Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do know several people with special needs kids who had bad experiences.

This is true of J-H as well regarding special needs students. But, there are others who have positive experiences at J-H per the comment above. I think the problems for special needs students at J-H are just a magnification of ACPS’s general problems as to special needs students (and reflective of prior extremely poor leadership at the principal level at J-H).

I don't know much about JH but the multiple negative testimonies I've heard about how MVCS deals with special needs have led me not to enroll my special needs child there.

We have a kid on an IEP at MVCS and feel they have been professional and proactive. The counselors, school psychologists and staff are top notch. If anything they are stretched thin, which is true of all ACPS (and probably most public’s).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do know several people with special needs kids who had bad experiences.

This is true of J-H as well regarding special needs students. But, there are others who have positive experiences at J-H per the comment above. I think the problems for special needs students at J-H are just a magnification of ACPS’s general problems as to special needs students (and reflective of prior extremely poor leadership at the principal level at J-H).

I don't know much about JH but the multiple negative testimonies I've heard about how MVCS deals with special needs have led me not to enroll my special needs child there.

Does anybody have feedback on Cora Kelly?

Anonymous wrote:I do know several people with special needs kids who had bad experiences.

This is true of J-H as well regarding special needs students. But, there are others who have positive experiences at J-H per the comment above. I think the problems for special needs students at J-H are just a magnification of ACPS’s general problems as to special needs students (and reflective of prior extremely poor leadership at the principal level at J-H).

I do know several people with special needs kids who had bad experiences.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our friends all love it. Great community feel. Spanish immersion is great. Lots of community events aimed at creating a real sense of community. For ACPS, you need to look at the test scores for your demographics. For my family, they were quite high at all schools. ACPS seems to fail low income students across all races. To me that is concerning.

OP here. Does that even apply to Jefferson-Houston?

We’re at JH and the hate it gets on here is really outdated. It’s got the same Great Schools rating as MVCS, which while not high (it’s a 3) is a product of the above - low income sub-groups, which no school district serves well when it comes to standardized test scores. (The difference on here is that in Fairfax and Arlington the schools with a lot of low income students aren’t even talked about on here.) We have friends at MVCS and they seem just as happy as we are at JH and the instruction and everything (special events, encore classes, etc) sound really really similar. DS really likes all of his classmates and we’ve had great experiences, outdoor playdates, etc with families from different socioeconomic and racial backgrounds from us, which has been so important to us in our choice of school. We have no desire or plans to go private or move and neither do our friends at MVCS.

Another MVCS parent here who has been happy with the school overall. The teachers are great -- my kids have had a total of 12 teachers in their years there and 10 of them have been good to fantastic. Two were mediocre. I think that's a pretty good ratio, overall. I've also found it to be a friendly school community and administrators have been responsive whenever we've come to them with questions or minor issues. The only real negative we've seen is the school building itself. Like a lot of older ACPS schools, it's charming from the outside but it's not in great shape and they've had issues with the roof leaking and other problems over the years. Apparently they're working on it, but they're trying to catch up on years of deferred maintenance. Otherwise, we've been very happy with the school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our friends all love it. Great community feel. Spanish immersion is great. Lots of community events aimed at creating a real sense of community. For ACPS, you need to look at the test scores for your demographics. For my family, they were quite high at all schools. ACPS seems to fail low income students across all races. To me that is concerning.

You're right of course they do fail low income kids but they really fail everyone.

Looking at the scores from various schools is very illuminating.

But I also recommend that you consider moving to a different city/school district. ACPS is really a disaster and it's not on the track to get better.

Current MVCS family here – – and we’ve been very pleased in the four years we’ve been there. Great teachers and school leadership and a lot of community/pta involvement. My kids have loved learning the Spanish which is a bonus. Dig into the Virginia Department of education data for your demographics, but scores are extremely high for non-low income. The curriculum is challenging and the environment is supportive.

We have 2 kids at MVCS (oldest is entering 4th)and are very happy with it. Great community and our kids are learning Spanish.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our friends all love it. Great community feel. Spanish immersion is great. Lots of community events aimed at creating a real sense of community. For ACPS, you need to look at the test scores for your demographics. For my family, they were quite high at all schools. ACPS seems to fail low income students across all races. To me that is concerning.

You're right of course they do fail low income kids but they really fail everyone.

Looking at the scores from various schools is very illuminating.

But I also recommend that you consider moving to a different city/school district. ACPS is really a disaster and it's not on the track to get better.

This is OP. DH and I both work in DC and commute by metro, with a budget around $700,000. Factoring in full-time work, commutes, and the fact that at least one of us has to be home by 6 with no WFH flexibility, I’m not quite sure what our other options are. We can’t really do more than 45 minutes each way by Metro, and my impression of the schools in Silver Spring close to the metro isn’t great.

We are long-time Alexandria residents who are afraid of being priced out.

Anonymous wrote:Our friends all love it. Great community feel. Spanish immersion is great. Lots of community events aimed at creating a real sense of community. For ACPS, you need to look at the test scores for your demographics. For my family, they were quite high at all schools. ACPS seems to fail low income students across all races. To me that is concerning.

You're right of course they do fail low income kids but they really fail everyone.

Looking at the scores from various schools is very illuminating.

But I also recommend that you consider moving to a different city/school district. ACPS is really a disaster and it's not on the track to get better.

Anonymous wrote:Our friends all love it. Great community feel. Spanish immersion is great. Lots of community events aimed at creating a real sense of community. For ACPS, you need to look at the test scores for your demographics. For my family, they were quite high at all schools. ACPS seems to fail low income students across all races. To me that is concerning.

OP here. Does that even apply to Jefferson-Houston?

Our friends all love it. Great community feel. Spanish immersion is great. Lots of community events aimed at creating a real sense of community. For ACPS, you need to look at the test scores for your demographics. For my family, they were quite high at all schools. ACPS seems to fail low income students across all races. To me that is concerning.

People in our neighborhood love it. My daughter is rising K so I don't have any personal experience.

Considering buying in this zone. Any feedback?