South Arlington and North Arlington Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yorktown has more in common with Mclean and Langley than WL. It clearly is the best neighborhood high school in Arlington and ranks among the best in the Washington suburbs. WL is fine, maybe even better than most, but it's not Yorktown and never will be.

And yet the white students at YHS have lower test scores than the white kids at W-L...

If by 'in common' you mean a 'mean girl environment', entitled kids, drug culture (I am a Langley grad) than I agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I sure hope Goldstein gets elected. He would be the only person on the school board who has a brain. The county board is a disaster and fortunately two of the biggest disasters are leaving. the county board doesn't think it has to care about schools, other than just lip service. The board seems to want to keep many areas in south Arlington poor and stifle economic development.

And yes, people go private or leave south arlington. Happens in my south Arlington neighborhood every year, and schools are always the reason. I send my kid to a choice school.

So, OP, if you decide to move to south Arlington, chose your neighborhood very carefully. And btw, the new affordable housing plan intends to put thousands more family units along columbia pike, focusing on the poorest part of the county on the western pike. Not a good investment in those areas.

So where's the line? Glebe? I've always been told moving along Columbia Pike easy to west- Glebe was the dividing line.
It seemed that it was moving toward S. George Mason, but I think I was being overly optimistic on that.

NP. I think the line is Glebe. Look at the APS boundary map for now. Barcroft and Randolph are the schools people are currently flipping out over, is my impression, and their boundaries are Glebe to the east. The middle school border for Kenmore vs. Jefferson or Gunston is closer to George Mason, I think.

For elementary, Henry and Oakridge are very well regarded and both are in South Arlington. I've heard mixed things about Hoffman-Boston and I can't tell what the real story is. My kids are zoned for Drew and DC1 is just now starting in the primary Montessori there. I go back and forth between refusing to sweat elementary school to appreciating the diversity to fearing for the future. We hope not to move, so we're just going to see how it goes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I sure hope Goldstein gets elected. He would be the only person on the school board who has a brain. The county board is a disaster and fortunately two of the biggest disasters are leaving. the county board doesn't think it has to care about schools, other than just lip service. The board seems to want to keep many areas in south Arlington poor and stifle economic development.

And yes, people go private or leave south arlington. Happens in my south Arlington neighborhood every year, and schools are always the reason. I send my kid to a choice school.

So, OP, if you decide to move to south Arlington, chose your neighborhood very carefully. And btw, the new affordable housing plan intends to put thousands more family units along columbia pike, focusing on the poorest part of the county on the western pike. Not a good investment in those areas.

So where's the line? Glebe? I've always been told moving along Columbia Pike easy to west- Glebe was the dividing line.
It seemed that it was moving toward S. George Mason, but I think I was being overly optimistic on that.

NP. I think the line is Glebe. Look at the APS boundary map for now. Barcroft and Randolph are the schools people are currently flipping out over, is my impression, and their boundaries are Glebe to the east. The middle school border for Kenmore vs. Jefferson or Gunston is closer to George Mason, I think.

For elementary, Henry and Oakridge are very well regarded and both are in South Arlington. I've heard mixed things about Hoffman-Boston and I can't tell what the real story is. My kids are zoned for Drew and DC1 is just now starting in the primary Montessori there. I go back and forth between refusing to sweat elementary school to appreciating the diversity to fearing for the future. We hope not to move, so we're just going to see how it goes.

Since you are zoned Drew does that guarantee getting you into the Montessori? That seems pretty good if so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I sure hope Goldstein gets elected. He would be the only person on the school board who has a brain. The county board is a disaster and fortunately two of the biggest disasters are leaving. the county board doesn't think it has to care about schools, other than just lip service. The board seems to want to keep many areas in south Arlington poor and stifle economic development.

And yes, people go private or leave south arlington. Happens in my south Arlington neighborhood every year, and schools are always the reason. I send my kid to a choice school.

So, OP, if you decide to move to south Arlington, chose your neighborhood very carefully. And btw, the new affordable housing plan intends to put thousands more family units along columbia pike, focusing on the poorest part of the county on the western pike. Not a good investment in those areas.

So where's the line? Glebe? I've always been told moving along Columbia Pike easy to west- Glebe was the dividing line.
It seemed that it was moving toward S. George Mason, but I think I was being overly optimistic on that.

NP. I think the line is Glebe. Look at the APS boundary map for now. Barcroft and Randolph are the schools people are currently flipping out over, is my impression, and their boundaries are Glebe to the east. The middle school border for Kenmore vs. Jefferson or Gunston is closer to George Mason, I think.

