Giving up on North Arligton... Is South Arlington going to improve?

[Anonymous]

Another Barcroft resident here. I have a kid at barcroft elementary, and so far things are ok even with the dozens of new low income kids that showed up to school in sept. Overcrowded is an understatement, but so is north arlington.

Lived in a townhouses in north arlington until able to buy a sFh in south. Love it here. The pike is ugly and the western part is going to get more low income housing, but it is still awfully nice here. Unless you hang out on the pike, and we don't, it is a world away from the nice streets in the neighborhood. Safe too.

The slightly "better" education in the north just was not worth it. The only difference really is the socio Econ status of many kids in school. So what, my kid does fine and sure is learning a lot.

Would I have preferred north? Sure, who wouldn't. But I grew up in a shit shack, and I am not going to let my kids live like that. I come home to a nice house in a nice hood!

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:We've moved our home search south of 50. We have 1 DC under 2. Trying to stay under 650k for a sfh. Are we going to have to look outside of Arlington? Do I really need to be concerned about Wakefield? That is a long time from now. Is the south going to turn around? Looked at a place near Columbia Pike and it's just ugly over there.

The obvious place to look if priced out of North Arlington is Falls Church, not South Arlington, if you care about schools.

I thought the falls church schools weren't great?

By just about any metric, George Mason, Marshall, McLean, and Falls Church fare better than Wakefield. Stuart and Wakefield are similar, though Wakefield has a new building.

Stuart is rated worse than Wakefield. I foresee
Wakefield trending upward- I don't see that at Stuart.

Most people around here use great schools- not a perfect scale, but it's what most are looking at. Stuart is the reason for the charter discussion over there. Not good. I haven't heard anything bad about Wakefield. Actually I've only heard good things, and the kids I've met are good kids.

Rated worse? Depends on who is doing the rating and what's being rated. Wakefield has higher SOL scores, but Stuart's 2014 SAT scores were higher than Wakefield's (1464 vs. 1417). But, in either case, the other FC-areas schools are currently rated higher than both Wakefield and Stuart.

I wouldn't recommend either, but Wakefield's SAT scores are about as low as they get in NoVa. Most parents looking to send their kids to college pay more attention to SAT scores than ratings based on SOLs.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:We've moved our home search south of 50. We have 1 DC under 2. Trying to stay under 650k for a sfh. Are we going to have to look outside of Arlington? Do I really need to be concerned about Wakefield? That is a long time from now. Is the south going to turn around? Looked at a place near Columbia Pike and it's just ugly over there.

The obvious place to look if priced out of North Arlington is Falls Church, not South Arlington, if you care about schools.

I thought the falls church schools weren't great?

By just about any metric, George Mason, Marshall, McLean, and Falls Church fare better than Wakefield. Stuart and Wakefield are similar, though Wakefield has a new building.

Stuart is rated worse than Wakefield. I foresee
Wakefield trending upward- I don't see that at Stuart.

Most people around here use great schools- not a perfect scale, but it's what most are looking at. Stuart is the reason for the charter discussion over there. Not good. I haven't heard anything bad about Wakefield. Actually I've only heard good things, and the kids I've met are good kids.

Rated worse? Depends on who is doing the rating and what's being rated. Wakefield has higher SOL scores, but Stuart's 2014 SAT scores were higher than Wakefield's (1464 vs. 1417). But, in either case, the other FC-areas schools are currently rated higher than both Wakefield and Stuart.

Stuart just got a new principal last week. Most people in the community seem very positive about the change. Stuart could definitely start trending up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I wouldn't recommend either, but Wakefield's SAT scores are about as low as they get in NoVa. Most parents looking to send their kids to college pay more attention to SAT scores than ratings based on SOLs.

... of those in similar SES/race of their own

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Patrick Henry is an 8 on great schools for those that live and die by Great Schools.

We make over 200k, chose S Arlington and LOVE it. We used to live in N Arlington. Most people denigrating it have never lived here.

I lived there for 6 years and hated it. Granted it was between 2002 and 2008 ...

[Anonymous]

We also live in Barcroft and couldn't be happier. Super friendly neighborhood and a nice mix of older residents and young families. Houses priced from $600-800K go really fast and there are a lot of folks renovating and expanding.

We have older kids and I have no complaints with our assigned schools. We have had great experiences and caring teachers. Wakefield is a fine school and has a lot of happy parents here.

As for the Pike, it doesnt bother me too much. It reminds me of Clarendon back in the days of Queen Bee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've moved our home search south of 50. We have 1 DC under 2. Trying to stay under 650k for a sfh. Are we going to have to look outside of Arlington? Do I really need to be concerned about Wakefield? That is a long time from now. Is the south going to turn around? Looked at a place near Columbia Pike and it's just ugly over there.

The obvious place to look if priced out of North Arlington is Falls Church, not South Arlington, if you care about schools.

I thought the falls church schools weren't great?

By just about any metric, George Mason, Marshall, McLean, and Falls Church fare better than Wakefield. Stuart and Wakefield are similar, though Wakefield has a new building.

Stuart is rated worse than Wakefield. I foresee
Wakefield trending upward- I don't see that at Stuart.

