Any tips on Silver Spring/Takoma Park Elementary Schools

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I'd be very grateful if anyone could share their views or top choices on the best elementary schools in the Silver Spring and Takoma Park areas. We're currently looking at real estate in both areas and plan to visit as many schools as possible - we just don't know where to begin!

Thank you.

[Anonymous]

I don't have kids there, but I have friends at Sligo Creek that seem very happy - both in immersion and non-immersion. Also, keep in mind that TPES is currently in a holding school while their actual school undergoes renovation - I think the renovation is supposed to be complete by Sept. 2010.

[Anonymous]

Our children are in the French immersion program at Sligo Creek ES. I wouldn't send them there for the regular program (sorry, PP), but we have (mostly) liked the FI program.

We are zoned for Woodlin Elementary, which I think is the best elementary school in this area in terms of both test scores and parent reviews - it gets a 9/10 on greatschools.net and our neighbors rave about it. It draws from Woodside Park, Woodside Forest, and North Woodside, all of which are great neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our children are in the French immersion program at Sligo Creek ES. I wouldn't send them there for the regular program (sorry, PP), but we have (mostly) liked the FI program.

We are zoned for Woodlin Elementary, which I think is the best elementary school in this area in terms of both test scores and parent reviews - it gets a 9/10 on greatschools.net and our neighbors rave about it. It draws from Woodside Park, Woodside Forest, and North Woodside, all of which are great neighborhoods.

I'm a non-immersion parent at Sligo Creek and the school has been good at appropriate education including acceleration for my kids, even with extremely diverse classes. Our teachers so far have been good. While the school has its issues (like just about any elementary school), my biggest beef is with the immersion families and the sense of uppity-ness that comes from them. It creates a bit of a have and have not environment that needs to go. My kindergartner is in an incredibly small class -- 14 children. 2nd grader is in a class of 16 and has been so throughout. The small class sizes have allowed the teachers to really pinpoint needs.

The neighborhood portion of Sligo Creek is likely to change dramatically starting next year as there's a big boundary change coming in some of the downcounty schools, including ours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our children are in the French immersion program at Sligo Creek ES. I wouldn't send them there for the regular program (sorry, PP), but we have (mostly) liked the FI program.

We are zoned for Woodlin Elementary, which I think is the best elementary school in this area in terms of both test scores and parent reviews - it gets a 9/10 on greatschools.net and our neighbors rave about it. It draws from Woodside Park, Woodside Forest, and North Woodside, all of which are great neighborhoods.

I'm a non-immersion parent at Sligo Creek and the school has been good at appropriate education including acceleration for my kids, even with extremely diverse classes. Our teachers so far have been good. While the school has its issues (like just about any elementary school), my biggest beef is with the immersion families and the sense of uppity-ness that comes from them. It creates a bit of a have and have not environment that needs to go. My kindergartner is in an incredibly small class -- 14 children. 2nd grader is in a class of 16 and has been so throughout. The small class sizes have allowed the teachers to really pinpoint needs.

The neighborhood portion of Sligo Creek is likely to change dramatically starting next year as there's a big boundary change coming in some of the downcounty schools, including ours.

I'm a bit confused - if you are happy with the non-immersion program, and the class sizes, then you are a "have", are you not? If that's true then why do you perceive the FI community to have a problem with "uppity-ness" (I've never seen that expression used in modern times; it's an odd word choice)? I agree that there is a dichotomy between the two communities, but think that's about demographics (the FI program draws from lots of elementary school districts - not just one as the regular program does) as well as the FI program itself (the parent group is self-selected). In some ways, it seems unavoidable to me.

What (specifically) have you experienced that causes you to perceive the FI parent community as "uppity"?

[Anonymous]

new poster here, but I can tell you that every girl of a certain demographic (ie, college educated parents) in the general program applied, but did not get into, the language immersion program. So the FI parents are they haves because they drew a good number. The in-district parents who did not draw a good number are more than a little resentful of parents from Woodlin (not to mention Bethesda) who are taking up those spots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The in-district parents who did not draw a good number are more than a little resentful of parents from Woodlin (not to mention Bethesda) who are taking up those spots.

