Hollin Meadow Elementary School Rating in 2020 & Other Related Questions (Richmond: apartment complex, how much)

[aformernyer]

Hello,

I am trying to find out about Hollin Meadow Elementary School and have been only been able to find information on various forums pre-2017.

I am considering houses in this area. The rating on GreatSchools is a 2 and a quick look at Schooldigger.com indicates that over 58% of the students receive free or reduced lunch.

I know that Alexandria Schools in Fairfax are not great with the exception of Waynewood Elementary. I'm also aware that Sanburg and WestPo aren't great either and apparently there is gang activity, although I've read that kids do graduate from there and go to some great colleges. I've also read that kids witness a few fights per year vs. gang activity.

What can you tell me about Hollin Meadow that realtors can't? Do people who buy homes in the $700K and up range send their kids to private school? If I say I live in that area will people look at me funny - i.e., why would you live there if you could get a similar house in the Waynewood area for a little more -- the answer is that the homes I've seen in the Hollin Meadow area are in better shape than the homes in Waynewood and I can't afford a big fixer-upper project.

Another concern is commute to NW which seems like it would be far. We'd prefer to commute by metro rather than drive. Also wondering what the commute would be like if we did drive, and the other concern is having to do most errands on Richmond Highway. Is it stop and go all day ( I'm referring to pre-Covid-19 since everything is different now, but thinking ahead to when everything resumes back to "normal.")

Thanks for any insight you can provide.

[dxxldiva]

I used to teach there a few years ago. There are many after school activities and it's a math and science focused school. Many if not most of the children in the neighborhood attend private school. The students that attend HMES come from a large apartment complex that's about 2 miles away. It's a title 1 school so most of the students qualify for free and reduced lunch. If your children are high achievers, they will stand out in good way. Sometimes it's better to be a big fish in a small pond. As far as commuting, you would need to take a bus to the train station. Route 1 is usually backed up. I hope this helps!

[aformernyer]

Originally Posted by dxxldiva

I used to teach there a few years ago. There are many after school activities and it's a math and science focused school. Many if not most of the children in the neighborhood attend private school. The students that attend HMES come from a large apartment complex that's about 2 miles away. It's a title 1 school so most of the students qualify for free and reduced lunch. If your children are high achievers, they will stand out in good way. Sometimes it's better to be a big fish in a small pond. As far as commuting, you would need to take a bus to the train station. Route 1 is usually backed up. I hope this helps!

Thank you, it does help and especially from a teacher's perspective. We were on Richmond Highway on Saturday and it was pretty busy so I've got a bit of a taste of the traffic and can only imagine how much worse it could be once stores, businesses and schools are reopened. That would be a problem for us and private school tuition could be another. The house hunt continues.

Thanks again!

[Hal Roach]

You might even be able to get your kid into the gifted program without an attorney.