Anonymous wrote:Thank God we didn't buy in the Langley pyramid. That school is full of kids who cheat on exams (parents are morally bankrupt, too), drink excessively (parents buy the booze for the house parties), and "mean girls" gone wild. Run, don't walk, from this school.

We did buy here. You are 100% correct. Wish we hadn't.

My husband graduated from Woodson in 1985, and he said it was great while he was there- no gangs at all. Then 2 years later, TJ opened and siphoned off all the top kids and within a year Woodson had to install metal detectors on the doors. Over the next 20 years things evened out and now Woodson seems to be a safe school again.

i went to Woodson back in the day. It was not that great -- or so I thought. But maybe compared to other schools around here, it is good, who knows? We had this gang called "YT" or "Young Terrorists" back in the 90s and some of them went to Woodson, but mostly to Robinson and Lake Braddock. THey used to show up at Woodson parties and beat people up with numchuks and other weapons. Rich kids join gangs too, you know. There was also A LOT of bullying and the teachers did nothing about it. Hopefully Woodson has changed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can't judge a book by its cover. Nice building doesn't equal great school. Great school doesn't need nice building. Read into it what you will.

From what I hear about Langley, there's no need to go inside the building. You can judge it by the parking lot full of expensive cars!

PP here. I don't care what type of cars students or teachers at Langley drive. I simply think that "complaints" by Langley parents that the school is overcrowded or in an "awful" building deserve to be called out. I won't prolong the back-and-forth by getting into the details other than to say that, if the Langley boundaries weren't so nutty, the school would have fewer students and money that was spent on an addition to the school a few years ago could have been spent on the main building (or, for that matter, on other schools that also needed to be renovated).

Unlike Langley, Woodson recently had a full-scale renovation. Even if someone thought the school site looked scruffy with all the construction, the inside of the building is great now. And Marshall - where the OP is zoned - is about to be renovated as well. Langley is a bit further back in the renovation queue, since it was built after Marshall and some other schools, including TJ.

I am a PP who said earlier that woodson school pyramid is one of the few places where a middle income family can get a home and their kids get a great education all within commuting distance to DC. great combo - and that is what makes woodson great. People here talk about vienna, langley, great falls ... that is for people with much more money.

Wow, Woodson can't get a break. From this thread I gather it is both a pressure-cooker for rich kids and in a crappy area full of crap houses/THs.

I live in one of the crap houses (thanks for that!) right near Woodson. The house and neighborhood is older but it suits our needs wonderfully. We wanted a 4 bedroom house in a good school district for under 450k, which is an elusive combo in NoVa. I am sure the schools in Vienna are stellar, we simply could not afford that area. We are thrilled that our kids can walk to school. We don't want our kids surrounded by excessive wealth and privilege, and while they may see some of that in HS (the districting is strange, in that includes parts of Fairfax Station), our neighborhood elementary is full of families like ours with modest incomes- parents are teachers, feds, military, healthcare workers, George Mason profs, etc. They value education but it is not an intense, highly competitive atmosphere. Now, I can only speak to the elementary school experience- I suppose the intensity will ratchet up in middle and HS, but any more so than other NoVA schools? doubtful.

Anonymous wrote:Thank God we didn't buy in the Langley pyramid. That school is full of kids who cheat on exams (parents are morally bankrupt, too), drink excessively (parents buy the booze for the house parties), and "mean girls" gone wild. Run, don't walk, from this school.

Can we get back to talking about Woodson?

I thank God you didn't buy in the Langley pyramid too.

Thank God we didn't buy in the Langley pyramid. That school is full of kids who cheat on exams (parents are morally bankrupt, too), drink excessively (parents buy the booze for the house parties), and "mean girls" gone wild. Run, don't walk, from this school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can't judge a book by its cover. Nice building doesn't equal great school. Great school doesn't need nice building. Read into it what you will.

From what I hear about Langley, there's no need to go inside the building. You can judge it by the parking lot full of expensive cars!

Tee hee hee. Wait, what does that mean?

Anonymous wrote:You can't judge a book by its cover. Nice building doesn't equal great school. Great school doesn't need nice building. Read into it what you will.

From what I hear about Langley, there's no need to go inside the building. You can judge it by the parking lot full of expensive cars!

You can't judge a book by its cover. Nice building doesn't equal great school. Great school doesn't need nice building. Read into it what you will.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My point, as stated, was you can't judge a book by its cover. It's a fact that Langley has top test scores and an awful building. You seem to be the one who then jumped all over Great Falls families in the Langley boundaries.

You were the one who was initially whining about Langley's being "long (over) due" for a renovation. It's about where it should be in the renovation queue, and the building, while a 1960s structure that is showing its age, is far from awful. Have you seen what schools in other parts of the state and country look like?

Again, you miss the point. But you were able to find a soap box. Go for it.

Doubt it. I think you were looking for a pretext to boast about Langley's test scores while making it sound like the students were toughing it out. Drop it.

Back on topic, I've had two children graduate from Woodson. They both got into good colleges, but even more importantly, have great jobs and are independent, self-supporting adults.

Not sure I would give all the kudos to Woodson, but it sure didn't hurt.