Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I graduated from SLHS back in the 90s when it was an AP school. Even back then it was a rough environment. Staying in mostly AP classes helped me avoid the riff raff. I would not send my child to a school like that now unless they really wanted IB and even then I would have hesitations.

Spoken like someone who grew up in the burbs and has zero idea what a rough school is actually like. SLHS and Herndon are not rough schools except in the minds of DCUM.

Yes, and all the kids here now are growing up in the “burbs.” It is scary to enter a high school like SLHS or HHS. Tons of fights, gang activity, etc. I don’t want my child at a school like that if possible. Thank God once you get to college or in the real work force you never have to deal with people like that again.

You can’t be serious. College and the (presumably white collar) workforce is not immune from this.

Seriously, just last week Jerry from accounting jumped Bill from HR in the cafeteria. Everyone knows the 4th floor bathroom on the north side is a no go zone- that's where all of the cool people smoke weed

No but Jerry could be on drugs (white collar and well off people do drugs). And he is white collar so he wouldn’t jump people…he might just steal/commit fraud/insert whatever white collar crime here. But it’s ok bc he will probably get away with it. I don’t know PP btw having my kids go to school with gangsters or future hedge fund managers/wall st types without scruples, I might pick the gangsters who probably won’t even bother them.

There are plenty of schools in the DMV with openings that can let your kid attend school with polite gangsters rather than the children of financiers. You should really go through with it and see how it goes

Anonymous wrote:I can't imagine how some of you would have turned out had you gone somewhere like South Lakes. Based on the replies here, most of you would have ended up in gangs, jail, and pregnant at 1 due to all the peer pressure and exposure to rough, poor, non-White kids.

Thank goodness you went to Langley instead where your incredibly impressionable selves were saved from going down the wrong path.

+1

I can't imagine how some of you would have turned out had you gone somewhere like South Lakes. Based on the replies here, most of you would have ended up in gangs, jail, and pregnant at 1 due to all the peer pressure and exposure to rough, poor, non-White kids.

Thank goodness you went to Langley instead where your incredibly impressionable selves were saved from going down the wrong path.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Within FCPS or Northern Va as a whole, I’d say South Lakes is below the median when it comes to the roughness quotient. So it’s not all that rough, but certainly rougher than others. In all likelihood the school probably “feels” more upper middle class in terms of everyday experience. And that’s based on the school’s boundaries which includes a significant number of affluent areas.

More the opposite - slightly rougher than most in FCPS and definitely rougher than most in NoVa. There are reasons why people move to Loudoun.

The people who left our Reston/Herndon neighborhood to move to Loudoun wanted a more white experience for their kids.
They didn’t move to the parts of Loudoun where the Indian families live despite great schools, they all wanted to be where their kids are the racial majority.

South Lakes is fine.

Re the thread of diversity in FCPS. Isn’t South Lakes actually one of the more white schools demographically in FCPS? Definitely a plurality, but likely just under a majority.

SL has slightly more White, Hispanic, and Black kids than most HS in FCPS percentage-wise and a lot fewer Asian kids.

It’s fine but still somewhat tougher than most schools in the county. Not the opposite as PP claimed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Within FCPS or Northern Va as a whole, I’d say South Lakes is below the median when it comes to the roughness quotient. So it’s not all that rough, but certainly rougher than others. In all likelihood the school probably “feels” more upper middle class in terms of everyday experience. And that’s based on the school’s boundaries which includes a significant number of affluent areas.

More the opposite - slightly rougher than most in FCPS and definitely rougher than most in NoVa. There are reasons why people move to Loudoun.

The people who left our Reston/Herndon neighborhood to move to Loudoun wanted a more white experience for their kids.
They didn’t move to the parts of Loudoun where the Indian families live despite great schools, they all wanted to be where their kids are the racial majority.

South Lakes is fine.

