Churchill, VA

Bellevue Elementary School in Richmond, Virginia is named as one of the US Department of Education's Blue Ribbon Schools. This prestigious award is only given to 9 schools in the entire state of Virginia and 304 schools across the country. The winners were announced Thursday September 9th, 2010.

Out of the 304 schools recognized 50 were private and 254 were public. Representatives of each of the schools will be presented the award at a ceremony on November 15th and 16th in Washington D.C. In the past 28 years since the award's inception, 6,000 schools have been awarded the Blue Ribbon Title. 

"The Blue Ribbon Schools Program honors public and private schools based on one of two criteria:

1. Schools whose students, regardless of backgrounds, are high performing. These are schools ranked among the state's highest performing schools as measured by their performance on state assessments or in the case of private schools, that score at the highest performance level on tests referenced by national norms in at least the most recent year tested; and
2. Schools with at least 40 percent of their students from disadvantaged backgrounds that improve student performance to high levels as measured by the school's performance on state assessments or nationally-normed tests."

Bellevue Elemnetary School is located at 2301 East Grace Street Richmond, VA 23223-7151. The phone number for Bellevue Elementary is (804) 780-4417. Bellevue is located in the neighborhood of Historic Church Hill, one of Richmond's most well known areas.

To find more information on Bellevue Elementary click Richmond Public Schools here:

To search for homes in Church Hill and the Bellevue Elementary School District Click here:

To read the full article on the Blue Ribbon Awards from the U.S Department of Education click here:

The magazine "This Old House" has named Church Hill one of the best nine "old house" neighborhoods in the South. [NOTE: I am a little perturbed that Baltimore, Maryland and Wheeling, West Virginia were included in "the South." Hello, basic geography and Mason-Dixon line?] I also have been to several of the other neighborhoods - Meridian, Mississippi, Newnan, Georgia, Durham, North Carolina, and the Lower Garden District, New Orleans (where I actually lived after college - LOVE the Big Easy!) - so I know what an honor it was to be in the company of these neighborhoods.

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20283025_20634574,00.html

However, within days of this release, another organization named Church Hill one of the Top 10 Most Dangerous Neighborhoods IN THE NATION. Here's that article.

http://www.walletpop.com/insurance/most-dangerous-neighborhoods?photo=17

The data came from some site called "neighborhoodscout," which looks a lot like Zillow or Trulia, but appears to be in only the beta testing stage.

So, which is it? Awesome place to live, or scary dangerous? I've never lived there, so I'm not taking a position on the issue. I am happy to hear from anyone who has an opinion. I just think that it's the absolute height of irony, these two articles being released so close together. For the sake of our City, let's just hope good news triumphs over bad. OR, if there is a crime problem that is going unaddressed, maybe this rating as 10th Most Dangerous Neighborhood in the Country will be an impetus for some dialogue on a possible solution and re-direction of some crime-fighting resources. Let's take lemons and make lemonade!

Church Hill is the Richmond's center of casual hipness and historic relevance. And now your pups have a place to go to enjoy it also. The Church Hill Dog Park just opened in the lower section of Chimbarazo Park. The great thing about this project is that it was the labor of love of several Church Hill neighbors.

Most "Church Hiller's" really dont have alot of yard for dogs to run and play. It's almost sad to see dogs confined to 12x24 backyards. And dogs never have really been welcome in the area's historic parks. So now your canine friends have a place to chill and hang out with their friends...they even have fake fire hydrants.

Though not a resident, I do love the 'hill. Adding the Dog Park just added to the amazing sense of community pride already prevalent.

Even if you don't have pups- the park is quickly growing into the spot to be seen on the 'hill. Come out- enjoy the views, the neighbors and of course the dogs.