Where to buy - Kensington or Woodmoor

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:to 13:33 this is 13:08-- I think you have all of the options covered in your response- what I meant was that you at least HAVE a lot of options from KP, from Woodmoor, it's pretty much Colesville Road, so if that's backed up you're kind of stuck. From KP, if Rock Creek Park is backed up you can do CT, or Wisconsin, or 16th, or a combination of all of those.

This is largely true, but depending on your destination, there is also University to Piney Branch to Georgia or 13th Street to get downtown.

You also have New Hampshire to N Cap, Univ Blvd to Dennis/Forest Glen to Georgia, Countless side roads to get around. For sure though, take a look at a map. No one need be stuck on Colesville Rd.

[Anonymous]

Most if not all of Parkwood goes to Walter Johnson for high school, not BCC.

[Anonymous]

OP (original poster).

Thanks to everyone. This has confirmed my sense of Woodmoor from visiting. Posters 13:38 and 13:48 you give a nice picturesque sense of Woodmoor, which is hard to get if you don't live there! So, extra thanks.

The schools are a bit more iffy, but if anyone has stories about that experience, that'd be great too.

What about Kensington-Parkwood area? Anyone have a sense for it? The schools, which look great on paper, in conversations and from a visit to the ES, include: Kensington-Parkwood ES, North Bethesda MS and Walter Johnson.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in and around Kensington and now live in Woodmoor.

Parkwood has more cachet certainly, and Walter Johnson is mostly a better school cluster, but I have never seen a community quite like Woodmoor.

Here is my pros and cons:

Kensington:

Pros: schools, commute (depending), probably better long-term value

Cons: Less home for your dollar, not walkable to anything, no public transit

Woodmoor:

Pros: Walkable shopping and restaurants, Trader Joe's, access to multiple access routes, incredible community

Cons: Surrounding neighborhoods are not as nice, perception of public school options, commute can be problematic

Overall I am partial to Woodmoor. It tends to be lots of large young families, but I'm Jewish, my wife is not religious, and we are welcomed at st. B's events and all neighborhood events. That has never been an issue. When we looked at homes, we got a ton more for our money in Woodmoor than Kensington, and in general it felt like a friendlier place with more young couples and families. Kensington seemed older and more staid.

We walk to the local TexMex place, know the owner (former manager of Cactus Cantina, same quality food), I have a 30 minute commute to Farragut North, and the community is wonderful.

But really, it would be tough to go wrong either place. Might just boil down to personal style and specifics of the homes you're choosing between.

[Anonymous]

You seem to still be seeking information about Woodmoor schools--the ES for grades 3-5 is Pine Crest. I used to work there. I would not send my child there. Most of the teachers (at least back when I worked there) were wonderful, but PPs have mentioned that most Woodmoor families do not actually send their children to Pine Crest, and this is overwhelmingly true. In the years that I worked there, I had an average of 2 out of 27-30 students who lived in Woodmoor in my class. Most others came from apartment buildings further away. There is a center for the highly gifted at the school, but that is only two classes per grade level and slots are competitive.

I do think the neighborhood is beautiful and I have some friends who live in the neighborhood and love it. They have very young children though, and haven't had to worry about schools.

[Anonymous]

I'd go to Virginia instead. Lower taxes and better public universities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You seem to still be seeking information about Woodmoor schools--the ES for grades 3-5 is Pine Crest. I used to work there. I would not send my child there. Most of the teachers (at least back when I worked there) were wonderful, but PPs have mentioned that most Woodmoor families do not actually send their children to Pine Crest, and this is overwhelmingly true. In the years that I worked there, I had an average of 2 out of 27-30 students who lived in Woodmoor in my class. Most others came from apartment buildings further away. There is a center for the highly gifted at the school, but that is only two classes per grade level and slots are competitive.

I do think the neighborhood is beautiful and I have some friends who live in the neighborhood and love it. They have very young children though, and haven't had to worry about schools.

How long ago did you work at Pinecrest? Why would you not send your children there? surely, there is more to it than the fact that it pulls from other neighborhoods and has kids who live in apartments, right? I don't live in the neighborhood,and have no first hand experience with Montgomery Knolls and Pinecrest. But i do live nearby, and have several friends who live in Woodmoor. They all send their kids to the public school and they seem to like it. I hope some Woodmoor families will chime in on the schools issue.

[Anonymous]

More and more neighborhood kids go to Pinecrest and Montgomery Knolls. Unclear how losing Title I status will affect MoKno next year, but both schools have been on the receiving end of significant county funds the past few years.

At the end of the day, is there a huge difference between the 5th and 50th best elementary schools in one of the nation's top 3 districts? We should all be so unlucky to live in MoCo.

