Burke, VA neighborhoods (Annandale, Chantilly, Springfield: section 8, apartments, daycare)

[fdg]

My family may be moving to northern Virginia in the coming months and we are specifically intested in Burke. Can someone provide some information as to desirable neighborhoods in Burke (considering location, schools, safety etc)? Thanks in advance.

[Fern435]

From what I see and hear, there really aren't any bad areas of Burke. All the schools are respectable to very good (Lake Braddock H.S. and Robinson H.S. are the two public high schools--both are excellent). It's very pretty and safe there.

[mlv311]

Originally Posted by fdg

My family may be moving to northern Virginia in the coming months and we are specifically intested in Burke. Can someone provide some information as to desirable neighborhoods in Burke (considering location, schools, safety etc)? Thanks in advance.

Walkingnoelle is correct. There are really no unsafe, undesirable neighborhoods in Burke (22015). For that matter, you can even look in West Springfield too (22152). We relocated to the area almost a year ago and have enjoyed how family-oriented the area is. The rec center, parks, playgrounds, libraries, etc. are great. As far as schools, your two choices for HS are Robinson and Lake Braddock--they are both reputable. (BTW, they cover MS and HS). Elementary schools in the area are good, but if your children are young, you might want to ask about specific schools here or check out their stats on the Fairfax County Public Schools website: Fairfax County Public Schools

[fdg]

Thank you both for the reply. It is much appreciated!

[irisheyes13]

We lived in Burke the last time we were here and loved it as well. My oldest graduated from Robinson and we were very happy with it.

[luke9.54_56]

Originally Posted by fdg

My family may be moving to northern Virginia in the coming months and we are specifically intested in Burke. Can someone provide some information as to desirable neighborhoods in Burke (considering location, schools, safety etc)? Thanks in advance.

I lived in Burke for 14 years, and only move last year to a more norhern end of Fairfax County. Burke was designed as a small niche that forbade advertising, and signs along the roads...It kept the trees and was meant to feel like you were out in the country. Yes, It has done a decent job on that score, except that when they allowed Target to plop down right in the midle of all of the housing, we began to see semi tractor trailers barrelling along the roads that used to be quiet residentail streets!

In general, the main roads, like Burke Center Parkway, are deadly for traffic accidents.....but appear as lovely four lane parkways. I receommend getting as far away from any of the major streets as possible. The townhouses are full of lower income families, and there are certain townhome areas that are just not acceptable...generally, these are west of Burke Center Parkway and along it as well. Anything you can find that is east of Burke Center parway will be towards Fairfax Station, which is high end....and beautiful! Clifton is also nice! Both are very close to Burke, but neither has the fanatical town council to micromanage your life.

There are a number of events in Burke that make summertime a pain or fun depending on whether or not you participate. Fairs, soccer games, etc are all over the area. If you get a house, bargain, because these homes are hard to sell right now....and will increase in value if they are not too close to townhouses. The townhouses are dotted with Section 8 families. Somehow, the democrats in Northern VA feel that mixing all levels of income makes for good schools, good neighborhoods, etc. I found otherwise.

I lived in townhouses and apartments, and had friends in homes nearby. I saw it all, in 14 years. There are gangs, drugs, and even prostituion, but hey, they are finding their way into every single neighborhood these days. I decided to move into Herndon, a techhie place with alot of people from India.....I now have very quiet neighbors, no problems with gangs, and no drugs around. There can be some real upsides to immigrant populations.

[luke9.54_56]

I forgot to add that I did substitute teaching. I also used to thinkm the schools in Burke were good, just because they said they were. I thought schools in well-to-do areas ALL had to be good. After all, the parentsw are welathier, and more likely to be concerned with whether or not their children went on to do well and eventually get into a college. WRONG.

What I learned is something that few people will ever tell you, because they do not dig deep enough. There are some good schools in some nice neighborhoods, but I saw plenty that were rotten too. The factor that made ALL the difference was not wehther or not the school system or the nieghborhood had money.....it was whether or not the PRINCIPAL believed in right and wrong. In most schools today, we have milktoast Principals, who crush every bit of what can be common sense, in lieu of a wishy-washy, please the parents attitude....Pleasing the parents is certainly right, unless the parents are going to intimidate the school into mayhem......most ofm the schools I saw were in a state of mayhem. And by 5th grade, if your kids are not being intimidated by the few gang members, hold on, by 7th grade, they surely will be.

