Lorton schools gang problem? (Alexandria, Annandale: section 8, apartment, credit)

[Fairfax Mom]

A woman in my Moms group just pullled her child out of Lorton Station Elementary has a "gang problem" - I am shocked since it is an elementary school and also suprised that it was in Lorton. I thought Lorton was a good area.

Is it that bad there?

[novanative75]

Originally Posted by Fairfax Mom

A woman in my Moms group just pullled her child out of Lorton Station Elementary has a "gang problem" - I am shocked since it is an elementary school and also suprised that it was in Lorton. I thought Lorton was a good area.

Is it that bad there?

That kind of shocks me as well because Lorton is becoming a much better area. There are probably some bad areas that continue to feed into the schools but hmmm, that is surprising. I wonder that actual boundaries of that school, like maybe it pulls some from the Hayfield pyramid.
As far as it being elementary, I am not as shocked by that. I actually spent a lot of time in my Masters Program at George Mason researching gang activity in Fairfax County. What happens is the older members of the gangs, high school aged kids and older, have younger brothers and that is how it generally filters into the elementary schools. I do not think that you see the violence in the elementary aged kids that you would in the older kids but, kids are doing things a lot earlier these days so you might.
I would want to know where she got her information. Was there a letter sent home by the principal, is she hearing rumors, etc. I would hope that it was some substantial evidence to pull her kid out of school.

[Fairfax Mom]

Supposedly there was a gang fight and ALL the kids were made to march outside in formation or something nutty like that. It made her mad the her kid had nothing to do with it but was still subjected to the same punishment as the "bad" kids.

I am all paranoid about schools since my son is going to start Kingergarten in the Fall in Fairfax and a lot of the Moms I talk to are putting their kids in private school no matter how good their local school is. They claim the class sizes are too large in most public schools.

[novanative75]

Originally Posted by Fairfax Mom

Supposedly there was a gang fight and ALL the kids were made to march outside in formation or something nutty like that. It made her mad the her kid had nothing to do with it but was still subjected to the same punishment as the "bad" kids.

I am all paranoid about schools since my son is going to start Kingergarten in the Fall in Fairfax and a lot of the Moms I talk to are putting their kids in private school no matter how good their local school is. They claim the class sizes are too large in most public schools.

The class sizes are big, that is true but FCPS is a great school system. I went to school in FCPS and have worked there as well. My suggestion would be to go to the local school, talk to the principal and actually ask if you can observe a kindergarten class. Also, think about trying the public schools for kindergarten, get a feel for the teachers, etc. and then if it does not work, you can always change. Some teachers are very capable of handling a class of 31 whereas there are teachers as well who can not handle a class of 15!
As for the gang fight, you wonder what really happened, right? Unfortunately if it was a mass fight, the school may not have had a choice but to punish all that were in the area. I know at the high school level, the kids that would watch the fights were just as guilty as those involved, that was the rule.
Good luck with whatever you decide but, please do not hesitate to push the school for all the information you want.

[El General]

Solution: Start your own gang of vigilante parents, who will not tolerate any of this gang nonsense. Force the schools to forbid the gang clothing and colors. Use a camera if you have to. Talk to the school resource officer, or just go down to the substation. Find out who the older brothers are that are hanging out with the ES kids. Go speak with their principal. Don't tolerate loitering at the local shopping plazas. Find out, who are the illegals--call immigration.

Is it really to much to ask for a school principal, making 90K+ per year, to refuse to let 11 year old boys wear their pants down below their asses? I will give PWCS credit for banning the head scarves and skull caps, countywide. If you are unhappy with the school administration; go to the area superintendent, and share some photos with them. I worked at a school in Arizona and the principal was forced out, after photos of gang activities were shown by the police to the school board. Most school boards have a call to the public, I'm sure they would just love to see a powerpoint presentation of kids in gang attire on school property.

