Moving to Arlington or Fairfax Country - Question re being near metro in good high school district

[Anonymous]

Tysons is about as far to the east I’d want to work if living in Loudoun. It’s much easier to take Metro downtown than to rely on a rigid commuter bus schedule with more limited availability.,

[Anonymous]

You can find nice houses with good schools for $700,000 in the Reston/Herndon area. And the Silver Line is opening in a year throughout the area. Right now you can get the Weihle Metro with ease and there are a good number of express buses in to various locations in Arlington and DC.

[Anonymous]

City of Falls Church

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yorktown is overrated. I know, because we purposefully left that school zone. Arlington schools are overcrowded and have a lot of problems one finds with overcrowded schools. The governance is also in disarray. The boundaries you see for Yorktown are a legacy effort to shoehorn some racial and economic diversity into what is otherwise would be a homogenously while, rich school. Understand, I'm not saying Yorktown is a BAD school -- on the contrary. But it's not the end-all, be-all.

Anything on the silver line will be a long, expensive Metro commute. But lifestyle out near Loudoun is better in general.

WL is the same as YHS academically, it has a more diverse population. It has an IB program. I know many zoned for YHS that transferred to WL for IB.

If you have the $$ (home next to orange line are very pricey), it’s an incredibly convenient location and great to walk to everything. Amazon has brought another bump in home values. $1.75 should get you something and, yes, it’s crazg!!

+1 Because students can transfer into W-L from the other 2 HSs for IB, it has a larger cohort of high-achieving kids. The last boundary conflict showed that people really do not want to get zoned away from W-L to Yorktown or Wakefield, which is why the school board ended up leaving it overcrowded, throwing up their hands and just adding an annex.

If you want the shortest commute, houses walkable to the Orange/Silver in Arlington and mostly zoned to W-L will do that. FWIW, we're a few blocks from the Virginia Square station in Ashton Heights and have been happy with our schools (Long Branch/Jefferson/W-L). Plenty of excellent Fairfax schools farther out along the Silver line but the commutes do get significantly longer/more expensive. Personally, if I wanted to be in the Fairfax schools and commute to DC, I'd buy in McLean and drive, significantly faster than metro from farther out.

[Anonymous]

Lots of homes in Vienna & Oakton. Chantilly and Reston are far from Metro center.

[Anonymous]

McLean is very expensive but for $1.75M you can probably find something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yorktown is overrated. I know, because we purposefully left that school zone. Arlington schools are overcrowded and have a lot of problems one finds with overcrowded schools. The governance is also in disarray. The boundaries you see for Yorktown are a legacy effort to shoehorn some racial and economic diversity into what is otherwise would be a homogenously while, rich school. Understand, I'm not saying Yorktown is a BAD school -- on the contrary. But it's not the end-all, be-all.

Anything on the silver line will be a long, expensive Metro commute. But lifestyle out near Loudoun is better in general.

WL is the same as YHS academically, it has a more diverse population. It has an IB program. I know many zoned for YHS that transferred to WL for IB.

If you have the $$ (home next to orange line are very pricey), it’s an incredibly convenient location and great to walk to everything. Amazon has brought another bump in home values. $1.75 should get you something and, yes, it’s crazg!!

+1 Because students can transfer into W-L from the other 2 HSs for IB, it has a larger cohort of high-achieving kids. The last boundary conflict showed that people really do not want to get zoned away from W-L to Yorktown or Wakefield, which is why the school board ended up leaving it overcrowded, throwing up their hands and just adding an annex.

If you want the shortest commute, houses walkable to the Orange/Silver in Arlington and mostly zoned to W-L will do that. FWIW, we're a few blocks from the Virginia Square station in Ashton Heights and have been happy with our schools (Long Branch/Jefferson/W-L). Plenty of excellent Fairfax schools farther out along the Silver line but the commutes do get significantly longer/more expensive. Personally, if I wanted to be in the Fairfax schools and commute to DC, I'd buy in McLean and drive, significantly faster than metro from farther out.

