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St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: questionstleo ()
Date: May 20, 2013 04:09PM

Thinking about sending the kids to this school, has anyone hear negative things about the school? Positive? Or know anyone who attends likes/dislikes? etc

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: The director ()
Date: May 20, 2013 04:45PM

I've heard the academics are killer, like getting punched in the head every day, leaves you raging on your way home.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: st leo parent ()
Date: May 20, 2013 04:47PM

I hope you aren't expecting sound answers from this board. Most of what you will get will be posts telling you about the director of religious education being arrested for manslaughter. It is true. But he is not associated with the school. He handles CCD with the church.

I have two kids there and a third one will start in a few years. Most of the teachers are great and are there because they want to teach in a Catholic school. Catholic school teachers make far less than public school. So the teachers are there because they care.

If you are Catholic and want a religious education it is a great school. There is a good choice of extracurricular activities and the other parents are mostly very nice. Neither the teachers or parents have huge egos or have cliques.

Class size is small and teachers can pay personal attention to the students when they need it. The facilities are very good for a small Catholic school. The school does well in science fair, spelling bee and other academic contests. The best part is the phys ed teacher is the girls basketball coach at PVI and has won several state championships. If you think your child likes basketball he is the man to be around. Great teacher. The music, art and computer teachers are all very good.

The only downside that we have seen is the cost. But you get what you pay for.

Good luck.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: Tough One ()
Date: May 20, 2013 05:17PM

From Father Karras's reputation, rest assured that he's exorcised any of the academic demons going on there.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: Tough One ()
Date: May 20, 2013 05:17PM

From Father Karras's reputation, rest assured that he's exorcised any of the academic demons going on there.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: questionstleo ()
Date: May 20, 2013 05:25PM

Yes, I know this site gets ridiculous but thanks for responding st leo parent.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: Mr. Helper ()
Date: May 20, 2013 05:38PM

st leo parent Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Most of what you will get will be
> posts telling you about the director of religious
> education being arrested for manslaughter. It is
> true. But he is not associated with the school. He
> handles CCD with the church.

Ooooooh, that's a relief. Just works in the church, no association with the school. That's much better. For a moment I thought that the people put in place in one part of the organization might signal some sort of trend, but now that I know they are completely separated, makes me feel a whole lot better.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: Tough One ()
Date: May 20, 2013 06:47PM

Mr. Helper Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> st leo parent Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Most of what you will get will be
> > posts telling you about the director of
> religious
> > education being arrested for manslaughter. It
> is
> > true. But he is not associated with the school.
> He
> > handles CCD with the church.
>
> Ooooooh, that's a relief. Just works in the
> church, no association with the school. That's
> much better. For a moment I thought that the
> people put in place in one part of the
> organization might signal some sort of trend, but
> now that I know they are completely separated,
> makes me feel a whole lot better.


+1000000. Hilarious!

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: mark j ()
Date: May 20, 2013 08:55PM

ANY school system is better than FCPS!!! save your pennies and send your kids to Catholic school...well worth it...

they will graduate knowing something....

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: zero_personality ()
Date: May 20, 2013 11:28PM

I attended St. Leo's in 1959-60. I saw Nuns and Lay teachers commit acts of physical and psychological abuse that would send them to jail these days. I primarily learned fear and distrust of adults and total disrespect for grumpy women cloaked in black robes wearing patent leather Doc Martins. Maybe if I attended Catholic School today instead of back then I might still be a Catholic.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: All in the name ()
Date: May 21, 2013 12:06AM

questionstleo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thinking about sending the kids to this school,
> has anyone hear negative things about the school?
> Positive? Or know anyone who attends
> likes/dislikes? etc


It is a great school. In fact the name even says so - St Leo, The Great Catholic School.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: altered boy ()
Date: May 21, 2013 05:15AM

All in the name Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> questionstleo Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Thinking about sending the kids to this school,
> > has anyone hear negative things about the
> school?
> > Positive? Or know anyone who attends
> > likes/dislikes? etc
>
>
> It is a great school. In fact the name even says
> so - St Leo, The Great Catholic School.


