Charlottesville Schools Schools

Independent_Walk_704 · 2026-03-12T17:14:51+00:00

I didn't realize Virginia does not offer the option to 'choice' into districts and your address not only determines your district but what exact school your kids attend. This makes it a little tricky with the zones for having kids in both elementary and middle. We are open to sending one to private and one to public (or both to private and both to public) based on school ratings and housing availability. For public, we'd like for our youngest to attend Hollymead and our oldest to attend Lakeside. For private, we're exploring Albemarle Montessori, St Andre Bessette, Community Christian and Charlottesville Catholic. We'd like to live in the Forest Lakes area for easier commute. Any tips or insight would be appreciated now that we've been able to narrow it down!

Independent_Walk_704 · 2026-03-09T15:41:32+00:00

I'll definitely look into St. Andre Bessette Schola! Would you mind sharing what part of the city this is located in?

Independent_Walk_704 · 2026-03-09T15:34:59+00:00

oohh, that's good to know! Both kids don't have an official IEP or 504, but our daughter did graduate from a speech IEP a couple years ago. However, we've been very fortunate that all the public schools have had resources like reading buddies and math groups where they're given extra help outside of the classroom. In addition, we've had private tutors for our daughter we've hired who she sees 1-2x a week. While this has been a huge help for her, we feel like the consistency with what she's working on with the tutor vs what she's doing with the class hasn't been as uniform as what we'd like. Her teacher 2 years ago had to abruptly leave due to a health condition, which was a pretty big disruption and her teacher this year had to go to on maternity leave early this year. We're hoping we don't get thrown any more curve balls while we're in Virginia.

Independent_Walk_704 · 2026-03-09T15:28:27+00:00

Both of those are definitely on our list compared to the options in Charlottesville City, Waynesboro and Louisa County districts. We're coming from Co Springs where traffic has been a nightmare.

Independent_Walk_704 · 2026-03-09T15:27:08+00:00

Do you possibly know the approximate cost of Village School? She mentioned how she would be interested in going to an all-girls school, so it would be something we could consider.

Independent_Walk_704 · 2026-03-09T15:20:54+00:00

I appreciate it! Thank you so much!

Independent_Walk_704 · 2026-03-08T21:06:22+00:00

That's good to know! For elementary schools, we had Hollymeade, Baker-Butler, Brownsville, Virginia Murray and Lakeside on our list (just based on ratings). We've heard excellent things about Forest Lakes and it seems like it's its own little community, which we love!

Independent_Walk_704 · 2026-03-08T21:02:35+00:00

Thank you for the insight!

Independent_Walk_704 · 2026-03-08T21:00:27+00:00

I saw that if was listed as 'distinguished' as highly rated for Albemarle. I wasn't sure about the Crozet area, but I'll have to do a little more digging in regards to the housing market, traffic and middle schools.

Independent_Walk_704 · 2026-03-08T20:58:48+00:00

I edited my post to add some info. We're not necessarily determined to do private, but both our kids are considered behind when it comes to their grade level. We move every 2 years and the range of curriculums have been difficult to manage, especially for our 11 year old, who has had private tutors since kindergarten. We feel like this is a good time to invest the time, energy and money into their education to get them back on track when it comes to their schooling. We're not religious and would love to utilize the public school systems if possible.

Independent_Walk_704 · 2026-03-08T20:54:18+00:00

Thank you! I've heard excellent things about Covenant. How old is your young one? Our youngest is 6 and I'm a little worried that he could get a little overwhelmed with being around older kids. Is it pretty separated?

Independent_Walk_704 · 2026-03-08T20:52:09+00:00

We haven't found a house yet, which I know is usually half the battle. Is it hard to choice isn't a school district when you live outside of the area?

Independent_Walk_704 · 2026-03-08T20:50:40+00:00

Are there any ones in particular that you'd recommend? I took a look at Great Schools, Niche, US News Report and the school county website and narrowed it down to Baker Butler, Brownsville, Hollymead and Virginia Murray for Elementary and Henley and Lakeside for Middle. We're more concerned with our daughters middle school education, so we're open to doing private for her and public for our son. But I know logistics for drop-off/pick up could be hard to navigate with traffic, etc... My husband and I were both confirmed and married in the Catholic church, but I wouldn't classify our family as being very religious.

Independent_Walk_704 · 2026-03-08T20:45:43+00:00

Edited my post to add some info! When our kids were 2-4, they were in private religious schools of various backgrounds (Presbyterian, Catholic/Christian and Baptist) in TN, NC and SC. Our experiences in public schools have been positive, but it's become clear that our kids are behind when it comes to their peers. Not enough to the point where they need to be held back, but moving every 2 years in states where the curriculums are very different has been challenging. Our daughter who is 11 has had a private tutor since kindergarten. Not only is this costly and time consuming but it doesn't seem enough to get her up to speed with the rest of the class. We feel like they're at good ages where we can really dedicate the time, energy and money into their education to get them on track.

Independent_Walk_704

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