http://annandaleva.blogspot.com/2011/03/poe-student-charged-with-extortion.html

Man I am glad I moved out of that school district. I could not imagine my kids attending that school and I feel sorry for the parent and kids who do.

The community needs to get the gang problem under control. This kid, and his parents, need to held up as an example. It is probably pretty easy to point which kids are involved in gangs in a school.

When I went to school there, they had the Pine Street Gang of white kids. If we went through their neighborhood of Pine Dr, they would throw rocks at us and try to bait us into fights.

I live a short walk from that school and I'm glad my parents insisted that I never go there.

I remember when there were no gangs in Annandale and it was just a nice quiet place to live. It makes me feel old. And sad.

I go to Annandale and I have a sibling who goes to Poe - neither of the schools is bad and neither has a strong gang presence. We're a diverse community, both ethnically and economically, but I have never for one second felt unsafe in or around this school. No parent should fear sending their child to AHS - this school has done nothing but good for me. This sort of thing does not point to violence or a gang presence in the school as a whole, it was a 13 year-old being a stupid kid - he did not have a gang and was looking to make 500 bucks. I went to a different middle school in Fairfax County, one that is prized for how "wonderful" it is, and saw worse things happen every day.

I work at AHS and AHS Student is right. AHS is the best kept secret in the county. NONE of the students feel unsafe or pressured into gang activity. There are many nationalities who attend the school and we have no more fights or anything like that than other schools. Everyone seems to get along and differences are embraced and tolerated.

Just because a kid is stupid in MS doesn't mean the entire neighborhood is "tainted". Unless you go there or teach there, don't pass judgement. I have heard many worse stories from other teachers from the "elite" schools that never get press.

Every school is going to have drugs, gangs, bullies, GT students, great athletes, cliques, clubs and dumb asses.

All of the middle schools have gangs..this has going on since before Grease was a play.

ITs really not that bad. I heard about a time when walking to the 7-11 and ossian park could be dangerouse but now its quite safe. People just think were horrible because we have a large number of students on free and reduced lunch.

AHS gets a bad rap Wrote:
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> I work at AHS and AHS Student is right. [...]
> Every school is going to have drugs, gangs, [...]

Apparently you grew up in a different generation than I did, or at least didn't go to those particular schools when I did. Sad that your world view accepts that this is a normal state of affairs for "every school".

The world has simply gone to shit.


allhavethem Wrote:
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> All of the middle schools have gangs..this has going on since before Grease was a play.

I went to Poe and AHS '79, and there definitely were no gangs back then.

I did see some drugs (speed) in the 8th grade. But there were no gangs.

There weren't any gangs in the neighborhood, either. Now Annandale has MS-13. It's an entirely different world now. It's sad that you probably don't even believe me, and think things are normal.

"the world has simply gone to shit".....

Maybe your world has, but for many others, it is the world we live in and we have to make the best out of it.

Spacy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> AHS gets a bad rap Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I work at AHS and AHS Student is right. [...]
> > Every school is going to have drugs, gangs,
> [...]
>
> Apparently you grew up in a different generation
> than I did, or at least didn't go to those
> particular schools when I did. Sad that your
> world view accepts that this is a normal state of
> affairs for "every school".
>
> The world has simply gone to shit.
>
>
> allhavethem Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > All of the middle schools have gangs..this has
> going on since before Grease was a play.
>
> I went to Poe and AHS '79, and there definitely
> were no gangs back then.
>
> I did see some drugs (speed) in the 8th grade.
> But there were no gangs.
>
> There weren't any gangs in the neighborhood,
> either. Now Annandale has MS-13. It's an
> entirely different world now. It's sad that you
> probably don't even believe me, and think things
> are normal.


Generation? not normal? i guess you havent watched a movie with a highschool settings since Charlie Chaplin was at his hieght.

You must have been a blind teenager Wrote:
-------------------------------------------
> Generation? not normal? i guess you havent watched
> a movie with a highschool settings since Charlie
> Chaplin was at his hieght.

So, your reality is movies of highschool settings?

Well, that's consistent I guess.

Spacy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So, your reality is movies of highschool
> settings?
>
> Well, that's consistent I guess.

The implication is that movies with a high school setting are to mimic the varying pop-culture, as well as sub culture, in high schools to create a very realistic story. High school movies new and old have used drug and sexual references to increase realism in them because they are two elements that are staples in the cultures at high school. Its impossible to find a 100% clean high school. Even if the kids are not dealing/doing in school they are at home and that has an impact on their behavior in the classroom. If you managed to get through high school without being aware of students taking drugs you must have been blind and deaf.