Re the thread of diversity in FCPS. Isn’t South Lakes actually one of the more white schools demographically in FCPS? Definitely a plurality, but likely just under a majority.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Within FCPS or Northern Va as a whole, I’d say South Lakes is below the median when it comes to the roughness quotient. So it’s not all that rough, but certainly rougher than others. In all likelihood the school probably “feels” more upper middle class in terms of everyday experience. And that’s based on the school’s boundaries which includes a significant number of affluent areas.

More the opposite - slightly rougher than most in FCPS and definitely rougher than most in NoVa. There are reasons why people move to Loudoun.

The people who left our Reston/Herndon neighborhood to move to Loudoun wanted a more white experience for their kids.
They didn’t move to the parts of Loudoun where the Indian families live despite great schools, they all wanted to be where their kids are the racial majority.

South Lakes is fine.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Within FCPS or Northern Va as a whole, I’d say South Lakes is below the median when it comes to the roughness quotient. So it’s not all that rough, but certainly rougher than others. In all likelihood the school probably “feels” more upper middle class in terms of everyday experience. And that’s based on the school’s boundaries which includes a significant number of affluent areas.

More the opposite - slightly rougher than most in FCPS and definitely rougher than most in NoVa. There are reasons why people move to Loudoun.

The people who move to Loudon to get away from the "roughness" of Fairfax county are actually probably the type of people I would rather avoid.

Anonymous wrote:Within FCPS or Northern Va as a whole, I’d say South Lakes is below the median when it comes to the roughness quotient. So it’s not all that rough, but certainly rougher than others. In all likelihood the school probably “feels” more upper middle class in terms of everyday experience. And that’s based on the school’s boundaries which includes a significant number of affluent areas.

More the opposite - slightly rougher than most in FCPS and definitely rougher than most in NoVa. There are reasons why people move to Loudoun.

Within FCPS or Northern Va as a whole, I’d say South Lakes is below the median when it comes to the roughness quotient. So it’s not all that rough, but certainly rougher than others. In all likelihood the school probably “feels” more upper middle class in terms of everyday experience. And that’s based on the school’s boundaries which includes a significant number of affluent areas.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I graduated from SLHS back in the 90s when it was an AP school. Even back then it was a rough environment. Staying in mostly AP classes helped me avoid the riff raff. I would not send my child to a school like that now unless they really wanted IB and even then I would have hesitations.

Spoken like someone who grew up in the burbs and has zero idea what a rough school is actually like. SLHS and Herndon are not rough schools except in the minds of DCUM.

I heard the same about rough riff raff from a mid 90's SLHS grad - a George Mason soccer kid who liked to drink and fight. I liked the kid but it shows the peril of relying on anecdotal information. I am a Duke grad, and find it laughable that Grant Hill's school could be described as a rough school. His teammates would tease him over his privileged background. There is a low income population, but most are good kids. Track coach is a friend and used to coach at Oakton - he verifies mostly good kids at SL - and track is the most diverse of sports.

So in other words you don’t know because you didn’t go there. You’re relying on anecdotes from Grant Hill’s teammates, who also didn’t go there. And from a coach who teaches dedicated sports kids. Those aren’t the riff raff. The riff raff aren’t in sports. They are in gangs.

I am from Chicago, was a national champion in my diverse sport and know what a rough school is. You are not going to persuade me from your candy soft suburban existence that South Lakes is a rough school. My friend is a Division 1 coach from the south side of Chicago who recruits at Fairfax schools. South Lakes is not a rough school. He laughs atthe notion. You are another soft suburbanite who likely isn't mentally tough. I crawled out of poverty to make it. I completed against East St Louis kids and beat them. That school, junior, is a rough school. And don't play the faux intellectual game either; you couldn't have gone to the schools I went to or done as well. Your post is laughable. Enjoy your effete life

What a nonsensical post. What does D1 have to do with going to a rough high school? Most D1 athletes who come out of the DMV go to ver nice privates. Is East St Louis a single high school?

+1 we aren’t comparing SLHS to Chicago or even DC. I’m talking within FCPS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I graduated from SLHS back in the 90s when it was an AP school. Even back then it was a rough environment. Staying in mostly AP classes helped me avoid the riff raff. I would not send my child to a school like that now unless they really wanted IB and even then I would have hesitations.

