unsafe. Further, the experience of the poorer kids certainly wouldn’t improve if the wealthier parents pulled their kids out.

The classism and racism on this forum is insane. The owner of this web site, who periodically purports to disapprove of it, should be ashamed that he ends up profiting from it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to live in that area but have since moved. Schools are terrible and I don't think the lake is reason enough to stay. My friends who remain in the area send kids to private schools.

Annandale has great places to eat, though. But I wouldn't buy a house just to get some good takeout.

Do tell what you mean by "schools are terrible"?

Were the Justice High students admitted this year or last year to Princeton, American, Notre Dame, Yale, Syracuse, Cal Tech, Ohio State, Michigan, Wesleyan, Penn State, UVA, William & Mary, UCLA, JMU, GW, Georgia, Smith, Clemson, Rutgers, USC, Virginia Tech, Middlebury, Georgetown, Maryland, Pitt, and W&L not served well?

Oh, come off it. Justice is a troubled school with — among other things — high student poverty rates, high teacher turnover rates, and low academic achievement. It’s at the bottom of the barrel along with the likes of Lewis and Annandale. Sure, some students go on to prestigious colleges and universities (Justice like all FCPS high schools is large) but don’t give off an impression that that’s typical. Those kids are in a very small minority.

Do you have direct experience with the school?

I worked at Justice when I with FCPS. Left recently. PP’s post is true. It’s also pretty tame. Justice is plagued by fights, drugs, broken families, many indifferent teachers, and an unstable administration. Student need is high and often not met. There’s a reason why many wealthy families in the pyramid go private.

This. PPs can call it racist all they want but the fact remains that Justice has high rates of violence, gang presence, and other issues which plague low socioeconomic enclaves. The FCPS stats also show that Justice is 40% English Learner, which seems crazy high to me, and 65% reduced fee/free lunch. I'm Hispanic. I grew up in a majority Hispanic town and family went to Hispanic schools. It was a terrible experience fraught with drugs, gun violence, and number of issues which children should not be exposed to. So call me racist all you want. I left Annandale and would never send my kids there, having grown up in similar circumstances. In fact, almost everyone of my family members who grew up in Hispanic majority areas look to find safer places to send their kids. I find it crazy that only non-minorities think that these types of schools are just fine and ignore the obvious issues. Justice is just not worth it for families who can afford homes elsewhere.

Annandale and Justice may be majority Hispanic schools but neither Annandale nor Falls Church is a majority Hispanic or majority poor area, so the experience is rather different than Brownsville TX or East Los Angeles.

Were you always consumed by this much self-loathing, or did you just pick it up to fit in with the DCUM crowd?

It still doesn't make them safe or objectively good schools. And I'm going to assume that you've never lived on the border. I don't see Annandale (some pockets) as being entirely different.

This has nothing to do with self-loathing and nowhere did I state anything having to do with loathing. I'm merely stating a basic fact. Schools with low socioeconomic populations present with a different set of issues than those in higher socioeconomic areas. And low socioeconomic problems include low educational standards, drugs, gang violence, disciplinary issues, among others. This has nothing to do with race and everything to do with wealth. I'd argue that races in similar wealth brackets share more in common than those of the same race at opposite ends of the socioeconomic ladder. That's what's at play here. Anyone who has means (white, latino, black, asian, etc.) will always take their kids away from schools like Justice. It's not racism. It's safety.

I can’t even begin to tell you just how pathologically full of shit you are.

There are lots of people with substantial means in the Justice pyramid sending their kids to the public schools. The experience of their kids is going to be different from the experience of the poorer kids who live in Culmore or Bailey’s Crossroads, given their different backgrounds and economic circumstances, but they are not unsafe. Further, the experience of the poorer kids certainly wouldn’t improve if the wealthier parents pulled their kids out.

The classism and racism on this forum is insane. The owner of this web site, who periodically purports to disapprove of it, should be ashamed that he ends up profiting from it.

