Commuter nightmare- any options that you would consider?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People on this forum love chiming in on topics they know nothing about. I drive 695-395-110-key bridge from the Hill every morning. I just did this drive leaving at 8:25 am. I live a 10-minute drive from 695. This morning it would have taken me UNDER HALF AN HOUR to get to MacArthur during rush hour - because MacArthur is very close to the Key Bridge. Traffic is not as bad on Mondays as Tuesday-Thursday but I will be sure to report back tomorrow on my Tuesday drive.

OP obviously realizes this isn’t a bad drive because she lives close to the highway in Hillcrest and possesses access to Google Maps. The reality is there are several schools near the highway in NW that aren’t that bad from the Hill/Hillcrest by car. There is a whole thread on this forum about people in the Brent zone commuting to Hyde - Addison.

What?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parents aren’t sending their children to Hyde-Addison instead of Brent for ECE. They are doing it a few years later in elementary to get the middle school feed. Again, stop chiming in on topics you know nothing about.

This is not a thing in real numbers. The EdScape data shows that less than 10 kids in the Brent zone go to H-A. So... if it's a thing, it's less than 10 kids across the whole school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People on this forum love chiming in on topics they know nothing about. I drive 695-395-110-key bridge from the Hill every morning. I just did this drive leaving at 8:25 am. I live a 10-minute drive from 695. This morning it would have taken me UNDER HALF AN HOUR to get to MacArthur during rush hour - because MacArthur is very close to the Key Bridge. Traffic is not as bad on Mondays as Tuesday-Thursday but I will be sure to report back tomorrow on my Tuesday drive.

OP obviously realizes this isn’t a bad drive because she lives close to the highway in Hillcrest and possesses access to Google Maps. The reality is there are several schools near the highway in NW that aren’t that bad from the Hill/Hillcrest by car. There is a whole thread on this forum about people in the Brent zone commuting to Hyde - Addison.

To be fair, traffic is much lighter in the summer precisely because parents are not driving their kids to school.

If you are familiar with Hillcrest, you will know that it is similar to parts of Brookland both the types of housing, suburban feel, and the fact that it is NOT near metro or highwway access. The closest point is if you get on Pennsylvania Ave (with a lot of other traffic) and get on 295 (with a lot of other traffic) - or cross the bridge and hop on 695 -- again, with a lot of other cars. Or go the other direction and hop on Suitland Parkway, again with a lot of other traffic and hop in with all of the rest of the commuters. I have driven that way many times for various jobs and Branch, Pennsylvania etc. get very backed up.
All that to say, even if the Brent/Hill schools statistic is true, you need to add a good chunk of time on to come from Hillcrest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parents aren’t sending their children to Hyde-Addison instead of Brent for ECE. They are doing it a few years later in elementary to get the middle school feed. Again, stop chiming in on topics you know nothing about.

Are you an H-A parent? Because I am and I assure you there are a surprising number of K and 1st graders zoned for Brent with OOB seats at H-A. You're correct in that there are not many (if any) ECE (PK3 and PK4) kids from Brent zone, but that is because the school doesn't even have enough PK spots for IB siblings, let alone OOB siblings or OOB with no preference. Occasionally an OOB PK4 might squeak in if they have an older sibling.

I say this with confidence because I was surprised to know that so many Brent families were committing to the commute so early. But they told me that they valued starting and staying at one school and have the means to make it work. As an OOB family from an IB next to Brent (so a similar commute) with the same middle and high feeder pattern...I wish we had started in K as well. The commute really just is not that bad if you have privlege - a flexible job, at least one car, and money for before/after care. If you have two parents and two cars, or some kind of carpool scenario, it's even easier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents aren’t sending their children to Hyde-Addison instead of Brent for ECE. They are doing it a few years later in elementary to get the middle school feed. Again, stop chiming in on topics you know nothing about.

