Capitol Hill families - If you moved to NW or burbs for school, do you have any regrets?

[Anonymous]

Not weird, just complicated. I feel like, pre Covid, it might have been worth moving from CH to NW for Deal and J-R, maybe even Hardy and MacArthur. These days, it's not half as clear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not weird, just complicated. I feel like, pre Covid, it might have been worth moving from CH to NW for Deal and J-R, maybe even Hardy and MacArthur. These days, it's not half as clear.

This reads like you're suggesting that J-R and MacArthur are on par with Eastern. Really?

[Anonymous]

Not at all. Eastern is obviously a dead end for almost all the Hill UMC families. But if you're shut out of BASIS and the Latins, or don't like them, as a middle-class Hill family, you can make do for MS and HS. You might swing Walls, Banneker, McKinley or parochial schools charging in the 20s like DeMatha or Gonzaga for a boy or SJC, Bishop Ireton or Bishop O'Connell if you're OK w/parochial schools. After much research, we wouldn't go for Deal or J-R anyway. Plenty of reasons to stay on CH with teens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not at all. Eastern is obviously a dead end for almost all the Hill UMC families. But if you're shut out of BASIS and the Latins, or don't like them, as a middle-class Hill family, you can make do for MS and HS. You might swing Walls, Banneker, McKinley or parochial schools charging in the 20s like DeMatha or Gonzaga for a boy or SJC, Bishop Ireton or Bishop O'Connell if you're OK w/parochial schools. After much research, we wouldn't go for Deal or J-R anyway. Plenty of reasons to stay on CH with teens.

I don’t understand why you would spend 100k on a high school education (per kid) in order to avoid just moving somewhere with better schools. Especially since parochial really will not work for every family or every kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not at all. Eastern is obviously a dead end for almost all the Hill UMC families. But if you're shut out of BASIS and the Latins, or don't like them, as a middle-class Hill family, you can make do for MS and HS. You might swing Walls, Banneker, McKinley or parochial schools charging in the 20s like DeMatha or Gonzaga for a boy or SJC, Bishop Ireton or Bishop O'Connell if you're OK w/parochial schools. After much research, we wouldn't go for Deal or J-R anyway. Plenty of reasons to stay on CH with teens.

I don’t understand why you would spend 100k on a high school education (per kid) in order to avoid just moving somewhere with better schools. Especially since parochial really will not work for every family or every kid.

Or spending thousands per kid so that they can spend two hours a day commuting to and from school from the Hill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not at all. Eastern is obviously a dead end for almost all the Hill UMC families. But if you're shut out of BASIS and the Latins, or don't like them, as a middle-class Hill family, you can make do for MS and HS. You might swing Walls, Banneker, McKinley or parochial schools charging in the 20s like DeMatha or Gonzaga for a boy or SJC, Bishop Ireton or Bishop O'Connell if you're OK w/parochial schools. After much research, we wouldn't go for Deal or J-R anyway. Plenty of reasons to stay on CH with teens.

I don’t understand why you would spend 100k on a high school education (per kid) in order to avoid just moving somewhere with better schools. Especially since parochial really will not work for every family or every kid.

The cost of moving -- especially if you'd plan to move back post-HS -- can be WAY more than 100k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not at all. Eastern is obviously a dead end for almost all the Hill UMC families. But if you're shut out of BASIS and the Latins, or don't like them, as a middle-class Hill family, you can make do for MS and HS. You might swing Walls, Banneker, McKinley or parochial schools charging in the 20s like DeMatha or Gonzaga for a boy or SJC, Bishop Ireton or Bishop O'Connell if you're OK w/parochial schools. After much research, we wouldn't go for Deal or J-R anyway. Plenty of reasons to stay on CH with teens.

I don’t understand why you would spend 100k on a high school education (per kid) in order to avoid just moving somewhere with better schools. Especially since parochial really will not work for every family or every kid.

The cost of moving -- especially if you'd plan to move back post-HS -- can be WAY more than 100k.

