Home buying based on schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, OP - what county are you looking in? Budget? Schools matter, but so does community, resources nearby, etc. Those things matter a lot when you have kids.

This is good advice. For example, one highly rated HS in the area is Langley, but most of the homes in the area lack sidewalks, so you have to drive everywhere. Maybe you are fine with that?

Time was the Falls Church City school system was highly regarded. Be very careful with boundary changes though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just look for schools with the highest percentage of white kids. No need for all this coded talk. We know what you are looking for.

Lol was wondering when the racism would come in. We're looking in DC, our preferred areas now are Petworth, around H street, and Hill East. We're both gov't employees so can't really afford private schools unless they're religiously affiliated. House max is about 1.2 million so at least that helps. And great point about the community/other resources, I hadn't really thought about that but it's a great point. What kinds of resources has it helped to have around with little kids?

Where do you live now? Why are those your preferred areas? We moved from Columbia Heights/Park View area and were looking in Petworth, CoHi, some near NE neighborhoods, just because that's where we had friends, had heard of people moving, etc. Our realtor took us to some areas not on our list (some good, some bad) and we ended up buying in a completely different neighborhood we had not considered. I think you should start from the school list and work out, not from a neighborhood list and work in.

In your shoes, I'd look in Manor Park or Takoma. Neighborhood resources include rec center, pool, playgrounds, good IB elementary schools, libraries, and metro access. More residential than H Street or Hill East, but convenient to everything you need. Extremely affordable compared to what you're considering, and you'll get a yard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a catch 22.

If you pick a neighborhood where the schools are mostly UMC, your kid will be competing with those kids for colleges, but they will more than likely have a higher achieving peer group with less (not zero) behavioral issues. However, your kid will always be comparing themselves to the Joneses, as it were.

Whereas a school with a mix of SES may have more issues, but there still may be a significant group of higher achieving kids but still tough for college admissions.

If your kid goes to a lower SES school but is high achieving, they will have a better shot at elite universities, however, there will likely be more behavioral issue and less higher achieving students (hence a higher chance of elite college admissions from that school).

YMMV of course, but I would pick #2. That's what we did.

There are NOVA high schools with mixed SES student bodies where a student on a top track will rarely if ever be in the same class as a student on a bottom track

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a catch 22.

If you pick a neighborhood where the schools are mostly UMC, your kid will be competing with those kids for colleges, but they will more than likely have a higher achieving peer group with less (not zero) behavioral issues. However, your kid will always be comparing themselves to the Joneses, as it were.

Whereas a school with a mix of SES may have more issues, but there still may be a significant group of higher achieving kids but still tough for college admissions.

If your kid goes to a lower SES school but is high achieving, they will have a better shot at elite universities, however, there will likely be more behavioral issue and less higher achieving students (hence a higher chance of elite college admissions from that school).

YMMV of course, but I would pick #2. That's what we did.

There are NOVA high schools with mixed SES student bodies where a student on a top track will rarely if ever be in the same class as a student on a bottom track

PP here, yes, we are in MCPS and that's true to some degree, especially AP classes.

However, "honors" classes are a joke, and in many HS, those are the only classes; no regular classes for that subject. There aren't too many AP classes for freshman/sophmores, though my kids have taken two as freshmens.

So classes like math, which my kids are in the advanced track, and some AP classes are self segregated but that's about it.

Like I said, it's a catch 22 because I also didn't want my kids surrounded by just UMC wealthy families. We are lower UMC, but we are fairly frugal. My kids don't have the latest and greatest, and we drive normal cars. We did live in a very wealthy area when our kids were younger, and I didn't want my kids going to a HS where the parking lot looks like a luxury car dealership. That's not the environment I want my kids surrounded by.

[Anonymous]

OP: There is no easy answer. What is it that you value or think you might be interested in for kids in school?

All of the counties run things a bit differently. FCPS has schools that provide language immersion (Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, and German) that you might be interested in. You can get into the schools from out of boundary through a lottery, some you cannot. If you might be interested in language immersion in the future, it might be worth it to buy a house that attends that school. Arlington has language immersion but I think it is a lottery only school and not a neighborhood school?

DC and Arlington have a bunch of option schools that use a lottery to assign seats. FCPS has an arts and STEM magnate school that is lottery based.

FCPS has a formal Advanced Academic Program that is meant for kids who are ahead and is a pull out program. Kids have a choice to attend a Center school with AAP classes, some schools have local programs with AAP classes, and some schools use the curriculum in every class. Arlington provides push in services for kids who are ahead. I have no idea what DC or Alexandria do.

MCPS has STEM magnate schools for MS and HS that are a weighted lottery.

Honestly, there are tons of data pieces that can be looked at.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just look for schools with the highest percentage of white kids. No need for all this coded talk. We know what you are looking for.

Lol was wondering when the racism would come in. We're looking in DC, our preferred areas now are Petworth, around H street, and Hill East. We're both gov't employees so can't really afford private schools unless they're religiously affiliated. House max is about 1.2 million so at least that helps. And great point about the community/other resources, I hadn't really thought about that but it's a great point. What kinds of resources has it helped to have around with little kids?

