Silver Springs schools?

[Anonymous]

There are people everywhere who don't think their local publics are right for their kids. Even in Bethesda, Potomac, and even in Olney (gasp!) We probably all know individual people who don't like something the vast majority of people like for one reason or another.

There do seem to be some people with a vested interest in bashing Silver Spring schools and neighborhoods, and it seems that most have little to no recent (10+ years) personal experience. And the undertones of that bashing have more to do with race and SES perceptions than anything else. That unfortunate attitude is what gets a lot of pushback.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last 4 PPs - I'm reporting you for being WAY too reasonable to be posting on DCUM.

Also, to OP: these four posters are symbolic of the attitude of people living in Silver Spring and sending their kids to the local schools - laid back, able to communicate well, reasonable, likable. If these characteristics are what you're looking for in a community, you'll find them in ample supply here.

Dunno. I think the argument that people only avoid certain schools because they want to justify their purchase of more expensive homes is about as lacking in originality as you can get on DCUM.

It is just a theory.

Why do you think people on DCUM are so invested in making everyone understand that Silver Spring and Wheaton schools are bad and to be avoided?

I think it's great that so many love their Silver Spring schools but don't deny that there are some people who live in Silver Spring who are not. I know someone who swore up and down that she would never send her kids to her SS elementary school. She was able to figure out a "hardship" to get out of it and now her kids go to a school in Kensington.

No one is disputing that. What is strange is the number of non-SS residents, who haven't had any experience with the schools in many years, continually popping up in these threads with weird replies and anecdotes. Why are they so interested this subject?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last 4 PPs - I'm reporting you for being WAY too reasonable to be posting on DCUM.

Also, to OP: these four posters are symbolic of the attitude of people living in Silver Spring and sending their kids to the local schools - laid back, able to communicate well, reasonable, likable. If these characteristics are what you're looking for in a community, you'll find them in ample supply here.

Dunno. I think the argument that people only avoid certain schools because they want to justify their purchase of more expensive homes is about as lacking in originality as you can get on DCUM.

It is just a theory.

Why do you think people on DCUM are so invested in making everyone understand that Silver Spring and Wheaton schools are bad and to be avoided?

I think it's great that so many love their Silver Spring schools but don't deny that there are some people who live in Silver Spring who are not. I know someone who swore up and down that she would never send her kids to her SS elementary school. She was able to figure out a "hardship" to get out of it and now her kids go to a school in Kensington.

There are always going to be dissatisfied people. In fact, based on what I read on DCUM, a lot of parents who send their children to pubilc schools in Bethesda/Potomac are very dissatisfied.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Einstein? Compare its test scores to Sherwood's. There is no comparison academically.
.

Welcome back sherwood booster. You're wrong on many levels, but it doesn't make sense arguing on every little item. And I won't generalize about Silver Spring, since it is a huge area, but concentrate on the active, thriving neighborhoods that feed into Einstein and Blair.

Yes, there are more lower income communities that feed into these schools. Mostly that is because as you get closer to the core, you get denser and denser populations, and more lower-income housing. There is nothing particularly shocking about this. Silver Spring borders Washington. Sherwood is 20 miles away.

So once upon a time you lived somewhere in Silver Spring, and growing up you seem to have had a bad elementary school experience. Clearly you have issues with people who don't look like you. I feel sorry for you, but I'm guessing you get that a lot. Today, if you go into any one of the neighborhood schools, you will see sometimes crowded classrooms full of kids who live in these neighborhoods. We go to a Fourth of July parade a couple of neighborhoods away, and there are usually 1000 kids under the age of 12 there. All shapes, colors, sizes, languages, etc. Kids here play in their front yards, pickup baseball and street hockey are common, there is a neighborhood block party monthly spring-fall. We have neighbors who will pick up our kids in a pinch, we can go away on vacation and call upon a dozen people to keep an eye on our house. This isn't unique to Silver Spring, but it highlights how the community works.

And schools. So clearly your experience with Blair is old. The magnet programs (yes, there are 2, not 1) are not a walled off school within a school. There are kids in our neighborhood who went magnet, and who didn't. Those that didn't still could take magnet level classes. They went to Stanford, UNC, Duke, Penn, top level state schools, and SLACs. A bunch went to UMD. A bunch went to Montgomery College...so basically, it's the same list for virtually every MoCo HS.