Why do you have to move back?

This thread is bananas. Capitol Hill is a neighborhood. It has some advantages and some drawbacks. But it’s just a place. I do not understand the jumping through a dozen hoops to maintain residence in a place that clearly does not meet your family’s actual needs. Why? So you can walk to the H Street Whole Foods? Because the renegade dog park at Lincoln Park is so amazing? Because the mediocre food at Tunnicliff’s holds a special place in your heart?

I don’t get it.

- 15 year CH resident

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not at all. Eastern is obviously a dead end for almost all the Hill UMC families. But if you're shut out of BASIS and the Latins, or don't like them, as a middle-class Hill family, you can make do for MS and HS. You might swing Walls, Banneker, McKinley or parochial schools charging in the 20s like DeMatha or Gonzaga for a boy or SJC, Bishop Ireton or Bishop O'Connell if you're OK w/parochial schools. After much research, we wouldn't go for Deal or J-R anyway. Plenty of reasons to stay on CH with teens.

I don’t understand why you would spend 100k on a high school education (per kid) in order to avoid just moving somewhere with better schools. Especially since parochial really will not work for every family or every kid.

DP. At this point with our low mortgage on the Hill and inflated housing prices (and just one kid) staying invested here on the Hill kind of seems like a wash if we end up paying for parochial.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not at all. Eastern is obviously a dead end for almost all the Hill UMC families. But if you're shut out of BASIS and the Latins, or don't like them, as a middle-class Hill family, you can make do for MS and HS. You might swing Walls, Banneker, McKinley or parochial schools charging in the 20s like DeMatha or Gonzaga for a boy or SJC, Bishop Ireton or Bishop O'Connell if you're OK w/parochial schools. After much research, we wouldn't go for Deal or J-R anyway. Plenty of reasons to stay on CH with teens.

I don’t understand why you would spend 100k on a high school education (per kid) in order to avoid just moving somewhere with better schools. Especially since parochial really will not work for every family or every kid.

The cost of moving -- especially if you'd plan to move back post-HS -- can be WAY more than 100k.

Why do you have to move back?

This thread is bananas. Capitol Hill is a neighborhood. It has some advantages and some drawbacks. But it’s just a place. I do not understand the jumping through a dozen hoops to maintain residence in a place that clearly does not meet your family’s actual needs. Why? So you can walk to the H Street Whole Foods? Because the renegade dog park at Lincoln Park is so amazing? Because the mediocre food at Tunnicliff’s holds a special place in your heart?

I don’t get it.

- 15 year CH resident

Show me an equivalent neighborhood I can afford? Yes the schools are the biggest issue but there are a lot of reasons to stay here as long as we can make schools work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not at all. Eastern is obviously a dead end for almost all the Hill UMC families. But if you're shut out of BASIS and the Latins, or don't like them, as a middle-class Hill family, you can make do for MS and HS. You might swing Walls, Banneker, McKinley or parochial schools charging in the 20s like DeMatha or Gonzaga for a boy or SJC, Bishop Ireton or Bishop O'Connell if you're OK w/parochial schools. After much research, we wouldn't go for Deal or J-R anyway. Plenty of reasons to stay on CH with teens.

I don’t understand why you would spend 100k on a high school education (per kid) in order to avoid just moving somewhere with better schools. Especially since parochial really will not work for every family or every kid.

The cost of moving -- especially if you'd plan to move back post-HS -- can be WAY more than 100k.

Why do you have to move back?

This thread is bananas. Capitol Hill is a neighborhood. It has some advantages and some drawbacks. But it’s just a place. I do not understand the jumping through a dozen hoops to maintain residence in a place that clearly does not meet your family’s actual needs. Why? So you can walk to the H Street Whole Foods? Because the renegade dog park at Lincoln Park is so amazing? Because the mediocre food at Tunnicliff’s holds a special place in your heart?

I don’t get it.