St Leo has less rape than Holy Spirit but more than st bernadettes.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: hey rube ()
Date: May 21, 2013 07:19AM

@st leo parent - you seem like a decent, straightforward person. In other words you don't belong here.

Just so you don't waste any more time: it seems obvious to me that the OP was throwing out an opening line to the trolls*. Rest assured there is absolutely nothing of value on this site. Never has been and never will be. And anyone looking for advice about where to send their children to school is either a troll or a fool.

(* The St Leo part is the tip off...)

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: questionstleo ()
Date: May 21, 2013 10:04AM

No just asking anywhere I can ask to cover my bases. Don't be so cynical.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: Tough One ()
Date: May 21, 2013 06:42PM

All in the name Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> questionstleo Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Thinking about sending the kids to this school,
> > has anyone hear negative things about the
> school?
> > Positive? Or know anyone who attends
> > likes/dislikes? etc
>
>
> It is a great school. In fact the name even says
> so - St Leo, The Great Catholic School.

Good one!

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: The Holy Spirit ()
Date: May 21, 2013 08:22PM

Fort St. Leo's and it's prison school are fine esstablishments of eductation.
btws, the only great one in my book is Jesus Christ!

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: Don't buy it. ()
Date: May 22, 2013 10:38AM

Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: mark j ()
Date: May 20, 2013 08:55PM

ANY school system is better than FCPS!!! save your pennies and send your kids to Catholic school...well worth it...

they will graduate knowing something...


Really? Would love to know what the Catholic teachings are about global warming, evolution and anything based in real world science. FCPS has problems but I don't see how mark j thinks that kids don't graduate with knowing something. (IB, AP degrees aren't something?) Maybe they graduate knowing that there is more to the world that a book of fiction.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: Chaego ()
Date: May 22, 2013 11:32AM

^^^

The Catholic priest who originated the Big Bang Theory is not impressed by your ignorance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Lema%C3%AEtre

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: beavis ()
Date: May 22, 2013 11:40AM

questionstleo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thinking about sending the kids to this school,
> has anyone hear negative things about the school?
> Positive? Or know anyone who attends
> likes/dislikes? etc


unless it's for religious reasons, or the child has performance issues, i can't fathom why anybody would spent big bucks for any private school when fcps are available. high performing kids can do extremely well in fcps, which has resources that dwarf most private schools. 10k tuition a year times 12 years, that's a big number. if the child has problems thou, that's a different story.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: Nostradamus ()
Date: May 22, 2013 12:10PM

beavis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> questionstleo Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Thinking about sending the kids to this school,
> > has anyone hear negative things about the
> school?
> > Positive? Or know anyone who attends
> > likes/dislikes? etc
>
>
> unless it's for religious reasons, or the child
> has performance issues, i can't fathom why anybody
> would spent big bucks for any private school when
> fcps are available. high performing kids can do
> extremely well in fcps, which has resources that
> dwarf most private schools. 10k tuition a year
> times 12 years, that's a big number. if the child
> has problems thou, that's a different story.


There are 27 kids in my elementary kid's class.(with 1 teacher) How's that for a reason?

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: Typical class size ()
Date: May 22, 2013 12:18PM

Nostradamus Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> There are 27 kids in my elementary kid's
> class.(with 1 teacher) How's that for a reason?

I went to Catholic school from K-12 and our classes were ALWAYS 25-35 kids. The only exceptions were some smaller elective classes in high school, but even those were usually 15-20 kids.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: private school grad ()
Date: May 22, 2013 12:24PM

Am a product of private and catholic school so my kids go to public school --no question. If you are going to gauge the quality of education on teacher/student ratio alone...by all means, please send your kid belongs to a catholic school.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: dummy jojojo ()
Date: May 22, 2013 12:26PM

private school grad Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Am a product of private and catholic school so my
> kids go to public school --no question. If you are
> going to gauge the quality of education on
> teacher/student ratio alone...by all means, please
> send your kid belongs to a catholic school.


