Has anyone w/ kids chosen to leave NoVA for DC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again. I was REALLY hoping this thread wouldn't turn into one about race (which is why I didn't disclose mine in my original post). But since it obviously has, here it goes:

DH and I want to send our kids to a top school that is both high performing and diverse (yes, for us personally, "diverse" means a fair % of AAs). We've taken a look at a lot of the NoVA pyramids and can't really seem to find anything that fits the bill. (Please enlighten us if you know of one.) So that led us to privates, which -- quite intentionally -- have better numbers. Then we were thinking, if we're sending them to private school in NW, and I work downtown (DH works near Tyson's), why don't we just move back to DC and call it a day.

We're good on the diverse friends front, so that's not an issue. The concern is rooted in schools.

If you have anything to contribute with that in mind, great. But please, spare me the race relations lectures. Thanks!

With this scenario, I would definitely be tempted to move. I agree that the best privates are usually more diverse than the best publics in NoVa.

We live in North Arlington and send our kids to a so-called Big 3 in NWDC. We have discussed moving, but the income tax increase would be quite large (our HHI is $2MM+). Obviously we could afford to move, but we prefer VA for many other reasons. Arlington is very well-managed. Our streets get plowed, potholes are filled - you name it. We like our neighbors, who seem much less status-obsessed than many of the people we know in DC. DH's commute is under 15 minutes. My drive to the school is 15-20 minutes, so under 40 round-trip. Our kids' activities are either at or near their school, at WGCC, or way out in the Virginia countryside. No one has shunned friendship with my children because they have to cross a bridge to see them.

That said, we would not rule out moving to DC should the kids' schedules become too hectic, but only to something within walking distance of their school. That might make it worth the tax hit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, remember most of these people in VA like the above posters are jaded because they can't afford to live "the life" in DC. There are plenty of areas with 2 car garages and tons of parking in the District...if you can afford it. So you're going to get a lot of snarky responses from GS-10s that clog up the bridges every morning.

Sure thing. How much are you paying for private school again? I'll stick with Arlington, thanks!

GOd---here we go again! There are a ton of us living here over the bridge that still own our DC houses. So- yes we could afford DC but the thought of paying $1,200,000.00 million dollars to send our 3 kids to private school when we are top publics that rival the education at those institutions seemed batshit crazy. We chose to keep the DC house and buy a second home instead---while pumping $ into 529s and investments.

The DC neighborhoods that do have good schools are to far away from the action and more suburban than where we are now so that is why we left. We also don't work in the District--though we do get downtown faster from this house than the one we had in DC.

We aren't feds. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did, as soon as our first was school aged. We lived in the Taylor school district and thought the classes were much too large. We were not at all enamored of the middle or high school either. We like H-B Woodlawn but we not about to risk that working out. We knew we wanted our kids in private school and so we moved back to DC, NWDC and our kids are now in middle school and upper elementary. We are VERY VERY happy with our decision. Our life is much better than it would have been had we stayed in North Arlington. Our kids are doing exceptionally well and love their schools.

Oh, and we have friends who did the same thing last year (also from N Arlington, also with all their kids in DC privates) and they are kicking themselves that they waited so long.

How large our Taylor's classes?

My 2nd grader at ASF only has 20 kids in his class and the Kindergartner 21 (though other K classes have 18-20).

I don't have a kindergartner, but in the years we've been at Taylor, my kids classes have ranged from 18-24 kids per class. Arlington has smaller classes than any public school I know of, but some private schools have classes half that size.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, remember most of these people in VA like the above posters are jaded because they can't afford to live "the life" in DC. There are plenty of areas with 2 car garages and tons of parking in the District...if you can afford it. So you're going to get a lot of snarky responses from GS-10s that clog up the bridges every morning.

Sure thing. How much are you paying for private school again? I'll stick with Arlington, thanks!

GOd---here we go again! There are a ton of us living here over the bridge that still own our DC houses. So- yes we could afford DC but the thought of paying $1,200,000.00 million dollars to send our 3 kids to private school when we are top publics that rival the education at those institutions seemed batshit crazy. We chose to keep the DC house and buy a second home instead---while pumping $ into 529s and investments.

