I Know This Has Been Discussed Before But Please Indulge Me... (MD School-Related)
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Anonymous
... instead of just telling me to do a search for previous threads.  Here's the scenario: Living in north woodside but looking to buy a new house because we've outgrown ours. We love the elementary school our daughter is in (Woodlin) and don't want to pull her out. Found a great new house that fits all of our criteria (most important being that we can afford it) in Woodside Park, but now we're having second (and third and fourth) thoughts because we wonder if it's wise to invest in a new house in the Sligo MS and Down County Consortium high schools. We're thinking if we're going to move, it may be smarter to go to kensington to get into the north chevy chase MS and Walter Johnson district. But we LOVE our neighborhood and it would be really difficult, emotionally, to move. Granted, I know Kensington and Woodside are very close to each other, but still. Our DD is so happy and she's very introverted so it would be really stressful, i think, to move. (Our DS isn't starting kindergarten until next year, plus he's much more social so I'm not as worried about him).
I guess my questions are, would you move to get out of Sligo MS/DCC, even if it meant leaving a really comfortable situation? Are we giving too much weight to the few reviews that we've seen online about these schools and blowing this out of proportion? I have friends who tell me that Sligo MS is trending up and will be much improved by the time our kids are there but who knows. Friends also say that none of the middle schools in lower montgomery county are all that great, so why would we move? We're so confused, and totally tied up in knots over this. At this point, we're probably on the verge of losing the new house that we love, but we can't make an offer until we come to a decision about the schools. Any thoughts? Please, no flames. I'm not casting any aspersions on Sligo or DCC, I just need some thoughtful reactions, and any one whose kids have gone through these schools who have thoughts, I would love to hear them. Thank you!!!! |
Anonymous
| We just did something similar-- left a neighborhood that we loved and had lived in for ten + years and made the move to a neighborhood with much better middle school/hish school. We have three kids, and they had great friends in the neighborhood, I also had great friends in the neighborhood. It was very hard, but we are so happy that we did it. We still see the old neighborhood friends and are making new friends in the new neighborhood. The kids adjusted incredibly well, and we are so much happier to have the middle school/high school anxiety off the table. |
Anonymous
| Lots of people move to avoid Sligo (or so I've heard from folks in the part of Kensington that feeds into Oakland terrace). |
Anonymous
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Have you posted this question on the Silver Spring moms listserv? I think you should post there to talk with parents that have kids in those schools now. Maybe even go visit? I can't speak to the MS but I know a handful of wonderful kids that graduated from Blair and Einstein and all are doing well in well regarded colleges now.
I am also in the DCC, but a different cluster, and I'd have to have solid evidence re schools to make me leave my neighborhood, friends and kids' friends. Good luck! |
Anonymous
We were in your exact situation and did not move. We love Woodside Park and that weighed heavily in our decision to stay. Our kids went to Sligo and are now at Einstein. We had more problems with Sligo than with Einstein (we love Einstein), but we made it work for our kids and have zero regrets about staying. FWIW, I do think Sligo is better now than it was e.g. 5 years ago. |
Anonymous
I agree. |
Anonymous
| I think you'll get more/better info on the Maryland Public Schools forum. |
Anonymous
| moved from Silver Spring to Ashton - never looked back . . . not one f-ing time |
Anonymous
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We are in Oakland Terrace and this kind of question is discussed very often (though it's Newport Mill instead of Sligo). Here are my random thoughts. Academic performance is correlated very strongly with income. See these graphs showing SAT scores and family income: http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/sat-scores-and-family-income/ The middle and high schools in the wealthier west side of the county are by definition going to produce students with higher scores, no matter what the schools do, because incomes are higher. However as you have probably experienced and we have too over here, the housing boom in the area brought a lot of higher-income families to Silver Spring as well, which is boosting performance and scores. I don't know if they will be boosted to the level you are comfortable with by the time you have a middle or high schooler, but it's relevant. As is your own income, because your own income and education will be the most relevant factor in your child's performance, statistically. The one thing schools in the wealthier areas tend not to have is significant ethnic diversity. If this is important to you, you need to weigh it in the decision. Finally, people have been moving west for years for the schools, so they do tend to be more crowded than the schools in Silver Spring.
As a side note, you mention North Chevy Chase going to Walter Johnson, but it goes to BCC. |
Anonymous
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OP here. Thanks to everyone for your input, I really appreciate it. We are still torn, but your responses have definitely helped.
On a different note, how did this thread get moved to the MD Public Schools thread when I originally put it on the Other Topics thread? I was going to cross-post but kind of annoyed that it was just moved altogether. I couldn't find it and finally did a search, otherwise I would've never seen many of your responses. |
Anonymous
| I wouldn't move for Einstein but for Sligo MS I would. I just think that MS has a lot of problems, and I am not talking about test scores. |
Anonymous
| OP- we are in the same boat and considering moving to a new house in a couple of years as well. I would be interested in any further feedback on Sligo and whether it really may improve in the next 5 or so years, especially now that there is a new elementary school feeding to it. |
Anonymous
| Same here! I'm a PP -we live in Takoma Park and love it but we need a bigger house and are getting priced out of TP. Very curious as to what is so bad about Sligo MS? Anybody? |
Anonymous
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NP here, I live in the cachement but my kids are in ES. But I have had friends who have had major problems with their kids not feeling safe at school, bullying etc.
I think MS is rough in general and in this case it is the first time kids from really different SES come into contact with each other and there can be some friction, that seems to pretty much dissipate by HS but flares up in MS. My friend's DD inadvertently ticked off a group of girls who waited for her after school and beat her up. Nothing serious, just emotionally traumatizing, she did not want to return to school. The administration responded well, BTW. Could this happen at any MS? Yes, but I hear these kinds of stories about Sligo more. I dont know anything about the teachers. |
Anonymous
I would imagine that the administrator moved it because it is a schools thread. Jeff - what say you? |