+1 this is going to be your shortest commute by metro and W-L is a great school (I say this as a Yorktown alum, I would preference it due to more diversity), I would either preference close to orange line within W-L area for a quick commute in or someone mentioned the 3Y which honestly is not a bad idea. it doesn't come as often as metro which can be a problem, but it's pretty easy. So you could also look close to Lee Highway near those stops (there aren't many since it's express) here is the bus: https://www.wmata.com/schedules/timetables/upload/3y.pdf

Fairfax schools are great too. Don't let people here get you worried about comparing, the schools everyone has listed here Arlington or Fairfax will all more than likely serve your child well. Each has their own pros and cons, but it's really not worth doing a dance around which is better. Mclean etc area will score higher because income diversity is very low. The choice is more what type of community you prefer and how much you want to prioritize commute. Shortest metro commute will be from Arlington. Arlington has some areas that feel more suburban, some that feel a tad more urban (but still urban suburb, not trying to say it's the city). Mclean/Fairfax is pretty solidly suburban. Falls church city around the West falls church stop is also a good option but houses don't come up much.

[Anonymous]

10:03 pp and you can also live right near east falls church metro and be zoned for Yorktown.

[Anonymous]

Look over off Wakefield Chapel in Annandale near Fairfax. Zoned to Woodson. Bus goes straight to pentagon and short metro ride in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yorktown is overrated. I know, because we purposefully left that school zone. Arlington schools are overcrowded and have a lot of problems one finds with overcrowded schools. The governance is also in disarray. The boundaries you see for Yorktown are a legacy effort to shoehorn some racial and economic diversity into what is otherwise would be a homogenously while, rich school. Understand, I'm not saying Yorktown is a BAD school -- on the contrary. But it's not the end-all, be-all.

Anything on the silver line will be a long, expensive Metro commute. But lifestyle out near Loudoun is better in general.

WL is the same as YHS academically, it has a more diverse population. It has an IB program. I know many zoned for YHS that transferred to WL for IB.

If you have the $$ (home next to orange line are very pricey), it’s an incredibly convenient location and great to walk to everything. Amazon has brought another bump in home values. $1.75 should get you something and, yes, it’s crazg!!

+1 Because students can transfer into W-L from the other 2 HSs for IB, it has a larger cohort of high-achieving kids. The last boundary conflict showed that people really do not want to get zoned away from W-L to Yorktown or Wakefield, which is why the school board ended up leaving it overcrowded, throwing up their hands and just adding an annex.

If you want the shortest commute, houses walkable to the Orange/Silver in Arlington and mostly zoned to W-L will do that. FWIW, we're a few blocks from the Virginia Square station in Ashton Heights and have been happy with our schools (Long Branch/Jefferson/W-L). Plenty of excellent Fairfax schools farther out along the Silver line but the commutes do get significantly longer/more expensive. Personally, if I wanted to be in the Fairfax schools and commute to DC, I'd buy in McLean and drive, significantly faster than metro from farther out.

+1 this is going to be your shortest commute by metro and W-L is a great school (I say this as a Yorktown alum, I would preference it due to more diversity), I would either preference close to orange line within W-L area for a quick commute in or someone mentioned the 3Y which honestly is not a bad idea. it doesn't come as often as metro which can be a problem, but it's pretty easy. So you could also look close to Lee Highway near those stops (there aren't many since it's express) here is the bus: https://www.wmata.com/schedules/timetables/upload/3y.pdf

Fairfax schools are great too. Don't let people here get you worried about comparing, the schools everyone has listed here Arlington or Fairfax will all more than likely serve your child well. Each has their own pros and cons, but it's really not worth doing a dance around which is better. Mclean etc area will score higher because income diversity is very low. The choice is more what type of community you prefer and how much you want to prioritize commute. Shortest metro commute will be from Arlington. Arlington has some areas that feel more suburban, some that feel a tad more urban (but still urban suburb, not trying to say it's the city). Mclean/Fairfax is pretty solidly suburban. Falls church city around the West falls church stop is also a good option but houses don't come up much.