For elementary, Henry and Oakridge are very well regarded and both are in South Arlington. I've heard mixed things about Hoffman-Boston and I can't tell what the real story is. My kids are zoned for Drew and DC1 is just now starting in the primary Montessori there. I go back and forth between refusing to sweat elementary school to appreciating the diversity to fearing for the future. We hope not to move, so we're just going to see how it goes.

Since you are zoned Drew does that guarantee getting you into the Montessori? That seems pretty good if so.

No. We applied to the lottery and got in. My loose understanding is that if your child is in any Montessori, whether elsewhere in the county or private, then you stand a good shot at getting into Drew's program for elementary. It may be guaranteed for county Montessori participants. If not, then you probably won't get in because it's a popular program and gives sibling preference, etc. The traditional program at Drew is so much smaller than the Montessori that I have a hard time believing it doesn't get shorted in terms of resources, so we are trying the Montessori and were lucky enough to get in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yorktown has more in common with Mclean and Langley than WL. It clearly is the best neighborhood high school in Arlington and ranks among the best in the Washington suburbs. WL is fine, maybe even better than most, but it's not Yorktown and never will be.

And yet the white students at YHS have lower test scores than the white kids at W-L...

If by 'in common' you mean a 'mean girl environment', entitled kids, drug culture (I am a Langley grad) than I agree.

FWIW even the black kids at Yorktown have lower test scores than at W-L:

2015 SAT average scores:
Yorktown
White: 1830 (277 kids)
Black: 1264 (14 kids)
Hispanic: 1578 (40 kids)
Asian: 1714 (26 kids)

Washington-Lee
White: 1862 (140 kids)
Black: 1414 (32 kids)
Hispanic: 1545 (66 kids)
Asian: 1605 (39 kids)

Yorktown is getting better test results than W-L only on its Asian kids and (but only very marginally) its Hispanic kids. Everyone else is doing better at W-L, black kids most of all (a whopping 150 points better, which is like a 20 percentile difference).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I sure hope Goldstein gets elected. He would be the only person on the school board who has a brain. The county board is a disaster and fortunately two of the biggest disasters are leaving. the county board doesn't think it has to care about schools, other than just lip service. The board seems to want to keep many areas in south Arlington poor and stifle economic development.

And yes, people go private or leave south arlington. Happens in my south Arlington neighborhood every year, and schools are always the reason. I send my kid to a choice school.

So, OP, if you decide to move to south Arlington, chose your neighborhood very carefully. And btw, the new affordable housing plan intends to put thousands more family units along columbia pike, focusing on the poorest part of the county on the western pike. Not a good investment in those areas.

So where's the line? Glebe? I've always been told moving along Columbia Pike easy to west- Glebe was the dividing line.
It seemed that it was moving toward S. George Mason, but I think I was being overly optimistic on that.

NP. I think the line is Glebe. Look at the APS boundary map for now. Barcroft and Randolph are the schools people are currently flipping out over, is my impression, and their boundaries are Glebe to the east. The middle school border for Kenmore vs. Jefferson or Gunston is closer to George Mason, I think.

For elementary, Henry and Oakridge are very well regarded and both are in South Arlington. I've heard mixed things about Hoffman-Boston and I can't tell what the real story is. My kids are zoned for Drew and DC1 is just now starting in the primary Montessori there. I go back and forth between refusing to sweat elementary school to appreciating the diversity to fearing for the future. We hope not to move, so we're just going to see how it goes.

Since you are zoned Drew does that guarantee getting you into the Montessori? That seems pretty good if so.

No. We applied to the lottery and got in. My loose understanding is that if your child is in any Montessori, whether elsewhere in the county or private, then you stand a good shot at getting into Drew's program for elementary. It may be guaranteed for county Montessori participants. If not, then you probably won't get in because it's a popular program and gives sibling preference, etc. The traditional program at Drew is so much smaller than the Montessori that I have a hard time believing it doesn't get shorted in terms of resources, so we are trying the Montessori and were lucky enough to get in.

Thanks for the response. That makes sense. Glad to hear it worked out for your family. I've heard good things, so I would suspect you will be pleased... Aside from the PTA fundraising debacle they experienced last year. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I had understood that the Montessori and regular programs combined test scores. That would be why it doesn't show better scores. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Anonymous]

I've been watching this thread with interest. Couple of comments/questions:

1) I think the "line" has moved to S George Mason, which is exactly why people are flipping out, as someone pointed out. Barcroft looked like a pretty good school, even if the rate of FARMs was a little high, and now it seems to be struggling. The gentrification is going strong, but the school is making people nuts. I think stuff west of Mason still looks lower, though the houses just across there are pretty nice.

