Which elementary school in Arlington?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:This is PP: I’d also consider Oakridge for elementary.

that’s an insane recommendation and I say that as a S Arlington resident and school employee.

Why? I thought Oakridge was the good SA school?

You must be new here... do a search. (NP)

Just looked. People complaining the principal is bad but won’t say why.

If that’s all you found, search again.

Yeah, search arlnow and “outdoor lab”

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:We did the move from DC to Arlington. We live in South Arlington - on purpose! We’ve found it to be a much better vibe for us vs the north Arlington neighborhoods we were looking at. We wanted more diversity and slightly less gunner attitudes. We go to a pool in north Arlington and every summer it justifies our decision.

We drove around every weekend for a few weeks and got out and walked the neighborhoods we liked. Go to the playgrounds and you’ll get a vibe of the communities.

Please tell me you’re not judging North Arlington on the knights of Columbus pool!

Why? Inquiring minds want to know! Is it much different from other N.Arl pools??

It is.

Its a bunch of Catholic families pounding beers every weekend. Crowded and dirty.

This is really only a small portion of the members at this point. Most are just families (many who aren't even Catholic) who didn't know to get on a pool list a decade before kids.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My kids have been in N Arl and S Arl elementaries. And they’ve been through APS middle school. I’d say you should look at Jamestown, Nottingham, Taylor, Discovery. If you need public transportation nearby look at Glebe (can be more expensive to buy because it’s near Ballston) Tuckahoe. Consider Ashlawn as well. If you need S Arl for some reason, I’d consider Long Branch.

I do love that one "South Arlington" school you deem acceptable is actually in NORTH Arlington.

You'll find that the schools have the same curriculum way over on the scary south side. There might be some incredibly lovely Hispanic families at your school that you'll have to interact with. They might live in APAH housing too. Your house will cost $200-700k less, and you will be surrounded by the actual middle class. Many of your neighbors are will also be people who work to enrich the community (like teachers!) and there will be fewer lobbyists and lawyers.

All of these things add up to wonderful communities of diverse families. I know people with kids at every single South Arlington elementary school and they are all happy. These are families that value education and want their kids to have the best educational outcomes. Don't believe the boogey man talk these are doomed schools because they serve a needier population. That it what people who pay half a million dollars more for the same house like to preach, but it is not the case on the ground.

If you read my post, you’d see that my kids DID go to a S Arl elementary. And a N Arl one. And based on that, I made the recommendations I did. Didn’t say particular schools were scary.

"If you need South Arlington for some reason.[u]...."
You clearly don't "recommend" anything in south Arlington period. Did your kids go to all of those north Arlington schools - and that's why you make the recommendation for all of those schools? You didn't recommend your middle school. OP did mention elementary and middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is PP: I’d also consider Oakridge for elementary.

Are you going to reconsider again and add Fleet? I think then you will have covered all but the highest FRL schools in the system. Why don't you just say, any school with less than 30% FRL?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is PP: I’d also consider Oakridge for elementary.

that’s an insane recommendation and I say that as a S Arlington resident and school employee.

Why? I thought Oakridge was the good SA school?

"THE" good one? Yeah. Nice.
Fleet was a Blue Ribbon school, btw.
Students from all those other bad schools still seem to excel in middle and high school and beyond. Miraculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is PP: I’d also consider Oakridge for elementary.

that’s an insane recommendation and I say that as a S Arlington resident and school employee.

Why? I thought Oakridge was the good SA school?

So much for your "experience" in both N and SA schools.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:If you can afford N Arlington, why not go to McLean instead? Schools are better.

A lot of families are drawn specifically to the sports focus at Yorktown. It is consistently one of the top sports schools in the state and possibly one of the top tier sports schools in the country. Many notable pro and Olympic athletes are Yorktown alumni. The problem is making the teams when so many try out.

. One of the top tier sports schools in the country? Oh please give me a break. They are good at sports that mostly rich kids play. Who are all these notable pro and Olympic athletes. A few swimmers and a football player in the last 40 years.

Hard to argue with these points.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:If you can afford N Arlington, why not go to McLean instead? Schools are better.

A lot of families are drawn specifically to the sports focus at Yorktown. It is consistently one of the top sports schools in the state and possibly one of the top tier sports schools in the country. Many notable pro and Olympic athletes are Yorktown alumni. The problem is making the teams when so many try out.

. One of the top tier sports schools in the country? Oh please give me a break. They are good at sports that mostly rich kids play. Who are all these notable pro and Olympic athletes. A few swimmers and a football player in the last 40 years.

Hard to argue with these points.

I do think there are parents, mostly of girls, that get spooked about making teams at YHS and look for other schools that Betty can participate.

[Anonymous]

For middle schools, I have to keep my recommendations to Hamm or Williamsburg. I don’t think Jefferson is as good as the other two but it is definitely a better option over Swanson, Kenmore or Gunston. Middle school isn’t spectacular anywhere in Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For middle schools, I have to keep my recommendations to Hamm or Williamsburg. I don’t think Jefferson is as good as the other two but it is definitely a better option over Swanson, Kenmore or Gunston. Middle school isn’t spectacular anywhere in Arlington.

Not an APS fan here but in fairness to Arlington, middles school isn’t spectacular anywhere PERIOD. I’m not sure you can point to anywhere locally or is like way better.

[Anonymous]

My kids sailed through middle school at Williamsburg, and unfortunately was very ill prepared for intensified classes at Yorktown. The middle school does a very poor job of teaching study skills, organization, and also…the policies regarding late work, allows them to be lackadaisical and still get straight A’s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you can afford N Arlington, why not go to McLean instead? Schools are better.

A lot of families are drawn specifically to the sports focus at Yorktown. It is consistently one of the top sports schools in the state and possibly one of the top tier sports schools in the country. Many notable pro and Olympic athletes are Yorktown alumni. The problem is making the teams when so many try out.

. One of the top tier sports schools in the country? Oh please give me a break. They are good at sports that mostly rich kids play. Who are all these notable pro and Olympic athletes. A few swimmers and a football player in the last 40 years.

Mostly rich kids sports? Hasn’t Wakefield won states in rowing the past couple years in a row?

Yorktown does rank near the top in the commonwealth every year for the number of vhsl state championship teams. W-L also has strong teams but not the yearly state championship output.

Of all the Arlington schools making teams at Yorktown is the toughest. There are just too many trying out.

[Anonymous]

We’ve been happy with Discovery. I mean, it’s a walk down the hill so that’s definitely part of it, but have mostly had good teachers too. You have to pay through the nose to live in the neighborhood though, even more so than when we bought our home a few years ago.

[Anonymous]

We moved to Nottingham ES for first- just bc that is where we found a house we loved. It’s a wonderful community. I have an IEP kid and he’s gotten great services. The teachers have been wonderful and engaged, and the staff are really nice. I feel like people are actively engaged in building a strong community. Of course, I also learned the school has a target on its back and APS is always looking to shut it down on every few years… so there’s that. Come on over- we can use the enrollment I guess… (haha too soon?) in all seriousness we have really loved it there and we really understood why people were upset that such a nice community school was on the chopping block.

[Anonymous]

We’re researching Arlington too. I found this overview of local elementary schools useful as a starting point: https://moonpreneur.com/school/e/va/arlington. Would love to hear real parent recommendations.