Please recommend your family friendly neighborhood with playground, metro and good schools

[Anonymous]

Hey 9:09,

I don't have data, but just stereotypes about poor people.

But yeah, it might be interesting to see if there's a slight uptick in run-ins at say Langley/McLean where you have more bored rich kids, or if say Centreville/Westfield (furthest out) have more problems (absent parents) ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those PP that suggested Falls Church-Haycock area, where is the playground that most families congregate? thanks!!

We most often go to (and meet other moms at) Lincoln Park. Also lots of Falls Church City residents there; it's near the border.

[Anonymous]

OP, in response to the PP that claims Capitol Hill is an "absurd" suggestion (and likely feels the same about every DC neighborhood, including Dupont) I can't help but think of those friends that moved out to the burbs for the great public schools and then found that a DC private school is actually a better fit for their kid. they feel a bit "absurd" at this point. If you want to leave the city, awesome, go for it! But don't assume that your kids will be any better off in the suburbs. If you are happy in the city, there is a high likelihood that your kids will love it too-- after all, they are your kids! HTH!

[Anonymous]

I am amazed by the thinly veiled racism on this thread. I hope that all of you talking about avoiding "the ghetto" or "free and reduced lunch" are really just using euphemisms for "people of color" and you sound like bigots.

[Anonymous]

pp, sorry, I hope all of you talking about...realize...

I hope my typo doesn't detract from my point.

[Anonymous]

11:28/11:31 - NP here: it doesn't detract, and FWIW, I agree. This board is so disheartening.

[Anonymous]

OP- I addition to Somerset and the Ch Ch neighborhoods others have mentioned (which are great), here are a few more that are just over the MD-DC line off of Mass Ave. All are a short bus ride to Friendship Heights metro:

Wood Acres- This is my neighborhood, so I am a bit biased . We have a great neighborhood park next to our elementary school (Wood Acres ES)- both the school and park are within walking distance. We are very metro accessible, but not walking distance (a 10-15 min bus ride to the Friendship Heights station). The other schools in our cluster are Pyle MS and Walt Whitman HS- both very good schools. We've been very happy with Wood Acres and so far it's a great fit for our DD. We are also close (about a mile walk, short drive) to Glen Echo Park, which has a nature center, theater, beautiful restored carousel, playground, etc. House prices range from $800 (can get lower if you are willing to live on Mass Ave) up to $1.2M (for houses with nice 2 story additions, 4 BR, etc.).

Springfield- neighborhood right next to Wood Acres. Same ameneties and schools, houses tend to be bigger/more expensive.

Mohican Hills- Most kids in this neighborhood also go to Wood Acres ES. Within walking distance to Glen Echo. Tend to find more modern style homes here (Wood Acres mainly has brick colonials). A lot of tear downs replaced with very large, more expensive homes.

Westmoreland Hills- In the Westland/BCC school cluster. Not sure about a neighborhood park, but is the closest to the DC line of the ones I've listed here. Houses are in the 900K-1.5M range, I think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, in response to the PP that claims Capitol Hill is an "absurd" suggestion (and likely feels the same about every DC neighborhood, including Dupont) I can't help but think of those friends that moved out to the burbs for the great public schools and then found that a DC private school is actually a better fit for their kid. they feel a bit "absurd" at this point. If you want to leave the city, awesome, go for it! But don't assume that your kids will be any better off in the suburbs. If you are happy in the city, there is a high likelihood that your kids will love it too-- after all, they are your kids! HTH!

PP, I am the OP. Thanks for your posts and to all PP above. At this point, I am really open for any suggestions and I appreciate everyone spent time trying to educate me on this issue. May I ask what is your plan for your kids beyond elementary school? If you are thinking of private schools, does it mean that you may need to drive them around town to attend whichever private schools they may be attending? I am also concerned that even if we can afford and willing to pay for the tuitions, it is not for sure that our kids may get into our first choice schools in terms of academic and distance ... Would really appreciate if you could share your thought process on this. Thanks!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP- I addition to Somerset and the Ch Ch neighborhoods others have mentioned (which are great), here are a few more that are just over the MD-DC line off of Mass Ave. All are a short bus ride to Friendship Heights metro:

Wood Acres- This is my neighborhood, so I am a bit biased . We have a great neighborhood park next to our elementary school (Wood Acres ES)- both the school and park are within walking distance. We are very metro accessible, but not walking distance (a 10-15 min bus ride to the Friendship Heights station). The other schools in our cluster are Pyle MS and Walt Whitman HS- both very good schools. We've been very happy with Wood Acres and so far it's a great fit for our DD. We are also close (about a mile walk, short drive) to Glen Echo Park, which has a nature center, theater, beautiful restored carousel, playground, etc. House prices range from $800 (can get lower if you are willing to live on Mass Ave) up to $1.2M (for houses with nice 2 story additions, 4 BR, etc.).

Springfield- neighborhood right next to Wood Acres. Same ameneties and schools, houses tend to be bigger/more expensive.

Mohican Hills- Most kids in this neighborhood also go to Wood Acres ES. Within walking distance to Glen Echo. Tend to find more modern style homes here (Wood Acres mainly has brick colonials). A lot of tear downs replaced with very large, more expensive homes.

Westmoreland Hills- In the Westland/BCC school cluster. Not sure about a neighborhood park, but is the closest to the DC line of the ones I've listed here. Houses are in the 900K-1.5M range, I think.

