best public school in VA Beach (Virginia Beach, Norfolk: salons, real estate, rent)

[xGrendelx]

I'm surprised to hear FC, Landstown, and Green Run being talked about as "bad" schools. I graduated from Bayside, and that was the only "bad" school in the area at the time. I don't know if it's still known for being a bad school or not, but it definitely was during my four years. My freshman year was a total culture shock for me. I didn't even know Virginia Beach had ghetto areas until I started at Bayside and learned (very quickly) about Lake Edwards, Bayside Arms, Northridge, Campus East, Pembroke Square, etc. Just to give you an idea, I think 60+ kids were expelled the first month of my sophomore year for fighting. A lot of them were sent to PA and Green Run. And I had friend make $150 while going to Bayside by turning kids into Crime Watchers for selling drugs in the bathroom, haha. However, going to school with those kids gave me a way to appreciate what I had, and I learned a lot of street smarts, if you will, while going there. And all the fighting was focused around specific groups anyway, like rival gangs and stuff like that, so I never really got messed with and very rarely felt unsafe walking through the halls.

To each his own, but school is what you make it. I had a great time at Bayside and made tons of friends I still see today, despite the "ghetto-ness" of it, and I'm sure if FC, Landstown, and Green Run are that way now the same goes for them. As long as they don't act dumb, I'm sure your children will be fine anywhere they go.

[Randomdude]

Originally Posted by eatompkins

Is John B Dey Elementary/Great Neck Middle/Cox High the best school district in VA Beach? On paper it's standardized test scores look great. But does anyone have any first hand experience with the district? We have a big family and want to move to the VA Beach neighborhood with the best public schools.

I have first hand experience, I went to Great Neck middle for a short period of time.

I will offer you this, the schools offer a great education, but unless you are very wealthy, you would probably be better off trying to get your kids in a school like Princess Anne, Kempsville or First Colonial, which all offer a pretty good education, but have a more mixed income student body.

The kids in the Cox school district are from mostly 400k house neighborhoods and higher, and the parking lot is filled with BMW's and Mercedes, and they are brutally harsh on children who do not come from wealth, and poor kids stick out like sore thumbs there, because they all largely come from the couple townhouse communities near Virginia Beach Blvd (like Reagan Woods).

I attended schools in the First Colonial, Cox and Kempsville districts, graduated in '99, and Kempsville was by far the most comfortable for a kid of lower middle class means.

[CosmicWizard]

eatompkins wrote:

Is John B Dey Elementary/Great Neck Middle/Cox High the best school district in VA Beach? On paper it's standardized test scores look great. But does anyone have any first hand experience with the district? We have a big family and want to move to the VA Beach neighborhood with the best public schools.

My daughtet attended this trio of schools in the '90s. She enjoyed John B Dey Elementary and Great Neck Middle schools, and absolutely hated going to Cox HS. She always refered to it as the Virginia Beach version of 90210. She was glad to be out of there.

In regards to one school district being the BEST.....I think that kind of labelling is a bunch of pure crap. More than anything else, it depends on how well your kids learning style meshes with the teachers teaching style. There are great teachers in every Va Bch school, and there are really crappy teachers at every Va Bch school. Based on my daughters experience, Cox has its fair share of the crappy variety. Based on the experience of living in the Cox district....it's waaaaaaaaaaaaay over rated! BUT, the myth endures, and living in the Cox district does make selling your home alot easier when it comes time to sell. Back in 2006 we sold ours in two days for three times the amount we paid for it in 1991. From that perspective, you can't go wrong with Cox, but don't expect the schools to be significantly different than most other schools in Va Bch.

