Fairfax County School Transfer Options (Mount Vernon: homes, neighborhood, buying)

[KimberLiz]

My family is moving from San Diego which has a wide range of options for changing your neighborhood school if you are not happy with the school that is in your boundary. Through Choice Programs, Magnet programs, and VEEP (a type of busing program where entire ZIP codes can transfer from one school to another) most people in bad San Diego schools can easily transfer their kids to a far better school.

My question is, do the Fairfax County Schools have these types of options if you are within the boundaries of a poor school? Or are you stuck in yoru neighborhood school no matter what?

[claremarie]

A handful of Fairfax County schools were required by the NCLB law to give their students the opportunity to transfer out because the school failed to make "adequate yearly progress" on the SOL tests. There are some magnet programs available, but they are extremely popular and often must turn away applicants. Generally, for better or for worse, you are "stuck" with your neighborhood school -- that is why homes in the schools with higher test scores are generally more expensive. However, in most cases, your neighborhood school will be far better than most public schools in the United States.

[Yankeesfan]

That's right, the opportunities to transfer out of neighborhood schools are limited. That's why it's important to check out the details before buying. Overall the schools have a great reputation, but because of geography some individual schools are high-poverty and some have a majority of students who speak little English. You can get all sorts of useful information about individual schools at FCPS Home Page Redirect Page.

[Jackattack09]

Even though your neighborhood school probably going to be great, it's relatively easy to transfer if you have even an okay reason. I live less than a mile from Mount Vernon but I go to West Potomac for my friends and for the AP program (my sister went to MV). All you have to do is submit a request form each year and say why you want to transfer. They accept it in every situation I've seen. Again I'll say that no school in FCPS is really bad enough to want to switch out of it for the fact that it's bad.