Anonymous
09/27/2025 22:10
Subject: Top public elementary with neighborhood feel?
Whittier has an incredible community and staff with more affordable housing than some of the places listed but it's an easy 45 minute drive from the Pentagon and similar metro. I think you really need to pick a couple neighborhoods based on feel and then decide on schools. Are you willing to do a longer commute daily? Do you want a quiet neighborhood or more stuff to do?
Anonymous
09/27/2025 21:12
Subject: Top public elementary with neighborhood feel?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:DCUM hivemind:
Interested in the thoughts of the collective...
We are moving back to DC after a few years away. We have one child who will be in 1st grade. We previously lived in both DC and VA (Alexandria) prior to becoming parents. We are looking for a great public school with a real neighborhood feel -- committed community, ability for kids to walk or bike to school, experienced teachers and reasonable sized classrooms. One parent will be WFH and one will work in the Pentagon. Our plan is to first decide on the preferred school and then find housing (recognizing the dynamics around in-bound requirements).
If you were in our shoes, where would you choose?
The obvious choice: Ross.
Ross if you have someone working at the Pentagon? No way.
Anonymous
09/27/2025 21:11
Subject: Top public elementary with neighborhood feel?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We don't know your budget. Knowing it would help.
Capitol Hill is a snore and once you get past the elementary school level things get dicey.
Mt Pleasant is awesome but expensive.
The rest of the Deal/JR zones might as well be the strip mall suburbs. No thanks.
One suggestion would be Del Ray in Alexandria. That's a real neighborhood. White folks on DCUM don't like the schools there -- too brown for them -- but there as good as any neighborhood school in DC. If your kid is a fit for JR they're a fit for Alexandria High School.
Capitol Hill is a snore? Maybe if you're in your 20s... but even then, H Street & Union Market within walking distance is hardly a snore.
Yawn. Capitol Hill does not compare to NW.
Yes, because it isn't nearly as boring as NW.
Anonymous
09/27/2025 21:10
Subject: Top public elementary with neighborhood feel?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We don't know your budget. Knowing it would help.
Capitol Hill is a snore and once you get past the elementary school level things get dicey.
Mt Pleasant is awesome but expensive.
The rest of the Deal/JR zones might as well be the strip mall suburbs. No thanks.
One suggestion would be Del Ray in Alexandria. That's a real neighborhood. White folks on DCUM don't like the schools there -- too brown for them -- but there as good as any neighborhood school in DC. If your kid is a fit for JR they're a fit for Alexandria High School.
Capitol Hill is a snore? Maybe if you're in your 20s... but even then, H Street & Union Market within walking distance is hardly a snore.
Yawn. Capitol Hill does not compare to NW.
Anonymous
09/27/2025 21:09
Subject: Top public elementary with neighborhood feel?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We don't know your budget. Knowing it would help.
Capitol Hill is a snore and once you get past the elementary school level things get dicey.
Mt Pleasant is awesome but expensive.
The rest of the Deal/JR zones might as well be the strip mall suburbs. No thanks.
One suggestion would be Del Ray in Alexandria. That's a real neighborhood. White folks on DCUM don't like the schools there -- too brown for them -- but there as good as any neighborhood school in DC. If your kid is a fit for JR they're a fit for Alexandria High School.
Ah, there they are, that person who always inserts racism into every discussion here, no matter how unrelated!
Of course it’s related. It’s why so many white folks move WOTP as soon as their kids hit school age.
Anonymous
09/27/2025 19:30
Subject: Top public elementary with neighborhood feel?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:DCUM hivemind:
Interested in the thoughts of the collective...
We are moving back to DC after a few years away. We have one child who will be in 1st grade. We previously lived in both DC and VA (Alexandria) prior to becoming parents. We are looking for a great public school with a real neighborhood feel -- committed community, ability for kids to walk or bike to school, experienced teachers and reasonable sized classrooms. One parent will be WFH and one will work in the Pentagon. Our plan is to first decide on the preferred school and then find housing (recognizing the dynamics around in-bound requirements).
If you were in our shoes, where would you choose?
The obvious choice: Ross.
Except it doesn't meet the reasonable class size criteria
Anonymous
09/27/2025 18:59
Subject: Top public elementary with neighborhood feel?
Anonymous wrote:Murch
This is the answer.
Anonymous
09/27/2025 18:08
Subject: Top public elementary with neighborhood feel?
