Hi Mamas:)
As much as I do not want to, I may have to move my daughters and I cross country over the summer. My husband passed almost a month ago very unexpectedly and now I am forced back into the job market. Because I am a Veteran, a Federal job is the best prospect for me. My daughters currently attend a public school that is giving them the equivalent of an excellent private school's education. They are entering High School this fall and are in advanced classes for all of their core subjects. The job is located in Washington DC, but I am struggling to find a school and community that can even come close to where we are now. I am looking for something out of the city, in either Virginia or Maryland, that would be a 45 min or so commute to the area near where WRAMC is currently located. Could you please let me know of any potential areas that you would recommend? Thank you.
Fairfax is the number 1 school district in the country. We just moved here from CA and my daughters school is amazing!
I am sorry for your loss.
Use http://www.greatschools.net and see what is out here to meet your needs.
Fairfax County has one of the best districts in the nation.
If you are moving to DC and your job is in DC - you have MANY MANY options open to you...you will have to consider your commute time as well as the school district you want.
I live in Reston, VA - I am 22 miles west of DC off the 66 and the Beltway. My husband works in DC and takes public transportation EVERY DAY and loves it. He doesn't have to worry about the traffic (DC is in the 10 top traffic areas).
There are many private schools here as well and greatschools.net includes them as well.
Please inbox me and I will do what i can to help you.
I live in Montgomery County(Silver Spring, Md) and I highly recommend looking in Montgomery County. They have the best school district in the state. WRAMC will be closing in September and merging with National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda by September. I am currently working at NNMC, and only have a 4 mile commute each day.
The obvious answer is Chevy Chase or Bethesda Maryland, and McLean, Virginia. You don't want to go to a public school in the city, they are the worst schools. Bethesda is probably the best for you since you could live in a house within walking distance to the metro, and commute in to work on the subway. Driving has gotten a lot worse in the DC area. The schools in Montgomery County are excellent.
Falls Church City has an amazing school system. But I'm biased because I grew up there. Great academics with an IB program, great athletics and a great arts and drama program as well. I live in Fairfax now and there is no way I would send my kids to the public high school in my district. It gets poor marks across the board. Falls Church City is also a great community. Very small only 2.5 square miles, it has a great feel, very welcoming and neighbors really look out for each other. It's expensive but in my opinion worth it. Plus you have metro right there. If I could afford to I would move back into FC city. If you get a job offer out here try to come a take a look around and if it's a good fit make sure the housing you look at is within the city limits. Just because it has a Falls Church address doesn't always mean it's within the city limits.
Montgomery County is the best in the nation. I will warn you, it is a liberal freak show-but the quality of education is amazing. Live in Potomac-they can go to really nice schools- You can take a train to work.
I'm sorry for your loss... I'm sure this is a very hard time trying to organize everything and deal with emotions all at the same time.
The DC area has MANY good school districts - Montgomery County, Arlington and Fairfax are the best as far as I know. Before you get your heart set on any particular school district, it's worth checking to see if there are houses or apartments in your price range in the area you like. DC housing is fairly expensive, and there are "good" areas pretty close to "bad" ones. Also, what looks like a 45 minute commute on the map could be twice that - you'll want to look at public transportation if you can; it really saves on time. The closest metro stop to WRAMC is Tacoma Park - you can walk the 8 blocks or take a very short bus ride. Personally, I'd check out anything up the Red line from Tacoma Park (direction Glenmont) first. That would put you in Montgomery County - where schools are really good. You could even look for communities that have direct bus links to Tacoma. You can search all of that on the metro website, www.wmata.com.
Good luck!
Fairfax county has great schools.
Check out Fairfax County Public Schools (Va.), Montgomery County public schools (Md.), Arlington County schools (Va. -- I don't know a lot about them but they have a huge tax base proportional to their number of students so I've heard the system has decent money compared to others that are all cutting back budgets). Falls Church City has a good reputation but it can be hard to find a house in the tiny FC City limits and very pricey.
One big debate all over this area is whether a high school has or should have Advanced Placement versus International Baccalaureate programs, and many schools (including Fairfax County) are dumping the "honors" classes and going with just Advanced Placement for kids who are working above the "regular" level. Something to investigate if your kids are in higher-level classes already and would be moving here.
I strongly advise signing on with the Washington Post online (www.washingtonpost.com) and searching all their past education stories and be sure you search Fairfax, Montgomery, Arlington and other systems -- you don't want to search on DC schools if you're not sending your kids to them (and frankly I wouldn't). Read up on what all the school topics have been. In fact, tomorrow's Post (Sunday, May 22) has an entire special section on high schools nationwide and should cover the "locals" as well. Education reporter is Jay Matthews -- he does a great job so read his stuff.
We're in Charles County Maryland. South of DC and Andrews. Traffic in DC is HORRENDOUS. One of the downsides of where we are ... the metro doesn't come this far south. One of the upsides ... Great schools AND a booming and reasonably priced housing market.
You can drive about 1/2 an hour to the nearest metro tho. And quite frankly that's what I'd do if I worked at WRAMC. Cause getting into the hospital is complete and utter chaos and a pain in the butt.
Charles county schools all have AP classes, which translate to College credit if the pass the test at the end of the year. We've been happy here since we were transfered in 2009.
