Capitol Hill families - If you moved to NW or burbs for school, do you have any regrets?
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Anonymous
| I hate to post this, since I don't want to slam Capitol Hill. We love our community here. But, I'm tired of the school angst (we are past the lottery so there isn't hope for a good HS path (or one that fits us)). I'm also tired of the crime. Wondering for those who moved for schools, was it worth it? Did you find a new community in your NW or burbs neighborhood? |
Anonymous
| Hi Op - you may get a better response posting this in the real estate section as it will be seen by more folks and particularly the folks that went to the suburbs probably don't still come on the DC Public section. |
Anonymous
| We're considering that same thing. We have kids in middle school so we're really tied into the neighborhood for just about every aspect of our life. Starting over with older kids seems really hard. We've had friends who have left CH over the past couple years. They all seem to be doing fine but no one seems to love their new suburban life. Sure some things are better (like less crime and a bigger house) but other things are tougher. We have one friend who moved to Arlington who just can't get over how insanely competitive everything is for kids (schools, sports etc.). We have another friend who moved to Bethesda and still has no neighborhood friends after 2 years. Apparently their neighborhood has to many retired folks and not many families. I just don't know. |
Anonymous
They wouldn’t have moved out of CH if they weren’t “insanely competitive” themselves. Pot meet kettle. |
Anonymous
| Personally I wish it hadn't been necessary, but DD didn't get into Banneker or Walls (despite good enough grades to be eligible) or any good lottery schools, so here we are. It hasn't been easy socially but after the first year it was okay. I very much miss the Hill feel and row house density and I loathe having a yard. |
Anonymous
| Are you considering moving to NW, or outside of DC? I am asking because before we got great 5th grade lottery luck we were having the same conversations in our house. We came to the conclusion that the NW burbs were really just that; burbs. Deal and JR are the best public schools in DC, but they do not compare favorably to the best public schools in MD or VA. If we were prepared to leave CH for schools, we weren't going to nibble around the edges for JR and were going to just pull the ripcord and decamp for true burbs and objectively better schools. |
Anonymous
This. If we moved it would be for the BCC pyramid. |
Anonymous
We need density (it’s something my partner will not compromise on) so we are considering close-in NW (walkable to shops and restaurants). So, I think true burbs is out for us but could possibly do Bethesda. |
Anonymous
BCC isn't that different from Jackson-Reed though. If you want the best public schools in MD you should move into the Whitman zone or another W pyramid |
Anonymous
True, Whitman would also work. We just don't want to go too terribly far out because DH still works in-person and we have certain activities that we would want to continue doing. |
Anonymous
That's not true because we are not competitive at all and are considering moving out of CH. Though admittedly, we are looking more at Silver Spring or maybe even Howard County -- somewhere with decent schools and community, but not where people will commit crimes to get their kids into TJ or spend 3k a month on tutoring and private coaches to make sure their kid is at the top of everything. Also, there are absolutely competitive people on CH, it's just a different kind of competitiveness. It's the nice-seeming mom who passive-aggressively talks about how much they love SWS's nurturing environment or earnestly explains how much their 7 year old loves kale. Or the person with 8 different versions of "Hate has no home here" signs in their postage stamp yard. It's almost worse because at least the hyper-competitive sports/academics parents are pretty up front about what they are doing and it's transparently about trying to ensure their kids are successful (albeit by a narrow metric). People on CH would never admit they're competitive, and might not even realize their behavior is competitive, and that lack of self-awareness is sometimes exhausting. |
Anonymous
I don't think it's true that there's no meaningful difference between upper NW and the MD/VA burbs. We moved to the Murch zone in DC ("Wakefield" technically, but no one knows that neighborhood) and it feels way less suburban than the places where our MD and VA friends live. We can walk to multiple restaurants in 5 min, groceries and other retail in 15min, there is a mix of housing density, short walk to metro, and surrounded by other similar neighborhoods. In the VA/MD suburbs if you choose the right location you might be able to walk to some stores/density but at best it's a small island of walkability surrounded by suburbia and freeways. Upper NW doesn't feel like that. Obviously there are exceptions - e.g. Forest Hills DC probably feels more suburban in places than close-in Bethesda. But there's only a handful of houses in Bethesda that are actually walkable to anything, and even then it feels kind of like you're walking along the side of a freeway. |
Anonymous
I think this is how we feel, too EXCEPT since we only have one kid, we've actually considered just moving into an apartment zoned for Deal/JR that is in the densest, most urban parts of the catchment. So basically Van Ness or Wisconsin Avenue near the Cathedral. Something pretty walkable and very close to public transportation. If we did this, we wouldn't even sell our house, just rent it out until DC finishes HS. What we could afford to buy in NW would be far from the metro and very suburban, and if we're going to do that, we might as well leave DC and get a little more value/space for our money and really good schools. |
Anonymous
| Our family did this. I don't regret it, because we are very happy with the school, and the crime in our NE Capitol Hill neighborhood was starting to worry me more as my kids got older and were getting to the point of walking places on their own. But, I do miss the vibe and charm of CH, and we have not made real neighborhood friends yet, although we have gotten to know a couple of families through the school and are maybe on track to being real friends with them (it's only been a year). |
Anonymous
Wrong. BCC is that different from JR and the best schools are not Whitman and the rest of the Ws. |