advice on good middle/high schools in Maryland

[Anonymous]

It sounds like Silver Spring would be great for you. Check out the area walk able to FOrest Glen as well as the area walk able to Silver Metro.

[Anonymous]

Why do you want to move here? It doesn't sound as if you have to.

[Anonymous]

To answer the question about testing into Blair: Blair has two test-in programs, the Math-Science Magnet and the Communication Arts Program. Both take about about 100 kids per year, and about 1/5 applicants, although I don't know the exact, most recent numbers. However, a typical Blair class is 700 kids, so there are a lot of non-magnet, non-CAP kids. If you don't live in the Blair cluster, but you still live in something called the "Down-County Consortium" of schools, you may be able to enter a lottery to transfer to Blair. Perhaps someone else here knows the odds of success in the lottery.

[Anonymous]

We want to avoid the high congestion corridor NW of the Rockville area, so I guess Clarksburg and Derwood could be tough traffic wise. My mom lives in Chevy Chase, Md. and we've been stuck in traffic so many times driving to visit her from our Rockville Pike-area hotels (and during lunch time!).

I am intrigued by the Olney/Sandy Spring area. Sherwood H.S. gets very positive reviews on Trulia.

Couldn't find any appropriate high schools in Catonsville and Dundalk; saw some technical/science focused high school, but that's not my child's strength. Thanks to everyone for the info, though!

[Anonymous]

The Blair process sounds pretty stressful. I don't like the idea that your high school isn't a given. Plus, what if my daughter makes a few good friends in middle school and then loses them when they go off to different high schools? She really needs to have some friends going in to h.s.

We want to move because Kansas City is deathly dull and the opportunities for writers and editors are very low compared to the DC metro. Finding editing work here is like looking for a needle in a haystack. I'm from NYC and I really crave a big city I can at least visit a few times a month for cultural activities. Plus, the Tea Party is probably about to overtake the state legislature--it's very upsetting stuff down here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Blair process sounds pretty stressful. I don't like the idea that your high school isn't a given. Plus, what if my daughter makes a few good friends in middle school and then loses them when they go off to different high schools? She really needs to have some friends going in to h.s.

We want to move because Kansas City is deathly dull and the opportunities for writers and editors are very low compared to the DC metro. Finding editing work here is like looking for a needle in a haystack. I'm from NYC and I really crave a big city I can at least visit a few times a month for cultural activities. Plus, the Tea Party is probably about to overtake the state legislature--it's very upsetting stuff down here.

I'm in the Olney area. It's nice, though decidedly suburban. The Olney Mill/Tanterra subdivisions are probably in your price range (or close). I've heard mixed things about Sherwood. No real discipline issues, but I'm not sure it's geared for really high achievers. That's just second hand information though, as my child is still in elementary school.

[Anonymous]

Interesting info on Sherwood. From reading about the documentary "The Race to Nowhere" I'd be hesitant to have my daughter in a high-pressure high school where kids are going to sleep at 1am every night and getting stressed out doing the I-B programs or too many AP classes. My kid is pretty smart and an excellent writer, but she's just average in math. So Sherwood not being geared for really high achievers is probably okay. Would be wonderful if they had some great writing classes, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Blair process sounds pretty stressful. I don't like the idea that your high school isn't a given. Plus, what if my daughter makes a few good friends in middle school and then loses them when they go off to different high schools? She really needs to have some friends going in to h.s.

We want to move because Kansas City is deathly dull and the opportunities for writers and editors are very low compared to the DC metro. Finding editing work here is like looking for a needle in a haystack. I'm from NYC and I really crave a big city I can at least visit a few times a month for cultural activities. Plus, the Tea Party is probably about to overtake the state legislature--it's very upsetting stuff down here.

Just to clarify, if you live in the base area for Blair there is no process -- you are in if you list it as your first choice. It's a given.

The only process is applying to the special programs within Blair. If your daughter goes to school anywhere in MoCo or especially the Downcounty Consortium, some of her 8th grade friends will go off to different high schools because there are a lot of specialty options here. But you can just go to your local school, no problem.

