AU Park - please be honest

[Anonymous]

Hi,
Would love feedback on AU park -- the good, the bad, the ugly. DH and I both work, two young toddlers. Want to know what types of people live there, convenience level, etc. Looking for our forever home. We'll most likely be doing private. TIA!

[Anonymous]

We've lived in AU Park for 6 years and have 3 kids under 8. We love it here and have no plans to move. However a big part of it is Janney. The very large majority of families use pubic school and the social scene there is so intense that it doesn't leave my kids much time for other socialization. Janney as much a school as it is a pretty all-consuming community. I've never been a private school family in the neighborhood so I'm not sure exactly what that would be like since Janney is so centric to our world and the world of most kids in the neighborhood. We do have one family on our block whose child attends private school and our kids were much closer when they were younger (5 and under). Now their child is mostly involved in their school and my kids have almost nightly playdates or sports activities with their Janney friends. There is ZERO private/public animosity---it all comes down to the fact that there are limited hours in the day/week and now we both have our own worlds.

[Anonymous]

honestly, i don't know why anyone would move to AU park and then do private school. if i could afford to live in AU park, i'd send my kids to public school without a second thought.

mom EOTP.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks, PPs. We are inclined to do private b/c we are AA and my sense (based on anecdotes and limited research) is that privates have more diversity than the top publics in DC/VA. (Not considering MD b/c DH works in VA.) I realize diversity is better once you get into HS in DC, but I'm not convinced that Wilson is where we'd want it to be. Feel free to disagree. Calculus is tricky so input is appreciated.

[Anonymous]

I've lived in AU Park for 3 years now with my 2 kids - 3 and 5. We plan to send them to Janney - this year we are at St. Columba's which is also a great school and community. My husband works downtown and the commute down Mass ave is very fast and convenient for him - it's also easy for us to get to the museums and the zoo. We love it here, and our neighbors are all very nice and friendly. We bought a smaller house for the neighborhood and definitely are not the richest family on the block - but I don't care and I don't think anyone else dose.

[Anonymous]

OP, I would recommend Chevy Chase - friendship hts since you are AA and inclined to go private. More kids go private on this side of Wisconsin, for starters and ther are many more professional AA couples over here than in AU park.

Have no idea why that might be but the us census figures broken down by voting precinct show this.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

There are plenty of AU Park families at our NW private. I wouldn't let your plan to do private steer you away from this neighborhood!

[Anonymous]

Following on 12:03, there is something to be said, if you are going private and real estate budget allows, in trying to land in a neighborhood where there are base number of folks in privates. Helps with carpools, playdates, etc. If you think you may ever go public, than AU Park not a bad place. We are in private, but have a lot of friends in AU Park - all are at Janney. It's like a cult -one of which I can be jealous. I would suggest Friendship Heights, Chevy Chase - or Cathedral Heights, Cleveland Park, and Observatory if you can swing it.

[Anonymous]

Eaton, the public for Cleveland Park, is wonderfully diverse. It's not as intense of a social scene as these folks are describing at Janney, but it's a wonderful school and great neighborhood for families. Very walkable, great restaurants and public transport, sweet library, the zoo, neighborhood club with pool and such.

[Anonymous]

OP again. Thanks for the helpful feedback, everyone. Wasn't aware of the Janney-centric culture. We were thinking AU could be a good compromise since we didn't want to go to much further east (due to my DH's job in VA) and we'd prefer not to spend more than $1.2 or so (which seems to price us out of a lot of the neighborhoods west of AU). Regardless, we'll take a closer look at the neighborhoods you suggest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eaton, the public for Cleveland Park, is wonderfully diverse. It's not as intense of a social scene as these folks are describing at Janney, but it's a wonderful school and great neighborhood for families. Very walkable, great restaurants and public transport, sweet library, the zoo, neighborhood club with pool and such.

Also check out homes in the Murch boundary--it's diverse, as well. And a really nice (but not intense) school community.

[Anonymous]

OP have you looked at Murch ES? It is the most diverse of the good upper NW schools, and the boundary extends flush with Tenleytown so you can be essentially the same distance from VA as if you are in AU park. That would get you a good ES and great JH. You'd still need to figure out High School though, for whatever its worth, if I were AA, I would definitely want my son to consider Banneker.

[Anonymous]

We are AA and although we don't live in AU Park, our kids went to a JKLM DCPS and then to private, as did almost all of our friends' kids. I know quite a few families who live in AU Park who send their kids to private, and I think they enjoy living there. Elementary school friendships change over time anyway.

[Anonymous]

if you're definitely going private, come over to Crestwood! It's extremely diverse, lots of kids, and right on the park. A great neighborhood and being so close to Rock Creek parkway means you can get downtown pretty quickly.

[Anonymous]

To the PP at 15:07, OP said they were going private.