I never once saw one single administrator willing to admit that a student could lie....or be wrong. When I grew up, it was the reverse. The adults were the examples to be followed, but now it is the students that the adults are rushing to pander to, to placate, and believe me, the students know this and use it to their advantage...the education they receive is questionable. It is just as likely schools in the suburbs are getting poor classroom management as it is the schools in the urban centers.......sad to say. The real question is how many will drop out before we realize that kids need discipline to learn?

We never studied because we were self-motivated...we studied and learned because we were forced to, and I thank God we were forced to.

Oh, my gosh, I can tell you some nightmares about well-to-do schools that are full of the nastiest meanest students because they all learned that the teachers are scared of them and exercise no discipline. They saw that the Principal is afraid of being sued by the wealthy lawyer-parents, so they do nothing, and the students hit each other, complain, and nothing is done about it. Or the students accuse the teacher of something that is impossible to verify. Or the lack of discipline means the students yell and scream and get little done in class.

My best advice to any parent is to find a way to visit the school during school hours. Many parents can get in simply by volunteering once in awhile to come in and read to the first or second graders, so that the teacher can work with one or two students one on one for a few minutes......here are ways to volunteer, and meanwhile, you can see a bit of what is going on in other classes.

Go by and peek in at the music class..if they are lying around on the floor, you wills ee they are not being disciplined to learn. Meanwhile, walk by the art class, and see if they are running wildly around. Check out what is called "art" nowadays, by simply poking your head in and acting interested...you may be shocked to see nakedness, and devil pictures and so forth. Some are cut from magazines and done as collages, and only The Lord knows in which magazines such possible cuts could come. Go check out the gym, and listen in. Or drive by and wacth the stuents out on the playground. If you see teachers watching carefully, wondering why a car pulled up by the fence and is not moving, you may be at a good school. But if the teachers are noweher to be found, or are talking among themselves on a bench, and never care to find out why a car is stopped, you just may be at one of those schools where the Principal is afraid of his own shadow.

You will be either pleased or shocked, so take your meds with you.

[luke9.54_56]

I DO know how to spell........just did not see the spell check till now!

[car54]

I don't see how anybody could consider Burke area schools "bad". For my retirement gig, I drove a FCPS school bus in the Robinson pyramid (I'm at Chantilly now). Robinson SS administrators are certainly not afraid to enforce discipline....the students FEAR head of security, Lenny Cleveland. He's a former Marine and retired County police officer. He has amazing investigative skills....once I had a student write on the seats of a brand new $100,000 bus. Cleveland vowed to catch the culprit(s) and he quickly did. And a couple of wealthy parents bought some new bus seat covers @ $85 a pop!

Mr O at Bonnie Brae also runs a tight ship, as does the guy at Fairview.

But, of course, nothing is as it was years ago....when I was in grade school, corporal punishment was still a routine thing. And they'd beat the **** out of you!

[cnparda]

I took others advice a year ago and moved to Burke Center in Burke. It has been the best experience. Our neighbors are fabulous, we just had a huge Halloween Party with all the neighbors. It takes me 30 minutes or less to get to Bolling AFB, and we have all the shopping one could want. The schools for 6th grade and below are walkable for your kids, my daughter went to Terra Centre last year and now go to Robinson and love it. I walked thru the halls of the school and you can see the pride the teachers have. The curriculum is all online, and all assignments are posted there for anyone to view. I am not sure how anyone can say Robinson is not a great school and is probably doing so without firsthand experience. Also on the issue of daycare. My little 3 year old daughter goes to a small not for profit Christian School called the Mark of Excellence (Mark of Excellence Christian Preschool, Kindergarden, After Care school serving Fairfax, Annandale, Northern Virginia) 703-323-0165. They do a really good job and their rates are very reasonable.