The DC neighborhoods that do have good schools are to far away from the action and more suburban than where we are now so that is why we left. We also don't work in the District--though we do get downtown faster from this house than the one we had in DC.

We aren't feds. Thanks.

+1

We did same thing. The pool of universities that alumni get accepted to rivals those privates, btw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As soon as we found out I was pregnant, we started looking in DC. We had been renting in Alexandria and decided once we were pregnant we would buy.

This is not to be a VA bashing, but for us - we couldn't stand the thought of raising our child in VA. We were renting in VA, because it was cheap. We just felt like it was so boring. Everyone was exactly the same. There was no diversity (color, SES, international families, anything...) We had to drive everywhere and just didn't like it.

We looked in DC and felt it fit our lives and our lifestyle better. We've never looked back.

I don't live in VA, but this is not true. VA might be segregated, and if you're being honest, you'll realize that DC is, too.

I can't speak for the entire DC, but I live in a very diverse neighborhood. It's been very good and interesting and challenging.

Which part of NoVA are you referring to? I live in Alexandria city which has a population of 27% African-born residents. That's not African heritage or total immigrant population; that's 27% of Alexandrians were born in Africa.

Again, I don't claim to speak for all of Alexandria or all of the experiences of people living in Alexandria and why they want to live there or leave. In our neighborhood, there was very little diversity. Everyone was white, everyone was upper middle class and most people were born in Virginia or somewhere close by. That was not something we were interested in growing our child around. Also, all the families were typical one father/one mother families. I wanted to expose my child to a more diverse way of thinking about people.

In our neighborhood now, of her four best friends, only one was actually born in this country. All speak different languages at home and on any given day, she is learning different cultures. Color is not as important to me as is the fact that she learns about the world outside of her own.

This was the best choice for our small family of 3, your family may have made a better choice - and that is great. There is no reason why all of our families can't be happy with our choices.

I don't live in Alexandria, but I do live in Fairfax County and I invite you to my diverse neighborhood. We are the only "white" two parent family on our street. My wife is from Russia so she too, like our neighbors, is an immigrant. My neighbors on one side of my house are from India. On the other side of my house, my neighbors are from Mexico. And across the street, is a Vietnamese family. All these are intact, 2 parent families. Everyone on the street know one another and looks out for each other as well. If my DD is doing something she's not supposed to, you believe sure as hell I am going to know about it.

[Anonymous]

Our kids' activities are either at or near their school, at WGCC, or way out in the Virginia countryside. No one has shunned friendship with my children because they have to cross a bridge to see them.

Maybe your kids are still young so you havent yet seen how much this will affect their social and sports lives. First, WGCC is not a place people at DC priavtes belong to - its either Chevy or Congressional. The one private school family from VA that we know that joined WGCC did it to try and get their kids some friends in VA (all neighbors went to publics and had their school friends). The WGCC gambit didnt work. Summer at the pool or courts or course just werent enough to make real freindships like those they have with their school friends. Those folks moved to DC in the end. So much for WGCC.

The kids in DC and MD also dont go out to the VA Countryside for activties. If they ride they go to RockCreek or Potomac. As for sports: soccer, lax, footbal, baseball, with the exception of Madlax, which is still only a tiny group compared to the kids who play for the DC and/or MD clubs or rec leagues, all the most popular sports etams amnd leagues are, again, in DC and/or MD. Your kids' are going to want to have their out of school activities with their school friedns. It is only natural.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, remember most of these people in VA like the above posters are jaded because they can't afford to live "the life" in DC. There are plenty of areas with 2 car garages and tons of parking in the District...if you can afford it. So you're going to get a lot of snarky responses from GS-10s that clog up the bridges every morning.

Sure thing. How much are you paying for private school again? I'll stick with Arlington, thanks!

GOd---here we go again! There are a ton of us living here over the bridge that still own our DC houses. So- yes we could afford DC but the thought of paying $1,200,000.00 million dollars to send our 3 kids to private school when we are top publics that rival the education at those institutions seemed batshit crazy. We chose to keep the DC house and buy a second home instead---while pumping $ into 529s and investments.

