Moving to Gaithersburg area - need to figure out where to live and send DS to kindergarten

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The schools in the "affordable" area of Gaithersburg, which means east of I-270, are awful. You'll be paying high Montgomery County taxes and getting very little in return.

The Gaithersburg schools on the west side of I-270 range from okay to fairly good, but you'll pay almost as much to live in those areas as you would to live in Bethesda, where the schools are much better.

Check out Howard County. It's not that long of a commute from Howard County to Gaithersburg, and you'll get much more house for your money and much better schools.

Gaithersburg (and Montgomery County in general) is in a serious decline economically and educationally, and there is no sign of a turnaround.

Thanks for including that last sentence--killed your credibility, so OP can now safely ignore your entire post!

Maybe some of you won't be here to see it but in 10-15 years the areas east of 270 will be no different than PG County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The schools in the "affordable" area of Gaithersburg, which means east of I-270, are awful. You'll be paying high Montgomery County taxes and getting very little in return.

The Gaithersburg schools on the west side of I-270 range from okay to fairly good, but you'll pay almost as much to live in those areas as you would to live in Bethesda, where the schools are much better.

Check out Howard County. It's not that long of a commute from Howard County to Gaithersburg, and you'll get much more house for your money and much better schools.

Gaithersburg (and Montgomery County in general) is in a serious decline economically and educationally, and there is no sign of a turnaround.

Thanks for including that last sentence--killed your credibility, so OP can now safely ignore your entire post!

Maybe some of you won't be here to see it but in 10-15 years the areas east of 270 will be no different than PG County.

This isn't likely. MoCo has a strong government that works effectively to manage an extremely diverse population. We have strong public school system, police, housing, and public/low oncome health components. PG does not. Light years ahead of how PG County governs.

[Anonymous]

I live east of 270 and I wouldn't do it again. Lots of the areas are run down and skanky. Half the homes in every subdivision are in foreclosure. 30 percent of the kids coming into some of the kindergarten classes don't speak a word of english.

Obviously you can make anything work if you need to but why put yourself in the position to be in a failing school or a school that feeds into a failing school (Gaithersburg High for example) if you don't have to.

[Anonymous]

OP what is your price range and type of house that you like? We are in the Wootton cluster and love the area. 20878 zones to Wootton and Quince Orchard. Woottem is ranked very high but I know people at QO who like it too.

There are town homes in the 300K range that feed into Stonemill, Travliah, Dufief, and Lakewood. There are also some smaller SFH in the 500-600 range for these areas. Most homes are in the 700+ range but DD has friends across all house sizes. Unlike some of the closer in areas, there don't seem to be cliques established between the mega mansion kids and the smaller town home kids at all. The town homes are in the neighborhoods with the SFHs and several have access to a community center with a pool. The community is a nice mix of run of the mill American (mostly white but some AA), Indian and Chinese residents with most everyone being highly educated regardless of group.

The areas in 20878 that feed into QO are less expensive for the same type of house/lot. Westleigh is popular and has older 1907s/80s type colonial and SFH houses. Kentlands/Lakelands is pricey IMO for the quality of the houses and has a lot of younger families (kid's ages younger) but some people really love living there while others move out. It just depends on what you are looking for in a house/neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

We live in Quince Orchard Park, a fairly young/small community very close to Kentland. We love the area and very happy with Diamond Elementary School. Middle school is Lakeland Park, also a strong school. High school is Northwest, but I'll send DD to private if she can't get into Magnet (gifted) program in Richard Montgomery or Poolsville HS. Condo around 400k, single home in general under 700k. Walking distance to Kentland, a well developed community with Whole Food, Giant, K-Mart, Michael's, Pet's Mart, Cinema, Gym, Chipotle, Starbuck + many many stores.

From Pre-K to 2nd grade, I send DD to Primary Montessori Day School. Strongly recommend you to check it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live in Quince Orchard Park, a fairly young/small community very close to Kentland. We love the area and very happy with Diamond Elementary School. Middle school is Lakeland Park, also a strong school. High school is Northwest, but I'll send DD to private if she can't get into Magnet (gifted) program in Richard Montgomery or Poolsville HS. Condo around 400k, single home in general under 700k. Walking distance to Kentland, a well developed community with Whole Food, Giant, K-Mart, Michael's, Pet's Mart, Cinema, Gym, Chipotle, Starbuck + many many stores.

From Pre-K to 2nd grade, I send DD to Primary Montessori Day School. Strongly recommend you to check it out.

Hi Diamond Elem! We will be starting there next year. Not to hi-jack the thread but can you tell me - is class size an issue at the school? I have heard they are on the large size. I'm hoping my DD will do okay in K there. Other than that - I've heard all good things about this school.

[Anonymous]

Be very careful if you are looking at housing in the King Farm area. King Farm is split between Gaithersburg HS and Richard Montgomery HS. The houses in the section of King Farm that feeds into Gaithersburg sell for much, much less than the houses that are in the area that feeds into Richard Montgomery HS. A real estate agent told us that King Farm was in the Richard Montgomery cluster, but when we checked with the school system, we found that only the southern part of King Farm feeds into Richard Montgomery.

[Anonymous]

Great schools with reasonable housing!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in Quince Orchard Park, a fairly young/small community very close to Kentland. We love the area and very happy with Diamond Elementary School. Middle school is Lakeland Park, also a strong school. High school is Northwest, but I'll send DD to private if she can't get into Magnet (gifted) program in Richard Montgomery or Poolsville HS. Condo around 400k, single home in general under 700k. Walking distance to Kentland, a well developed community with Whole Food, Giant, K-Mart, Michael's, Pet's Mart, Cinema, Gym, Chipotle, Starbuck + many many stores.

