best neighborhoods for public schools in nova

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not OP, but this is why I am scared to death to move from MoCo to NoVa. Is it really as bad as we 'hear' about over here in Maryland? I picture conservative families who are glad that the pockets of Latinos/Hispanics and tiny clan of African-Americans keep to themselves. Sorry, but this is the 'picture' we get here. NoVa residents, tell us the truth

You pretty much described "The McLean Moms", all with beige hair. According to Those McLean Moms, all of Fairfax County schools are abysmal, except for the GT Centers that feed into McLean High School and Langley High School, and of course those students that go to TJ. The rest of the County has Those Brown People that can't speak English, can't afford to buy school lunches and can barely read.

The rest of the County is not like Those McLean Moms. So if you stay away from them, you'll be fine.

Sorry, ladies, but these are pretty ridiculous posts. First, most Fairfax schools, with a few exceptions like Langley (in McLean) and Madison (in Vienna), are quite diverse, probably more so than the Montgomery schools. And many of these "McLean Moms" that you mention happily send their kids to McLean High, which has a substantial number of Hispanic students, or in some cases over to Marshall, which has even more AA and Hispanic students, for the IB program.

So, please stereotype away if you wish, but most NoVa residents are every bit as comfortable with diversity as their Montgomery neighbors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


You pretty much described "The McLean Moms", all with beige hair. According to Those McLean Moms, all of Fairfax County schools are abysmal, except for the GT Centers that feed into McLean High School and Langley High School, and of course those students that go to TJ. The rest of the County has Those Brown People that can't speak English, can't afford to buy school lunches and can barely read.

The rest of the County is not like Those McLean Moms. So if you stay away from them, you'll be fine.

Sorry, ladies, but these are pretty ridiculous posts. First, most Fairfax schools, with a few exceptions like Langley (in McLean) and Madison (in Vienna), are quite diverse, probably more so than the Montgomery schools. And many of these "McLean Moms" that you mention happily send their kids to McLean High, which has a substantial number of Hispanic students, or in some cases over to Marshall, which has even more AA and Hispanic students, for the IB program.

So, please stereotype away if you wish, but most NoVa residents are every bit as comfortable with diversity as their Montgomery neighbors.

I think the PP was referring to "Those McLean Moms" as parents of GT Center kids that end up at Langley, McLean, and TJ and not to ALL moms in McLean. I also think that the PP was using a bit of sarcasm in the post. (At least that's the way I read it.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
We also considered Falls Church City, but George Mason is much smaller than the Fairfax County schools. If your children are athletes, as are mine, they would have to travel very far to compete against small high schools in more rural parts of the state. The competition is much weaker, and there's more travel time involved.

OTOH, if all you're concerned about is an elementary school right now, I think the Falls Church City schools would be great.

Thanks, PP -- I had not even thought about that.

[Anonymous]

McLean HS and TJ have plenty of diversity, unless you think that well-educated Koreans, Chinese, Indians, Hispanics and people from the Middle East don't provide the "right type" of diversity.

[Anonymous]

What a joke! The whole "white" NOVA thing is so ridiculous and outdated. I live in Falls Church and it's very diverse. The ethnic mix may be different than that in Montogomery County, but there is definitely diversity. I think if you look at the statistics of the schools you will see some real diversity (maybe not in the Langley pyramid, but most of the rest of the area).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What a joke! The whole "white" NOVA thing is so ridiculous and outdated. I live in Falls Church and it's very diverse. The ethnic mix may be different than that in Montogomery County, but there is definitely diversity. I think if you look at the statistics of the schools you will see some real diversity (maybe not in the Langley pyramid, but most of the rest of the area).

This is why (g)you have to be careful when painting with a broad brush. DD's school (in the Langley pyramid) is amazingly diverse, to the point where they could have a model UN there with students actually FROM so many different countries. I love that a fellow student's Chinese grandmother comes in to explain Chinese New Year, another Iranian mom comes in to talk about Persian New Year, another mom discusses the different Hindu holidays....not to mention the Greek, Colombian, Korean families.