My kids are not a social experiment. I'm not going to keep them in a school that (per its FCPS reported stats) has 2-3x the rates of violence as schools in neighboring suburbs just because the "experience of poorer kids wouldn't improve". Sorry, but my kids lives are not worth the risk.

It is not classism to state the obvious. Do you think that just because you are wealthier you are immune from violence in low income areas? THAT is some privilege nonsense. What I can tell is that you have never experienced school violence yourself so you are (willfully) blind to the risks. I, on the other hand, have already been there. We had higher means than many of the kids in the same HS. Regardless, my sibling still suffered life threatening injuries due to school/gang violence. But if you'never seen that with your own eyes, you just don't get it.

so to anyone looking to buy a house, school districts matter. The FCPS safety and discipline reports are important stats to check. You don't get woke points for pretending like it doesn't happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to live in that area but have since moved. Schools are terrible and I don't think the lake is reason enough to stay. My friends who remain in the area send kids to private schools.

Annandale has great places to eat, though. But I wouldn't buy a house just to get some good takeout.

Do tell what you mean by "schools are terrible"?

Were the Justice High students admitted this year or last year to Princeton, American, Notre Dame, Yale, Syracuse, Cal Tech, Ohio State, Michigan, Wesleyan, Penn State, UVA, William & Mary, UCLA, JMU, GW, Georgia, Smith, Clemson, Rutgers, USC, Virginia Tech, Middlebury, Georgetown, Maryland, Pitt, and W&L not served well?

Oh, come off it. Justice is a troubled school with — among other things — high student poverty rates, high teacher turnover rates, and low academic achievement. It’s at the bottom of the barrel along with the likes of Lewis and Annandale. Sure, some students go on to prestigious colleges and universities (Justice like all FCPS high schools is large) but don’t give off an impression that that’s typical. Those kids are in a very small minority.

Do you have direct experience with the school?

I worked at Justice when I with FCPS. Left recently. PP’s post is true. It’s also pretty tame. Justice is plagued by fights, drugs, broken families, many indifferent teachers, and an unstable administration. Student need is high and often not met. There’s a reason why many wealthy families in the pyramid go private.

This. PPs can call it racist all they want but the fact remains that Justice has high rates of violence, gang presence, and other issues which plague low socioeconomic enclaves. The FCPS stats also show that Justice is 40% English Learner, which seems crazy high to me, and 65% reduced fee/free lunch. I'm Hispanic. I grew up in a majority Hispanic town and family went to Hispanic schools. It was a terrible experience fraught with drugs, gun violence, and number of issues which children should not be exposed to. So call me racist all you want. I left Annandale and would never send my kids there, having grown up in similar circumstances. In fact, almost everyone of my family members who grew up in Hispanic majority areas look to find safer places to send their kids. I find it crazy that only non-minorities think that these types of schools are just fine and ignore the obvious issues. Justice is just not worth it for families who can afford homes elsewhere.

Annandale and Justice may be majority Hispanic schools but neither Annandale nor Falls Church is a majority Hispanic or majority poor area, so the experience is rather different than Brownsville TX or East Los Angeles.

Were you always consumed by this much self-loathing, or did you just pick it up to fit in with the DCUM crowd?

It still doesn't make them safe or objectively good schools. And I'm going to assume that you've never lived on the border. I don't see Annandale (some pockets) as being entirely different.

This has nothing to do with self-loathing and nowhere did I state anything having to do with loathing. I'm merely stating a basic fact. Schools with low socioeconomic populations present with a different set of issues than those in higher socioeconomic areas. And low socioeconomic problems include low educational standards, drugs, gang violence, disciplinary issues, among others. This has nothing to do with race and everything to do with wealth. I'd argue that races in similar wealth brackets share more in common than those of the same race at opposite ends of the socioeconomic ladder. That's what's at play here. Anyone who has means (white, latino, black, asian, etc.) will always take their kids away from schools like Justice. It's not racism. It's safety.

I can’t even begin to tell you just how pathologically full of shit you are.