Are you saying that people who are zoned for schools that are more desireable (to you) than SCES's Academy program should not be entitled to be admitted to the FI program via the lottery? Seriously?

Isn't part of the point of a magnet program to draw people from other, more affluent areas to the school?

If you would prefer that your kids be at Woodlin, why didn't you buy a house in that district? The pricing is not vastly different from what it is in the SCES district.

I'm sorry you are resentful. I disagree, however, that by virtue of being in a better school district than you are, I should be precluded from having my kids in a program they were duly admitted to via a random lottery. If we followed your logic to its extreme, the only kids in the FI program would be in-zone SCES ones.

[Anonymous]

Another new poster here. FI parent, your tone and discussion of how the non-immersion program is beneath you are exactly what the poster who called you uppity is talking about. My experience has been similar: a lot of the immersion parents have a bizarre sense that they are highly educated and that all non-immersion kids are from poor, uneducated families. I once, literally, had another parent make the point to my face that "all the immersion kids have highly educated parents, unlike non-immersion students". Get over yourselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another new poster here. FI parent, your tone and discussion of how the non-immersion program is beneath you are exactly what the poster who called you uppity is talking about. My experience has been similar: a lot of the immersion parents have a bizarre sense that they are highly educated and that all non-immersion kids are from poor, uneducated families. I once, literally, had another parent make the point to my face that "all the immersion kids have highly educated parents, unlike non-immersion students". Get over yourselves.

FI parent here, and what I said was that I wouldn't send my children to SCES's standard program. I didn't say it was "beneath me." I said I wouldn't send them there.

I'm guessing there are schools you wouldn't send your kids to, as well. Are they "beneath you"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another new poster here. FI parent, your tone and discussion of how the non-immersion program is beneath you are exactly what the poster who called you uppity is talking about. My experience has been similar: a lot of the immersion parents have a bizarre sense that they are highly educated and that all non-immersion kids are from poor, uneducated families. I once, literally, had another parent make the point to my face that "all the immersion kids have highly educated parents, unlike non-immersion students". Get over yourselves.

Another FI parent here. I'm not the parent you're quoting, because I never said that to anybody. But is it possible that you're misreading what she said? She didn't say that ALL non-immersion students have uneducated parents. She may have meant that SOME parents of non-immersion students are educated, and SOME aren't. At least from what you just quoted.

[Anonymous]

I'm the OP who posted the "uppity" comment. The back and forth here is an example of what non-immersion parents at Sligo Creek Elementary face all the time. There seems to be some kind of expectation from French parents that we neighborhood folks applied to get in the FI program and didn't get the choice lottery numbers. I actually CHOSE the neighborhood side of the school because I felt it was a better fit for my children and our family than the language side, in particular because of the extra science that the school offers them.

For the person looking at whether to move to our neighborhood, it's actually a great place -- walkable, lots of parks, close to the metro, nice families, and our teachers are good. Just be prepared for the parental discrimination that exists against neighborhood folks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the OP who posted the "uppity" comment. The back and forth here is an example of what non-immersion parents at Sligo Creek Elementary face all the time. There seems to be some kind of expectation from French parents that we neighborhood folks applied to get in the FI program and didn't get the choice lottery numbers.

I hope you don't think you're describing me or other FI parents I know. You may sense such an expectation, but that doesn't mean it actually exists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: There seems to be some kind of expectation from French parents that we neighborhood folks applied to get in the FI program and didn't get the choice lottery numbers. I actually CHOSE the neighborhood side of the school because I felt it was a better fit for my children and our family than the language side, in particular because of the extra science that the school offers them.

Another FI parent here, and no such expectation exists, that I know of. Agree with the PP -just because you sense it doesn't mean it actually exists.

[Anonymous]

Oakland Terrace is also a good school and many of the houses are walking distance to the metro.

[Anonymous]

All the neighborhood girls I know applied to FI. None of the neighborhood boys did.