Are the Bethesda/Potomac public schools worth the financial sacrifice to live there?

[Anonymous]

We are staying in Silver Spring so I can't help too much. I have seen houses in your range in Kensington Parkwood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should look through the archives--there are several threads of former Whitman grads who have chosen to send their children to schools in the WJ cluster. The WJ cluster has another advantage in that houses are less expensive. The neighborhoods are (generally) not as nice as the Whitman neighborhoods but the families (and therefore sense of community) more than make up for it. We have been very happy with the WJ cluster.

What is your budget?

I am not dissing your school or the families in your neighborhood - not sure why you feel like you need to diss mine. In fact in my earlier post I said all the Ws (and BCC) were good bets. I think there is one former Whitman student who posts frequently about being pleased not to be in the cluster. That's absolutely fine, but I don't take that as a broad pronouncement about the school. There are 2000 students in the school - it may not be the best fit for every one of them but my DC has been really happy there and gotten an excellent education and all the parents/kids we know are also happy with the school.

Here's the thing: I assure you that I understand the Whitman experience. I graduated from Whitman and went ALL the way through K-12 in Bethesda. I do not believe that the Whitman experience is "bad" but I want a different experience for my children. I know the (Whitman) neighborhood that I grew up in and I know the (WJ) neighborhood that my children are experiencing and I prefer this experience. One isn't better than the other but there are some real differences between them and I feel like I'm in a good position to be able to compare the two.

As for the past threads in the archives, I disagree that there's just one "former Whitman grad/now WJ parent" as I'm one of them and I have posted on more than one thread and have been pleasantly surprised to read similar posts from others who are also choosing WJ for their families. Sure, one other person could be sock puppeting but I don't know why they would care THAT much. In fact, in my "real" life, I know of five other Whitman grads who have made this same choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thank you for the feedback. I was kinda hoping to hear that all the Ws and BCC are great, but on the margin, not worth the squeeze financially since maybe the other schools have gotten an unfair/inaccurate rep. (no such luck I guess) Budget wise, we are in the 600-700K range adn that would be a squeeze, leaving us with nearly nothing in savings and I'm not sure whether there is anything in the neighborhood worth purchasing for that price anyway. I'm also a little hesitant for my kids to be amongs peers that will be a lot more privileged than they are and that they might think that this is the norm. Is that a legitimate thing to concern myself with?

You are unlikely to get any responses like that because people don't usually have experience with both W schools and SS high schools. They chose one or the other. The people replying chose Ws, and are happy, but you can't really know whether they could have been happy elsewhere because they didn't make that choice. How would someone whose kids go to Whitman know for sure whether Einstein gets an undeserved bad rep? Lots of folks post positive things about Einstein, but people who don't live there diss it. But how do they know what it is really like? Many people in W schools aren't feeling stretched by being there, so can't really judge whether it would be worth a stretch. And if they paid a hefty sum for their house, human nature dictates they tell themselves it was worth it. Those school are all great, so no one will tell you to avoid them. I just don't think you can get a clear answer to this from someone else. You have to decide if it is worth it To YOU.

[Anonymous]

No. stay where you are or move to another nice inexpensive place and spend your money in private school

[Anonymous]

What's your budget? Depending on what it is, you may find something in Potomac (Churchill cluster). There are some nice neighborhoods in the neighborhoods that feed into Bells Mill, Beverly Farms and Wayside. They are older homes (1960's or 1970's) but you will find lots of down to earth people who moved to the area for the schools.

[Anonymous]

We are in WJ cluster and quite happy. I can tell you this -- we moved here from another state where we were sending our kids to private. Having now experienced WJ and the middle school (Tilden) I honestly wonder if all that private school tuition was worth it. My only gripe is the large size and bureaucratic feel of the schools, but that's true of all the schools in MoCo. It's not really about which cluster you are in.

There are homes in the WJ cluster in the 600-700k range. I'd recommend looking in Kensington-Parkwood or the Old Farm area of Rockville. If you're open to larger townhomes, there are many in the 20852 zip that feed to WJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should look through the archives--there are several threads of former Whitman grads who have chosen to send their children to schools in the WJ cluster. The WJ cluster has another advantage in that houses are less expensive. The neighborhoods are (generally) not as nice as the Whitman neighborhoods but the families (and therefore sense of community) more than make up for it. We have been very happy with the WJ cluster.

What is your budget?

