Glebe Elementary APS
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Anonymous
| Considering a home that feeds to this school for elementary. What's it like there? How's the community? Are all the elementary schools in this area of Arlington roughly the same? |
Anonymous
| Not sure what district boundaries are but in general it's a nice part of Arlington so long as you are not right near Langston Blvd which is busy and has a bunch of junky shops. What middle school? |
Anonymous
| It is zoned for Swanson MS and Wahington Liberty HS. The house is just north of Washington blvd. |
Anonymous
| Sounds like you are looking in my neighborhood. It's a nice community and great school. Principal has been there a long time, the teachers too. Lots of school community events and involved families. My kids were happy at Glebe. Swanson is fine too. Building is old but the community is good. |
Anonymous
| That's good to hear! How is the community in general? We live on the Hill currently and have a 3 and 4 year old. Are there lots of young kids nearby? Is it easy enough to meet people and build community before starting at school in that area? |
Anonymous
Yes- it’s very welcoming and friendly. That street has quite a few kids on it and the one a right behind it as well. The park is also a great place to hang out and then chat with other parents. There are two parks close by. |
Anonymous
| I just remember hearing a lot of complaints about how out of hand the yearly auction got but I'm not from that community so I'm not sure if it was outsiders looking in with jealousy or legit complaints. |
Anonymous
That was either many years ago or a different school. It's been totally fine since the pandemic. I did hear such comments about a different school this year.... But I won't name names. |
Anonymous
That was a decade ago. The PTA raised a ton of money. It was an equity issue I think. |
Anonymous
|
We were at Glebe but didn’t love it; it has a larger degree of economic diversity than other N Arlington schools, which leads to a lot of bragging about diversity, but what we found was economic segregation. I was friends with a (non-white) mother who commented that as soon as you mentioned an ethnic sounding name, many parents got a glazed over look and backed away (figuratively). Also the admin - we have a obviously non-white last name despite being white, and were constantly called about free lunch or made to waive Medicaid during 504 meetings; I asked our friends w/european last names and they didn’t receive the calls or the awkward forms during meetings, so that left a bad taste. The UMC parents were annoying, which is to be expected in the area, I suppose, but the Halls Hill neighborhood seems to attract a thirsty/insecure crowd. A number of the Glebe teachers were awesome, but we had an equal number of abysmal ones. Not great with 504 plans - counselor told us dyslexia can’t be diagnosed until st least 3rd grade (we had a private neuropsych eval and diagnosis, and pointed out research shows poorer outcomes waiting until 3rd); principal told our friends their kid didn’t need adhd meds bc she had adhd and didn’t use them. Main downside to Glebe is that the current boundaries split the school for middle school, then the middle schools also split for high school. So basically our kids would only have continued on with the kids in our neighborhood - and on our street, of the 5 houses that had kids our age, we were the only ones at Glebe! Others were option school, private, etc, so no classmates. Could be fine, but definitely think the Jamestown/nottingham/tuckahoe kids who are together from kinder have an advantage there.
We moved to a different APS school and were much happier. However, families we left behind seem happy, so it’s personal preference. Good luck. |
Anonymous
| I'd look to move further - north of lee highway - too tight over in that area you are considering |
Anonymous
| I’m not sure I follow what you mean there. Can you elaborate on what you mean by “too tight”? |
Anonymous
| NP. Both my kids went there in the past 5 years and loved it. I worked full-time and used extended day, which was really convenient. Lots of stay at home or work from home parents that keep the volunteering robust, and I helped when I could. My kids left Glebe loving going to school. So I consider that a huge win. |
Anonymous
I live in Arlington near there and I have no idea what “too tight” means either. I really like the neighborhood you are considering and have heard good things from our friends at Glebe. |
Anonymous
I think the poster is referring to property, traffic, congestion etc. |