Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one is leaving APS for FCPS. Please.

People go private if they aren’t going to use APS.

You can kick FCPS out of the Virginia Schools Forum and pretend it doesn't exist - but that doesn't mean people do not leave APS and go to FCPS.

Interesting, I can think of tons of kids who have left APS for privates but continued to live in Arlington, and many more families that moved out the region or out of state. But can literally think of no one I know who moved from APS to FCPS.

Same and I’ve lived in Arlington 15 years and had 3 kids in school.

Our neighborhood in Fairfax has quite a few families who moved here from their starter homes and starter schools in Arlington.

you can get more house and land in Fairfax with the same budget. Saying people are moving for schools alone doesn’t add up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It should be noted that for APS high schools, there are usually some new-to-public-school students from the local parochial schools. But those families are already Arlington residents.

And like some neighbors of ours, some families do move within Arlington (typically early elementary grades, or just before middle school) with specific APS schools in mind, for whatever reason.

I think of Langley, Meridian, McLean, Yorktown and W&L as the same bucket but nowhere near ACH or West Potomac. Niche is a horrible useless thing but it does have median home price which is waaaaay different for west Potomac and ACH vs, say, Yorktown. You are getting really different student populations with those two housing values. Not to say there aren’t a million exceptions and that educational experience does not by definition match exactly with housing values …. But it’s going to be a way better proxy for comparison.

I thought West Potomac HS was a good FCPS school that families seek out when house shopping. The homes down in Hollin Hill and also near the Bellevue CC are certainly stunning. Family friends live there and love the public elementary.

I’m sure they do! And I’m guessing the elementary school and West Potomac are excellent schools. But they aren’t Yorktown or W&L (or the other schools I mentioned.)

Those neighborhoods you mention are very nice and generally the nicest neighborhoods in West Potomac but they are topping out at about $1M. That’s not what North Arlington tops out at. Niches has average home price in West Potomac at like $650k and YHS at $1.1M. I’m not criticizing West Potomac, only trying to describe a little why I don’t see them in the same grouping.

Lol, if you think Belle Haven, Hollins Hills, and Waynewood "top out" at $1M. Have you not shopped for a house in the past 20 years.

You got me? I just looked on Zillow and can clearly see now that the $1M is wrong. There are lots of houses on the market for $1.5M ….compared to $3M for Yorktown. Are you saying I am incorrect about the avg home prices feeding into West Potomac vs Yorktown, which the point of the post? Because Niche reports them as vastly different and a Birds Eye view of Zillow supports that.

Are you just trolling now? You got called out for making the claim that houses feeding into West Potomac "topping out at about $1M." You don't get to make a ridiculous and frankly idiotic statement and then walk back your claim that the point of the post was "avg home prices." You obviously don't have a clue about the demographics of the neighborhoods you're talking about and I'm guessing you'd be stunned that wealthy people live in Belle Haven. Take the loss and just acknowledge how wrong and ill informed you were.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one is leaving APS for FCPS. Please.

People go private if they aren’t going to use APS.

You can kick FCPS out of the Virginia Schools Forum and pretend it doesn't exist - but that doesn't mean people do not leave APS and go to FCPS.

Interesting, I can think of tons of kids who have left APS for privates but continued to live in Arlington, and many more families that moved out the region or out of state. But can literally think of no one I know who moved from APS to FCPS.

Same and I’ve lived in Arlington 15 years and had 3 kids in school.

Our neighborhood in Fairfax has quite a few families who moved here from their starter homes and starter schools in Arlington.

Also know a lot of people who moved from APS to FCPS. FCPS has its own challenges but APS is not as good as it once was. Talk to any veteran teacher.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one is leaving APS for FCPS. Please.

People go private if they aren’t going to use APS.

You can kick FCPS out of the Virginia Schools Forum and pretend it doesn't exist - but that doesn't mean people do not leave APS and go to FCPS.

Interesting, I can think of tons of kids who have left APS for privates but continued to live in Arlington, and many more families that moved out the region or out of state. But can literally think of no one I know who moved from APS to FCPS.

