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

[Anonymous]

The OP’s reference to “a good HS path” makes me think that they this year did not get Latin or Basis for 5th. I can understand that initially with the surrounding peer dynamics feeling isolating and stressful. But I really do not think it is the end of the world to go DCPS for 5th grade and middle school. HS is still a ways off and there is Walls/Banneker/McKinley (and more smart kids will probably increasingly go with the later when they do not get into the former).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is an interesting threat for me, a long time Capitol Hill dweller, with a kid about to start high school at Walls. If we hadn't had lottery luck, we were definitely thinking through the options contained in this thread - move to the burbs, suck up a commute to a private, rent inbounds for JW . . . . Fortunately, it did not come to that. Capitol Hill is just an incredibly charming "village" to live in. I absolutely love being walking distance to so much - shops, restaurants, riverfront at Navy Yard, the Mall, my work. Many, many kid's activities within a mile. And the walk is always lovely - on brick sidewalks, past varied and attractive hundred plus year old rowhomes, old churches, the Supreme Court, and the Capitol Building, the Mall (on the way to work)) - you never feel like you are walking alongside a freeway, or next to a strip mall, as can happen so frequently in the burbs. We have friends who live in Bethesda, around 1.5 miles from the metro - but I can't imagine that being a pleasant walk. And most of the streets in their particular neighborhood don't even have sidewalks. I think what it comes down to is you either really, really enjoy this kind of dense, walkable and historical neighborhood (Capitol Hill), or it is just not that important to you (and you don't really like it). No doubt the uptick in crimei has me worried - but I think that a lot of places are struggling to right the ship, post-pandemic, and enough people are invested in the neighborhood that the pendulum will swing back soon enough.

If you hadn’t gotten lucky in the lottery (where did your Walls kid go for MS?), would you have moved, despite loving your neighborhood?

That’s the question.

People who got lucky in the lottery don’t get it.

This this this. All of our friends had great lottery luck. We have our own luck, but it's not without sacrifice (money and commute). They don't understand why we want to move.

+2, it's frustrating when we talk about moving and all our friends are like "but whyyyyyy? the suburbs suck" but refuse to acknowledge that we're in a much more difficult situation due to bad lottery numbers. That's it. A random algorithm assigned them better numbers than it assigned us, and now they can stay in on the Hill and enjoy the amenities without dealing with the one major glaring problem, and we have to move to address that one major glaring problem.

I'm past the point of explaining. Now when people tell me the suburbs suck, I just say "well I guess we suck too, because that's where we are headed."

I actually think they'll enjoy visiting our yard and community pool once we're there, even if it's only a few times a year.

[Anonymous]

Moved out and don't regret it. We can still walk to a local brewery, get bubble tea or coffee on a slow weekend, and walk to shop at Whole Foods or Trader Joes. Capitol Hill really is basically a near suburb, which I hadn't realized until I was gone. I am surprised how little I miss it. Even my commute isn't much worse with my Metro proximity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is an interesting threat for me, a long time Capitol Hill dweller, with a kid about to start high school at Walls. If we hadn't had lottery luck, we were definitely thinking through the options contained in this thread - move to the burbs, suck up a commute to a private, rent inbounds for JW . . . . Fortunately, it did not come to that. Capitol Hill is just an incredibly charming "village" to live in. I absolutely love being walking distance to so much - shops, restaurants, riverfront at Navy Yard, the Mall, my work. Many, many kid's activities within a mile. And the walk is always lovely - on brick sidewalks, past varied and attractive hundred plus year old rowhomes, old churches, the Supreme Court, and the Capitol Building, the Mall (on the way to work)) - you never feel like you are walking alongside a freeway, or next to a strip mall, as can happen so frequently in the burbs. We have friends who live in Bethesda, around 1.5 miles from the metro - but I can't imagine that being a pleasant walk. And most of the streets in their particular neighborhood don't even have sidewalks. I think what it comes down to is you either really, really enjoy this kind of dense, walkable and historical neighborhood (Capitol Hill), or it is just not that important to you (and you don't really like it). No doubt the uptick in crimei has me worried - but I think that a lot of places are struggling to right the ship, post-pandemic, and enough people are invested in the neighborhood that the pendulum will swing back soon enough.

