Ross is a community experience like no other. It has (generally) one class per grade so you’ll know everyone. Some downsides here of course. It’s also a really small boundary that has a ton of amenities nearby so you also get a really fun urban experience. But housing is also smaller and more expensive than some of the other schools.

Murch or Janney you will probably get much more space for your money, a solid school community but it’s much larger, and probably a more suburban feel. Yes there is plenty of commercial corridor but it’s not as dense as Ross’s area, and many of the areas in boundary are relatively far from them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have Georgetown or Burleith/Glover Park money I’d move there and send kids to Stoddert or Hyde-Addison. Most convenient WOTP area with good schools to get to Pentagon (driving or take the bus to Rosslyn metro). You’d have a ton of stuff to do, fairly safe for kiddos, good public middle and high school options.

Those are nice schools and good commute for the Pentagon parent, but I wouldn't say they have a particularly neighborhood feel. Stoddert has a lot of embassy families who come and go (which is interesting, but not a way to make long-term friends who live nearby) and Hyde-Addison has one of the lower rates of inbound students for west of the park schools (again, a good way to meet an interesting group of people from around the city, including many from JBAB, but not a neighborhood feel). HA is 36% IB while Janney is 90%. You can compare this at https://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/

Agree with this. H-A is a great school, but by far the least community-oriented of the WOTP schools. Even the crappy CH schools have higher IB percentages. Stoddert is heavily IB, but very high percentage temporary student body.

Janney and Lafayette are both so big that I don’t think they give the community feel. UNW: Eaton, maybe? Bancroft (but immersion is a specific choice)? Murch? Mann? Ross? CH: Ludlow-Taylor? Maury? Normally Brent, but not this year/next.

Those would probably be my top choices.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Budget is very important here.

The Capitol Hill elementary schools are great— Ludlow-Taylor, Maury, Chisholm, Payne, Brent (though they’re in a swing space for 2 years), and the neighborhood is wonderful. But your money is not going to go as far as the burbs and you’ll have less space. The trade off (particularly commute/walking/proximity to H, Eastern Market, downtown) is worth it to many but it’s pricey.

That’s funny. CH is less expensive than Upper Caucasia AND Del Ray and Mt Pleasant

Really depends on which part of the Hill. Redfin indicates that Brent and Ludlow-Taylor both have higher median home prices than Del Ray. Mt Pleasant is way more than either. Upper NW depends on where. SFHs in Eaton are more expensive than the Hill, but it also has tons of affordable apartments whereas much of the Hill has none, so the average home price is lower.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don't know your budget. Knowing it would help.

Capitol Hill is a snore and once you get past the elementary school level things get dicey.

Mt Pleasant is awesome but expensive.

The rest of the Deal/JR zones might as well be the strip mall suburbs. No thanks.

One suggestion would be Del Ray in Alexandria. That's a real neighborhood. White folks on DCUM don't like the schools there -- too brown for them -- but there as good as any neighborhood school in DC. If your kid is a fit for JR they're a fit for Alexandria High School.

You think MtP is expensive but suggest Del Ray?

You think all of the Red Line DC neighborhoods feel like strip malls and suburbs but somehow Del Ray — literal definition of a suburb— doesn”t?

Yes, I do. At least Del Ray has charm.

Del Ray makes way more sense for a commute to the Pentagon, but it’s also obvious you don’t know anything about the charming, historic neighborhoods of Kalorrama, Woodley, CP, CCDC etc.

Anonymous wrote:Murch

Love Murch!

Anonymous wrote:My husband used to commute to a job near the pentagon from Mt Pleasant. It was pretty miserable, 395 gets super backed up heading into DC. If you can find a place zoned for Lyon Park elementary in Arlington, that has a nice community, is walkable and is a short commute to the pentagon.

You’re gonna have a whole lot of trouble finding a “place zoned for Lyon Park elementary” in Arlington because it doesn’t exist.

Anonymous wrote:Budget is very important here.

