What kind of school will Van Ness Elementary end up being? More like Brent, Maury, or Ludlow-Taylor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're thinking of moving into the Capitol Riverfront and would love for the kids to attend the in-bound school, which is Van Ness. What do people think of Van Ness now, and what do people anticipate the school will be like in the next 5 years or so?

OP -- just move to NW and spare yourself the drama.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It will gradually improve, but ultimately the upper grades will only be as good as the middle school to which it feeds.

Well, none of the schools OP mentioned has a good middle school (the best MS feed is LT, which is apparently the school OP is least interested in). So that does nothing to answer the question. I think those are all nice schools, but if you will only be comfortable with a majority-white class then you should buy IB for Brent or Maury.

Is this what the discourse has come to?

Sorry, but I think it sucks that people trash good schools with great teachers and nice facilities because of their demographics. So why not just call it what is instead of pretending it's about what "kind of school" VN will be.

[Anonymous]

Van Ness will be sui generis. There is a sizable lower income cohort, which will continue to grow as DCHA moves forward with additional capacity. The number of SFH is relatively small and most of the other residential capacity are apartments that range from efficiencies to two bedrooms. I think it's too soon to tell what this means in the longer term. I don't see anyone losing money down the road by purchasing a condo in the neighborhood at a fair price. The neighborhood will only improve further.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Van Ness will be sui generis. There is a sizable lower income cohort, which will continue to grow as DCHA moves forward with additional capacity. The number of SFH is relatively small and most of the other residential capacity are apartments that range from efficiencies to two bedrooms. I think it's too soon to tell what this means in the longer term. I don't see anyone losing money down the road by purchasing a condo in the neighborhood at a fair price. The neighborhood will only improve further.

It would be a great location for a "Peabody south" or an ECE only campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are older so no dog in the fight anymore, but I visited VN and found it to be amazing. I think it has just as much potential as Brent/Maury, possibly even more than LT with a new principal yet again, though LT does have the advantage of a S-H feed. I'm really excited about VN's prospects. I think there are plenty of middle class people who will want to stay in such a vibrant area close to work and Metro and keep their kids at VN. Then they can look at the charters, Catholic, private for middle schools.

Why did you visit, then? Just curious?

Good question! BFF from college was moving here and visiting schools and I was curious about the reopening. I well remember the year when it closed and then the building was being considered for the first 2R campus. If my kids were still of age, I would think seriously about VN though we're IB for a sought-after elementary school. I think the fresh start is part of the appeal for me, to be honest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Van Ness will be sui generis. There is a sizable lower income cohort, which will continue to grow as DCHA moves forward with additional capacity. The number of SFH is relatively small and most of the other residential capacity are apartments that range from efficiencies to two bedrooms. I think it's too soon to tell what this means in the longer term. I don't see anyone losing money down the road by purchasing a condo in the neighborhood at a fair price. The neighborhood will only improve further.

I think we will see more younger families (millenials) staying in small apartments and condos even with 1/2 children, because of a focus on walkability and the conveniences of an urban lifestyle. I believe the idea that everyone will move away once they have older kids is an antiquated one, and that what we are seeing in the navy yard is the future of urban living. So van Ness will be a very strong school in 10 years IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Van Ness will be sui generis. There is a sizable lower income cohort, which will continue to grow as DCHA moves forward with additional capacity. The number of SFH is relatively small and most of the other residential capacity are apartments that range from efficiencies to two bedrooms. I think it's too soon to tell what this means in the longer term. I don't see anyone losing money down the road by purchasing a condo in the neighborhood at a fair price. The neighborhood will only improve further.

I think we will see more younger families (millenials) staying in small apartments and condos even with 1/2 children, because of a focus on walkability and the conveniences of an urban lifestyle. I believe the idea that everyone will move away once they have older kids is an antiquated one, and that what we are seeing in the navy yard is the future of urban living. So van Ness will be a very strong school in 10 years IMO.

