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

[Anonymous]

“Integrated Schools prepares families with racial or economic privilege to commit to integrating our children, driving new narratives about education, and advocating for justice in our public schools.” - https://integratedschools.org

[Anonymous]

The answer to this question is: move to Glover Park. You get the walkability (or close to it) of Capitol Hill, without the downsides of crime. You avoid long commutes from the boring suburbs. And you don't have to worry about school quality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The answer to this question is: move to Glover Park. You get the walkability (or close to it) of Capitol Hill, without the downsides of crime. You avoid long commutes from the boring suburbs. And you don't have to worry about school quality.

This is a good option. Though it's missing the public transportation options. Part of the appeal of CH is that it's very walkable and convenient for living in and spending most of your time, but it's also incredibly easy to get to the rest of the city from via either metro or bus. Glover Park is insular. But at least you'd have easy commutes for elementary and middle (definitely walkable, and I'd personally be thrilled with Stoddert and Hardy). MacArthur is further but I'm guessing there will be a reasonable transportation option from GP.

I would definitely prefer the local food/shopping options in Glover Park to CH. I think CH has overrated dining and retail options. It's great in theory but less so in execution. Also, often places I really like leave and I'm not always sure why. Meanwhile a lot of what sticks around is pretty middling.

Really this is my way of saying I'd love to be in such close proximity to the original Jetties

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The answer to this question is: move to Glover Park. You get the walkability (or close to it) of Capitol Hill, without the downsides of crime. You avoid long commutes from the boring suburbs. And you don't have to worry about school quality.

This is a good option. Though it's missing the public transportation options. Part of the appeal of CH is that it's very walkable and convenient for living in and spending most of your time, but it's also incredibly easy to get to the rest of the city from via either metro or bus. Glover Park is insular. But at least you'd have easy commutes for elementary and middle (definitely walkable, and I'd personally be thrilled with Stoddert and Hardy). MacArthur is further but I'm guessing there will be a reasonable transportation option from GP.

I would definitely prefer the local food/shopping options in Glover Park to CH. I think CH has overrated dining and retail options. It's great in theory but less so in execution. Also, often places I really like leave and I'm not always sure why. Meanwhile a lot of what sticks around is pretty middling.

Really this is my way of saying I'd love to be in such close proximity to the original Jetties

Glover Park is definitely missing the metro. But between the D2 to Dupont Circle and the 30 buses up and down Wisconsin Ave., it does have good bus connections.

[Anonymous]

I am tentative to type this. Glover Park is a nice walkable neighborhood and MacArthur is very promising. But, if you already now live on the Hill and are short-term just looking at middle school, it is not clear to me that the difference between SH and Hardy is necessarily large enough to justify the big step of moving along with the loss of a shorter commute and some of the other familiarity and convenience that comes with the Hill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am tentative to type this. Glover Park is a nice walkable neighborhood and MacArthur is very promising. But, if you already now live on the Hill and are short-term just looking at middle school, it is not clear to me that the difference between SH and Hardy is necessarily large enough to justify the big step of moving along with the loss of a shorter commute and some of the other familiarity and convenience that comes with the Hill.

That may be right PP, even though I think you are underestimating the gap between Hardy and SH. But unless you plan on sending your kid to private school for high school, you don't have great options for high school on the Hill.

[Anonymous]

Having a HS choice between JR and MacArthur would be very nice but will anyone actually have that choice after this year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The answer to this question is: move to Glover Park. You get the walkability (or close to it) of Capitol Hill, without the downsides of crime. You avoid long commutes from the boring suburbs. And you don't have to worry about school quality.

This is a good option. Though it's missing the public transportation options. Part of the appeal of CH is that it's very walkable and convenient for living in and spending most of your time, but it's also incredibly easy to get to the rest of the city from via either metro or bus. Glover Park is insular. But at least you'd have easy commutes for elementary and middle (definitely walkable, and I'd personally be thrilled with Stoddert and Hardy). MacArthur is further but I'm guessing there will be a reasonable transportation option from GP.

I would definitely prefer the local food/shopping options in Glover Park to CH. I think CH has overrated dining and retail options. It's great in theory but less so in execution. Also, often places I really like leave and I'm not always sure why. Meanwhile a lot of what sticks around is pretty middling.

Really this is my way of saying I'd love to be in such close proximity to the original Jetties

CH proximity to Navy Yard is nice.
Hard to schlepp all the way over there from ward 3. Navy Yard has good food options

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The answer to this question is: move to Glover Park. You get the walkability (or close to it) of Capitol Hill, without the downsides of crime. You avoid long commutes from the boring suburbs. And you don't have to worry about school quality.

