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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Wow this is very helpful. It sounds like all the middle schools above are good.  Any that have more substantial challenges?

What makes aps better than upper nw dcps? Is it a more affluent population that is easier to educate? A better run school system? Higher expectations of students? [/quote]

There is a strong community culture in Arlington where neighborhood kids grow up together all the way through high school, since more students stick with APS through grade 12. Of course, some do leave for private or boarding school, but much less than in DC.

If you can join a pool, or buy a house with a community pool membership, that would be an ideal way to meet other families. The membership wait lists typically span multiple years.

The school system is also better run than DCPS. Principals tend to stay at schools for many years, even multiple decades like the recently retired principals at Science Focus, Arlington Traditional, Wakefield, or W-L. Satisfaction surverys are also high. In terms of facilities, APS does a better job of maintaining them. The Wilson / Jackson-Reed HS pool was closed for many years due to inadequate maintenance. [/quote]

Pools are a new thing to us. How do you find out about them?  And is it hard to break in if one of the kids is upper elementary?[/quote]

FYA since we also had zero idea - the pool club waitlists are brutal post COVID. We moved into a house maybe 200 feet from one of the previously listed clubs last year and the current waitlist is 10-12 YEARS. People are moving and not giving up their membership in case they move back or their kid ends up buying in Arlington 10 years from now. It sucks because all summer you see the rest of the neighborhood families all walking there to hang and it’s clear that’s where a lot of the community bonds / friendships are made.  [/quote]

lol pool lists have been like this in Arlington long before Covid. Are you new around here? [/quote]

Have a friend who did this when they moved here when their oldest was in K. They are now freshman in high school. Might get into the pool next year. [/quote]

Unlikely. 70-80% of people w mortgages having sub 3% interest rates means we’re in the great hunkering down and we won’t see nearly as much waitlist movement as in the past as families moved more. Plus much more old people are aging in place. Combine that with people not giving up their membership when they sell anyways and it’s a mess. Overlees waitlist is 1500+ I believe. AF around 600. It’s a mess. Should have limited new memberships to people in the preferred zones exclusively once the waitlists started to get unmanageable.[/quote]

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