Anonymous
Post 02/23/2014 21:30     Subject: Haycock vs Kent Gardens
Many parents are aware that at Haycock, it seems like they are slowly phasing out recess. The school's expansion is also eating into playground.

These parents probably see value in giving the kids a rest or a chance to recharge batteries, but probably don't want to disrupt the crazy overachieving atmosphere at Haycock.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2014 21:12     Subject: Re:Haycock vs Kent Gardens
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:10:35, that post was not Haycock bashing


OP is from Kansas.

Ask her how many kids she knows at her kids current elementary who take extra math tutoring, not because they are behind but because they want to get ahead or because they are trying to increase odds of getting accepted into the "right" high school. Ask her how many kids she knows who take prep classss, including over the summer, to get accepted into her current elementary's GT program? Ask her how many of her kids' classmates are taking extra foreign language classes outside of school hours? How many kids back home are booked for hours each week and over the summer with additional academic enrichment designed to get them ahead? Should I go on? Odds are, coming from KC that number would be very small. Likely she has never seen the type of academic intensity in elementary that is the culture of this area, and in specific elementaries.

Now ask those questions to the average FFX County elementary parent. They would likely know severalelementary kids at their schools that dk such things, plus excel at a musocal instrument, play highly competitive sports at the same time.

Then ask a random Haycock parent (or one of the other "top" TJ feeder elementaries) how many kids at the school fit those questions? The answer would not be :a few".

That is not bashing. It is is just pointing out an important aspect of the culture of the area that OP would not be aware of and should really consider.

If uou think these facts count as bashing then you are the one that thinks there is a problem with the school.


Are you unaware that any mention of any aspect of Haycock that is not 100% perfect is "Haycock Bashing" motivated by "jealousy?" Haycock is perfect. Get with the program.


Yawn.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2014 18:02     Subject: Re:Haycock vs Kent Gardens
Anonymous wrote:10:35, that post was not Haycock bashing


OP is from Kansas.

Ask her how many kids she knows at her kids current elementary who take extra math tutoring, not because they are behind but because they want to get ahead or because they are trying to increase odds of getting accepted into the "right" high school. Ask her how many kids she knows who take prep classss, including over the summer, to get accepted into her current elementary's GT program? Ask her how many of her kids' classmates are taking extra foreign language classes outside of school hours? How many kids back home are booked for hours each week and over the summer with additional academic enrichment designed to get them ahead? Should I go on? Odds are, coming from KC that number would be very small. Likely she has never seen the type of academic intensity in elementary that is the culture of this area, and in specific elementaries.

Now ask those questions to the average FFX County elementary parent. They would likely know severalelementary kids at their schools that dk such things, plus excel at a musocal instrument, play highly competitive sports at the same time.

Then ask a random Haycock parent (or one of the other "top" TJ feeder elementaries) how many kids at the school fit those questions? The answer would not be :a few".

That is not bashing. It is is just pointing out an important aspect of the culture of the area that OP would not be aware of and should really consider.

If uou think these facts count as bashing then you are the one that thinks there is a problem with the school.


Are you unaware that any mention of any aspect of Haycock that is not 100% perfect is "Haycock Bashing" motivated by "jealousy?" Haycock is perfect. Get with the program.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2014 17:48     Subject: Haycock vs Kent Gardens
Rankings on sites like school digger and great schools are based on test scores only. Naturally AAP (gifted) center schools score highest, followed by schools that are predominantly Caucasian upper-middle class, then schools with some diversity, then schools with a large immigrant populations. If you were able to compare test scores of only the Caucasian, upper-middle class, general Ed students at all area schools, the differences would be negligible.

They also speak nothing to teacher quality or parent satisfaction, which are what really matters.

Anonymous
Post 02/23/2014 16:19     Subject: Haycock vs Kent Gardens
Anonymous wrote:Research schooldigger.com and look at the state rankings for va elementary schools. Shrevewood is ranked in the 600s with two stars. Haycock is ranked 5th in the state with 5 stars, Kent Gardens is ranked 50th in the state with 5 stars.

Schools like Waynewood, Stratford Landing, Maury, George Mason, MacArthur, and Lyles Crouch (all in Alexandria) are higher ranked than Shrevewood!


Interesting...

Rankings based on combined math & reading SOL score.

