Westland/BCC homes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We ended up lucky 3 years ago- or so we thought. Snagged a four bedroom, 5-bath home with a gorgeous in-law suite for under 3 mil. The problem is now that the schools have been disappointing for both of our girls and we are applying to privates for fall 2026.

I live in the area and have kids going through the public schools. They are definitely not perfect - but they are free!! And they are fine.

I'm not going to argue that public is better than private. If you've got the money and it won't impact your saving goals, 100% go private. You'll bask in the amazing luxury facilities, small classes, and enrichment opportunities, etc. Plus all the other parents will be similarly situated and like minded.

But if it's public or bust, like many of us, the schools are pretty good and much, much, better than DC public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We ended up lucky 3 years ago- or so we thought. Snagged a four bedroom, 5-bath home with a gorgeous in-law suite for under 3 mil. The problem is now that the schools have been disappointing for both of our girls and we are applying to privates for fall 2026.

I live in the area and have kids going through the public schools. They are definitely not perfect - but they are free!! And they are fine.

I'm not going to argue that public is better than private. If you've got the money and it won't impact your saving goals, 100% go private. You'll bask in the amazing luxury facilities, small classes, and enrichment opportunities, etc. Plus all the other parents will be similarly situated and like minded.

But if it's public or bust, like many of us, the schools are pretty good and much, much, better than DC public schools.

There's no evidence that any of this improves student outcomes. And if you look at college admissions for the elite private schools in this area, they're frankly not that impressive when you take into account that these are the children of extremely wealthy people who have had every advantage possible and who have already gone through a competitive process to get into their private high schools. But I get it -- rich people like to surround themselves with other rich people; I don't have a problem at all with that! We just shouldn't pretend that it makes a difference in outcomes.

[Anonymous]

We moved to Bethesda for the public schools and honestly they have been a real disappointment. If your child is a high achiever they will do well enough but if your child is in the middle - well behaved but needs some attention- you are going to be very disappointed. Especially with middle schools like Westland. The kids on the spectrum or w behavioral issues and the kids who truly excel get the attention they need from teachers but the kids in the middle, the quieter ones who do not disrupt but also could do with some teacher attention don’t get it. There are some good teachers but mostly excessive reliance on screens and videos to teach the kids and keep them quiet. BCC has some great teachers but a decent proportion of the student body is disruptive or just doesn’t want to be in school and this makes it challenging for the kids who are just trying to learn. In retrospect we would have scrimped and sacrificed to send our kids to private if we could have. If these schools are considered the good ones we are really failing an entire generation of students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We moved to Bethesda for the public schools and honestly they have been a real disappointment. If your child is a high achiever they will do well enough but if your child is in the middle - well behaved but needs some attention- you are going to be very disappointed. Especially with middle schools like Westland. The kids on the spectrum or w behavioral issues and the kids who truly excel get the attention they need from teachers but the kids in the middle, the quieter ones who do not disrupt but also could do with some teacher attention don’t get it. There are some good teachers but mostly excessive reliance on screens and videos to teach the kids and keep them quiet. BCC has some great teachers but a decent proportion of the student body is disruptive or just doesn’t want to be in school and this makes it challenging for the kids who are just trying to learn. In retrospect we would have scrimped and sacrificed to send our kids to private if we could have. If these schools are considered the good ones we are really failing an entire generation of students.

What you've described has always been true. I guess I'm not sure what attention you're expecting of teachers, but going back 30 years to when my siblings and I were at BCC, there was no personalized attention for students. You always had to figure things out on your own or aggressively seek out help if you needed it. But we ended up at top 25 colleges.

[Anonymous]

We also moved to Bethesda for the schools and it's the best decision we ever made. I am the product of fancy privates, and my son attended a fancy private for a while, so I know what we're "missing"... which is the superficial luxuries, not anything related to instructional quality. One of my kids had an IEP from K-11th grade, and another has been in magnets and advanced tracks.

I completely reject a PP's ridiculous statement that public schools like BCC are failing a generation of students. The facts don't bear that out in any way. People lose all credibility when they say stuff like that.