Buying in Arlington Village (Columbia Pike) — currently Drew ES

[Anonymous]

What is expected to happen with the rezoning?

[Anonymous]

While the final vote won't happen until next month, I believe every proposal on the table so far has kept the entire current Drew zone at Drew. So if the house is currently zoned for Drew, I think you can reasonably expect it to stay there.

[Anonymous]

Arlington Village right now all goes to Henry. Future status is very much up in the air.

[Anonymous]

This is OP. I'm sorry. I meant Henry. When will the decision be made about Henry?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. I'm sorry. I meant Henry. When will the decision be made about Henry?

Decision will be made in the next month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. I'm sorry. I meant Henry. When will the decision be made about Henry?

See the schedule here: https://www.apsva.us/elementary-school-boundary-change/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. I'm sorry. I meant Henry. When will the decision be made about Henry?

See the schedule here: https://www.apsva.us/elementary-school-boundary-change/

6 is what's expected with a few minor tweaks. I can't remember now, but I think everything S of the Pike was going to either Drew or Hoffman-Boston in that proposal.

[Anonymous]

This is OP. Is there scuttlebutt about how the new school zones are going to affect Henry, Drew, and Hoffman Boston? I am just leary of buying right before a big change and want to know if everyone is saying anything like, “the new Hoffman Boston district is terrible” or something. We are three years out from kindergarten.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. Is there scuttlebutt about how the new school zones are going to affect Henry, Drew, and Hoffman Boston? I am just leary of buying right before a big change and want to know if everyone is saying anything like, “the new Hoffman Boston district is terrible” or something. We are three years out from kindergarten.

I have heard that all of the schools are good in Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Ugh. It's complicated. Henry/Fleet will be excellent. Hoffman Boston is good. Drew will likely be good eventually, but they are launching a whole new thing there and no one knows whether they will do it in a way that promotes success or not. If schools are a major consideration for you, I would wait a month and see what happens. Read up about Drew. There are 1000 comments on this site about it. The Henry parents are still lobbying hard to keep all its current students in the move to Fleet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. It's complicated. Henry/Fleet will be excellent. Hoffman Boston is good. Drew will likely be good eventually, but they are launching a whole new thing there and no one knows whether they will do it in a way that promotes success or not. If schools are a major consideration for you, I would wait a month and see what happens. Read up about Drew. There are 1000 comments on this site about it. The Henry parents are still lobbying hard to not go to Drew.

FIFY

[Anonymous]

Unless you send your kids to the Drew neighborhood program or are enrolling them cut the disgust. In a few years this school may very well be great yet next year/ 2020/2021.... the idea there will not be any growing pains for a school with high ELL and high poverty is not rational.

[Anonymous]

Either way.
You definitely don’t want to pay for Henry and then immediately be zoned to Drew. Just wait a couple of weeks and see where the chips fall. Drew might be fine, and I would give it a hard look. See what the projected free lunch numbers are.

[Anonymous]

CH would love to have more families in the Village. I assume you have done your research about the issues with restoration of some of the units over there. If not, you should know that many Village residents are concerned about how the repairs are being managed by the current condo ass’n.

As for schools, definitely wait to see what happens with regard to zoning. If we are moved to Drew, you may be able to further negotiate although it may take the market longer than a few weeks to adjust to the change.

Like I said, we’d love to have you. You’ll get an amazing pool as part of the deal. If you chose AV, please come to civic association meetings for the greater neighborhood. We need more families involved!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unless you send your kids to the Drew neighborhood program or are enrolling them cut the disgust. In a few years this school may very well be great yet next year/ 2020/2021.... the idea there will not be any growing pains for a school with high ELL and high poverty is not rational.

Show me one neighborhood school in south Arlington that has earned a reputation for academic excellence without a declining farms rate at the same time. You can't, because there aren't any. This "next few years" blather is ahistorical. It's what Henry parents tell themselves; that their good school is entirely their effort and time, and not simply the product of gentrification, which is a huge part of the story. It's farms rate has dropped 40 points over 15 years with no boundary adjustments. Unfortunately, the potential for other south Arlington neighborhood schools besides HB, Oakridge, and Henry/Fleet, the potential for gentrification is limited by county board subsidized housing policy, which seeks to put even more poverty in our highest poverty areas. That's why this boundary change should seek to give every school a rate as low as is reasonably possible, because the rates aren't ever going to go down.