Looking to move to Silver Spring--Advice on neighborhoods/elementary schools
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
This is great advice. And FORGET Takoma Park. |
Anonymous
Why? TKPK ES and Piney Branch seem to be well regarded from friends who live in that area. And TKPK middle school is excellent. |
Anonymous
| Very happy iN Woodmoor and with our elementary school, Montgomery Knolls, with 17 kids in first grade class. nice homes In your range, family friendly and great holiday traditions, and walk to CVS, Chipolte, Starbucks, Etc. |
Anonymous
| Another vote for Woodmoor. The homes have a lot of character and there is a good community feel to it--as PP said, lots of neighborhood traditions. At one time Montgomery Knolls was not as well regarded, but within the past few years, more and more neighborhood kids are going there and it is a great school. Small classes and great teachers. We love it! |
Anonymous
The only issue is that 515 won't get you much. We looked at a house recently--selling for 525K so it could have been the same one. It was one of the most depressing houses I had ever been to with water damage in the basement and asbestoes tiles. We estimated that it needed at least 75K to update it. Cute neighborhood, though. |
Anonymous
Some of Takoma goes to Pine Crest ES, not TKPS, I believe. But I wonder if this is the poster who hates Takoma Park the city, in which case this person is just nuts and should be ignored. (Not that TP is perfect by any stretch, but the hater really is nuts, you should read some of her threads.) |
Anonymous
|
And another vote for Woodmoor. You cannot beat the neighborhood, family friendly, charming homes. And everything I hear about Montgomery Knolls is extremely positive. We're very in tune to those conversations, since we're deciding where to send our child next year. And we are very excited about Montgomery Knolls.
|
Anonymous
Not Pine Crest. Piney Branch. Pine Crest ES is in Woodmoor. |
Anonymous
| Yet another happy Woodmoor family here! We've lived here for nearly ten years, have children at both Montgomery Knolls (grades K-2) and Pine Crest (3-5), and are very pleased with both schools. MKES has a new principal this year and so far, families seem satisfied with him. My daughter's experienced teacher says that he's the best principal she's worked under. The staff at PCES is also excellent. Homes in Woodmoor are charming, the neighborhood is chock full of families with small kids, and the location can't be beat: ten minutes from downtown Silver Spring, ten minutes from Wheaton, ten minutes from IKEA/College Park, moments from the Beltway, and ten minutes from a few different Metro stations. |
Anonymous
|
Re: Takoma Park
The majority of neighborhoods go to TPES (K-2) and then Piney Branch ES (3-5). Some neighborhoods go to Rolling Terrace ES and others go to East Silver Spring ES. Families are happy at all of the schools mentioned above. |
Anonymous
| OP, this comes up a lot, so you want to do a search in the archives. Seems like Flora Singer, Oakland Terrace, and Highland View are the darlings of the Silver Spring DCUM ES market. |
Anonymous
| Rock Creek Forest has a wide mix of houses, and the elementary school will close and a new one built starting soon. My kids didn't go, but I hear the new principal is great too. |
Anonymous
|
Another vote for Forest Knolls! I also hear good things about Woodlin ES, and about Takoma Park ES for k-2nd (although not great things about Piney Branch, the school that Takoma Park kids go to in 3rd grade). I also know a family from Woodmoor who's relatively happy with those schools.
I wasn't sure about the Forest Knolls area at first (we were first looking in the Rock Creek ES area because I was initially interested in B-CC years later). But I have been so pleasantly surprised and happy with the school. Really great community and such good teachers. It also has an extra in-school writing/photog class called Jr Press Corps, good after school club activities (my son takes Chinese language class), and a terrific after-school care program for parents who work. We are so happy that if my kid gets into a gifted magnet program for 4th grade, we are considering keeping him at FKES. |
Anonymous
| Rosemary Hills resident here. I love our neighborhood! The families are great, schools are good, and commute to NIH and Union Station is very easy. I really like the walkability of the coop, Parkway Deli, and Rock Creek Sports Club. The neighborhood is small so listings may be sparse, but Mynor Herrera (a realtor) lives in the neighborborhood and seems to do a lot of business here. |
Anonymous
|
Just know that an elementary school that has ~17 kids in its K-2nd grade classes has small class size for a reason. It's either a Focus school or a Title 1 school. That, among other things, means high FARMS numbers.
Not at all trying to stir the pot and not at all saying a bad thing about it. However, know that there's a reason for those small class sizes - that MCPS considers that school population to need the assistance of smaller class size. |