Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thank you for your response. Agree about looking for diverse neighborhoods and looking at the school demographics, which we will do. In our personal experience, some schools may be essentially "segregated" across, say cultural or ethnic lines, etc. and we are wondering about schools that are at least somewhat or very successful at bridging gaps.

Great question but I don't have a good answer for you. FCPS is a huge district with lots of high schools. Depends on the type of racial diversity your looking for. For example Lee will have many Latinos while Chantilly quite a few Asians. Maybe Robinson or West Springfield if your looking for a more even mix of groups? Probably not WT Woodson or Lake Braddock.

Why not Woodson or Lake Braddock? They seem to have somewhat similar percentages of minority students. Is the culture less inclusive?

Anonymous wrote:Here are TC's most recent stats:

African American: 39%
Asian/Pacific Islander and American Indian: 7%
Hispanic: 30%
White: 22%
Unspecifed: 2%


Pretty diverse, I'd say.

Less diverse than Annandale HS:

Asian 25%
Black 16%
Hispanic 33%
White 24%
Multi-Racial 2%

Plenty of other examples. Or perhaps you don't think white and Asian students contribute to diversity?

TC supporters undercut their credibility when they start using superlatives ("most diverse school in the state") that aren't justified.

Here are TC's most recent stats:

African American: 39%
Asian/Pacific Islander and American Indian: 7%
Hispanic: 30%
White: 22%
Unspecifed: 2%


Pretty diverse, I'd say.

10:01 - you haven't provided support for the assertion that TC is the most diverse schools in the state. You've also played up the "middle" at TC and suggested the "bottom" isn't significant, when in fact the school still has a high drop-out rate and poor test scores. And, the OP wasn't asking about schools where kids would find their "niche," which often entails self-segregation, but instead about schools with a culture of inclusiveness.

I would suggest a school like W-L in Arlington is much more in line with what the OP is seeking.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alexandria City only has one high school, and its very large, so its extremely diverse. A wide range of income levels and ethnic groups. I've got younger kids in ACPS, so I can't speak for how well all these groups "mingle". Any TC Williams parents out there care to comment? (FWIW, my kids at the elementary level definitely "mingle".)

TC Williams, the sole HS in Alexandria (City - not Fairfax) is the most diverse high school in the state. True, there are issues at the bottom of the class, ranging from behavior to capabilities. The middle of the class is an incredible mix. The top of the class cannot be distinguished from any top private, except that not all the kids are wealthy, even at that layer. No matter who a kid is, there is some place and peer-group that fits at TC. We are fans.

We have at least a dozen neighbors w/kids at TC, and we've never once heard a single serious complaint. They all have large groups of friends and they seem confident.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alexandria City only has one high school, and its very large, so its extremely diverse. A wide range of income levels and ethnic groups. I've got younger kids in ACPS, so I can't speak for how well all these groups "mingle". Any TC Williams parents out there care to comment? (FWIW, my kids at the elementary level definitely "mingle".)

TC Williams, the sole HS in Alexandria (City - not Fairfax) is the most diverse high school in the state. True, there are issues at the bottom of the class, ranging from behavior to capabilities. The middle of the class is an incredible mix. The top of the class cannot be distinguished from any top private, except that not all the kids are wealthy, even at that layer. No matter who a kid is, there is some place and peer-group that fits at TC. We are fans.

LOL. TC has a long ways to go before it merits this type of praise.

Please expound. And keep to the thread topic. In all the recent TC bashing threads, nobody has addressed this topic (social atmosphere), which takes personal experience at TC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alexandria City only has one high school, and its very large, so its extremely diverse. A wide range of income levels and ethnic groups. I've got younger kids in ACPS, so I can't speak for how well all these groups "mingle". Any TC Williams parents out there care to comment? (FWIW, my kids at the elementary level definitely "mingle".)

TC Williams, the sole HS in Alexandria (City - not Fairfax) is the most diverse high school in the state. True, there are issues at the bottom of the class, ranging from behavior to capabilities. The middle of the class is an incredible mix. The top of the class cannot be distinguished from any top private, except that not all the kids are wealthy, even at that layer. No matter who a kid is, there is some place and peer-group that fits at TC. We are fans.