Your parents should ask for their money back.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: silly facts ()
Date: May 22, 2013 12:30PM

For those of you that know how to read you can look at some statistical analysis of private vs public school.

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pubs/studies/2006461.asp

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: GA 53885 ()
Date: June 11, 2013 08:40PM

We sent our children to St. Leo when we moved to Fairfax. The teachers are great. The only problem seems to be the principal and assistant principal. They both seem to be better suited for a public school rather than a private school. Other parents have told us that it is very easy to bully both of them. Thankfully the teachers and staff do a great job teaching and looking out for the kids.

I'm not sure how they are keeping their jobs. We've noticed that attendance is off. Friends at other Catholic schools in the area are saying their schools are pretty full.

Hopefully FCPS will hire them away. It would really improve the school. Lu's the principal looks like a train wreck. The man never ties his tie.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: it's a shame ()
Date: June 12, 2013 07:59AM

It is a shame when a bad leader can bring down any company. Especially a school. You just have to love the Peter Principal. Employees tend to rise to their level of incompetence

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: abc123 ()
Date: June 12, 2013 12:58PM

My kids went years ago... elementary grades solid... things deteriorate at middle school level because of the teachers. Lots of cliquish and un Christian-like behavior with middle school teachers. I think a few of them are still there from what I hear. Principal was a severe negative back then, but has left. From what I'm reading in above posts, the leadership is still lacking at the school. Reading/writing/arithmetic is solid at catholic school with the additional benefit of structure. If you are looking for a Christian environment, consider Christian school instead.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: just an observation ()
Date: June 13, 2013 06:59PM

We thought about sending our child there. It seemed that the vice principal was really running the show. The principal seemed burned out. My money would be on the VP trying to take his job. He should watch his back. We ultimately ended up going to St. Veronica due to work and commute schedules.

But we have heard good things about the quality of education at St. Leo. St. Veronica is also very good.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: Notmykid ()
Date: June 13, 2013 10:43PM

Almost all kids coming from Catholic schools are behind the kids that went to public schools. The schools jut don't have qualified teachers and teach the home school way. They do not have the resources public schools have. The parent clicks also dictate what goes on. Really think hard about sending your child to any Catholic school.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: can you read? ()
Date: June 13, 2013 11:28PM

Did you not read the above article that was posted earlier? http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pubs/studies/2006461.asp

It's one of dozens that say the same thing - private wins over public any day of the week.

Why - Perhaps the parents are doling out some serious $$ and they want to make sure their kid is earning that education. They take a more active, more positive role in the entire process.

or
since the class sizes are smaller, the teachers are better equipped to identify and mentor struggling students.

or
Teachers don't have to 'teach to the test' (SOL's) so they have the flexibility to delve into more interesting, more stimulating subject matter.

After all, students aren't motivated to learn if they could care less about what's being taught. Piquing their interest is key.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Date: June 14, 2013 12:01AM

questionstleo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thinking about sending the kids to this school,
> has anyone hear negative things about the school?
> Positive? Or know anyone who attends
> likes/dislikes? etc


Not enough Hajjis.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: Hmmmmmmm ()
Date: June 14, 2013 06:41AM

Notmykid Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Almost all kids coming from Catholic schools are
> behind the kids that went to public schools. The
> schools jut don't have qualified teachers and
> teach the home school way. They do not have the
> resources public schools have. The parent clicks
> also dictate what goes on. Really think hard
> about sending your child to any Catholic school.


Sounds like you are a FCPS teacher union rep.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: Shong ()
Date: June 14, 2013 01:08PM

it's a shame Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You just have to love the Peter Principal.

Are you referring to the Principal at St. Peter's school?

Some school Principal named Peter?

Or possibly the "Peter Principle"?

Sheesh...

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: AnotherStLeoParent ()
Date: June 21, 2013 01:20AM

I have a child there in elementary school and find the school to be good. They're learning, the teacher is competent, my child is enjoying school, and they seem to keep the kids disciplined. And they are a faithful Catholic school. I can't ask for much more than that.

