Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were strongly considering a house in the Woodson district until I started talking with acquaintances who'd had kids there. Time and again I heard stories of high stress, cut-throat competitiveness and bullying. We decided to look elsewhere.

Same here, PP. We opted for a house in another high school boundary.

Is this true for all the elementary schools that feed into Woodson? We go to Olde Creek, and I see none of this. Families are so friendly, and the environment isn't cut throat. I'm wondering if something changes in middle and high school, or if other feeder schools (such as Mantua, Canterbury Woods, etc) are high-stress even in elementary school.

And do current Woodson parents feel this way? I thought the school had been making a lot f effort to improve on this front, although I don't know if they've been successful or not.

Friends I've spoken to in the Woodson district have been very pleased with the elementary schools. For whatever reason, it seems as though the problem emerges at the middle/HS level.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were strongly considering a house in the Woodson district until I started talking with acquaintances who'd had kids there. Time and again I heard stories of high stress, cut-throat competitiveness and bullying. We decided to look elsewhere.

Same here, PP. We opted for a house in another high school boundary.

Is this true for all the elementary schools that feed into Woodson? We go to Olde Creek, and I see none of this. Families are so friendly, and the environment isn't cut throat. I'm wondering if something changes in middle and high school, or if other feeder schools (such as Mantua, Canterbury Woods, etc) are high-stress even in elementary school.

And do current Woodson parents feel this way? I thought the school had been making a lot f effort to improve on this front, although I don't know if they've been successful or not.

It's a parent/community issue. It's not the school. Best thing would be redrawn boundaries. The community needs a shake up.

I have posted this before, but I'll say it again: as a parent from another high schools who's been to just about every HS over the years, I can say unequivocally that the Woodson parents were as welcoming to visiting teams as any around and their teams' sense of sportsmanship was excellent. It always seems unfair to me when people take shots at that school.

Well gosh, you have so much insight to a school because parents with shared interests weren't rude. Cool story bro.

Well, it's far less insight than someone who actually had a child there would have, and possibly more than someone who heard from a friend of a friend of a friend that the atmosphere there is "toxic." But nice way to prove you're an asshole.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were strongly considering a house in the Woodson district until I started talking with acquaintances who'd had kids there. Time and again I heard stories of high stress, cut-throat competitiveness and bullying. We decided to look elsewhere.

Same here, PP. We opted for a house in another high school boundary.

Is this true for all the elementary schools that feed into Woodson? We go to Olde Creek, and I see none of this. Families are so friendly, and the environment isn't cut throat. I'm wondering if something changes in middle and high school, or if other feeder schools (such as Mantua, Canterbury Woods, etc) are high-stress even in elementary school.

And do current Woodson parents feel this way? I thought the school had been making a lot f effort to improve on this front, although I don't know if they've been successful or not.

It's a parent/community issue. It's not the school. Best thing would be redrawn boundaries. The community needs a shake up.

I have posted this before, but I'll say it again: as a parent from another high schools who's been to just about every HS over the years, I can say unequivocally that the Woodson parents were as welcoming to visiting teams as any around and their teams' sense of sportsmanship was excellent. It always seems unfair to me when people take shots at that school.

Well gosh, you have so much insight to a school because parents with shared interests weren't rude. Cool story bro.

It's all about the types of housing that the land use committees and the county supervisors approve. Put all the lower-cost housing in the Alexandria part of FCPS and voila!... the "bad" schools are entrenched in those areas. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out. Mix the types of housing and you get schools with middle of the road (i.e. "average" ... gasp!!) test scores. Keep out all the poor or even middle income housing and you suddenly have great schools (i.e. Langley????).

The rich are better at keeping their neighborhoods free of the less wealthy, thereby keeping their schools higher-scoring.

It's a little late now to fuss about schools having bad boundaries. Should have thought about that before putting all kinds of low slung apartments on Rt. 1. What can be done now? Bus kids over to McLean??? Hardly. Build some garden apartments in Great Falls?? Not likely. So, we have schools that are stuck b/c the housing in that pyramid is not going to change (especially now that Ffx is pretty much built out).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were strongly considering a house in the Woodson district until I started talking with acquaintances who'd had kids there. Time and again I heard stories of high stress, cut-throat competitiveness and bullying. We decided to look elsewhere.

Same here, PP. We opted for a house in another high school boundary.

Is this true for all the elementary schools that feed into Woodson? We go to Olde Creek, and I see none of this. Families are so friendly, and the environment isn't cut throat. I'm wondering if something changes in middle and high school, or if other feeder schools (such as Mantua, Canterbury Woods, etc) are high-stress even in elementary school.

And do current Woodson parents feel this way? I thought the school had been making a lot f effort to improve on this front, although I don't know if they've been successful or not.

