I feel like there's been a lot of controversy over the removal of Chinese from their offering. It seems that quite a few parents blame the administration for this lapse. There was apparently a FOIA filed about it. Some of my neighbors say that the FOIA shows culpability. So I don't know. Seems like the principal really does talk the talk but may not be the most effective.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait, MHS doesn't follow 504s? Really? Asking because my daughter is moving to MHS next year with a 504. It's been in place since elementary school. I didn't know this was an issue. How do parents handle this? And, why isn't the administration honoring these?

You could contact those handling special education at the school (see below) if you have questions.

https://mcleanhs.fcps.edu/academics/departments/special-education-category-A

https://mcleanhs.fcps.edu/academics/departments/special-education-category-b

504s are not under the Special Ed umbrella in FCPS. They are handled through the Guidance Department. If you want more info about how 504s are handled, contact your child's counselor.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are impressions about how invested the new principal is in the school community? Is she here long term?

I get the impression that Jones will be here for awhile, but not super long like Reilly was. I'd give her 6-8 years before she moves on.

The average tenure of a principal in FCPS is something like five years. Reilly's 13 years as the MHS principal was definitely longer than the norm.

Anonymous wrote:Wait, MHS doesn't follow 504s? Really? Asking because my daughter is moving to MHS next year with a 504. It's been in place since elementary school. I didn't know this was an issue. How do parents handle this? And, why isn't the administration honoring these?

You could contact those handling special education at the school (see below) if you have questions.

https://mcleanhs.fcps.edu/academics/departments/special-education-category-A

https://mcleanhs.fcps.edu/academics/departments/special-education-category-b

Anonymous wrote:What are impressions about how invested the new principal is in the school community? Is she here long term?

I get the impression that Jones will be here for awhile, but not super long like Reilly was. I'd give her 6-8 years before she moves on.

Anonymous wrote:Wait, MHS doesn't follow 504s? Really? Asking because my daughter is moving to MHS next year with a 504. It's been in place since elementary school. I didn't know this was an issue. How do parents handle this? And, why isn't the administration honoring these?

Of course McLean follows 504s. But as with all schools, some teachers are better at following them than others. PP was not fair to make a blanket statement that the whole school doesn't follow 504s.

Wait, MHS doesn't follow 504s? Really? Asking because my daughter is moving to MHS next year with a 504. It's been in place since elementary school. I didn't know this was an issue. How do parents handle this? And, why isn't the administration honoring these?

I wonder how those complaining about McLean will feel in a few years when FCPS completes the facilities assessment, concludes the costs of renovating McLean would be excessive, and decides to close the school and move the kids to Langley, Marshall, and Falls Church.

100% agree that outcomes at MHS are about the student body and decidedly not about the leadership. Lack of 504 implementation is evidence of failure to manage. It’s very Wild West.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ is so invested in its outcomes that it over-supports kids and is easier in regular classes to give kids time for APs, etc. It's nice but unfair to the top students at other HS.

McLean has about 40 kids going to UVA this year and kids going to Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, Oxford, LSE, Penn, Columbia, Chicago, Duke, Dartmouth, Cornell, Carnegie-Mellon, Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, Emory, and Washington U, among other places. It seems to be doing OK even without the “over-support” that kids are supposedly getting elsewhere.

This is an impressive list, no doubt the McLean students are doing some amazing things. But the og post is about the new leadership, not the student body.

Anonymous wrote:TJ is so invested in its outcomes that it over-supports kids and is easier in regular classes to give kids time for APs, etc. It's nice but unfair to the top students at other HS.

McLean has about 40 kids going to UVA this year and kids going to Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, Oxford, LSE, Penn, Columbia, Chicago, Duke, Dartmouth, Cornell, Carnegie-Mellon, Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, Emory, and Washington U, among other places. It seems to be doing OK even without the “over-support” that kids are supposedly getting elsewhere.

TJ is so invested in its outcomes that it over-supports kids and is easier in regular classes to give kids time for APs, etc. It's nice but unfair to the top students at other HS.

What are impressions about how invested the new principal is in the school community? Is she here long term?

We had a kid at McLean with an IEP recently and they received all the needed and agreed-upon supports.

I have a kid at MHS and a kid at TJ. MHS does a legitimately bad job at dealing with 504 supports, illness-related absences, returning to school, helping kids with learning differences navigate. TJ is the direct opposite. Proactive outreach from counselors, teachers helping students when gaps are evident, everyone making sure that students are learning. And it's very consistent! MHS is terribly inconsisten. Things we've experienced: test irregularities in an AP class for which there are at least 5 sections (in the class, not the test - do we really think it's OK for all these sections to be administered differently? MHS ultimately agreed with what must have been scores of parents saying no), testing irregularities in an AP exam (not reported by the proctor), teachers that do not comply with 504 plans and actively resist doing so [simple things that make a big difference to all students - unambiguous notations which assignments are graded], the list goes on!

BTW kid at MHS is a NMF and maxed on math too [2 years post calc]. Classes are legitimately easier at TJ. TJ kid has all As.

I'd be happy with group study halls after school. Despite having friends with the exact same classes, my MHS child often does not see friends because they are all in different sections.