I'm not buying any of this. Last time I checked, Glover Park isn't short on crime because DC isn't. We have friends there whose house was broken into a few months ago. Don't have to worry about school qualify for Hardy or MacArthur? Ridiculous. I'm told that the seriously incompetent Hardy principal was pushed out a month before the end of this past school year, by....furious parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The answer to this question is: move to Glover Park. You get the walkability (or close to it) of Capitol Hill, without the downsides of crime. You avoid long commutes from the boring suburbs. And you don't have to worry about school quality.

I'm not buying any of this. Last time I checked, Glover Park isn't short on crime because DC isn't. We have friends there whose house was broken into a few months ago. Don't have to worry about school qualify for Hardy or MacArthur? Ridiculous. I'm told that the seriously incompetent Hardy principal was pushed out a month before the end of this past school year, by....furious parents.

PP, if you don't want to live in the city, you don't have to live in the city. I gather you don't, and it sounds like you wouldn't want to. That's OK - this post is not for you.

But if you want to live in the city, but not worry as much about crime and schools as you would on Capitol Hill, and don't want to live in a suburb, then Glover Park is a nice option for you.

It does not have zero crime (nowhere does!) Its schools aren't perfect (nowhere does! just check out the complaints on this board about the MoCo schools!). But Glover Park is a pretty great place to live. It does not have all of the upsides of Capitol Hill - but it also does not have the two big downsides (crime and bad schools) either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am tentative to type this. Glover Park is a nice walkable neighborhood and MacArthur is very promising. But, if you already now live on the Hill and are short-term just looking at middle school, it is not clear to me that the difference between SH and Hardy is necessarily large enough to justify the big step of moving along with the loss of a shorter commute and some of the other familiarity and convenience that comes with the Hill.

this was my conclusion exactly (except for Eliot-Hine). May still move to Glover Park for HS.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:No, 2 kids to Brent, 8 years each. They walked to school together without parents from when eldest was in 3rd grade, from East Cap. We took the self-release-walk-home-independently option for them at school for 4th and 5th, like many other families in their peer groups. We gave them whistles, reflective vests and LED lights for helmets and on bikes and scooters and watch phones to call or 911 us if need be. We taught them to cross streets safely and to be aware of their surroundings. The youngest just graduated in May. Never had any kind of problem in all weather.

Well, this is great for you, but very few parents would be comfortable doing this. I say that as a Hill resident.

+1, I live on the Hill with no intention of leaving and no one I know does this. I do think there is an older cohort of parents whose kids were/are more free range, but the culture has changed. Newer families moving to the Hill are higher income, more likely to have nannies even once their kids are school age (also lots of people with family living with them or nearby), and their kids don't do this. The old guard on the Hill was more likely to be dual feds or even one fed, one SAHP, Gen X hippies/hipsters where having more free range kids in the city made sense to them. Newer folks are more risk averse.

It's a cultural shift that I think the PP, whose kids are clearly now older, may not realize it's happened because they don't socialize with the people who now have kids in elementary. This Hill is less free range now.

I'm one of the older parents. If what you're saying is true, that makes me really sad. What is the point of living in CH if your kids can't walk to school/the park/to their friends' house?

I know that CH people love to look down on upper NW but AU Park has this in spades - many kids start walking on their own to Janney in 4th or 5th grade. And they can easily walk to the park, library, ice cream, friends houses, etc. And middle and hs kids take the bus or metro or bike to Georgetown, Bethesda, Dupont, or even a Nats game

Great, please give me $1.5 mil so I can move from the Hill to AU Park. Sounds nice!

Do glover park instead. you have all the same things and similar schools, but prices in Glover Park are very similar to Cap Hill, as is the housing stock.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, 2 kids to Brent, 8 years each. They walked to school together without parents from when eldest was in 3rd grade, from East Cap. We took the self-release-walk-home-independently option for them at school for 4th and 5th, like many other families in their peer groups. We gave them whistles, reflective vests and LED lights for helmets and on bikes and scooters and watch phones to call or 911 us if need be. We taught them to cross streets safely and to be aware of their surroundings. The youngest just graduated in May. Never had any kind of problem in all weather.

Well, this is great for you, but very few parents would be comfortable doing this. I say that as a Hill resident.

