Eaton, Murch, Janney, Mann, Hearst: any timely considerations?
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Anonymous
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Hello! We will be moving in the next month or so. We are looking to move in bounds for one of the following schools (this is our order of preference, but not strong preference):
Eaton Murch Janney Mann Hearst Our big things are being in a walkable neighborhood near the metro (one of the reasons Mann is lower is because of its location). We also value aftercare (Janney seemed to have a great aftercare program). We toured all of these schools and they didn’t seem vastly different from each other. We had a slight preference toward Eaton because of the smaller size, though single family home rentals appear to be limited in that area. One of the reasons we took Lafayette off the list was because of how big the school is, even though it seemed to have the best rental options. My main question is: is there anything going on with any of these schools that we should be aware of? As in, expected renovations, leadership changes, other bad news that would make you stay away? I saw that they are looking for a new Hearst principal, but I guess new leadership could be a toss up? Our DC will be going into 1st grade. She loves art, music, dance, and reading. Eaton seemed very musically inclined which we liked (we saw a bunch of kids carrying around their instruments). And our favorite neighborhoods were Murch and Janney because they are close to work for us. Would love additional insight on any of these schools that could help tip the scales for us! |
Anonymous
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I’m an Eaton parent so will happily confirm your impression that it is a wonderful little school community with a beautiful, newly renovated building! It’s very musically minded and has two music teachers. In fact, next weekend the school is putting on its annual spring musical, Mary Poppins! If you’re still in the area, you should come check it out.
As to your question, I know of no major upheavals. We had a bumpy road to a new principal a few years ago but that has settled down and the new principal is great. The teachers love him and everyone seems happy with the situation. Housing stock is tight in the area. There are some nice apartment buildings and condos in the area that many Eaton families live in. Specifically 4000 Mass and McLean Gardens. If you are set on a single family home and would be happy at any of those schools, I suggest finding the house you like first and letting the real estate fates determine which school. |
Anonymous
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How long will you be here? If through middle and high school, consider commutes to those schools, as well. Most of the Murch area is walkable to Deal and Jackson-Reed, which I can say from experience is really nice.
On the flip side, if you want smaller middle and high schools, Eaton is a better bet, as Hardy and MacArthur are significantly smaller than Deal and JR. |
Anonymous
| Janney and Mann are less diverse and substantially richer than the other schools. |
Anonymous
| Janney has very small outdoor space considering the amount of students. I doubt kids care or notice it though. |
Anonymous
Thanks so much for your response! Great to know that you like the Principal, and we will definitely look into attending the musical. We are not dead set on a single family home, but we have a cat, and some places (like 4000 Mass) are not pet friendly. I have seen some spots at McLean Gardens pop up, and they sometimes allow cats (guessing the owner has the option to allow or not)! |
Anonymous
We plan to stay in DC through high school, but one of the reasons we are choosing to rent is to have the flexibility of being able to easily move for middle or high school. We are a one car family, so one of my top priorities is being able to walk my daughter to school so I love the idea of the Murch neighborhood being close to the middle and high schools! I imagine we will have a better idea of whether she’ll do well in a bigger vs smaller middle as we get closer to that age. |
Anonymous
| Just find a place you like IB for one of those schools, which are all fine. I would imagine Murch would have the most options in terms of walkable neighborhood rentals. |
Anonymous
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I am partial to Murch. Great location, great staff, and an overall awesome community.
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Anonymous
| Even if you could move to a new neighborhood, it would be nice for your kid to stay with friends they make. So think middle school and high school. And Deal/JR are the way to go. Murch is a great elementary school and will take you to Deal/JR. That’s what we did when we moved to DC. We rented there. Our kid went to Deal, we moved out of boundary, but by then we were grandfathered in, able to stay at Deal and continue to JR. |
Anonymous
| Hearst parent. You can’t really go wrong. I would just find the right rental. |
Anonymous
| Mann parent and I agree with PP. Find a walkable, pet friendly rental in any of those school zones. |
Anonymous
Is Janney substantially richer than all of them? The single-family homes in-bounds for Eaton are worth more than the homes in-bounds for Janney. |
Anonymous
In general the Hardy feeders are wealthier than the Deal feeders, so no, Janney is not. |
Anonymous
In general, wealthy families don't send their kids to Hardy or Deal so that's a meaningless contention. |