Good schools EoTP

[Anonymous]

Yup! I like on the hill, we got a lottery spot for Eaton last year for K. No issues; commute not horrible and it’s fine. FWIW, we are not the k ot family on the hill whose children attend Ward 3 schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yup! I like on the hill, we got a lottery spot for Eaton last year for K. No issues; commute not horrible and it’s fine. FWIW, we are not the k ot family on the hill whose children attend Ward 3 schools.

But do you have feeder rights through HS? I forget.

Anyway most people move to the Hill because they like the neighborhood and don’t want to be in their cars all the time. And of course your plan depends on the lottery …

[Anonymous]

You do have feeder rights. That’s the whole point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not unusual for Capitol Hill families who stay after elementary to go with affordable parochial middle schools in DC and Arlington. That's been true for decades.

We're not Catholic but we're fine with a good parochial middle school in Arlington enrolling many non Catholics that runs us 11K/year. We carpool with 2 other Hill families. Everybody in the car pool is hoping that our children will test into Walls or Banneker eventually.

Why not just move to Arlington in the good school pyramid, save 11k a year for college, have a bigger space, and your kid doesn’t have to deal with commuting, and can easily take the school bus. Not to mention dealing with after school activities and what leave at rush hour which is even worst.

Then what are you going to do if kid doesn’t get into high school? Continue paying for private and dealing with the commute. You just easily paid for 4 years of college in addition to putting unnecessary stress on you and your kid. Plus parochial schools are not even that good.
L

. We’ve both been on the Hill for more than 25 years. We pay less than $1,000/month on a mortgage to live in a 5 bedroom house we renovated from a brick shell, putting in huge sweat equity in as we went. We live a short walk from Metro stations serving 4 lines. Our closest friends are here. We love our church of 15 years. Schools aren’t the be and end all for us. Our children don’t want to move any more than their parents do. Our commute to school is en route to my office in VA and takes just 15-20 mins. We’re prepared to sacrifice to stay home, where we belong. For those who aren’t dug in on the Hill socially and spiritually, moving makes much better sense.

[Anonymous]

Same. If you really want to stay on the Hill for whatever reasons, the iffy public school situation past 5th grade won't derail you. You'll roll with the punches on schools, you'll hustle and supplement academically and for extra curriculars. You will make the best of things.

If you're not sure about staying, you're very likely to burn out and leave by 6th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not unusual for Capitol Hill families who stay after elementary to go with affordable parochial middle schools in DC and Arlington. That's been true for decades.

We're not Catholic but we're fine with a good parochial middle school in Arlington enrolling many non Catholics that runs us 11K/year. We carpool with 2 other Hill families. Everybody in the car pool is hoping that our children will test into Walls or Banneker eventually.

Why not just move to Arlington in the good school pyramid, save 11k a year for college, have a bigger space, and your kid doesn’t have to deal with commuting, and can easily take the school bus. Not to mention dealing with after school activities and what leave at rush hour which is even worst.

Then what are you going to do if kid doesn’t get into high school? Continue paying for private and dealing with the commute. You just easily paid for 4 years of college in addition to putting unnecessary stress on you and your kid. Plus parochial schools are not even that good.
L

. We’ve both been on the Hill for more than 25 years. We pay less than $1,000/month on a mortgage to live in a 5 bedroom house we renovated from a brick shell, putting in huge sweat equity in as we went. We live a short walk from Metro stations serving 4 lines. Our closest friends are here. We love our church of 15 years. Schools aren’t the be and end all for us. Our children don’t want to move any more than their parents do. Our commute to school is en route to my office in VA and takes just 15-20 mins. We’re prepared to sacrifice to stay home, where we belong. For those who aren’t dug in on the Hill socially and spiritually, moving makes much better sense.

Okay, so you bought on the Hill 20 or more years ago then? How old are your kids!

Most people with elementary aged kids on the Hill bought 10 years ago or less, because most of us didn't buy a house at the age of 22. No one is getting even an 800 sq ft 2/1 on the Hill these days for less than 600k, so unless you have some kind of windfall that enables you to put down more than 50%, you'll be paying a lot more on your mortgage than $1k.

It's easy to say "schools aren't the be all and end all for us" when your kids are mostly grown and your house costs less than a lot of people spend on groceries.

And I say this as someone who lives on the Hill. Please shut up.

[Anonymous]

Our kids are going into 5th and 7th grades. We're older parents, in our 50s. We bought our current house in 2006, after buying and renovating a smaller house on the Hill in 2002.

I get it, homeowners views on staying tend to be tied to the real estate decisions they made along the way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not unusual for Capitol Hill families who stay after elementary to go with affordable parochial middle schools in DC and Arlington. That's been true for decades.

We're not Catholic but we're fine with a good parochial middle school in Arlington enrolling many non Catholics that runs us 11K/year. We carpool with 2 other Hill families. Everybody in the car pool is hoping that our children will test into Walls or Banneker eventually.

Why not just move to Arlington in the good school pyramid, save 11k a year for college, have a bigger space, and your kid doesn’t have to deal with commuting, and can easily take the school bus. Not to mention dealing with after school activities and what leave at rush hour which is even worst.