I heard from one of the parents of my son's classmates that an official from the diocese told them St. Leo was the best of the Catholic elementary schools in Northern Virginia. It's third hand, so take it for what it's worth.

The public schools here are not bad. If I was not especially interested in my child having a particularly CATHOLIC education, I would send my child to public school. But if you want your child to have a Catholic education, St Leo is a good place to send them.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: asdfasdffaf ()
Date: June 21, 2013 09:27AM

zero_personality Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I attended St. Leo's in 1959-60. I saw Nuns and
> Lay teachers commit acts of physical and
> psychological abuse that would send them to jail
> these days. I primarily learned fear and distrust
> of adults and total disrespect for grumpy women
> cloaked in black robes wearing patent leather Doc
> Martins. Maybe if I attended Catholic School
> today instead of back then I might still be a
> Catholic.


Good, sounds like you got the education you needed and aren't one of these loony free-wheeling liberals walking around the city. The best education? Suffering builds character. :)

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: Former Student ()
Date: June 22, 2013 07:58AM

I went to St. Leo's in the 60's. It was a good school then with good families. Students did without because the $$ was not there for the school. They did without air conditioning, a gym, cafeteria, things other kids and parents now take for granted. Doing without I have learned is not a bad thing, it makes one stronger and successful. FCPS and certain parents could learn from the history books of St. Leo's, going to St. Leo's was about an education.

School was not always fun but is it suppose to be fun?
BTW we had nuns, and no one was abused or hurt in anyway. They were good people devoted to their vocation.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: rumor mill ()
Date: March 20, 2014 11:52AM

I've heard that several of the teachers are leaving at the end of the year because the administration has lost focus and is basically inept. That is a real shame because the teachers that have been there for a while and even some of the new ones are really good.

They have lost a lot of good teachers and aides the last few years. It is a shame that so many people leave their jobs because of bad management.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: Scout leader ()
Date: March 20, 2014 05:42PM

At least they still have Boy Scouts.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: fourlegs ()
Date: March 20, 2014 06:25PM

I heard it snowed a lot in the last couple of months.

Oh no you just walked by St. Leo's.


Private school=White school

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: A one time student at St Leo's ()
Date: March 20, 2014 07:44PM

Agree with "rumor mill". I too was a student in the late 60s at St. Leo's it offered a good foundation for education with no frills. No gym, no AC, no cafeteria. We had nuns and they had a true calling to educate children. They expected respect and good conduct during class and while in school. There were no excuses.

It was a tough experience but one that molded a student for success and happiness for the future.

As a parent who sent our children to FCPS and as someone who had a high level position with FCPS ---THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM AND PARENTS OF SCHOOL AGED CHILDREN could certainly learn a great deal from how education was delivered at St. Leo's.

Parents who entitle their children and make excuses for them are doing society and their children no favors --- FCPS is sending a wrong message to the parents and children of today. The system needs a wake up call.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: Fingers crossed ()
Date: March 20, 2014 08:21PM

My kids went there a couple of years ago. They learned a lot and really enjoyed their teachers. The middle school teachers were amazing. But you could sense the tension between the staff and administration. I hope the teachers stay. They are far better than anything FCPS can produce and they work for peanuts.

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: St. Leo's Saint Vincent De Paul ()
Date: March 21, 2014 12:32AM

Operation has gone down the tubes. The Julio's have overrun the churches and are draining it dry so they can send more $cash$ bucks to their family estates in their home country's in Central and South America. It is pathetic these one's running the St. Vincent De Paul programs do not see thru this scamming by these hustling Latinos/Hispanics coming up here off of sprawling family estates. Huge farm spreads and ranches with nice houses. I knew this one family -

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Re: St. Leo The Great Catholic School
Posted by: other random rumors ()
Date: March 22, 2014 04:39PM

I heard that the principal told someone that he was leaving for another school.

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