moving to D.C. from the U.K. - looking for school advice...

[Anonymous]

Hi I'm Mom with three kids - 3, 6 and 9. We're a multi-racial family (partner is Spanish (European), I'm Peruvian-Canadian, our first child is adopted African, boys white European). The kids have lived most of their lives here in the U.K. Anyway, my partner has just been offered a job at the World Bank and we will be moving to the D.C. area from the U.K. in July/ August and are trying to figure out where to live.

The determining factor will be the schools - our daughter is incredibly creative - a great performer (dancer, actor, singer) and a curious learner, but needs a caring setting that supports some concentration challenges she faces. Our middle boy is also very curious; highly academic, math whiz. Both are very active. Our little one is ready for a pre-school setting, but I don't want to push that given the adjustments the move will make, and am willing not to go back to work for a few months until he/ they are settled.

Our older kids go to a school that is not test/ results focused but does seem to get the "results" through more creative, curiousity inspired learning type approach - Montessori-ish, I guess. We would look for a similar ethos in a D.C. area school but would appreciate a strong arts and P.E. programmes as all our kids are super active. I don't think my man gets any tuition benefits and as we'll only have the one salary to start off with, private schools are not an option. And ideally, we'd like to walk or bike our kids to school. Any thoughts about a good school/ area we should be focusing our attention on?

I guess I should say that his salary (although still being negotiated) is likely to be around $100K which, I get the impression is not a lot. A friend at the World Bank said that we could find a decent house to rent in a good area for around $3500; ideally we'd like to keep it a bit lower so that we could save-up to buy a place.

Please share your wisdom - it's feeling pretty overwhelming!

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Its 100k tax-free, though, right?

You can rent a small house in Falls Church City or North Arlington in that price range.

[Anonymous]

Where in the uk? London?

[Anonymous]

If London, what neighborhoods do you like there?

[Anonymous]

If he is working at the World Bank, I would recommend to look for a rental in the cooridor from Georgetown to the Maryland border in NW DC.

There are many World Bank familes in that area and you can find a rental reasily. Your family will fit right in. The elementary schools Hyde, Stodert, Janney Murch, Eaton will all support what you are looking for.

[Anonymous]

You are sharing way too much personal information on the Internet. That said, I hope your search goes well. Generally speaking, you can't go wrong with public schools in North Arlington.

[Anonymous]

I think Kensington has a elementary school with a bit of an arts focus?

[Anonymous]

Do u want urban or suburban? Car or no?

[Anonymous]

Arlington, DC itself, and close-in Montgomery County all have great public schools in walkable neighborhoods. Arlington Public Schools do offer Montessori at Drew Model Elementary.

[Anonymous]

Montgomery County MD (but no place east of Rockville except maybe Olney).

I live in VA and love it, but I wouldn't pick it if I was African or African American because there are so few here (DD's school has maybe 5%), and there seems to be a more pervasive lack of socioeconomic equality in VA whereas it's the complete opposite in Montgomery County - good chance your African American neighbors could buy and sell you there, or at least there's a lot more socioeconomic equality there.

And forget the schools in DC. It's a disaster there don't even get me started.

[Anonymous]

There are some good schools in dc. No idea how they are with special needs but eaton for ex is very international, good place for wb family. Oyster would be great if the kids speacl Spanish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Montgomery County MD (but no place east of Rockville except maybe Olney).

I live in VA and love it, but I wouldn't pick it if I was African or African American because there are so few here (DD's school has maybe 5%), and there seems to be a more pervasive lack of socioeconomic equality in VA whereas it's the complete opposite in Montgomery County - good chance your African American neighbors could buy and sell you there, or at least there's a lot more socioeconomic equality there.

And forget the schools in DC. It's a disaster there don't even get me started.

Same poster again. . .

I'm remembering that although Einstein High School in MD may not be the best generally speaking, it has a special arts program, so that might be something to consider. And it is generally cheaper to live in the area districted for that high school. (and I forgot to mention that VA is super expensive - we paid $400,000 for less than 1000 sq. ft. - I wish I could translate that into sq. metres for you. . )

[Anonymous]

OP here

Anonymous wrote:Where in the uk? London?

We're actually in Brighton, so sort of a "west coast" of the UK feel - lots of creative, alternative, thinking/ living people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do u want urban or suburban? Car or no?

Yeah, good question...we'd prefer urban but it looks like rents in urban areas are very high (and far between). I like the idea of not using the car often, but again, not sure how realistic this is. We are fairly flexible - just want to be sure the kids are happy at school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Arlington, DC itself, and close-in Montgomery County all have great public schools in walkable neighborhoods. Arlington Public Schools do offer Montessori at Drew Model Elementary.

Yes, I really like the Drew Model elementary school but saw that it only got a "3" rating on the "great school" rankings. Does anybody know why that might be? How these rankings work? And how much I should be considering them?