The DC neighborhoods that do have good schools are to far away from the action and more suburban than where we are now so that is why we left. We also don't work in the District--though we do get downtown faster from this house than the one we had in DC.

We aren't feds. Thanks.

+1

We did same thing. The pool of universities that alumni get accepted to rivals those privates, btw.

So, lets see those facts of yours. Why dont you list the colleges and universities that graduates from your NOVA public high school send kids to against the list of schools the graduates of STA and NCS go to.

[Anonymous]

It's true. If you live in VA and send your kids to DC privates (except the Catholic schools) they WILL be outliers when it comes to social activities. It's just the natural order of things. We stay in DC or go to Maryland. No one goes to Virginia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's true. If you live in VA and send your kids to DC privates (except the Catholic schools) they WILL be outliers when it comes to social activities. It's just the natural order of things. We stay in DC or go to Maryland. No one goes to Virginia.

Interesting, because the Gonzaga kids from all over do spend a lot of time in VA.

Why would they do that, but not kids from Sidwell or St. A's? Are the former just nicer kids who aren't saddled with parents who are pompous jerks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's true. If you live in VA and send your kids to DC privates (except the Catholic schools) they WILL be outliers when it comes to social activities. It's just the natural order of things. We stay in DC or go to Maryland. No one goes to Virginia.

Interesting, because the Gonzaga kids from all over do spend a lot of time in VA.

Why would they do that, but not kids from Sidwell or St. A's? Are the former just nicer kids who aren't saddled with parents who are pompous jerks?

Don't want to get into the Catholic vs ALL other privates debate. The SES demographic of the Catholic schools is different from that of the NW DC privates, even through in Landon and Holton that have large NWDC populations. It just is. But that being said, this isn't a VA bash, this is just an examination of the current state of affairs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Our kids' activities are either at or near their school, at WGCC, or way out in the Virginia countryside. No one has shunned friendship with my children because they have to cross a bridge to see them.

Maybe your kids are still young so you havent yet seen how much this will affect their social and sports lives. First, WGCC is not a place people at DC priavtes belong to - its either Chevy or Congressional. The one private school family from VA that we know that joined WGCC did it to try and get their kids some friends in VA (all neighbors went to publics and had their school friends). The WGCC gambit didnt work. Summer at the pool or courts or course just werent enough to make real freindships like those they have with their school friends. Those folks moved to DC in the end. So much for WGCC.

The kids in DC and MD also dont go out to the VA Countryside for activties. If they ride they go to RockCreek or Potomac. As for sports: soccer, lax, footbal, baseball, with the exception of Madlax, which is still only a tiny group compared to the kids who play for the DC and/or MD clubs or rec leagues, all the most popular sports etams amnd leagues are, again, in DC and/or MD. Your kids' are going to want to have their out of school activities with their school friedns. It is only natural.

Now you sound like you're trying too hard. Try not to strain anything.

[Anonymous]

OP, if you're doing private, yes DC move makes sense if you know you're in and have the dough all through HS. If not, upper NW public schools are very white. Do your homework. Friends who moved there are schocked at lack of diversity. My DC in VA has black, Asian, and Hispanic friends. YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread needs to be posted on "stuff white people like"............its almost comical

"Oh, no judgement for YOU but WE want our child to be blah blah blah"

DC is not NYC, a lot of it is pretty damn suburban. Here's a novel idea, have diverse friends- the kids will be exposed from birth.

I hate this stupid comment. NYC is not all Manhattan and Brooklyn Heights. It too has a lot of pretty damn suburban. Have you been to Queens, Far Rockaway, Staten Island, etc. They are all parts of NYC and suburban.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's true. If you live in VA and send your kids to DC privates (except the Catholic schools) they WILL be outliers when it comes to social activities. It's just the natural order of things. We stay in DC or go to Maryland. No one goes to Virginia.

Buying a house based on your kids' social activities seems weird.

[Anonymous]

"So- yes we could afford DC but the thought of paying $1,200,000.00 million dollars to send our 3 kids to private school when we are top publics that rival the education at those institutions seemed batshit crazy."

I guess you don't get that there are top publics in D.C., too, ones that rival the top NOVA and MoCo publics. So no, you don't have to be "batshit crazy" to do it.