VA Zip Codes for Good Schools?

[Anonymous]

22043 feeds in McLean HS but I believe is not in McLean but in Falls Church (FFX Co). Because it doesn't have McLean address (although it's right next to McLean), you get more for your money. Another plus (over McLean) is that it's actually closer to the metro. Some parts are walking distance to the West Falls Church metro station. Also, the ES school is Haycock, which is a GT Center. And Longfellow MS has an awesome math dept (if you're child is inclined towards math).

[Anonymous]

22043 is not all zoned to Haycock and McLean HS. Other parts are zoned to Freedom Hill / Kilmer / Marshall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:22043 is not all zoned to Haycock and McLean HS. Other parts are zoned to Freedom Hill / Kilmer / Marshall.

There are definitely some nice areas in 20043. Schools might also be Shrevewood/Kilmer/Marshall, Westgate/Kilmer/Marshall, or Westgate/Longfellow/McLean as well. The downside is that some people in 22043 say they live in the "Falls Church part of McLean" or the "McLean part of Falls Church," as if they are ashamed of living somewhere with a Falls Church mailing address. It's a little sad.

[Anonymous]

I saw an MLS listing for a house in Falls Church in the McLean school area the other day - I haven't heard much about McLean high school. Is it supposed to be pretty good? I wouldn't mind "admitting" I lived in Falls Church- I sometimes tell people I live in the Falls Church-ish part of Fairfax County because Fairfax is so huge that saying you live in Fairfax can mean anything from Alexandria to Centreville! I'd probably rather live in Falls Church than McLean because it's closer in and has a less suburban image, and I like to fancy myself more of an urban sophisticate than the suburbanite I probably actually am, lol.

[Anonymous]

Definitely a good suggestion to use the boundary locator. Vienna (22180, 22181 and 22182) splits not only among Oakton, Marshall, Madison and Langley, but also South Lakes and McLean. All of these schools are pretty good. South Lakes, in particular, used to get a lot of criticism, but there was a redistricting in 2008 and its enrollment has increased considerably in the past two years. Marshall has the top IB program in Fairfax County.

22180 includes the Town of Vienna, and everyone there is assigned to Madison. There are a few county neighborhoods in 22180 outside the Town that go to Marshall HS.

22181 feeds primarily into Madison and Oakton - apart from a few apartment/townhouse complexes near the Vienna Metro, this is expensive SFH territory.

22182 is the wealthiest of the Vienna zip codes and splits among Marshall, Madison, Langley, McLean and South Lakes. There are just a few neighborhoods south of Route 7 zoned to Langley with Vienna/22182 mailing addresses and, as Langley neighborhoods go, they aren't particularly fancy. The Madison neighborhoods in 22182 are primarily 1970s subdivisions on smaller lots, with some new infill developments. The most expensive houses in 22182 are further north and/or west and zoned to McLean, Marshall and South Lakes. The houses in the South Lakes district do tend to be less expensive than their counterparts in the McLean or Marshall districts, but that may reflect the greater distance to Tysons and DC as well as any perceived difference in the quality of the schools. Homes in the McLean district may command a premium compared to homes in the other school districts, although this may be offset to some degree by the fact that the McLean neighborhoods in 22182 are very close to Route 7.

I live in 22181 (Madison HS pyramid) and I would say this assessment is spot on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I saw an MLS listing for a house in Falls Church in the McLean school area the other day - I haven't heard much about McLean high school. Is it supposed to be pretty good? I wouldn't mind "admitting" I lived in Falls Church- I sometimes tell people I live in the Falls Church-ish part of Fairfax County because Fairfax is so huge that saying you live in Fairfax can mean anything from Alexandria to Centreville! I'd probably rather live in Falls Church than McLean because it's closer in and has a less suburban image, and I like to fancy myself more of an urban sophisticate than the suburbanite I probably actually am, lol.

Old images of ourselves die hard!

McLean HS is considered very good. Test scores are third highest in county (after TJ and Langley) and US News ranked the school as 55th in the country (higher than any other Fairfax school other than TJ). It's a very well-run school - lots of activities, lots of information regularly provided to parents, etc. It's also fairly diverse (more so than Langley, Madison or even Woodson), as the school boundaries include a few middle to lower-middle income neighborhoods between Route 7 and Lee Highway.

What are the downsides - it has the reputation of being fairly competitive and some of the students have easy access to money and spend it on recreational drugs. Same is true at Langley.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:22308 is the Waynewood School District in Alexandria Fairfax County which is one of the best elementary schools in Fairfax County.

and an incredible neighborhood!

[Anonymous]

I would NOT try for an "edge of town" or "barely districted" school pyramid. They are the first to go during redistricting. And if you live in (X town/area that is less desirable), I guarantee you will NOT be "traded up" to (Y town/area that is more desirable). Oakton recently had a problem with this after seemingly being "exempt" for decades. Can you imagine how people's property values plummeted (school district downgrade, on top of the recent recession)?

As far as (for example) "the McLean part of Falls Church" or the "Falls Church part of McLean", well, THAT is self explanatory. It just "aint".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I would NOT try for an "edge of town" or "barely districted" school pyramid. They are the first to go during redistricting. And if you live in (X town/area that is less desirable), I guarantee you will NOT be "traded up" to (Y town/area that is more desirable). Oakton recently had a problem with this after seemingly being "exempt" for decades. Can you imagine how people's property values plummeted (school district downgrade, on top of the recent recession)?