There are lots of people with substantial means in the Justice pyramid sending their kids to the public schools. The experience of their kids is going to be different from the experience of the poorer kids who live in Culmore or Bailey’s Crossroads, given their different backgrounds and economic circumstances, but they are not unsafe. Further, the experience of the poorer kids certainly wouldn’t improve if the wealthier parents pulled their kids out.

The classism and racism on this forum is insane. The owner of this web site, who periodically purports to disapprove of it, should be ashamed that he ends up profiting from it.

My kids are not a social experiment. I'm not going to keep them in a school that (per its FCPS reported stats) has 2-3x the rates of violence as schools in neighboring suburbs just because the "experience of poorer kids wouldn't improve". Sorry, but my kids lives are not worth the risk.

It is not classism to state the obvious. Do you think that just because you are wealthier you are immune from violence in low income areas? THAT is some privilege nonsense. What I can tell is that you have never experienced school violence yourself so you are (willfully) blind to the risks. I, on the other hand, have already been there. We had higher means than many of the kids in the same HS. Regardless, my sibling still suffered life threatening injuries due to school/gang violence. But if you'never seen that with your own eyes, you just don't get it.

so to anyone looking to buy a house, school districts matter. The FCPS safety and discipline reports are important stats to check. You don't get woke points for pretending like it doesn't happen.

Sorry. You want people to think you’re speaking from trauma but it’s clearly more in the nature of manufactured drama. I know dozens of UMC kids who graduated from Justice and never experienced any type of violence directed towards them.

[Anonymous]

I always laugh at people who spout off about how they are sending their kids to some rich-ass school like Langley High because “my kids are not a social experiment!”

Yes they are, Jan. It’s just a different social experiment, even if the lab rats all drive fancy cars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to live in that area but have since moved. Schools are terrible and I don't think the lake is reason enough to stay. My friends who remain in the area send kids to private schools.

Annandale has great places to eat, though. But I wouldn't buy a house just to get some good takeout.

Do tell what you mean by "schools are terrible"?

Were the Justice High students admitted this year or last year to Princeton, American, Notre Dame, Yale, Syracuse, Cal Tech, Ohio State, Michigan, Wesleyan, Penn State, UVA, William & Mary, UCLA, JMU, GW, Georgia, Smith, Clemson, Rutgers, USC, Virginia Tech, Middlebury, Georgetown, Maryland, Pitt, and W&L not served well?

Oh, come off it. Justice is a troubled school with — among other things — high student poverty rates, high teacher turnover rates, and low academic achievement. It’s at the bottom of the barrel along with the likes of Lewis and Annandale. Sure, some students go on to prestigious colleges and universities (Justice like all FCPS high schools is large) but don’t give off an impression that that’s typical. Those kids are in a very small minority.

Do you have direct experience with the school?

I worked at Justice when I with FCPS. Left recently. PP’s post is true. It’s also pretty tame. Justice is plagued by fights, drugs, broken families, many indifferent teachers, and an unstable administration. Student need is high and often not met. There’s a reason why many wealthy families in the pyramid go private.

This. PPs can call it racist all they want but the fact remains that Justice has high rates of violence, gang presence, and other issues which plague low socioeconomic enclaves. The FCPS stats also show that Justice is 40% English Learner, which seems crazy high to me, and 65% reduced fee/free lunch. I'm Hispanic. I grew up in a majority Hispanic town and family went to Hispanic schools. It was a terrible experience fraught with drugs, gun violence, and number of issues which children should not be exposed to. So call me racist all you want. I left Annandale and would never send my kids there, having grown up in similar circumstances. In fact, almost everyone of my family members who grew up in Hispanic majority areas look to find safer places to send their kids. I find it crazy that only non-minorities think that these types of schools are just fine and ignore the obvious issues. Justice is just not worth it for families who can afford homes elsewhere.

Please cite your source for gang presence at Justice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to live in that area but have since moved. Schools are terrible and I don't think the lake is reason enough to stay. My friends who remain in the area send kids to private schools.

Annandale has great places to eat, though. But I wouldn't buy a house just to get some good takeout.

Do tell what you mean by "schools are terrible"?