Most people around here use great schools- not a perfect scale, but it's what most are looking at. Stuart is the reason for the charter discussion over there. Not good. I haven't heard anything bad about Wakefield. Actually I've only heard good things, and the kids I've met are good kids.

Rated worse? Depends on who is doing the rating and what's being rated. Wakefield has higher SOL scores, but Stuart's 2014 SAT scores were higher than Wakefield's (1464 vs. 1417). But, in either case, the other FC-areas schools are currently rated higher than both Wakefield and Stuart.

Stuart just got a new principal last week. Most people in the community seem very positive about the change. Stuart could definitely start trending up.

They are positive about the change at Stuart because the last principal was a disaster. The new one moved suddenly and unexpectedly from Glasgow Middle, where she did a good job. Stuart has nowhere to go but up after the rapid decline of the last few years, with quality teachers leaving in droves. Stuart is never a great school compared to others in Northern Virginia, and willingness of those who live in the pyramid to keep their higher-achieving kids at the school is far too dependent on the competence of the principal.

[Anonymous]

Douglas Park resident here. We love our neighborhood. So nice and quiet. There are some real eye sores in our neighborhood, but they are being slowly torn down/renovated. The Pike is getting better I think. Still, everytime I drive down I wonder just how many check cashing places do we need?
We are expecting our first this fall, and are planning to send them to Randolph. I've looked closely at the scores, and it seems my child's peers are performing well. I like the idea of walking my kid to school. Besides, I see a ton of involved parents when I pass the school- of all Classes/races.
Our older neighbors sent their kids to Wakefield. They now go to Duke, so I think it'll be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I wouldn't recommend either, but Wakefield's SAT scores are about as low as they get in NoVa. Most parents looking to send their kids to college pay more attention to SAT scores than ratings based on SOLs.

... of those in similar SES/race of their own

Not necessarily, as many people focus on the entire cohort of students (of whatever SES/race) interested enough in post-secondary education to take the SATs.

But, if you prefer the more granular approach, white kids at Wakefield had SAT scores of 1569 in 2014 vs. 1860 at W-L, 1805 at Yorktown and 1641 at Stuart.

[Anonymous]

We purchased in Claremont about 7 years ago. We've attended the neighborhood events over the years (Halloween parade, chili cook off, etc) and there are many many more young families. From my house i can see 10 homes, 4 of them are new families (within the last 3 years) with children under 5. Just pull up the zillow map and look at how many sales there have been and the average purchase price. Many updated homes sell before or at the open house.

The kids in the neighborhood go to Claremont, Drew, Campbell and Abingdon.

We also have old neighbors who are moving back to arlington and are only looking in areas that feed into Wakefield.

We love it here. So convenient to everything, but also a nice quiet neighborhood.

Good luck, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I wouldn't recommend either, but Wakefield's SAT scores are about as low as they get in NoVa. Most parents looking to send their kids to college pay more attention to SAT scores than ratings based on SOLs.

... of those in similar SES/race of their own

Not necessarily, as many people focus on the entire cohort of students (of whatever SES/race) interested enough in post-secondary education to take the SATs.

But, if you prefer the more granular approach, white kids at Wakefield had SAT scores of 1569 in 2014 vs. 1860 at W-L, 1805 at Yorktown and 1641 at Stuart.

OP's got more than a decade to worry about SAT's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I wouldn't recommend either, but Wakefield's SAT scores are about as low as they get in NoVa. Most parents looking to send their kids to college pay more attention to SAT scores than ratings based on SOLs.

... of those in similar SES/race of their own

Not necessarily, as many people focus on the entire cohort of students (of whatever SES/race) interested enough in post-secondary education to take the SATs.

But, if you prefer the more granular approach, white kids at Wakefield had SAT scores of 1569 in 2014 vs. 1860 at W-L, 1805 at Yorktown and 1641 at Stuart.

OP's got more than a decade to worry about SAT's.

In a decade college education as we know it will change dramatically. You kid will be in a MOC with thousands of kids from around the world. A little diversity may prepare said kid for the future

[Anonymous]

Ok! So to answer Op's question, it would appear that many young professionals and their young families are choosing south Arlington. That would indicate that is will " turn around". Go for it!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok! So to answer Op's question, it would appear that many young professionals and their young families are choosing south Arlington. That would indicate that is will " turn around". Go for it!!!

Poor and risky choice when region's population is tapering off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did and moved into Barcroft. The elementary in Barcroft is really stressed right now because of the low income housing and the city won't expand the school or shift anything around. Hate to hurt my own property values by saying that....

I have not heard one bad thing from Wakefield parents, their kids are thriving. And man, I got a lot more for my money in S. Arlington.

The pike is not so good, but honestly, go a couple blocks off the pike and the neighborhoods with sfh are lovely. Barcroft is really nice, fabulous neighborhood I have to say. Some old with renovations and expansions, and some new. Amazing to me that hte Barcroft school is like 70% latino because the local non-pike neighborhood is not.

We love it!

You live in Arlington yet you don't know that it's not a "city", but, rather, a County (which can matter in VA)? Back to study hall ...