Tell me about Shepherd Park
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Anonymous
| We just got back from the amazing new playground on Jonquil and were completely charmed by the neighborhood. Anybody live there? What's it like? |
Anonymous
| Nice but bad public elementary. Do you need public school? |
Anonymous
| Oh, that's too bad. The school building looked nice. What in particular is bad about it? |
Anonymous
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9:43 WRONG... Let see the Shepherd Elementary is an International Baccalaureat school, teaches French and Spanish and has the one of the best elementary school music teachers around (probably one of the top ten in the metro area for elementary school music). Do the test scores reflect the opportunities at the school... not as well as some hope but it is a very good place with the teacher and an involved PTA and parent community.
Suggestion to the OP if you want to look at the school talk to the principal, meet the staff, talk to the parents, go to a PTA meeting, go to the school website -- http://www.shepherd-elementary.org , read the school newsletters on the website. Don't rely on a grumpy poster on DCUM ! ! ! |
Anonymous
| While we are on the subject, could someone please explain the boundaries/difference between Colonial Village and Shepherd Park? I also love this area--was surprised to learn from the other thread that one of these areas is in-boundaries for Deal and Wilson. |
Anonymous
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Not sure why 9:43 says the elementary is bad. It gets a '9' on Greatschools and has 26% FARMS students, as compared to 17% for Murch and 19% for Stoddert (both who get a '10'.)
It seems walkable to downtown Silver Spring and the Takoma or Silver Spring Metro stops. It is 90% African-American, FWIW, and I have no idea what the MS/HS options are. But Shepherd seems worth a try at the least, and if I were into being an urban pioneer again, knowing what I know now, it'd be very near the top on my list of areas to consider in the city. |
Anonymous
| "Urban pioneer?" It is a totally beautiful, already gentrified neighborhood. What would be pioneering about living in Shepherd Park? |
Anonymous
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Moving into Shepherd Park is "urban pioneering"? Wow! I always heard that area described as "the Gold Coast."
This would be like an AA saying that moving into Avenel is "suburban pioneering." |
Anonymous
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10:22 again. Urban pioneer is the wrong term here.
10:31 is close to the mark. It's just as intimidating being (among) the first Whites moving into 16th Street Heights/Shepherd Park as it is being (among) the first Blacks moving into Avenel or some other lily-white enclave. Some of the already-there residents are just going to be assholes about it -- in both cases -- and it has to be factored in. But I do find it odd that neighborhoods such as Brightwood, Columbia Heights, etc., which seem worse in terms of crime and schools are getting boosted on here and Shepherd Park seems largely ignored. Hell, I've even seen more boosters for Trinidad than for 16th Street Heights/Shepherd Park. |
Anonymous
| 9:43 here, we know 4 families in SP. They all went private or charter. None would consider the local school. I've heard it's okay so I was surprised so just reporting what others have done. |
Anonymous
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I know several folks who live in this beautiful neighborhood. Seriously, their homes would be $1M + if west of the park. Big yards, beautiful old homes with tons of character. In fact, they joke that they are getting the "East of the park" discount.
These folks work in social justice/labor movement jobs and do not have kids (so can't comment on schools). (FWIW, they are all white). |
Anonymous
I think of Shepherd Park as a somewhat sleepy Ground Zero for affluent AAs who've lived in DC for generations. They know who they are, they aren't looking for affirmation of their neighborhood on message boards like DCUM, and they don't care if there neighborhood is the next great thing for white yuppies. If some whites want to move in, fine; if they don't, fine as well. |
Anonymous
| It's one of the best kept little secret beautiful names--that and Crestwood. Shepherd Elementary is a pretty good school--Powell, not so much. The HS for this area is Coolige so pretty bad. |
Anonymous
| ^^Beautiful nabes that is. |
Anonymous
Colonial Village is stunning--basically it's Spring Valley east of the park. The boundary is West Beach and Grubb Road and Beach Drive. It does feed intoShepherd ES, Deal and Wilson. Houses start @900k though. |