Are you an H-A parent? Because I am and I assure you there are a surprising number of K and 1st graders zoned for Brent with OOB seats at H-A. You're correct in that there are not many (if any) ECE (PK3 and PK4) kids from Brent zone, but that is because the school doesn't even have enough PK spots for IB siblings, let alone OOB siblings or OOB with no preference. Occasionally an OOB PK4 might squeak in if they have an older sibling.

I say this with confidence because I was surprised to know that so many Brent families were committing to the commute so early. But they told me that they valued starting and staying at one school and have the means to make it work. As an OOB family from an IB next to Brent (so a similar commute) with the same middle and high feeder pattern...I wish we had started in K as well. The commute really just is not that bad if you have privlege - a flexible job, at least one car, and money for before/after care. If you have two parents and two cars, or some kind of carpool scenario, it's even easier.

The people who are so phobic of Brent that they are committed to spending a chunk of their lives driving around are a small and likely weird group. Probably involving a bored SAH parent. I doubt there are more than a small handful doing this for their childrens’ entire education because it makes very little sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents aren’t sending their children to Hyde-Addison instead of Brent for ECE. They are doing it a few years later in elementary to get the middle school feed. Again, stop chiming in on topics you know nothing about.

Are you an H-A parent? Because I am and I assure you there are a surprising number of K and 1st graders zoned for Brent with OOB seats at H-A. You're correct in that there are not many (if any) ECE (PK3 and PK4) kids from Brent zone, but that is because the school doesn't even have enough PK spots for IB siblings, let alone OOB siblings or OOB with no preference. Occasionally an OOB PK4 might squeak in if they have an older sibling.

I say this with confidence because I was surprised to know that so many Brent families were committing to the commute so early. But they told me that they valued starting and staying at one school and have the means to make it work. As an OOB family from an IB next to Brent (so a similar commute) with the same middle and high feeder pattern...I wish we had started in K as well. The commute really just is not that bad if you have privlege - a flexible job, at least one car, and money for before/after care. If you have two parents and two cars, or some kind of carpool scenario, it's even easier.

The people who are so phobic of Brent that they are committed to spending a chunk of their lives driving around are a small and likely weird group. Probably involving a bored SAH parent. I doubt there are more than a small handful doing this for their childrens’ entire education because it makes very little sense.

So what about the other families coming from even farther east and north? The school is 64% OOB. There are families from every Ward and most neighborhoods in DC, many of them single parent families and many of them "at risk." We have whole extended families too - several working adults bringing their kids with nieces, nephews, grandkids, and neighbors. Doing whatever it takes because housing options didn't align to what they want for their kids. Just because you can't envision it for your family, doesn't mean others aren't prioritizing this for theirs. Hence the reason OP is asking for constructive help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your older child is a girl, Elizabeth Seton.

That's still going to be a heck of a commute of relying on public transit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents aren’t sending their children to Hyde-Addison instead of Brent for ECE. They are doing it a few years later in elementary to get the middle school feed. Again, stop chiming in on topics you know nothing about.

Are you an H-A parent? Because I am and I assure you there are a surprising number of K and 1st graders zoned for Brent with OOB seats at H-A. You're correct in that there are not many (if any) ECE (PK3 and PK4) kids from Brent zone, but that is because the school doesn't even have enough PK spots for IB siblings, let alone OOB siblings or OOB with no preference. Occasionally an OOB PK4 might squeak in if they have an older sibling.

I say this with confidence because I was surprised to know that so many Brent families were committing to the commute so early. But they told me that they valued starting and staying at one school and have the means to make it work. As an OOB family from an IB next to Brent (so a similar commute) with the same middle and high feeder pattern...I wish we had started in K as well. The commute really just is not that bad if you have privlege - a flexible job, at least one car, and money for before/after care. If you have two parents and two cars, or some kind of carpool scenario, it's even easier.

