I like Capitol Hill but worry about High School.

[Anonymous]

Same old story here. Have a great house on Cap Hill but might be a real stretch to spend 80k a year to send kids to private school at Sidwell or similar in 5 years. Also, don’t want to move to the burbs because we’re city folks. Really don’t want a long commute from Md or Va to Capitol Hill where work. I hear Wilson is overcrowded, but not a bad school. I’m sure this has been beaten to death but anyone have any ideas for a good place to move? Is Tenleytown good? I mean to stay in the city I have a decent high school? I just really don’t wanna have to move to McLean in a few years. Are there any new high schools that are projected to be built in DC that will provide a quality education. Eastern high school in SE is just not an option right now.

[Anonymous]

Is this a troll post?

Does a real city person not know about ANY other options than Wilson HS vs moving to *McLean*?!?!?

Read up on charters or just move to your people in Virginia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this a troll post?

Does a real city person not know about ANY other options than Wilson HS vs moving to *McLean*?!?!?

Read up on charters or just move to your people in Virginia.

It’s a real post. Also, you have to lottery into a charter, so that’s not guaranteed.

Moving to Va from out of Capitol Hill just sounds meh.

[Anonymous]

OP, how long have you lived in DC? And specifically what do you like about Capitol Hill?

I ask because I'm mildly surprised that you seem so lost on this issue. Your options are not Sidwell (ha, how are you even certain you could get in there -- it's extremely competitive), Wilson, or McLean, obviously. There are close in suburbs with good high schools that are metro accessible, a lot of people do that. There are privates that are less competitive than Sidwell and less expensive (including privates in the burbs!). There are high schools other than Wilson, not just charters but also the application high schools (which, if you're so certain you'd get into Sidwell shouldn't scare you). Heck, there's even Eastern and a really involved parent and a determined kid, which could be a perfectly good option if you are really committed to staying in the city.

If you are just looking for good neighborhoods inbound for Wilson, try the Real Estate forum. But if you are really asking "Hey, I love Cap Hill but where will my kid go to high school?" it really does seem almost like a troll post because it's such a perpetual issue for everyone in the area and everyone has to figure out a way to navigate it in a way that matches with their values and preferences. But I don't know anyone on the Hill with kids in elementary or middle who doesn't have some sense of what the options are.

[Anonymous]

What is your kid like?

If your kid is smart and a self-starter, I actually think it could be a great opportunity--become an EMT, join the marching band, get an IB diploma, be at the top (or close to the top) of the class.

If your kid is the type who is going to match the behavior and effort of the lowest-achieving kids in his class, then honestly Wilson and McLean aren't going to be good options either. I know a kid like this and her dad pulled her out of Wilson and sent her to Burke.

Do you not think any of the charters (BASIS, Latin, Washington Leadership, Cap City, KIPP, Friendship, etc.) or selective public schools (Banneker, SWW, Ellington, McKinley, Bard, Coolidge Early College, etc.) in DC are options either? How much research have you done?

If your kid is little, don't think about it right now. If your kid is older, start looking into those options and think about why they don't meet your standards and maybe people will have other ideas for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this a troll post?

Does a real city person not know about ANY other options than Wilson HS vs moving to *McLean*?!?!?

Read up on charters or just move to your people in Virginia.

Yep, Bethesda and Rosslyn/Clarendon are probably almost as city as Capital Hill, maybe more so unless you consider ‘city’ == ‘crime’

Rosslyn/Clarendon and Bethesda are definitely more city than freaking Tenleytown!

Are you 25 OP? Most people outgrow their “city-mouse, country-mouse” obsession.

And OMG, Sidwell?? ROFL. literally.

So it sounds like $80k for private school is a stretch you need to avoid, don’t want to gamble on charters, and want... whatever ‘city’ means. Walkable to metro? Walkable to grocery store and library? Walkable to parks? Property crime? What are you looking for?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this a troll post?

Does a real city person not know about ANY other options than Wilson HS vs moving to *McLean*?!?!?

Read up on charters or just move to your people in Virginia.

