Relocating from Brooklyn to DC area

[Anonymous]

As for synagogues: Maybe they've mellowed, but Agudas is the most traditional of the synagogues around and doesn't have a history of being welcoming to the interfaith. I'd definitely look at Etz Hayim if you want conservative or Beth El if you want reform.

We are members at Congregation Etz Hayim in Arlington. It is extremely welcoming to interfaith and bi-racial families (including ours). If you end up in Arlington or northern Alexandria, I'd highly recommend it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hey OP, if your job is in Alexandria, I would suggest looking at schools in Fairfax County part of Alexandria. We live in 22310 and it's relatively diverse. It doesn't make sense to me to spend extra to live in Arlington (even south Arlington) if your job is closer to Alexandria. Our Fairfax County Public School pyramid isn't as good as some other parts of the county (see: McLean or Fairfax), but it's getting better. I'm expecting it to get much better in a few years after the new Amazon crowd arrives and either settles here or settles in Arlington and pushes more folks down our way.

There are communities in the City of Alexandria like Rosemont or Del Ray which are lovely (but not as diverse). But the schools aren't great, as others have noted. (Again, with Amazon arriving maybe that will change?)

Anyway. Good luck, I'm sure you'll find something great and welcome to the area!

Which schools are in your pyramid?

We're in the Edison pyramid. Edison is pretty terrible (and Hayfield isn't better), but my kid is only in first grade so we have time for it to improve or get into AAS or something. The elementary schools aren't bad, tho. I can't remember if the OP said the grade her kid(s) is/are in.

There are some people who like Edison and/or Hayfield, but if you don't, then that's fair. Just want to comment that neither is likely to change much -- schools are a reflection of the type of housing that is built in their zones. The type of housing draws families that match the price-points of the housing. Housing is not easy to change. Therefore, the student populations of HSs doesn't usually change much. The student SES pretty much drives the academic outcomes. Edison in 8 yrs is going to be what you see today. The apartments, THs, SFHs, are not going to change.

[Anonymous]

We too moved from Brooklyn to DC - about 5 years ago, when our kids were similiar-ish ages and we rented for the first 1.5 years also - great way to go so you have flexibility to check things out and see what you like. A few things to consider:

1) Your appetite for driving vs. public transport. While Metro is okay, it doesn't cover as much of the area as does the subway in NYC, so if you want to/need to have a public transit commute, that will impact your living areas quite bit.

2) Neighborhoods: if you can manage the commute, being in the city has some advantages: diversity and being around other people who are either like you demographically, or more like-minded. Pre-K 3 and 4 for your younger one can be amazing, depending on where you land (and lottery into perhaps) but neighborhoods to consider, beyond Shepherd Park include Petworth, Columbia Heights (similiar-ish to Bed Stuy), Cleveland Heights, Chevy Chase DC, Takoma Park & Tacoma Park. We've been shocked at how well we've liked the 2 public schools our kids have attended (1 charter, 1 neighborhood). FWIW, we ended up buying 'WOTP' or West of the Park for a well established public school path, but rented initially in Petworth ourselves - and would have bought in Petworth but for unknown of middle and high school quality - looks pretty solid to me now a few years later.

3) Synagogue (you didn't bring this up, but another poster did?) If you're interested in reform, Sinai in DC might be good to consider: welcoming to interfaith families, and they have an initiative in place to help make sure Jews of color are as at home within the congregation as are Jews with white skin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rule #1 don’t expect anything like NY here. Once you have realistic expectations, you can enjoy being here. The DC area is a nice place live in, but don’t expect NY.

Rule #2 don’t live in DC proper unless you’re comfortable with an inner city school environment. Because you’re paying for private in NY, I suspect you may feel that private is better than DCPS.

Rule #3 don’t trust people here who seem hell bent on promoting their own neighborhoods and ignoring your commute from those neighborhoods. Contrary to what posters from MD and VA may believe, the differences between the suburban communities in those states is marginal at best. It’s kind of like people from northern Jersey fighting with people from L.I. over which suburb is better.

