Area in Fairfax County offering (1) strong public high school and (2) short Greenbelt commute? (Arlington: rent, condos)

[itinérant]

Hello:

I am looking for a two-bedroom in the West Silver Spring/Chevy Chase area. I am trying to stay in this area for three main reasons: (1) I want BCC; (2) the car commute to Greenbelt (i.e. job) is about 25 minutes; and (3) I like it here. I live in West Silver Spring, and I think it's pretty diverse socioeconomically. I also like the proximity to Rock Creek Park as I do a lot of walking back there.

The problem is that I am not having a lot of luck finding a two-bedroom in my price range, which caps at about $2,000 a month. I have had some close calls, and will keep looking; but I think it is advisable at this stage to expand the scope of my search.

To that end, I was thinking about looking for a place in Fairfax County. I picked Fairfax because a guy with whom I work said that he lives in Alexandria and that the drive up 295 to Greenbelt is only like 20 minutes, which is amazing for the DC metro area.

I don't think Alexandria would work for me because all of it is zoned to TC Williams and I have no interest in that school. So, is there somewhere else in Fairfax County that offers a commute to Greenbelt in the 30-minute range with strong public high schools? I am looking for a school that is on par with BCC, or perhaps Walter Johnson. That is, a public high school that is at once competitive academically and socioeconomically diverse. I know there are some other relatively high performing public high schools in MoC (e.g. Witman and Wooton), but these schools are not sufficiently diverse for my tastes.

Thanks for the tips. Great website.

[snowdenscold]

I don't know what time you leave for your commute, but you're constraining yourself an awful lot, and something will have to probably give. Sort of like: location, cost, size - pick two.

If you want that nice 295 drive from FFX County, you're going to have to compromise on schools. For other commutes, you're looking at fighting across the American Legion bridge, or going through the city. So maybe Arlington (Yorktown, W-L) for the latter? Or one of the more expensive school districts in FCPS (without the diversity you probably want) and a fun ride around the inner loop.

Honestly, if you work in Maryland, want to be there, and like the schools there, I don't really see the point in trying to move to Fairfax County. It's not exactly cheap living over here, either.

[CAVA1990]

Just South of Alexandria is a section of Fairfax County that might work for you and would be the closest commute to Greenbelt. The high school is West Potomac in Belle Haven. From personal experience I can say it's a very good school that's quite diverse and has an AP program. It would be an easy hop onto the beltway and WW bridge via Route 1 from there. There are plenty of 2 br places (condos, THs and SFHs) in your price range. You can probably rent a house right near the school for that as there are a lot of smaller SFHs around there. The zip code is 22307.

[CaliTerp07]

Have you looked north of Greenbelt? I have no idea what the commute from Odenton/Columbia/etc area would be, but that might be another possibility.

Stats on West Potomac (suggested by CAVA) can be found here:

FCPS - School Profiles - West Potomac HS

You can see the programs offered, and click through the demographics and test scores and such. (You can do the same for any high school you'd be interested in)

[JD984]

Isn't Eleanor Roosevelt HS in Greenbelt considered a good, diverse HS that has a magnet program and is considered among the best schools in Prince George's? Might not that school/area be an option, particularly if you're not concerned with elementary or middle schools?

Trying to find what you're looking for in Fairfax will be a big challenge. The area assigned to West Potomac HS in the Alexandria part of Fairfax County offers the shortest commute, but West Po usually is not considered "on par" with BCC or Walter Johnson, even though it is diverse and definitely offers a full range of courses to challenge motivated students. If you're not interested in Blair, I don't think you'd be happy at West Po either. West Springfield and Lake Braddock (schools in the Springfield/Burke areas) sound more like the types of high schools that you're looking for, but I'd expect the commute to Greenbelt to be considerably longer than 30 minutes.

[dkf747]

It takes longer than 20 minutes when traffic is heavy. When it's light 20-30 minutes sounds right. Oh, I'm talking about from the area of Fairfax county that the post office calls Alexandria even if it's not part of the city.

[michgc]

If I were working in Greenbelt and looking for good schools, I'd head straight to Howard County (Columbia/Ellicott City). Centennial High School, I think, is believed to be the strongest, but several are good.

[Fundman]

The areas of Fairfax County closest to Greenbelt would be the areas nearest the Wilson Bridge. Think Alexandria South, Telegraph, Franconia. Take 495 over the Wilson Bridge, get on 295 north which turns into the BW Parkway and exit at Greenbelt Rd. It's rather fast when traffic is light.

[stpickrell]

What's wrong with Howard or Frederick Counties?

[itinérant]

Nothing is necessarily wrong with Howard or Frederick County. I just need a high school that measures up to BCC and Walter Johnson in terms of test scores, strength of academic programs, and diversity. BCC and Walter Johnson are considered to be pretty good schools that a lot of affluent people will send their kids to even though they have sizeable minority populations. I want a school like that.

Is there something particular in Howard or Frederick County that you recommend that offers a reasonable commute time.

Almost all of the area zoned to BCC, and much of the area zoned to Walter Johnson, gives me what I am looking for.