LOL. TC has a long ways to go before it merits this type of praise.

Anonymous wrote:Alexandria City only has one high school, and its very large, so its extremely diverse. A wide range of income levels and ethnic groups. I've got younger kids in ACPS, so I can't speak for how well all these groups "mingle". Any TC Williams parents out there care to comment? (FWIW, my kids at the elementary level definitely "mingle".)

TC Williams, the sole HS in Alexandria (City - not Fairfax) is the most diverse high school in the state. True, there are issues at the bottom of the class, ranging from behavior to capabilities. The middle of the class is an incredible mix. The top of the class cannot be distinguished from any top private, except that not all the kids are wealthy, even at that layer. No matter who a kid is, there is some place and peer-group that fits at TC. We are fans.

Alexandria City only has one high school, and its very large, so its extremely diverse. A wide range of income levels and ethnic groups. I've got younger kids in ACPS, so I can't speak for how well all these groups "mingle". Any TC Williams parents out there care to comment? (FWIW, my kids at the elementary level definitely "mingle".)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thank you for your response. Agree about looking for diverse neighborhoods and looking at the school demographics, which we will do. In our personal experience, some schools may be essentially "segregated" across, say cultural or ethnic lines, etc. and we are wondering about schools that are at least somewhat or very successful at bridging gaps.

Great question but I don't have a good answer for you. FCPS is a huge district with lots of high schools. Depends on the type of racial diversity your looking for. For example Lee will have many Latinos while Chantilly quite a few Asians. Maybe Robinson or West Springfield if your looking for a more even mix of groups? Probably not WT Woodson or Lake Braddock.

Lee is 25% Asian and 30% Hispanic vs. 24% Asian and 13% Hispanic at Chantilly.

Many schools in Fairfax are very diverse, with no single ethnic or racial group a majority (Annandale, Centreville, Edison, Fairfax, Falls Church, Hayfield, Herndon, Lee, Mount Vernon, South Lakes, Stuart, West Potomac and Westfield). Most of the schools that are majority-white (Chantilly, Lake Braddock, Langley, Madison, Marshall, McLean, Oakton, Robinson, South County, West Springfield and Woodson) have significant minority populations and/or a substantial number of Middle Eastern students included among the white students.

I think the answer is really whether there is economic segregation and whether that breaks down to look like racial segregation.

Of the schools I know of, kids break into groups based on economic and academic level (i.e. the AP kids, the vocational kids). In this area, kids are so used to going to school, being on teams, and having friends of different colors, that it's not even a thought in high school.

That being said, in some high schools there are sharper divisions of wealth -- which can look where there are like racial segregation. If you want to avoid this, I would suggest looking for a high school that is more homogenious on an economic level.

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thank you for your response. Agree about looking for diverse neighborhoods and looking at the school demographics, which we will do. In our personal experience, some schools may be essentially "segregated" across, say cultural or ethnic lines, etc. and we are wondering about schools that are at least somewhat or very successful at bridging gaps.

Great question but I don't have a good answer for you. FCPS is a huge district with lots of high schools. Depends on the type of racial diversity your looking for. For example Lee will have many Latinos while Chantilly quite a few Asians. Maybe Robinson or West Springfield if your looking for a more even mix of groups? Probably not WT Woodson or Lake Braddock.

OP here - thank you for your response. Agree about looking for diverse neighborhoods and looking at the school demographics, which we will do. In our personal experience, some schools may be essentially "segregated" across, say cultural or ethnic lines, etc. and we are wondering about schools that are at least somewhat or very successful at bridging gaps.

The kids in the high school classes will come from neighborhood families. Why not search for a diverse neighborhood?

We are looking for a high school that, either by nature or nurture have plenty of cultural/ethnic inclusiveness (i.e., many kids in the school are close friends with kids of other cultures and ethnicities or if the school, by design, work on this aspect of socialization). Or, can someone recommend HS clubs, sports or arts activities that seem to draw kids of varying cultures and ethnicities?