Contemplating moving from outer suburbs into Arlington Co.--best schools/neighborhoods for MS and HS
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Anonymous
| We are seriously thinking about moving from the Oakton are into Arlington Co. to be closer to DH's job in DC--a huge quality of life issue for our family since the long commute means we see so little of him. I personally want to move to a more urban community, ideally something walkable, and in closer proximity to DC. We have one DC, who will be entering MS in two years. From reading this board, I gather that North Arlington is particularly desirable due to the quality of schools but am not sure what specific neighborhoods to look in. Please share the name of your neighborhood and public MS and whether or not you are pleased with the school and neighborhood. TIA |
Anonymous
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Is Metro accessibility a requirement? |
Anonymous
Oakton is close to the Vienna Metro. I'd learn to use it and be more disciplined at work rather than assume I'd develop better work habits simply by moving to North Arlington. |
Anonymous
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Hi. Lyon Park parent here. Accessibility to the metro is truly wonderful. So is walking to ice skating, movies, etc. My kid loves the independence.
Everyone goes on and on about North Arlington (which usually means "Really North Arlington" but the truth is, most of us are happy with our schools, even those of us in S. Arlington or with children attending a S. Arlington middle school. As for neighborhood - go on line and look at the school maps, since that's what you care most about. After that, just look at your budget and go to some open houses - your dollars won't go as far here. Really, the neighborhoods aren't that different, especially once you are too far away from the metro to walk there. |
Anonymous
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OP, we both work in DC and have loved living in Arlington partly because it makes for a relatively easy commute. There are lots of great neighborhoods, but I agree with PP, you could choose the school first and work from there.
Related to that, keep in mind that DCUM skews very heavily towards schools with high test scores, affluent families, etc. We house hunted all over Arlington and found that we would have been happy with a lot of different options that some people on here would rather avoid. On the flip side, I have known families in the past couple of years that were very unhappy with the "best" schools (Williamsburg MS and Yorktown HS)--these schools were not a great fit for their kids/families. One nice thing about Arlington schools is that they're generally open to having you come in and take a look. If you're seriously considering a move because of schools, I'd say the first thing to do would be to call the middle schools and set up a tour. |
Anonymous
| OP here: metro accessibility would be great in my book because I grew up using public transportation and like it BUT it is not necessary as I work from home and DH needs to drive to work for various reasons. To the snarky poster, I'm very aware where the metro is near my neighborhood and used it for over a decade to get to work. |
Anonymous
| I posted about Westover on your other post. Most if the area feeds to Swanson MS and Yorktown HS. Both are great schools. |
Anonymous
| Boundary maps - http://www.apsva.us/page/3001 |
Anonymous
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We really enjoy living in Cherrydale. My teen walks everywhere--to school, to the (horrible!) Ballston Mall, to Clarendon, to get coffee, ice cream, Chipotle. Regularly takes the bus to his volunteer gig in S. Arlington. We liked Swanson Middle and *love* W-L High School. We also have many friends with kids at Jefferson Middle--all of them speak highly of it.
My commute from Cherrydale to Chinatown is 30 minute drive during rush hour, leaving my house at 8:30 and returning around 6. If I leave my house at 7:30 am, it takes 20 minutes. |
Anonymous
Not the OP, and I apologize for hijacking, but I live in Waverly Hills right next to Cherrydale and DH works in Chinatown. What route do you take, and how long does your trip home take? After years of taking Metro DH will soon start driving to work so he can do morning school drop-off and we're both wondering how this will affect his commute time. |
Anonymous
Not OP, but this is just plain rude. Yes, at 3:00 in the afternoon, I can drive the three miles to the Vienna metro from my Oakton home in less than ten minutes. But during rush hour, it takes 25. Plus parking, walking to the metro, and riding the metro-- my commute is more than one hour to my DC office. Your comment pisses me off for so many reasons. |
Anonymous
What are you babbling about? Most of Oakton isn't anywhere close to 25 minutes from the Vienna Metro. Maybe you live in Centreville. |
Anonymous
i'm curious about this too, especially the trip home. i used to live right off Lee Hwy near Bergmann's Cleaning and it took a good 10-min just to get Rosslyn. |
Anonymous
walking? I drive this every day and it's 2-5 min to get to rosslyn. 10 min happens, but it's typically much much faster. |
Anonymous
1. So not helpful. 2. I am the poster that asked about metro accessibility. Nothing in Oakton is as accessible as Arlingon. A chunk of Arlington is an easy walk to the metro and a chunk is not. You get more house in the latter. Notice my question was ON TOPIC. |