- 15 year CH resident

Show me an equivalent neighborhood I can afford? Yes the schools are the biggest issue but there are a lot of reasons to stay here as long as we can make schools work.

And I love tunnicliffs stfu

[Anonymous]

Me, too. We’re at a parochial MS school in Arlington that runs us less than 15K/year. Commute is 35-40 mins a day RT. Kid goes in his own via Metro and electric scooter. Completely worth it. We have a 500K mortgage on a 1.5 million CH house v. near close friends of many years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not at all. Eastern is obviously a dead end for almost all the Hill UMC families. But if you're shut out of BASIS and the Latins, or don't like them, as a middle-class Hill family, you can make do for MS and HS. You might swing Walls, Banneker, McKinley or parochial schools charging in the 20s like DeMatha or Gonzaga for a boy or SJC, Bishop Ireton or Bishop O'Connell if you're OK w/parochial schools. After much research, we wouldn't go for Deal or J-R anyway. Plenty of reasons to stay on CH with teens.

I don’t understand why you would spend 100k on a high school education (per kid) in order to avoid just moving somewhere with better schools. Especially since parochial really will not work for every family or every kid.

The cost of moving -- especially if you'd plan to move back post-HS -- can be WAY more than 100k.

Why do you have to move back?

This thread is bananas. Capitol Hill is a neighborhood. It has some advantages and some drawbacks. But it’s just a place. I do not understand the jumping through a dozen hoops to maintain residence in a place that clearly does not meet your family’s actual needs. Why? So you can walk to the H Street Whole Foods? Because the renegade dog park at Lincoln Park is so amazing? Because the mediocre food at Tunnicliff’s holds a special place in your heart?

I don’t get it.

- 15 year CH resident

Because if I moved for schools, I'd move to where schools are best for my kids, focus only on that factor and suck it up for 6 years. No point in finding a different slightly crappier for me compromise and being stuck there after the kids graduated. I don't want to live in the real burbs. I absolutely hate driving. I go stir crazy without density. There are actually a few local suburbs I could happily live in, but they're either too expensive or the schools aren't better enough to be worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not at all. Eastern is obviously a dead end for almost all the Hill UMC families. But if you're shut out of BASIS and the Latins, or don't like them, as a middle-class Hill family, you can make do for MS and HS. You might swing Walls, Banneker, McKinley or parochial schools charging in the 20s like DeMatha or Gonzaga for a boy or SJC, Bishop Ireton or Bishop O'Connell if you're OK w/parochial schools. After much research, we wouldn't go for Deal or J-R anyway. Plenty of reasons to stay on CH with teens.

I don’t understand why you would spend 100k on a high school education (per kid) in order to avoid just moving somewhere with better schools. Especially since parochial really will not work for every family or every kid.

The cost of moving -- especially if you'd plan to move back post-HS -- can be WAY more than 100k.

Why do you have to move back?

This thread is bananas. Capitol Hill is a neighborhood. It has some advantages and some drawbacks. But it’s just a place. I do not understand the jumping through a dozen hoops to maintain residence in a place that clearly does not meet your family’s actual needs. Why? So you can walk to the H Street Whole Foods? Because the renegade dog park at Lincoln Park is so amazing? Because the mediocre food at Tunnicliff’s holds a special place in your heart?

I don’t get it.

- 15 year CH resident

Being able to walk to WF in 5 minutes is actually incredibly good for my quality of life, FWIW.

[Anonymous]

Its complicated. DC schools are not actually as bad as some people claim they are. A lot of people move only to go private for high school anyways.

[Anonymous]

This. We know former Hill denizens who moved to Fairfax for schools after elementary, only to send their children to VA parochial high schools after losing patience with uneven MS teaching and classes of more than 30 students. We also know people who moved to the eastern swathe of MoCo for schools half expecting their very bright, hard-working teens to test into a high school magnet. When the kids failed to clear the bar, and their work commutes proved worse than they expected, they became frustrated, and nostalgic for the Hill. The CH people we know who moved to North Arlington seem to have fared better all around.