Yep, Bethesda and Rosslyn/Clarendon are probably almost as city as Capital Hill, maybe more so unless you consider ‘city’ == ‘crime’

Rosslyn/Clarendon and Bethesda are definitely more city than freaking Tenleytown!

Are you 25 OP? Most people outgrow their “city-mouse, country-mouse” obsession.

And OMG, Sidwell?? ROFL. literally.

So it sounds like $80k for private school is a stretch you need to avoid, don’t want to gamble on charters, and want... whatever ‘city’ means. Walkable to metro? Walkable to grocery store and library? Walkable to parks? Property crime? What are you looking for?

It’s not a city mouse country mouse issue, it’s that we like Capitol Hill and moving to a cookie-cutter neighborhood just sounds very unappealing. Our kids can go to the museums, or they could before Covid. I won’t get into the details but it comes down to Capitol Hill is a wonderful neighborhood. However if we had to say stay in DC, which we’d like to, Moving up to North West sounds pretty good. Yes metro accessibility and walk ability are huge primary considerations we don’t wanna have to commute 15 miles each way or staying an hour of traffic or anything like that. I think you’re right with the charter school ideas.

[Anonymous]

When they are teens they are unlikely to still be going to museums and living in a row house can get old with teens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this a troll post?

Does a real city person not know about ANY other options than Wilson HS vs moving to *McLean*?!?!?

Read up on charters or just move to your people in Virginia.

Yep, Bethesda and Rosslyn/Clarendon are probably almost as city as Capital Hill, maybe more so unless you consider ‘city’ == ‘crime’

Rosslyn/Clarendon and Bethesda are definitely more city than freaking Tenleytown!

Are you 25 OP? Most people outgrow their “city-mouse, country-mouse” obsession.

And OMG, Sidwell?? ROFL. literally.

So it sounds like $80k for private school is a stretch you need to avoid, don’t want to gamble on charters, and want... whatever ‘city’ means. Walkable to metro? Walkable to grocery store and library? Walkable to parks? Property crime? What are you looking for?

It’s not a city mouse country mouse issue, it’s that we like Capitol Hill and moving to a cookie-cutter neighborhood just sounds very unappealing. Our kids can go to the museums, or they could before Covid. I won’t get into the details but it comes down to Capitol Hill is a wonderful neighborhood. However if we had to say stay in DC, which we’d like to, Moving up to North West sounds pretty good. Yes metro accessibility and walk ability are huge primary considerations we don’t wanna have to commute 15 miles each way or staying an hour of traffic or anything like that. I think you’re right with the charter school ideas.

Seriously is OP trying to be a parody?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this a troll post?

Does a real city person not know about ANY other options than Wilson HS vs moving to *McLean*?!?!?

Read up on charters or just move to your people in Virginia.

Yep, Bethesda and Rosslyn/Clarendon are probably almost as city as Capital Hill, maybe more so unless you consider ‘city’ == ‘crime’

Rosslyn/Clarendon and Bethesda are definitely more city than freaking Tenleytown!

Are you 25 OP? Most people outgrow their “city-mouse, country-mouse” obsession.

And OMG, Sidwell?? ROFL. literally.

So it sounds like $80k for private school is a stretch you need to avoid, don’t want to gamble on charters, and want... whatever ‘city’ means. Walkable to metro? Walkable to grocery store and library? Walkable to parks? Property crime? What are you looking for?

It’s not a city mouse country mouse issue, it’s that we like Capitol Hill and moving to a cookie-cutter neighborhood just sounds very unappealing. Our kids can go to the museums, or they could before Covid. I won’t get into the details but it comes down to Capitol Hill is a wonderful neighborhood. However if we had to say stay in DC, which we’d like to, Moving up to North West sounds pretty good. Yes metro accessibility and walk ability are huge primary considerations we don’t wanna have to commute 15 miles each way or staying an hour of traffic or anything like that. I think you’re right with the charter school ideas.

I can't even with you. You understand the commute from, like Rosslyn, crazy fast to Capitol Hill, whether by metro or car.

Why are you schlepping for lesser quality schools (and APS does have issues, but Yorktown/WL still seems to perform better than Wilson) just to claim you live in the "city" @ Tenleytown?