The people who are so phobic of Brent that they are committed to spending a chunk of their lives driving around are a small and likely weird group. Probably involving a bored SAH parent. I doubt there are more than a small handful doing this for their childrens’ entire education because it makes very little sense.

So what about the other families coming from even farther east and north? The school is 64% OOB. There are families from every Ward and most neighborhoods in DC, many of them single parent families and many of them "at risk." We have whole extended families too - several working adults bringing their kids with nieces, nephews, grandkids, and neighbors. Doing whatever it takes because housing options didn't align to what they want for their kids. Just because you can't envision it for your family, doesn't mean others aren't prioritizing this for theirs. Hence the reason OP is asking for constructive help.

The difference being, of course, that Brent has better test scores than H-A. Other people are doing it for the ES education, not just the feed. Doing it for the feed, especially when folks are wealthy enough to live in the Brent zone (so could likely rent IB for Deal/J-R at a push, if not just go private) seems insane.

But also... there is Edscape data that shows this group is, in fact, vanishingly small. Fewer than 10 kids in the whole Brent IB. In fact, the only school 10+ Brent kids go to is Chisholm (which makes sense, it's nearby and offers a unique Spanish immersion; also, some of those people are likely in ECE and may revert to Brent later). 20 kids go there. So the fact that this poster knows a bunch of families in the first place is... anecdotal nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just jumping in to say that when I was in high school I took a bus 1.5 hours to get to high school. Sometimes I took the activity bus and it was even longer once you counted the time waiting at the Hardee's where I was dropped off. It wasn't ideal but it wasn't the worst. And sometimes you can carpool later once you find out who from your neighborhood goes there.

Is it a commuting nightmare? Of course. But it's not impossible like some on this thread are implying.

One long bus trip is inherently not the same thing as this commute. Making a bus-to-bus transfer between two infrequent routes is no joke. Miss a transfer and you're standing outside for 20 minutes in the blistering heat, freezing cold, thunderstorm, etc. while worrying about how late you're going to get to school.

+1

Students complain about buses skipping their stop, or being full and waiting another 20 minutes for the next bus, or the metro making them grt off and wait 20 minutes until the next train, etc. This commute will be stressful and awful. They will be frequently late to school unless they walk out the door at 7:15 am.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hillcrest to MacArthur non-rush hour is 22 minutes. Even if you double that it is not an hour.

It takes 45 minutes to get from MacArthur back to Hillcrest in the afternoon when school isn’t in session. I don’t think people are taking into account what a traffic cluster it is when kids are in school. My kids small school in a neighborhood becomes a cluster to get to during school drop off and after school.

[Anonymous]

This may be unpopular, but here's what I'd do:

I'd put my youngest in the best, closest school I could find and drive them (if carpool works out, great).

For the 10th grader I'd enroll them in online high school and have them take classes of their choice at UDC or similar, for enrichment.

Done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hillcrest to MacArthur non-rush hour is 22 minutes. Even if you double that it is not an hour.

If this is true I don't see why OP can't drive at 6:45am and 2pm. Take calls on the way.

Use the list-serve to arrange carpools.

[Anonymous]

There is a recent DCUM post along these lines because Brent is going to swing space. There is a small concentration of SW DC families who go to Hyde-A. But I think you will find a lot of nuanced self-selection: two parents/one with a very flexible and/or part-time job or a parent who commutes in that direction for work everyday anyways etc. Hillcrest is further than this. That said, a lot of people think the DC public high school options are JR, the set of application schools, or McA. A lot of McA students are likely commuting far to get there.

[Anonymous]

Hillcrest to MacArthur and vice versa today at 5:20 pm was 31-33 min (each way).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This may be unpopular, but here's what I'd do:

I'd put my youngest in the best, closest school I could find and drive them (if carpool works out, great).

For the 10th grader I'd enroll them in online high school and have them take classes of their choice at UDC or similar, for enrichment.

Done.

What a terrible idea. All so she can own a big SFH?