DCC Choice - Wheaton or Northwood?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. That's a bummer... and we work nowhere near Wheaton so it's also not easy to pick up from activities. It's really too bad b/c right now we're at a magnet middle school and the activity bus options are actually pretty good...

Re: Northwood, I'm actually trying to view the holding school situation as a potential plus. DS would be in a brand new school for 2 years, followed by another brand new school for the next 2 (though I hear the Woodward sports fields won't be ready next year). And for us, the bus ride to Woodward doesn't seem to be much worse (or perhaps better), than the ride alllll the way up Georgia Ave to Wheaton. It would be nice, though, if we could see the bus schedules for Northwood next year before having to submit our rankings.

Why these two schools and why not your home school? That way they can walk or get the bus. Don't make it more complicated then it needs to be. There are lots of activities in HS, and not all meet right after school so you need to take that into consideration, especially with sports and band. Even if Northwood is at Northwood for another year, the plan is to switch them to Woodward so they can tear it down.

This is OP - Our home school is Einstein and there are only a few CompSci classes and nothing tech/engineering, so it's just not a good fit for our kid compared to Blair/Wheaton/Northwood. And it's still not close to our house at all, though the activity bus does drop about a mile away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Northwood is much much smaller so that's either a disadvantage or an advantage.

But it will have a lot of room to grow larger starting next year at the holding school.

But it's unlikely the enrollment will increase or decrease dramatically in the next year. I think Northwood is at least 1000 students less than Wheaton and that changes the whole feel of the school. OP, can you visit either of them?

[Anonymous]

I would have your child apply to PLTW and specify Northwood and then Wheaton in that order in the lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Northwood is much much smaller so that's either a disadvantage or an advantage.

But it will have a lot of room to grow larger starting next year at the holding school.

But it's unlikely the enrollment will increase or decrease dramatically in the next year. I think Northwood is at least 1000 students less than Wheaton and that changes the whole feel of the school. OP, can you visit either of them?

Wheaton's enrollment is 2500 and Northwood's is 1800. But it stands to reason they will assign more kids to Northwood for next year since they will be in a larger capacity building going forward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. That's a bummer... and we work nowhere near Wheaton so it's also not easy to pick up from activities. It's really too bad b/c right now we're at a magnet middle school and the activity bus options are actually pretty good...

Re: Northwood, I'm actually trying to view the holding school situation as a potential plus. DS would be in a brand new school for 2 years, followed by another brand new school for the next 2 (though I hear the Woodward sports fields won't be ready next year). And for us, the bus ride to Woodward doesn't seem to be much worse (or perhaps better), than the ride alllll the way up Georgia Ave to Wheaton. It would be nice, though, if we could see the bus schedules for Northwood next year before having to submit our rankings.

Why these two schools and why not your home school? That way they can walk or get the bus. Don't make it more complicated then it needs to be. There are lots of activities in HS, and not all meet right after school so you need to take that into consideration, especially with sports and band. Even if Northwood is at Northwood for another year, the plan is to switch them to Woodward so they can tear it down.

This is OP - Our home school is Einstein and there are only a few CompSci classes and nothing tech/engineering, so it's just not a good fit for our kid compared to Blair/Wheaton/Northwood. And it's still not close to our house at all, though the activity bus does drop about a mile away.

They have plenty of Computer Science but for Engineering you go to Wheaton. You need to plan to pick up your kid if it's an issue. It's called parenting. Why are you so opposed to driving your kid if you don't want them at the home school? Remember they are only having a handful of electives so you don't need a ton of variety, just enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Northwood administration is very strong unlike Wheaton. The holding school is a negative but you have access to a lot of dual enrollment options.

AP teachers are generally strong at Northwood. I cannot speak to Wheaton.

I’ve been impressed with Northwood staff and hear similar feedback from neighbors with kids there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Northwood is much much smaller so that's either a disadvantage or an advantage.

But it will have a lot of room to grow larger starting next year at the holding school.

But it's unlikely the enrollment will increase or decrease dramatically in the next year. I think Northwood is at least 1000 students less than Wheaton and that changes the whole feel of the school. OP, can you visit either of them?

Wheaton's enrollment is 2500 and Northwood's is 1800. But it stands to reason they will assign more kids to Northwood for next year since they will be in a larger capacity building going forward.

It's 2600 and 1800. You mean through the lottery? Because the boundary process will take a while so the boundaries won't change but I guess they could just allocate more spots through the lottery. There has been no indication this would happen though and I would think they would be hiring more teachers if they thought they would expand in a significant way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Northwood is much much smaller so that's either a disadvantage or an advantage.

But it will have a lot of room to grow larger starting next year at the holding school.

But it's unlikely the enrollment will increase or decrease dramatically in the next year. I think Northwood is at least 1000 students less than Wheaton and that changes the whole feel of the school. OP, can you visit either of them?

Wheaton's enrollment is 2500 and Northwood's is 1800. But it stands to reason they will assign more kids to Northwood for next year since they will be in a larger capacity building going forward.

