Moving from NYC Burbs to MD/DC/NOVA - Biracial Family

[Anonymous]

Don't live in MD if you will work in Arlington. Live in DC (although unless you're in Capital Hill, that commute will suck too). Check out the Kent Gardens neighborhood and school in Mean. Lots of diversity including AA/white biracial kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't live in MD if you will work in Arlington. Live in DC (although unless you're in Capital Hill, that commute will suck too). Check out the Kent Gardens neighborhood and school in Mean. Lots of diversity including AA/white biracial kids.

Huh? The school is 66% white and only 3% AA.
http://schoolprofiles.fcps.edu/schlprfl/f?p=108:13:::NO:0_CURRENT_SCHOOL_ID,P0_EDSL:036,0

[Anonymous]

Rent in Capitol Hill near Eastern Market. Coming from Brooklyn this is your best option. The PK3 programs are all good. You may not get into your IB but you will probably get in somewhere when she is 3. That buys you several years to decide whether long-term city living with kids suits you. We love it here but I get families who move in the upper grades. We've been doing a mix of public and private depending on what each kid needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rent in Capitol Hill near Eastern Market. Coming from Brooklyn this is your best option. The PK3 programs are all good. You may not get into your IB but you will probably get in somewhere when she is 3. That buys you several years to decide whether long-term city living with kids suits you. We love it here but I get families who move in the upper grades. We've been doing a mix of public and private depending on what each kid needs.

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe Shepherd Park (DC)?

Rockville MD would be a utopia for your family, but sadly that's too far for your commute (only posting it in case it would work for other readers)

I agree that Shepherd Park and Rockville would meet OP's requirements (we are a multiracial family in Shepherd Park, and there are tons more like us here), but sadly I think both are too far for an Arlington commute.

Crestwood is very similar to Shepherd Park in DC and is a beautiful neighborhood nestled into Rock Creek Park, but not as far from Arlington. This gets my vote.

[Anonymous]

Look in Alexandria, old town or Del Ray. Both are walkeae with awesome community vibes, diverse & tons of young families. For some reason the schools get bashed on here but if you talk to families who actually go there, for the most part they're very happy. We moved from NW & in my opinion, there's no comparison in schools or tightness of community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe Shepherd Park (DC)?

Rockville MD would be a utopia for your family, but sadly that's too far for your commute (only posting it in case it would work for other readers)

I agree that Shepherd Park and Rockville would meet OP's requirements (we are a multiracial family in Shepherd Park, and there are tons more like us here), but sadly I think both are too far for an Arlington commute.

Crestwood is very similar to Shepherd Park in DC and is a beautiful neighborhood nestled into Rock Creek Park, but not as far from Arlington. This gets my vote.

But Crestwood is a no-go if you're going to rely on public transit to get to work in VA (not a bad drive though). It's also not exactly what I think of as a "walkable" neighborhood - even if you live right on 16th St, you're still at least a 15 min walk to just about any kind of shop. Longer if you live closer to the park.

Alexandria/Del Ray gets my vote for you. It's not going to be as hip as Brooklyn at all. But there are walkable parts and the schools are perfectly fine (they aren't considered "elite" by the snobs of these boards but they are more diverse and have a lot of happy kids & parents).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rent in Capitol Hill near Eastern Market. Coming from Brooklyn this is your best option. The PK3 programs are all good. You may not get into your IB but you will probably get in somewhere when she is 3. That buys you several years to decide whether long-term city living with kids suits you. We love it here but I get families who move in the upper grades. We've been doing a mix of public and private depending on what each kid needs.

This.

Yes, this. If one of you works in Arlington and one near Union Station then this is a no brainer: Capitol Hill. It has the diversity you want, the metro commute, the walkable Brooklyn style lifestyle, and the schools at least for a few years (until grade 5 if you move in boundary for Brent). Charter schools too.

All these other places are very nice and diverse (Crestwood, SP, Rockville, SS) but the commute will destroy your soul, especially if you insist on public transit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rent in Capitol Hill near Eastern Market. Coming from Brooklyn this is your best option. The PK3 programs are all good. You may not get into your IB but you will probably get in somewhere when she is 3. That buys you several years to decide whether long-term city living with kids suits you. We love it here but I get families who move in the upper grades. We've been doing a mix of public and private depending on what each kid needs.

This.

Yes, this. If one of you works in Arlington and one near Union Station then this is a no brainer: Capitol Hill. It has the diversity you want, the metro commute, the walkable Brooklyn style lifestyle, and the schools at least for a few years (until grade 5 if you move in boundary for Brent). Charter schools too.