Spoken like someone who grew up in the burbs and has zero idea what a rough school is actually like. SLHS and Herndon are not rough schools except in the minds of DCUM.

I heard the same about rough riff raff from a mid 90's SLHS grad - a George Mason soccer kid who liked to drink and fight. I liked the kid but it shows the peril of relying on anecdotal information. I am a Duke grad, and find it laughable that Grant Hill's school could be described as a rough school. His teammates would tease him over his privileged background. There is a low income population, but most are good kids. Track coach is a friend and used to coach at Oakton - he verifies mostly good kids at SL - and track is the most diverse of sports.

So in other words you don’t know because you didn’t go there. You’re relying on anecdotes from Grant Hill’s teammates, who also didn’t go there. And from a coach who teaches dedicated sports kids. Those aren’t the riff raff. The riff raff aren’t in sports. They are in gangs.

I am from Chicago, was a national champion in my diverse sport and know what a rough school is. You are not going to persuade me from your candy soft suburban existence that South Lakes is a rough school. My friend is a Division 1 coach from the south side of Chicago who recruits at Fairfax schools. South Lakes is not a rough school. He laughs atthe notion. You are another soft suburbanite who likely isn't mentally tough. I crawled out of poverty to make it. I completed against East St Louis kids and beat them. That school, junior, is a rough school. And don't play the faux intellectual game either; you couldn't have gone to the schools I went to or done as well. Your post is laughable. Enjoy your effete life

What a nonsensical post. What does D1 have to do with going to a rough high school? Most D1 athletes who come out of the DMV go to ver nice privates. Is East St Louis a single high school?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I graduated from SLHS back in the 90s when it was an AP school. Even back then it was a rough environment. Staying in mostly AP classes helped me avoid the riff raff. I would not send my child to a school like that now unless they really wanted IB and even then I would have hesitations.

Spoken like someone who grew up in the burbs and has zero idea what a rough school is actually like. SLHS and Herndon are not rough schools except in the minds of DCUM.

I heard the same about rough riff raff from a mid 90's SLHS grad - a George Mason soccer kid who liked to drink and fight. I liked the kid but it shows the peril of relying on anecdotal information. I am a Duke grad, and find it laughable that Grant Hill's school could be described as a rough school. His teammates would tease him over his privileged background. There is a low income population, but most are good kids. Track coach is a friend and used to coach at Oakton - he verifies mostly good kids at SL - and track is the most diverse of sports.

So in other words you don’t know because you didn’t go there. You’re relying on anecdotes from Grant Hill’s teammates, who also didn’t go there. And from a coach who teaches dedicated sports kids. Those aren’t the riff raff. The riff raff aren’t in sports. They are in gangs.

I am from Chicago, was a national champion in my diverse sport and know what a rough school is. You are not going to persuade me from your candy soft suburban existence that South Lakes is a rough school. My friend is a Division 1 coach from the south side of Chicago who recruits at Fairfax schools. South Lakes is not a rough school. He laughs atthe notion. You are another soft suburbanite who likely isn't mentally tough. I crawled out of poverty to make it. I completed against East St Louis kids and beat them. That school, junior, is a rough school. And don't play the faux intellectual game either; you couldn't have gone to the schools I went to or done as well. Your post is laughable. Enjoy your effete life

DP. I think South Lakes is fine but your “let’s step outside and settle this once and for all” act is a hoot.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I graduated from SLHS back in the 90s when it was an AP school. Even back then it was a rough environment. Staying in mostly AP classes helped me avoid the riff raff. I would not send my child to a school like that now unless they really wanted IB and even then I would have hesitations.

Spoken like someone who grew up in the burbs and has zero idea what a rough school is actually like. SLHS and Herndon are not rough schools except in the minds of DCUM.

