Anonymous
04/17/2026 22:20
Subject: If you could choose any pyramid…
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Robinson, Lake Braddock or Hayfield.
Robinson and Lake Braddock are both filled with thugs, vaping, and fights. No discipline, terrible administrators.
I'd be happy with either pyramid (and have kids in one of them, and this take does not match their experience).
Would avoid Langley, contrary to many.
What's your beef with Langley?
Just the usual troll. Best to ignore.
DP
Anonymous
04/17/2026 18:59
Subject: If you could choose any pyramid…
Khafre
Anonymous
04/17/2026 10:23
Subject: If you could choose any pyramid…
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Robinson, Lake Braddock or Hayfield.
Robinson and Lake Braddock are both filled with thugs, vaping, and fights. No discipline, terrible administrators.
I'd be happy with either pyramid (and have kids in one of them, and this take does not match their experience).
Would avoid Langley, contrary to many.
What's your beef with Langley?
Anonymous
04/17/2026 08:50
Subject: If you could choose any pyramid…
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Robinson, Lake Braddock or Hayfield.
Robinson and Lake Braddock are both filled with thugs, vaping, and fights. No discipline, terrible administrators.
I'd be happy with either pyramid (and have kids in one of them, and this take does not match their experience).
Would avoid Langley, contrary to many.
Anonymous
04/17/2026 05:59
Subject: Re:If you could choose any pyramid…
Wow.Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Daniels Run - Katherine Johnson - Fairfax High School
This pyramid has a great sense of community, especially as a Fairfax City resident. Daniels Run is 99% city residents (as opposed to Providence Elementary, which has a larger percentage of county kids). The city is able to supplement some of the offerings, like having a STEAM lab and Spanish class in elementary school. And, since all city residents go to city schools, we never have to worry about redistricting and boundary changes.
Ha. Without Willow Springs and Powell ES families in the county propping up Johnson MS and Fairfax HS, it would be a bottom tier pyramid.
You are insinuating that Fairfax High School would be worthless without high income power kids.
It’s not like the city has near million dollar town homes.
Anonymous
04/16/2026 23:06
Subject: If you could choose any pyramid…
Anonymous wrote:Robinson, Lake Braddock or Hayfield.
Robinson and Lake Braddock are both filled with thugs, vaping, and fights. No discipline, terrible administrators.
Anonymous
04/16/2026 17:06
Subject: Re:If you could choose any pyramid…
Anonymous wrote:Daniels Run - Katherine Johnson - Fairfax High School
This pyramid has a great sense of community, especially as a Fairfax City resident. Daniels Run is 99% city residents (as opposed to Providence Elementary, which has a larger percentage of county kids). The city is able to supplement some of the offerings, like having a STEAM lab and Spanish class in elementary school. And, since all city residents go to city schools, we never have to worry about redistricting and boundary changes.
Ha. Without Willow Springs and Powell ES families in the county propping up Johnson MS and Fairfax HS, it would be a bottom tier pyramid.
Anonymous
04/16/2026 15:59
Subject: Re:If you could choose any pyramid…
Daniels Run - Katherine Johnson - Fairfax High School
This pyramid has a great sense of community, especially as a Fairfax City resident. Daniels Run is 99% city residents (as opposed to Providence Elementary, which has a larger percentage of county kids). The city is able to supplement some of the offerings, like having a STEAM lab and Spanish class in elementary school. And, since all city residents go to city schools, we never have to worry about redistricting and boundary changes.
This pyramid has a great sense of community, especially as a Fairfax City resident. Daniels Run is 99% city residents (as opposed to Providence Elementary, which has a larger percentage of county kids). The city is able to supplement some of the offerings, like having a STEAM lab and Spanish class in elementary school. And, since all city residents go to city schools, we never have to worry about redistricting and boundary changes.
Anonymous
04/16/2026 15:41
Subject: If you could choose any pyramid…
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I'm not seeing any of the college outcomes frankly being that different between the top five schools in FCPS.
There are more factors to choosing a high school than college admission results. I'm always amazed that people constantly reduce it to that and just that.
Yes, but these days you need to be thinking four or five steps ahead. Don’t pick the right preschool and you could be putting your child at a disadvantage.
I assume this is snark but we moved into an IB pyramid in FCPS without realizing that it didn’t have AP. We regretted that decision and eventually moved. We wished we’d done more research in advance; AP was a much better program for our younger kids.
Anonymous
04/16/2026 15:17
Subject: If you could choose any pyramid…
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I'm not seeing any of the college outcomes frankly being that different between the top five schools in FCPS.
There are more factors to choosing a high school than college admission results. I'm always amazed that people constantly reduce it to that and just that.
Yes, but these days you need to be thinking four or five steps ahead. Don’t pick the right preschool and you could be putting your child at a disadvantage.
Anonymous
04/16/2026 14:00
Subject: If you could choose any pyramid…
Anonymous wrote:I'm not seeing any of the college outcomes frankly being that different between the top five schools in FCPS.
There are more factors to choosing a high school than college admission results. I'm always amazed that people constantly reduce it to that and just that.
Anonymous
04/16/2026 11:44
Subject: If you could choose any pyramid…
IB was challenging and my kid was well-prepared for a selective college.
Not Robinson if your kid has any special ed needs.
Not Robinson if your kid has any special ed needs.
Anonymous
04/16/2026 10:16
Subject: If you could choose any pyramid…
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We would choose one where the HS is NOT high performing (e.g., not Oakton, Langley, Mclean). Our kids will do well in any HS. They likely will be closer to top of the class at a mundane HS (because less competition) and that will help with college admissions.
Most people on DCUM will disagree with this.
100% with you here. And that is exactly how it panned out. The group of high performing kids at our low performing HS all got into Stanford, Carnegie-Mellon, Columbia, Duke, Penn, UVA, etc. They had a huge advantage.
But will they do well once they are there? Are they well prepared?
Yep, this exactly. I was this kid. Freshman year was HARD, both in terms of the level of content and having to reorient my brain to understand I wasn't as hot as I thought I was. Similar friends had to switch to easier majors and one transferred to an easier school. I picked a high performing school for my kids. Maybe they won't get to a top 20 college, but they will be well prepared wherever they go.
Anonymous
04/16/2026 08:28
Subject: If you could choose any pyramid…
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We would choose one where the HS is NOT high performing (e.g., not Oakton, Langley, Mclean). Our kids will do well in any HS. They likely will be closer to top of the class at a mundane HS (because less competition) and that will help with college admissions.
Most people on DCUM will disagree with this.
100% with you here. And that is exactly how it panned out. The group of high performing kids at our low performing HS all got into Stanford, Carnegie-Mellon, Columbia, Duke, Penn, UVA, etc. They had a huge advantage.
But will they do well once they are there? Are they well prepared?
Exactly it's jail or Yale and drop out
Anonymous
04/16/2026 08:22
Subject: If you could choose any pyramid…
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We would choose one where the HS is NOT high performing (e.g., not Oakton, Langley, Mclean). Our kids will do well in any HS. They likely will be closer to top of the class at a mundane HS (because less competition) and that will help with college admissions.
Most people on DCUM will disagree with this.
100% with you here. And that is exactly how it panned out. The group of high performing kids at our low performing HS all got into Stanford, Carnegie-Mellon, Columbia, Duke, Penn, UVA, etc. They had a huge advantage.
But will they do well once they are there? Are they well prepared?