+1 on the get more life than school friends post. My DCs - one in private in another state and one at a magnet school not in our home district have plenty of friends. From the neighborhood. From travel sports. And from school. Driving to a play date or school function isn't hard. And I would worry more about the daily commute for my DCs on a bus than whether potential new friends may live farther away. To it it another way ... For my DC's travel teams... Kids come from up to 90 miles away for biweekly practice and there are weekend tournaments all up/down east coast. School commute is the easy part.

Geez we just let the kids sociAlize at school and we have a large social network we socialize with on weekends. Get more friends people. It's so sad that people depend on making friends with parents at school only. I'm not from this area originally yet my DC has plenty of outside of school friends with. And I'm pretty sure she would get sick of seeing the same people outside of school on her down time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:very, very liberal.

No. There are many conservatives at this school. A school like GDS can be fairly labelled as liberal. Potomac, in comparison, is definitely not.

THe OP is correct - the school is very very liberal. Those that can have left. If there are any conservatives who are left at Potomac (I must know all the ones who left) they are just finishing up so this year or next would not be a good time to shift to a new school.

Yowza, Potomac has the largest body of conservative parents in the area. If this is true, who are these people for whom it is considered "very very liberal?" And where are they going?

I'm guessing that certain extremely conservative parents chose the school precisely because it has so many conservative families and were disappointed that it isn't paleo conservative. If you're going to be on the extreme end of the political spectrum, you'll always be in the minority and you need to learn how to live with people of different ideologies (which applies to those on the extreme left as well).

Are you a Potomac parent or you just going on gossip based on the fact that the school is located in, gasp for those who see themselves as above it, VA? I have been at Potomac for a long time. There have been some high profile Dem parents and some high profile Republican parents, but I have no idea what party the majority of the parents are in, and neither do the kids, except maybe on a presidential election day. I don't know how one would know this info unless you are basing your info on hearsay or assumption.

PP you sound like an ass --in my experience the libs are more outspoken say the sort of thing you do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:very, very liberal.

No. There are many conservatives at this school. A school like GDS can be fairly labelled as liberal. Potomac, in comparison, is definitely not.

THe OP is correct - the school is very very liberal. Those that can have left. If there are any conservatives who are left at Potomac (I must know all the ones who left) they are just finishing up so this year or next would not be a good time to shift to a new school.

Yowza, Potomac has the largest body of conservative parents in the area. If this is true, who are these people for whom it is considered "very very liberal?" And where are they going?

I'm guessing that certain extremely conservative parents chose the school precisely because it has so many conservative families and were disappointed that it isn't paleo conservative. If you're going to be on the extreme end of the political spectrum, you'll always be in the minority and you need to learn how to live with people of different ideologies (which applies to those on the extreme left as well).

Most of the students at Potomac are from the McLean area. There are sizable groups from Arlington, Alexandria and Great Falls and more and more from DC and MD as you get into grades 7-12. The students from areas farther out than Great Falls in VA are a minority, as are kids from MD. The school is a wonderful place, but you would need to figure out how important this is to you. The admissions staff told me that 60%, not 1/3, are from VA. In the Lower School, the VA numbers are much higher but by HS, there is more geographic diversity. I do think that you will find distance to be a factor at all schools, but yes, if you live in CC, you will be farther away for sure. Even at DC public schools, your child could have an out of boundary friend who lives all the way across the city. My daughter had a friend who lived in DC, like us, but the drive took 25-30 min so we rarely got them together for play dates.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. We live in Maryland and have heard great things about the school but are worried about how VA-heavy people say it is. With all the busing, does anyway have an estimate of breakdown VA vs. DC vs. MD?

Why would you care where people live?

Because the kids socializing after school and on weekends would be much more difficult if most of then are 30-45 minutes away. It would be nice for there to be a good number in our area (Chevy Chase), which may be true since Potomac buses everyone.

The kids in VA who go to Potomac School would not be 45 minutes away. Or just fire up your horse and buggy.

Really? I live in the part of Chevy Chase that's probably closest to Potomac, and googlemaps tells me that right not (e.g. not rush hour) it would be 23 minutes. I'm going to guess that there are families who live 23 minutes in the opposite direction from the school -- out in Fairfax, or in parts of Alexandria. That's a long way to go for afterschool playdate pick ups, or for a newish teen driver to be on the road when taking a date home at night.

When our child attended Potomac, we were unpleasantly surprised at how far away many of her friends lived, how bad the traffic was, and how difficult it was to sustain friendships with kids out in Great Falls, Alexandria, and Ashburn, etc. Forty five minutes? You will be on the road a lot longer than that on a regular basis. Also, don't be fooled by the admissions claim that Potomac tries to take 1/3 of the kids from DC, 1/3 from MD, and 1/3 from VA. They might try, but there are far fewer kids from MD and DC than VA, and odds are your child's closest friends will live in VA, quite likely from some far flung place that you have never heard of and will soon wish you could have died without ever visiting.

