Honestly, Marshall sounds like a great fit.

But coming from one of the most diverse (economic and racial/ethnic) schools in the county with an amazing administration, very involved student population, strong academic program that actually does well across the board in closing academic opportunity gaps, low teacher turnover, I partial to the not affluent schools. Most of the schools in the VHSL National District would probably meet your other needs, but sports is not a strong point.

Schools with strong athletics can be great, as long as your kid can make the team.

Madison has strong athletics and extracurriculars. My kids don’t go there yet but we hear all about the sports teams and band. Can’t speak to academics. Based on the student populations at my kids’ schools, not particularly diverse. Vienna is very walkable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP Here, MoCo seems to have this moreso than FCPS, wondering if im missing areas besides Arlington

MoCo is much better is every respect (especially schools).

Keep in mind many ,over on the college forum, complain about Maryland not having many in-state university options.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Falls Church City Schools but you also pay $$$$ for it

No, OP wants strong academics and low teacher turnover. FCCPS has walkability and is a small district. You get a lot of access to teachers and administrators but it is not these two things.

That's just silly of course it is. All the incorporated areas have this as well plus Reston.

^and strong sports. FCCPS doesn’t have those either for most teams because they are so small.

Anonymous wrote:Falls Church City Schools but you also pay $$$$ for it

No, OP wants strong academics and low teacher turnover. FCCPS has walkability and is a small district. You get a lot of access to teachers and administrators but it is not these two things.

Falls Church City Schools but you also pay $$$$ for it

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP Here, MoCo seems to have this moreso than FCPS, wondering if im missing areas besides Arlington

MoCo is much better is every respect (especially schools).

So untrue. MCPS has a much larger percentage of sub-par schools than FCPS. It's also more activist in ways that piss off parents. Neither has a great superintendent, but Taylor (MCPS) likes to ram stuff down parents' throats (Wootton closing/reopening at Crown, controversial boundaries for Woodward, and regional reorganization) whereas Reid (FCPS) makes a lot of noise but then just makes incremental changes (tinkering with school boundaries, new Skyview HS).

Otherwise, MoCo has lost ground economically to many other local jurisdictions in the past 20 years, whether it's Howard in Maryland or Arlington, Fairfax, and Loudoun in Virginia. It has some nice older neighborhoods, so if you want a bedroom community to commute to jobs in DC or VA, some areas in MoCo are nice. Otherwise, NoVa is more economically vibrant and living there is more convenient (especially for jobs).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP Here, MoCo seems to have this moreso than FCPS, wondering if im missing areas besides Arlington

MoCo is much better is every respect (especially schools).

I thought the Montgomery County Superintendent is reorganizing all the schools and magnet programs into new regions. It's been very controversial. Hopefully it all works out there, but it's something for OP to keep in mind.

Anonymous wrote:OP Here, MoCo seems to have this moreso than FCPS, wondering if im missing areas besides Arlington

MoCo is much better is every respect (especially schools).