Relocating Into DMV

[Anonymous]

ikornika wrote:I posted this on the AAP board but was told that wasn't the correct place to pose my query so I'm trying here:

We're relocating to the DMV area in June 2018 and have decided on Virginia as our target residence; where exactly will depend on schools.

My daughter is currently in gifted here in Florida. She's in first grade now and will be entering into second grade (captain obvious here) once we're there.

I've read the Virginia DOE's FAQ page about needing a referral to get into TAG programs. What exactly does that entail? TAG = AAP For Fairfax county public schools. In 1st grade students take NNAT. In the fall of Second grade students take the CogAt test. If a student scores above a set rate (different every year but usually between 130-133) they are referred to a pool of students. Teachers also do an evaluation called the GBRS. Those scores and the teacher evaluations go to the committee. That committee decides to accept or reject the student for level IV AAP. Parents can also submit work for the committee to see. The pool is usually announced in January and the results come out later in the year. Level IV AAP doesn't start until 3rd grade so your child will be able to participate in the normal referral program.

I have her intellectual evaluation that was performed by our school district's psychologist and her WISC-V scores (full scale: 136, verbal 133, and fluid 134 with all scaled scores above 13). Those numbers are decent and should be high enough to admission into AAP, but if they were done prior to age 7, I would suggest that you have be re- evaluated as those types of tests can vary if taken too young.

Also, how is elementary school gifted done? Is it once a week or fully immersive or ...? Here, it's once weekly and if she didn't already attend the school where the gifted program was offered, she'd be bussed in on that one day. K-2 is usually differentiating in the classroom, sometimes pullout. They would not go to another school. It would be built into their day. AAP is for the four core classes (Math, science, social studiers and language arts). Some programs mixed everyone together for the other classes (eg PE, Art, Music, lunch, recess..) - others sequester the AAP students all day.

Do y'all have a recommendation for best school district for us to live in if we wish to pursue public schools? We've sort of set our hearts on Alexandria, but only because we don't know what else is nearby. Alexandria City schools have quite a bit of problems and are separate from Fairfax County Public Schools. I would avoid. Fairfax County schools that have an Alexandria Postal code and are outside of Alexandria city would have the AAP program.

Hubs will work downtown DC, near N Street, and I will seek employment later based on where we land. We'd like to be within a 30-45 minute commute (whether by car or rail) and we'd like to avoid Maryland as we've read there's a local income tax there in addition to state and federal.

Any advice or pointers would be greatly appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Which Alexandria City schools host the gifted program students?

[Anonymous]

I doubt OP will find a livable 3/2 for 3000 or less anywhere close in with good schools. We paid more than that in 22207 8 years ago for a tiny 3 br.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which Alexandria City schools host the gifted program students?

All of them, I believe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which Alexandria City schools host the gifted program students?

SMH

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which Alexandria City schools host the gifted program students?

SMH

Why?

[Anonymous]

If you want a good school district in Virginia then you should look into Arlington, Fairfax County and the City of Falls Church. Some pyramids are better than others. Only Fairfax has a gifted program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you want a good school district in Virginia then you should look into Arlington, Fairfax County and the City of Falls Church. Some pyramids are better than others. Only Fairfax has a gifted program.

So much misinformation on this board. https://www.apsva.us/gifted-services/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Arlington checks off a lot of your boxes - great schools, easy commute to DC, and Tysons, where there are lots of job opportunities.

But she probably won't be able to find something for $3k.

[Anonymous]

Thank you all so much for all of your input.

I'm a bit saddened by your opinions that 3k isn't doable. From what I've found so far on realtor.com and apartments.com, 3000 loomed respectable for a 3/2 with about 1100 square feet or so in Arlington and Tysons. Perhaps those were less desirable neighborhoods. *shrug*

Once it's closer to time to actually move (June), we'll get a realtor to help sort it out. We /could/ afford to rent for more, but we don't want to. We're coming from 3000 sqft on .25 acres in a 4/3.5 with a mortgage of less than $900 PITI, so it hurts to think we'd be paying over three times that to RENT less space. *le sigh*

I mean, I just found this today; it doesn't appear to be an anomaly. We could definitely afford this and then some and it puts us in a good school district in FFC, no?

https://www.coldwellbanker.com/property/3932-Barcroft-Mews-Ct-Falls-Church-VA-22041/72489533/detail

I mean, we wouldn't buy initially just because we don't want to "root" in a place we've absolutely no experience with.

[Anonymous]

FFX county high schools vary a lot. This home is not zoned for one of the desireable ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I'm a bit saddened by your opinions that 3k isn't doable. From what I've found so far on realtor.com and apartments.com, 3000 loomed respectable for a 3/2 with about 1100 square feet or so in Arlington and Tysons. Perhaps those were less desirable neighborhoods. *shrug*

Anonymous wrote:I mean, I just found this today; it doesn't appear to be an anomaly. We could definitely afford this and then some and it puts us in a good school district in FFC, no?

https://www.coldwellbanker.com/property/3932-Barcroft-Mews-Ct-Falls-Church-VA-22041/72489533/detail

It puts you in one of the "worst" (per DCUM) ES/MS/HS pyramids in Fairfax County -- Parklawn ES/Glasgow MS/Stuart (renamed to Justice) HS with the assigned AAP Center at Belvedere ES/Glasgow MS

[Anonymous]

When you are house hunting, use the FCPS boundary locator to see what schools you would be zoned for.

http://boundary.fcps.edu/boundary/

Then use Schooldigger to see each school's ranking:

https://www.schooldigger.com/go/VA/district/01260/search.aspx?level=1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you all so much for all of your input.

I'm a bit saddened by your opinions that 3k isn't doable. From what I've found so far on realtor.com and apartments.com, 3000 loomed respectable for a 3/2 with about 1100 square feet or so in Arlington and Tysons. Perhaps those were less desirable neighborhoods. *shrug*

Once it's closer to time to actually move (June), we'll get a realtor to help sort it out. We /could/ afford to rent for more, but we don't want to. We're coming from 3000 sqft on .25 acres in a 4/3.5 with a mortgage of less than $900 PITI, so it hurts to think we'd be paying over three times that to RENT less space. *le sigh*

I mean, I just found this today; it doesn't appear to be an anomaly. We could definitely afford this and then some and it puts us in a good school district in FFC, no?

https://www.coldwellbanker.com/property/3932-Barcroft-Mews-Ct-Falls-Church-VA-22041/72489533/detail

I mean, we wouldn't buy initially just because we don't want to "root" in a place we've absolutely no experience with.

I'm all for considering schools that have mixed populations... but, OP, seriously.... you do not want to go there. Go for something like this: https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/51971895_zpid/38.753439,-77.164053,38.743934,-77.17903_rect/15_zm/1_fr/

You get a good elem school, community pool, trails, walk to school to use playground as well as LOTS of kids, easy access to theater, shopping, LA Fitness, Wegmans (best grocery store), restaurants, soccer leagues, etc. DC commuter can take metro from the end of blue line, low maintenance yard. Overall easy living, and lots of rentals will be available in the next two months b/c there are military people who leave rentals.

[Anonymous]

How about something like this?

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/6107-Dominican-Dr_Springfield_VA_22152_M58723-22899