All these other places are very nice and diverse (Crestwood, SP, Rockville, SS) but the commute will destroy your soul, especially if you insist on public transit.

I think the Hill would be good location-wise, but it won't have at least 10% middle/upper SES AAs. Crestwood and Rockville check that box, but won't necessarily be walkable and Metro-accessible. Will be hard to meet all of OP's requirements with any neighborhood, so she'll have to decide what her priorities are.

[Anonymous]

You should look in the Penrose area of south Arlington zoned Henry or Hoffman Boston.
Or areas of south Arlington walkable to Pentagon city.

Your commute will be great, you can get a nice home, the area is diverse, you can walk to amenities, and schools are good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rent in Capitol Hill near Eastern Market. Coming from Brooklyn this is your best option. The PK3 programs are all good. You may not get into your IB but you will probably get in somewhere when she is 3. That buys you several years to decide whether long-term city living with kids suits you. We love it here but I get families who move in the upper grades. We've been doing a mix of public and private depending on what each kid needs.

This.

Yes, this. If one of you works in Arlington and one near Union Station then this is a no brainer: Capitol Hill. It has the diversity you want, the metro commute, the walkable Brooklyn style lifestyle, and the schools at least for a few years (until grade 5 if you move in boundary for Brent). Charter schools too.

All these other places are very nice and diverse (Crestwood, SP, Rockville, SS) but the commute will destroy your soul, especially if you insist on public transit.

I think the Hill would be good location-wise, but it won't have at least 10% middle/upper SES AAs. Crestwood and Rockville check that box, but won't necessarily be walkable and Metro-accessible. Will be hard to meet all of OP's requirements with any neighborhood, so she'll have to decide what her priorities are.

Are you kidding? Of course it would. Maybe not 30-40% UMC but certainly both some UMC and MC AA families. Many have lived here for generations. It's true some of my UMC AA neighbors send their kids to private though.

[Anonymous]

I would consider Del Ray or Rosemont in the City of Alexandria.

Don't listen to those who would suggest Arlington. North Arlington is the whitest part of NoVa and very segregated; South Arlington is seriously unattractive. Coming from a cute town like Maplewood, you would wake up every morning and think you'd moved to a bad neighborhood in Union or Rahway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rent in Capitol Hill near Eastern Market. Coming from Brooklyn this is your best option. The PK3 programs are all good. You may not get into your IB but you will probably get in somewhere when she is 3. That buys you several years to decide whether long-term city living with kids suits you. We love it here but I get families who move in the upper grades. We've been doing a mix of public and private depending on what each kid needs.

This.

Yes, this. If one of you works in Arlington and one near Union Station then this is a no brainer: Capitol Hill. It has the diversity you want, the metro commute, the walkable Brooklyn style lifestyle, and the schools at least for a few years (until grade 5 if you move in boundary for Brent). Charter schools too.

All these other places are very nice and diverse (Crestwood, SP, Rockville, SS) but the commute will destroy your soul, especially if you insist on public transit.

I think the Hill would be good location-wise, but it won't have at least 10% middle/upper SES AAs. Crestwood and Rockville check that box, but won't necessarily be walkable and Metro-accessible. Will be hard to meet all of OP's requirements with any neighborhood, so she'll have to decide what her priorities are.

Are you kidding? Of course it would. Maybe not 30-40% UMC but certainly both some UMC and MC AA families. Many have lived here for generations. It's true some of my UMC AA neighbors send their kids to private though.

PP here. I'm AA myself and I know plenty of middle and upper middle class AA families in Shepherd Park, Crestwood, and Rockville areas. I only know one such remaining family *with school-aged children* on the Hill (I know one other family but they recently moved to a different part of DC given that middle school was on the horizon). The Hill is great in many ways but has always been sort of weird to me because of it being mostly upper SES white families but lower SES/impoverished AA families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would consider Del Ray or Rosemont in the City of Alexandria.

Don't listen to those who would suggest Arlington. North Arlington is the whitest part of NoVa and very segregated; South Arlington is seriously unattractive. Coming from a cute town like Maplewood, you would wake up every morning and think you'd moved to a bad neighborhood in Union or Rahway.

Except they want good schools.
Please don't listen to the above poster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would consider Del Ray or Rosemont in the City of Alexandria.

Don't listen to those who would suggest Arlington. North Arlington is the whitest part of NoVa and very segregated; South Arlington is seriously unattractive. Coming from a cute town like Maplewood, you would wake up every morning and think you'd moved to a bad neighborhood in Union or Rahway.

Except they want good schools.
Please don't listen to the above poster.

I used to live near Maplewood and agree with the suggestion to avoid Arlington. It is NOT what you're looking for, not even close.