Reply to TC Williams: what does a family new to Alexandria need to know?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Current TC parent here.  "Yale or Jail" is a myth.  TC's size is a help and not a hindrance - every elective, every team, every co-curricular, every club, every special program under one roof.  And the size means that there is basically somebody for everybody at TC.  TC is a busy place, but a kid with his/her head on right and an accommodating home environment can do well.  I'm a demanding parent, ivy, lawyer, not from Alexandria, etc., and I think a goodly amount of the complaining about TC that I see on this board really isn't accurate or fair.

-- Contact TC now and procure the course catalog.  There's a posted e-version as well but a bit cumbersome.  Please, ASAP, go through the course offerings and programs with DC.

-- Collect all of DC's recent school records if you are going to try for a special program.

-- Find out, now, who DC's counselor will be, and reach out to the TC front office.  Can be helpful in breaking occasional log-jams with class scheduling.

ACPS is just a contentious community.  There's a disuniform quality of teaching (but that's everywhere), and the school has been through multiple principals in just a few years.  The school board, which is much more of a direct-management body than other school boards in the area, is just a terrible embarrassment - totally unqualified, unrealistic, not candid.  There are problems, and real ones.  But the problems that you might observe that specifically affect TC are relatively few, they can usually be mitigated or fully solved.  A capable student with an engaged parent can do very well, other parents are engaged and the overall TC family community is intelligent and supportive.  Many of the fac and admin are genuinely good or even excellent.  Some of the co-curriculars are spectacular.

Good luck.  Don't assume a disaster and don't believe over-generalized condemnation.  As a TC parent, you'll have to be active and alert, but not much more than you would have to be elsewhere.  The experience is valuable and we truly believe that our DD benefits from being at TC.

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I have kids at TC, and I agree with all of what this person said.  I'm also a demanding parent, a lawyer, went to ivies for undergrad, law school, and graduate school, but I am from Alexandria and I went to TC.  (And, yes, I do have a TC crew sticker on my car, as did my parents in the 80s for me and my equally successful siblings.)

I'll add that my kids have learned be very effective self-advocates, a valuable and life-long skill. 
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