2) I hope that the County board reads these threads, because something has to happen. The angst on here is amazing - it's either the same 3 people posting or representative of South Arlington.

3) South Arlington can't secede - there are state laws that prevent dense areas from incorporating or further dividing. If that were the case, Rosslyn could have become a city and kept all its money, like many places that used to be in Fairfax.

4) Any more info about new schools much appreciated! Makes me less nervous about our choice to live South of Rt 50.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I sure hope Goldstein gets elected. He would be the only person on the school board who has a brain. The county board is a disaster and fortunately two of the biggest disasters are leaving. the county board doesn't think it has to care about schools, other than just lip service. The board seems to want to keep many areas in south Arlington poor and stifle economic development.

And yes, people go private or leave south arlington. Happens in my south Arlington neighborhood every year, and schools are always the reason. I send my kid to a choice school.

So, OP, if you decide to move to south Arlington, chose your neighborhood very carefully. And btw, the new affordable housing plan intends to put thousands more family units along columbia pike, focusing on the poorest part of the county on the western pike. Not a good investment in those areas.

So where's the line? Glebe? I've always been told moving along Columbia Pike easy to west- Glebe was the dividing line.
It seemed that it was moving toward S. George Mason, but I think I was being overly optimistic on that.

NP. I think the line is Glebe. Look at the APS boundary map for now. Barcroft and Randolph are the schools people are currently flipping out over, is my impression, and their boundaries are Glebe to the east. The middle school border for Kenmore vs. Jefferson or Gunston is closer to George Mason, I think.

For elementary, Henry and Oakridge are very well regarded and both are in South Arlington. I've heard mixed things about Hoffman-Boston and I can't tell what the real story is. My kids are zoned for Drew and DC1 is just now starting in the primary Montessori there. I go back and forth between refusing to sweat elementary school to appreciating the diversity to fearing for the future. We hope not to move, so we're just going to see how it goes.

Since you are zoned Drew does that guarantee getting you into the Montessori? That seems pretty good if so.

No. We applied to the lottery and got in. My loose understanding is that if your child is in any Montessori, whether elsewhere in the county or private, then you stand a good shot at getting into Drew's program for elementary. It may be guaranteed for county Montessori participants. If not, then you probably won't get in because it's a popular program and gives sibling preference, etc. The traditional program at Drew is so much smaller than the Montessori that I have a hard time believing it doesn't get shorted in terms of resources, so we are trying the Montessori and were lucky enough to get in.

Thanks for the response. That makes sense. Glad to hear it worked out for your family. I've heard good things, so I would suspect you will be pleased... Aside from the PTA fundraising debacle they experienced last year. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I had understood that the Montessori and regular programs combined test scores. That would be why it doesn't show better scores. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm afraid I don't know anything about testing or test scores. Our oldest is only 3 and I just can't bring myself to care enough at this point. I assume it won't start for us for a couple years, but maybe I'm wrong!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I sure hope Goldstein gets elected. He would be the only person on the school board who has a brain. The county board is a disaster and fortunately two of the biggest disasters are leaving. the county board doesn't think it has to care about schools, other than just lip service. The board seems to want to keep many areas in south Arlington poor and stifle economic development.

And yes, people go private or leave south arlington. Happens in my south Arlington neighborhood every year, and schools are always the reason. I send my kid to a choice school.

So, OP, if you decide to move to south Arlington, chose your neighborhood very carefully. And btw, the new affordable housing plan intends to put thousands more family units along columbia pike, focusing on the poorest part of the county on the western pike. Not a good investment in those areas.

So where's the line? Glebe? I've always been told moving along Columbia Pike easy to west- Glebe was the dividing line.
It seemed that it was moving toward S. George Mason, but I think I was being overly optimistic on that.

NP. I think the line is Glebe. Look at the APS boundary map for now. Barcroft and Randolph are the schools people are currently flipping out over, is my impression, and their boundaries are Glebe to the east. The middle school border for Kenmore vs. Jefferson or Gunston is closer to George Mason, I think.

For elementary, Henry and Oakridge are very well regarded and both are in South Arlington. I've heard mixed things about Hoffman-Boston and I can't tell what the real story is. My kids are zoned for Drew and DC1 is just now starting in the primary Montessori there. I go back and forth between refusing to sweat elementary school to appreciating the diversity to fearing for the future. We hope not to move, so we're just going to see how it goes.

Since you are zoned Drew does that guarantee getting you into the Montessori? That seems pretty good if so.

