Murch vs Lafayette vs Janney

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Beware if you are planning to buy in the Janney district and make sure that you look only in American University Park proper. Parents are concerned that Janney is going to be overcrowded, and it's more likely than not that the next boundary review will involve shrinkage at the periphery, especially to the south and east.

OMG you have no idea.

All of the neighborhood ES are essentially at capacity.

There is a tiny slice of Janney that is slightly closer to Murch and there is another slice that is slightly closer to Mann (that is actually part of "AU Park Proper").

But neither Murch nor Mann have any slack in their enrollment.

You could move the very small part of Tenleytown that is zoned for Janney to Hearst but Hearst is accepting almost no OOB students anymore and is also at capacity and you'd be moving a small number of students so not really accomplishing much.

Doesn't matter anyhow - the enrollment/boundary questions that matter pertain to Deal & Wilson. The ES are all big but not over capacity and all are similarly good schools.

Also, being closer doesn't necessarily matter when it comes time to drawing boundries. I live 1 block away from the closest elementary to me (one of the best EOTP) but am zoned for another elementary school. People that live 6-8 blocks south are zoned for the school closest to me. When you look at the maps, it almost looks gerrymandered to avoid including 1-2 public housing complexes (or subsided housing, not sure of the specifics) in the "better" school.

[Anonymous]

It makes sense to take some of the Janney district and move it to Hearst. The ex-Janney families get a fine modern school next to a great park, not far away from Janney. Hearst gets a strong cohort of kids and motivated parents, guaranteeing that Hearst will fully flip to being a neighborhood-based school. Janney’s crowding problem is relieved. A win-win-win.

[Anonymous]

Go JCDS!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oyster is better than all of them

That’s doubtful, amigo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Beware if you are planning to buy in the Janney district and make sure that you look only in American University Park proper. Parents are concerned that Janney is going to be overcrowded, and it's more likely than not that the next boundary review will involve shrinkage at the periphery, especially to the south and east.

OMG you have no idea.

All of the neighborhood ES are essentially at capacity.

There is a tiny slice of Janney that is slightly closer to Murch and there is another slice that is slightly closer to Mann (that is actually part of "AU Park Proper").

But neither Murch nor Mann have any slack in their enrollment.

You could move the very small part of Tenleytown that is zoned for Janney to Hearst but Hearst is accepting almost no OOB students anymore and is also at capacity and you'd be moving a small number of students so not really accomplishing much.

Doesn't matter anyhow - the enrollment/boundary questions that matter pertain to Deal & Wilson. The ES are all big but not over capacity and all are similarly good schools.

Move some of Janney to Hearst and some of Hearst to Eaton. Eaton still has a lot of OOB, which can be cut way back to realign and rebalance school enrollments in Ward 3 schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If home prices are used as an indicator of school quality, then Mann and Janney are the top ranked public elementaries.

Home prices in DC are not indicators of school quality. There are too many private schools for that to matter, and there are some boundaries that hive mixed housing and some that don't.

Ha ha. You wish AU park was the most expensive neighborhood.

I think AU Park is the most expensive neighborhood for what you actually get for your dollar. One million basically gets you a nondescript, unrenovated 2000 square foot center hall colonial on a flat small lot.
1.4 or 1.5 in AU Park gets you the same house on the same lot but with a big new addition on the back.

Now 1.5 in the Mann neighborhoods often gets you a bigger, more interesting house on a better lot. Even 1.2 in Mann is a vast improvement over 1.2 in Janney. Same with the housing stock in Lafayette (Chevy Chase DC, Forest Hills).

Basically the Janney housing stock sucks for what you get (and I live in the neighborhood).

Forest Hills actually goes to Murch. I think Forest Hills is entirely south of Military. I might be wrong, and it doesn't really matter for these purposes, but this is DCUM and I couldn't resist the correction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It makes sense to take some of the Janney district and move it to Hearst. The ex-Janney families get a fine modern school next to a great park, not far away from Janney. Hearst gets a strong cohort of kids and motivated parents, guaranteeing that Hearst will fully flip to being a neighborhood-based school. Janney’s crowding problem is relieved. A win-win-win.

Slight problem: Hearst is currently over capacity. They have not taken OOB kids in four years. Trailers have already been requested for current demand. Future demand from Fannie Mae and other new construction may require Janney to take some of Hearst boundary.

[Anonymous]

Hearst getting trailers back? That was fast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hearst getting trailers back? That was fast.