PP, I appreciate your thougtful post. With the bus ride and metro, how long is the commute time from your neighborhood to downtown DC? How frequent is the bus service and what would happen if the bus was delayed or canceled?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The earlier PP really needs to learn the difference between Falls Church and the City of Falls Church. The City of Falls Church is small, with expensive houses and condos and very good schools and a charming little downtown. The areas of Falls Church in Falls Church high school and Stuart are not as nice. (the demographics are not as wealthy, or as caucasian.) There's also West Falls Church, which is the part of Falls Church (some of Falls church city, some in Fairfax County) closer to Tysons.

And yeah, some of the areas that feed into Falls Church HS are rougher. there's a fair amount of lower-income housing in that boundary. Not unusual around here.

LOL!! "Charming Little Downtown"...yeah right...it's cramped little strips of stores running down Rt. 7 that most people drive to and fight over to get parking.

[Anonymous]

The bus runs every 30 min and is very reliable. My regular commute is to Silver Spring, but when I head to my downtown office (which is about a 10 min walk from Metro Center) it takes about 40 min from door to door. I usually leave around 8:00 and have never had problems with the bus being late/not showing up. My niece commuted this way daily last summer and found the bus to be very reliable. Several of my neighbors commute this way daily, too. Parking at Friendship Heights is also possible, but is expensive (all private lots). During those times when I've needed to drive downtown, it's a pretty easy commute (depending upon when you leave, I've found Mass Ave to be a lot less congested than Connecticut Ave or Wisconsin Ave). There is also a bus that goes to Bethesda Metro, but it takes longer (never taken it, but imagine my commute would be closer to an hour if I did). Hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am amazed by the thinly veiled racism on this thread. I hope that all of you talking about avoiding "the ghetto" or "free and reduced lunch" are really just using euphemisms for "people of color" and you sound like bigots.

I'm the poster who used "free and reduced lunch." I explicitly avoided mentioning race, because there's plenty of poor white trash where I'm from that I am reluctant to have my kids around either.

I'm also not one who'll freak out over a FRL percentage greater than 5%. Some folks are poor, and let's face it -- it's probably not ideal to be in an extreme low-poverty environment.

But once that percentage starts creeping up above 40-50%, you gotta start wondering. Will your kid be busy teaching his classmates the English he learned at 3-4? Will the teacher be teaching a 3rd grade class at a 1st grade level? Will the parents simply not be committed to education (come on, they can't ALL be hard-working folks who've just met a little misfortune?) In some cases, you can give it a try, but in others, you just get the vibe that the administration is all about the at-risk kids and yours is going to get ignored unless he is in the top 10% of self-starters.

But for full disclosure, since I'm a bigot and all, where do YOU live and send your kids to school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LOL!! "Charming Little Downtown"...yeah right...it's cramped little strips of stores running down Rt. 7 that most people drive to and fight over to get parking.

Parking in Arlington gets pretty crowded, too ... what's your point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live near Haycock Road in the fairfax county section pf Falls Church. It's lovely. Those neighborhoods are a mixture of nice and really nice homes. Not many mansions like other parts of McLean school district but certainly above average with more renovations happening.

What I like is the accessibility factor. I can walk to the metro. I can walk to the neighborhood pool. I can walk to the Falls Church farmers market. I can walk to some decent (not fancy but decent) restaurants. I can walk to the grocery store. It takes me 25 minutes to drive to work, door to door, to L street. I have a hybrid so I can zip down 66. And the schools (McLean high) are great. It's pretty ideal for me but certainly not status-y like McLean or Great Falls.

word of warning OP - I would be surprised if you will be able to consistently get to work in 25 minutes if you live here. i often drive this route on weekends and it takes me 25-30 minutes then. I would think during the week it would be more like 45.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, in response to the PP that claims Capitol Hill is an "absurd" suggestion (and likely feels the same about every DC neighborhood, including Dupont) I can't help but think of those friends that moved out to the burbs for the great public schools and then found that a DC private school is actually a better fit for their kid. they feel a bit "absurd" at this point. If you want to leave the city, awesome, go for it! But don't assume that your kids will be any better off in the suburbs. If you are happy in the city, there is a high likelihood that your kids will love it too-- after all, they are your kids! HTH!

PP, I am the OP. Thanks for your posts and to all PP above. At this point, I am really open for any suggestions and I appreciate everyone spent time trying to educate me on this issue. May I ask what is your plan for your kids beyond elementary school? If you are thinking of private schools, does it mean that you may need to drive them around town to attend whichever private schools they may be attending? I am also concerned that even if we can afford and willing to pay for the tuitions, it is not for sure that our kids may get into our first choice schools in terms of academic and distance ... Would really appreciate if you could share your thought process on this. Thanks!!

thanks for asking! Our eldest is in 2nd grade at Brent and we love it. Post-Brent I'm thinking my child would do very well at Latin charter school or at St. Anselm's. I love many other great schools in the area (CHDS, St. Alban's, Burgundy Farms, etc.), but I am thinking either of those two schools would work well for my child thorugh high school. Middle school and high school kids take metro or buses or car pool-- some schools charter vans. Lots of options, and lots of things are changing/can change. Perhaps the public Montessori (Logan) would be a good option for your kids and I believe Logan will go through middle school, maybe even high school. Home schooling in my neighborhood is extremely popular-- what an opportunity to have the city as your classroom! For Dupont, isn't there Emerson school?-- I know a family on Capitol hill that LOVED that school. Not your typical high school, but for some kids it's heaven. HTH!