Definitely not true--the schools in affluent areas of DC perform just as well as nearby affluent areas of the suburbs. This thread presents some PARCC scores for Bethesda compared to DCPS.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/807855.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I would recommend that you look at Maryland rather than VA. Maryland has larger black and Jewish populations in its close-in suburbs, and is more traditionally friendly to both groups. You don't say where you work in DC, but many parts of Maryland are on the subway line. MoCo has excellent schools, and more private schools than NOVA, if that's the route you prefer.


This tired advice is about 50 years old, OP.

-NY Jew living in NoVa



This "tired advice" is coming from someone who has lived in both MoCo and NOVA. I wasn't even alive 50 years ago.



Why hang around a VA public schools forum? Troll

Because I live in NOVA! I used to live in Moco. But after the news of the last year or two, with Charlottesville, and the organizers of that march being from Fairfax and Alexandria, the blackface incident with the Gov and others, I would move to Moco if I were moving here now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I would recommend that you look at Maryland rather than VA. Maryland has larger black and Jewish populations in its close-in suburbs, and is more traditionally friendly to both groups. You don't say where you work in DC, but many parts of Maryland are on the subway line. MoCo has excellent schools, and more private schools than NOVA, if that's the route you prefer.


This tired advice is about 50 years old, OP.

-NY Jew living in NoVa



This "tired advice" is coming from someone who has lived in both MoCo and NOVA. I wasn't even alive 50 years ago.



Why hang around a VA public schools forum? Troll

Because I live in NOVA! I used to live in Moco. But after the news of the last year or two, with Charlottesville, and the organizers of that march being from Fairfax and Alexandria, the blackface incident with the Gov and others, I would move to Moco if I were moving here now.

Give me a break with this! Charlottesville had people from all over the country attend. And a white woman from VA lost her life fighting these racist a-holes. I understand your resistance, but let's not kid ourselves. Racist asses live everywhere. In MoCo right now, antisemitism is off the charts. It's a crazy time we live in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I would recommend that you look at Maryland rather than VA. Maryland has larger black and Jewish populations in its close-in suburbs, and is more traditionally friendly to both groups. You don't say where you work in DC, but many parts of Maryland are on the subway line. MoCo has excellent schools, and more private schools than NOVA, if that's the route you prefer.


This tired advice is about 50 years old, OP.

-NY Jew living in NoVa



This "tired advice" is coming from someone who has lived in both MoCo and NOVA. I wasn't even alive 50 years ago.



Why hang around a VA public schools forum? Troll



Because I live in NOVA! I used to live in Moco. But after the news of the last year or two, with Charlottesville, and the organizers of that march being from Fairfax and Alexandria, the blackface incident with the Gov and others, I would move to Moco if I were moving here now.



Give me a break with this! Charlottesville had people from all over the country attend. And a white woman from VA lost her life fighting these racist a-holes. I understand your resistance, but let's not kid ourselves. Racist asses live everywhere. In MoCo right now, antisemitism is off the charts. It's a crazy time we live in.

Yes, it is a crazy time. But this is my honest opinion, and I'm entitled to it. In the end, the OP will make their own decision.

[Anonymous]

OP hasn't chimed in for a while. Maybe after reading this thread, she's decided to stay in Brooklyn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I would recommend that you look at Maryland rather than VA. Maryland has larger black and Jewish populations in its close-in suburbs, and is more traditionally friendly to both groups. You don't say where you work in DC, but many parts of Maryland are on the subway line. MoCo has excellent schools, and more private schools than NOVA, if that's the route you prefer.


This tired advice is about 50 years old, OP.

-NY Jew living in NoVa



This "tired advice" is coming from someone who has lived in both MoCo and NOVA. I wasn't even alive 50 years ago.



Why hang around a VA public schools forum? Troll



Because I live in NOVA! I used to live in Moco. But after the news of the last year or two, with Charlottesville, and the organizers of that march being from Fairfax and Alexandria, the blackface incident with the Gov and others, I would move to Moco if I were moving here now.



Give me a break with this! Charlottesville had people from all over the country attend. And a white woman from VA lost her life fighting these racist a-holes. I understand your resistance, but let's not kid ourselves. Racist asses live everywhere. In MoCo right now, antisemitism is off the charts. It's a crazy time we live in.

