Thoughts on Petworth for a young family?

[Anonymous]

Petworth has the most kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's great. I moved away from DC to be closer to family, but if family stuff had not come up, we were planning to stick it out until our oldest was through elementary school or so then re-evaluate.

You should probably be thinking about schools with a 1yo. Unless you're committed to private schools for some reasons. Bruce-Monroe gets somewhat mixed reviews but I suspect their preK program is fine (or even great - we weren't zoned for BM). Powell seemed stronger, and Petworth is convenient to a number of great charter schools if you luck out in the lottery. More on the Columbia Heights side, people LOVE Tubman, at least for the younger grades. All in all, I suspect you would be well set for 5 years or so at least. Maybe longer, depending on the lottery and which school you were zoned into. Everyone agrees DC public schools get dicey by middle school, but there are a lot of efforts underway to improve things.

No, no. None of these schools are schools you move to a neighborhood for. You go there because you bought pre kids and are willing to chance them for a year or two at most. OP is not "good for 5 years or so at least" if she moves to petworth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's great. I moved away from DC to be closer to family, but if family stuff had not come up, we were planning to stick it out until our oldest was through elementary school or so then re-evaluate.

You should probably be thinking about schools with a 1yo. Unless you're committed to private schools for some reasons. Bruce-Monroe gets somewhat mixed reviews but I suspect their preK program is fine (or even great - we weren't zoned for BM). Powell seemed stronger, and Petworth is convenient to a number of great charter schools if you luck out in the lottery. More on the Columbia Heights side, people LOVE Tubman, at least for the younger grades. All in all, I suspect you would be well set for 5 years or so at least. Maybe longer, depending on the lottery and which school you were zoned into. Everyone agrees DC public schools get dicey by middle school, but there are a lot of efforts underway to improve things.

No, no. None of these schools are schools you move to a neighborhood for. You go there because you bought pre kids and are willing to chance them for a year or two at most. OP is not "good for 5 years or so at least" if she moves to petworth.

Reasonable minds can differ about that. And in any case, OP specifically said schools aren't an issue for them, so this isn't a "schools you move to a neighborhood for" thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should ask the Prince of Petworth what he thinks of living in Petworth with a young child.

He moved a while ago. I live North of Petworth and see tons of families in Petworth these days. I believed he moved for schools.

Exactly. After being an obnoxious cheerleader for the neighborhood for a decade -- he had a cowardly habit of banning anyone who spoke badly of the neighborhood from commenting -- he moved WOTP literally the second he got zoned into a "bad" school. So if if the neighborhood doesn't work for a guy like that...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should ask the Prince of Petworth what he thinks of living in Petworth with a young child.

He moved a while ago. I live North of Petworth and see tons of families in Petworth these days. I believed he moved for schools.

Exactly. After being an obnoxious cheerleader for the neighborhood for a decade -- he had a cowardly habit of banning anyone who spoke badly of the neighborhood from commenting -- he moved WOTP literally the second he got zoned into a "bad" school. So if if the neighborhood doesn't work for a guy like that...

Homeless peeing on your playground is only urban chic for so long. Most people grow up and move west, that is if they can afford it. The ones stuck with a spouse in the food service industry role their eyes and talk about how diversity is important to them as they fight, claw and steal to lottery into less diverse schools and social circles.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone live in petworth who can afford better parts of the city? I always assumed people moved there because they couldn’t afford H street, CH or Shaw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone live in petworth who can afford better parts of the city? I always assumed people moved there because they couldn’t afford H street, CH or Shaw.

I think Petworth is priced similarly to CH and H Street -- people with families seem to pick petworth over those areas because H street doesn't really have the family thing going on -- much more young hipsters. And CH is closer to the city for the same-ish price (CH might even be a bit higher), but is much grimier and sketchier and busier. So again, families may be more attracted to Petwroth than CH. Shaw, on the other hand, is very family friendly but easily 30% more expensive than petworth. Yes, almost everyone who moves to petworth would have instead moved to shaw if it was in budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone live in petworth who can afford better parts of the city? I always assumed people moved there because they couldn’t afford H street, CH or Shaw.

