Need school/neighborhood recommendations in Loudoun County

[Anonymous]

We have 3 kids enrolled in full-time GT at Fairfax County's public school. Thinking of moving to Leesburg/Ashburn for a bigger/cheaper house. (that is the only reason) Many of our friends have done it and are happy, but we have only two concerns:

(1) the area demographics
(2) the resources available for advanced/gifted kids.

We hear Loudoun is predominantly white. Our kids are half Asian and we are looking for diversified communities/schools. What schools and neighborhoods would you recommend?

[Anonymous]

OP here. We are looking for a house with at least 4 bedroom with finished basement for $500-$550K.

[Anonymous]

I'm the Leesburg poster you may see from time to time. I live about 1/2 mile from downtown and absolutely love it here.

I assume you/your DH don't work downtown or are forced into a 9-5 job in Arlington. Because if that's the case, my prediction is pain. Don't be that SAHM who demands hubby takes a super-long commute so you can have more stuff/a bigger house (I assume there's no immediate safety issue or neighbors that are sucking your life dry.)

There do seem to be enough SFH listings to take a look at for under $550k.

I can't speak to the resources for gifted kids -- there's a program called FUTURA which I understand isn't as hardcore as the AAP/Level IV/whatever it is in Fairfax.

Schools: The only HS that I'd hesitate to recommend is Park View, as it scores far below the other LCPS high schools and it only has a '4' GS rating for not economically disadvantaged students (as opposed to a '7' for TC Williams.)

As for diversity, here are the raw #'s.

Leesburg just re-zoned its elementary schools this year.

Tuscarora (north Leesburg): 71% White, 12% Hispanic, 10% Black, 6% Asian
Heritage HS (south Leesburg): 58% White, 17% Hispanic, 14% Black, 10% Asian
Loudoun County HS (central Leesburg): 75% White, 11% Hispanic, 9% Black, 4% Asian

Stone Bridge (north Ashburn, FWIW this seems to get the highest ratings/test scores): 73% White, 10% Black, 9% Asian, 7% Hispanic
Broad Run (central Ashburn): 64% White, 14% Asian, 11% Hispanic, 11% Black
Briar Woods (south Ashburn): 65% White, 16% Asian, 11% Black, 8% Hispanic

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Wow! What a wonderful, helpful post! Thank you so much. Do you mind asking, what is the name of the neighborhood/community you are living in? Would love to consider moving there and be your friend

[Anonymous]

Check out Lansdowne on the Potomac and Loudoun Valley Estates. My observations is that there is diversity in both communities - although I think Lansdowne is more welcoming to diversity.

[Anonymous]

We lived in Countryside before. Very nice neighborhood. One thing about Loudoun though, if you have dark hair everyone assumes you're hispanic. Not that it's bad to be, not offending anyone, but it just shows that 'some' people in Loudoun should get out and see the world more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow! What a wonderful, helpful post! Thank you so much. Do you mind asking, what is the name of the neighborhood/community you are living in? Would love to consider moving there and be your friend

Thanks!

We live in NE Leesburg fairly close to downtown, our schools are Leesburg/Smart's Mill/Tuscarora.

I don't know what percentage of Asians is your 'minimum,' though.

In reference to 22:04, Seldens Landing (which serves part of Lansdowne): 71% White, 16% Asian, 9% Black, 4% Hispanic. Lansdowne currently goes to Tuscarora HS (and they fought like hell not to go there, or more accurately to stay in Stone Bridge), but eventually Lansdowne and north Ashburn will get their own high school.

All figures are from Greatschools -- run numbers yourself, but be sure to get the latest and greatest school zone map if you do pick the town of Leesburg. They were supposed to rejigger the zones so that the non-English speakers and free lunch students were spread out more, but to placate some neighborhood, the School Board decided to give Douglass (the new ES opening this fall) more ESOL/FARMS students than the others -- which really sucked as the staff and several citizens had come up with good plans which did a nice job of balancing. Even then, the FARMS percentages at Douglass are in the low 30s, hardly the stuff of doom and gloom IMO, I just mention them because some people get funny once you start talking FARMS percentages of over 15% and other people seem to WANT FARMS percentages over 40%.

Finally -- there's the historic core of Leesburg, the 70s buildout, and the Ashburn part of Leesburg. Three different areas, and this diversity in housing styles is part of what I love about Leesburg.

The way I see it, I'm within walking distance of stuff I want to walk to (downtown, Leesburg Plaza, etc.) and I can drive to stuff I need to drive to -- no one's going to walk to Target and pick up some stuff. For me, that matters as I'm always the designated driver for my family.

[Anonymous]

I like 20147 in Ashburn and it has more diversity than you would think.

[Anonymous]

We are in 20165 and my son's ES is nearly 25% Asian. Highly educated parents with lots of IT and defense contractors, Foreign Service DS agents (and some FSOs), FBI, etc.
High expectations of students and results-oriented teachers and staff. We are in a built-out area so no worries here about rezoning.
Bullying is an issue with well-to-do families and entitled kids but school seems to address and handle issues promptly and thoroughly.
Correct, AAP centers do not exist here but my kid would not want to be sent to another school away from buddies, This way it's only 1x weekly for FUTURA and kid still stays at home school with neighborhood friends.