If you hadn’t gotten lucky in the lottery (where did your Walls kid go for MS?), would you have moved, despite loving your neighborhood?

That’s the question.

People who got lucky in the lottery don’t get it.

This this this. All of our friends had great lottery luck. We have our own luck, but it's not without sacrifice (money and commute). They don't understand why we want to move.

+2, it's frustrating when we talk about moving and all our friends are like "but whyyyyyy? the suburbs suck" but refuse to acknowledge that we're in a much more difficult situation due to bad lottery numbers. That's it. A random algorithm assigned them better numbers than it assigned us, and now they can stay in on the Hill and enjoy the amenities without dealing with the one major glaring problem, and we have to move to address that one major glaring problem.

I'm past the point of explaining. Now when people tell me the suburbs suck, I just say "well I guess we suck too, because that's where we are headed."

I actually think they'll enjoy visiting our yard and community pool once we're there, even if it's only a few times a year.

These people don't sound like friends. Real friends would sympathize with bad lottery numbers.

[Anonymous]

Is Eastern HS currently improving and attracting more Capitol Hill families? I know DCPS has been heavily investing money and programming efforts there. The marching band has national recognition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is Eastern HS currently improving and attracting more Capitol Hill families? I know DCPS has been heavily investing money and programming efforts there. The marching band has national recognition.

No.

[Anonymous]

The folks we know who moved entirely out of the area are happy/happier. The people we know who moved to MCPS or Arlington/Alexandria are not happier, and some are very unhappy. Those school systems have their own issues, and the suburbs here are kind of terrible compared to making a high lifestyle change (eg moving to Colorado or New England).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is Eastern HS currently improving and attracting more Capitol Hill families? I know DCPS has been heavily investing money and programming efforts there. The marching band has national recognition.

seriously?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is Eastern HS currently improving and attracting more Capitol Hill families? I know DCPS has been heavily investing money and programming efforts there. The marching band has national recognition.

Lol. No

[Anonymous]

My kid is leaving DCPS high with really high GPA. Schools gives him a reason to get up at 8, a diploma, and friends.
High school in US is not that hard unless in TJ. I can tell him in 5 minutes what he needs to know. Some of you are overthinking the importance of high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The folks we know who moved entirely out of the area are happy/happier. The people we know who moved to MCPS or Arlington/Alexandria are not happier, and some are very unhappy. Those school systems have their own issues, and the suburbs here are kind of terrible compared to making a high lifestyle change (eg moving to Colorado or New England).

A lot of families moved up to Maine. Not just Portland but even further up the coast. It’s a slower lifestyle, surrounded by nature and a beautiful rugged coastline. No wonder they call it a “Vacationland.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP, but in a similar boat as OP.

Folks are posting about moving from CH to other parts of the city or close in (Arlington). I don't really consider any of these the true burbs. What about folks who moved closer to the beltway? Where little is really walkable, takeout is slim pickings, etc.?

We moved from petworth to Oakton. We love it. We didn’t realize how much stress we lived with weighed on us - crime particularly- till we were out. We love being around more nature and letting the kids run around and having a bigger space for family visits. Our neighborhood has been really nice and we’ve met nice families but we made the effort to introduce ourselves when we moved in because you don’t have that row home proximity to help out. Have to be proactive in the burbs for sure. Our school has more diversity than our dc public did. We’ve had zero regrets.

um. if your public school was in Petworth, this is literally not possible. Oakton is 75% white.

People are just saying anything lol

Oakton elementary is 50% white. Barnard elementary is 49% Hispanic/Latino.