OP, when you choose to send your child to a private school in this area, you will run into this at most schools -- your DC might be best friends with a child that lives 45 minutes away. Even if there are a lot of kids at Potomac from CC, you have no guarantee that your DC will be in the same grade/class or even want to hang out with that child. My DC's best friends all live in Bethesda/Potomac, and we are in NoVA. We make it work when we want to have a playdate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. We live in Maryland and have heard great things about the school but are worried about how VA-heavy people say it is. With all the busing, does anyway have an estimate of breakdown VA vs. DC vs. MD?

Why would you care where people live?

Because the kids socializing after school and on weekends would be much more difficult if most of then are 30-45 minutes away. It would be nice for there to be a good number in our area (Chevy Chase), which may be true since Potomac buses everyone.

The kids in VA who go to Potomac School would not be 45 minutes away. Or just fire up your horse and buggy.

Really? I live in the part of Chevy Chase that's probably closest to Potomac, and googlemaps tells me that right not (e.g. not rush hour) it would be 23 minutes. I'm going to guess that there are families who live 23 minutes in the opposite direction from the school -- out in Fairfax, or in parts of Alexandria. That's a long way to go for afterschool playdate pick ups, or for a newish teen driver to be on the road when taking a date home at night.

When our child attended Potomac, we were unpleasantly surprised at how far away many of her friends lived, how bad the traffic was, and how difficult it was to sustain friendships with kids out in Great Falls, Alexandria, and Ashburn, etc. Forty five minutes? You will be on the road a lot longer than that on a regular basis. Also, don't be fooled by the admissions claim that Potomac tries to take 1/3 of the kids from DC, 1/3 from MD, and 1/3 from VA. They might try, but there are far fewer kids from MD and DC than VA, and odds are your child's closest friends will live in VA, quite likely from some far flung place that you have never heard of and will soon wish you could have died without ever visiting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. We live in Maryland and have heard great things about the school but are worried about how VA-heavy people say it is. With all the busing, does anyway have an estimate of breakdown VA vs. DC vs. MD?

Why would you care where people live?

Because the kids socializing after school and on weekends would be much more difficult if most of then are 30-45 minutes away. It would be nice for there to be a good number in our area (Chevy Chase), which may be true since Potomac buses everyone.

The kids in VA who go to Potomac School would not be 45 minutes away. Or just fire up your horse and buggy.

Really? I live in the part of Chevy Chase that's probably closest to Potomac, and googlemaps tells me that right not (e.g. not rush hour) it would be 23 minutes. I'm going to guess that there are families who live 23 minutes in the opposite direction from the school -- out in Fairfax, or in parts of Alexandria. That's a long way to go for afterschool playdate pick ups, or for a newish teen driver to be on the road when taking a date home at night.

I would contact the school and ask about the bus and the epi pens. It may be that your child can carry it in his/her backpack and the driver is trained to administer it. Or there may be one in the first aid kit. I don't think you can opt out of the bus given the traffic restrictions on the school. But I would not know specifically without asking.

Thank you pp for your thoughtful reply. As our child gets older.I would have less bus worry but as a first or maybe second grader..while he knows he shouldn't accept food and doesn't..I can't promise that he couldn't mess up and that child dying at the CA camp made clear to me you need an epi shot ASAP even before waiting for a reaction or it could be deadly. Ditto the other scenario where the little girl in va had the reaction but died waiting for the ambulance. These are margins that are too close to just blow off. To be clear..this isn't any issue of nuts in school or telling someone what to bring on a bus ie for school lunch. This is..epi pen on bus..yes? If not can I opt out of bus. Thanks again!

I am not sure if the bus driver carries an epi pen, or if you can opt out if the driver does not have one. My son knows not to accept any foods from anyone, but it is a good question. As for where your child can sit for lunch, that is completely parent driven. If your child is so severely allergic that s/he cannot be near the allergen then you just let the teacher know that and they will be seated somewhere special. If it is ok for them to be near, just not in contact (or ingesting, of course), then they can sit wherever.

You clearly know nothing about food allergies. Do you recall the first grader who died two years ago because she ate a nut on a playground. At younger ages they can screw up and eat something and being ona bus with no medicine could be a problem. The school may already have a process in place ie the driver may have an epi but if not..would be interested to know if you could drive. It bothers me how there are still people out there who don't get how serious food allergies are.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids can bring their lunch to school. My son with significant food allergies takes his lunch. His epi pen is in the classroom. I was very worried about this before we started at Potomac, but it has been a non-issue. They handle it very well.

What about bus? Is does the Bus driver have one or are you allowed to opt out of bus if driver doesn't and you child isn't old enough to self administer--thinking for the first grade. Thanks so much! Also if you bring your lunch can you sit at same table with other children..not a fan of the peanut table. Thanks again..you probably can tell it is stressful having a child with allergies.

Does your son walk around in a bubble suit? Good Lord - settle down.