Maybe moving to upward trending Merrifield? Fairhill Elementary? (Fairfax, Vienna: neighborhood, elementary schools)

[Coaster112]

Hi everyone,

My wife and I currently live off of Route 1 a few miles north of Fort Belvoir. This part of Fairfax County is neglected and dangerous some days. We are thinking about moving to the Merrifield area because the location is great and improvements are being made. We like the upward trend. I know Merrifield has been hashed out before, but what are people saying now that Mosaic District is being built and the development has started near the metro? Also, any thoughts on Fairhill Elementary? Schools are important if anyone has thoughts about Fairhill let us know. Thanks.

[michgc]

One of my good friends has had a child at Fairhill for several years. She is pretty happy with it. Her child is in the Academically Advanced Program at the school (they could have gone to Mantua for the center school), and has gotten a good education. I know her child is very smart, and she has been challenged there academically. Demographically, the school is pretty diverse - kids of all shades, and I think a fair mix of income levels. The one negative my friend has mentioned about the school is that the PTA is not very strong - that is they sometimes have trouble finding volunteers for afterschool programs. So, if you want your child to be in a particular program after school, you might have to help get it started or run it yourself - this does not seem to be a problem in neighboring Vienna elementary schools where there always seem to be a plethora of volunteers (most of my friends live in Vienna, so this has come up in conversations). For the record, the school is part of the FLES program (foreign language in the elementary schools) where they learn Chinese twice a week in the lower grades and 3 times per week in the upper grades. Overall, I know they've had a good experience in Fairhill.

[kmkat]

My child goes to school there and I am very pleased. The teachers are great, the lines of communication are always open and the principal and VP know all the kids. They do not tolerate any bullying and they teach respect for self, others and school property.

I feel like it has a great sense of community and I've seen alot of interesting ideas from PTA such as setting up a team of volunteers to help welcome new families. If you gave me 40K for a private school no strings attached, I'd stay at Fairhill. As far as volunteering goes, I have never experienced a lack of volunteers, last year I volunteered for the thanksgiving day lunch and there were so many volunteers that I had very little to do!

[FC Merrifield]

I moved to Merrifield for similar reasons as you -- and had the same concerns as well. All of the kids in my neighborhood go to Fairhill and everyone seems to like it. Most of them are also involved in after-school activities as well as weekend sports, etc. at the school. Regarding schools generally, it seems like the bigger concerns are Luther Jackson and Falls Church. Of course, no one knows how things will be 10 years down the road, The general sense I get is that those schools are not favored at this point, but are on a general path towards improvement.

For what it's worth, the people parents that I know in the area are very invested in their kids' educations, and most have advanced degrees themselves.

[Coaster112]

Thanks everyone