Old Town/Del Ray Schools (Alexandria, Jefferson: home, neighborhoods, top school)

[Capitolite]

What is the school situation within Alexandria city limits?

My wife & I LOVE Old Town and Del Ray! They are easily our two favorite neighborhoods in the region. We also prefer public schools. National rankings are imperfect, but the Alexandria schools are alarmingly poorly ranked. While we would begrudgingly consider private schools in the future, most of the regions better ones appear to be a 35-55 minute drive, each way, in rush hour traffic...

So what do most people do about schools in this area? Appreciate your input!

[bluebeard]

I have no firsthand experience, but have been investigating. These convos really get into the weeds of the system
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/558289.page
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/455783.page

[The Dissenter]

Originally Posted by Capitolite

What is the school situation within Alexandria city limits?

My wife & I LOVE Old Town and Del Ray! They are easily our two favorite neighborhoods in the region. We also prefer public schools. National rankings are imperfect, but the Alexandria schools are alarmingly poorly ranked. While we would begrudgingly consider private schools in the future, most of the regions better ones appear to be a 35-55 minute drive, each way, in rush hour traffic...

So what do most people do about schools in this area? Appreciate your input!

I graduated from Alexandria's HS. I will say my experience with ACPS was only two years in HS. However a lot of my classmates who went through ACPS K-12 have held their own in college and in life.

Yes, Alexandria has more ESL kids and more kids from working-class families and Black and Latino children. Yes, the middle schools in particular are a problem. But honestly, if your home environment is stable it won't make a difference in the grand scheme of life if a diploma says Alexandria City Public Schools or Fairfax County Public Schools.

FWIW, a lot of parents do private school in Alexandria, probably for at least middle school, then can live with 3 years at TC Williams.

[HokieFan]

Originally Posted by The Dissenter

I graduated from Alexandria's HS. I will say my experience with ACPS was only two years in HS. However a lot of my classmates who went through ACPS K-12 have held their own in college and in life.

Yes, Alexandria has more ESL kids and more kids from working-class families and Black and Latino children. Yes, the middle schools in particular are a problem. But honestly, if your home environment is stable it won't make a difference in the grand scheme of life if a diploma says Alexandria City Public Schools or Fairfax County Public Schools.

FWIW, a lot of parents do private school in Alexandria, probably for at least middle school, then can live with 3 years at TC Williams.

I agree with this.

The elementary schools and TC Williams are fine. I know several students that attended TC. They've flourished and are attending good colleges.

But I've heard that GW Middle School can be scary. Many Alexandria families that can afford it will send their children to private schools for at least the middle school years.

[slim04]

Go to DC Urban Mom for more information. It is a mess of a situation for the elementary school situation and it is super complicated. The variation in schools is great. To give you an example, if you live in South Old Town, your child goes to a diverse and well regarded elementary called Lyles Crouch. They used to have a lottery so any student could attend, but they abandoned it. Live north of King St., your child would go to Jefferson Houston, a K-8 that is consistently (for elementary) the worst school in all of northern Virginia. It was so bad that it was taken over by the Virginia Dept of Education at one point several years ago.


In Del Rey, depending on where you live, you could end up in a 12 month school with no summer vacation (Mt. Vernon), the top school via test scores (George Mason), or transitioning schools that are thought well of with space issues (Maury, Barrett). A few blocks could make a big difference.


As for private schools, St. Stephens & St. Agnes, Grace Episcopal, Blessed Sacrament (Catholic), and Alexandria Country Day that are in the City of Alexandria, and Browne Academy and Burgundy Farms are just south of Old Town. I'm not sure about Blessed Sacrament, but the others are very expensive. I checked them out and I didn't think they were much different from public schools, except for smaller class size and Burgundy Farms which had a progressive curriculum and some classes with mixed ages.

[bluebeard]

as for racial/ethnic diversity, in my research lyle crouch doesn't appear any more diverse than most of the other elementary schools.

year round school sounds awesome.

note that there is redistricting being planned, so i'm not sure people should be too tied to any school in particular within the system.