I heard the same about rough riff raff from a mid 90's SLHS grad - a George Mason soccer kid who liked to drink and fight. I liked the kid but it shows the peril of relying on anecdotal information. I am a Duke grad, and find it laughable that Grant Hill's school could be described as a rough school. His teammates would tease him over his privileged background. There is a low income population, but most are good kids. Track coach is a friend and used to coach at Oakton - he verifies mostly good kids at SL - and track is the most diverse of sports.

So in other words you don’t know because you didn’t go there. You’re relying on anecdotes from Grant Hill’s teammates, who also didn’t go there. And from a coach who teaches dedicated sports kids. Those aren’t the riff raff. The riff raff aren’t in sports. They are in gangs.

I am from Chicago, was a national champion in my diverse sport and know what a rough school is. You are not going to persuade me from your candy soft suburban existence that South Lakes is a rough school. My friend is a Division 1 coach from the south side of Chicago who recruits at Fairfax schools. South Lakes is not a rough school. He laughs atthe notion. You are another soft suburbanite who likely isn't mentally tough. I crawled out of poverty to make it. I completed against East St Louis kids and beat them. That school, junior, is a rough school. And don't play the faux intellectual game either; you couldn't have gone to the schools I went to or done as well. Your post is laughable. Enjoy your effete life

Adding my 2 cents to the mix for the OP. My daughter (a sophomore) transferred to South Lakes for the IB program. We live in North Reston, so are zoned to Herndon. She was in AAP so transferred to Langston Hughes for MS, and it was just natural for her to go to SLHS for high school. She really loves the school. I haven't heard any mention of gangs or violence, but she did say that an ambulance comes to the school for a kid overdosing almost every month. Unfortunately, I think that's the norm at most schools now. There was also a kid who wrote a threat on a bathroom stall once this year, but that seems to a sign of the times, not a reflection on the school.

Other than electives and the weird 4th period "Advisory" class (which is just added to the schedule to even out "blue" and "green" days, similar I'm sure to all the other FCPS high schools), she is in all honors or IB classes, so that may be part of the reason she hasn't run into any scary students. (Or maybe the posters who referred to scary students and gangs might be wrong.) The school is very diverse, but most parents and students see that as a good thing. There are plenty of non-white students in her honors and IB classes, and the kids don't seem to segregate themselves at all. Daughter's had some really great teachers and some less than great teachers, but the school as a whole seems very supportive to both students and parents. We haven't had any need to interact with the admin, but they seem capable and engaged. The school feels like a strong community and, from just from what I've seen, the kids seems to get along with each other and are generally happy. There are a lot of afterschool activities and opportunities for students to be as involved as they want to be. So that's just my two cents. Also, the school was recently renovated and is in great condition. No trailers or overcrowded classrooms. The school's been great for my daughter, Reston is a great town to live in and to raise a family, and we would not hesitate to recommend it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I graduated from SLHS back in the 90s when it was an AP school. Even back then it was a rough environment. Staying in mostly AP classes helped me avoid the riff raff. I would not send my child to a school like that now unless they really wanted IB and even then I would have hesitations.

Spoken like someone who grew up in the burbs and has zero idea what a rough school is actually like. SLHS and Herndon are not rough schools except in the minds of DCUM.

Yes, and all the kids here now are growing up in the “burbs.” It is scary to enter a high school like SLHS or HHS. Tons of fights, gang activity, etc. I don’t want my child at a school like that if possible. Thank God once you get to college or in the real work force you never have to deal with people like that again.

You can’t be serious. College and the (presumably white collar) workforce is not immune from this.

Seriously, just last week Jerry from accounting jumped Bill from HR in the cafeteria. Everyone knows the 4th floor bathroom on the north side is a no go zone- that's where all of the cool people smoke weed

No but Jerry could be on drugs (white collar and well off people do drugs). And he is white collar so he wouldn’t jump people…he might just steal/commit fraud/insert whatever white collar crime here. But it’s ok bc he will probably get away with it. I don’t know PP btw having my kids go to school with gangsters or future hedge fund managers/wall st types without scruples, I might pick the gangsters who probably won’t even bother them.

Truth.