What's so special about Mclean schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We don't live in Mclean, but I've met a lot of parents and children from there and overall they are well off financially and spend a lot of time with their families and kids. Many families have a stay at home parent and if both parents work, one or even two of them have very flexible jobs. The schools always seem to have great teachers, the curriculum always seems to be engaging and challenging, there are a lot of great enrichment programs at the school and in the community, and the children seem to be excelling and are friendly. I do think there are a lot of neighborhoods that don't have the neighborhood feel that some other places in Fairfax do. I also don't like that there are a lot of kids attending private schools in Mclean neighborhoods. The schools do a lot of differentiation though and through this, they tend to have smaller class sizes than some other areas nearby.

This is spot-on and also goes for Great Falls. Though I have to say, our neighborhood does have a great, neighborly feel. We love it here.

[Anonymous]

You can do Oakton without being too far out if you buy a home feeding into Mosby Woods boundary. I saw a few homes there, not far off of Nutley. You could also look at homes in 22031, which is near Vienna/Dunn Loring metro. We were zoned for FCHS (not really higher-ranked than Edison) but other homes were zoned for Fairfax HS or Woodson or Oakton and it wasn't too far out.

[Anonymous]

10:42 here - we saw some homes in Falls Church that fed into the McLean HS boundary. They were not far from City of Falls church and weren't too terribly expensive at the time. (I was looking in 2011 with a max of $550k.) These homes were off of 29.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don't live in Mclean, but I've met a lot of parents and children from there and overall they are well off financially and spend a lot of time with their families and kids. Many families have a stay at home parent and if both parents work, one or even two of them have very flexible jobs. The schools always seem to have great teachers, the curriculum always seems to be engaging and challenging, there are a lot of great enrichment programs at the school and in the community, and the children seem to be excelling and are friendly. I do think there are a lot of neighborhoods that don't have the neighborhood feel that some other places in Fairfax do. I also don't like that there are a lot of kids attending private schools in Mclean neighborhoods. The schools do a lot of differentiation though and through this, they tend to have smaller class sizes than some other areas nearby.

This is spot-on and also goes for Great Falls. Though I have to say, our neighborhood does have a great, neighborly feel. We love it here.

+1

[Anonymous]

One of the things that is nice if you live in McLean, particularly 22101, is that the schools are all close by. We knew buying there that, realistically, we'd only be zoned for either Cooper/Langley or Longfellow/McLean and, if one of our kids wants to do IB, Marshall in Falls Church is only a few miles away as well.

[Anonymous]

That's the best thing about McLean. Even if you're not in 22102, you can find great houses in 22101 with amazing schools, and 22101 is even inside the beltway. If you work in DC, the parts of McLean in the beltway are great buys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:10:42 here - we saw some homes in Falls Church that fed into the McLean HS boundary. They were not far from City of Falls church and weren't too terribly expensive at the time. (I was looking in 2011 with a max of $550k.) These homes were off of 29.

I live in that area. It's a good option for people who might want to send their kids to McLean HS but can't afford to actually live in McLean (or, like us, wouldn't want to live there anyway). Buy while you can, though - the area has been discovered by McMansion builders and flippers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know Mclean is deemed a great school district, has top ratings on greatschools.com and has a wealthy demographic. Wondering if the schools are worth the move. We currently live in the Edison pyramid. I know we don't want our kids going to Edison for high school. Will it be worth it to wipe out our savings and potentially delay our retirement?

Nothing is special. Your kids will get out of it what they and you put in. I know plenty of people who graduated Annandale, W.Springfield and many other schools and their all going to a good state school or better. There is nothing wrong with UVA, Tech, George Mason. If you're kid has the grades and the ambition they'll go to a good school and get a good job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know Mclean is deemed a great school district, has top ratings on greatschools.com and has a wealthy demographic. Wondering if the schools are worth the move. We currently live in the Edison pyramid. I know we don't want our kids going to Edison for high school. Will it be worth it to wipe out our savings and potentially delay our retirement?

there are plenty of more reasonably priced school districts that have better high schools than Edison and are more affordable than McLean. Lake Braddock district, South Lakes and Oakton spring to mind.

