Reply to Oakton High School and Chantilly High School

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Hello.. we plan to move to VA and having a high school kid and an elementary kid, plz recommend areas for renting (temporary) and buy a home in the near future so we don’t need to change schools. Schools we are particularly looking for is Carson Middle school and Chantilly high school. Not sure which elementary school we fall under if we find a home that takes kids into Carson and Chantilly high school? Thank you![/quote]

Right now, only kids in LLIV AAP go from Carson to Chantilly.  All of the Gen Ed kids at Carson are zoned Westfield, SLHS or Oakton.   And at some point, Franklin based kids will probably lose the ability to fo to Carson. Which is fine. 1/2 of the Carson AAP kids are Franklin based. Once Franklin becomes mandatory, it’s AAP Center will be as large as Carson, and will have the exact same affluent kids with highly educated parents that make Carson so good now.  The high school piece is more important.  I would choose Franklin zoned (Carson AAP) to Chantilly over Carson zoned to Westfield, SLHS, or even Oakton(because the commute is awful from Western County and for your current kid, they just started a huge renovation).

You want Lees Corner ES (with has local level IV AAP) or Oak Hill (Level IV Center).  Feeding to Franklin MS (right now you have Carson as a choice for a Level IV Center) feeding to Chantilly.  This is where zips 20151 and 20171 meet.  Neighborhoods include part of Franklin Farm, Armfield Farm, Chantilly Highlands and several others. All great neighborhood to raise kids.  Sidewalks, pools, soccer fields, nice neighbors.   Some are just SFHs, some are SFHs plus some townhouses.

Another great option is some of the ES that feed to Rocky Run MS to Chantilly.  RRMS is a lot like Carson, and is another large TJ feeder MS.  I am not as familiar with their feeder pattern, so someone else will have to tell you which ESs are good I think Greenbrier West? [/quote]

Franklin has a very strong local Level IV program. The teachers have been teaching AAP for 4-5 years, and they'very built a fantastic program. Franklin's AAP program is small, but it's stellar. Therefore, if you, OP, move into a Franklin-districted neighborhood,  you have the option of placing your child at Franklin. [/quote]

I live in the Franklin attendance area, but don’t have kids in the MS yet. A couple of my neighbors were saying that they regretted sending their kids to Franklin LLIV over Carson AAP because the Franklin AAP program was too small (all the kids had all their classes together for two years which was smothering for MS kids) and because Franklin had problems with drugs this year.  They said there were police at the school during school hours and on the school buses with the kids with drug sniffing dogs?

Are the stories about there being a drug problem true?  I had thought it would be better to send my rising 6th grader to Franklin then Chantilly to stay with her peers. But talking to them definately has me rethinking. [/quote]

That isn't 100% true about the AAP kids having all their classes together for two years. Even years that there's only been one AAP class, the students were not necessarily together for math, PE, or either of their electives, so that certainly isn't true that they had[u] all [/u]their classes together.  HOWEVER, the "issue" with some students being together all day can occur in ANY middle school because FCPS uses the team model, so some students happen to wind up with identical schedules. That happened to two of my friends' kids (at a MS other than Carson or Franklin ). They had 5 or 6 of their 7 classes together because they were both in the same band, were both in Algebra in 7th grade, and both took the same other classes.

I am surprised that any parents would say they regret sending their kids to any school because of one [i]possible[/i] issue that [i]may or may not [/i]have happened one year. And labeling something that is probably either a rumor, or is exaggerated, as a "drug problem" is absurd.[/quote]

Carson doesn’t usually have kids together for more than a couple classes.  Because on any given team, there are at least three AAP sections. So even kids on the same team, there are a lot of permutations. DD was excited to be on the same team as 2 close friends this year. She had one class with her BFF— orchestra.  She had orchestra and English with the other. Same elective and that’s it. Carson also mixes up the teams between 7th and 8th, so kids don’t stay with the same group for two years.  I think it’s a good thing for two reasons. First, DD got into a spat with a Franklin based friend when she was in 7th and there was texting drama and sobbing drama and she betrayed me drama. I was so grateful that she was not sitting in 3 core classes plus orchestra with this girl for two years. Because I was over the tweenage girl drama as it was. Second, DD freaked about starting Carson because it was so much bigger that ES and who would she eat lunch with and what if she knew no one on in her classes.  And a little bit apprehensive about 8th, because new teams and during some blocks she didn’t have the same lunch group.   But now heading into a large HS, she’s like, NBD. I know a bunch of kids from Carson, and there were nice kids at orientation and if I need to meet new kids to be lab partners with or lunch buddies with, I can.  So I’m glad she got some experience with a larger environment before she was in a school with 3000 kids.

The Franklin drug thing floored me, because that is not Franklin’s reputation.  Or so I thought. But yeah— these were some pissed on parents, one of whose kid was apparent held on the school bus while the drug sniffing dog went through.  This is someone I know and trust whose kid was directly impacted.  So I rate it higher than a rumor.  And it seems like that, plus dealing with the cliques that inevitably happen when the same 25 kids are together for at least half their classes in the “smartest” section had taken a toll. [/quote]

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