Naturally the AAP centers/schools offering AAP will score higher
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2014 16:01     Subject: Haycock vs Kent Gardens
Research schooldigger.com and look at the state rankings for va elementary schools. Shrevewood is ranked in the 600s with two stars. Haycock is ranked 5th in the state with 5 stars, Kent Gardens is ranked 50th in the state with 5 stars.

Schools like Waynewood, Stratford Landing, Maury, George Mason, MacArthur, and Lyles Crouch (all in Alexandria) are higher ranked than Shrevewood!
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2014 14:21     Subject: Re:Haycock vs Kent Gardens
Wow! Some of these posts are very immature and down right evil. Grow up and get over your grudges and perhaps act like adults. Maybe it would be best if the OP posted more individual schools and neighborhoods that may be interested in on separate threads. Thus alleviating all of the cat fights that are he said/she said posts with little truth to them from all of the different schools.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2014 13:37     Subject: Haycock vs Kent Gardens
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Haycock is probably the most cut throat ES in the McLean pyramid. This was made worse last year when it was decided to grandfather out of boundary kids and not admit anymore AAP kids who are within the Lemon Road boundary.

I'm surprised no one has suggested Lemon Road and Timber Lane..the latter which feeds to McLean.

I'm also surprised that OP is "priced out" of North Arlington, but is still considering McLean. Both areas have similar housing costs.


Both Lemon Road and Timber Lane are split feeders - meaning that some students go to one Middle School and High School and other go to a different Middle School and High School. However, the Timber Lane students are most at risk of changes to their MS and HS boundary as they are basically an Island with Falls Church Schoolsbeteeen them and the rest of the MS and HS population. The school board has shown a tendency to eliminate islands and peninsulas as the first part of proposed boundary changes. Lemon Road's Longfellow and McLean HS population is quite small as compared to the Kilmer/Marshall population. Lemon Road is currently under utilized - it is at high risk of another boundary expansion. Based on current enrollment overages, it should come from the McLean side, but the Freedom Hill folks probably want to dump the other half of their high needs population on them.


It makes more sense for Lemon Road's boundary expansion to come from Falls Church (Haycock) to alleviate overcrowding there since Lemon Road is in Falls Church.

Of course, those that bought into Haycock and would be affected will be sharpening the pitchforks and soaking the torches if it comes to that.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2014 13:13     Subject: Haycock vs Kent Gardens
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP, regarding KG, if you are considering AAP for your kids, know that the AAP kids are currently sent out of district, to an AAP center that feeds into Langley HS. Many friends will end up at Cooper MS and Langley. If KG gets a quality LL4 off the ground with AAP certified and experienced teachers, then that can be a reasonable option. But currently these kids are bussed over to Churchill Road ES. Even once the renovation is complete at Haycock, there is no intention to send these kids back there for AAP.


It's not particularly disruptive, since Churchill Road isn't that far from the Kent Gardens area, and all the Churchill Road AAP kids go on to Longfellow MS, which is the middle school for all Kent Gardens students and primarily a feeder to McLean HS. If the parents of the Churchill Road AAP kids zoned for Langley decide to pull them out of the AAP program, they'd go to Cooper, but most go to Longfellow. So the Kent Gardens AAP kids have a large number of friends from Churchill Road going to Longfellow, and then a large cohort of friends from Longfellow going to McLean.



Plus in Middle School, there is plenty of time to make friends in the non AAP realm as four of the seven classes are mixed with the Gen Ed students not in the full AAP program and there are tons of after school activities.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2014 12:18     Subject: Haycock vs Kent Gardens
Anonymous wrote:OP, regarding KG, if you are considering AAP for your kids, know that the AAP kids are currently sent out of district, to an AAP center that feeds into Langley HS. Many friends will end up at Cooper MS and Langley. If KG gets a quality LL4 off the ground with AAP certified and experienced teachers, then that can be a reasonable option. But currently these kids are bussed over to Churchill Road ES. Even once the renovation is complete at Haycock, there is no intention to send these kids back there for AAP.


It's not particularly disruptive, since Churchill Road isn't that far from the Kent Gardens area, and all the Churchill Road AAP kids go on to Longfellow MS, which is the middle school for all Kent Gardens students and primarily a feeder to McLean HS. If the parents of the Churchill Road AAP kids zoned for Langley decide to pull them out of the AAP program, they'd go to Cooper, but most go to Longfellow. So the Kent Gardens AAP kids have a large number of friends from Churchill Road going to Longfellow, and then a large cohort of friends from Longfellow going to McLean.