As far as (for example) "the McLean part of Falls Church" or the "Falls Church part of McLean", well, THAT is self explanatory. It just "aint".

Sometimes people are "traded up" - Ravensworth ES students assigned to Annandale just to got reassigned to Lake Braddock to relieve over-crowding at Annandale.

Boundaries for Oakton have been changed a lot over the years; happened when Westfield was opened and happened again in 2008 when some students were sent to South Lakes.

Agree referring to "the McLean part of Falls Church" is pretentious, but there are Falls Church neighborhoods that have been assigned to McLean HS for decades, so maybe that's what it means. The housing is fairly similar to what you find in some of the adjoining McLean neighbhoods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:22308 is the Waynewood School District in Alexandria Fairfax County which is one of the best elementary schools in Fairfax County.

and an incredible neighborhood!

It's a beautiful area convenient to DC. What percentage of the parents bail after elementary school and go private rather than send kids to Sandburg/West Potomac? Is it like Alexandria city schools in that regard where parents may send kids to Lyles Crouch but not GW/TC?

[Anonymous]

Last I checked, McLean is McLean; and Falls Church is Falls Church.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:22043 is not all zoned to Haycock and McLean HS. Other parts are zoned to Freedom Hill / Kilmer / Marshall.

There are definitely some nice areas in 20043. Schools might also be Shrevewood/Kilmer/Marshall, Westgate/Kilmer/Marshall, or Westgate/Longfellow/McLean as well. The downside is that some people in 22043 say they live in the "Falls Church part of McLean" or the "McLean part of Falls Church," as if they are ashamed of living somewhere with a Falls Church mailing address. It's a little sad.

there is Falls Church [general fairfax County] and the City of Falls Church [own school district]. Falls church hs [Fairfax] is far below capacity and a hard sell so they never seem able to find it for boundary changes. It is quite far from the areas that are called falls church and go to mclean. Worlds apart in the context of real estate. South of 66 and the city of falls church towards Annandale. The mclean area piece is near North Arlington - home of Yorktown hs, Langley, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

there is Falls Church [general fairfax County] and the City of Falls Church [own school district]. Falls church hs [Fairfax] is far below capacity and a hard sell so they never seem able to find it for boundary changes. It is quite far from the areas that are called falls church and go to mclean. Worlds apart in the context of real estate. South of 66 and the city of falls church towards Annandale. The mclean area piece is near North Arlington - home of Yorktown hs, Langley, etc.

This is a little confused, I think.

There is the City of Falls Church (George Mason HS) and the Falls Church neighborhoods in the county - where students may be assigned to McLean, Marshall, Falls Church or Stuart. Each of the county schools that draws from county neighborhoods with Falls Church mailing addresses includes some neighborhoods that are fairly nice and also not so nice. The main differences is that there are more of the former in the McLean and Marshall districts than in the Stuart and Falls Church districts. In addition, there are some extremely nice Falls Church neighborhoods that feed into each of McLean, Marshall and Stuart, but that really isn't the case in the Falls Church HS district. To be sure, there are nice areas off of Gallows and Hummer Roads that feed into Falls Church HS, and the Pine Springs area is also pretty, but most of the Falls Church HS district consists of aging post-WW II homes that are small by current standards (though lots of folks are down-sizing and looking for shorter commutes).

Also, the statement that "they never seem able to find [FCHS] for boundary changes" is wrong - there are a bunch of Annandale HS students (Broyhill Crest area of Annandale) who are being redistricted to Falls Church starting in fall of 2010.

[Anonymous]

My kids went to Falls Church high school (Fairfax County school). Some great teachers, some not-so-great. Very diverse student body, and just 1300 students. Little economic pressure from peers, which we appreciated - not much emphasis on clothes, cars, spending, etc. Just recently a friend was telling me about her son's school (further west in the county) where so many kids have a sense of entitlement and plenty of cash in their pockets. That would really worry me. At FCHS, my kids had good opportunities to play sports and participate in other extra-curricular activities - not as much competition just to get on the team as there is in some of the much bigger Fx County schools. They did not get on every team they tried out for, but I've heard that it is extremely difficult to make the team at some schools. A lot of county schools have "better" football teams - they have a bigger population of bigger kids to draw from, for one thing. I was just over there last week. Kids were busy with after-school activities, friendly and energetic. I'd suggest spending some time at the schools you're considering, see what's going on - I think you can tell a lot about the social scene from observing in the school parking lot in the hour after school gets out. And/or go to a sports event or a theater performance. It's not all about the numbers in the reports. My kids were mostly in honors-level classes with peers who were good students and the teachers made them work pretty hard (I don't have a direct comparison b/c I didn't have kids in other schools). I am aware that they may have benefited from a school with a more rigorous academic culture, but there is a line where the concern/competition over grades and AP courses becomes craziness... They are both successful young adults now, college grad and about-to-graduate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:22308 is the Waynewood School District in Alexandria Fairfax County which is one of the best elementary schools in Fairfax County.

and an incredible neighborhood!

It's a beautiful area convenient to DC. What percentage of the parents bail after elementary school and go private rather than send kids to Sandburg/West Potomac? Is it like Alexandria city schools in that regard where parents may send kids to Lyles Crouch but not GW/TC?

I don't live in WW, but right next to it. Most the kids in my neighborhood who go to public end up at private instead of Carl Sandburg and West Potomac. They go to mostly Alexandria area privates - St. Louis, SSSA, BI and a few go to Gonzaga.