How do you get your kids to/fro Ireton each day?

[Anonymous]

DS is an 8th grader at our local/parish parochial school. We had intentions to do grades 9-12 with FCPS, but now DS is really interested in Ireton, took a virtual school tour and liked it, friends going there next year, etc.

The problem is it is no where near us. We're in Fairfax. There is no bus service (except to King St Metro - which is a hard "no" and we don't live near a metro stop anyway). Covid traffic on I395 looks light ...for now... but I know it's not going to be like that forever and it still doesn't solve the problem that it is still a solid 25 min drive 1-way.

The other dilemma is that I have other kids to drop-off/pick-up at said parochial school. Not sure logistically this is possible.

Am I missing something? Carpool - ?

For those of you with kids at Ireton and don't live in Alexandria/Arlington, how do you make it work?

[Anonymous]

This isn't what you're looking for, but why not just avoid 395 and take 495 to Telegraph? That'll put you on Duke closer to the school instead of having to drive all the way down Duke from 395.

[Anonymous]

We come from Md to BIHS, the school has a directory and encouraged and helped us connecting with others for carpools. Our son will be in a student driven carpool this spring, I’m nervous but also need the help logistically.

Ireton has been a good choice for our family- we don’t regret it, even though it’s not close to home.

[Anonymous]

Carpool, for sure.

[Anonymous]

We aren’t that far but friends pay a retired neighbor to bring 9th grade DC to school.

[Anonymous]

We’re in the SE corner of Fairfax and our neighbors carpool there. I’m sure there are some people near you who will be attending. Can you reach out to other parents at your elementary school?

[Anonymous]

I sent to a different catholic school, but older kids carpooled younger kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We aren’t that far but friends pay a retired neighbor to bring 9th grade DC to school.

Odd

[Anonymous]

I live near the school and my son went there, so we get informed on the stats regarding traffic around the school.

Most kids carpool, either with parents driving or in cars with junior and seniors. Carpooling is highly encouraged, and kids usually need to carpool to get a space in the parking lot. If I recall from the stats, the number of kids that use the Metro shuttle is pretty small. Some kids (either those who carpool but don't get a spot or single drivers) park in the neighborhood, but those spaces are limited due to local restrictions. There is a block that fits about 7-8 cars half a block from the school and the remainder park on Janneys, which is a minimum of three blocks away (depending where on Janneys you park).

I would strongly encouraged you to consider looking for a carpool with a junior or senior. The parent afternoon pick up is a mess and the neighborhood and school had conversations (pre-COVID) about making changes to the street along BI to increase the safety along that road, which will make parents ability to park illegally and wait for their kids much harder. Morning drop off seems mostly ok, but the afternoons are a complete shit show and honestly, it's only a matter of time before some kid with their nose in their phone crosses the street and gets hit.

[Anonymous]

Post 01/14/2021 09:01 Subject: Re:How do you get your kids to/fro Ireton each day?
Anonymous wrote:
We aren’t that far but friends pay a retired neighbor to bring 9th grade DC to school.


Odd

They have 4 kids at 3 different schools. Even carpool to s a nightmare for them.

[Anonymous]

We really liked Bishop Ireton, but we also had concerns about getting to/from school from our house (about 25 minutes away), while juggling other kids at another other Catholic K-8 school.

To be fair, when my kids were in FCPS, no joke the middle school bus picked them up at approx. 6:50 a.m. every morning, and if I recall correctly they didn't get to school until around 7:30 a.m. (this included what appeared to be a scheduled "double park the bus and wait by the side of the road" 10 minute break, which I was told was required to coordinate the bus arrival). And we lived maybe 5-10 minutes away by car! So it was a crappy commute as well, it was just something that we as parents didn't have to deal with.

We liked both O'Connell and Ireton, but will probably go with O'Connell. Location is not the sole factor there, but it's one of them. I believe Ireton is strong in the music/arts, and so if that was important to my children we would probably deal with the commute and figure out some way to carpool.

One thing to consider is whether your HS student would be involved in after-school sports or other clubs/activities, and how that would make your afternoon pickup better (or worse) in terms of juggling your other children.

[Anonymous]

It might be easier to find a carpool to PVI from Fairfax

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We really liked Bishop Ireton, but we also had concerns about getting to/from school from our house (about 25 minutes away), while juggling other kids at another other Catholic K-8 school.

To be fair, when my kids were in FCPS, no joke the middle school bus picked them up at approx. 6:50 a.m. every morning, and if I recall correctly they didn't get to school until around 7:30 a.m. (this included what appeared to be a scheduled "double park the bus and wait by the side of the road" 10 minute break, which I was told was required to coordinate the bus arrival). And we lived maybe 5-10 minutes away by car! So it was a crappy commute as well, it was just something that we as parents didn't have to deal with.

We liked both O'Connell and Ireton, but will probably go with O'Connell. Location is not the sole factor there, but it's one of them. I believe Ireton is strong in the music/arts, and so if that was important to my children we would probably deal with the commute and figure out some way to carpool.

One thing to consider is whether your HS student would be involved in after-school sports or other clubs/activities, and how that would make your afternoon pickup better (or worse) in terms of juggling your other children.

Op here. This is a us ^^ Kids were FCPS, but switched to Catholic this year. My younger kids will stay in Catholic (I don't trust FCPS to go back in person after following the SB meetings and reading the message boards), but oldest kid doesn't have much of a choice except to go to FCPS since Ireton seems really tricky to get to while still juggling the other kids. We were spoiled all these years with FCPS neighborhood pyramid/bus stop.

Thank you to all who posted; some great tips and I appreciate the candid reviews.

[Anonymous]

Maybe try to focus on a local carpool for the younger kids, one that will free you up to get the older student to/from Ireton until he/she is old enough to drive?

[Anonymous]

Ireton teacher spouse here. If your kid needs a carpool, they can’t stay after for extra help or to make up a quiz, or whatever. If the kid is extracurricular stuff, you will be driving back and forth at all hours and on weekends, and the traffic is terrible in the morning rush hour, and gets worse each year.