From Pre-K to 2nd grade, I send DD to Primary Montessori Day School. Strongly recommend you to check it out.

Hi Diamond Elem! We will be starting there next year. Not to hi-jack the thread but can you tell me - is class size an issue at the school? I have heard they are on the large size. I'm hoping my DD will do okay in K there. Other than that - I've heard all good things about this school.

It was about 26 kids per class when DD was attending 2 years ago. Teachers are caring and attentive. Compare to other ES in Northwestern cluster, Diamond send relatively high ratio of kids to the highly gifted program at Fox Chapel.

[Anonymous]

NP here. Whoever suggested moving to Howard County and commuting to Gaithersburg is nuts. That is not a good commute. I live in Howard County and commute to Rockville, which is closer than Gaithersburg, and it takes an hour. I love Howard County, but if I needed to work in Gaithersburg permanently, I would not buy there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here. Whoever suggested moving to Howard County and commuting to Gaithersburg is nuts. That is not a good commute. I live in Howard County and commute to Rockville, which is closer than Gaithersburg, and it takes an hour. I love Howard County, but if I needed to work in Gaithersburg permanently, I would not buy there.

I'm the pp who suggested Clarksville. It would really be an hour? Even with the ICC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. Whoever suggested moving to Howard County and commuting to Gaithersburg is nuts. That is not a good commute. I live in Howard County and commute to Rockville, which is closer than Gaithersburg, and it takes an hour. I love Howard County, but if I needed to work in Gaithersburg permanently, I would not buy there.

I'm the pp who suggested Clarksville. It would really be an hour? Even with the ICC?

Is there an exit for Clarksville anywhere near the ICC?

[Anonymous]

Clarksville would be 40 minutes on a good day on 108, which is 2 lanes, so you know how that can go. You'd have to drive down 108 to Olney and get on the ICC at Georgia Ave, then pay like $5 round trip just to drive on it. It's not a good option IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The schools in the "affordable" area of Gaithersburg, which means east of I-270, are awful. You'll be paying high Montgomery County taxes and getting very little in return.

The Gaithersburg schools on the west side of I-270 range from okay to fairly good, but you'll pay almost as much to live in those areas as you would to live in Bethesda, where the schools are much better.

Check out Howard County. It's not that long of a commute from Howard County to Gaithersburg, and you'll get much more house for your money and much better schools.

Gaithersburg (and Montgomery County in general) is in a serious decline economically and educationally, and there is no sign of a turnaround.

Thanks for including that last sentence--killed your credibility, so OP can now safely ignore your entire post!

Maybe some of you won't be here to see it but in 10-15 years the areas east of 270 will be no different than PG County.

Sorry, but I have to agree with this poster. I have worked in the area for years and see the transformation. FWIW, I live in a prett diverse area myself (Aspen Hill) and I'm not white, so I'm not against diversity.

Have any of you guys been to LakeForest Mall recently? It says a lot. LakeForest used to be a decent mall. Now, it's full of low tier stores and I think it's in foreclosure?

Not a great area if you can avoid it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The schools in the "affordable" area of Gaithersburg, which means east of I-270, are awful. You'll be paying high Montgomery County taxes and getting very little in return.

The Gaithersburg schools on the west side of I-270 range from okay to fairly good, but you'll pay almost as much to live in those areas as you would to live in Bethesda, where the schools are much better.

Check out Howard County. It's not that long of a commute from Howard County to Gaithersburg, and you'll get much more house for your money and much better schools.

Gaithersburg (and Montgomery County in general) is in a serious decline economically and educationally, and there is no sign of a turnaround.

Thanks for including that last sentence--killed your credibility, so OP can now safely ignore your entire post!

Maybe some of you won't be here to see it but in 10-15 years the areas east of 270 will be no different than PG County.

Sorry, but I have to agree with this poster. I have worked in the area for years and see the transformation. FWIW, I live in a prett diverse area myself (Aspen Hill) and I'm not white, so I'm not against diversity.

Have any of you guys been to LakeForest Mall recently? It says a lot. LakeForest used to be a decent mall. Now, it's full of low tier stores and I think it's in foreclosure?

Not a great area if you can avoid it.

I'm the first PP you quoted, and I agree with YOUR post, but not the one I originally quoted. That PP stated that MoCo is in a huge decline (I disagree), schools are much better in Bethesda than in the plush parts of Gaithersburg (disagree again) and that you will pay almost as much in Gaithersburg as you would for a comparable home in Bethesda (just not true, opinions aside).

Lakeforest is a dump and has been for quite some time. It was actually sold this year and there are supposedly some plans to redevelop that area with big box stores or some kind of outdoor shopping space. We'll see, we usually just zip down to Montgomery anyway. That being said, Gaithersburg is HUGE, and the areas recommended to the OP are not ones near LF. Here OP, these are the "good" Gaithersburg zip codes: 20878, 20882 (technically Laytonsville), 20855 (Derwood, which is part Gaithersburg, part Rockville and part Olney). Homes near Rio, Lakelands, Kentlands, Darnestown, Travilah, DuFief (20878) are all quite nice and correspond with good elem schools. Any school in 20882 seems to have a good reputation as well--Laytonsville, Woodfield, Clearspring, but then you are moving closer to Damascus, which would be a less desirable commute. I'm not as familiar with the Derwood community and schools, so I can't comment on them.

I have lived in this area on and off for 30 years and I am white, if that's at all relevant, as some people apparently think.