I am not dissing your school or the families in your neighborhood - not sure why you feel like you need to diss mine. In fact in my earlier post I said all the Ws (and BCC) were good bets. I think there is one former Whitman student who posts frequently about being pleased not to be in the cluster. That's absolutely fine, but I don't take that as a broad pronouncement about the school. There are 2000 students in the school - it may not be the best fit for every one of them but my DC has been really happy there and gotten an excellent education and all the parents/kids we know are also happy with the school.

Here's the thing: I assure you that I understand the Whitman experience. I graduated from Whitman and went ALL the way through K-12 in Bethesda. I do not believe that the Whitman experience is "bad" but I want a different experience for my children. I know the (Whitman) neighborhood that I grew up in and I know the (WJ) neighborhood that my children are experiencing and I prefer this experience. One isn't better than the other but there are some real differences between them and I feel like I'm in a good position to be able to compare the two.

As for the past threads in the archives, I disagree that there's just one "former Whitman grad/now WJ parent" as I'm one of them and I have posted on more than one thread and have been pleasantly surprised to read similar posts from others who are also choosing WJ for their families. Sure, one other person could be sock puppeting but I don't know why they would care THAT much. In fact, in my "real" life, I know of five other Whitman grads who have made this same choice.

+1. I have the same experience. I went to Whitman but my kids go to WJ because 1) I hated the Whitman snobbery I experienced as a student there and 2) we couldn't afford a house in the Whitman district even if we had wanted to move there. (I have never posted about this before.)

[Anonymous]

We live in the BCC district and I've been really happy with the schools (oldest is at Westland, so I can't comment on BCC itself). I think that in that price range you could look at the neighborhoods around Rosemary Hills or Rock Creek Forest.

However, having said that, I have friends whose kids are in the Takoma Park/Piney Branch/Takoma/Blair track and they're also very happy. When we've compared experiences the things I love about Westland seem to all be true of Takoma MS too, plus they have much better diversity.

We've got a strong motivator to stay where we are, which is that my mother lives in the same district and can provide aftercare. Without that motivation, I'd look at the Takoma neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely worth it. We used to live in Takoma Park and moved to the Churchill Cluster. Haven't looked back and also found a huge group of like-minded families here in Potomac. We are so happy with our choice and it's been several years. Worth the mortgage -- and it's double what we were paying before.

Just curious as to what the issues were in the Takoma Park schools that led you to want to move to the Churchill cluster? I ask, because we have been considering buying a home in Takoma Park.

[Anonymous]

I would not spend all your money on a house. Stay within that 30% max. of your budget for the mortgage and taxes.

[Anonymous]

I went to Wootton and thought it was overated 30 years ago. I am back in the area (husband's job transfer) and am happily sending my children to RM. I honestly cannot figure out what all the fuss is about MoCo public schools. Having lived elsewhere, other public schools are just as good, and the parents are less crazy and drunk on the kool aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's your budget? Depending on what it is, you may find something in Potomac (Churchill cluster). There are some nice neighborhoods in the neighborhoods that feed into Bells Mill, Beverly Farms and Wayside. They are older homes (1960's or 1970's) but you will find lots of down to earth people who moved to the area for the schools.

Agree that there are a lot of young down to earth families in the Bells Mill area. Even those in the million dollar houses are much more chill than the BCC types. The woodsiness of the area attracts less status conscious people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. stay where you are or move to another nice inexpensive place and spend your money in private school

Having had kids in MoCo (Takoma, immersion, magnets) and private school, I recommend you ignore this advice. Unless your kid gets into a "top 3," many area private schools don't offer much more than a good MoCo public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's your budget? Depending on what it is, you may find something in Potomac (Churchill cluster). There are some nice neighborhoods in the neighborhoods that feed into Bells Mill, Beverly Farms and Wayside. They are older homes (1960's or 1970's) but you will find lots of down to earth people who moved to the area for the schools.

Agree that there are a lot of young down to earth families in the Bells Mill area. Even those in the million dollar houses are much more chill than the BCC types. The woodsiness of the area attracts less status conscious people.

Having lived in both districts, my personal opinion is that BCC areas are more down to earth than the Churchill district by a long shot. Plus, Bells Mill area is not what I'd consider wooded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. stay where you are or move to another nice inexpensive place and spend your money in private school

Having had kids in MoCo (Takoma, immersion, magnets) and private school, I recommend you ignore this advice. Unless your kid gets into a "top 3," many area private schools don't offer much more than a good MoCo public.

Not only that, but do the math. At least if you choose a non-parochial independent school (the only ones, in my opinion, which may be better academically than the MoCo top publics) you must figure 30k every year for the rest of their schooling -- and each child adds on to this burden. This can end up being a lot more $$ than just buying a more expensive home in a better school cluster.