As another fed living in DC, if you know you can’t afford private and need a good public school, I would focus on Fairfax County, Arlington, or MoCo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP: There is no easy answer. What is it that you value or think you might be interested in for kids in school?

All of the counties run things a bit differently. FCPS has schools that provide language immersion (Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, and German) that you might be interested in. You can get into the schools from out of boundary through a lottery, some you cannot. If you might be interested in language immersion in the future, it might be worth it to buy a house that attends that school. Arlington has language immersion but I think it is a lottery only school and not a neighborhood school?

DC and Arlington have a bunch of option schools that use a lottery to assign seats. FCPS has an arts and STEM magnate school that is lottery based.

FCPS has a formal Advanced Academic Program that is meant for kids who are ahead and is a pull out program. Kids have a choice to attend a Center school with AAP classes, some schools have local programs with AAP classes, and some schools use the curriculum in every class. Arlington provides push in services for kids who are ahead. I have no idea what DC or Alexandria do.

MCPS has STEM magnate schools for MS and HS that are a weighted lottery.

Honestly, there are tons of data pieces that can be looked at.

Fairfax' uber-woke administration is trying desperately to eliminate the AAP classes, and especially AAP "center schools."

The latest effort aims to expand "E3 math" - where the AAP match is eliminated, they try to teach the advanced material to every student regardless of ability, and maybe - in the teachers' spare time - they offer a little "pull out session" for advanced kids. They claim equity is their #1 priority.

At the state level, the last administration tried to eliminate higher math offerings in all high schools (through a paused initiative called "VMPI"), again, all in the name of "equity."

[Anonymous]

OP the real estate board and the individual school system boards here can be really helpful if you narrow your search a bit.

Dc?
MD?
VA?
Where are you commuting to? Each day? How long a drive are you ok with?
Budget?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just look for schools with the highest percentage of white kids. No need for all this coded talk. We know what you are looking for.

Lol was wondering when the racism would come in. We're looking in DC, our preferred areas now are Petworth, around H street, and Hill East. We're both gov't employees so can't really afford private schools unless they're religiously affiliated. House max is about 1.2 million so at least that helps. And great point about the community/other resources, I hadn't really thought about that but it's a great point. What kinds of resources has it helped to have around with little kids?

Look at the outer edges of the Ludlow Taylor boundaries. Petworth has a lot of pretty good schools, and great charters.

[Anonymous]

OP, it sounds to me like you are in a bit over your head, for now at least! Which is fine, you have some time. All the ins and outs of school decisions in the DMV are pretty complicated. If I were you, I would spend some time going through these forums (fora?) and start to collect info, opinions and feedback on the schools in the neighborhoods you are looking at. Even better, start to talk to people you know with kids, ideally in schools!, in real life. People who you trust or can get a feel for what they value and then how they feel about their school(s). People have drastically different criteria, standards, goals, etc. for their kids' schools, so the opinions on here can really run the range from valuable to worthless depending on what you value. No one rating or ranking is going to capture it.

[Anonymous]

PP back to add: Also realize that it's also complicated by the fact that if you move for the school before you even have the kid, it all could change quite a bit before your kid even starts, and definitely before your kid finishes at any particular school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just look for schools with the highest percentage of white kids. No need for all this coded talk. We know what you are looking for.

Lol was wondering when the racism would come in. We're looking in DC, our preferred areas now are Petworth, around H street, and Hill East. We're both gov't employees so can't really afford private schools unless they're religiously affiliated. House max is about 1.2 million so at least that helps. And great point about the community/other resources, I hadn't really thought about that but it's a great point. What kinds of resources has it helped to have around with little kids?

Do you have to go to an office every day? This is going to end up to be the old “commute, schools, house: pick two” question.

[Anonymous]

OP you may get more answers on the real estate and DC public schools forums.

[Anonymous]

Many many people buy based on school quality. So that is normal.

From what colleagues say, avoid all Alexandria City public schools, avoid most PG public schools, look carefully at the high school stats if in Fairfax County, pick a W high school zone if in Montgomery, live north of Route 50 if Arlington County. Colleagues living in Alexandria City all say they sent their kids to private, some were private from the start and others moved to private later on. YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just look for schools with the highest percentage of white kids. No need for all this coded talk. We know what you are looking for.

Lol was wondering when the racism would come in. We're looking in DC, our preferred areas now are Petworth, around H street, and Hill East. We're both gov't employees so can't really afford private schools unless they're religiously affiliated. House max is about 1.2 million so at least that helps. And great point about the community/other resources, I hadn't really thought about that but it's a great point. What kinds of resources has it helped to have around with little kids?

Do you have to go to an office every day? This is going to end up to be the old “commute, schools, house: pick two” question.

Good point. The most important thing from a commute perspective might be to minimize bridge crossings. If work in DC/MD, then live on that side of the river. If work in VA, then live in VA. Work near Metro stop, then live someplace that lets one take Metro.