[Anonymous]

16:27 - I should clarify, I'm a Woodmoor resident sending a kid to Montgomery Knolls next year, one of about 20 parents I know sending their kids there. We have a lot of confidence in both primary schools. Curious to see how middle and high school work out a few years from now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You seem to still be seeking information about Woodmoor schools--the ES for grades 3-5 is Pine Crest. I used to work there. I would not send my child there. Most of the teachers (at least back when I worked there) were wonderful, but PPs have mentioned that most Woodmoor families do not actually send their children to Pine Crest, and this is overwhelmingly true. In the years that I worked there, I had an average of 2 out of 27-30 students who lived in Woodmoor in my class. Most others came from apartment buildings further away. There is a center for the highly gifted at the school, but that is only two classes per grade level and slots are competitive.

I do think the neighborhood is beautiful and I have some friends who live in the neighborhood and love it. They have very young children though, and haven't had to worry about schools.

How long ago did you work at Pinecrest? Why would you not send your children there? surely, there is more to it than the fact that it pulls from other neighborhoods and has kids who live in apartments, right? I don't live in the neighborhood,and have no first hand experience with Montgomery Knolls and Pinecrest. But i do live nearby, and have several friends who live in Woodmoor. They all send their kids to the public school and they seem to like it. I hope some Woodmoor families will chime in on the schools issue.

I am not the teacher pp, but am one of the prior pp Woodmoor residents - my kids are not school age yet, however, I was talking to a mom whose kids are at pinecrest, and she said something similar - although the proportion was not as out of whack as mentioned above. I do think more and more families in the neighborhood (as everywhere) are sending their kids to the public schools.

[Anonymous]

Kensington:

Pros: schools, commute (depending), probably better long-term value

Cons: Less home for your dollar, not walkable to anything, no public transit

I disagree with the cons on this list. I live in Kensington Estates, which feeds into the KP/NB/WJ cluster (Kensington covers 3 HS-BCC, Einstein and WJ), and I can walk to Safeway and the stores at Conn. & Knowles. For public transit, I can walk several blocks to the Marc train or I can walk to the end of my street and catch a bus on Cedar Lane. They run all the time. I live in easy walking distance to twp parks where my kids and I can play, and the neighborhood pool with tennis courts, play structure and basket ball area. There are also plans in the works to upgrade Kensington's master plan which will hopefully lead to better access for pedestrians and more shopping options.

I really like living in Kensington. The overall city is still diverse but I think the KP area has become a bit more homogeneous over the last 10 years, with younger families moving in. It reminds me of Bethesda when I was growing up. Lots of friendly neighbors, and lots of people who care about their community. There is a nice mixture of SAHMs/Ds and working parents. Neighbors say hi and join together for our annual events (summer BBQ, Halloween parade/pot luck). Some people are putting huge additions on their homes or buying the rebuilt homes, but lots of us still have the basic rambler or colonial with maybe a small bump-out or addition.

DH and I both commute downtown and it is not too bad. I'm in the Farragut North area and it can take me anywhere from 35 min-1 hr door-to-door, depending on the time I leave and if there is an accident, but I average about 40 minutes. I go straight down Conn. unless there are some traffic issues. DH works near Union Station and takes the Marc Train or drives, depending on his schedule.

My daughter starts at KP next year so I can't talk to the school personally, but I hear great things about it. We moved into the area because of the school system, the neighborhood feel and the proximity to Bethesda and downtown.

[Anonymous]

I'm the teacher PP, and knowing what I know about the current administration and the number of young teachers there (lots of young teachers usual = unhappy staff/low morale/high turnover) I would not want my kids there. There were serious, incredibly disruptive behavior problems the years that I was there that made me uncomfortable being alone with some kids some days. I have worked in several Title I schools and I am very committed to working with needy children, but to be honest, my time was spent almost entirely on managing serious, serious behavior issues and I was not able to focus as much as I should have on teaching to ALL of my students. I'd be shocked if it were that different. I don't know much about Mont Knolls but I do always hear good things, so maybe it's just in the upper grades that the issues are magnified...

[Anonymous]

OP, what did you decide?

[Anonymous]

I live in North Chevy Chase, just south of Kensington but fairly close to SS as well. I would buy in Kensington in a heartbeat, preferably in a Rock creek Hills (BCC district) but possibly also KP. Woodmoor has a huge fan club, particularly on this board, and for good reason. But elementary school comes more quickly than you'd think, and if you can afford a great public option such as KP or Rosemary Hills (for the Rock Creek Hills part of Kensington), it truly seems insane to choose a neighborhood that doesn't have a good public school? Besides whatever higher score Woodmoor might get on the warm and fuzzy quotient, there's no discernible advantage, and the lack of a good public school in Woodmoor (both at elementary and at HS levels) makes the choice easy. Plus it's not like Kensington is a miserable place -there's the quaint downtown, the MARC, the community activities (4th of July parade etc)

[Anonymous]

I too, am curious what neighborhood OP decided on?