I agree. They may not stay forever (no good public college here, let alone middle and HS!) but definitely people with kids will stay through elementary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Van Ness will be sui generis. There is a sizable lower income cohort, which will continue to grow as DCHA moves forward with additional capacity. The number of SFH is relatively small and most of the other residential capacity are apartments that range from efficiencies to two bedrooms. I think it's too soon to tell what this means in the longer term. I don't see anyone losing money down the road by purchasing a condo in the neighborhood at a fair price. The neighborhood will only improve further.

It would be a great location for a "Peabody south" or an ECE only campus.

A lot of people suggested that it cluster with Amidon and do just this, but the rich parents in Navy Yard freaked out--ostensibly about kids having to cross S. Capitol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Van Ness will be sui generis. There is a sizable lower income cohort, which will continue to grow as DCHA moves forward with additional capacity. The number of SFH is relatively small and most of the other residential capacity are apartments that range from efficiencies to two bedrooms. I think it's too soon to tell what this means in the longer term. I don't see anyone losing money down the road by purchasing a condo in the neighborhood at a fair price. The neighborhood will only improve further.

It would be a great location for a "Peabody south" or an ECE only campus.

A lot of people suggested that it cluster with Amidon and do just this, but the rich parents in Navy Yard freaked out--ostensibly about kids having to cross S. Capitol.

i think there was some thoughts about that with Brent as well. The issue is the school wasn't designed to be an ECE campus. They would have needed many more classrooms with attached bathrooms for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:JO wilson

Brent essentially has no public housing in its school district, .

Not true. It may not look like what you think of as public housing but Brent does have a significant public housing project in its boundary.

[Anonymous]

You mean Ellen Wilson? That's a mixed income project. Brent's FARMs rate has fallen into the single digits - it was 9% in SY 2015-2017. I remember when Brent was Title 1, ten short years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You mean Ellen Wilson? That's a mixed income project. Brent's FARMs rate has fallen into the single digits - it was 9% in SY 2015-2017. I remember when Brent was Title 1, ten short years ago.

The new Hine project will have subsidized units. Brent was still Title I five or six years ago IIRC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You mean Ellen Wilson? That's a mixed income project. Brent's FARMs rate has fallen into the single digits - it was 9% in SY 2015-2017. I remember when Brent was Title 1, ten short years ago.

The new Hine project will have subsidized units. Brent was still Title I five or six years ago IIRC.

Really? We are about to start our fifth year at Brent (2nd grade), and the lily-whiteness and/or universally high SES peers since day one has been astonishing/unexpected.

[Anonymous]

We just moved to the neighborhood, so I'm probably not the best one to weigh in on this, but I'll add my two cents.

I'm excited about the school. (Incidentally, my daughter is currently #1 on the wait list for PreK, and it doesn't look like we'll get in this year.) Between the great facility and staff, I believe there's a lot of potential there. One thing that strikes me as different from Brent, Maury, and the others is that there seems to be a number of kids from military families at Van Ness. Two different staff members said something along the lines of, "our student population is very transient because of the large number of military families." This is not necessarily bad, but it might mean that fewer families invest in the school for the long haul.

I'm just getting to know the neighborhood and Van Ness, but I'm hopeful that this will be a good option for my two children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just moved to the neighborhood, so I'm probably not the best one to weigh in on this, but I'll add my two cents.

I'm excited about the school. (Incidentally, my daughter is currently #1 on the wait list for PreK, and it doesn't look like we'll get in this year.) Between the great facility and staff, I believe there's a lot of potential there. One thing that strikes me as different from Brent, Maury, and the others is that there seems to be a number of kids from military families at Van Ness. Two different staff members said something along the lines of, "our student population is very transient because of the large number of military families." This is not necessarily bad, but it might mean that fewer families invest in the school for the long haul.

I'm just getting to know the neighborhood and Van Ness, but I'm hopeful that this will be a good option for my two children.

Just FYI a new charter is opening to serve military families - they will get a preference - so that may not continue to be the case in the future.