I was worried that public school in McLean would be too vanilla for us, but I worried for no reason.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for posting PP. We live in McLean and hope that the public schools are at least as racially/ethnically diverse as the population on our street. (We are also in the Langley pyramid, and plan to send children to Churchill Rd.). I am a bit concerned, however, about economic diversity; I would very much like my children to know and be friends with children from a range of socio-economic backgrounds, but I'm not optimistic that school or community-based activities will be the places for such interactions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for posting PP. We live in McLean and hope that the public schools are at least as racially/ethnically diverse as the population on our street. (We are also in the Langley pyramid, and plan to send children to Churchill Rd.). I am a bit concerned, however, about economic diversity; I would very much like my children to know and be friends with children from a range of socio-economic backgrounds, but I'm not optimistic that school or community-based activities will be the places for such interactions.

There are students from many different nations at schools in the Langley pyramid. However, there are few black and hispanic students and fewer students still of lesser economic means. The socio-economic backgrounds range from upper-middle class to extremely wealthy. Did you really expect anything else moving into the district?

If your children participate in other types of activities in Arlington or McLean, they'll be exposed to children from a broader range of social and economic backgrounds, but it won't happen at Churchill Road or Cooper.

[Anonymous]

Did you really expect anything else moving into the district?

Actually, this issue wasn't even a passing concern. We moved to McLean after marriage and before children because my husband owns a house here, we only need one house, and it made more sense for us to live here. It is only now, as parents of young children, that we are really evaluating the public school district we are a part of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for posting PP. We live in McLean and hope that the public schools are at least as racially/ethnically diverse as the population on our street. (We are also in the Langley pyramid, and plan to send children to Churchill Rd.). I am a bit concerned, however, about economic diversity; I would very much like my children to know and be friends with children from a range of socio-economic backgrounds, but I'm not optimistic that school or community-based activities will be the places for such interactions.

20:33 again: You might be surprised on this as well. Not everyone bought in McLean during the real estate boom. DH and I moved here in 2000 when we were both government salaried peons. Take a look at the houses on your street -- knowing the Churchill Road area pretty well, some are original 1950s/1960s and some have been knocked down and are worth 2x their neighbor's....there is economic diversity here, it just may not be as evident. I would bet a lot of the seemingly "upper-middle-class" families are getting by paycheck to paycheck, much like the rest of the country.

If having your child/ren in school with kids from similar socioeconomic backgrounds doesn't provide enough economic diversity or exposure as you'd like, I would recommend involving your kids in community service projects, or other volunteer work, as they get older so that they can see that not everyone has it as good as they and their friends do. We talk honestly with our kids about how fortunate they are, have started teaching them money management and the value of saving at an early age, and include them in local philanthropy projects to try to give them some perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for posting PP. We live in McLean and hope that the public schools are at least as racially/ethnically diverse as the population on our street. (We are also in the Langley pyramid, and plan to send children to Churchill Rd.). I am a bit concerned, however, about economic diversity; I would very much like my children to know and be friends with children from a range of socio-economic backgrounds, but I'm not optimistic that school or community-based activities will be the places for such interactions.

20:33 again: You might be surprised on this as well. Not everyone bought in McLean during the real estate boom. DH and I moved here in 2000 when we were both government salaried peons. Take a look at the houses on your street -- knowing the Churchill Road area pretty well, some are original 1950s/1960s and some have been knocked down and are worth 2x their neighbor's....there is economic diversity here, it just may not be as evident. I would bet a lot of the seemingly "upper-middle-class" families are getting by paycheck to paycheck, much like the rest of the country.

If having your child/ren in school with kids from similar socioeconomic backgrounds doesn't provide enough economic diversity or exposure as you'd like, I would recommend involving your kids in community service projects, or other volunteer work, as they get older so that they can see that not everyone has it as good as they and their friends do. We talk honestly with our kids about how fortunate they are, have started teaching them money management and the value of saving at an early age, and include them in local philanthropy projects to try to give them some perspective.

Be careful, or you'll get profiled in the Washington Post for barely making ends meet on a six-figure salary like the divorced mom from Westchester, and then ridiculed. Even if everything you say is true, the percentage of students from economically challenged families in the schools in the Langley pyramid is very low compared to other parts of Fairfax County, even including some of the schools in the McLean pyramid.

But your other suggestions for ensuring that your children know they are fortunate and need to give back are very good ones indeed.