Now going back to the main issue, gangs in the Annandale High school pyramid (the make up of middle schools and elementary schools who feed into Annandale) You cannot go pissing your pants when a frequent event such as this occurs. Annandale as well as FCPS has taken great measures to eliminate gang activity with their three strikes policy, as you can see by reading through other threads on this forum.

Other problems:
1) News can lie
2) Secondary sources were not there to witness the actions
3) Bias changes the perspective of events
4) You probably know about Annandale's diversity and so you assume this was some minority (and only minorities join gangs to you, right?) That's just being and ignorant racist.


bananas.

Long ago, 25-30 or so years, Annandale was a peaceful and prosperous community; and on an October Friday night at an Annandale high school football game, it was positively magical. But that was when it was a white community. Now it is populated hispanics, more specificslly, by filthy illegal immigrants and gutter dwelling violent gangs. It is no longer a white community, and it is now a cesspool.

Kilot Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Long ago, 25-30 or so years, Annandale was a
> peaceful and prosperous community; and on an
> October Friday night at an Annandale high school
> football game, it was positively magical. But that
> was when it was a white community. Now it is
> populated hispanics, more specificslly, by filthy
> illegal immigrants and gutter dwelling violent
> gangs. It is no longer a white community, and it
> is now a cesspool.

This is bullshit, but even if it were true it would be the whites' fault. If they thought Annandale was so magical, they would have stayed there.

But they didn't. The son of the head of the old Annandale Boys Club lives in Great Falls. And no Hispanics or Koreans forced all the whites to move to Loudoun, either.

It's only natural tha when the filthy murderous Hispanics began populating Annandale and places like it, that the decent white citizens, fearing for their safety, would leave. It's actually quite common, and all too true. When Annandale was white, it was peaceful and prospeous. Now it is Hispanic, and it is a filthy violent slum.

I once fried an entire egg... Wrote:
> bananas.

So your points are: (a) Hollywood movies depict reality, so therefore my personal firsthand observations of Annandale 40 years ago, which are inconsistent with those movies, must be incorrect (b) add in some straw arguments that I did not make (in fact, I specifically mentioned particular drugs that were in use at the time - not "no drugs" as you claim I said (c) the news reports and interviews with the people involved must be lies because (d) anyone who would differ from your unfounded fantasies must be some kind of racist.

Yes, I would say that you definitely are "bananas".

Thanks for making it all clear.

I go to Annandale High now and went to Poe Middle school last year honestly I've never had any problems at either of the schools. Sometimes things happen but that doesn't mean if you send your kid there something bad will happen. I think Poe and AHS are both great schools.

AHS and Poe Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I go to Annandale High now and went to Poe Middle
> school last year honestly I've never had any
> problems at either of the schools. Sometimes
> things happen but that doesn't mean if you send
> your kid there something bad will happen. I think
> Poe and AHS are both great schools.


Well, Annandale HS USED to be ghetto back in the 90s-mid 2000s

I fail to see gangs. Instead I celebrate the diversity as I am told to do by the motivational posters at school.
Why just last week some latiino classmates offered to let me join their group. I think we are going to listen to records because they mentioned a beatdown.

Annandale has always had section 8 housing. We have always had poverty cases that stole your lunch money. Gangs were not that organized but you walk down a street in Parliament apts. and not know someone at night you got your ass kicked. 40 years ago. Poverty and crime have always been there but now they have color on their skin and you think oh it's the immigrants.Nope the street I live on is all white just like it used to be. The punks just changed races they are still punks and have been for 40 years.

HEY KILOT:
Shit dude, I've gone to half a dozen Annandale HS football games over the last TWO years, and they were all fun, clean, full of harmless teenagers texting on smartphones and eating popcorn. There were more soccer moms than gang colors. There were more minivans than Mexicans. And there was better football than most Redskins home games.
If you wanna reminisce about Annandale 25 years ago go to the nearest Senior center. If you wanna stop by a game this Fall, wear red and be ready to cheer. These kids are still getting it done.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/2011 01:53AM by Diabolik.

FCPS knows this area is a war zone.

God help our kids.

@Diabolik
Games are the same since then except for the phone and minivans. Exciting footbal and people having a good time. It is still the best way to spend a friday evening.

I hate to burst your bubble but diabolik you are a fool if you think all those kids are clean. I'd be willing to bet you that a fair portion of those kids, 25-50%, are either under the influence of alcohol or drugs. And if not at the game i am willing to bet that many of them will be shortly after. The problem lies in the accessibility to alcohol and drugs. Its nothing new but its still a problem.