Anonymous
Post 06/17/2013 08:54     Subject: what are the best elementary schools in Fairfax Co?
Our kids have been in three separate FCPS elementary schools and have never been in a class with less than 25 kids. (Non-Title 1). Haycock parents seem like entitled asshats! Its public school, people. I'd rather see teachers get raises before class sizes are reduced at high-achieving schools like Haycock. The test scores are great so obviously the class sizes are not impeding learning--credit to the teachers for that.
Signed, not a teacher.
Anonymous
Post 06/17/2013 08:53     Subject: what are the best elementary schools in Fairfax Co?
Anonymous wrote:Absolutely agree. We are in Annandale HS boundary and thanks to the recent boundary change, there are not enough students scheduled for many IB courses for the fall so the school will not be able to offer the courses. (Yes, we are scrambling for our DC.)


Can you advise as to which classes are not being offered? Did the administration offer any alternatives at all?
Anonymous
Post 06/17/2013 08:11     Subject: Re:what are the best elementary schools in Fairfax Co?
Class sizes were lower this past year than in some prior years, though still higher than average:

http://www.fcps.edu/it/studentreporting/documents/ElmClassSizeAvg2012.pdf

People who can afford Haycock can move to a neighborhood with Title I schools if they think the latter are getting a better deal. I don't hear that this happens too frequently. But advocating for one's fair share of resources, whatever that ultimately means, is not unique to Haycock. Falls Church HS parents also recently petitioned to have a charter school application in their area rejected because they thought it might delay Falls Church's renovation:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/support_fchs/
Anonymous
Post 06/17/2013 07:00     Subject: what are the best elementary schools in Fairfax Co?
I suspect the Haycock parents are resentful of the Title I schools with the small class sizes. I keep hearing veiled references from people there and on this site about it.
Anonymous
Post 06/17/2013 06:29     Subject: what are the best elementary schools in Fairfax Co?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:New petition to throw money at Haycock so it somehow won't be 50% overcapacity

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/reduce-class-size-at-haycock/


Does anyone know if this passed? I'm curious, not a Haycock parent but our school does feed into Haycock for AAP. Thanks


Why does Haycock need more money that everyone else?

If they are that overcrowded, shouldn't they just shrinkg the borders and rezone the school?


What I don't understand is that they are complaining that the average class size is 26. This is the same in many of the ES schools inthe area. they are not unique in this respect. My children who are now in 8th and 10th grade (for one more day), never had a class that was smaller than 25 after kindergarten. It ranged from 25-34 throughout ES. It was at a school in the same pyramid.

Anonymous
Post 06/16/2013 22:38     Subject: what are the best elementary schools in Fairfax Co?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:New petition to throw money at Haycock so it somehow won't be 50% overcapacity

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/reduce-class-size-at-haycock/


Does anyone know if this passed? I'm curious, not a Haycock parent but our school does feed into Haycock for AAP. Thanks


Why does Haycock need more money that everyone else?

If they are that overcrowded, shouldn't they just shrinkg the borders and rezone the school?


This petition related to a budget approved in May 2012. Haycock gets less money per student than most schools in the county, not more, because most of its students come to school well prepared and not in need of remediation. Class sizes remain larger than average for the county.

Overcrowded classrooms and overcrowded schools are two different things. FCPS will relieve some of the overcrowding at Haycock by moving Cluster 2 AAP students to Lemon Road, but the individual classrooms are likely to continue to have above-average class sizes. In comparison, a school like Bailey's ES is also overcrowded, but individual class sizes remain below the county average.


Are the classrooms still above average? My AAP child there is in a class that is smaller than my non-AAP child at another nearby school. Last year, the Haycock student's class size was 32 compared to 24 or 25 this year.
Anonymous
Post 06/16/2013 14:48     Subject: what are the best elementary schools in Fairfax Co?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:In vienna, the only ES that are mentioned as selling points seem to be Louise Archer, Wolftrap and Vienna. I live in the Louise Archer area, but am really impressed by some of the activities at Vienna ES are truly innovative. For example, I still remember the music flash mob at Viva Vienna.


I've heard great things about Westbriar, but I understand the attendance island off Beulah may get reassigned, with the area north of Browns Mill Road moved to Colvin Run/Cooper/Langley, and the area south of Browns Mill moved to Wolftrap, but staying at Kilmer/Marshall.


