Yorktown vs. McLean High School

[Anonymous]

We're thinking about moving from MD to VA, and debating between North Arlington and McLean. Would love some feedback on the pros and cons of McLean High and Yorktown High, and how they compare. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

This was written about to some degree in the thread
"Arlington Science Focus and Haycock" a couple weeks ago, where W-L, Yorktown and McLean high schools were compared, so maybe read through some of those posts.

Both schools are very similar in terms of demographics SAT scores, etc. Just find a neighborhood you like, and I'm sure you'll be happy.

For the subtle differences: Yorktown will have better facilities than McLean HS when the new school building is finished. Also, if swimming is important to you, Yorktown HS will have a brand new indoor pool next year, and its swim teams have won state titles in recent years.

McLean HS was renovated a few years ago, so its facility is fairly new and better than some other Fairfax County schools.

McLean is currently the larger school in terms of enrollment. But both Yorktown and McLean are growing, and both schools will have over 2,000 students within the next couple of years.

Maryland has good schools too: Whitman, B-CC, Blair, etc.

[Anonymous]

They are as similar as two schools in different counties can be. The demographics at McLean skew slightly more affluent than at Yorktown, and the test scores are a bit higher. Yorktown will have a new building shortly. McLean was recently renovated and is quite nice inside. Don't know if it matters, but the feeder MS to McLean, Longfellow MS, is currently getting a nice renovation as well. The bottom line is that the differences really aren't great enough to drive the decision. Yorktown is closer to DC if that matters to you. Lots in the McLean district are generally larger than in Yorktown district (lots of houses on 1/2 acre lots, vs. lots of houses on 1/4 lots in Yorktown district).

[Anonymous]

Why is the area near Fort Myer assigned to Yorktown when it's closer to W-L? Was Arlington trying to balance the demographics at the two schools? IIRC, a lot of the older apartment complexes in that area are heavily Hispanic. Also, I noticed that the neighborhoods within walking distance of the Orange Line seem to be assigned to W-L, not Yorktown.

Will the boundaries be changed once the renovations are finished?

[Anonymous]

The two high schools are evenly matched, but I'd prefer Longfellow MS in McLean over Williamsburg MS in Arlington. The administration at Williamsburg has a bad reputation and the principal just quite in a very noisy huff.

[Anonymous]

The very brief administrative problems at Williamsburg were quickly taken care of. It was a private matter between a principal nearing retirement age and one of her subordinates, which the principal made public--it can happen to the best of schools. The school board did the right thing and promptly dismissed her. The new principal at Williamsburg was the principal at Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School in Falls Church.

In response to 11:20, the current gerrymandered Arlington high school boundaries were drawn up in the early 90s to relieve high numbers of poor students at Wakefield High School in South Arlington, which had shifted from majority white/typical middle class to overwhelmingly poor in about five years. This was during the El Salvadorean civil war, and South Arlington, Culmore in Falls Church, and Mount Pleasant in DC, were the primary areas where refugees settled. There were plenty of apartments and rents were the cheapest in the metro area.

So, a chunk of low income SW Arlington was transferred to W-L, and an "island" of low income neighborhoods between Court House and Rosslyn were transferred to Yorktown. Today, there are only a handful of low income apartments left in Courthouse and Rosslyn, which now has some of the most expensive condos for sale in the region. So the boundaries there might change at some point in the future, but not to W-L which is overcrowded.

While I personally would like to see boundary changes to help with North Arlington overcrowding, it has become a very controversial issue, especially in North Arlington neighborhoods close to South Arlington. One North Arlington neighborhood successfully fought a proposed transfer of their students from their high performing elementary school to an under capacity school south of route 50. The story made local headlines, and reveals that Rt. 50 is still a very strong social, psychological and physical dividing line in Arlington. And the Arlington school board (unlike in Fairfax County) has traditionally been very reluctant to upset homeowners with drastic boundary changes. In a small county like Arlington, neighborhoods hold a lot of influence over elected officials.

In conclusion, despite North Arlington overcrowding, I think boundaries will remain more or less the same. According to enrollment projections, in about five years W-L will be over 2,500 students. Yorktown, McLean and Langley high schools will be close behind. And Wakefield, will remain the smallest high school in the area at about 1,500 students and under capacity. I predict that Wakefield will expand its language immersion program to entice a couple hundred students to transfer from North Arlington every year.

[Anonymous]

Wakefield's demographics didn't change dramatically in five years. They changed gradually over a longer period, and the response of ACPS has been to allow Wakefield to become an under-enrolled school that is now heavily low-income. Had ACPS dealt with this earlier, they might not have an issue, but it's going to take more than a new building and a language immersion program now to entice hundreds of North Arlington families to send their kids to Wakefield. W-L is projected to have close to 2,600 students in five years, far more than Yorktown or Wakefield. That may force ACPS to redistrict, particularly after they spend taxpayer money to rebuild Wakefield. The question at that point will be whether all the current, "gerrymandered" boundaries are redrawn, or whether ACPS simply adjusts the current W-L boundaries to send some W-L kids to Yorktown and Wakefield.

Fairfax has tended to step in earlier and redistrict kids to schools that were heading in Wakefield's direction before the demographics reached a tipping point. The PP is right that it's big enough that the school officials really don't seem to care if they irritate some parents in the process. In any event, Langley and McLean are only projected to have slightly more than 2,000 students in five years, so there's no pressure building to adjust the boundaries of those schools.