[HRlocal]

I'm a Realtor so professionally I can not comment on the "best" schools but I grew up here and even back when I was in the Norfolk Public School system Kempsville schools were wonderful and there are lots of great affordable family neighborhoods around there- I put my own sister and her family there so that says something and I myself bought a townhouse in the school system and don't even have kids but was thinking RESALE! My neice now goes to Providence elem. and loves it!!! So don't leave out Kempsville district when mentioning the much pricier but also wonderful Cox, First Colonial, and Kellam districts.. Princess Anne I've heard some good things lately though years ago was kinda rough, Bayside is about the same (worked at an agency nearby and the agents there defended it!!) but since I am anonomyous here, stay away from Green Run HS and from what I hear some Landstown HS... not sure about all the grade schools though- gotta check it out yourself!!! Salem is very diverse and I have actually heard some wonderful things about the high school and middle school and it's def. affordable housing area- also as far as Kempsville district goes- it's gotten so overcrowded they added Tallwood HS and so some of the grade schools that used to be Kempsville ones are now in Tallwoood district- still great- my stepson goes there and so far no complaints... hope this helps!

[Randomdude]

Originally Posted by HRlocal

Kempsville schools were wonderful and there are lots of great affordable family neighborhoods around there- I put my own sister and her family there so that says something and I myself bought a townhouse in the school system and don't even have kids but was thinking RESALE!

As a realtor, you are out for the sale, I get that. However, realistically, there is nothing "affordable" in the Kempsville district outside of a few reasonably priced apartment complexes. Houses that start in the low 200's in the Arrowhead area, and go up over 500k in the Fairfield and Larkspur areas, are not affordable by any means to the average Virginia Beach resident, or even family. While it is "more affordable" then some other districts, it cannot be described as "affordable" at all. The only remotely affordable neighborhoods left in the city are largely concentrated along the swath of Lynnhaven Parkway between Princess Anne Rd and Virginia Beach Blvd (which goes to Green Run and Ocean Lakes), and in areas off of Newtown going towards Bayside (which goes to Bayside). There, you can get townhouses in such "great" communities as Lake Edward for about 140-170k.

[Erma]

Originally Posted by Randomdude

As a realtor, you are out for the sale, I get that. However, realistically, there is nothing "affordable" in the Kempsville district outside of a few reasonably priced apartment complexes. Houses that start in the low 200's in the Arrowhead area, and go up over 500k in the Fairfield and Larkspur areas, are not affordable by any means to the average Virginia Beach resident, or even family. While it is "more affordable" then some other districts, it cannot be described as "affordable" at all. The only remotely affordable neighborhoods left in the city are largely concentrated along the swath of Lynnhaven Parkway between Princess Anne Rd and Virginia Beach Blvd (which goes to Green Run and Ocean Lakes), and in areas off of Newtown going towards Bayside (which goes to Bayside). There, you can get townhouses in such "great" communities as Lake Edward for about 140-170k.

Oh goodness...please say you are joking about Lake Edwards being a great community!

[Randomdude]

Originally Posted by Erma

Oh goodness...please say you are joking about Lake Edwards being a great community!

Yes I am, thats why it was in parenthesis. I live in Hollywood, about 3 or 4 blocks away from the border of Lake Edward, and I fall asleep to sirens more often then not, and most are coming from there.

[Erma]

Originally Posted by Randomdude

Yes I am, thats why it was in parenthesis. I live in Hollywood, about 3 or 4 blocks away from the border of Lake Edward, and I fall asleep to sirens more often then not, and most are coming from there.

I lived off of old newtown for 20 years. It was a great area until.....they started renting to section 8 in the townhouses. Many sold when the going was good and got away from there.

[xGrendelx]

Originally Posted by Erma

I lived off of old newtown for 20 years. It was a great area until.....they started renting to section 8 in the townhouses. Many sold when the going was good and got away from there.

My mother says the same thing. She and my father used to live in a townhouse in Weblin, bordering Lake Edwards, and moved once that started happening. Really unfortunate how things happen like that.

[gallowsCalibrator]

I realize this is an old thread, but just want to point out that for children who excel in academics, the best school layout would be ODC Elementary (when I went, it was once a week, but now it is a regular school that a child can enter in second grade), Kemps Landing Magnet Middle, and IB program at Princess Anne High.

However, the downside is that you must test for each school, have academic references (yes), and they are extremely selective. Having been through these three programs personally, that is the best route to go for children who excel in academics. Sports are a different story.