FCPS IS probably the best large school system in the US. Their expectations for achievement are quite high. Cancer can show up anywhere, but needs to be radiated and eradicated.

[Fairfax Mom]

Novanative75 & El General,
Thanks for the great tips. I like the idea of asking to observe the kindergarten class. And El General - you are right - parents need to get active in the schools if they are worried about gangs. The school my son is going to does not have a gang problem currently (I think) but it always good to keep an eye out.

[alexandrian]

They caught some kids performing gang initiations in bathrooms at South County and Hayfield last year.

New Gang in County Initiates Students - washingtonpost.com

[novanative75]

There will be some gang activity in every school probably, well maybe not TJ! But, some are worse than others, Jeb Stuart and Annandale I would venture to say might have the highest populations of the high schools, again that is only a guess on my part. Know, also, that a lot of time when a student is 'expelled' from a FCPS school because of gang activity, most often they are simply sent to another school. While, this might get them away from the gang affiliation that they had at one school, it also allows for them to start subsidiaries of the gang at the new school. Something to think about and not a lot of people know that. So, in a sense, the county is actually helping spread the problem. The days when 'expelled' meant 'expelled' are gone.

[novanative75]

Originally Posted by El General

Solution: Start your own gang of vigilante parents, who will not tolerate any of this gang nonsense. Force the schools to forbid the gang clothing and colors. Use a camera if you have to. Talk to the school resource officer, or just go down to the substation. Find out who the older brothers are that are hanging out with the ES kids. Go speak with their principal. Don't tolerate loitering at the local shopping plazas. Find out, who are the illegals--call immigration.

Is it really to much to ask for a school principal, making 90K+ per year, to refuse to let 11 year old boys wear their pants down below their asses? I will give PWCS credit for banning the head scarves and skull caps, countywide. If you are unhappy with the school administration; go to the area superintendent, and share some photos with them. I worked at a school in Arizona and the principal was forced out, after photos of gang activities were shown by the police to the school board. Most school boards have a call to the public, I'm sure they would just love to see a powerpoint presentation of kids in gang attire on school property.

FCPS IS probably the best large school system in the US. Their expectations for achievement are quite high. Cancer can show up anywhere, but needs to be radiated and eradicated.

These are all good ideas. But, I will also say be careful. You do not want to be the one pi$$ing off a gang member in your community. Leave some of the work to the police, there is a great gang task force in Fairfax County.
FCPS has a dress code and nothing is allowed to be worn on the heads at all so that should not be a problem. You have to realize as well that these are very clever and savvy young people and will come up with ways to 'tag' themselves that are not at all obvious, markings on the skin, tatoos or otherwise, are one example.
The Fairfax Police department does a great presentation on gang activity, great. Fairfaxmom, you should talk to the principal or the president of the PTA and see if you can have them into a meeting one night for you all.
They also do a great program on drugs, sadly most think you do not need that at the elementary level, but you do. The education starts there, it needs to.

[adctvmonkey]

I live in the Hayfield district, but in Kingstowne. Lorton does have some problems, as Lorton Station Elementary draws kids from Pohick Square, Williamsburg Square, Kenton Crossing, and another apartment neighborhood off of Sanger Street that I believe is Section 8 housing. These neighborhoods are known to have problems because of the obvious lower economic status of the residents. And to clarify, while Hayfield's academics are not something to brag about, the social atmosphere is diverse and the kids and parents in my community are quite fine with the school. It's just what I hear alot is that the 'problematic kids' come from Lorton, not Alexandria.

With the 2007-2008 school year rezoning between South County and Hayfield, Hayfield actually received the bad neighborhoods from South County in the Lorton Station Elementary district, with the exception of the dreaded Hagel Circle. Thus, Hayfield is probably going to get a little worse. In other words, Lorton is a patchwork of not so nice neighborhoods and newer, wealthier developments, while South County actually had the more worse neighborhoods than Hayfield initially.