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Schools and Education General Discussion
If you had $1,000,000 budget for a home, work in DC and desire a short cummute, and cannot afford
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Anonymous
| Regarding Rhee's children in Oyster - I thought the reason her children were there was becasue the children's father was in bounds? |
Anonymous
That's correct. But he moved here from CO when she moved here for the job, so he could still co-parent the kids. It's possible that a in family so focused on education, he made his housing choice based on Oyster. But I don't know. On the "sharing walls" thing-- It's an individual choice. Our rowhouse was built in 1924 and is solid as a rock. Neighbors on one side are 4 adult renters and we never here them. Only time we hear the people on the other side are when they're playing the piano, which I like. I was surprised to discover that there is actually more privacy in these rowhouses than I had in my SFH in MoCo; in that house, I could see into the neighbor's kitchen from my dining table. All depends on how closely packed the houses are-- and lots need to be small in a walkable neighborhood. Another thing to consider-- green space. If you go for a rowhouse or townhome, it's more important to have public space close by for the kid(s) to run around in. We've only got a deck behind our rowhouse, but we work off our energy in Rock Creek Park. I know that many neighborhoods on Capitol Hill have small parks nearby. If you work in Foggy Bottom, you might want to look at Palisades and Key Elementary. Palisades has a few cute walkable commercial areas, and Key is excellent. Good green space, pretty housing stock. There is no metro there, though. Do you have a realtor yet? |
Anonymous
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If you want DC, well pick DC. But in Arlington you will have excellent school choices all the way through. High parental involvement seems to be key in all the schools here.
Arlington also has great nature centers with lots of programs for kids, tons of parks and playgrounds and walking trails. I live in the 22205 zip code and I am a block away from the Custis Trail, the W and OD trail and some other trail that people refer to as the 'Arlington Loop'. I am also a 5-10 minute walk from 3 great playgrounds. A 10 minute walk from the Bon Air rose garden which has a nice playground and a huge area for picnics, kicking a ball or walking through their beautiful gardens come Spring and Summer. I can walk to a Safeway in 5 minutes. I live within a mile of two Metro stops - can certainly walk to them but there's also very quick and easy access using the bus (which is $1, I believe) to get to the stations. I mention this because living in the 22205 zip has less costly homes (we originally looked in 22207 but the homes were easily $150K more than the 22205 at the time). My husband, who used to be a die-hard suburbanite, loves Arlington because it feels so 'alive'. I know you mention walkability but another thing I like about Arlington is that if you do use your car, you can zip around to various areas pretty easily, don't have long stoplights to agonize through and that you really don't need to use the major highways at all to get where you need to go (unless you need to leave Arlington). |
Anonymous
| A couple people mentioned Del Ray, and while I love Del Ray (lived here for 5 years), the schools are bad. We're going the private route, and most of my friends are either doing that or moving. |
Anonymous
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I live in Arlington, near Ballston. Of course, Ballston isn't as cool and hip as Woodley Park, but everything we need is in walking distance to our house. Plus, since we are NOT pushed up against the limits of what we can afford, we don't have to talk about money very much because we don't have to make hard choices every day. (FWIW - I don't live in a million dollar house, but I could. Instead, I am in the position to pay for whatever might come up in my children's future - including private if need be.)
{Yes, I understand that "hard choices" when in a million dollar house is an offensive notion to some - my sole point is, we live well within OUR means, so our choices about repairs, schooling, car repair, whatever don't cause marital stress.} |
Anonymous
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AU park gets you into Janey, Deal, and Wilson. All 3 are great schools. Some choose Walls instead if your kid wants a smaller HS.
Oyster used to be top notch, not so sure anymore. Waiting to see how that k-8 turns out. K-4, in the main building is still great, I hear. |
Anonymous
Janney lost its superstar principal a couple of years ago and the early reviews of her replacement are not encouraging. It's also an open question what is going to happen with Janney's "modernization"/outside play space. AU Park is a nice and convenient neighborhood, but there's a lot more uncertainty surrounding Janney at the moment than Lafayette, Murch, Mann or Key, all four of which are dependably excellent. |
Anonymous
It's true that he moved in-bounds for Oyster, but it wasn't necessary. She still got to pick the DCPS school. It's a standard DCPS contract item that a DCPS employee (assuming they are a DC resident) can send their child to their school - even if they're not inbounds. Rhee works at all DCPS schools, consequently she had the option to pick whichever one wanted, regardless of her or her ex's residence. And that's exactly what she did. It's the same justification that has whats-his-name's (the vice-chancellor or whatever the title is) children at Oyster too. |
Anonymous
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Wow. I've said it before in response to another post, but there's so much misinformation that gets repeated about schools on this board! I have either professional or parent experience in several of the schools discussed, though I'm not comfortable saying which ones and how. I know that compromises my authority here. Sorry.
Some factual information posted here is wrong, but they're all minor points. The opinions are not well-founded at all. Just take what you read and hear with a grain of salt, especially the "better than"/"used to be" sort of opinion statements expressed as absolutes. I know there's little else to go on besides test scores and visit impressions, but when you're asking another mom about schools, consider the limitations to her perspective. If she doesn't have a child at the school, that's a limitation. If she's a parent, there's a lot she doesn't see. If she's a teacher, she's not necessarily sensitive to the parents' concerns and priorities. Just saying that people are willing to declare so much so loudly that we all need to be wary consumers of gossip. |
Anonymous
Not so fast. Isn't Lafayette the school with a recent racial incident? Or was it a 2nd grader beating up a 1st grader and the school tried to cover it up? Can't remember the details, but I'm pretty sure it was ugly and it was at Lafayette. |
Anonymous
Ha! Were you trying to prove 1:00's point? If so, well done. (And, no, I'm not a Lafayette or Janney parent.) |
Anonymous
| What are the taxes on a million dollar house in the DC area? |
Anonymous
Well thanks I guess, 'cause I'm just trying to help and the OP ought to know. It's not like it's a big secret. It was pretty well discussed on these boards as I recall and it was only a couple of months ago. |
Anonymous
Right, the point is that OP should get accurate information, and "racial incident...or maybe not?" doesn't really meet that standard. In fact, very little of what was written on DCUM about that incident was accurate. I live in the neighborhood (but in Murch district) and still don't know the whole story myself, but it was evident that the DCUM thread was a font of innuendo and misinformation. |
Anonymous
It can depend upon what the assessed value is relative to the sale price. But by way of example, the taxes on my $850k home are $6,500. |