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VA Public Schools other than FCPS
Reply to "George mason high school"
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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You're talking about George Mason High School (soon to be renamed) in Falls Church City right? Just making sure because it is really not very sports-oriented or a bunch of rich white kids.... First, it's important to know that it's a really small school. Each graduating class has about 150-170 kids. FCC is not a feeder system so theoretically, the same 150 kids in your kindergarten grade are the same 150 kids you graduate with (obviously people move in and out, but you get my point). This has upside and downside, of course. It is very easy for kids to make sports teams. There are some that are pretty competitive, like basketball I think, but if your kid plays a sport, the chances of him or her making a HS team are quite good. The school doesn't seem super focused on sports, because I've been to basketball and football games, and it's not like the entire student body is out cheering the team on. I've been kind of surprised at the low student turnout for sports to be honest. Upside of being in a small school system is that you really do get to know the teachers, administrators, school board members, PTA leadership, etc. Your kids know the other kids and their teachers. It has a very small town feel. The down side is that if your kid doesn't find their crew early it can be hard. We don't have as many offerings as some of the bigger schools in Arlington or Fairfax County. Regarding "rich" and "white" - yes, FCC is an upper income place. IMO, people move here and pay more for smaller houses and less land (compared to, say, McLean or Annandale) because they like the idea of the small school system. Parents here are not unlike parents all over Northern Virginia but I think they tend to be even more socially-conscious, highly educated, and extremely involved in the schools. There are more and more condos and apartments and the percentage of kids living in a condo or apartment has increased every year. There is racial diversity, and that increases as you go down in age (for example my elementary school kid's classes are typically 2/3 white, whereas my high schooler's elementary classes were probably more like 80% white). The non-white students are a big mix of southeast Asian, east Asian, middle Eastern, Hispanic, and Black. FCC also attracts a ton of state department and foreign service people who move in and out of the city, so there is that. FCC is an IB school, so definitely make sure you know what that is before moving in for the schools. As far as it being high pressure, I don't think it is any more so than other schools in the area. My high schooler is not a super high achiever, and he certainly hasn't felt the pressure by his peers to do better (maybe I wish he did??!??) The high school has a new building as of this year which is really beautiful. They're tearing down the old one and so that'll be a mess but in another year or 18 months it will be great. Maybe my high schooler is an anomaly, but the high schoolers here seem pretty innocent compared to stories I hear from friends with high schoolers. While I am sure there is drinking and vaping and drugs, I really don't think it's very common. The kids like to walk around FCC on weekends or evenings, play basketball, and go to one another's houses. It seems much tamer compared to my high school experience in the 90s! Hope that helps a little.[/quote] Are you just suggesting house lots tend to be bigger in McLean and Annandale than in FCC? The average house in McLean costs about $250K more than one in FCC, and the average house in FCC costs about $300K more than one in Annandale.[/quote] Well, I guess what I'm suggesting is that if you have a certain budget -- let's say you are going to spend $1.2m -- I think what you get in Falls Church is a smaller lot and smaller house than in some other nearby jurisdictions. At least, that was true when I last bought ten years ago. Overall point is that I think people who choose to live here do so very deliberately for the small schools.[/quote]
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