[Anonymous]

Okay, thanks. I think the problem for us would be the stress of trying to get into a magnet program and then if she doesn't get in feeling kind of like a loser. Then if some of her friends get in and she doesn't, I'd think they start hanging out in different groups. I would like a setup where there's a middle school and then they all go to the same high school.

My daughter is bright, but she gets anxious pretty easily and I just hate to see her stressing over getting into a magnet program when she's only in 8th grade. I'm sure it does work well for certain students, though.

[Anonymous]

Check out olney and brokeville...both feed into Sherwood high school. Great areas.

[Anonymous]

Thanks. Yes, I've been researching Sherwood H.S. a bit, and checking out the home prices. I do hope the prices come down. It seems no matter where you look you're expected to pay $600,000 to $500,000 for a not-so-special house. Fifteen years ago homes in some areas of Bethesda were selling for under $300,000!

I wish the real estate nightmare would end. How can so many people afford this?? My husband and I have a substantial nest egg, but we don't want to use it for a house. Though if the market ever tumbles we'd love to swoop in.

For now, we may have to rent first. I don't see how these real estate prices can be sustained with the federal budget crisis. And the U.S. economy is really stalling right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks. Yes, I've been researching Sherwood H.S. a bit, and checking out the home prices. I do hope the prices come down. It seems no matter where you look you're expected to pay $600,000 to $500,000 for a not-so-special house. Fifteen years ago homes in some areas of Bethesda were selling for under $300,000!

I wish the real estate nightmare would end. How can so many people afford this?? My husband and I have a substantial nest egg, but we don't want to use it for a house. Though if the market ever tumbles we'd love to swoop in.

For now, we may have to rent first. I don't see how these real estate prices can be sustained with the federal budget crisis. And the U.S. economy is really stalling right now.

You wish what would end? Most people in this county wish the value of their homes would head back up. The top of the market was between 2004 and 2006. The market has already started back up. My house was at its peak value in early 2007. Lowest in 2009. Now its headed back up again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay, thanks. I think the problem for us would be the stress of trying to get into a magnet program and then if she doesn't get in feeling kind of like a loser. Then if some of her friends get in and she doesn't, I'd think they start hanging out in different groups. I would like a setup where there's a middle school and then they all go to the same high school.

My daughter is bright, but she gets anxious pretty easily and I just hate to see her stressing over getting into a magnet program when she's only in 8th grade. I'm sure it does work well for certain students, though.

Some of the magnets are county wide so it is possible that her friends will apply from any school she ends up at. There is actually less pressure to apply to magnets at the top schools than at the lower performing schools.

[Anonymous]

I didn't mean to be insensitive to people that were underwater on their mortgages. It's just that my husband and I have sat out the DC market for 10 years now. Even in 2002 we felt it was going up way too high too fast. We ended up moving to KC.

So here we are 10 years later and now the prices in Silver Spring, Takoma Park, and Olney are quite overheated in my opinion. It's frustrating to see home prices still so out of reach for a normal middle-class family. The DC metro basically shuts out people like us.

So I would like to see the prices come back down to reality. DC never had a steep drop as Florida, Arizona, or Nevada did. I think the DC area will have another downward correction in the next few years.

I know many DC professional journalists who have been holding out for 10 years for home prices to be rational here. We're still waiting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

So here we are 10 years later and now the prices in Silver Spring, Takoma Park, and Olney are quite overheated in my opinion. It's frustrating to see home prices still so out of reach for a normal middle-class family. The DC metro basically shuts out people like us.


I know many DC professional journalists who have been holding out for 10 years for home prices to be rational here. We're still waiting.

I empathize with you OP. DC housing prices are really high, meaning that unless you're a lawyer, lobbyist or have a trust fund, you're options are to move farther out, buy a townhome, or settle for something old and small. On the other hand, maybe that's better than living in KC in a great new home and feeling that your other options are severely limited? Good luck. You'll find something great I'm sure.