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Spring Valley & Mann
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Anonymous
Hi everyone.  We have been house-hunting a bit in the newer part of Spring Valley, and are wondering how many parents in that area send their kids to Mann? Might anyone have any info on this? I ask mainly because we are really looking for a neighborhood school, and have a suspicion (maybe TOTALLY wrong!) that lots of people in that area might be sending their kids to private, which we do not want to do.
We have also been looking in the Janney and Murch boundaries -- am I right to suspect a higher proportion of families in those areas send their kids to DCPS? Any thoughts would be much appreciated -- thanks!!
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Anonymous
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Here is an tool that will give you hard data and not just conjecture:
http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/explorer Type in the different zip codes that feed into Mann, Murch, Janney. Then zoom in so you can see the sub-areas within the big zip code -- think they are called Census block areas or something, but they're basically a several-block area. Click on the bar at the top of the screen that says "View More Maps." Then on the left side, click on "Education" Lastly, click on the blue map off to the right that says "Elementary Students in Private Schools." Zoom in again. You'll get accurate, concrete data block-by-block. |
Anonymous
| ^^^, so you see that a whopping 85% of households in Spring Valley report that they send their elementary-aged children to private school in 2010. |
Anonymous
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Wow!! Thank you SOOOOO MUCH!!! What a wonderful resource!! Thank you, thank you!!
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Anonymous
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is that 85% of households, or 85% of those with school aged children (it is the latter, BTW)? Not a ton of lower school aged kids in Spring Valley, although it probably varies by block.
You might also want to look at Palisades and Kent (some go to Key, some go to Mann). |
Anonymous
| The Census tool says there are an estimated 625 elementary-aged children living in the general Spring Valley neighborhood and 85% of them go to private. |
Anonymous
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If you are thinking about DCPS long term, I would also look into middle school options. Mann, Key, Stoddert and Hyde are very well regarded elementary schools that feed into Hardy Middle School, Janney, Lafayette and Murch (and a few others) feed into Deal Middle School. Hardy previously was doing very well and is going through a bit of a transition (search other threads) while Deal is generally considered the best in DC right now. My understanding is that almost no Mann students go on to Hardy.
Just things to consider if you are committed to public school beyond elementary. |
Anonymous
| Also, although Mann feeds Hardy, no one from Mann actually goes to Hardy. Historically 100% of Mann went Private. If this is not what you are thinking about, you may want to look at another neighborhood |
Anonymous
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OP here -- thank you all for your input!!
We had Janney and Murch at the top of our personal list in large part because they do feed to Deal and we would definitely prefer to go public through middle school. We've had a hard time finding homes opening up in those areas that, well, feel like home to us, I guess! There aren't a ton of new listings popping up in any of these areas, actually.  When we weren't having much like in Janney and Murch boundaries, we decided to look within the Mann boundary and open ourselves up to the possibility of private MS... though I don't prefer it. I really want the kids growing up in a neighborhood where they go to school with their neighbors/friends. I had a feeling this was not the case with Mann, and thanks to the wonderful resource shared, I now know this suspicion was well-founded.
I do need to follow up on the Hardy threads, at the very least out of curiosity. Last I had heard, they had a "great new principal" and everyone was telling me to "just give it 3-5 years and it will be where Deal is now". Must admit I was a little skeptical, but now it sounds like there are new developments...? FYI - Principal at Mann shared with us at the last open house we attended (I went twice!) that some Mann kids are now going to Hardy... it was on the order of 10% of the graduating group from last year, we were told. Still didn't sound so great to us... |
Anonymous
| I think the biggest "neighborhood" schools are Janney and Lafayette. The boundaries of Murch are huge and many kids in the area do go private. We love it but it does not have as much of a neighborhood feel in many parts which I regret. I'd add Lafayette to your list for sure, also feeds to Deal. |
Anonymous
| I know of 4 houses on Windom / Warren are coming on the market this spring. |
Anonymous
Honestly, I REALLY liked Janney... having a hard time finding a home in that area. With Lafayette -- maybe it's just me -- but I had a REALLY hard time getting over that "open floor plan"... and how large the school is for my little K and 1st grader (next year). And there's the fact that they are way over capacity as it is. I know the scores are solid, and I had a pretty good impression of the Principal... and my husband didn't have nearly as negative an impression of the classroom setup as I did. Maybe I need to revisit the Lafayette possibility... thanks!
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Anonymous
Hmmm... the inside scoop on DCUM - awesome!! I'll have to stay tuned here... thanks!!
Everyone has been so helpful to me on this thread - thanks guys!! |
Anonymous
White flight? |
Anonymous
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"The Census tool says there are an estimated 625 elementary-aged children living in the general Spring Valley neighborhood and 85% of them go to private. "
This doesn't seem correct. There are more than 200 kids at Mann, maybe 250, so it would appear it is more like 60% that go private, and probably for the lower grades a much lower percentage. |