Pyle vs Westland MS - Bethesda

[Anonymous]

hello,
Those of you with first-hand info; do you have feedback on these two MS? Either stronger academically/ enrichment/ electives than the other?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I have a kid at Westland and feel like it's very ...meh... at best. Large classes, no personal attention, lots of weird and bad kids. Kids are on their phone in class.

Insanely, kids vape in class. Yes, you read that right - kids vape in class. If you don't believe me, ask any kid attending Westland.

Thankfully my kid is doing ok, but I'm highly unimpressed and largely disappointed with Westland.

It's easy to see kids getting lost in the shuffle there.

[Anonymous]

Pyle has a slightly better reputation, but honestly, this is hair-splitting. The quality of your child's experience has more to do with you and them than it does with the school.

[Anonymous]

Thank you PPs!

[Anonymous]

My child is an 8th grader at Westland.
My college freshman was in a different MCPS cluster (North Bethesda and WJ).

The truth is that your child has to associate with good students. You are who your friends are. This is how kids survive public school, since publics are mandated to welcome everyone. Just because we live in wealthy neighborhoods doesn't mean there aren't some problematic behaviors.

My kids have made good friends in their respective schools and avoid the kids who like to vape, steal from stores, etc.

My pet peeves are:

1. Westland and the BCC cluster in general don't seem to be as hell-bent on academics as the WJ and WW clusters. They're very into "let's all relax and try to persuade parents not to accelerate their kids", which doesn't suit me, because I have a kid who needs acceleration in math. She is bused to BCC for Alg 2, because they don't have a large enough contingent of kids to have that class at Westland. Since we know a lot of the kids from Bethesda Elementary, I think they could very well have had enough students for an Alg 2 class... but MCPS seems to be trying to put the lid on that.

2. The buses are a mess. After multiple fights on the bus, I am now picking her up from Westland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:hello,
Those of you with first-hand info; do you have feedback on these two MS? Either stronger academically/ enrichment/ electives than the other?

Thanks!

Pyle is the strongest in the state and one of the best in the Country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
My child is an 8th grader at Westland.
My college freshman was in a different MCPS cluster (North Bethesda and WJ).

The truth is that your child has to associate with good students. You are who your friends are. This is how kids survive public school, since publics are mandated to welcome everyone. Just because we live in wealthy neighborhoods doesn't mean there aren't some problematic behaviors.

My kids have made good friends in their respective schools and avoid the kids who like to vape, steal from stores, etc.

My pet peeves are:

1. Westland and the BCC cluster in general don't seem to be as hell-bent on academics as the WJ and WW clusters. They're very into "let's all relax and try to persuade parents not to accelerate their kids", which doesn't suit me, because I have a kid who needs acceleration in math. She is bused to BCC for Alg 2, because they don't have a large enough contingent of kids to have that class at Westland. Since we know a lot of the kids from Bethesda Elementary, I think they could very well have had enough students for an Alg 2 class... but MCPS seems to be trying to put the lid on that.

2. The buses are a mess. After multiple fights on the bus, I am now picking her up from Westland.

Yikes this is so not what I wanted to read, as the parent of a current 4th grader at Bethesda Elementary. The 4th grade compacted math class has over 35 students - and I assume other feeders to Westland must have them too. How can there not be enough to accelerate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
My child is an 8th grader at Westland.
My college freshman was in a different MCPS cluster (North Bethesda and WJ).

The truth is that your child has to associate with good students. You are who your friends are. This is how kids survive public school, since publics are mandated to welcome everyone. Just because we live in wealthy neighborhoods doesn't mean there aren't some problematic behaviors.

My kids have made good friends in their respective schools and avoid the kids who like to vape, steal from stores, etc.

My pet peeves are:

1. Westland and the BCC cluster in general don't seem to be as hell-bent on academics as the WJ and WW clusters. They're very into "let's all relax and try to persuade parents not to accelerate their kids", which doesn't suit me, because I have a kid who needs acceleration in math. She is bused to BCC for Alg 2, because they don't have a large enough contingent of kids to have that class at Westland. Since we know a lot of the kids from Bethesda Elementary, I think they could very well have had enough students for an Alg 2 class... but MCPS seems to be trying to put the lid on that.

2. The buses are a mess. After multiple fights on the bus, I am now picking her up from Westland.

Yes, only the wealthiest schools even allow that kind of acceleration. It doesn't matter how talented you child is at math if they aren't in one of the chosen schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My child is an 8th grader at Westland.
My college freshman was in a different MCPS cluster (North Bethesda and WJ).

The truth is that your child has to associate with good students. You are who your friends are. This is how kids survive public school, since publics are mandated to welcome everyone. Just because we live in wealthy neighborhoods doesn't mean there aren't some problematic behaviors.