It's 2600 and 1800. You mean through the lottery? Because the boundary process will take a while so the boundaries won't change but I guess they could just allocate more spots through the lottery. There has been no indication this would happen though and I would think they would be hiring more teachers if they thought they would expand in a significant way.

The reason they start the HS choice processes in the fall is so they can be mostly settled by February/March, when they start calculating the following year's teacher allocations.

[Anonymous]

If STEM coursework is a priority, definitely Wheaton. The PCLT pathways are great and open to students not in the magnets.

[Anonymous]

For stem classes, Wheaton.
For sports if your child isn't a star Northwood but check the sport.
I don't think Northwood has tennis or golf but I could be wrong. The competitiveness varies year to year and by sports but this year both football teams are not having a great year I think with Northwood worse off than Wheaton. Wheaton boys soccer is usually more competitive than Northwood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would have your child apply to PLTW and specify Northwood and then Wheaton in that order in the lottery.

This is the best advice. Be prepared that you probably won’t get Wheaton through the lottery.

[Anonymous]

No Wheaton through the lottery? That doesn't seem right. We know various kids who got in there from the lottery last year (zoned for Northwood). Is there some reason to think it would be different this year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, the activity bus from Wheaton does not go anywhere near our house. I do think it leads to our kid doing fewer activities. Theoretically he could take the public bus and then walk for about 1.3 miles, but since he's not inclined to do that, he just gets on the bus after school and comes home most days.

Or you can pick them up. 1.3 miles is not bad. How are you even getting a bus for 1.3 miles. We don't get a bus for HS to our home school as its under 2 miles.

First, why do you assume that I don’t work? I work and am a single parent. I can’t always chauffeur my kids around.

Second, you have reading comprehension issues. I said: “ Theoretically he could take the public bus and then walk for about 1.3 miles.” Taking the public bus would probably take within twenty five to forty five minutes including wait time. Then he would walk 1.3 miles. We do not live 1.3 miles from school. I think he should be willing to do this to participate in activities, but he is not, so he just doesn’t participate.

His middle school had a great activity bus and he did activities every day after school, in contrast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. That's a bummer... and we work nowhere near Wheaton so it's also not easy to pick up from activities. It's really too bad b/c right now we're at a magnet middle school and the activity bus options are actually pretty good...

Re: Northwood, I'm actually trying to view the holding school situation as a potential plus. DS would be in a brand new school for 2 years, followed by another brand new school for the next 2 (though I hear the Woodward sports fields won't be ready next year). And for us, the bus ride to Woodward doesn't seem to be much worse (or perhaps better), than the ride alllll the way up Georgia Ave to Wheaton. It would be nice, though, if we could see the bus schedules for Northwood next year before having to submit our rankings.

Why these two schools and why not your home school? That way they can walk or get the bus. Don't make it more complicated then it needs to be. There are lots of activities in HS, and not all meet right after school so you need to take that into consideration, especially with sports and band. Even if Northwood is at Northwood for another year, the plan is to switch them to Woodward so they can tear it down.

This is OP - Our home school is Einstein and there are only a few CompSci classes and nothing tech/engineering, so it's just not a good fit for our kid compared to Blair/Wheaton/Northwood. And it's still not close to our house at all, though the activity bus does drop about a mile away.

They have plenty of Computer Science but for Engineering you go to Wheaton. You need to plan to pick up your kid if it's an issue. It's called parenting. Why are you so opposed to driving your kid if you don't want them at the home school? Remember they are only having a handful of electives so you don't need a ton of variety, just enough.

DP. Is this the same poster who asked why I didn’t pick my kid up I wonder? And the person who mis read my post and thought we lived 1.3 miles from school?

News flash - some people work. Some people cannot rearrange their schedules to chauffeur their teenage children around. How can you not understand this?

Are you just a dumb stay at home parent oblivious to the demands on working parents? Someone from MCPS who has failed at arranging good activity bus routes from Wheaton?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, the activity bus from Wheaton does not go anywhere near our house. I do think it leads to our kid doing fewer activities. Theoretically he could take the public bus and then walk for about 1.3 miles, but since he's not inclined to do that, he just gets on the bus after school and comes home most days.

Or you can pick them up. 1.3 miles is not bad. How are you even getting a bus for 1.3 miles. We don't get a bus for HS to our home school as its under 2 miles.

First, why do you assume that I don’t work? I work and am a single parent. I can’t always chauffeur my kids around.

Second, you have reading comprehension issues. I said: “ Theoretically he could take the public bus and then walk for about 1.3 miles.” Taking the public bus would probably take within twenty five to forty five minutes including wait time. Then he would walk 1.3 miles. We do not live 1.3 miles from school. I think he should be willing to do this to participate in activities, but he is not, so he just doesn’t participate.

His middle school had a great activity bus and he did activities every day after school, in contrast.

That's pretty crummy to say don't participate vs. help him with transportation. If you cannot help drive, high school is very different and some of our activities start later so he either need to be walking distance or have a carpool if you cannot drive. We go back to the school a few times a week after our child comes home. Some teachers will let the kid stay all day/night and supervise them but not all do.