The Commute Issue is king, and more than schools, will break you.

Anonymous wrote:Last night someone was shot at a fair at one of the schools. Google that and I’d stay away from that area.
Not too many on here are going to be familiar with PwC. It’s were the middle class lives, and this board skews UMC.

The shooting was at Gar-Field high school, but not during school hours or at a school event. The traveling carnival rented out the space from the school during spring break. FWIW, that school is right across the street from Potomac Mills (the shopping mall.)

Anonymous wrote:Nokesville, Bristow, and Gainesville are probably your best bets if you go public. Manassas, Manassas Park, and Woodbridge are best to be avoided, unless you turn the savings on real estate into private school tuition.

The city of Manassas and city of Manassas park operate their own school districts, that are separate from Prince William county school (also separate local government, police departments, etc.)

Anonymous wrote:What grades are the kids? Would help to know.

This.

You asked about "magnet schools"--each high school has it's own specialty programs. Students can transfer to any high school to attend the specialty program--my neighborhood is zoned for Patriot high school but I know students living here attending all of the high schools on the western end of PWC.
There are also specialty programs in the middle schools but from my perspective they were not that big a deal (my kids were part of the "math and science program) at Marsteller.

If your kids are younger (below 8th grade) you can also look at the two "traditional schools" Pennington (Western end) and Porter (eastern end.)

Nokesville, Bristow, and Gainesville are probably your best bets if you go public. Manassas, Manassas Park, and Woodbridge are best to be avoided, unless you turn the savings on real estate into private school tuition.

What grades are the kids? Would help to know.

^for example, my kid’s school is under 5 miles away but I had to pick him up once this week instead him taking the bus to go to an appointment. I left 30 min before school got out, because of afternoon traffic and this didn’t even involve high ways.

It would be helpful if you could give even a really broad housing budget and what you are prioritizing besides good schools. SFH or townhome? Big yard or don’t care? Things like this matter. You could be talking about hours of a commute each way depending on where you have to drive to. All over is really broad. Traffic is a big issue and you can’t look at only the mileage.

Anonymous wrote:Last night someone was shot at a fair at one of the schools. Google that and I’d stay away from that area.
Not too many on here are going to be familiar with PwC. It’s were the middle class lives, and this board skews UMC.

That shooting was in Woodbridge, the general consensus about PWC is to avoid Woodbridge and Manassas, although your housing budget will go a lot further there.

Prince William is very large, and you’re not giving people a lot to work with. You say Fairfax is out of budget, but then say budget isn’t an issue if schools are good. I would go with the Haymarket or Gainesville areas of PWC. The Nokesville area is also nice and zoned to strong schools. Battlefield and Patriot HS are highly rated and Gainesville HS is brand new.

Last night someone was shot at a fair at one of the schools. Google that and I’d stay away from that area.
Not too many on here are going to be familiar with PwC. It’s were the middle class lives, and this board skews UMC.

Anyone?? Please

I work for a general contractor. So I will be commuting all over the DMV. Our Budget is not a priority as long as the schools are good.

Where will you be commuting to? What’s your budget?

We are moving from out of state to the Prince William County since Fairfax County is out of our budget. What are some of the good schools in Prince William County? Are there any magnet schools or similar program?