Anonymous
Post 02/23/2014 12:10     Subject: Haycock vs Kent Gardens
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Sounds like the mean girls haven't had their coffee yet.


If the OP wants to know what it's really like, she is welcome to do a search and see how any thread that mentions Haycock brings out a group of posters that lose all tact when someone suggests that there might be other good options.


Or any search that requests information about Haycock that is met with a series of posts that criticize the school and seek try to redirect them to the same schools mentioned here, typically Shrevewood and Westgate. You are too funny.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2014 11:46     Subject: Haycock vs Kent Gardens
Anonymous wrote:Sounds like the mean girls haven't had their coffee yet.


If the OP wants to know what it's really like, she is welcome to do a search and see how any thread that mentions Haycock brings out a group of posters that lose all tact when someone suggests that there might be other good options.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2014 11:45     Subject: Re:Haycock vs Kent Gardens
10:35, that post was not Haycock bashing


OP is from Kansas.

Ask her how many kids she knows at her kids current elementary who take extra math tutoring, not because they are behind but because they want to get ahead or because they are trying to increase odds of getting accepted into the "right" high school. Ask her how many kids she knows who take prep classss, including over the summer, to get accepted into her current elementary's GT program? Ask her how many of her kids' classmates are taking extra foreign language classes outside of school hours? How many kids back home are booked for hours each week and over the summer with additional academic enrichment designed to get them ahead? Should I go on? Odds are, coming from KC that number would be very small. Likely she has never seen the type of academic intensity in elementary that is the culture of this area, and in specific elementaries.

Now ask those questions to the average FFX County elementary parent. They would likely know severalelementary kids at their schools that dk such things, plus excel at a musocal instrument, play highly competitive sports at the same time.

Then ask a random Haycock parent (or one of the other "top" TJ feeder elementaries) how many kids at the school fit those questions? The answer would not be :a few".

That is not bashing. It is is just pointing out an important aspect of the culture of the area that OP would not be aware of and should really consider.

If uou think these facts count as bashing then you are the one that thinks there is a problem with the school.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2014 11:34     Subject: Haycock vs Kent Gardens
OP, regarding KG, if you are considering AAP for your kids, know that the AAP kids are currently sent out of district, to an AAP center that feeds into Langley HS. Many friends will end up at Cooper MS and Langley. If KG gets a quality LL4 off the ground with AAP certified and experienced teachers, then that can be a reasonable option. But currently these kids are bussed over to Churchill Road ES. Even once the renovation is complete at Haycock, there is no intention to send these kids back there for AAP.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2014 10:57     Subject: Haycock vs Kent Gardens
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Haycock is probably the most cut throat ES in the McLean pyramid. This was made worse last year when it was decided to grandfather out of boundary kids and not admit anymore AAP kids who are within the Lemon Road boundary.

I'm surprised no one has suggested Lemon Road and Timber Lane..the latter which feeds to McLean.

I'm also surprised that OP is "priced out" of North Arlington, but is still considering McLean. Both areas have similar housing costs.


Both Lemon Road and Timber Lane are split feeders - meaning that some students go to one Middle School and High School and other go to a different Middle School and High School. However, the Timber Lane students are most at risk of changes to their MS and HS boundary as they are basically an Island with Falls Church Schoolsbeteeen them and the rest of the MS and HS population. The school board has shown a tendency to eliminate islands and peninsulas as the first part of proposed boundary changes. Lemon Road's Longfellow and McLean HS population is quite small as compared to the Kilmer/Marshall population. Lemon Road is currently under utilized - it is at high risk of another boundary expansion. Based on current enrollment overages, it should come from the McLean side, but the Freedom Hill folks probably want to dump the other half of their high needs population on them.


Not so sure about this. First, the part of Timber Lane assigned to Longfellow/McLean has gone there for a long time, and I haven't seen anything to suggest FCPS is considering moving that area. Also, without that area, Longfellow/McLean wouldn't be very diverse, so keeping it in the McLean pyramid seems to make a lot of sense.

Second, Lemon Road's enrollment is going to increase in the future because of additional housing and more AAP kids once there are no longer any grandfathered kids from the Marshall pyramid at Haycock. So there may not be room there for more kids from other schools. However, if there is extra capacity, moving kids there from Freedom Hill or Shrevewood may be the best use of the space. The "high needs" area that you refer to is certainly closer to Lemon Road and Shrevewood than it is to Freedom Hill.