Were the Justice High students admitted this year or last year to Princeton, American, Notre Dame, Yale, Syracuse, Cal Tech, Ohio State, Michigan, Wesleyan, Penn State, UVA, William & Mary, UCLA, JMU, GW, Georgia, Smith, Clemson, Rutgers, USC, Virginia Tech, Middlebury, Georgetown, Maryland, Pitt, and W&L not served well?

Oh, come off it. Justice is a troubled school with — among other things — high student poverty rates, high teacher turnover rates, and low academic achievement. It’s at the bottom of the barrel along with the likes of Lewis and Annandale. Sure, some students go on to prestigious colleges and universities (Justice like all FCPS high schools is large) but don’t give off an impression that that’s typical. Those kids are in a very small minority.

Do you have direct experience with the school?

I worked at Justice when I with FCPS. Left recently. PP’s post is true. It’s also pretty tame. Justice is plagued by fights, drugs, broken families, many indifferent teachers, and an unstable administration. Student need is high and often not met. There’s a reason why many wealthy families in the pyramid go private.

This. PPs can call it racist all they want but the fact remains that Justice has high rates of violence, gang presence, and other issues which plague low socioeconomic enclaves. The FCPS stats also show that Justice is 40% English Learner, which seems crazy high to me, and 65% reduced fee/free lunch. I'm Hispanic. I grew up in a majority Hispanic town and family went to Hispanic schools. It was a terrible experience fraught with drugs, gun violence, and number of issues which children should not be exposed to. So call me racist all you want. I left Annandale and would never send my kids there, having grown up in similar circumstances. In fact, almost everyone of my family members who grew up in Hispanic majority areas look to find safer places to send their kids. I find it crazy that only non-minorities think that these types of schools are just fine and ignore the obvious issues. Justice is just not worth it for families who can afford homes elsewhere.

Annandale and Justice may be majority Hispanic schools but neither Annandale nor Falls Church is a majority Hispanic or majority poor area, so the experience is rather different than Brownsville TX or East Los Angeles.

Were you always consumed by this much self-loathing, or did you just pick it up to fit in with the DCUM crowd?

It still doesn't make them safe or objectively good schools. And I'm going to assume that you've never lived on the border. I don't see Annandale (some pockets) as being entirely different.

This has nothing to do with self-loathing and nowhere did I state anything having to do with loathing. I'm merely stating a basic fact. Schools with low socioeconomic populations present with a different set of issues than those in higher socioeconomic areas. And low socioeconomic problems include low educational standards, drugs, gang violence, disciplinary issues, among others. This has nothing to do with race and everything to do with wealth. I'd argue that races in similar wealth brackets share more in common than those of the same race at opposite ends of the socioeconomic ladder. That's what's at play here. Anyone who has means (white, latino, black, asian, etc.) will always take their kids away from schools like Justice. It's not racism. It's safety.

https://schoolprofiles.fcps.edu/schlprfl/f?p=108:2:::NO:0_CURRENT_SCHOOL_ID,P0_EDSL:100,0

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lake Barcroft is totally over rated. It's expensive for what you get: bad schools, sewage filled lake...just not worth it and that's why so many people are selling their houses there right now.

So many? I see a few houses for sale. And typically those when listed the homes don’t stay on the market very long.

For the most part, people that trash our schools on this board have no personal experience with the schools.

Nice try 10 homes at least for a very small area some of which have been on the market for months.

Anyone can check on the schools and see they are not great at all.

There are only six houses in the Lake Barcroft development on the market now. Other houses to which you’re referring are in nearby neighborhoods that aren’t part of Lake Barcroft.

The market is hot sometimes and less so at other times. In an area about the same size as Lake Barcroft in the Langley district (the areas off Balls Hill Road), 13 houses are for sale. Does that mean the schools there suck or people are fleeing the area because of the construction projects near 495?

There are 10 in lake barcroft, 14 in surrounding areas! Many have been on the market MONTHS.

+100 There are few that have been on the market for 60+ days!!! They are not moving even in this tight, low inventory market. That speaks for itself.