Same and I’ve lived in Arlington 15 years and had 3 kids in school.

Our neighborhood in Fairfax has quite a few families who moved here from their starter homes and starter schools in Arlington.

Did they say why?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It should be noted that for APS high schools, there are usually some new-to-public-school students from the local parochial schools. But those families are already Arlington residents.

And like some neighbors of ours, some families do move within Arlington (typically early elementary grades, or just before middle school) with specific APS schools in mind, for whatever reason.

I think of Langley, Meridian, McLean, Yorktown and W&L as the same bucket but nowhere near ACH or West Potomac. Niche is a horrible useless thing but it does have median home price which is waaaaay different for west Potomac and ACH vs, say, Yorktown. You are getting really different student populations with those two housing values. Not to say there aren’t a million exceptions and that educational experience does not by definition match exactly with housing values …. But it’s going to be a way better proxy for comparison.

I thought West Potomac HS was a good FCPS school that families seek out when house shopping. The homes down in Hollin Hill and also near the Bellevue CC are certainly stunning. Family friends live there and love the public elementary.

They seek out that area for the elementary. We had many friends/classmates from preschool to early elementary move from ACPS to Waynewood/Stratford Landing. They don't all stay in public through Sandburg/West Po, though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why? Just go to FCPS, APS is pretty similar in quality now

At least Arlington has more options than one single overcrowded unmanageable high school. Nothing quite compares to the uniqueness of ACPS in that regard.

Gotta agree here. No Arlington complaint could come close.

PP - I do feel obliged to say that my kid has had some wonderful teachers in ACPS, including at the high school. And they’ve benefited from the diversity of the school. But it.is.huge. And I don’t think that serves any kid well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why? Just go to FCPS, APS is pretty similar in quality now

At least Arlington has more options than one single overcrowded unmanageable high school. Nothing quite compares to the uniqueness of ACPS in that regard.

Gotta agree here. No Arlington complaint could come close.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one is leaving APS for FCPS. Please.

People go private if they aren’t going to use APS.

You can kick FCPS out of the Virginia Schools Forum and pretend it doesn't exist - but that doesn't mean people do not leave APS and go to FCPS.

Interesting, I can think of tons of kids who have left APS for privates but continued to live in Arlington, and many more families that moved out the region or out of state. But can literally think of no one I know who moved from APS to FCPS.

Same and I’ve lived in Arlington 15 years and had 3 kids in school.

Our neighborhood in Fairfax has quite a few families who moved here from their starter homes and starter schools in Arlington.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It should be noted that for APS high schools, there are usually some new-to-public-school students from the local parochial schools. But those families are already Arlington residents.

And like some neighbors of ours, some families do move within Arlington (typically early elementary grades, or just before middle school) with specific APS schools in mind, for whatever reason.

I think of Langley, Meridian, McLean, Yorktown and W&L as the same bucket but nowhere near ACH or West Potomac. Niche is a horrible useless thing but it does have median home price which is waaaaay different for west Potomac and ACH vs, say, Yorktown. You are getting really different student populations with those two housing values. Not to say there aren’t a million exceptions and that educational experience does not by definition match exactly with housing values …. But it’s going to be a way better proxy for comparison.

I thought West Potomac HS was a good FCPS school that families seek out when house shopping. The homes down in Hollin Hill and also near the Bellevue CC are certainly stunning. Family friends live there and love the public elementary.

I’m sure they do! And I’m guessing the elementary school and West Potomac are excellent schools. But they aren’t Yorktown or W&L (or the other schools I mentioned.)

Those neighborhoods you mention are very nice and generally the nicest neighborhoods in West Potomac but they are topping out at about $1M. That’s not what North Arlington tops out at. Niches has average home price in West Potomac at like $650k and YHS at $1.1M. I’m not criticizing West Potomac, only trying to describe a little why I don’t see them in the same grouping.

Lol, if you think Belle Haven, Hollins Hills, and Waynewood "top out" at $1M. Have you not shopped for a house in the past 20 years.

