Reply to Thinking about moving, so kids can go to Yorktown for HS instead of Wakefield -- pros? cons?

Forum Index » Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)

Reply to "Thinking about moving, so kids can go to Yorktown for HS instead of Wakefield -- pros? cons?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]While I have heard comments about all three of the APS high schools, I can't speak from experience about any of them except Yorktown. One thing I would recommend is not falling into the trap of simply looking at test scores or other academic indicators when evaluating which of Arlington's high schools would be best for your kids. There really is a lot more that goes into it, and the school with the best academic indicators may not be the best choice for you.

An earlier poster noted the current drug problem at Yorktown. As I believe someone else stated, the drug problem is not confined to Yorktown, and I'm sure that's true. However, the problem there is really bad. We're not just talking about drinking and weed, and we're not just talking about upperclassmen. Pills and LSD are widespread (and are readily available down at Williamsburg Middle School as well). A significant portion of even the freshman class is drinking and smoking pot on a regular basis, and into other drugs as well. The student activities department put on a program back in December about drug and alcohol use among student athletes at Yorktown. It was very informative, though downright scary. The problem is bad, as acknowledged by those involved with athletics there. Two sets of parents talked about how their sons the previous two years (both good athletes, good students, popular, etc.) missed the end of their senior years because they were in residential rehab. I have recently heard of other students (younger than seniors) who are in long-term residential rehab programs. Again, maybe the problem isn't confined to Yorktown, and maybe I'm naive, but kids going away to rehab should be outliers and not so commonplace.

So what is it about Yorktown that makes the drug problem so bad? I don't believe it is simply mismanagement by school administrators. Rather, the number one problem in the community is the parents. Parents who are too busy in their own careers and with their own social lives to have much of a clue about what their kids and their kids' friends are doing on a regular basis. Parents who take a casual attitude toward drinking and drug use and think "kids will be kids" and "I did those things when I was their age." Parents who let their kids and their friends drink in the basement "because they're safe down there." Parents who don't set concrete expectations and consequences for their kids, and who lawyer up or threaten the school system when their kids do screw up, so their kids never face any natural consequences and feel they can do whatever they want.

There are kids at Yorktown who excel academically and athletically and steer clear of the risky behavior. I applaud their parents because it takes a lot of effort and they are the exception rather than the rule. But even when you're trying to do what you know is right when raising your own kids, it becomes much more challenging when they are in an environment where so many kids get away with so much. Other posters will continue to cheerlead for Yorktown and put down the other high schools in Arlington, but if they try to say Yorktown doesn't have a big problem, they are either not smart or they are not paying attention.[/quote]

Sadly, this is a true representation of what's going on. (You can add in rampant promiscuity/sexting, too. This year's 9th grade class really is a piece of work.) There are similar issues at W&L, although I don't think it's as widespread.

There's a lot of denial and excuse-making among parents and I'm afraid that it's going to take some kind of crisis to wake them up. [/quote]

We have close family friends with 2 kids at Yorktown. They were over at our house for dinner last year and the kids both opened up about stuff to me. They said that students sell drugs in the parking lot and when the Ballston Mall was open they would buy drugs at the As Seen on TV store.  I asked if the police officers at the school ever did anything about it and they said that they're useless.  I called the school and asked to speak to the principal. The administrative assistant said that it's PO's that I needed to talk to and not the principal. They totally blew me off.

Between the racism and the drugs I don't know why anyone would want to go to that school. And I agree, many of the parents are blind to it and I think they choose to be this way because they're too busy in their own lives and/or they want to be "cool."

Furthermore, as far as the education goes I've heard that there is lots of You Tube watching during class and/or kids are on their phones texting the entire time.

[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics