Looking to move to DC and overwhelmed by school system!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mom of a rising PK3er here, and we faced a similar choice when looking to move 5 years ago. We chose Brookland on the idea that there are plenty of charters around that feed into DCI, and you'll likely get into one of them. Alternatively, Bunker Hill is a great elementary school and you can figure out middle school later. Now, after we got a terrible lottery number and didn't land a single charter, I wish I had looked more carefully at Middle/High pyramids and moved to the suburbs to start with.

This is just me, but I dislike a ton of uncertainty, and for me, hate that I'll have to navigate the lottery for the next few years and then deal with uncertainty again at middle school. My kid (as much as you can tell at this early age) doesn't deal well with lots of change and transitions, and I worry that moving her at PK4/K, and then seeing friends peel off in 4th and then again in 5th will be hard. For me and my family, I'd rather her be with the same/mostly the same group from K through 12. I'm sure others feel differently, but I wish I had thought about this more when TTC and understood how I'd feel when considering yanking my kid around.

I love Brookland, love the families we've met and everything about the neighborhood. But the lottery sucks and even if you "win," there is still a lot of volatility/uncertainty involved that just isn't for me.

Hey - I'm the OP of the first post plugging Brookland, also with a rising PK3 (+ a rising 4th grader who goes to school on the other side of town for complex reasons...). I'm so sorry you got such a crappy lottery number. I know loads of families in that same boat. If you're not a member of the Brookland Kids whatsapp group, I know there's a lot of folks who will be able to commiserate and strategize with you there. The lottery system is great in lots of ways but so hard in many others. Anyway, just wanted to send you some support...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would look at places inbounds for BCC just across the line in Moco. Wide variety of housing types, lots of walkability/parks and many have access to the red line.

For $800k? Honestly asking - what can get you get for that there?

I’m not who you’re talking to but this is why I’m on this forum right now. I would have rather squeezed into a mediocre spot in the suburbs than deal with serious issues with my kids education now.

I'm asking the people that keep saying to move to the suburbs. What good school district in the suburbs has housing for $800K?

Me again. That also does not have a soul crushing commute if you work downtown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here- thanks everyone!
We actually live in a suburb right now and our commutes to our jobs in the city (Capitol Hill for my husband, Tenleytown for me) are draining our souls. Suburbs may happen in our future, but we really miss urban living and that's the environment we want to raise young kids in- where we have all of our friends and connections. Also, there is no way we are going to stay in a 2 bedroom condo for 11 years, so moving will absolutely have to happen in the future and that's a part of life. I moved in 6th grade and I turned out okay, so I think our kids can handle it too. I really appreciate the thoughts on potential neighborhoods!

If your spouse works in Tenleytown, just buy in McLean Gardens or a townhouse in the Tenley/AU Park/Friendship Heights area and be done. Then your future kids will be in bounds for the best DCPS schools, you won’t have to move again, and you’ll get the neighborhood/community feel you want.

Do habitable townhouses for 800k exist in those neighborhoods?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would look at places inbounds for BCC just across the line in Moco. Wide variety of housing types, lots of walkability/parks and many have access to the red line.

For $800k? Honestly asking - what can get you get for that there?

I’m not who you’re talking to but this is why I’m on this forum right now. I would have rather squeezed into a mediocre spot in the suburbs than deal with serious issues with my kids education now.

I'm asking the people that keep saying to move to the suburbs. What good school district in the suburbs has housing for $800K?

One of the PP, you may be able to find townhomes for under $1M in parts of FCPS, but generally speaking that’s why we still live in DC and all the associated uncertainty with it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here- thanks everyone!
We actually live in a suburb right now and our commutes to our jobs in the city (Capitol Hill for my husband, Tenleytown for me) are draining our souls. Suburbs may happen in our future, but we really miss urban living and that's the environment we want to raise young kids in- where we have all of our friends and connections. Also, there is no way we are going to stay in a 2 bedroom condo for 11 years, so moving will absolutely have to happen in the future and that's a part of life. I moved in 6th grade and I turned out okay, so I think our kids can handle it too. I really appreciate the thoughts on potential neighborhoods!

If your spouse works in Tenleytown, just buy in McLean Gardens or a townhouse in the Tenley/AU Park/Friendship Heights area and be done. Then your future kids will be in bounds for the best DCPS schools, you won’t have to move again, and you’ll get the neighborhood/community feel you want.

Even the very best dcps still is stuck with a weak math path at and amplify science. The strongest math students at dcps are set up to take calc bc as a senior. This is not what you want for a stem field.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here- thanks everyone!
We actually live in a suburb right now and our commutes to our jobs in the city (Capitol Hill for my husband, Tenleytown for me) are draining our souls. Suburbs may happen in our future, but we really miss urban living and that's the environment we want to raise young kids in- where we have all of our friends and connections. Also, there is no way we are going to stay in a 2 bedroom condo for 11 years, so moving will absolutely have to happen in the future and that's a part of life. I moved in 6th grade and I turned out okay, so I think our kids can handle it too. I really appreciate the thoughts on potential neighborhoods!

If you anticipate another move, renting for now seems like a good option. We’ve lived in Tenleytown for over 15 years now. DC schools are just getting worse. I would rent in one of the NW DC neighborhoods and see how things go before buying

[Anonymous]

We live in Petworth and are zoned for Barnard. We bought before we had a kid and I really wish we could move but we can’t. Our neighbors are terrible (drug dealer on one side, someone who sits around and smokes weed all day on the other). There’s a lot of good about Petworth that I like. But we feel stuck now because we can’t likely sell our house and I hate that. The lottery has never worked out for us and now my kid goes to private. Womp. If you get good neighbors, and a deal on a house, Petworth is great for young families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live in Petworth and are zoned for Barnard. We bought before we had a kid and I really wish we could move but we can’t. Our neighbors are terrible (drug dealer on one side, someone who sits around and smokes weed all day on the other). There’s a lot of good about Petworth that I like. But we feel stuck now because we can’t likely sell our house and I hate that.

Why do you think you couldn’t sell? Unless the neighbor is out smoking weed during the showing how would buyers know who your neighbors are? I dont think shitty neighbors are part of the real estate disclosure form.

You could list in winter. We didn’t see a soul on the street for months moving to petworth in January

[Anonymous]

I would recommend taking your time and looking in various neighborhoods. Do you want to take advantage of city living? Do you want to be able to be car free for a while? Are you ok with an area that has some more crime issues but you can get more for your money? We looked all over, minus suburbs bc we just were and are not interested, and ended up in Adams Morgan in a small place that we are actually staying in way longer than originally planned bc we love the neighborhood, our school (Oyster Adams), and our home. Anecdotally, our friends who started in Shaw or Petworth decided to move before their kids started K bc of crime in their neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Even the very best dcps still is stuck with a weak math path at and amplify science. The strongest math students at dcps are set up to take calc bc as a senior. This is not what you want for a stem field.

Maybe a naive question, but what’s better than taking BC your senior year? That’s what I took and it worked out for me, but I know times change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Petworth might be one of the best neighborhoods in DC or anywhere to raise small kids. The community here is incredible. I wouldn't live anywhere else. I am zoned for Barnard and didn't consider it because of the use of screentime and a generally old school approach. Look at homes zoned to John Lewis,.Powell, and, Bruce Monroe. Powell and Bruce Monroe are duel language Spanish and Bruce Monroe in particular has a strong reputation. If you are patient in your search and/ or willing to buy something not fully upgraded you can make these work

I genuinely despite petworth so much. Zero nightlife, no metro, sketchy, bad parking but terrifying metro stop (I could detail multiple shootings), has the cons of the suburbs with the cons of an urban place with little positives and those schools mentioned are total nonstarters. There are way nicer places in dc.

PP who noted that people move to the suburbs “for the schools” but still end up in private school. Hard agree with this. I do not understand the love for Petworth. It’s literally the worst of both worlds. It’s where transplants move when they want more space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Petworth might be one of the best neighborhoods in DC or anywhere to raise small kids. The community here is incredible. I wouldn't live anywhere else. I am zoned for Barnard and didn't consider it because of the use of screentime and a generally old school approach. Look at homes zoned to John Lewis,.Powell, and, Bruce Monroe. Powell and Bruce Monroe are duel language Spanish and Bruce Monroe in particular has a strong reputation. If you are patient in your search and/ or willing to buy something not fully upgraded you can make these work

I genuinely despite petworth so much. Zero nightlife, no metro, sketchy, bad parking but terrifying metro stop (I could detail multiple shootings), has the cons of the suburbs with the cons of an urban place with little positives and those schools mentioned are total nonstarters. There are way nicer places in dc.

PP who noted that people move to the suburbs “for the schools” but still end up in private school. Hard agree with this. I do not understand the love for Petworth. It’s literally the worst of both worlds. It’s where transplants move when they want more space.