I wonder how much property values would go up overnight if a neighborhood got moved from Marshall to Langley. I might be good if you have kids in school or are planning to sell, but not so great if you end up having to pay more in property taxes.
Anonymous
Post 06/16/2013 14:14     Subject: what are the best elementary schools in Fairfax Co?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:New petition to throw money at Haycock so it somehow won't be 50% overcapacity

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/reduce-class-size-at-haycock/


Does anyone know if this passed? I'm curious, not a Haycock parent but our school does feed into Haycock for AAP. Thanks


Why does Haycock need more money that everyone else?

If they are that overcrowded, shouldn't they just shrinkg the borders and rezone the school?


This petition related to a budget approved in May 2012. Haycock gets less money per student than most schools in the county, not more, because most of its students come to school well prepared and not in need of remediation. Class sizes remain larger than average for the county.

Overcrowded classrooms and overcrowded schools are two different things. FCPS will relieve some of the overcrowding at Haycock by moving Cluster 2 AAP students to Lemon Road, but the individual classrooms are likely to continue to have above-average class sizes. In comparison, a school like Bailey's ES is also overcrowded, but individual class sizes remain below the county average.
Anonymous
Post 06/16/2013 14:04     Subject: what are the best elementary schools in Fairfax Co?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:New petition to throw money at Haycock so it somehow won't be 50% overcapacity

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/reduce-class-size-at-haycock/


Does anyone know if this passed? I'm curious, not a Haycock parent but our school does feed into Haycock for AAP. Thanks


Why does Haycock need more money that everyone else?

If they are that overcrowded, shouldn't they just shrinkg the borders and rezone the school?


Because the surrounding schools are at or over capacity too. They need to reopen Lewinsville or another school. Lewinsville was closed during the years when the school had declining enrollment. Same for Dunn Loring.


The problem is over capacity everywhere.
Anonymous
Post 06/16/2013 13:18     Subject: what are the best elementary schools in Fairfax Co?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:New petition to throw money at Haycock so it somehow won't be 50% overcapacity

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/reduce-class-size-at-haycock/


Does anyone know if this passed? I'm curious, not a Haycock parent but our school does feed into Haycock for AAP. Thanks


Why does Haycock need more money that everyone else?

If they are that overcrowded, shouldn't they just shrinkg the borders and rezone the school?
Anonymous
Post 06/16/2013 13:10     Subject: Re:what are the best elementary schools in Fairfax Co?
Anonymous wrote:That's sad. You think it was because FCPS moved Wakefield Forest to Woodson? What will you do?


Probably going private
Anonymous
Post 06/16/2013 10:32     Subject: Re:what are the best elementary schools in Fairfax Co?
That's sad. You think it was because FCPS moved Wakefield Forest to Woodson? What will you do?
Anonymous
Post 06/15/2013 19:25     Subject: what are the best elementary schools in Fairfax Co?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There are just too many schools and too many different criteria to label one as the best.

My advice is to decide on a high school (easier to get the statistics, fewer of them to consider), and only then look at the elementary schools that feed that high school.


We will likely not be in the area very long, so I'm only concerned with elementary school.






But for resale purposes you want to be in the pyramids with the best high schools. Seriously.


Absolutely agree. We are in Annandale HS boundary and thanks to the recent boundary change, there are not enough students scheduled for many IB courses for the fall so the school will not be able to offer the courses. (Yes, we are scrambling for our DC.)
Anonymous
Post 06/15/2013 18:41     Subject: what are the best elementary schools in Fairfax Co?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There are just too many schools and too many different criteria to label one as the best.

My advice is to decide on a high school (easier to get the statistics, fewer of them to consider), and only then look at the elementary schools that feed that high school.


We will likely not be in the area very long, so I'm only concerned with elementary school.






But for resale purposes you want to be in the pyramids with the best high schools. Seriously. My DS's high school is 26% Asian American. Those parents did not grow up in this neighborhood. The moved mtns. to buy or lease so that their kids could be in our pyramid and attend particular high schools.
Anonymous
Post 06/15/2013 17:59     Subject: what are the best elementary schools in Fairfax Co?
Anonymous wrote:In vienna, the only ES that are mentioned as selling points seem to be Louise Archer, Wolftrap and Vienna. I live in the Louise Archer area, but am really impressed by some of the activities at Vienna ES are truly innovative. For example, I still remember the music flash mob at Viva Vienna.


I've heard great things about Westbriar, but I understand the attendance island off Beulah may get reassigned, with the area north of Browns Mill Road moved to Colvin Run/Cooper/Langley, and the area south of Browns Mill moved to Wolftrap, but staying at Kilmer/Marshall.