Is there any VA school distric that is NOT a dumpster fire?

[Anonymous]

We left FCPS, which is definitely a flaming dumpster, for private ES/MS, but our private ends soon and we probably can't afford private high school. We're planning to move, and decided to be smarter this time and not live in Fairfax. But based on this forum, it seems like every NoVa school district is horrible. Is there one anywhere that isn't? Falls Church, Oakton, Loudoun? Is there a decent public school district anywhere in NoVa?

Some of things we hated about FCPS included absurd amounts of homework, even in ES, a huge bureaucracy with no accountability for administrators (and a lot of BAD admins), a focus on testing, overcrowded classrooms, no personal attention at any age, and a "we don't care" attitude in general. Does that characterize all public schools?

[Anonymous]

I hear the most positive things consistently about Falls Church City Public Schools.

[Anonymous]

FCPS has some of the best ranked high schools in the state. If you want small with personalized attention and an easier academic experience go very rural and find a high school that hasn't been consolidated yet. Good luck, most of the very small schools have long since been merged into bigger ones

[Anonymous]

Second FCCPS. It's a much smaller district too. Is the new high school finished yet?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FCPS has some of the best ranked high schools in the state. If you want small with personalized attention and an easier academic experience go very rural and find a high school that hasn't been consolidated yet. Good luck, most of the very small schools have long since been merged into bigger ones

Those rankings are not based on anything that FCPS does. It happens to have a lot of rich, educated folks living in it. But those of us who live here rely on outside tutoring and helping our kids ourselves, because the schools themselves are nothing special, and some of them really suck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hear the most positive things consistently about Falls Church City Public Schools.

Same on FCCPS

I'm an APS parent and horribly disappointed with the administration. Also our kids haven't had homework in years. Which may seem great, but we are quickly realizing that zero homework for years isn't a good approach for a strong education. APS has a great community, but the administration is horrendous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Second FCCPS. It's a much smaller district too. Is the new high school finished yet?

Yes, the high school is finished and it's beautiful. There will be construction going on nearby for the commercial developments for a few years, though.

We are in Falls Church and love it. Teachers are almost universally great, leadership is great, and I feel like everyone is very responsive to parents and kids. That said, the downsides are:

- fewer offerings than some bigger districts in terms of electives, activities, and foreign languages
- small student body (this has upsides -- easy to make sports teams!! - and downsides -- hopefully you can find your crowd in a class of 175 kids or so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS has some of the best ranked high schools in the state. If you want small with personalized attention and an easier academic experience go very rural and find a high school that hasn't been consolidated yet. Good luck, most of the very small schools have long since been merged into bigger ones

Those rankings are not based on anything that FCPS does. It happens to have a lot of rich, educated folks living in it. But those of us who live here rely on outside tutoring and helping our kids ourselves, because the schools themselves are nothing special, and some of them really suck.

so send your kids to a school without wealthy parents

[Anonymous]

You sound utterly ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Second FCCPS. It's a much smaller district too. Is the new high school finished yet?

Yes, the high school is finished and it's beautiful. There will be construction going on nearby for the commercial developments for a few years, though.

We are in Falls Church and love it. Teachers are almost universally great, leadership is great, and I feel like everyone is very responsive to parents and kids. That said, the downsides are:

- fewer offerings than some bigger districts in terms of electives, activities, and foreign languages
- small student body (this has upsides -- easy to make sports teams!! - and downsides -- hopefully you can find your crowd in a class of 175 kids or so.

This is what I hear from FCCPS parents. We seriously considered moving there and I talked to a lot of people.

Great for your kid if it's great for your kid. If it's not great for your kid, no options.

Everyone is in your business. Very cliquey. Some people love that. Some people don't.

The locations of their middle school/high school are not ideal. On top of the highway, in the middle of commercial development, on the far edge of falls church city, with terrible parking. If one of your goals is to be part of a walkable community, that's not doing it.

It's also very homogenous, which is on purpose. They separated themselves from Fairfax however long ago to get away from the students that are harder to serve. If you're the type that cares about these things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hear the most positive things consistently about Falls Church City Public Schools.

Same on FCCPS

I'm an APS parent and horribly disappointed with the administration. Also our kids haven't had homework in years. Which may seem great, but we are quickly realizing that zero homework for years isn't a good approach for a strong education. APS has a great community, but the administration is horrendous.

The problem isn’t no homework. It’s not like having homework to reinforce a crappy curriculum is going to do the kids much good.

[Anonymous]

LOL that OP is complaining about too much homework and then subsequent posters are complaining about no homework at all.

I think these types of sweeping generalizations are not that helpful.

You need to know YOUR kid OP and ask about specific schools and how they might work for YOUR child. And talk to real parents. Don't ask on this kind of board. It's like Yelp reviews. The disgruntled and angry people are the active ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We left FCPS, which is definitely a flaming dumpster, for private ES/MS, but our private ends soon and we probably can't afford private high school. We're planning to move, and decided to be smarter this time and not live in Fairfax. But based on this forum, it seems like every NoVa school district is horrible. Is there one anywhere that isn't? Falls Church, Oakton, Loudoun? Is there a decent public school district anywhere in NoVa?

Some of things we hated about FCPS included absurd amounts of homework, even in ES, a huge bureaucracy with no accountability for administrators (and a lot of BAD admins), a focus on testing, overcrowded classrooms, no personal attention at any age, and a "we don't care" attitude in general. Does that characterize all public schools?

It describes our three schools. One of them demanded too much hw in K and 1st grade from the mediocre teachers. There was absolutely no accountability. The second school’s grand feature was the “I don’t care” attitude in teaching but they did care to ask for $$$.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We left FCPS, which is definitely a flaming dumpster, for private ES/MS, but our private ends soon and we probably can't afford private high school. We're planning to move, and decided to be smarter this time and not live in Fairfax. But based on this forum, it seems like every NoVa school district is horrible. Is there one anywhere that isn't? Falls Church, Oakton, Loudoun? Is there a decent public school district anywhere in NoVa?

Some of things we hated about FCPS included absurd amounts of homework, even in ES, a huge bureaucracy with no accountability for administrators (and a lot of BAD admins), a focus on testing, overcrowded classrooms, no personal attention at any age, and a "we don't care" attitude in general. Does that characterize all public schools?

It describes our three schools. One of them demanded too much hw in K and 1st grade from the mediocre teachers. There was absolutely no accountability. The second school’s grand feature was the “I don’t care” attitude in teaching but they did care to ask for $$$.

Sorry. I meant the mediocre K-1 teachers demanded too much homework.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS has some of the best ranked high schools in the state. If you want small with personalized attention and an easier academic experience go very rural and find a high school that hasn't been consolidated yet. Good luck, most of the very small schools have long since been merged into bigger ones

Those rankings are not based on anything that FCPS does. It happens to have a lot of rich, educated folks living in it. But those of us who live here rely on outside tutoring and helping our kids ourselves, because the schools themselves are nothing special, and some of them really suck.

Agree 100%. I have to spend lots of extra money supplementing my kid’s education.