Petworth is not for twentysomethings. But for people with kids, it can be pretty great. The houses are big, compared to a lot of neighborhoods. There's a zillion children. It's not crazy expensive. If you have good luck with the lottery, you can be totally set with schools through high school. That's a lot of ifs though of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mom of a rising PK3er here, and we faced a similar choice when looking to move 5 years ago. We chose Brookland on the idea that there are plenty of charters around that feed into DCI, and you'll likely get into one of them. Alternatively, Bunker Hill is a great elementary school and you can figure out middle school later. Now, after we got a terrible lottery number and didn't land a single charter, I wish I had looked more carefully at Middle/High pyramids and moved to the suburbs to start with.

This is just me, but I dislike a ton of uncertainty, and for me, hate that I'll have to navigate the lottery for the next few years and then deal with uncertainty again at middle school. My kid (as much as you can tell at this early age) doesn't deal well with lots of change and transitions, and I worry that moving her at PK4/K, and then seeing friends peel off in 4th and then again in 5th will be hard. For me and my family, I'd rather her be with the same/mostly the same group from K through 12. I'm sure others feel differently, but I wish I had thought about this more when TTC and understood how I'd feel when considering yanking my kid around.

I love Brookland, love the families we've met and everything about the neighborhood. But the lottery sucks and even if you "win," there is still a lot of volatility/uncertainty involved that just isn't for me.

I'm one of the posters who posted upthread that you should move to suburbs or try to live IB for the J-R pyramid even if it means living in a condo or renting. I wish this post right here could be pinned to the top of the DC Public school forum and you had to read it. I'm much further in with DCPS (year 7 for us) and it's still exactly how I feel. And I know I'm not alone because literally every year, a family or three or five that we know makes a big change to try and get their kids into better schools. Lottery move. Move across town. Move to suburbs. Move to Chicago. Private. I cannot emphasize enough what it's like to be in a system where everyone (including you, often) is always angling for a better situation.

Like this PP, I too crave a situation where everyone just sends their kids to the zoned K-12, warts and all. We are presently looking for job opportunities in another state to facility that move because the thought of doing this all the way through middle school and into high school just kills me. I'm not dying to leave DC and sometimes I get pretty emotional about it, but then I think about all the collective emotion we've been through with the schools here. I just don't know that it's worth staying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know much about Barnard but there are a number of good options in that neighborhood.

If you tell us your budget we can tell you three or four neighborhoods to target with decent and/or up-and-coming elementary schools.

We are looking to spend max 800k for a small place (2-3 bedrooms). I previously lived in petworth in my early 20s so definitely interested in that area, but don't know much about the schools.

Thank you!

You should look into McLean Gardens in NW DC. 2-3 bedroom condos are in your price range and zoned for either Hearst-Deal-Jackson Reed or Eaton-Hardy-Macarthur.

McLean Gardens is a great suggestion! We’ve loved living here - lots of families with kids, a nice pool, lots of green space and access to trail and walkable to everything (Wegmans, Giant, CVS, tenleytown, schools etc.)

Agree with this too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mom of a rising PK3er here, and we faced a similar choice when looking to move 5 years ago. We chose Brookland on the idea that there are plenty of charters around that feed into DCI, and you'll likely get into one of them. Alternatively, Bunker Hill is a great elementary school and you can figure out middle school later. Now, after we got a terrible lottery number and didn't land a single charter, I wish I had looked more carefully at Middle/High pyramids and moved to the suburbs to start with.

This is just me, but I dislike a ton of uncertainty, and for me, hate that I'll have to navigate the lottery for the next few years and then deal with uncertainty again at middle school. My kid (as much as you can tell at this early age) doesn't deal well with lots of change and transitions, and I worry that moving her at PK4/K, and then seeing friends peel off in 4th and then again in 5th will be hard. For me and my family, I'd rather her be with the same/mostly the same group from K through 12. I'm sure others feel differently, but I wish I had thought about this more when TTC and understood how I'd feel when considering yanking my kid around.

I love Brookland, love the families we've met and everything about the neighborhood. But the lottery sucks and even if you "win," there is still a lot of volatility/uncertainty involved that just isn't for me.

Hey - I'm the OP of the first post plugging Brookland, also with a rising PK3 (+ a rising 4th grader who goes to school on the other side of town for complex reasons...). I'm so sorry you got such a crappy lottery number. I know loads of families in that same boat. If you're not a member of the Brookland Kids whatsapp group, I know there's a lot of folks who will be able to commiserate and strategize with you there. The lottery system is great in lots of ways but so hard in many others. Anyway, just wanted to send you some support...

Thank you! Appreciate the support and will join the WhatsApp chat group.