Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hi everyone, we are relocating from New Jersey to the NoVa area. We have two small kids, 3.5 and 1.5 and are looking for a family friendly neighborhood with lots of other kids and good schools. We currently live in Hoboken, NJ a small town where we can walk everywhere and there are lots of kids and parks. Since this will be our first SFH, I am very anxious about finding the right neighborhood.
We were in Vienna this week and looked at a house with the backyard facing Beulah in the Wolftrap Elementary district. I have been reading many of the threads but still have a couple of questions:
1. What is the traffic like on Beulah and would it be a mistake to buy a house near Beulah?
2. While Wofltrap has good ratings, when I visited the school I didn't get a warm feeling and am hesitant to send my kids there. Does anyone have any feedback on Wolftrap? I would love to hear from other parents.
As you may have noticed from your trip, the north side of Vienna is somewhat divided into sections by Wolftrap Creek and the W&OD Trail, over which there are very few crossings. As the result, most people live either somewhere off Lawyers or somewhere off Beulah. Both streets do carry a lot of traffic as the result, but neither one would qualify as a big-time artery carrying large volumes at high speed. There would still be traffic noise in your back yard most of the day if that's a bother.
All of the schools in the Vienna area are highly regarded, and Wolftrap ES is as good as any of them. Fairfax County Public Schools has consistently rated as one of the best large-scale school systems in the country (175K students). If your kids have special needs or skills, talk to the school staff or to FCPS directly. There is undoubtedly a program that can be arranged for them. Personally, I would not hesitate to enroll a child at Wolftrap. At the worst, there is a variety of private schools in the area that, while a bit costly, can come into play if things somehow don't work out, but the vast majority of parents hereabouts relies an FCPS and most end up with a hign opinion of the operation.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
9,778 posts, read 15,788,843 times
Reputation: 10886
One of my very good friends has a daughter at WolfTrap. She likes it pretty well. The school is strong academically - good test scores; pretty well-off population. I don't think she loves the principal but overall seems satisfied there. I've never heard anything bad about it. (As an aside I have many friends who use Holy Comforter for Preschool which is also on Beulah and like it very much).
Personally, I would not buy a house that backs up to Beulah. I think it is too main of a road but I like very quiet, non-busy streets. If you enjoy living in Hoboken, why not look in the Town of Vienna - while it's not a city by any stretch of the imagination, you can live within walking distance of restaurants, ball fields, the community center, the bike trail, shops, and the library. It's a nice lifestyle. Unfortunately, the houses are generally smaller and older than those that are farther away from Maple Avenue.
Overall, I don't think you can go wrong in Vienna, no matter where you pick. It's a very family-friendly town with good schools and lots of amenities and activities. Let me know if I can be of any other help. I have young children, too ( 2 1/2, 4 1/2, and 8) so I am clued in to the mommy scene here.
The neighborhoods near and off of Beulah Road are about as family-oriented as you can get in this area. I personally wouldn't want a house that backs up to Beulah, but there has been a lot of new construction directly on and right off of Beulah (such as the Francis Young Estates development), and those homes seem to sell for pretty substantial amounts.
Compared to most of the Town of Vienna, the neighborhoods that feed into Wolftrap are a bit more expensive and perhaps a bit less crunchy. I think the walkability of the Town of Vienna is often exaggerated on this forum, but the Wolftrap area is clearly car-oriented and very suburban (although parts are very close to the W&OD bike trail, which is a plus). Nothing in Vienna is really going to seem like Hoboken (though places like Cenan's Bakery, the Amphora Diner and Plaka Grill are good), but the Town of Vienna might be a bit less of a change.
As for Wolftrap ES, the main complaint that I've heard is that there's "too much teaching to the test," but I suspect that could be said about most public schools in the county that administer standardized tests. There's no doubt that Wolftrap students do very well on those tests. Similarly, it's very rare that everyone raves about a principal, but the principal of Wolftrap has far more fans than detractors (and, truth be told, is more popular with parents than her predecessor). She used to be the principal of a considerably more diverse elementary school over in Falls Church (Timber Lane), so she has experience dealing with quite a range of students.
