Fairfax or Montgomery?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No school system is without its challenges but MCPS is in serious decline and MoCo has been losing ground to NoVa for decades.

+100. Stay away from MCPS. It is not a place I'd want to be.

Could say the same thing about FCPS. It's also past its heyday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax is still VA. Definitely go with Moco. I never understand these posters who think they live in some “diverse” place in VA.

You need to leave your basement, house, or whatever bubble you reside in and open your eyes.

Ah, the person who is so proud to live in NoVa. News flash - you’re in Virginia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are plenty of areas in FFX where tear downs are going for close to (or more than) $1 million. I don't know MD, but I'd assume that is also true there. Also, there is never not traffic in this area. Why are you moving to the DC area? To escape having your kids in a school in central VA? You probably want to take a close look at real estate in terms of the various markets.

I would go with FCPS. There are far more good schools for your needs--diverse, inclusive and high academic achievement-- than those listed. If you're considering West Springfield and Chantilly, I would also add in Woodson, Robinson, Lake Braddock, Fairfax, and Westfield. These are all suburban communities though. You can find reasonable houses within your budget there.

Really? With all the gun nuts and white nationalists rallies in VA, as a POC I'd avoid it.

The "gun nuts" and white nationalists came from out of state and even out of country. The Canadians were caught and jailed. There are swastikas in Md schools...doesn't mean Jewish people should avoid MD. Gun nuts rallied in Richmond because the Dem majority has been busy changing gun laws. The Charlottesville white nationslists from out of state came because the local VA leaders were taking down Confererate statues. I'm sure OP knows this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax is still VA. Definitely go with Moco. I never understand these posters who think they live in some “diverse” place in VA.

You need to leave your basement, house, or whatever bubble you reside in and open your eyes.

Ah, the person who is so proud to live in NoVa. News flash - you’re in Virginia.

Lol. I’m in NoVa.

On the other hand, you are clearly still in Mommy and Daddy’s basement. Hopefully, you at least have a window that lets in some sunshine???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So many great things are happening in MCPS these days! Just read the Twitter feed of Kevin Lewis of WJLA.

Such as? What are you referring to?

[Anonymous]

we were in the same boat. could have spent $1M on a bad house in bethesda or mclean and deal with all that comes with. or spend $650k on a decent house in burke/west springfield and have plenty of financial breathing room for lots of extra activities, big vacations, etc. went with burke and love it. one difference is that there are a lot of stay at home moms in burke/west springfield so there always parents around everywhere. fantastic schools but less posh than mclean and bethesda obviously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:we were in the same boat. could have spent $1M on a bad house in bethesda or mclean and deal with all that comes with. or spend $650k on a decent house in burke/west springfield and have plenty of financial breathing room for lots of extra activities, big vacations, etc. went with burke and love it. one difference is that there are a lot of stay at home moms in burke/west springfield so there always parents around everywhere. fantastic schools but less posh than mclean and bethesda obviously.

The $650K houses in Burke and West Springfield go for about $950K in Bethesda and McLean and are generally in similar condition. People pay more for the shorter commutes to DC and/or Tysons and higher ranked schools, although the schools in Burke and West Springfield are good, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:we were in the same boat. could have spent $1M on a bad house in bethesda or mclean and deal with all that comes with. or spend $650k on a decent house in burke/west springfield and have plenty of financial breathing room for lots of extra activities, big vacations, etc. went with burke and love it. one difference is that there are a lot of stay at home moms in burke/west springfield so there always parents around everywhere. fantastic schools but less posh than mclean and bethesda obviously.

The reason I stayed away from this area was because the schools were so large and we heard it was a very transient area. Thoughts on this? Do you think the neighborhood makes up for it?

[Anonymous]

doesn't feel transient to us. we've been there for five years and only movement have been old people moving into condos in DC and old town and selling their houses to young families. schools are big but no bigger than other areas in dc. parents are very very involved so your kid's world seems smaller.

[Anonymous]

People tend to assume it’s transient because it’s popular with military, but the student mobility rates in the Burke/West Springfield schools are actually on the low side for FCPS.

[Anonymous]

that's probably true. though i've found most of the military people around are on their last assignment and plan to stay or just retired and are working for a private company. in general burke / wshs has a LOT of government workers with stay at home or parttime working moms. that arrangement makes for very stable families, lots of well-organized kid activities and well-behaved kids in schools. and that's been true in my experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:doesn't feel transient to us. we've been there for five years and only movement have been old people moving into condos in DC and old town and selling their houses to young families. schools are big but no bigger than other areas in dc. parents are very very involved so your kid's world seems smaller.

This is not true. Lake Braddock and Robinson are much bigger than other high schools. There are some other high schools just as large, but you can find smaller high schools in Fairfax, Arlington, and Montgomery County.

[Anonymous]

think that's because robinson and lake braddock are 7-12. wshs is just 9-12 and is similarly sized to mclean, langley, whitman etc i think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:that's probably true. though i've found most of the military people around are on their last assignment and plan to stay or just retired and are working for a private company. in general burke / wshs has a LOT of government workers with stay at home or parttime working moms. that arrangement makes for very stable families, lots of well-organized kid activities and well-behaved kids in schools. and that's been true in my experience.

Such as what? Those areas don't pull their weight with swim teams and other sports teams, afterschool activities, or even test scores in the DMV. Tons of government workers doesn't exactly ring out "hard working". You are saying there are less disciplinary issues in these schools? I've never heard this. Can you give a comparison between these schools and others of similar demographics and cost of housing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As our real estate budget - we won't be spending 1-million for a house, but if we had to, we can...do we want to? Absolutely not. We both work in Charlottesville now but we don't need to be there everyday (especially me; I work remotely anyway). So commute is I guess easier if we are in Fairfax County, but going up to MD only adds 20 more minutes, without traffic. On paper, McLean and Langley sound like they're intense, like lots of pressure on the kids? And how urban/suburban are the neighborhoods in West Springfield or Marshall?

you're cute.

will you be commuting at 4am? or only on Sunday mornings?

Traffic from MoCo into Va is prety bad on weekdays.