I think Petworth is priced similarly to CH and H Street -- people with families seem to pick petworth over those areas because H street doesn't really have the family thing going on -- much more young hipsters. And CH is closer to the city for the same-ish price (CH might even be a bit higher), but is much grimier and sketchier and busier. So again, families may be more attracted to Petwroth than CH. Shaw, on the other hand, is very family friendly but easily 30% more expensive than petworth. Yes, almost everyone who moves to petworth would have instead moved to shaw if it was in budget.

I think Shaw and Petworth are very different and by far prefer Petworth for kids. Lots more yards in Petworth, for one. I don't think there's as much overlap as you're assuming.

[Anonymous]

We live in Brightwood Park and love it. Tons of families.

[Anonymous]

We have lived in Petworth for three years and love it. It’s perfect with kids. There are tons od community events and we’ve made a lot of friends. We joke it’s a small town in the big city, as we see friends at the park, on walks, at the grocery, etc.

Our kid goes to a charter, but we felt very comfortable sending her to Barnard, our IB. Sure, when she’s in 4-5th grade, we’ll need to reevaulate on MS/HS, but that is still 5 years away and a lot can change in that time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should ask the Prince of Petworth what he thinks of living in Petworth with a young child.

He moved a while ago. I live North of Petworth and see tons of families in Petworth these days. I believed he moved for schools.

Exactly. After being an obnoxious cheerleader for the neighborhood for a decade -- he had a cowardly habit of banning anyone who spoke badly of the neighborhood from commenting -- he moved WOTP literally the second he got zoned into a "bad" school. So if if the neighborhood doesn't work for a guy like that...

a white guy who ran scared?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone live in petworth who can afford better parts of the city? I always assumed people moved there because they couldn’t afford H street, CH or Shaw.

really? Petworth isn't cheap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's great. I moved away from DC to be closer to family, but if family stuff had not come up, we were planning to stick it out until our oldest was through elementary school or so then re-evaluate.

You should probably be thinking about schools with a 1yo. Unless you're committed to private schools for some reasons. Bruce-Monroe gets somewhat mixed reviews but I suspect their preK program is fine (or even great - we weren't zoned for BM). Powell seemed stronger, and Petworth is convenient to a number of great charter schools if you luck out in the lottery. More on the Columbia Heights side, people LOVE Tubman, at least for the younger grades. All in all, I suspect you would be well set for 5 years or so at least. Maybe longer, depending on the lottery and which school you were zoned into. Everyone agrees DC public schools get dicey by middle school, but there are a lot of efforts underway to improve things.

No, no. None of these schools are schools you move to a neighborhood for. You go there because you bought pre kids and are willing to chance them for a year or two at most. OP is not "good for 5 years or so at least" if she moves to petworth.

Reasonable minds can differ about that. And in any case, OP specifically said schools aren't an issue for them, so this isn't a "schools you move to a neighborhood for" thread.

Yep, I'm the first PP. And I wasn't exactly suggesting you move to Petworth because of the amazing schools. I was suggesting the schools are good for a few years and probably shouldn't scare OP away. I would have been quite happy for my kids to stay there longer! And OP has a ONE YEAR OLD; my "5 years" estimate would take the kid through kindergarten or so. All of those schools have great ECE programs. DCPS ECE is genuinely great. Having moved away to another state and tried to find decent private preschools around here . . . ugh. our preK kid at Tubman was doing beautifully there and I miss it. People keep asking me if we moved for the schools. Um, no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have lived in Petworth for three years and love it. It’s perfect with kids. There are tons od community events and we’ve made a lot of friends. We joke it’s a small town in the big city, as we see friends at the park, on walks, at the grocery, etc.

Our kid goes to a charter, but we felt very comfortable sending her to Barnard, our IB. Sure, when she’s in 4-5th grade, we’ll need to reevaulate on MS/HS, but that is still 5 years away and a lot can change in that time.

Very easy to say you would be happy IB when you are actually at a charter. Actions speak louder than words.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have lived in Petworth for three years and love it. It’s perfect with kids. There are tons od community events and we’ve made a lot of friends. We joke it’s a small town in the big city, as we see friends at the park, on walks, at the grocery, etc.

Our kid goes to a charter, but we felt very comfortable sending her to Barnard, our IB. Sure, when she’s in 4-5th grade, we’ll need to reevaulate on MS/HS, but that is still 5 years away and a lot can change in that time.

Very easy to say you would be happy IB when you are actually at a charter. Actions speak louder than words.

+1. Note that no one has come in whose kids are actually happily attending a neighborhood school beyond ECE.