We've been very happy with Alexandria publics, especially after disappointing privates. I think this board exhibits a high whine factor about ACPS. It is a -CITY- system. It's diverse. The academically higher-ranked kids do exceptionally well.

Look in Capitol Hill, inbounds for Brent or Maury.

We've been happy with Maury. DS was in the same grade level that I teach in Ff county. I thought the work coming home was on par with what we were doing in ff county. There is a strong PTA at Maury and a nice neighborhood community.

Anonymous wrote:We (couple plus 2 kids under 5) moved here from a major city earlier this year and moved to western Loudoun. Visited old town alexandria yesterday and omg is that more my speed! But public school system is of the utmost importance (& why we moved we are now). Can you give some feedback on the schools there. I don't want to be in a position where we have to just pray for TJ (which if kids were competitive for, I'm not even sure I would want that for them- but we've got a few years to decide.).

I love in Alexandria. Sorry to tell you but the public school system here is horrible. And, I mean HORRIBLE. Take a look at GreatSchools.org and look at how our schools are ranked.

Rank 1 is the worse and Rank 10 is the best. The three public elementary schools alone are ranked 1, 2 and 3. My family is looking to move as we speak because of how bad the public school system is here. We'd rather pay more in mortgage than pay for our kids to go through private school.

You don't move to Alexandria if good public schools are important to you.

Anonymous wrote:Any acps elementary school parents out there that can comment on what their plans are for their children during the high school years? Will you send them to TC Williams? Why or why not? Or will you do private?

Are you Catholic or open to Catholic school? St. Mary's in Old Town is a popular option if so. It is K-8. After 8th grade, the kids go various places. Obviously a lot go on to the Catholic high schools in DC and nova, but some go to TC or public high schools in Fairfax County. If you're interested, pay attention to the open house and application time this fall (if you would have a child starting K in Fall 2015), it can be difficult to get in if you're not a member of the parish, depending on the year.

Anonymous wrote:Any acps elementary school parents out there that can comment on what their plans are for their children during the high school years? Will you send them to TC Williams? Why or why not? Or will you do private?

We will switch to private in 4th and stay until 8th. I will likely send my kid to TC for high school as long as she can handle the work of AP courses which she would need to start in 9th grade. If my kid isn't going to be on the "Yale" track at TC, then we will go private. I am not willing to risk it. (BTW I don't mean that she will actually have to go to Yale but meaning she is on the high academic achievement path. The saying for TC is "Yale or Jail" and it does pan out to be true.)

There is a VA public school forum.

Any acps elementary school parents out there that can comment on what their plans are for their children during the high school years? Will you send them to TC Williams? Why or why not? Or will you do private?

Arlington has what you are looking for, except for the "quaintness" part. Good schools, especially in North Arlington. Parts along the Orange Line are walkable and family friendly...however there's very little outside of Old Town and the District itself that is quaint. We moved here from Montclair, NJ, which is a town loaded with old homes and tree lined streets like Old Town. There is not a lot of that in Nova or most of Montgomery County.

It doesn't really exist. Falls church CITY has amazing schools but I don't really find it to be a walkable town with the attraction of OT.

Thanks for the clarification. I knew TJ was in Fairfax but in Loudoun it's constantly referenced as well so I thought it was open to competitive students across the region. So then I'll change TJ to "strong public magnet or charter" in that sentence above.

And I will read through as you advise. THank you. If it's not pretty as you say then where do ppl send their kids?? Private school? This would make Alexandria completely out of the question for us.

So third part of my question - what areas in the DC area have that walkable, quaint, young family feel (like Old Town) with good pubic schools?! Or does this not exist?

Thanks!!

Unfortunately, acps are not up to par with neighboring counties. The elementary schools are making great strides but the two middles schools and one hs continue to have (not sure when they didn't) a bad reputation and stats. I taking advantage of the public school system is a must, it's probably best to stay were you are. Old town is great on the weekends.

You wouldn't be praying for TJ. I think maybe Alexandria was considering sponsoring somewhere around 10 students next year to possibly attend, not sure if that is actually happening. But Alexandria Public Schools are not part of Fairfax County Public Schools, which is where TJ is located. So outside jurisdictions have to pay for students to attend and Alexandria has always declined to do in the past.

You can look in the VA public school forum for opinions on the middle and high school options in Alexandria. What is said is not generally pretty. Many of the desirable elementary schools are over subscribed, so there's also worry about re-districting, where some neighborhoods would be moved into less desirable schools.

We (couple plus 2 kids under 5) moved here from a major city earlier this year and moved to western Loudoun. Visited old town alexandria yesterday and omg is that more my speed! But public school system is of the utmost importance (& why we moved we are now). Can you give some feedback on the schools there. I don't want to be in a position where we have to just pray for TJ (which if kids were competitive for, I'm not even sure I would want that for them- but we've got a few years to decide.).