No. We applied to the lottery and got in. My loose understanding is that if your child is in any Montessori, whether elsewhere in the county or private, then you stand a good shot at getting into Drew's program for elementary. It may be guaranteed for county Montessori participants. If not, then you probably won't get in because it's a popular program and gives sibling preference, etc. The traditional program at Drew is so much smaller than the Montessori that I have a hard time believing it doesn't get shorted in terms of resources, so we are trying the Montessori and were lucky enough to get in.

Thanks for the response. That makes sense. Glad to hear it worked out for your family. I've heard good things, so I would suspect you will be pleased... Aside from the PTA fundraising debacle they experienced last year. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I had understood that the Montessori and regular programs combined test scores. That would be why it doesn't show better scores. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm afraid I don't know anything about testing or test scores. Our oldest is only 3 and I just can't bring myself to care enough at this point. I assume it won't start for us for a couple years, but maybe I'm wrong!

Well, you are mentally healthier for it!!! Also, they aren't the end all be all for sure. They do provide some useful info. Write back at some point and let us know how you are enjoying Drew!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been watching this thread with interest. Couple of comments/questions:

1) I think the "line" has moved to S George Mason, which is exactly why people are flipping out, as someone pointed out. Barcroft looked like a pretty good school, even if the rate of FARMs was a little high, and now it seems to be struggling. The gentrification is going strong, but the school is making people nuts. I think stuff west of Mason still looks lower, though the houses just across there are pretty nice.

2) I hope that the County board reads these threads, because something has to happen. The angst on here is amazing - it's either the same 3 people posting or representative of South Arlington.

3) South Arlington can't secede - there are state laws that prevent dense areas from incorporating or further dividing. If that were the case, Rosslyn could have become a city and kept all its money, like many places that used to be in Fairfax.

4) Any more info about new schools much appreciated! Makes me less nervous about our choice to live South of Rt 50.

I'm the PP whose kid is starting Montessori. I have read other threads on here about the "crisis at Barcroft" many of which seemed to be started by the same poster. The issue seems to be overcrowding, which I've read is also a problem elsewhere including at Drew. There's a new elem in the works that is targeted to be open in 2019 I believe.

Honestly, there is a lot of angst but I feel good about my choices when I don't read dcum on the subject. We bought a nice new house that is spacious enough for our kids to have their own rooms and us to host visiting friends and family and potentially have space for family to move in, which was important to us. We have 5 families on our block alone with young children about our kids' age. We are upper middle class yuppies that plan to be involved in our kids' education, which most research shows is the most important factor, and we aren't targeting the Ivy league (DH in fact would be thrilled if they wind up at UVA or even a non-flagship VA public). Racial and SES diversity is somewhat important to us. Wakefield is a fine school with new facilities and is also still 10 years off for us. And, if it's not working out, we can consider moving or pay for private with the money we didn't put into a North Arl house of comparable size.

I will say if I had to do it over again, I might have looked harder at Crystal City or the Arlington Ridge area, or someplace just a few blocks farther north to get into the Henry zone. That would alleviate some of my residual guilt about trading house for schools (I do have some). I also think the Crystal City area is nice from a lifestyle perspective, in that it has some walkable retail and restaurants, and the metro. Presumably that's reflected in the price of housing though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP who first mentioned the new high school. I said that WL families would have priority, others would then lottery and test in. We all know how it goes with a specific area getting preference, it eventually becomes primarily for that geographic area because so few spots are available for other kids in other areas. So yes, it is in S. Arlington, but priority for N. Arlington kids. What the county needs is a new general high school, not a choice school with preferences. This enables the county to take just enough kids away from over crowded high schools to avoid a whole new high school.

I've been to a presentation at the career center by the head of this new program and he didn't say anything about this. They were tryIng to drum up interest among all middle schoolers for the Arlington Tech program, which will grow as they add capacity to the building per the a soap. I have no idea what you're talking about re:W-L, but you're wrong.

I definitely read somewhere that the district has said W-L students will have priority for the new Tech HS to relieve overcrowding there. Maybe it was in ArlNow or the local newspaper. But it was definitely a statement from a school district representative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been watching this thread with interest. Couple of comments/questions:

1) I think the "line" has moved to S George Mason, which is exactly why people are flipping out, as someone pointed out. Barcroft looked like a pretty good school, even if the rate of FARMs was a little high, and now it seems to be struggling. The gentrification is going strong, but the school is making people nuts. I think stuff west of Mason still looks lower, though the houses just across there are pretty nice.

2) I hope that the County board reads these threads, because something has to happen. The angst on here is amazing - it's either the same 3 people posting or representative of South Arlington.

3) South Arlington can't secede - there are state laws that prevent dense areas from incorporating or further dividing. If that were the case, Rosslyn could have become a city and kept all its money, like many places that used to be in Fairfax.

