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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Why is Saratoga elementary so low rated? There are some nice middle-class neighborhoods of SFH over there, and the town homes look nice too. There’s lots of schools in West Springfield and Burke that have TH and condos in bounds, but none of those schools are as bad as Saratoga. What gives?

And yes, I know schools are what you make of it and a motivated student with involved parents can do well anywhere (my husband graduated from a high school much like TC Williams and his elementary was not much better) but I just have no idea what makes Saratoga so poorly-rated. [/quote]

Hint: it’s not from the housing directly around it.[/quote]

I know the Saratoga boundary is very large and includes the Fort Belvoir north area, but it does seem like a nice area. So, where are the majority of struggling students coming from? If there is low-income housing, it’s well hidden. [/quote]

Look at the map.
It runs way up 395.
It’s catching all kinds of low rent housing in Springfield.[/quote]

I really don’t think that’s quite right.  The attendance map does not include anything north of the Franconia-Springfield Parkway and even the developments on the south side of the Franconia-Springfield Parkway are not within Saratoga boundaries.  Loisdale Estates on the eastern side of I-95 is also not in the Saratoga attendance zone.  Saratoga has some nice, stable SFH neighborhoods within its boundaries.  There are a lot of empty nesters in those neighborhoods who don’t use the schools, and I knew many parents (during the 5 years I lived there) who used private schools for ES.  There are some nice THs within Saratoga boundaries, but there are also a lot of very small, older THs that are either very cheap (for Fairfax County) or are used as rentals with relatively cheap rents (again, by Fairfax County standards).  These neighborhoods are very diverse, with a lot of immigrants.  I’m aware of at least a couple of sections that are county-owned housing for low-income families.

At one point, I think Saratoga was considered an ok neighborhood as long as you planned to move before Key/Lee, but, eventually, enough middle-class families with kids have avoided the area which, when combined with the continued influx of less privileged families in some of the TH neighborhoods, has resulted in a bit of a vicious cycle at Saratoga.  It’s now Title 1 and has close to a 50% FARMs rate.  The Saratoga area, on the whole, is still a great area with some nice housing options with very convenient access to Metro/Pentagon Bus/95/Ft. Belvoir, but the schools are not a very good selling point for the area.  I think its still perfectly possible for kids from good families to get a good education at Saratoga/Key/Lee, but most parents who prioritize school opt to find something in West Springfield, Lake Braddock, or maybe even South County.  It’s a shame - if Saratoga had been moved out of the Key/Lee pyramid to South County or West Springfield 10 years ago, I don’t think Saratoga’s reputation would have suffered a much as it has.  The housing stock is almost identical to what you will find in the West Springfield pyramid just on the other side of the Fairfax County parkway, but because it has always been zoned for Key/Lee, the performance of the student body at Saratoga has slowly deteriorated and fallen in line with the rest of the Lee pyramid.[/quote]

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