I know you're not going to hide in your wine cellar in Brookville and stop bashing Silver Spring. Yes, the higher population density leads to higher crime rates. Yes, my 1,500 SF home cost $650,000. I know I could buy 1/2 acre and 3 car garage elsewhere for that. Yes, there are kids who go to my zoned HS who will not go to college. Yes, my local park doesn't have 15 perfectly manicured soccer fields. I have to drive 20 minutes for my huge local indoor pool. But I - like the majority of the families who live here - enjoy living in Silver Spring. And while once upon a time things may have been different, the way they are today work well for a lot of similarly minded people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, there are more lower income communities that feed into these schools. Mostly that is because as you get closer to the core, you get denser and denser populations, and more lower-income housing. There is nothing particularly shocking about this. Silver Spring borders Washington. Sherwood is 20 miles away.

And also because well-to-do people in certain further-out areas (as well as in closer-in areas in Bethesda/Potomac) go to a lot of trouble to keep their neighborhoods zoned so as to keep out poor people. They don't always succeed, but they sure do try.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Einstein? Compare its test scores to Sherwood's. There is no comparison academically.
.

Welcome back sherwood booster. You're wrong on many levels, but it doesn't make sense arguing on every little item. And I won't generalize about Silver Spring, since it is a huge area, but concentrate on the active, thriving neighborhoods that feed into Einstein and Blair.

Yes, there are more lower income communities that feed into these schools. Mostly that is because as you get closer to the core, you get denser and denser populations, and more lower-income housing. There is nothing particularly shocking about this. Silver Spring borders Washington. Sherwood is 20 miles away.

So once upon a time you lived somewhere in Silver Spring, and growing up you seem to have had a bad elementary school experience. Clearly you have issues with people who don't look like you. I feel sorry for you, but I'm guessing you get that a lot. Today, if you go into any one of the neighborhood schools, you will see sometimes crowded classrooms full of kids who live in these neighborhoods. We go to a Fourth of July parade a couple of neighborhoods away, and there are usually 1000 kids under the age of 12 there. All shapes, colors, sizes, languages, etc. Kids here play in their front yards, pickup baseball and street hockey are common, there is a neighborhood block party monthly spring-fall. We have neighbors who will pick up our kids in a pinch, we can go away on vacation and call upon a dozen people to keep an eye on our house. This isn't unique to Silver Spring, but it highlights how the community works.

And schools. So clearly your experience with Blair is old. The magnet programs (yes, there are 2, not 1) are not a walled off school within a school. There are kids in our neighborhood who went magnet, and who didn't. Those that didn't still could take magnet level classes. They went to Stanford, UNC, Duke, Penn, top level state schools, and SLACs. A bunch went to UMD. A bunch went to Montgomery College...so basically, it's the same list for virtually every MoCo HS.

I know you're not going to hide in your wine cellar in Brookville and stop bashing Silver Spring. Yes, the higher population density leads to higher crime rates. Yes, my 1,500 SF home cost $650,000. I know I could buy 1/2 acre and 3 car garage elsewhere for that. Yes, there are kids who go to my zoned HS who will not go to college. Yes, my local park doesn't have 15 perfectly manicured soccer fields. I have to drive 20 minutes for my huge local indoor pool. But I - like the majority of the families who live here - enjoy living in Silver Spring. And while once upon a time things may have been different, the way they are today work well for a lot of similarly minded people.

So glad to have you as a neighbor

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Einstein? Compare its test scores to Sherwood's. There is no comparison academically.
.

Welcome back sherwood booster. You're wrong on many levels, but it doesn't make sense arguing on every little item. And I won't generalize about Silver Spring, since it is a huge area, but concentrate on the active, thriving neighborhoods that feed into Einstein and Blair.

Yes, there are more lower income communities that feed into these schools. Mostly that is because as you get closer to the core, you get denser and denser populations, and more lower-income housing. There is nothing particularly shocking about this. Silver Spring borders Washington. Sherwood is 20 miles away.