+1, I live on the Hill with no intention of leaving and no one I know does this. I do think there is an older cohort of parents whose kids were/are more free range, but the culture has changed. Newer families moving to the Hill are higher income, more likely to have nannies even once their kids are school age (also lots of people with family living with them or nearby), and their kids don't do this. The old guard on the Hill was more likely to be dual feds or even one fed, one SAHP, Gen X hippies/hipsters where having more free range kids in the city made sense to them. Newer folks are more risk averse.

It's a cultural shift that I think the PP, whose kids are clearly now older, may not realize it's happened because they don't socialize with the people who now have kids in elementary. This Hill is less free range now.

I'm one of the older parents. If what you're saying is true, that makes me really sad. What is the point of living in CH if your kids can't walk to school/the park/to their friends' house?

I know that CH people love to look down on upper NW but AU Park has this in spades - many kids start walking on their own to Janney in 4th or 5th grade. And they can easily walk to the park, library, ice cream, friends houses, etc. And middle and hs kids take the bus or metro or bike to Georgetown, Bethesda, Dupont, or even a Nats game

Great, please give me $1.5 mil so I can move from the Hill to AU Park. Sounds nice!

Do glover park instead. you have all the same things and similar schools, but prices in Glover Park are very similar to Cap Hill, as is the housing stock.

again, no - the Hill is cheaper. I don’t see anything under $1 mil in Glover Park. And of course many of us have 3% mortgages too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The answer to this question is: move to Glover Park. You get the walkability (or close to it) of Capitol Hill, without the downsides of crime. You avoid long commutes from the boring suburbs. And you don't have to worry about school quality.

I'm not buying any of this. Last time I checked, Glover Park isn't short on crime because DC isn't. We have friends there whose house was broken into a few months ago. Don't have to worry about school qualify for Hardy or MacArthur? Ridiculous. I'm told that the seriously incompetent Hardy principal was pushed out a month before the end of this past school year, by....furious parents.

Crime-wise the data is clear: https://crimecards.dc.gov/all:crimes/all:weapons/1:year%20to%20date/citywide:Census%20Tract

Glover Park (on a per-capita basis) is pretty much similar to or safer than all other neighborhoods in Ward 3 off either Wisconsin or CT ave (though the super-suburban stuff near MacArthur are a bit safer). So if Glover Park is dangerous, then AU park is a crime infested hell-hole. As for Hardy/Eaton, it does show you that unlike in Ward 6, parents and educators seem to have big stakes and influence in Ward 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, 2 kids to Brent, 8 years each. They walked to school together without parents from when eldest was in 3rd grade, from East Cap. We took the self-release-walk-home-independently option for them at school for 4th and 5th, like many other families in their peer groups. We gave them whistles, reflective vests and LED lights for helmets and on bikes and scooters and watch phones to call or 911 us if need be. We taught them to cross streets safely and to be aware of their surroundings. The youngest just graduated in May. Never had any kind of problem in all weather.

Well, this is great for you, but very few parents would be comfortable doing this. I say that as a Hill resident.

+1, I live on the Hill with no intention of leaving and no one I know does this. I do think there is an older cohort of parents whose kids were/are more free range, but the culture has changed. Newer families moving to the Hill are higher income, more likely to have nannies even once their kids are school age (also lots of people with family living with them or nearby), and their kids don't do this. The old guard on the Hill was more likely to be dual feds or even one fed, one SAHP, Gen X hippies/hipsters where having more free range kids in the city made sense to them. Newer folks are more risk averse.

It's a cultural shift that I think the PP, whose kids are clearly now older, may not realize it's happened because they don't socialize with the people who now have kids in elementary. This Hill is less free range now.

I'm one of the older parents. If what you're saying is true, that makes me really sad. What is the point of living in CH if your kids can't walk to school/the park/to their friends' house?

I know that CH people love to look down on upper NW but AU Park has this in spades - many kids start walking on their own to Janney in 4th or 5th grade. And they can easily walk to the park, library, ice cream, friends houses, etc. And middle and hs kids take the bus or metro or bike to Georgetown, Bethesda, Dupont, or even a Nats game

Great, please give me $1.5 mil so I can move from the Hill to AU Park. Sounds nice!

Do glover park instead. you have all the same things and similar schools, but prices in Glover Park are very similar to Cap Hill, as is the housing stock.

again, no - the Hill is cheaper. I don’t see anything under $1 mil in Glover Park. And of course many of us have 3% mortgages too.

Fair point about the 3% rate, but this is just a block from Glover Park: https://www.redfin.com/DC/Washington/3719-S-St-NW-20007/home/9935956