Why do people in the Real Estate forum rag on Washington Lee HS?

[Anonymous]

Is it some kind of snobbery or something?

I live in the area and have kids who aren't even in school yet-and we have a condo so I know we will have to move because we cannot afford the 22201 SFH prices without being mortgaged to the hills! And even then, HHI is under$250K so probably never.

But I work and live near the HS. I am always walking or driving by and all I seem to see are gaggles of what looks like average HS kids, running XC around the neighborhoods or practicing on the fields or even hanging out right in front before/ after school with music and friends, etc. and it just seems like a normal, good place to go to school.

And yet there is so much on Real Estate saying "almost got tricked into buying there" etc. The neighborhood around it is a good neighborhood. I go to daycare in 22207 and it seems so nice.

What gives? What am I missing?

[Anonymous]

Some people are scared of diversity. They are drawn to lily white Yorktown.

[Anonymous]

First off, 22207 is mostly Yorktown, so that's another district. I think the knock on W&L is in the test scores and great schools ratings which are usually not the highest. That may be due to many factors including a greater mix of lower SES students. I'm sure the school is just fine, but trolls will be trolls.

[Anonymous]

Some of the Lyon Village and Clarendon posters don't play nice on DCUM at all. It's no surprise that people then highlight how W-L stacks up against Yorktown and other schools.

[Anonymous]

I think in general, white America is afraid of color.

[Anonymous]

http://www.greatschools.org/virginia/arlington/133-Washington-Lee-High-School/

[Anonymous]

I think people are somewhat ignorant, scared, and also uber-competitive in a kind of creepy way. However, this is from someone who happily lives in the Wakefield pyramaid, so who knows.

[Anonymous]

There are many higher rated schools of equal caliber offered to you at the same price point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are many higher rated schools of equal caliber offered to you at the same price point.

Name a school with a similar commute to DC with higher rated schools of equal caliber offered at the same price point

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are many higher rated schools of equal caliber offered to you at the same price point.

Name a school with a similar commute to DC with higher rated schools of equal caliber offered at the same price point

Whitman and B-CC. Maybe Yorktown and W-J, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are many higher rated schools of equal caliber offered to you at the same price point.

Name a school with a similar commute to DC with higher rated schools of equal caliber offered at the same price point

Whitman and B-CC. Maybe Yorktown and W-J, too.

I'm sorry, if you are going to downtown DC, W-L and B-CC are huge differences. B-CC might be close to the NW border of DC, commuting wise it is far far different.

But B-CC and Whitman are great schools, but very different demographics.

Both MoCo schools are white majority and B-CC has 10% FRES while W-L is 24% FRES and is not majority white. But people also defend Wilson and Wakefield and even TCW with that mantra that it's all SES bias. For W-L to really be a upper tier school, it would need to help all of its students and bring scores up to par. But it is still a fine high school, just a compromise if you want a diverse school with good academic fundamentals. But if you are looking for some kind of public school college prep academy, you probably need to look at Yorktown or Whitman.

Also, you can't compare G-S ratings across state lines b/c they are based upon state specific tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it some kind of snobbery or something?
And yet there is so much on Real Estate saying "almost got tricked into buying there" etc. The neighborhood around it is a good neighborhood. I go to daycare in 22207 and it seems so nice.

What gives? What am I missing?

People troll neighborhoods and school districts. I can think of four reasons

1. They own in a competing place, and think this will increase the value of their home.

2. They moved from that place, and need to justify it to themselves

3. They either live there and want to lower their property value so they pay less tax or they are looking to move there, and want to lower prices

4. Its fun to push people's buttons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are many higher rated schools of equal caliber offered to you at the same price point.

Name a school with a similar commute to DC with higher rated schools of equal caliber offered at the same price point

Whitman and B-CC. Maybe Yorktown and W-J, too.

?? Yorktown is in Arlington and generally those neighborhoods are more expensive (although of course you can find things in that part of Arlington that are less expensive than houses you may find nearer to W-L). Bethesda average listing prices and median home prices are higher than Arlington. W-J is outside the beltway.

Also, what does "higher rated schools of equal caliber" even mean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it some kind of snobbery or something?
And yet there is so much on Real Estate saying "almost got tricked into buying there" etc. The neighborhood around it is a good neighborhood. I go to daycare in 22207 and it seems so nice.

What gives? What am I missing?

People troll neighborhoods and school districts. I can think of four reasons

1. They own in a competing place, and think this will increase the value of their home.

2. They moved from that place, and need to justify it to themselves

3. They either live there and want to lower their property value so they pay less tax or they are looking to move there, and want to lower prices

4. Its fun to push people's buttons.

Trolling also trying to make a school sound better than it is because you bought there and want to increase your home values.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are many higher rated schools of equal caliber offered to you at the same price point.

Name a school with a similar commute to DC with higher rated schools of equal caliber offered at the same price point

Whitman and B-CC. Maybe Yorktown and W-J, too.

?? Yorktown is in Arlington and generally those neighborhoods are more expensive (although of course you can find things in that part of Arlington that are less expensive than houses you may find nearer to W-L). Bethesda average listing prices and median home prices are higher than Arlington. W-J is outside the beltway.

Also, what does "higher rated schools of equal caliber" even mean?

Bethesda and Arlington both cover a lot of territory so the generalizations aren't helpful.