Yes, it is a crazy time. But this is my honest opinion, and I'm entitled to it. In the end, the OP will make their own decision.

You are entitled to your opinion. But facts are facts. MoCo may have a larger black community than NoVa, but MoCo is pretty segregated. Tell the whites in the Whitman clusters that blacks from eastern MoCo are going to be bused to their schools and see what happens. I highly doubt you're going to feel all warm and fuzzy after that reaction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I would recommend that you look at Maryland rather than VA. Maryland has larger black and Jewish populations in its close-in suburbs, and is more traditionally friendly to both groups. You don't say where you work in DC, but many parts of Maryland are on the subway line. MoCo has excellent schools, and more private schools than NOVA, if that's the route you prefer.


This tired advice is about 50 years old, OP.

-NY Jew living in NoVa



This "tired advice" is coming from someone who has lived in both MoCo and NOVA. I wasn't even alive 50 years ago.



Why hang around a VA public schools forum? Troll



Because I live in NOVA! I used to live in Moco. But after the news of the last year or two, with Charlottesville, and the organizers of that march being from Fairfax and Alexandria, the blackface incident with the Gov and others, I would move to Moco if I were moving here now.



Give me a break with this! Charlottesville had people from all over the country attend. And a white woman from VA lost her life fighting these racist a-holes. I understand your resistance, but let's not kid ourselves. Racist asses live everywhere. In MoCo right now, antisemitism is off the charts. It's a crazy time we live in.

Yes, it is a crazy time. But this is my honest opinion, and I'm entitled to it. In the end, the OP will make their own decision.

You are entitled to your opinion. But facts are facts. MoCo may have a larger black community than NoVa, but MoCo is pretty segregated. Tell the whites in the Whitman clusters that blacks from eastern MoCo are going to be bused to their schools and see what happens. I highly doubt you're going to feel all warm and fuzzy after that reaction.

I don't live in MoCo, but this isn't entirely true. There are parts that are fairly well-integrated--parts near downtown Silver Spring/Takoma Park, parts of Rockville, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I would recommend that you look at Maryland rather than VA. Maryland has larger black and Jewish populations in its close-in suburbs, and is more traditionally friendly to both groups. You don't say where you work in DC, but many parts of Maryland are on the subway line. MoCo has excellent schools, and more private schools than NOVA, if that's the route you prefer.


This tired advice is about 50 years old, OP.

-NY Jew living in NoVa



This "tired advice" is coming from someone who has lived in both MoCo and NOVA. I wasn't even alive 50 years ago.



Why hang around a VA public schools forum? Troll

Because I live in NOVA! I used to live in Moco. But after the news of the last year or two, with Charlottesville, and the organizers of that march being from Fairfax and Alexandria, the blackface incident with the Gov and others, I would move to Moco if I were moving here now.

You're crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you choose to live in Arlington if you were working in Alexandria? Why not just live in Alexandria?

What is up with you people? OP clearly said schools are important and I don't know anyone from Arlington who would send their kids to Alexandria Public Schools.

Then you need to get out more. I know plenty of people who have kids in ACPS who live lives a lot like mine.

OP - Alexandria is fine, but it is a complicated city and it will feel further from home than Arlington. It definitely feels like a Southern town. We really like it there, but in the end picked Arlington for mostly irrelevant-to-you reasons (I'm from Cobble Hill, BTW).

As for synagogues: Maybe they've mellowed, but Agudas is the most traditional of the synagogues around and doesn't have a history of being welcoming to the interfaith. I'd definitely look at Etz Hayim if you want conservative or Beth El if you want reform.

We are a mixed family that goes to Beth El and lives in ALX. Rabbi is from a mixed family as well.

[Anonymous]

Just a quick thanks to everyone's input.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just a quick thanks to everyone's input.

Where areas are you focusing on?

[Anonymous]

Former Brooklyn family here --- we live in Rosemont/Del Ray and find it a good fit for us. Maury is diverse-ish, and the relatively easy commute, progressive community, and neighborhood feel makes us only slightly less sad that we are not still living in Brooklyn. I will admit, it's pretty WASPy overall though, especially compared to Bed-Stuy.