[Anonymous]

I was house-hunting until pretty recently. Both schools are great, and both districts are great. Are either of you commuting to DC? I feel like Yorktown boundary might be a little closer for a driving commute. That said, homes in McLean HS boundary might be close to West Falls Church metro. Also, I found that you can get a much nicer house in McLean's boundary than in Yorktown. The houses we looked at that fed into McLean were beautifully renovated ramblers with nice yards. The ones in Yorktown were mostly tear-downs, though if your price range is over $650K you'll have more choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was house-hunting until pretty recently. Both schools are great, and both districts are great. Are either of you commuting to DC? I feel like Yorktown boundary might be a little closer for a driving commute. That said, homes in McLean HS boundary might be close to West Falls Church metro. Also, I found that you can get a much nicer house in McLean's boundary than in Yorktown. The houses we looked at that fed into McLean were beautifully renovated ramblers with nice yards. The ones in Yorktown were mostly tear-downs, though if your price range is over $650K you'll have more choices.

If your price range is in the multi-millions and are in the market for small estates, I suggest Country Club Hills in N Arlington, Franklin Forest (McLean HS), or the neighborhoods near Chain Bridge Rd that feed into Langley HS (or Yorktown).

[Anonymous]

There are a lot of shoddy new homes going up in North Arlington now by builders trying to capitalize on the area's popularity. Not to say there aren't some nice ones as well (Tradition Homes comes to mind).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was house-hunting until pretty recently. Both schools are great, and both districts are great. Are either of you commuting to DC? I feel like Yorktown boundary might be a little closer for a driving commute. That said, homes in McLean HS boundary might be close to West Falls Church metro. Also, I found that you can get a much nicer house in McLean's boundary than in Yorktown. The houses we looked at that fed into McLean were beautifully renovated ramblers with nice yards. The ones in Yorktown were mostly tear-downs, though if your price range is over $650K you'll have more choices.

If your price range is in the multi-millions and are in the market for small estates, I suggest Country Club Hills in N Arlington, Franklin Forest (McLean HS), or the neighborhoods near Chain Bridge Rd that feed into Langley HS (or Yorktown).

The feed into McLean. Only the neighborhoods north of 123 feed into Langley. Chain Bridge Forest (off of Glebe Rd and bounded by Glebe and Chesterbrook) feeds into both Yorktown and McLean HS because the neighborhood has the county border running through it. The houses there are very nice, and start at about $975k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was house-hunting until pretty recently. Both schools are great, and both districts are great. Are either of you commuting to DC? I feel like Yorktown boundary might be a little closer for a driving commute. That said, homes in McLean HS boundary might be close to West Falls Church metro. Also, I found that you can get a much nicer house in McLean's boundary than in Yorktown. The houses we looked at that fed into McLean were beautifully renovated ramblers with nice yards. The ones in Yorktown were mostly tear-downs, though if your price range is over $650K you'll have more choices.

If your price range is in the multi-millions and are in the market for small estates, I suggest Country Club Hills in N Arlington, Franklin Forest (McLean HS), or the neighborhoods near Chain Bridge Rd that feed into Langley HS (or Yorktown).

Doesn't sound like you live there. While there are multi million dollar homes in the area, most are not. And the schools are Yorktown and McLean--Langley is north of 123.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of shoddy new homes going up in North Arlington now by builders trying to capitalize on the area's popularity. Not to say there aren't some nice ones as well (Tradition Homes comes to mind).

There are a lot of shoddy homes going up all over Northern Virginia, in McLean as well, especially along Westmoreland street. BCN and Sagatov homes have an extensive portfolio of new luxury homes and estates in McLean and N Arlington--if you're into traditional styles like english tudor, "colonial" etc... Studio Crowley Hall has an impressive portfolio of modern homes--a new contemporary home in N Arlington's Ashton Heights comes to mind.

Despite all the new constuction, I still believe Arlington is most well known for its 1930s-era colonials and early 20th century Craftsman homes. In this way parts of Arlington resembles neighborhoods in DC like Chevy Chase, DC or AU Park, and remains popular among young couples leaving DC looking for similar neighborhoods with good public schools. Families are drawn to close-in Bethesda for similar reasons.

[Anonymous]

Why aren't you considering moving into the Langley HS area?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was house-hunting until pretty recently. Both schools are great, and both districts are great. Are either of you commuting to DC? I feel like Yorktown boundary might be a little closer for a driving commute. That said, homes in McLean HS boundary might be close to West Falls Church metro. Also, I found that you can get a much nicer house in McLean's boundary than in Yorktown. The houses we looked at that fed into McLean were beautifully renovated ramblers with nice yards. The ones in Yorktown were mostly tear-downs, though if your price range is over $650K you'll have more choices.

If your price range is in the multi-millions and are in the market for small estates, I suggest Country Club Hills in N Arlington, Franklin Forest (McLean HS), or the neighborhoods near Chain Bridge Rd that feed into Langley HS (or Yorktown).

Doesn't sound like you live there. While there are multi million dollar homes in the area, most are not. And the schools are Yorktown and McLean--Langley is north of 123.

The fact is that there currently are multi-million dollar mini estates for sale, if people are interested in that and those larger homes cluster around certain neighborhoods--in Country Club Hills close to the fairway, along Chain Bridge Rd in Arlington County and Fairfax County, and a few scattered elsewhere in N Arlington in neighborhoods like Woodmont, Riverwood/Dover Crystal... I could go on. One house in North Arlington, which was designed by the architect of National Airport is on the market for $7,950,000. The real estate blog DC Curbed did a story on that house a few weeks ago.

I never said most homes in N Arlington are in the multi-million dollar range--the vast majority are obviously not, but there are a significant number of those homes in N Arlington and close-in McLean.

And concerning schools, the Sherman/Cooper/Langley pyramid does indeed border the Yorktown HS pyramid along the county border closer to the Potomac.