Fairfax or Montgomery?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Marshall or West Springfield for higher achievement for students of color. Woodson, McLean and Langley too grindy and $$$-conscious.
Hard no to MC, please read threads on MD schools and real estate fora.

Best low-brow comment so far.

[Anonymous]

MoCo is more diverse than NoVA. I'm sure NoVa is more diverse than where OP is coming from, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are plenty of areas in FFX where tear downs are going for close to (or more than) $1 million. I don't know MD, but I'd assume that is also true there. Also, there is never not traffic in this area. Why are you moving to the DC area? To escape having your kids in a school in central VA? You probably want to take a close look at real estate in terms of the various markets.

I would go with FCPS. There are far more good schools for your needs--diverse, inclusive and high academic achievement-- than those listed. If you're considering West Springfield and Chantilly, I would also add in Woodson, Robinson, Lake Braddock, Fairfax, and Westfield. These are all suburban communities though. You can find reasonable houses within your budget there.

You've got to be joking, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As our real estate budget - we won't be spending 1-million for a house, but if we had to, we can...do we want to? Absolutely not. We both work in Charlottesville now but we don't need to be there everyday (especially me; I work remotely anyway). So commute is I guess easier if we are in Fairfax County, but going up to MD only adds 20 more minutes, without traffic. On paper, McLean and Langley sound like they're intense, like lots of pressure on the kids? And how urban/suburban are the neighborhoods in West Springfield or Marshall?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are moving to the DC area this summer - we will have a rising 6th (avg academic, into sports) and 8th grader (above avg academic, into sports and art). They are biracial and had some bad experience down in Central VA - we are in search for more diverse and international environment. On paper, within Montgomery county, Richard Montgomery, Whitman, Churchill, Wootton all look good. So do McLean, Marshall, Langley, and West Springfield. If you have children going to any of these schools - could you share your thoughts, starting with your middle school (I don't know which ones feed into what...yet). Our priorities are: diverse/inclusive culture, academic opportunities/rigor, student experience (chance to enjoy friends, sports, arts, etc.), and school administration/philosophy, in that order. I'd appreciate some insight!

biracial kids are fairly common in Langley and I suspect McLean. Black/white and White/Asian

Both schools should meet your criteria.

[Anonymous]

This is a high pressure in all areas, which also means crazy sports parents. We admit we fall into this category too. You can’t commute to Charlottesville for work and have any energy to help your child participate in athletics. We drive a lot for practices and it’s exhausting for us. I have a 15-30 min commute to work and it’s 5 miles, not during rush hour since I go very early and get out early.

[Anonymous]

Fairfax is still VA. Definitely go with Moco. I never understand these posters who think they live in some “diverse” place in VA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax is still VA. Definitely go with Moco. I never understand these posters who think they live in some “diverse” place in VA.

MCPS is completely tanking as a school system compared to FCPS - just look at the maryland public schools thread. FCPS at least has the AAP program for high achievong2 students. OP if you have elementary children pick somewhere convenient in FCPS near transpo2 corridors to Charlottesville.

[Anonymous]

I would not look in Fairfax county or anywhere in MD. Charlottesville is way too far away for that.

[Anonymous]

OP - Are you and your spouse planning to continue working in Charlottesville indefinitely or just while you transition? I love Charlottesville, but I can't imagine commuting there for work even on a weekly basis from Nova. Traffic on 66/29 gets super backed up, and adding in the bridges to get to Montgomery County would make it even worse.

I would definitely recommend Fairfax over Loudoun or more far-out counties if diversity matters to you. However, Fairfax is obviously farther away for commuting purposes.

West Springfield, Lake Braddock, and Robinson may be the best schools for you to target in Fairfax County. They are good schools with some diversity, and they are less expensive and more diverse than McLean/Langley.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax is still VA. Definitely go with Moco. I never understand these posters who think they live in some “diverse” place in VA.

Both are FCPS and MCPS are minority majority schools systems. They are both very diverse compared the the rest of the county and are close to each other in variety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - Are you and your spouse planning to continue working in Charlottesville indefinitely or just while you transition? I love Charlottesville, but I can't imagine commuting there for work even on a weekly basis from Nova. Traffic on 66/29 gets super backed up, and adding in the bridges to get to Montgomery County would make it even worse.

I would definitely recommend Fairfax over Loudoun or more far-out counties if diversity matters to you. However, Fairfax is obviously farther away for commuting purposes.

West Springfield, Lake Braddock, and Robinson may be the best schools for you to target in Fairfax County. They are good schools with some diversity, and they are less expensive and more diverse than McLean/Langley.

McLean is more diverse than Robinson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP - Are you and your spouse planning to continue working in Charlottesville indefinitely or just while you transition? I love Charlottesville, but I can't imagine commuting there for work even on a weekly basis from Nova. Traffic on 66/29 gets super backed up, and adding in the bridges to get to Montgomery County would make it even worse.

I would definitely recommend Fairfax over Loudoun or more far-out counties if diversity matters to you. However, Fairfax is obviously farther away for commuting purposes.

West Springfield, Lake Braddock, and Robinson may be the best schools for you to target in Fairfax County. They are good schools with some diversity, and they are less expensive and more diverse than McLean/Langley.

McLean is more diverse than Robinson.

Depends on how you assess diversity. Robinson is 59% white but has more even spread among Asian, Hispanic, Black and multi-race/ethnicities than McLean which is 55% white but has a larger Asian population (close to 25%), smaller hispanic, black and multi-race/ethnicity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax is still VA. Definitely go with Moco. I never understand these posters who think they live in some “diverse” place in VA.

Both are FCPS and MCPS are minority majority schools systems. They are both very diverse compared the the rest of the county and are close to each other in variety.

DP... agree that FCPS and MCPS are more diverse than the rest of the country, but FCPS is not as diverse as MCPS. NoVa has just one city in the top 30 most diverse cities: Alexandria; whereas MoCo - a single county - has something like four cities in the top 30. Even Richmond, VA is more diverse than most of NoVa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax is still VA. Definitely go with Moco. I never understand these posters who think they live in some “diverse” place in VA.

Both are FCPS and MCPS are minority majority schools systems. They are both very diverse compared the the rest of the county and are close to each other in variety.

DP... agree that FCPS and MCPS are more diverse than the rest of the country, but FCPS is not as diverse as MCPS. NoVa has just one city in the top 30 most diverse cities: Alexandria; whereas MoCo - a single county - has something like four cities in the top 30. Even Richmond, VA is more diverse than most of NoVa.

NoVA for the most part isn't as oriented into cities.