DH does not want to move further out, only closer to DC. I love the Oakton area. I believe you have get on 66 though.

Then why not DC? There are some really fantastic educators and good schools in the city you know.

And in some ways they are far better than any McLean school due to the cultural diversity available in the city. Focus on the importan things for your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know Mclean is deemed a great school district, has top ratings on greatschools.com and has a wealthy demographic. Wondering if the schools are worth the move. We currently live in the Edison pyramid. I know we don't want our kids going to Edison for high school. Will it be worth it to wipe out our savings and potentially delay our retirement?

there are plenty of more reasonably priced school districts that have better high schools than Edison and are more affordable than McLean. Lake Braddock district, South Lakes and Oakton spring to mind.

DH does not want to move further out, only closer to DC. I love the Oakton area. I believe you have get on 66 though.

Then why not DC? There are some really fantastic educators and good schools in the city you know.

And in some ways they are far better than any McLean school due to the cultural diversity available in the city. Focus on the importan things for your child.

PP 17:00, this has to be one of the most harmful and venomous things I have ever read on DCUM. The whole point of moving from Oakton to McLean/Langley (or 22207 in North Arlington) is to escape the FARMS who drag down your kids. So you suggest the Oakton parents seek out MORE FARMS kids.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

[Anonymous]

Many people just want to be around others who care about school. It's not as much about the wealth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know Mclean is deemed a great school district, has top ratings on greatschools.com and has a wealthy demographic. Wondering if the schools are worth the move. We currently live in the Edison pyramid. I know we don't want our kids going to Edison for high school. Will it be worth it to wipe out our savings and potentially delay our retirement?

there are plenty of more reasonably priced school districts that have better high schools than Edison and are more affordable than McLean. Lake Braddock district, South Lakes and Oakton spring to mind.

DH does not want to move further out, only closer to DC. I love the Oakton area. I believe you have get on 66 though.

Then why not DC? There are some really fantastic educators and good schools in the city you know.

And in some ways they are far better than any McLean school due to the cultural diversity available in the city. Focus on the importan things for your child.

McLean HS is over 40% non-white and even among the white population there are many different cultures. It is actually quite diverse. Most of the public schools in DC are not as diverse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know Mclean is deemed a great school district, has top ratings on greatschools.com and has a wealthy demographic. Wondering if the schools are worth the move. We currently live in the Edison pyramid. I know we don't want our kids going to Edison for high school. Will it be worth it to wipe out our savings and potentially delay our retirement?

there are plenty of more reasonably priced school districts that have better high schools than Edison and are more affordable than McLean. Lake Braddock district, South Lakes and Oakton spring to mind.

DH does not want to move further out, only closer to DC. I love the Oakton area. I believe you have get on 66 though.

Then why not DC? There are some really fantastic educators and good schools in the city you know.

And in some ways they are far better than any McLean school due to the cultural diversity available in the city. Focus on the importan things for your child.

Former DC resident now happy in McLean. Like the fact that any of the McLean-area schools (Langley, McLean and Marshall) are all very good, whereas in DC there are many parents who will only send their kids to Deal MS/Wilson HS, even though many other DC schools are well under-capacity. Every time someone from DCPS proposes to move more kids to Hardy MS, Cardozo HS or some other school, the parents in NW go nuts and the proposals end up on a shelf.

[Anonymous]

You won't be delaying your retirement. McLean housing market appreciates so much faster than (most) other areas that you can sell your house and have much more equity when your kids get into college. You may very likely end up retiring early.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I can only imagine the person promoting DC schools over McLean schools was a troll. Langley and McLean are two of the top schools in the entire country.