Prince William County - Schools?

[Oldhag1]

Originally Posted by GreenGene

How could anyone who has lived in Dale City for more than 30 years (like me) NOT take offense at your statement?

The person who referred to Gainesville and Bristow as being ghettos was both incorrect and ignorant.

I always find the definition of ghetto by life long NoVA residents amusing. This area is the best maintained place I have ever seen, especially for the sheer size of the population. Even "poverty" areas are decent and well kept. Crime is incredibly low, with arate lower than a lot of suburban/rural areas, let alone for an urban area. Really, if you want to find an area anyone else in the country would define as ghetto you need to go to DC or Maryland. There are no crappy schools here, just schools that haven't achieved the lofty heights of some of the superstars in the area. I'll grant some areas are notably better than others, but all things considered, it's hard to find a truly awful place to live.

Now if you want to complain about the traffic or the prices, those are legitimate gripes.

[CleoShahateet]

I have two children in Piney Branch Elementary School and we are happy with it. It just opened last year 2012 was the first year and they seemed to have some kinks to work out but all is going well now. It is very modern and has some great teachers. This area is great for families. Glenkirk was the school that used to be associated with our neighborhood but since it has grown so much they divided it up. Bristow Run is also within 2 miles of our home and has a good reputation.

Personally I don't like New Bristow Village and areas of Woodbridge such as Dale City are questionable but it is like everywhere there are some good areas and some that are not as great but overall PWC is safe and has a good public school system.

[Thisisanfield]

Originally Posted by CleoShahateet

I have two children in Piney Branch Elementary School and we are happy with it. It just opened last year 2012 was the first year and they seemed to have some kinks to work out but all is going well now. It is very modern and has some great teachers. This area is great for families. Glenkirk was the school that used to be associated with our neighborhood but since it has grown so much they divided it up. Bristow Run is also within 2 miles of our home and has a good reputation.

Personally I don't like New Bristow Village and areas of Woodbridge such as Dale City are questionable but it is like everywhere there are some good areas and some that are not as great but overall PWC is safe and has a good public school system.

What's with the cheap shot at New Bristow Village? I didn't know my neighborhood was dragging the rest of Bristow/Gainesville down. To each their own. I enjoy living next to a protected battlefield and attending an elementary school that opened the same year as Piney Branch and was also selected as a school of excellence.

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by Thisisanfield

What's with the cheap shot at New Bristow Village? I didn't know my neighborhood was dragging the rest of Bristow/Gainesville down. To each their own. I enjoy living next to a protected battlefield and attending an elementary school that opened the same year as Piney Branch and was also selected as a school of excellence.

I wouldn't call that a "cheap shot." The poster stated that they personally didn't like New Bristow Village, areas of Woodbridge and Dale City. A cheap shot is calling something ghetto (when it's not the ghetto) or making some bizarre generalization.

What I do NOT like is when a poster makes those statements and then never says why. This is a forum about living in Northern Virginia specifically. I think if you don't like a particular area, I do believe for this forum you should state what the features are that cause your dislike. There are people who come to this forum looking for information on the areas within NoVA. Just stating a dislike or a preference without any reasoning behind it's just a waste of space.

[Thisisanfield]

Originally Posted by ChristineVA

I wouldn't call that a "cheap shot." The poster stated that they personally didn't like New Bristow Village, areas of Woodbridge and Dale City. A cheap shot is calling something ghetto (when it's not the ghetto) or making some bizarre generalization.

What I do NOT like is when a poster makes those statements and then never says why. This is a forum about living in Northern Virginia specifically. I think if you don't like a particular area, I do believe for this forum you should state what the features are that cause your dislike. There are people who come to this forum looking for information on the areas within NoVA. Just stating a dislike or a preference without any reasoning behind it's just a waste of space.

To single out one neighborhood is bizarre. Are you familiar with Gainesville/Bristow? The Linton Hall corridor is like one big subdivision. Not sure how you can differentiate between them. I would love to know what is so offensive about New Bristow Village. Is it the geese? Maybe the old confederate cemetery.

As for schools, Piney Branch is almost identical to New Bristow Village's base school, T. Clay Wood. Built the same year, same building style, same SOL scores.

Also, this thread is so old that half the schools in Gainesville/Bristow weren't even built when this thread was started. Take anything you read in this thread with a grain of salt since every neighborhood has probably been rezoned, including New Bristow Village, in the past few years.

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by Thisisanfield

To single out one neighborhood is bizarre. Are you familiar with Gainesville/Bristow? The Linton Hall corridor is like one big subdivision. Not sure how you can differentiate between them. I would love to know what is so offensive about New Bristow Village. Is it the geese? Maybe the old confederate cemetery.

As for schools, Piney Branch is almost identical to New Bristow Village's base school, T. Clay Wood. Built the same year, same building style, same SOL scores.

Also, this thread is so old that half the schools in Gainesville/Bristow weren't even built when this thread was started. Take anything you read in this thread with a grain of salt since every neighborhood has probably been rezoned, including New Bristow Village, in the past few years.

Actually, I'm not familiar with Gainesville/Bristow at all. I live in Woodbridge and have been over there TWO times in many years. It's a LONG ride to Gainesville!!!!

You are correct, I sort of didn't realize it was one specific neighborhood. I thought it was an "area" like Dale City is within Woodbridge. But you are correct--I would also, like you, love to know what is so offensive about New Bristow Village.

[CleoShahateet]

Sorry if I offended you and I see how this may been seen in a negative way which was not my intent. I really want to emphasize that I do not mean anything bad about New Bristow Village or Woodbridge and Dale City. I guess what I was trying to say would require a longer explanation than the comment I made. When we first started looking for our home in NO. VA. we were only considering Fairfax. We soon realized that we would be better off staying in a certain budget we began searching PW county which we decided was a better fit for us. We also fell in love with Bristow and looked at many areas and never did I feel that in any of these locations would have been a bad place to live. The style, design, size of the plots of many of the homes in New Bristow were not my personal favorite or right for my family, but are very nice homes.

PW county is a great place to live and you are correct that T.Clay Wood is a great school as well as many of them in PW county. The schools in Fairfax and PW County were one of the main reasons we moved back to the US. PW County is huge as ChristineVA has said. Many people living in Bristow area can as easily go to Centreville area as to Woodbridge. In general, Northern VA is a diverse, professional and great place to live so mea culpa to those I may have offended!