My kids have made good friends in their respective schools and avoid the kids who like to vape, steal from stores, etc.

My pet peeves are:

1. Westland and the BCC cluster in general don't seem to be as hell-bent on academics as the WJ and WW clusters. They're very into "let's all relax and try to persuade parents not to accelerate their kids", which doesn't suit me, because I have a kid who needs acceleration in math. She is bused to BCC for Alg 2, because they don't have a large enough contingent of kids to have that class at Westland. Since we know a lot of the kids from Bethesda Elementary, I think they could very well have had enough students for an Alg 2 class... but MCPS seems to be trying to put the lid on that.

2. The buses are a mess. After multiple fights on the bus, I am now picking her up from Westland.

Yikes this is so not what I wanted to read, as the parent of a current 4th grader at Bethesda Elementary. The 4th grade compacted math class has over 35 students - and I assume other feeders to Westland must have them too. How can there not be enough to accelerate?

All schools offer this, what they're talking about is even further acceleration only offered at select ES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My child is an 8th grader at Westland.
My college freshman was in a different MCPS cluster (North Bethesda and WJ).

The truth is that your child has to associate with good students. You are who your friends are. This is how kids survive public school, since publics are mandated to welcome everyone. Just because we live in wealthy neighborhoods doesn't mean there aren't some problematic behaviors.

My kids have made good friends in their respective schools and avoid the kids who like to vape, steal from stores, etc.

My pet peeves are:

1. Westland and the BCC cluster in general don't seem to be as hell-bent on academics as the WJ and WW clusters. They're very into "let's all relax and try to persuade parents not to accelerate their kids", which doesn't suit me, because I have a kid who needs acceleration in math. She is bused to BCC for Alg 2, because they don't have a large enough contingent of kids to have that class at Westland. Since we know a lot of the kids from Bethesda Elementary, I think they could very well have had enough students for an Alg 2 class... but MCPS seems to be trying to put the lid on that.

2. The buses are a mess. After multiple fights on the bus, I am now picking her up from Westland.

Yikes this is so not what I wanted to read, as the parent of a current 4th grader at Bethesda Elementary. The 4th grade compacted math class has over 35 students - and I assume other feeders to Westland must have them too. How can there not be enough to accelerate?

PP you replied to. If you're interested in advanced math tracks, please be aware that MCPS high schools don't offer a lot of post-AP courses (right now there's AP Stats, AP Calc AB and BC, and then multivariable with differential equations), but kids can take dual enrollment classes. The IB program offered at BCC and RM high schools is generally stronger in writing and humanities in general than in STEM courses. The math coordinator at Westland is the gate-keeper to placements in 6th grade algebra. He tested my kid, who came from the Chevy Chase CES and compacted math, gave her a test several pages long of content taught in Alg 1, and because she missed a couple of answers, decided she could not get into the Alg 1 class. Apparently he thinks that kids need to know that year's material already to place into the class. He did this to all the CES kids who lost the lottery for the STEM magnet (because now it's a lottery after you're selected to be in-pool due to high scores - another pet peeve of mine). There is very clearly an attempt to close that track. For various reasons, my kid spent her 6th grade year elsewhere, where she did learn Alg 1, and when she returned to Westland in 7th, they put her in Honors Geo, since she had officially had an Alg 1 class already. Right now she's in Alg 2 and it's really easy, so no regrets. It's the only MCPS class where she isn't bored.

[Anonymous]

How many math classes beyond Calculus are you having your kid take?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:hello,
Those of you with first-hand info; do you have feedback on these two MS? Either stronger academically/ enrichment/ electives than the other?

Thanks!

Pyle is the strongest in the state and one of the best in the Country.

OP here - thank you; that is what I thought, but I read some "not so positive" comments on Pyle on this board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:hello,
Those of you with first-hand info; do you have feedback on these two MS? Either stronger academically/ enrichment/ electives than the other?

Thanks!

Pyle is the strongest in the state and one of the best in the Country.

No. Pyle is not even better than Frost.
The strongest in the state is TPMS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:hello,
Those of you with first-hand info; do you have feedback on these two MS? Either stronger academically/ enrichment/ electives than the other?

Thanks!

Pyle is the strongest in the state and one of the best in the Country.

No. Pyle is not even better than Frost.
The strongest in the state is TPMS.

OP here - so you do not think Pyle is stronger than Westland? I thought it is a positive that Westland is a smaller school. 800 or so students compared to 1300 at Pyle.

[Anonymous]

Westland has always been a bit of an outlier in the Bethesda schools because it consistently underperforms its demographics.

As a population, the kids have absolutely every advantage possible, but each demographic group does more poorly than would be predicted, and more poorly than the same group in other schools.