So once upon a time you lived somewhere in Silver Spring, and growing up you seem to have had a bad elementary school experience. Clearly you have issues with people who don't look like you. I feel sorry for you, but I'm guessing you get that a lot. Today, if you go into any one of the neighborhood schools, you will see sometimes crowded classrooms full of kids who live in these neighborhoods. We go to a Fourth of July parade a couple of neighborhoods away, and there are usually 1000 kids under the age of 12 there. All shapes, colors, sizes, languages, etc. Kids here play in their front yards, pickup baseball and street hockey are common, there is a neighborhood block party monthly spring-fall. We have neighbors who will pick up our kids in a pinch, we can go away on vacation and call upon a dozen people to keep an eye on our house. This isn't unique to Silver Spring, but it highlights how the community works.

And schools. So clearly your experience with Blair is old. The magnet programs (yes, there are 2, not 1) are not a walled off school within a school. There are kids in our neighborhood who went magnet, and who didn't. Those that didn't still could take magnet level classes. They went to Stanford, UNC, Duke, Penn, top level state schools, and SLACs. A bunch went to UMD. A bunch went to Montgomery College...so basically, it's the same list for virtually every MoCo HS.

I know you're not going to hide in your wine cellar in Brookville and stop bashing Silver Spring. Yes, the higher population density leads to higher crime rates. Yes, my 1,500 SF home cost $650,000. I know I could buy 1/2 acre and 3 car garage elsewhere for that. Yes, there are kids who go to my zoned HS who will not go to college. Yes, my local park doesn't have 15 perfectly manicured soccer fields. I have to drive 20 minutes for my huge local indoor pool. But I - like the majority of the families who live here - enjoy living in Silver Spring. And while once upon a time things may have been different, the way they are today work well for a lot of similarly minded people.

So glad to have you as a neighbor

+2

[Anonymous]

+3! We moved to silver spring (20910) four years ago and count our lucky stars every day. We love it. My favorite thing is my neighbors - so many down-to-earth, friendly families.

[Anonymous]

I think there are a fair number of people who grew up in Silver Spring or even more likely close by and the impression that they developed of the area in the 1970's and 1980's has stuck with them. I would venture to bet that ALL the posters in this thread who are bashing SS schools have not sent a child to one in the last 5 years (if ever).

Sometimes impressions we grow up with die hard.

[Anonymous]

I think people also forget how large Silver Spring is. I know I do. Some of the NEC high schools that someone mentioned are in parts of the county that I didn't even realize were considered Silver Spring - and I live in Silver Spring! It basically seems as if Silver Spring extends from the DC line to Olney.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+3! We moved to silver spring (20910) four years ago and count our lucky stars every day. We love it. My favorite thing is my neighbors - so many down-to-earth, friendly families.

+4!!!!!

[Anonymous]

I wish I lived in SS. A lot of the people in Bethesda suck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish I lived in SS. A lot of the people in Bethesda suck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last 4 PPs - I'm reporting you for being WAY too reasonable to be posting on DCUM.

Also, to OP: these four posters are symbolic of the attitude of people living in Silver Spring and sending their kids to the local schools - laid back, able to communicate well, reasonable, likable. If these characteristics are what you're looking for in a community, you'll find them in ample supply here.

Dunno. I think the argument that people only avoid certain schools because they want to justify their purchase of more expensive homes is about as lacking in originality as you can get on DCUM.

It is just a theory.

Why do you think people on DCUM are so invested in making everyone understand that Silver Spring and Wheaton schools are bad and to be avoided?

I think it's great that so many love their Silver Spring schools but don't deny that there are some people who live in Silver Spring who are not. I know someone who swore up and down that she would never send her kids to her SS elementary school. She was able to figure out a "hardship" to get out of it and now her kids go to a school in Kensington.

No one is disputing that. What is strange is the number of non-SS residents, who haven't had any experience with the schools in many years, continually popping up in these threads with weird replies and anecdotes. Why are they so interested this subject?

Here's a theory. They don't want to own their negative feelings related to lower-income people, minorities and "illegals" so they try to spread it around. They feel less bad about themselves if they can convince themselves and others that everyone feels this way. It's an anonymous board so they can put this stuff out there without owning it. If they felt no internal conflict, they would be happy in their own schools without feeling the need to denigrate others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+3! We moved to silver spring (20910) four years ago and count our lucky stars every day. We love it. My favorite thing is my neighbors - so many down-to-earth, friendly families.

+4!!!!!

+5 Love my SS neighborhood! We moved here from Arlington 14 years ago because we were priced out of it. But now I wouldn't live anywhere else in the area.