You aren't finding "cooking-cutter" houses until you get to the greenfield development in the exurbs.

Oh, and guess what, rowhouses are the DEFINITION of cookie cutters, they are literally all the same except for color. So old cookies, makes them stale? (And I love DC rowhouses, BTW, just OP is ridiculous on multiple levels).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When they are teens they are unlikely to still be going to museums and living in a row house can get old with teens.

Forget teens, Smithsonian get old by double digit ages. They are only impressive in their size, but they are kind of "mom's attic" museums, though I personally could go to NGA endlessly to my children's dismay

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Do you not think any of the charters (BASIS, Latin, Washington Leadership, Cap City, KIPP, Friendship, etc.) or selective public schools (Banneker, SWW, Ellington, McKinley, Bard, Coolidge Early College, etc.) in DC are options either? How much research have you done?

Talk to neighbors with older kids. Eastern isn't the only (or even a common) option. We're on the Hill and our child is in MS at Basis, which is a good HS option. We know other families at Latin, at Walls, and Ellington. And those are only a few.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Do you not think any of the charters (BASIS, Latin, Washington Leadership, Cap City, KIPP, Friendship, etc.) or selective public schools (Banneker, SWW, Ellington, McKinley, Bard, Coolidge Early College, etc.) in DC are options either? How much research have you done?

Talk to neighbors with older kids. Eastern isn't the only (or even a common) option. We're on the Hill and our child is in MS at Basis, which is a good HS option. We know other families at Latin, at Walls, and Ellington. And those are only a few.

So OP, you feelin' lucky?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Do you not think any of the charters (BASIS, Latin, Washington Leadership, Cap City, KIPP, Friendship, etc.) or selective public schools (Banneker, SWW, Ellington, McKinley, Bard, Coolidge Early College, etc.) in DC are options either? How much research have you done?

Talk to neighbors with older kids. Eastern isn't the only (or even a common) option. We're on the Hill and our child is in MS at Basis, which is a good HS option. We know other families at Latin, at Walls, and Ellington. And those are only a few.

IE, you in-bound high school is toxic and avoid at all cost, as per your neighbors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this a troll post?

Does a real city person not know about ANY other options than Wilson HS vs moving to *McLean*?!?!?

Read up on charters or just move to your people in Virginia.

Yep, Bethesda and Rosslyn/Clarendon are probably almost as city as Capital Hill, maybe more so unless you consider ‘city’ == ‘crime’

Rosslyn/Clarendon and Bethesda are definitely more city than freaking Tenleytown!

Are you 25 OP? Most people outgrow their “city-mouse, country-mouse” obsession.

And OMG, Sidwell?? ROFL. literally.

So it sounds like $80k for private school is a stretch you need to avoid, don’t want to gamble on charters, and want... whatever ‘city’ means. Walkable to metro? Walkable to grocery store and library? Walkable to parks? Property crime? What are you looking for?

It’s not a city mouse country mouse issue, it’s that we like Capitol Hill and moving to a cookie-cutter neighborhood just sounds very unappealing. Our kids can go to the museums, or they could before Covid. I won’t get into the details but it comes down to Capitol Hill is a wonderful neighborhood. However if we had to say stay in DC, which we’d like to, Moving up to North West sounds pretty good. Yes metro accessibility and walk ability are huge primary considerations we don’t wanna have to commute 15 miles each way or staying an hour of traffic or anything like that. I think you’re right with the charter school ideas.

I can't even with you. You understand the commute from, like Rosslyn, crazy fast to Capitol Hill, whether by metro or car.

Why are you schlepping for lesser quality schools (and APS does have issues, but Yorktown/WL still seems to perform better than Wilson) just to claim you live in the "city" @ Tenleytown?

You aren't finding "cooking-cutter" houses until you get to the greenfield development in the exurbs.

Oh, and guess what, rowhouses are the DEFINITION of cookie cutters, they are literally all the same except for color. So old cookies, makes them stale? (And I love DC rowhouses, BTW, just OP is ridiculous on multiple levels).

This. Wardman literally copied and pasted the exact same house all over this town and people love it.