Upper NW elementary schools- Lafayette, Murch, Janney- any difference?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The three schools (and neighborhoods) do have different cultures and different pros/cons. Go and visit and see which is the best fit for you.
Janney - a lot of anxious lawyer parents. Excellent facilities. High quality of teachers. Well run. Somehow able to operate outside many of the more draconian limitations of DCPS.
Lafayette - nicer houses than in Janney area. I found the school to be less academically good than Janney but it was a while ago.
Murch - perhaps the most beholden to DCPS nonsense. But also slightly less undiverse than the other two.
Lafayette and Murch are also closer to the rest of DC. If you live in the Janney area, you are going to be spending a lot of time in Bethesda.

You have Lafayette and Janney mixed up location-wise. Janney is the furthest south and right next to a metro; houses in bounds for Lafayette are in the area that borders MD and are further from the metro

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don’t they eat with other kids at Murch? Do they eat in cafeteria but are forced to sit with their class?

Yes that is exactly what I said…they are not allowed to eat with anyone except their homeroom class. They are new so they basically get to interact with the same 20-24 kids.

This is not made clear at tours so I think it is something worth noting.

Sorry if some of you think it’s “weird” to have an issue with it 🙄

As you pointed out, they can play with anyone they want at recess, and afterschool activities/sports/music provide further opportunities. I doubt the 35 minutes they have to spend with specific classmates at lunch is going to damage them. What a bizarre thing to complain about.

[Anonymous]

OP here- thanks to everyone who has chimed in so far. This is all really helpful. I definitely should have included Hearst on the list. DH really wants to preserve our closeness to a metro stop, and I know it's a great option for trying to do that between Van Ness and Tenleytown metros being near the zone. We currently live in Brookland and have a big lot and are very close to a metro, so it's hard to swallow giving that up, but having certainty in the school pathway tops our list of priorities (also for sanity reasons).

[Anonymous]

One thing you could look into is to compare the administration at each school and the number of teachers staying/leaving at each school. It is a positive sign if the teachers are staying.

[Anonymous]

They’re all very similar.

[Anonymous]

Also consider asking on your local listserv. Kids in Brookland attend some or all of these schools OOB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also consider asking on your local listserv. Kids in Brookland attend some or all of these schools OOB.

I thought Brookland kids mostly lotteried into nearby charters to avoid the bad neighborhood DCPS. In all our years of being Murch/Deal parents, we haven't met one family from Brookland. That would be just a horrific commute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many threads on this. Our kids went/go to Janney. One thing that’s great is the location, really convenient to metro if you work downtown.

Murch has neighborhoods that are equally metro accessible. To me it’s not just about parent work commute, but also about the flexibility that metro access gives teenagers. We live in another metro accessible neighborhood and I love it for my kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here- thanks to everyone who has chimed in so far. This is all really helpful. I definitely should have included Hearst on the list. DH really wants to preserve our closeness to a metro stop, and I know it's a great option for trying to do that between Van Ness and Tenleytown metros being near the zone. We currently live in Brookland and have a big lot and are very close to a metro, so it's hard to swallow giving that up, but having certainty in the school pathway tops our list of priorities (also for sanity reasons).

Lafayette parent here, who looked at houses zoned for all of the schools you mentioned. There are houses zoned for all of the schools mentioned that are close to metro stops, even Lafayette (the houses just west of Connecticut, east of 41st are all less than a 10 min walk to Friendship Heights metro). But a lot of them aren't - there are huge swaths of AU park that are far from both Janney and the metro, even though Janney itself is right by the metro. Unfortunately, there isn't a ton of inventory of SFHs at any given time in the area, so you may not end up having your pick of houses that are close to metros. I'd look at proximity to major bus lines too if public transit accessibility is important to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here- thanks to everyone who has chimed in so far. This is all really helpful. I definitely should have included Hearst on the list. DH really wants to preserve our closeness to a metro stop, and I know it's a great option for trying to do that between Van Ness and Tenleytown metros being near the zone. We currently live in Brookland and have a big lot and are very close to a metro, so it's hard to swallow giving that up, but having certainty in the school pathway tops our list of priorities (also for sanity reasons).

Lafayette parent here, who looked at houses zoned for all of the schools you mentioned. There are houses zoned for all of the schools mentioned that are close to metro stops, even Lafayette (the houses just west of Connecticut, east of 41st are all less than a 10 min walk to Friendship Heights metro). But a lot of them aren't - there are huge swaths of AU park that are far from both Janney and the metro, even though Janney itself is right by the metro. Unfortunately, there isn't a ton of inventory of SFHs at any given time in the area, so you may not end up having your pick of houses that are close to metros. I'd look at proximity to major bus lines too if public transit accessibility is important to you.

Also following up just to note that we love Lafayette and disagree that the parents are unfriendly. I think some people may get that impression because a lot of the parents that are super involved in the school have multiple kids at the school and have been part of the community for 5, 10, or more years, and have established friend groups over that time. But as a new parent in the community beginning 2 years ago I found that there were plenty of other families who were new to the school and all have been friendly.

[Anonymous]

We bought our condo to ensure that we inbounds for one of these. We planned on Deal and Jackson-Read. If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t have bought here at alol and would have gotten a house in Silver Spring. We’ve found good placements outside of this feeder pattern that are academically and socially better fits for us. Be mindful that your kids may have needs that emerge are not well served by these schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were zoned for Janney but opted for private. Kids went to Deal. All their friends attended Murch. Murch has the nicest, most down to earth families. Janney and Lafayette parents are strivers, extremely unfriendly, and their kids are largely clique-ish.

So your kid didn’t attend any of these schools yet you know what every parent is like?! If all their friends were from Murch then you never actually met families from Janney or Lafayette. Give me a break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The three schools (and neighborhoods) do have different cultures and different pros/cons. Go and visit and see which is the best fit for you.
Janney - a lot of anxious lawyer parents. Excellent facilities. High quality of teachers. Well run. Somehow able to operate outside many of the more draconian limitations of DCPS.
Lafayette - nicer houses than in Janney area. I found the school to be less academically good than Janney but it was a while ago.
Murch - perhaps the most beholden to DCPS nonsense. But also slightly less undiverse than the other two.
Lafayette and Murch are also closer to the rest of DC. If you live in the Janney area, you are going to be spending a lot of time in Bethesda.

Lafayette isn’t close to the rest of DC — do you even know DC? Murch and Janney are about 3 min drive apart from each other, so again, not sure what you’re talking about. Janney is actually the only one that sits across the street from a metro station.

[Anonymous]

All three schools and all three neighborhoods are very similar in terms of education, real estate options and the families that live in the community. All the kids end up together at Deal and J-R (if they remain in public). Mine are at J-R now and have friends from all these schools. The housing inventory is very low so just find what works for you in any of them and you will do great. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don’t they eat with other kids at Murch? Do they eat in cafeteria but are forced to sit with their class?

Yes that is exactly what I said…they are not allowed to eat with anyone except their homeroom class. They are new so they basically get to interact with the same 20-24 kids.

This is not made clear at tours so I think it is something worth noting.

Sorry if some of you think it’s “weird” to have an issue with it 🙄

My children attended Janney and they have the same policy. Occasionally the older kids get 'mix it up days' when they can sit with others. I think it's actually extremely common in ES to have the kids sit by class. At recess they all play together.