4) Any more info about new schools much appreciated! Makes me less nervous about our choice to live South of Rt 50.

I suspect there are a few of the same people ( I'm one!) but I don't think that it's because other people don't care- I've talked to new parents and they just aren't aware of what's going on. If you bought in alcova heights, Bancroft, Douglas park etc... 6-7 years ago you were fed a bunch of stuff from realtors and older neighbors. The crowding was a north Arlington problem! we are putting in upgrades to mass transit ( streetcar)! you will always be able to switch to a choice school... I think there are quite a few young south Arlington parents who are busy with their daily lives and don't know what's going on.
Even if you weren't pro streetcar, many of these newer residence don't know the history of planning that went into it. They don't realize that SFH owners along that area of the county made compromises that many would consider negative to their schools and home values. They don't realize that it's full steam ahead on all of the less desirable parts of the " Columbia Pike Revitalization Plan" - more housing density and more subsidized housing. All crammed into the same 4-6 blocks. The schools are at capacity now... The traffic is terrible now...
There aren't adequate plans in place to improve these issues.
I think it might be a small vocal minorty speaking up, but that number will grow as people see what has happened. The fear is that it will then be too late. Those apartment buildings will be up and commited to subsidized housing for 50-60 years.
We might have some better buses? There is supposedly a new elementary coming, but no one wants it near them and the board isn't super interested in forcing the issue. They are tight lipped about whether it will be choice or not.


The shocking part is that the county board is surprised that they are getting push back. There needs to be more push back. Truly, no on is Willing to look at the ramifications of these decisions at the top levels. It's unbelievably frustrating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been watching this thread with interest. Couple of comments/questions:

1) I think the "line" has moved to S George Mason, which is exactly why people are flipping out, as someone pointed out. Barcroft looked like a pretty good school, even if the rate of FARMs was a little high, and now it seems to be struggling. The gentrification is going strong, but the school is making people nuts. I think stuff west of Mason still looks lower, though the houses just across there are pretty nice.

2) I hope that the County board reads these threads, because something has to happen. The angst on here is amazing - it's either the same 3 people posting or representative of South Arlington.

3) South Arlington can't secede - there are state laws that prevent dense areas from incorporating or further dividing. If that were the case, Rosslyn could have become a city and kept all its money, like many places that used to be in Fairfax.

4) Any more info about new schools much appreciated! Makes me less nervous about our choice to live South of Rt 50.

I suspect there are a few of the same people ( I'm one!) but I don't think that it's because other people don't care- I've talked to new parents and they just aren't aware of what's going on. If you bought in alcova heights, Bancroft, Douglas park etc... 6-7 years ago you were fed a bunch of stuff from realtors and older neighbors. The crowding was a north Arlington problem! we are putting in upgrades to mass transit ( streetcar)! you will always be able to switch to a choice school... I think there are quite a few young south Arlington parents who are busy with their daily lives and don't know what's going on.
Even if you weren't pro streetcar, many of these newer residence don't know the history of planning that went into it. They don't realize that SFH owners along that area of the county made compromises that many would consider negative to their schools and home values. They don't realize that it's full steam ahead on all of the less desirable parts of the " Columbia Pike Revitalization Plan" - more housing density and more subsidized housing. All crammed into the same 4-6 blocks. The schools are at capacity now... The traffic is terrible now...
There aren't adequate plans in place to improve these issues.
I think it might be a small vocal minorty speaking up, but that number will grow as people see what has happened. The fear is that it will then be too late. Those apartment buildings will be up and commited to subsidized housing for 50-60 years.
We might have some better buses? There is supposedly a new elementary coming, but no one wants it near them and the board isn't super interested in forcing the issue. They are tight lipped about whether it will be choice or not.


The shocking part is that the county board is surprised that they are getting push back. There needs to be more push back. Truly, no on is Willing to look at the ramifications of these decisions at the top levels. It's unbelievably frustrating.

I'm glad that people do care! I just hope that something comes of it. I really don't want to move to Annandale or something.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/millennials-have-transformed-arlington-but-will-they-stay/2015/08/29/79a33cae-ed01-11e4-8abc-d6aa3bad79dd_story.html

[Anonymous]

^^^ yet the " solution" to get millennials, who are looking for more space, to stay... Is MICRO UNITS???

Say what?!?!?!?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^^ yet the " solution" to get millennials, who are looking for more space, to stay... Is MICRO UNITS???

Say what?!?!?!?

Yeah, that part is dumb. I would think the better option is more sp[ace, since its the middle class millenials who leave for bigger houses. I would love to afford an addition to our cottage house.