1. What is the traffic like on Beulah and would it be a mistake to buy a house
2. While Wofltrap has good ratings, when I visited the school I didn't get a warm feeling and am hesitant to send my kids there. Does anyone have any feedback on Wolftrap? I would love to hear from other parents.
Thank you so much for your help.
We moved from NY to NOVA few months a go. I shared the same type of feeling after visiting few public school in Burke. The school has more then 25 kids in class with very small class room. We bought house in Burke and my son goes to the public school.. its very good school with wounder full families.
Thank you everyone for your feedback. I think when I visited Wolftrap I felt that the student teacher ratio was a bit on the high side. My daughter goes to public pre k 3 in Hoboken and the student teacher ratio is 1:5. And the lady who did the tour was not very informative. Also, I was a bit disappointed that they did not offer a Spanish language program and also concerned that the school board is thinking about cutting foreign languages and the band/strings program to balance the budget.
Quote:
Originally Posted by michgc
Let me know if I can be of any other help. I have young children, too ( 2 1/2, 4 1/2, and 8) so I am clued in to the mommy scene here.
Michgc: Is there is a Vienna moms group online? How can I find out more about kid friendly classes and events in Vienna?
I will definitely look in the Town of Vienna for housing. But one of the things we are looking for is space in our next home. Any other neighborhoods that you would recommend in Vienna? The following link says that there are 150 neighborhoods in Vienna but does not provide much information on any of them.
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
9,778 posts, read 15,788,843 times
Reputation: 10886
I have been a member of the Vienna Moms Club since its inception over 8 years ago. It is a great group to belong to. You probably have to join before you can participate in the online discussion. Here is the information: Vienna Moms, Inc.. Another good site is www.DCurbanmom.com which has a section on NoVA schools where you can ask questions.
Housing in the Town of Vienna is primarily 50's ranches and 60s splits with some later colonials and some newer and much larger (and very pricy!) knock-down homes. So generally the farther out from town you go, the newer and bigger the houses are. But I don't think I overestimate the walkability of living in Town. I walk at least 3 times per week to the library, Whole Foods, the parks, my daughter's preschool, and the community center. It is VERY walkable as long as you live close to Maple Avenue, which I do.
There are tons of kid-friendly classes and activities around Vienna. Check out the Vienna Community Center Parks and Recreation site and you will see the brochure for the spring classes there: Town of Vienna - Parks and Recreation (http://www.viennava.gov/Town_Departments/pr3.htm - broken link)
Also, Fairfax County offers classes at their numerous recreation centers. There is one in Oakton/Fairfax called OakMarr that is pretty close to Vienna. And there is one in Falls Church called Providence that isn't that far. Their brochure is: Parktakes Online
There are two dancing schools in the Town of Vienna as well as numerous sports leagues - soccer, softball, lacrosse, baseball, etc. In addition, there are often activities at the Vienna Community Center and holiday events on Halloween (a parade), Memorial Day (a 3-day fair), and July 4th (fireworks and a festival), Christmas (a Holiday stroll), as well as many smaller activities sponsored by the police and fire department. It's a great family-friendly place to live!
Most of the shopping in Vienna is along two streets that run parallel to one another (Maple Avenue and Church Street) and stretch for some distance, and only some of the homes in the town are close to Maple Avenue. So when you add those factors together the town isn't quite as walkable as some descriptions might suggest, and certainly not as walkable as a town where more of the commercial attractions lie within a concentrated grid. But Fairfax County in general doesn't have many particularly walkable communities, and the Town of Vienna offers at least some of its residents the ability to walk a number of places if they choose.