Both schools have diversity. It just looks different in different places.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is an interesting threat for me, a long time Capitol Hill dweller, with a kid about to start high school at Walls. If we hadn't had lottery luck, we were definitely thinking through the options contained in this thread - move to the burbs, suck up a commute to a private, rent inbounds for JW . . . . Fortunately, it did not come to that. Capitol Hill is just an incredibly charming "village" to live in. I absolutely love being walking distance to so much - shops, restaurants, riverfront at Navy Yard, the Mall, my work. Many, many kid's activities within a mile. And the walk is always lovely - on brick sidewalks, past varied and attractive hundred plus year old rowhomes, old churches, the Supreme Court, and the Capitol Building, the Mall (on the way to work)) - you never feel like you are walking alongside a freeway, or next to a strip mall, as can happen so frequently in the burbs. We have friends who live in Bethesda, around 1.5 miles from the metro - but I can't imagine that being a pleasant walk. And most of the streets in their particular neighborhood don't even have sidewalks. I think what it comes down to is you either really, really enjoy this kind of dense, walkable and historical neighborhood (Capitol Hill), or it is just not that important to you (and you don't really like it). No doubt the uptick in crimei has me worried - but I think that a lot of places are struggling to right the ship, post-pandemic, and enough people are invested in the neighborhood that the pendulum will swing back soon enough.

If you hadn’t gotten lucky in the lottery (where did your Walls kid go for MS?), would you have moved, despite loving your neighborhood?

That’s the question.

People who got lucky in the lottery don’t get it.

This this this. All of our friends had great lottery luck. We have our own luck, but it's not without sacrifice (money and commute). They don't understand why we want to move.

+2, it's frustrating when we talk about moving and all our friends are like "but whyyyyyy? the suburbs suck" but refuse to acknowledge that we're in a much more difficult situation due to bad lottery numbers. That's it. A random algorithm assigned them better numbers than it assigned us, and now they can stay in on the Hill and enjoy the amenities without dealing with the one major glaring problem, and we have to move to address that one major glaring problem.

I'm past the point of explaining. Now when people tell me the suburbs suck, I just say "well I guess we suck too, because that's where we are headed."

I actually think they'll enjoy visiting our yard and community pool once we're there, even if it's only a few times a year.

These people don't sound like friends. Real friends would sympathize with bad lottery numbers.

Agreed but I also think sometimes people are defensive and don't want to feel resented for their good lottery numbers (or good IB school). That can sometimes manifest as playing Pollyanna about the situation. We have friends who maintain that surely our kids school (poorly-performing IB that sheds families every year) is as great as their kids school (high performing DCPS they lucked into a lottery spot at in K). The annoying thing about this is that of COURSE they don't actually believe that, or they wouldn't have moved schools. So their insistence on pretending it to be the case is extra grating. Like we both know what's going on, but they can't bear to admit that they just got lucky and we didn't, and it's going to change things about our lives and friendship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The folks we know who moved entirely out of the area are happy/happier. The people we know who moved to MCPS or Arlington/Alexandria are not happier, and some are very unhappy. Those school systems have their own issues, and the suburbs here are kind of terrible compared to making a high lifestyle change (eg moving to Colorado or New England).

This is similar to the folks I have known who left Cap Hill. Moving to the close in suburbs is fine at best but it doesn't solve all your problems and sometimes creates new ones...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The folks we know who moved entirely out of the area are happy/happier. The people we know who moved to MCPS or Arlington/Alexandria are not happier, and some are very unhappy. Those school systems have their own issues, and the suburbs here are kind of terrible compared to making a high lifestyle change (eg moving to Colorado or New England).

This is similar to the folks I have known who left Cap Hill. Moving to the close in suburbs is fine at best but it doesn't solve all your problems and sometimes creates new ones...

wherever you go, there you are. If you don't like the DC area, moving from Cap Hill to Bethesda is not going to solve that problem. If you hate DC weather, Bethesda won't solve that problem. But if you don't get into a school that works for your kid off the lottery and the Bethesda schools are a better fit, the move will make your life more workable. But yeah, I'd be surprised if a move to the inner suburbs was going to completely change someone's life -- it just isn't that big of a change. That does not mean that people regret moving though. I was happy on the Hill and I'm happy in the inner suburbs.