Updated Info on Kensington & Bethesda Catholic Schools

[Anonymous]

If you're not Catholic might as well throw stoneridge into the mix.

[Anonymous]

OP - thanks all, this is very helpful. Just want a nice, wholesome elementary & middle school experience for our kids. St Elizabeth’s and De Chantal sound very promising.

Anyone have feedback on Holy Cross School? I don’t see much posted about them in any DCUM forums.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are happy at St. Barts. The teachers are incredible and the community is warm and welcoming. Kids are kind. Lots of extracurricular activities. Not wild about the principal or the hyper focus on the turf field. We have not heard of any financial issues recently and they are operating in the black. Hope this helps!

OP - thanks for this! Opinions on St Barts seem very hot and cold, with the principal being a strong, main topic of conversation. Any particular/specific issue you see with him? (Aside from the new field) Just curious because otherwise, the school seems great. It’s too bad he’s created such a divide in the community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - thanks all, this is very helpful. Just want a nice, wholesome elementary & middle school experience for our kids. St Elizabeth’s and De Chantal sound very promising.

Anyone have feedback on Holy Cross School? I don’t see much posted about them in any DCUM forums.

If it helps, St. E's and St. Bart's have the reputation of being "liberal" Catholic schools. The other Catholic schools on your list have plenty of Democrats attending, but the parishes have the reputation of being more traditional parish schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are happy at St. Barts. The teachers are incredible and the community is warm and welcoming. Kids are kind. Lots of extracurricular activities. Not wild about the principal or the hyper focus on the turf field. We have not heard of any financial issues recently and they are operating in the black. Hope this helps!

OP - thanks for this! Opinions on St Barts seem very hot and cold, with the principal being a strong, main topic of conversation. Any particular/specific issue you see with him? (Aside from the new field) Just curious because otherwise, the school seems great. It’s too bad he’s created such a divide in the community.

I don’t have anything against him personally, but since he’s joined, there has been a lot of focus and resources devoted to building a turf field and beautifying the campus. I’d much rather the resources be spent on supporting the teachers or hiring a counselor for the students or expanding STEM programming. But on the whole, the education has been terrific and the teachers and students are amazing. Our kids are happy and safe and supported. Good luck with the decision!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are happy at St. Barts. The teachers are incredible and the community is warm and welcoming. Kids are kind. Lots of extracurricular activities. Not wild about the principal or the hyper focus on the turf field. We have not heard of any financial issues recently and they are operating in the black. Hope this helps!

OP - thanks for this! Opinions on St Barts seem very hot and cold, with the principal being a strong, main topic of conversation. Any particular/specific issue you see with him? (Aside from the new field) Just curious because otherwise, the school seems great. It’s too bad he’s created such a divide in the community.

There's no divide in the community. There's one person on here that never misses a chance to complain about him.

[Anonymous]

OP, you should look at Woods. Sounds like you want cheap private, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you should look at Woods. Sounds like you want cheap private, though.

OP - Woods was very impressive, but yes unfortunately too costly to put 4 kids through 8th grade plus 4 years each of private high school. Would love somewhere similar to their approach, if that exists in our price range

[Anonymous]

I don’t think an approach to Woods exists in your price range.

Make sure you are comfortable with Catholic teaching and a fairly heavy emphasis on religion at school.

We are at Holy Cross and it has been a good experience. Great academics. Nice community. Strong school leadership. Very traditional parish priest.

All of this can change over the course of your children’s education as communities change and leadership changes. It is really hard to pick a school for your entire family for that many years without experiencing some significant amount of change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of these schools, HR seems to me to be the most connected to or integrated with the local town. And Kensington has a core of Catholic families that wouldn’t dream of sending their kids any other place.

The “We’re not Catholic” part of this suggests to me that they’d be happier at a Parish school that has more transient families and that draws from a wider geographic area than HR.

Seems to me that as the OP’s investigation continues and they understand more of what is taught, who sends their kids and why, and how insular these communities are, they might rethink whether a Catholic school is a good idea.

Yes, this is a classic, bigoted thing to say about Catholics.

[Anonymous]

St. Bart's principal has a really hot temper. Lots of long time families have left. He wants the feild so he can rent it to his lax buddies. Academics and rescources are not a priority. Kind teachers but overall not the community we were hoping for. Looking at Mercy and HR.

[Anonymous]

Have you considered Our Lady of Lourdes in Bethesda next to BCC high school? A few families we know seem happy with it.

[Anonymous]

look at the class sizes and how parents volunteer. from friends in the area, I would agree that HR is a good school, but hard to break into the community, I know families with good experiences at Holy Cross. DeChantel was love it or leave it - I think this one would be harder for a non Catholic family. think the new principal would help. would consider St Barts if a small school appeals to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you considered Our Lady of Lourdes in Bethesda next to BCC high school? A few families we know seem happy with it.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you considered Our Lady of Lourdes in Bethesda next to BCC high school? A few families we know seem happy with it.

+1