Former Woodson parent here (we moved to another high school) -- in our specific case, the environment was terrible for our kids. I would not say it was toxic for all kids, though. But I am not concerned about all kids -- just mine, and they are far better off now.

Anonymous wrote:The FCPS school board needs to evaluate school boundaries on an established schedule to ensure that boundaries don't become entrenched. Areas change, new housing and roads are built, and demographic shifts occur. Over time, boundaries that once made sense no longer do. I can think of a great example in Springfield.

I'm not quite sure I understand this. FCPS devotes a lot of attention to monitoring enrollments and studying the need for potential boundary changes. What is wrong with "entrenched" boundaries as long as appropriate use is made of each school's capacity? I suppose they could just periodically change the boundaries to shake things up, but boundary changes, when proposed, typically provoke more outcry than just about anything besides the family life education policy.

The FCPS school board needs to evaluate school boundaries on an established schedule to ensure that boundaries don't become entrenched. Areas change, new housing and roads are built, and demographic shifts occur. Over time, boundaries that once made sense no longer do. I can think of a great example in Springfield.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were strongly considering a house in the Woodson district until I started talking with acquaintances who'd had kids there. Time and again I heard stories of high stress, cut-throat competitiveness and bullying. We decided to look elsewhere.

Same here, PP. We opted for a house in another high school boundary.

Is this true for all the elementary schools that feed into Woodson? We go to Olde Creek, and I see none of this. Families are so friendly, and the environment isn't cut throat. I'm wondering if something changes in middle and high school, or if other feeder schools (such as Mantua, Canterbury Woods, etc) are high-stress even in elementary school.

And do current Woodson parents feel this way? I thought the school had been making a lot f effort to improve on this front, although I don't know if they've been successful or not.

It's a parent/community issue. It's not the school. Best thing would be redrawn boundaries. The community needs a shake up.

I have posted this before, but I'll say it again: as a parent from another high schools who's been to just about every HS over the years, I can say unequivocally that the Woodson parents were as welcoming to visiting teams as any around and their teams' sense of sportsmanship was excellent. It always seems unfair to me when people take shots at that school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were strongly considering a house in the Woodson district until I started talking with acquaintances who'd had kids there. Time and again I heard stories of high stress, cut-throat competitiveness and bullying. We decided to look elsewhere.

Same here, PP. We opted for a house in another high school boundary.

Is this true for all the elementary schools that feed into Woodson? We go to Olde Creek, and I see none of this. Families are so friendly, and the environment isn't cut throat. I'm wondering if something changes in middle and high school, or if other feeder schools (such as Mantua, Canterbury Woods, etc) are high-stress even in elementary school.

And do current Woodson parents feel this way? I thought the school had been making a lot f effort to improve on this front, although I don't know if they've been successful or not.

It's a parent/community issue. It's not the school. Best thing would be redrawn boundaries. The community needs a shake up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were strongly considering a house in the Woodson district until I started talking with acquaintances who'd had kids there. Time and again I heard stories of high stress, cut-throat competitiveness and bullying. We decided to look elsewhere.

Same here, PP. We opted for a house in another high school boundary.

Is this true for all the elementary schools that feed into Woodson? We go to Olde Creek, and I see none of this. Families are so friendly, and the environment isn't cut throat. I'm wondering if something changes in middle and high school, or if other feeder schools (such as Mantua, Canterbury Woods, etc) are high-stress even in elementary school.

And do current Woodson parents feel this way? I thought the school had been making a lot f effort to improve on this front, although I don't know if they've been successful or not.

Edison. Bargain housing and good commute times. Great, diverse student atmosphere. A place for everyone. Accessible ECs for all. Academics variable 9th and 10th grade. Quality dependent on which teachers your DC lands. Ramps up in IB 11th and 12th.

Anonymous wrote:We were strongly considering a house in the Woodson district until I started talking with acquaintances who'd had kids there. Time and again I heard stories of high stress, cut-throat competitiveness and bullying. We decided to look elsewhere.

Same here, PP. We opted for a house in another high school boundary.

We were strongly considering a house in the Woodson district until I started talking with acquaintances who'd had kids there. Time and again I heard stories of high stress, cut-throat competitiveness and bullying. We decided to look elsewhere.

We are in the Langley pyramid, but do not submit to the "pressure cooker" atmosphere. We came in too late for AAP (rather, we were too lazy to go through the testing in elementary school when we moved here), and my kids have been fine. They take honors only in those classes they really enjoy, and will probably do the same for AP when they get to high school. I think a lot of the pressure comes from parents and not necessarily the school. In fact, our school discourages kids taking all honors - especially math - because it's easier for kds to get behind when they aren't fully prepared or capable.

Op, how about something in the middle? Fairfax HS is ranked better than FCHS, does not have a pressure cooker rep and is geographically not far from either. There are probably some really nice neighborhoods feeding into it.