Hearst - we’ve been there 6+ years and the community is great. The boundary is very small so my kids’ friends are all super close. I wouldn’t make decisions based on class size though since that can vary a lot from year to year - it’s often out of the school’s control
Anonymous
09/27/2025 18:04
Subject: Top public elementary with neighborhood feel?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:DCUM hivemind:
Interested in the thoughts of the collective...
We are moving back to DC after a few years away. We have one child who will be in 1st grade. We previously lived in both DC and VA (Alexandria) prior to becoming parents. We are looking for a great public school with a real neighborhood feel -- committed community, ability for kids to walk or bike to school, experienced teachers and reasonable sized classrooms. One parent will be WFH and one will work in the Pentagon. Our plan is to first decide on the preferred school and then find housing (recognizing the dynamics around in-bound requirements).
If you were in our shoes, where would you choose?
The obvious choice: Ross.
+1
Anonymous
09/27/2025 18:03
Subject: Top public elementary with neighborhood feel?
Anonymous wrote:DCUM hivemind:
Interested in the thoughts of the collective...
We are moving back to DC after a few years away. We have one child who will be in 1st grade. We previously lived in both DC and VA (Alexandria) prior to becoming parents. We are looking for a great public school with a real neighborhood feel -- committed community, ability for kids to walk or bike to school, experienced teachers and reasonable sized classrooms. One parent will be WFH and one will work in the Pentagon. Our plan is to first decide on the preferred school and then find housing (recognizing the dynamics around in-bound requirements).
If you were in our shoes, where would you choose?
The obvious choice: Ross.
Anonymous
09/27/2025 17:03
Subject: Top public elementary with neighborhood feel?
Anonymous wrote:We love Mann. Super involved community. Tons of kids walk/bike to school. Great teachers and families. The surrounding neighborhoods are expensive but there are a lot of different housing options for inbound (rentals, townhouses, single family homes, etc).
I would say Mann, Stoddert, Key, Murch, Eaton are good options.
Anonymous
09/27/2025 16:33
Subject: Top public elementary with neighborhood feel?
Anonymous wrote:We don't know your budget. Knowing it would help.
Capitol Hill is a snore and once you get past the elementary school level things get dicey.
Mt Pleasant is awesome but expensive.
The rest of the Deal/JR zones might as well be the strip mall suburbs. No thanks.
One suggestion would be Del Ray in Alexandria. That's a real neighborhood. White folks on DCUM don't like the schools there -- too brown for them -- but there as good as any neighborhood school in DC. If your kid is a fit for JR they're a fit for Alexandria High School.
Capitol Hill is a snore? Maybe if you're in your 20s... but even then, H Street & Union Market within walking distance is hardly a snore.
Anonymous
09/27/2025 16:06
Subject: Top public elementary with neighborhood feel?
We love Mann. Super involved community. Tons of kids walk/bike to school. Great teachers and families. The surrounding neighborhoods are expensive but there are a lot of different housing options for inbound (rentals, townhouses, single family homes, etc).
Anonymous
09/27/2025 15:53
Subject: Top public elementary with neighborhood feel?
Anonymous wrote:We don't know your budget. Knowing it would help.
Capitol Hill is a snore and once you get past the elementary school level things get dicey.
Mt Pleasant is awesome but expensive.
The rest of the Deal/JR zones might as well be the strip mall suburbs. No thanks.
One suggestion would be Del Ray in Alexandria. That's a real neighborhood. White folks on DCUM don't like the schools there -- too brown for them -- but there as good as any neighborhood school in DC. If your kid is a fit for JR they're a fit for Alexandria High School.
Ah, there they are, that person who always inserts racism into every discussion here, no matter how unrelated!
Anonymous
09/27/2025 15:53
Subject: Top public elementary with neighborhood feel?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We don't know your budget. Knowing it would help.
Capitol Hill is a snore and once you get past the elementary school level things get dicey.
Mt Pleasant is awesome but expensive.
The rest of the Deal/JR zones might as well be the strip mall suburbs. No thanks.
One suggestion would be Del Ray in Alexandria. That's a real neighborhood. White folks on DCUM don't like the schools there -- too brown for them -- but there as good as any neighborhood school in DC. If your kid is a fit for JR they're a fit for Alexandria High School.
You think MtP is expensive but suggest Del Ray?
Del Ray has lots of side by side duplexes for well under a million that are fine for a family with one kid. Mt Pleasant doesn't.