Well said.

[Anonymous]

Vienna and Madison. Man up and drive.

[Anonymous]

Look, there is a big difference between APS and FCPS. FCPS puts more emphasis on advanced academics and attracts far more kids, especially Asian kids, whose parents place a premium on academics. Yorktown is a few miles from Langley and McLean, but is about 6% Asian vs. 25% at Langley and McLean. North Arlington attracts people who place a premium on a shorter commute, including some higher-income whites who do not want Asian kids outperforming their kids. They won’t often admit it, but it is absolutely true (and is often expressed in coded references to “Tiger moms” and the like).

As a result, the top pyramids in FCPS are on a different level than the schools in APS. APS is actually a bit underwhelming for a county with Arlington’s wealth, but it’s fine. The top pyramids in FCPS, however, are excellent, at least for kids who are strong academically. Arlington residents will often claim there’s no big difference among the schools, so they can argue the shorter commute breaks the tie in Arlington’s favor. But it’s a bit more complicated.

[Anonymous]

10:03 here. We've gotten pretty off track from the original question - can you be in any of the listed Fairfax school districts and be within half a mile of metro. Question wasn't comparing the school systems.

OP I think the answer for Mclean/Langley is not really. Most probably drive in I would guess. Vienna there are some neighborhoods right near the metro, but most people probably still drive and park in the lot there. You might be able to find a house RIGHT off Nutley though and do it. There are townhouses RIGHT next to the Vienna metro that are really easy if you wanted a townhouse. All the other schools I think the vast majority would be driving to metro, parking in lot and then getting on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:10:03 here. We've gotten pretty off track from the original question - can you be in any of the listed Fairfax school districts and be within half a mile of metro. Question wasn't comparing the school systems.

OP I think the answer for Mclean/Langley is not really. Most probably drive in I would guess. Vienna there are some neighborhoods right near the metro, but most people probably still drive and park in the lot there. You might be able to find a house RIGHT off Nutley though and do it. There are townhouses RIGHT next to the Vienna metro that are really easy if you wanted a townhouse. All the other schools I think the vast majority would be driving to metro, parking in lot and then getting on.

Reston and Herndon will have houses in this category once the Silver Line expansion opens. I suspect that more people would point to South Lakes then Herndon for a variety of reasons. I am not sure what other school districts are going to be close to the Metro with the new expansion opening. Honestly, there are houses you can buy in Reston that would put you close to express buses that go into Pentagon and the Metro. The house are far more reasonably priced, South Lakes is a good school, and there are some great communities in the area.

So the question more revolves around how long a commute do they want on the metro.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:10:03 here. We've gotten pretty off track from the original question - can you be in any of the listed Fairfax school districts and be within half a mile of metro. Question wasn't comparing the school systems.

OP I think the answer for Mclean/Langley is not really. Most probably drive in I would guess. Vienna there are some neighborhoods right near the metro, but most people probably still drive and park in the lot there. You might be able to find a house RIGHT off Nutley though and do it. There are townhouses RIGHT next to the Vienna metro that are really easy if you wanted a townhouse. All the other schools I think the vast majority would be driving to metro, parking in lot and then getting on.

This isn't true - there are tons of houses walking distance to West Falls Church that feed to Haycock/Longfellow/McLean.

This is on a busy road but otherwise fits the bill: https://www.redfin.com/school/53790/VA/Falls-Church/Haycock-Elementary-School

There are a few townhouses that could work too.

https://www.redfin.com/school/53790/VA/Falls-Church/Haycock-Elementary-School

I live in the area - we're a 5-8 minute walk to West Falls Church metro (probably 1/4 mile). DS goes to Haycock and we can also walk to all the amenities of Falls Church City. It's a great location.