To the OP - you'll never get a 1:5 teacher-student ratio in regular FCPS elementary programs. There are some FCPS schools that have Spanish programs, but Wolftrap isn't one of them. I think they have some type of limited Chinese instruction at Wolftrap, but it's not a full-fledged immersion program (like the Japanese immersion program at Fox Mill in Herndon or the French immersion program at Kent Gardens in McLean). Here's the link with information about the current elementary foreign language programs - though this could surely change given the budgetary issues. I have to say that, overall, the quality of the foreign language instruction in FCPS is pretty uneven, notwithstanding the breadth of programs the link might suggest.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
9,778 posts, read 15,788,843 times
Reputation: 10886
Quote:
Originally Posted by JEB77
Most of the shopping in Vienna is along two streets that run parallel to one another (Maple Avenue and Church Street) and stretch for some distance, and only some of the homes in the town are close to Maple Avenue. So when you add those factors together the town isn't quite as walkable as some descriptions might suggest, and certainly not as walkable as a town where more of the commercial attractions lie within a concentrated grid. Instructional Services Department>Elementary School Foreign Language Programs
Yes, the commercial area is mostly Maple Avenue and Church Street. However, there is much more that is walkable that is not commercial. Families with young children walk to playgrounds, preschool, ball fields, the library, the community center, and the W&OD Trail. In fact, I walk to those places more often than I walk to a store or restaurant. In many other areas, you still have to drive out of your neighborhood development to go anywhere. In the Town of Vienna you don't. It clearly is a walkable place. I have lived in the Town for over 9 years, and I walk nearly everywhere I need to go. If the OP is interested in a walkable town, there are houses where she can get that environment.
Yes, the commercial area is mostly Maple Avenue and Church Street. However, there is much more that is walkable that is not commercial. Families with young children walk to playgrounds, preschool, ball fields, the library, the community center, and the W&OD Trail. In fact, I walk to those places more often than I walk to a store or restaurant. In many other areas, you still have to drive out of your neighborhood development to go anywhere. In the Town of Vienna you don't. It clearly is a walkable place. I have lived in the Town for over 9 years, and I walk nearly everywhere I need to go. If the OP is interested in a walkable town, there are houses where she can get that environment.
Yes - the particular places you mention are close to one another, so if that's where you end up spending large chunks of time, like to walk and live nearby, it's convenient. As you mentioned, the Whole Foods is also close as well, which is also nice, though most people in the area drive to buy their groceries. Not everyone in the Town of Vienna really lives close enough to these places to walk there regularly, but clearly you do and enjoy their proximity.
I will stand by my prior statement that the Town of Vienna may not be quite as walkable as people who've lived in towns where there are a broader range of amenities in walking distance may assume based on some posts on this forum. Similarly, others may come away with the impression that it's some uber-quaint village, whereas (as you note) a large chunk of the housing in the town consists of ramblers and split levels from the 1950s and 1960s, quite similar to what you'd find in other older suburban parts of Annandale, Arlington, Falls Church or Springfield. However, the overall fabric of the Town is appealing, and very family-focused, which is why it remains a very pleasant place to live.
The same is true of the county neighborhoods to the north (i.e. the areas assigned to Wolftrap ES that the OP was asking about), although they appeal to somewhat different tastes. In particular, they are not as walkable, but the houses there tend to be newer and bigger, and on larger lots. They also tend to span a broader price range than the properties in the Town (where the homes tend to be either the older rambler/split-levels from the 1950s and 1960s or the new, and very expensive, in-fill properties built over the past decade, with fewer homes from the 1970s to 1990s that fall in-between price-wise). The area to the north also tends to be a bit hillier (compared to the south side of Vienna, which is rather flat), which some might prefer and others not like at all.
I really don't think you can go wrong in any of these places, but there are differences, and presumably that's what the OP is trying to learn about. I've lived in the Vienna area a long time, and enjoy what it does have to offer, but I've also seen quite a few posts where people who finally visited the area after reading about it on C-D came back and said it was actually a bit of a let-down because their expectations had been raised so high.
Last edited by JD984; 02-26-2010 at 09:56 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