The Capitol Hill elementary schools are great— Ludlow-Taylor, Maury, Chisholm, Payne, Brent (though they’re in a swing space for 2 years), and the neighborhood is wonderful. But your money is not going to go as far as the burbs and you’ll have less space. The trade off (particularly commute/walking/proximity to H, Eastern Market, downtown) is worth it to many but it’s pricey.

That’s funny. CH is less expensive than Upper Caucasia AND Del Ray and Mt Pleasant

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don't know your budget. Knowing it would help.

Capitol Hill is a snore and once you get past the elementary school level things get dicey.

Mt Pleasant is awesome but expensive.

The rest of the Deal/JR zones might as well be the strip mall suburbs. No thanks.

One suggestion would be Del Ray in Alexandria. That's a real neighborhood. White folks on DCUM don't like the schools there -- too brown for them -- but there as good as any neighborhood school in DC. If your kid is a fit for JR they're a fit for Alexandria High School.

You think MtP is expensive but suggest Del Ray?

You think all of the Red Line DC neighborhoods feel like strip malls and suburbs but somehow Del Ray — literal definition of a suburb— doesn”t?

Yes, I do. At least Del Ray has charm.

Will the commute to Pentagon be by car or metro?

Murch and Janney are very community oriented and both are close to the red line. Switching to blue or yellow = a decent commute to Pentagon.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have Georgetown or Burleith/Glover Park money I’d move there and send kids to Stoddert or Hyde-Addison. Most convenient WOTP area with good schools to get to Pentagon (driving or take the bus to Rosslyn metro). You’d have a ton of stuff to do, fairly safe for kiddos, good public middle and high school options.

Those are nice schools and good commute for the Pentagon parent, but I wouldn't say they have a particularly neighborhood feel. Stoddert has a lot of embassy families who come and go (which is interesting, but not a way to make long-term friends who live nearby) and Hyde-Addison has one of the lower rates of inbound students for west of the park schools (again, a good way to meet an interesting group of people from around the city, including many from JBAB, but not a neighborhood feel). HA is 36% IB while Janney is 90%. You can compare this at https://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/

My kids are not at Stoddert anymore but they went there all the way through 5th and they are still close friends with all their friends from kindergarten (2 of my kids are actually still friends with their preschool buddies). There are embassy families but it is in no way the majority of families.

Anonymous wrote:If you have Georgetown or Burleith/Glover Park money I’d move there and send kids to Stoddert or Hyde-Addison. Most convenient WOTP area with good schools to get to Pentagon (driving or take the bus to Rosslyn metro). You’d have a ton of stuff to do, fairly safe for kiddos, good public middle and high school options.

Those are nice schools and good commute for the Pentagon parent, but I wouldn't say they have a particularly neighborhood feel. Stoddert has a lot of embassy families who come and go (which is interesting, but not a way to make long-term friends who live nearby) and Hyde-Addison has one of the lower rates of inbound students for west of the park schools (again, a good way to meet an interesting group of people from around the city, including many from JBAB, but not a neighborhood feel). HA is 36% IB while Janney is 90%. You can compare this at https://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/

If you have Georgetown or Burleith/Glover Park money I’d move there and send kids to Stoddert or Hyde-Addison. Most convenient WOTP area with good schools to get to Pentagon (driving or take the bus to Rosslyn metro). You’d have a ton of stuff to do, fairly safe for kiddos, good public middle and high school options.

north arlington. maybe capitol hill. maybe georgetown or glover park. after that, i think the commute from other parts of dc or bethesda has potential to be a grind.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is having a more exciting neighborhood more important than having good schools?

No, but the idea that there is an objectively #1 ES and it is so clearly superior that you should ignore all other preferences is even more insane.

Agree but who said one school was best?

OP asked for a great public school with a real neighborhood feel -- committed community, ability for kids to walk or bike to school, experienced teachers and reasonable sized classrooms.

OP didn’t ask which neighborhood is least boring.

Anonymous wrote:Is having a more exciting neighborhood more important than having good schools?

No, but the idea that there is an objectively #1 ES and it is so clearly superior that you should ignore all other preferences is even more insane.