Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh and you should add Cardinal Elementary to your list as well if you’re looking in 22205.

why?

Anonymous wrote:Oh and you should add Cardinal Elementary to your list as well if you’re looking in 22205.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new principal at Tuckahoe is really great and very invovled. We've been happy there. But like so many have said the boundaries or admin could easily change. Keep in mind Tuckahoe spilts for middle between Williamsburg and Sawson (depending where you live). Its the only elementary shool with a spilt but there has been talk of changing that (all to Williamsburg).
Also, some of these schools have varying homework policies. Tuckahoe currently does not give homework in any grade. I believe this is the same for Nottingham. I believe Jameston does have homework and unsure about Discovery. Personally I would like to see some homework in the older grades to prepare them for middle school. Probably not a deal breaker but something to think about.

I don't think you can go wrong and I'd probably choose based on lot, the street, distance to school...ie are you are walker but 20 minutes away becuase you are going to end up driving your kids every morning...Is the street a cul-de-sac, busy/not busy road, distance to middle school...youd be surprised how many are considered walkers but are really far. I might also go knock on some neighbors doors and get a feel for the street. I know that seems crazy but if you plan to live there for the next 20 years you want good neighbors! And seems some streets are really social and have lots of kids, while others are not.

I feel like the street is so important. It seems like even one or two streets over can make a big difference in Arlington. If I were buying in that part of the county, I would want to be far from any main artery (Langston, Military, etc) and far from any streets that experience cut-through traffic. Every part of Arlington has gotten so much busier, even 22207. I feel like the whole point of being up there is to get some peace and quiet.

No one avoid who can afford the houses off of Langston/Military/Glebe/Nellie Custis does so because of those roads are “busy.” You are talking about $3M houses lady? Obviously I’m not talking about houses on those streets but one block off.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new principal at Tuckahoe is really great and very invovled. We've been happy there. But like so many have said the boundaries or admin could easily change. Keep in mind Tuckahoe spilts for middle between Williamsburg and Sawson (depending where you live). Its the only elementary shool with a spilt but there has been talk of changing that (all to Williamsburg).
Also, some of these schools have varying homework policies. Tuckahoe currently does not give homework in any grade. I believe this is the same for Nottingham. I believe Jameston does have homework and unsure about Discovery. Personally I would like to see some homework in the older grades to prepare them for middle school. Probably not a deal breaker but something to think about.

I don't think you can go wrong and I'd probably choose based on lot, the street, distance to school...ie are you are walker but 20 minutes away becuase you are going to end up driving your kids every morning...Is the street a cul-de-sac, busy/not busy road, distance to middle school...youd be surprised how many are considered walkers but are really far. I might also go knock on some neighbors doors and get a feel for the street. I know that seems crazy but if you plan to live there for the next 20 years you want good neighbors! And seems some streets are really social and have lots of kids, while others are not.

I feel like the street is so important. It seems like even one or two streets over can make a big difference in Arlington. If I were buying in that part of the county, I would want to be far from any main artery (Langston, Military, etc) and far from any streets that experience cut-through traffic. Every part of Arlington has gotten so much busier, even 22207. I feel like the whole point of being up there is to get some peace and quiet.

Anonymous wrote:The new principal at Tuckahoe is really great and very invovled. We've been happy there. But like so many have said the boundaries or admin could easily change. Keep in mind Tuckahoe spilts for middle between Williamsburg and Sawson (depending where you live). Its the only elementary shool with a spilt but there has been talk of changing that (all to Williamsburg).
Also, some of these schools have varying homework policies. Tuckahoe currently does not give homework in any grade. I believe this is the same for Nottingham. I believe Jameston does have homework and unsure about Discovery. Personally I would like to see some homework in the older grades to prepare them for middle school. Probably not a deal breaker but something to think about.

