Tell me about Arlington Forest

[Anonymous]

What's the neighborhood like? Are neighbors friendly? Is there a good sense of community and young kids?

Considering moving there after 10+ years in DC.

[Anonymous]

Check school ratings and reviews if you have kids and plan to send them to public schools.

[Anonymous]

So schools are an issue there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So schools are an issue there?

Not gonna help you move to arlington. Check out Bethesda instead.😊

[Anonymous]

Schools are fine there. There is some big boundary debate now about Swanson and kenmore. Most kids go to ashlawn elementary and it is like a 60-40 solute to Swanson and kenmore. New boundaries would make it more like 90-10 if approved.
Also a lot of the ashlawn es goes to Yorktown which is a PIA. So many families find ways to go to W&L. So it is hard for to kids to go to same es, middle and hs. But some people may like that - can get you away from other kids for good; or they reconnect in HS.

The neighborhood is full of kids and families of all ages; seems to be more ES now if anything.

Get on the waitlist for the pool now - it takes years - but they have one of the few (and best) swim/tennis clubs.
You do not have to be a member to take tennis lessons/join tennis team there.

[Anonymous]

APS schools in Arlington are all very liberal and highly average.
Arlington has had a mass exodus to private in the northern part of the county. No big deal, just people that can afford private are doing it more and more.
In Arlington forest/bluemont maybe 1/3 kids go private through middle school. Closer to McLean the ratio is higher private.

[Anonymous]

Has the mass exodus to private been in the post COVID years? A big part of the reason for leaving DC would be for more school certainty and continuity compared to DCPS and the whole lottery system. I see that Barrett isn’t ranked as highly as some of the other ES in APS, but is it still a good school? Is it the middle school that is the issue there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:APS schools in Arlington are all very liberal and highly average.
Arlington has had a mass exodus to private in the northern part of the county. No big deal, just people that can afford private are doing it more and more.
In Arlington forest/bluemont maybe 1/3 kids go private through middle school. Closer to McLean the ratio is higher private.

Do you have a citation for that stat? Anecdotally living in that neighborhood (bluemont/ashlawn) I knew no more than 3 children who went to a private (catholic) elementary school and I lived in the neighborhood for 12 years, with kids of my own.

[Anonymous]

Please can you all stop moving here. Rent is already too high.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please can you all stop moving here. Rent is already too high.

Arlington just said it will be handing out more Section 8 vouchers, so rent will only get pushed higher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's the neighborhood like? Are neighbors friendly? Is there a good sense of community and young kids?

Considering moving there after 10+ years in DC.

Neighborhood is chock full of kids. We don't live there but have walked through it a bunch of a times. We ran into some people we knew who moved there with kids and they raved about it as well.

I think it's the only neighborhood that straddles the North Arlington / South Arlington divide. Most of the neighborhood is in the north. I don't know about elementary school, the whole neighborhood goes to the same middle, but you'd want to be on the north side of the neighborhood for high school. You really just want to be on the north side in general though because then you can easily access lubber run park or get on the bike path. The southern pocket is just a few streets that aren't connecting to anything else. I'm sure it's very cozy since you have no through traffic though so maybe that's a plus.

[Anonymous]

I'll add: I think the neighborhood is interesting because it's essentially 100% 1940s colonials which aren't super large so over the decades people have done additions or painted or added wood siding. It's neat to see all the different variations on the same brick box

[Anonymous]

I agree and that is part of the appeal of the neighborhood. There seem to be very few tear downs and the prices are more reasonable than the rest of N. Arlington. Wondering what the catch is?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS schools in Arlington are all very liberal and highly average.
Arlington has had a mass exodus to private in the northern part of the county. No big deal, just people that can afford private are doing it more and more.
In Arlington forest/bluemont maybe 1/3 kids go private through middle school. Closer to McLean the ratio is higher private.

Do you have a citation for that stat? Anecdotally living in that neighborhood (bluemont/ashlawn) I knew no more than 3 children who went to a private (catholic) elementary school and I lived in the neighborhood for 12 years, with kids of my own.

+1 op be careful what you listen to on dcum. There is a lot of hate for arlington on here and a lot of the opinions are not reflective of those that live there or our experiences. Arlington Forest is a great neighborhood and Ashlawn is an awesome elementary school. Many kids walk or bike to school on the trails behind the neighborhood and it is awesome. Kenmore is more diverse as a middle school so as a result you will hear mixed things but I would definitely be happy for my kids to go there. I know only one family in private, and that is one child who per parents will probably return in a year or two, other child already returned to public after covid. There was a bunch during covid and many are slowly trickling back. Everyone in my neighborhood starting kindergarten this year went to the public. A good friend used to live in arlington forest and they loved it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree and that is part of the appeal of the neighborhood. There seem to be very few tear downs and the prices are more reasonable than the rest of N. Arlington. Wondering what the catch is?

No catch that I know of - I think the houses are just older/smaller than much of north Arlington and the price reflects that. I always like to walk a neighborhood to get a feel for it and I get good vibes walking around Arlington Forest.