Then what are you going to do if kid doesn’t get into high school? Continue paying for private and dealing with the commute. You just easily paid for 4 years of college in addition to putting unnecessary stress on you and your kid. Plus parochial schools are not even that good.
L

. We’ve both been on the Hill for more than 25 years. We pay less than $1,000/month on a mortgage to live in a 5 bedroom house we renovated from a brick shell, putting in huge sweat equity in as we went. We live a short walk from Metro stations serving 4 lines. Our closest friends are here. We love our church of 15 years. Schools aren’t the be and end all for us. Our children don’t want to move any more than their parents do. Our commute to school is en route to my office in VA and takes just 15-20 mins. We’re prepared to sacrifice to stay home, where we belong. For those who aren’t dug in on the Hill socially and spiritually, moving makes much better sense.

Okay, so you bought on the Hill 20 or more years ago then? How old are your kids!

Most people with elementary aged kids on the Hill bought 10 years ago or less, because most of us didn't buy a house at the age of 22. No one is getting even an 800 sq ft 2/1 on the Hill these days for less than 600k, so unless you have some kind of windfall that enables you to put down more than 50%, you'll be paying a lot more on your mortgage than $1k.

It's easy to say "schools aren't the be all and end all for us" when your kids are mostly grown and your house costs less than a lot of people spend on groceries.

And I say this as someone who lives on the Hill. Please shut up.

Our mortgage is around $2,500 but our basement apartment pays at least $1,500 of it, more in summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not unusual for Capitol Hill families who stay after elementary to go with affordable parochial middle schools in DC and Arlington. That's been true for decades.

We're not Catholic but we're fine with a good parochial middle school in Arlington enrolling many non Catholics that runs us 11K/year. We carpool with 2 other Hill families. Everybody in the car pool is hoping that our children will test into Walls or Banneker eventually.

Why not just move to Arlington in the good school pyramid, save 11k a year for college, have a bigger space, and your kid doesn’t have to deal with commuting, and can easily take the school bus. Not to mention dealing with after school activities and what leave at rush hour which is even worst.

Then what are you going to do if kid doesn’t get into high school? Continue paying for private and dealing with the commute. You just easily paid for 4 years of college in addition to putting unnecessary stress on you and your kid. Plus parochial schools are not even that good.
L

. We’ve both been on the Hill for more than 25 years. We pay less than $1,000/month on a mortgage to live in a 5 bedroom house we renovated from a brick shell, putting in huge sweat equity in as we went. We live a short walk from Metro stations serving 4 lines. Our closest friends are here. We love our church of 15 years. Schools aren’t the be and end all for us. Our children don’t want to move any more than their parents do. Our commute to school is en route to my office in VA and takes just 15-20 mins. We’re prepared to sacrifice to stay home, where we belong. For those who aren’t dug in on the Hill socially and spiritually, moving makes much better sense.

Okay, so you bought on the Hill 20 or more years ago then? How old are your kids!

Most people with elementary aged kids on the Hill bought 10 years ago or less, because most of us didn't buy a house at the age of 22. No one is getting even an 800 sq ft 2/1 on the Hill these days for less than 600k, so unless you have some kind of windfall that enables you to put down more than 50%, you'll be paying a lot more on your mortgage than $1k.

It's easy to say "schools aren't the be all and end all for us" when your kids are mostly grown and your house costs less than a lot of people spend on groceries.

And I say this as someone who lives on the Hill. Please shut up.

I'll shut up if you stop whining. Sorry that you only bought 10 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not unusual for Capitol Hill families who stay after elementary to go with affordable parochial middle schools in DC and Arlington. That's been true for decades.

We're not Catholic but we're fine with a good parochial middle school in Arlington enrolling many non Catholics that runs us 11K/year. We carpool with 2 other Hill families. Everybody in the car pool is hoping that our children will test into Walls or Banneker eventually.

Why not just move to Arlington in the good school pyramid, save 11k a year for college, have a bigger space, and your kid doesn’t have to deal with commuting, and can easily take the school bus. Not to mention dealing with after school activities and what leave at rush hour which is even worst.

Then what are you going to do if kid doesn’t get into high school? Continue paying for private and dealing with the commute. You just easily paid for 4 years of college in addition to putting unnecessary stress on you and your kid. Plus parochial schools are not even that good.
L

. We’ve both been on the Hill for more than 25 years. We pay less than $1,000/month on a mortgage to live in a 5 bedroom house we renovated from a brick shell, putting in huge sweat equity in as we went. We live a short walk from Metro stations serving 4 lines. Our closest friends are here. We love our church of 15 years. Schools aren’t the be and end all for us. Our children don’t want to move any more than their parents do. Our commute to school is en route to my office in VA and takes just 15-20 mins. We’re prepared to sacrifice to stay home, where we belong. For those who aren’t dug in on the Hill socially and spiritually, moving makes much better sense.

“socially and spiritually” giant eyeroll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Same. If you really want to stay on the Hill for whatever reasons, the iffy public school situation past 5th grade won't derail you. You'll roll with the punches on schools, you'll hustle and supplement academically and for extra curriculars. You will make the best of things.

