What kind of place are you looking for? You're going to have trouble finding anything other than 1br or small 2br apartments for under $3k in a neighborhood with what's considered a "good" elementary school.

Small is ok. It's just us. And just to clarify, when I say "good" I don't mean rich and/or white. I mean a school where the actions of the teachers and admin clearly reflect a dedication to helping all kids learn regardless of background, learning differences, or ethnicity.

Edited to add: when my daughter was in school I was working at a high school in a refugee resettlement community and she came to school with me. It was considered a "bad" neighborhood, but she got a super education with students from all over the world. Something like that for my son would be ideal.

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Thank you! This kind of information is invaluable. I saw that there was a lottery system, which here in Dallas is used for magnet schools and basically means you'll never attend one of those schools unless you got your kids in when it opened or know someone to get you in. I was hoping to learn how to navigate this.

So there are apartments in your range in Capitol Hill and a number of good schools, as well. Since you work in the area, that's where I'd start. Your kid is entitled to attend his in-boundary school. When we did this a few years ago, I shopped hard for an apartment in our price range in boundary for our preferred school.

If your kid is close to middle school, be aware that middle schools in DC are weak, so you will do well to look at the quality of middle school in boundary as well.

I'd start looking at Watkins, Ludlow-Taylor, JO Wilson, and Brent--I believe they all feed into Stuart-Hobson for middle school, and it's a better option than the other Capital Hill area middle schools.

I went to Janney Elementary briefly for the end of sixth grade (after 3 months in England and 3 months in New Jersey), and they were super welcoming to the new girl with the weird accent, and it seemed like a great school. I’m happy to report it is ranked #2 elementary school in DC. It feeds into Deal JH and then Wilson HS, and they’re all in/near Tenleytown, and close to metro.

Thank you so much.

Awesome. Thanks for the info!

Key in The Palisades and Stoddert in Glover Park are both excellent elementary schools that feed into excellent middle and high schools.

Both neighborhoods have 2br apartments that will easily stay under $3k. Both neighborhoods are also very quiet, pretty, and safe. Glover Park has more going on in the way of restaurants and bars.

Thanks!

You can get into your in bound school without participating in the lottery for kindergarten and above. DC also has public pre-k, but you are not guaranteed a seat for that and must lottery even for your in bound.

There are a host of older apartment buildings on Connecticut Avenue northward from Woodley Park that all are inbounds for good elementary schools: Eaton, Hearst, Murch.

And despite what one poster wrote, if you live within the boundaries of those schools you do not have to worry about the lottery for kindergarten and up. You simply have to enroll. The lottery is for families that want to go to schools outside their boundary or to charters.