I don't think you can go wrong and I'd probably choose based on lot, the street, distance to school...ie are you are walker but 20 minutes away becuase you are going to end up driving your kids every morning...Is the street a cul-de-sac, busy/not busy road, distance to middle school...youd be surprised how many are considered walkers but are really far. I might also go knock on some neighbors doors and get a feel for the street. I know that seems crazy but if you plan to live there for the next 20 years you want good neighbors! And seems some streets are really social and have lots of kids, while others are not.

Anonymous wrote:The new principal at Tuckahoe is really great and very invovled. We've been happy there. But like so many have said the boundaries or admin could easily change. Keep in mind Tuckahoe spilts for middle between Williamsburg and Sawson (depending where you live). Its the only elementary shool with a spilt but there has been talk of changing that (all to Williamsburg).
Also, some of these schools have varying homework policies. Tuckahoe currently does not give homework in any grade. I believe this is the same for Nottingham. I believe Jameston does have homework and unsure about Discovery. Personally I would like to see some homework in the older grades to prepare them for middle school. Probably not a deal breaker but something to think about.

I don't think you can go wrong and I'd probably choose based on lot, the street, distance to school...ie are you are walker but 20 minutes away becuase you are going to end up driving your kids every morning...Is the street a cul-de-sac, busy/not busy road, distance to middle school...youd be surprised how many are considered walkers but are really far. I might also go knock on some neighbors doors and get a feel for the street. I know that seems crazy but if you plan to live there for the next 20 years you want good neighbors! And seems some streets are really social and have lots of kids, while others are not.

Anonymous wrote:The new principal at Tuckahoe is really great and very invovled. We've been happy there. But like so many have said the boundaries or admin could easily change. Keep in mind Tuckahoe spilts for middle between Williamsburg and Sawson (depending where you live). Its the only elementary shool with a spilt but there has been talk of changing that (all to Williamsburg).
Also, some of these schools have varying homework policies. Tuckahoe currently does not give homework in any grade. I believe this is the same for Nottingham. I believe Jameston does have homework and unsure about Discovery. Personally I would like to see some homework in the older grades to prepare them for middle school. Probably not a deal breaker but something to think about.

I don't think you can go wrong and I'd probably choose based on lot, the street, distance to school...ie are you are walker but 20 minutes away becuase you are going to end up driving your kids every morning...Is the street a cul-de-sac, busy/not busy road, distance to middle school...youd be surprised how many are considered walkers but are really far. I might also go knock on some neighbors doors and get a feel for the street. I know that seems crazy but if you plan to live there for the next 20 years you want good neighbors! And seems some streets are really social and have lots of kids, while others are not.

Anonymous wrote:Pick the best lot. These are all demographically similar and the admin/teachers could change any time.

Anonymous wrote:Lots in Arlington were divided by size such that R-20 lots are much larger than R-6; it’s not too complicated, Google it. Generally speaking, neighborhoods farther north and farther east (closer to the river) have bigger lots. There are almost exclusively R-20 lots
NE Arlington and very few on the western side.

Bigger lots means, gen speaking, bigger houses. That means that the most expensive housing in Arlington tends to be North and East.

What does that mean for elementary schools? Like everywhere else in the US, diversity of race and income is coextensive (gen speaking) with housing prices. So, Jamestown and Taylor are the whitest/richest, followed by Nottingham/Doscovery, followed by Tuckahoe, Cardinal. Now people are going to say that’s not true and of course there are a million exceptions; a really really nice huge house in Cardinal. Totally true and, in my opinion, you aren’t a changing that much in terms of all kinds of diversity between these places.

The other piece is that land is flatter the farther you get from the river. Duh. So your chances of getting more useable space may have increase the further you go. Even if you have a huge R-20, 17,000 sq ft lot in Bellevue, it may be a useless forested hillside.

Finally, keep in mind that this is a public school system and the powers that be are constantly changing the boundaries, etc, for each of these places. So if you buy believing you really really like what you hear about Nottingham and it’s your dream school, just know that you could easily be moved/schools closed etc. It’s just part of being in a public school system.