Hearst still has students who live out of bounds. If they are getting trailers back - exclude me, “learning cottages” in DCPSpeak — how can they still have places for non-neighborhood student ?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If home prices are used as an indicator of school quality, then Mann and Janney are the top ranked public elementaries.

Home prices in DC are not indicators of school quality. There are too many private schools for that to matter, and there are some boundaries that hive mixed housing and some that don't.

Ha ha. You wish AU park was the most expensive neighborhood.

I think AU Park is the most expensive neighborhood for what you actually get for your dollar. One million basically gets you a nondescript, unrenovated 2000 square foot center hall colonial on a flat small lot.
1.4 or 1.5 in AU Park gets you the same house on the same lot but with a big new addition on the back.

Now 1.5 in the Mann neighborhoods often gets you a bigger, more interesting house on a better lot. Even 1.2 in Mann is a vast improvement over 1.2 in Janney. Same with the housing stock in Lafayette (Chevy Chase DC, Forest Hills).

Basically the Janney housing stock sucks for what you get (and I live in the neighborhood).

Totally agree with this and it's the reason we ended up in CCDC, with an updated house and an additional 400 sqft of space we couldn't find in AUP. However, I do miss being able to walk to a metro, which you get in AU/Tenley and the pricier parts of CCDC. There are always trade-offs!

OPP said Mann and Janney have the most expensive housing stock and that's simply not true. If you're going to talk about bang for buck or price per sq foot, that's a different statement, one that I would argue Stoddert, Hearst, and maybe Eaton's territory is more expensive than Janney

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hearst getting trailers back? That was fast.

Hearst still has students who live out of bounds. If they are getting trailers back - exclude me, “learning cottages” in DCPSpeak — how can they still have places for non-neighborhood student ?!

There are a few OOB students in 4th and 5th, but they will obviously move on to MS soon. Otherwise, there are 30ish OOB students in the autism program. That won’t change, but they do factor into the overall OOB percentage for the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oyster is better than all of them

That’s doubtful, amigo.

Hahahaha

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP - please ignore all of this bullshit. All of the schools are great. Only takeaway from this thread is how ridiculous DCUM is!

Agree with above poster, OP.
Ignore the bs of some of these posters.

All these schools are good, as are e.g. Woodacres and Sommerset in MD.
It depends how old your kids are and what exactly you are looking for.

We did PK-4 at Eaton, it was fine.
We have been at Horace Mann since K. The school is very good, 2 teachers in each class all the way till 5th grade. Makes a huge difference. School is small, about 350-400 kids, which is nice for smaller kids. So, have a look at Mann too.

People seem to love Stoddert as well. Janney is huge, 700 or so kids.
If possible, try and tour the schools, before deciding and listen to your gut feelings.

Also, consider the Middle School/ High Schools the E.S. feeds into. e.g. Mann feeds into Hardy, which though is now better, but I am planning on moving to MD for middle/high schools.

Maryland can have you. I'm surprised you aren't looking at privates, you certainly seem to fit the profile!

I would if I had the $$$$

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If home prices are used as an indicator of school quality, then Mann and Janney are the top ranked public elementaries.

Home prices in DC are not indicators of school quality. There are too many private schools for that to matter, and there are some boundaries that hive mixed housing and some that don't.

Ha ha. You wish AU park was the most expensive neighborhood.

I think AU Park is the most expensive neighborhood for what you actually get for your dollar. One million basically gets you a nondescript, unrenovated 2000 square foot center hall colonial on a flat small lot.
1.4 or 1.5 in AU Park gets you the same house on the same lot but with a big new addition on the back.

Now 1.5 in the Mann neighborhoods often gets you a bigger, more interesting house on a better lot. Even 1.2 in Mann is a vast improvement over 1.2 in Janney. Same with the housing stock in Lafayette (Chevy Chase DC, Forest Hills).

Basically the Janney housing stock sucks for what you get (and I live in the neighborhood).

Forest Hills actually goes to Murch. I think Forest Hills is entirely south of Military. I might be wrong, and it doesn't really matter for these purposes, but this is DCUM and I couldn't resist the correction.

Correct—Forest Hills (which is roughly south of Nebraska, east of Connecticut, north of Van Ness) goes almost entirely to Murch. The part that doesn’t (south of Albemarle) goes to Hearst. None of it goes to Lafayette.

[Anonymous]

We’re in Forest Hills. We are Murch as are the nearby streets.