As my kids got older, their schools became increasingly farther away. By high school, they were commuting 45mins to an hour by bus and train to school. Was it ideal? No. Did they care or ever complain? No. Sure, it was a pain traveling all the way across town (we live in DC) to watch them at their after-school sporting events, or attend parent-teacher conferences, etc. But we did it, and it was fine.

I grew up in an upper middle class town like Germantown and went to a private school in a town like Bethesda 30 minutes away. It was kind of a pain with the commute and socially. You end up socializing near the school. I think it’s fine for a few years though while your second finishes out elementary school.