If you're not sure about staying, you're very likely to burn out and leave by 6th grade.

Nobody is sending their kid to Eastern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not unusual for Capitol Hill families who stay after elementary to go with affordable parochial middle schools in DC and Arlington. That's been true for decades.

We're not Catholic but we're fine with a good parochial middle school in Arlington enrolling many non Catholics that runs us 11K/year. We carpool with 2 other Hill families. Everybody in the car pool is hoping that our children will test into Walls or Banneker eventually.

Why not just move to Arlington in the good school pyramid, save 11k a year for college, have a bigger space, and your kid doesn’t have to deal with commuting, and can easily take the school bus. Not to mention dealing with after school activities and what leave at rush hour which is even worst.

Then what are you going to do if kid doesn’t get into high school? Continue paying for private and dealing with the commute. You just easily paid for 4 years of college in addition to putting unnecessary stress on you and your kid. Plus parochial schools are not even that good.
L

. We’ve both been on the Hill for more than 25 years. We pay less than $1,000/month on a mortgage to live in a 5 bedroom house we renovated from a brick shell, putting in huge sweat equity in as we went. We live a short walk from Metro stations serving 4 lines. Our closest friends are here. We love our church of 15 years. Schools aren’t the be and end all for us. Our children don’t want to move any more than their parents do. Our commute to school is en route to my office in VA and takes just 15-20 mins. We’re prepared to sacrifice to stay home, where we belong. For those who aren’t dug in on the Hill socially and spiritually, moving makes much better sense.

Okay, so you bought on the Hill 20 or more years ago then? How old are your kids!

Most people with elementary aged kids on the Hill bought 10 years ago or less, because most of us didn't buy a house at the age of 22. No one is getting even an 800 sq ft 2/1 on the Hill these days for less than 600k, so unless you have some kind of windfall that enables you to put down more than 50%, you'll be paying a lot more on your mortgage than $1k.

It's easy to say "schools aren't the be all and end all for us" when your kids are mostly grown and your house costs less than a lot of people spend on groceries.

And I say this as someone who lives on the Hill. Please shut up.

I'll shut up if you stop whining. Sorry that you only bought 10 years ago.

Getting back to the point here … someone with a toddler deciding where to live in DC is not in the position to have bought a house 20 years ago on the Hill …

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Personally, I am a big fan of being somewhere for ES where there is a guaranteed acceptable path through HS. (We did the Hill for the older - many years ago- and NW for the younger 2 and I wish we would have moved to NW sooner than we did). Especially if private school is not in the plans/budget. But even in NW, the band breaks up. Kids peel off for privates. So I really don't think there is anywhere in DC where you can get that experience that you would get in a small town where everyone goes through the same schools together. People just leave for different reasons in different parts of the city. And really like PPs have said, it is ok. Perhaps less traumatic to a kid here than elsewhere because it is so much the norm. (And prepares them well for future changes where they have to make new friends such as college). Agree that the friendships made in ES remain strong even if kids are at different schools, as long as their houses are still relatively geographically convenient.

But if you're on the Hill and move, generally you're gone forever. People move to MoCo, NOVA, NW ... those friendships don't stay. If you don't care, you don't care. But it's a pretty big deal when you're facing it.

Well for those of us EOTP, we already go to Ward 3 and MoCo for activities and outings. It’s not all or nothing for many of us.

you do? That’s weird…

Says someone clearly not from Ward 4. I’ll let the neighbors know you think we’re weird.

You’re right, not Ward 4, I was talking about the Hill. People on the Hill aren’t spending a ton of time in Ward 3 or MoCo. We go up to AFI Silver often and people here don’t even know about it.

+1 we are by H St. Who needs to go to ward 3 or MoCo when everything is here. Even ward 3 is a drive and considered far to us and not leaving the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not unusual for Capitol Hill families who stay after elementary to go with affordable parochial middle schools in DC and Arlington. That's been true for decades.

We're not Catholic but we're fine with a good parochial middle school in Arlington enrolling many non Catholics that runs us 11K/year. We carpool with 2 other Hill families. Everybody in the car pool is hoping that our children will test into Walls or Banneker eventually.

There is no longer testing into Walls and Banneker. It’s GPA then interview for Walls.

Yes and your chances of getting in are likely going to be much lower not even going to a public/charter school in DC for middle.

+1

The change to the admissions process favors DCPS’ ‘leniant’ grading policies.

It’s more than that. They will know in the interview and from grades that PP did not invest in DC schools so why should those competitive spots go to her and not a family who did.

The admissions policy now is subjective and you can bet there is going to be bias and opaque.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Same. If you really want to stay on the Hill for whatever reasons, the iffy public school situation past 5th grade won't derail you. You'll roll with the punches on schools, you'll hustle and supplement academically and for extra curriculars. You will make the best of things.

If you're not sure about staying, you're very likely to burn out and leave by 6th grade.

Nobody is sending their kid to Eastern.

+1 and the few “pioneer” families who do pull out after a trial year.

Also it’s exhausting to hustle to supplement academically and for extracurriculars. That’s a lot of time outside of school, time that could be better spent with family and doing fun things. Huge quality of life issue.