16:39 again.

Another factor to consider is the ESOL percentage -- a good to great administration can handle a significant influx of ESOL students without affecting the native born, not at risk students.

Now if you're trying to convince yourself that the area will work, your neighbors are rude, and are just afraid of being called "racist" if you move out -- then I'd move. There's worse things in life than making a 15 minute commute a 45 minute commute, and living in an 800 SF condo if that's all you can afford is its own brand of problematic.

There's iffy, and there's "utterly failing" (as in 80% FARMS, 1 or 2 on Greatschools, multiple principals in the past few years, etc.)

If your immediate neighborhood is good to great (good mix of people and few if any sociopaths/users), and the schools is "iffy" (as in 30% FARMS, 3 or 4 on Greatschools, fairly stable staff, but some of your friends/neighbors are sort of whispering about the area) ... then why not give the public school a chance?

Maybe OP can put off the renovations until their kid is in 2nd/3rd grade?

Work in Arlington and live in Alexandria City. I always hear from Arlington co-workers how great their schools are. My kids use the same texts, are at the same reading levels, do the same things, have the same kinds of friends. Our much better house cost less, and we like the sense of community and non-striving for perfection neighborhood. When we sell, we will get less for our house, but we paid less, so it works out.

We are considering buying in a couple of areas with iffy schools. We figure when the time for school comes, we'll either move, attempt charter, or Catholic.

Alexandria home values are fine, thanks. So are DC. Actually the most refreshing admission was by the PP who admitted she would worry no matter what. You can't control everything. JUST STOP!

The value of your property will appreciate based on the quality of the schools. You take a risk if being stuck in a bad school if values continue to go down and stagnate. The better school areas have a better chance of appreciation.

A good school may help your child, or it may not.

We bought a house in PG county before having kids was even on our radar during the real estate boom, and we are now way underwater and with a pretty bad local school. So we are doing private. We can't sell (don't have cash to take a loss) and we don't want to rent for a couple of reasons, so private is our option. The calculus would shift if we had more than one child, but for one kid private is possible for us.

Anonymous wrote:Some of us want more than fine. To each his or her own.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Live in Alexandria, kids go and will continue to go to public. THE HORROR!

LOL. I like you. My kid goes to DCPS, and you know what, I'm not worried. She'll be fine.

Actually, to be honest, I think many of us will worry no matter what!

Some of us want more than fine. To each his or her own.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Live in Alexandria, kids go and will continue to go to public. THE HORROR!

LOL. I like you. My kid goes to DCPS, and you know what, I'm not worried. She'll be fine.

Anonymous wrote:Live in Alexandria, kids go and will continue to go to public. THE HORROR!

LOL. I like you. My kid goes to DCPS, and you know what, I'm not worried. She'll be fine.

We took a huge loss and moved to an area with good schools. When we bought it felt like forever before we'd have to worry about schools, but it sneaks up fast!

Live in Alexandria, kids go and will continue to go to public. THE HORROR!

With two heading to high school we don't have the luxury of "iffy"...we need good right now. So for us it's relocation to a townhome or smaller house in a top school cluster. Still a lot cheaper than 60k/yr in private school tuition.

Anonymous wrote:OP here - it is the Falls Church High School pyramid. Not FCC, but Fairfax County.

OP, we're in the same pyramid. Bought in 2003 thinking we would move before school started. Well, our first is in a school we thought was iffy initially, and is thriving, title I and all. We visited the school and spent quite some time with the principal before deciding to enroll her. We also visited some privates, and honestly were underwhelmed. So for now we are staying. We'll do similar research about the middle- and high schools when the time comes and will make our decision based on what we find. Test scores are not the whole story and kids with involved parents tend to do well regardless. Good luck with your decision.