Moving to VA: Rental home based on Elementary school ratings

[nu2nva]

Apologies in advance for posting in multiple forums. But here is my post in the Schools and Education section of the forum:

We are moving to the area next month and we will be basing our rental home search based on elementary schools. I wanted some firsthand feedback from parents whose children are going or have gone to one of the following schools:

McNair Elementary in Herndon (There are several townhomes within our budget $1800-$2300 in the area). We are not getting good reviews for this school or the nearby neighborhoods.

Oak Hill Elementary in Oak Hill. There are currently no homes available for rental within our budget. Although we've heard good things about this school.

Navy Elementary in Fairfax. We do not know much about this school, however there are possibly several properties available within our budget in the area.

Sunrise Elementary in Reston. Again, we do not know much about the school and there are maybe a couple of properties available within our budget.

One additional requirement is that ideally we need to be close to Herndon area which is where my husband will be working.

What throws me off is the rankings on schooldigger.com for several schools. I know it's by no means an authority site or the final word, but it's all we've got at the moment trying to gauge remotely what's good or not.

Oak Hill is ranked 26th out of some 1100 schools on schooldigger which is pretty good. However, we can hardly find properties in that area.
Fox Mill is ranked 82nd but nothing in that area within our range.
McNair is ranked 103rd but some question marks about the area in general.
Sunrise Valley is ranked 171st which is again a little bit discouraging.
Navy Elementary is ranked 130th.
Lees Corner is ranked 160th and the rest are much lower.

I understand that in general FCPS are good but it's kind of hard to see a school ranked at 300/400 out of 1000 and pick that area.

I also understand that we may have to do some compromise in terms of rent, smaller or older housing but things are just not adding up at the moment with less than 4 weeks left in our move

Please help since we are running out of time and need to shortlist some properties based on your feedback.

[Anonymous]

We go to Navy. It is a fantastic school with a lot of community involvement. about 1/4 of the school comes from one very family oriented neighborhood - we happen to live in it. it is very close to fair oaks hospital and is in an area that mixes between larger subdivisions and smaller groups of larger homes. it is a nice area b/c it is spread out (little traffic) but also pretty close to everything. if you have any specific questions I can try to answer them. I don't know any families not happy there.

[Anonymous]

I honestly think you would be happy with any of those schools. The rental market is so tight in your price range that I think you should take the best house you find that is available. If you like a rental in the Navy district, I would jump on it.

There are very few townhouses in Oak Hill/Fox Mill/Navy districts--mostly expensive SFH neighborhoods and so of course the demographics are reflected by the test scores which is how they calculate the "ranking". McNair has more free/reduced lunch kids than the other schools listed which explains the discrepancy.

[Anonymous]

Look for rentals in the Greenbriar West school zone. Just on the other side of Rt 50, so not much further than Oak Hill or Navy. Houses are usually older and smaller so you might have luck with a SFH.

[Anonymous]

nu2nva wrote:Apologies in advance for posting in multiple forums. But here is my post in the Schools and Education section of the forum:

We are moving to the area next month and we will be basing our rental home search based on elementary schools. I wanted some firsthand feedback from parents whose children are going or have gone to one of the following schools:

McNair Elementary in Herndon (There are several townhomes within our budget $1800-$2300 in the area). We are not getting good reviews for this school or the nearby neighborhoods.

Oak Hill Elementary in Oak Hill. There are currently no homes available for rental within our budget. Although we've heard good things about this school.

Navy Elementary in Fairfax. We do not know much about this school, however there are possibly several properties available within our budget in the area.

Sunrise Elementary in Reston. Again, we do not know much about the school and there are maybe a couple of properties available within our budget.

One additional requirement is that ideally we need to be close to Herndon area which is where my husband will be working.

What throws me off is the rankings on schooldigger.com for several schools. I know it's by no means an authority site or the final word, but it's all we've got at the moment trying to gauge remotely what's good or not.

Oak Hill is ranked 26th out of some 1100 schools on schooldigger which is pretty good. However, we can hardly find properties in that area.
Fox Mill is ranked 82nd but nothing in that area within our range.
McNair is ranked 103rd but some question marks about the area in general.
Sunrise Valley is ranked 171st which is again a little bit discouraging.
Navy Elementary is ranked 130th.
Lees Corner is ranked 160th and the rest are much lower.

I understand that in general FCPS are good but it's kind of hard to see a school ranked at 300/400 out of 1000 and pick that area.

I also understand that we may have to do some compromise in terms of rent, smaller or older housing but things are just not adding up at the moment with less than 4 weeks left in our move

Please help since we are running out of time and need to shortlist some properties based on your feedback.

check out http://www.greatschools.net

LOL school digger ranks McLean as 27th and below Marshall, summoning the trolls NOW

[Anonymous]

Your budget is very tight. I hope you can find a rental in any of the schools. Take it fast.

[Anonymous]

I have taught at several of those schools and several others in both Herndon and Reston (I am Itinerant so travel between schools a lot). The only one of those I would not choose for my kids is McNair...although I hear that it has actually gotten better recently. Sunrise is great, and the staff at Terraset also in Reston (close to Sunrise)is FABULOUS and they have an awesome new Principal. Yes, very mixed population of kids, but amazing teachers. Fox Mill, Dranesville, Aldrin...also great, but mostly SFH neighborhoods. Good luck, that whole area is really tight with the rental market!

[Anonymous]

Another vote for Navy Elementary!

[Anonymous]

We have friends at Oak Hill and Sunrise Valley who are very happy there. I think the issue with McNair is that the immediate area maybe isn't the greatest, but the school pulls in advanced kids from other areas.

Good luck!