You got me? I just looked on Zillow and can clearly see now that the $1M is wrong. There are lots of houses on the market for $1.5M ….compared to $3M for Yorktown. Are you saying I am incorrect about the avg home prices feeding into West Potomac vs Yorktown, which the point of the post? Because Niche reports them as vastly different and a Birds Eye view of Zillow supports that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one is leaving APS for FCPS. Please.

People go private if they aren’t going to use APS.

You can kick FCPS out of the Virginia Schools Forum and pretend it doesn't exist - but that doesn't mean people do not leave APS and go to FCPS.

Interesting, I can think of tons of kids who have left APS for privates but continued to live in Arlington, and many more families that moved out the region or out of state. But can literally think of no one I know who moved from APS to FCPS.

Same and I’ve lived in Arlington 15 years and had 3 kids in school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It should be noted that for APS high schools, there are usually some new-to-public-school students from the local parochial schools. But those families are already Arlington residents.

And like some neighbors of ours, some families do move within Arlington (typically early elementary grades, or just before middle school) with specific APS schools in mind, for whatever reason.

I think of Langley, Meridian, McLean, Yorktown and W&L as the same bucket but nowhere near ACH or West Potomac. Niche is a horrible useless thing but it does have median home price which is waaaaay different for west Potomac and ACH vs, say, Yorktown. You are getting really different student populations with those two housing values. Not to say there aren’t a million exceptions and that educational experience does not by definition match exactly with housing values …. But it’s going to be a way better proxy for comparison.

I thought West Potomac HS was a good FCPS school that families seek out when house shopping. The homes down in Hollin Hill and also near the Bellevue CC are certainly stunning. Family friends live there and love the public elementary.

I’m sure they do! And I’m guessing the elementary school and West Potomac are excellent schools. But they aren’t Yorktown or W&L (or the other schools I mentioned.)

Those neighborhoods you mention are very nice and generally the nicest neighborhoods in West Potomac but they are topping out at about $1M. That’s not what North Arlington tops out at. Niches has average home price in West Potomac at like $650k and YHS at $1.1M. I’m not criticizing West Potomac, only trying to describe a little why I don’t see them in the same grouping.

Lol, if you think Belle Haven, Hollins Hills, and Waynewood "top out" at $1M. Have you not shopped for a house in the past 20 years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one is leaving APS for FCPS. Please.

People go private if they aren’t going to use APS.

You can kick FCPS out of the Virginia Schools Forum and pretend it doesn't exist - but that doesn't mean people do not leave APS and go to FCPS.

Interesting, I can think of tons of kids who have left APS for privates but continued to live in Arlington, and many more families that moved out the region or out of state. But can literally think of no one I know who moved from APS to FCPS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most people first choose between APS or ACPS then move to Fairfax if it doesn't work out.

I don’t think many former APS parents go to FCPS. There’s no pipeline like that. The ones that don’t stick with APS for whatever reason go the independent school route, the top 3 or just below that level.

For the OP: unless you’re drawn to particular neighborhoods in Arlington, you should expand your search. APS, FCCPS, FCPS, MCPS, and maybe even DCPS (upper NW). There are lots of good options for strong public school pyramids. Or just stick it out with ACPS.

Many do, but they don't tell you. People don't choose Arlington for the schools. And they definitely don't choose Alexandria for the schools.

What do you mean people don't choose Arlington for the schools? We did, and I know many other families who are here for the schools as well. We considered APS, FCCPS and FCPS. Did not consider ACPS at all. Of course, the schools were not the only factor in deciding where to live, we considered community feel, commute, neighborhoods, housing costs, all of it. But schools were a very high priority.

At the time, APS paid the highest and had smaller schools and class sizes. Those were big factors for us. Things have changed, so who knows if we would have made the same decision. But we're not leaving now.

Many people (I'm one of them) are in APS to avoid AAP in FCPS. That is a huge driving factor for elementary school. Either you're super into that option or you're not. It's really the main differentiator between the two school systems in the early years and also FCPS has bigger class sizes.

Sorry to quibble, but Belle Haven does not top out at 1M. Far from it.