Germantown schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not the elementary you were looking at but Ronald McNair in Germantown is a very good school, just a bit further down than Clopper Mills and has a similar feeder pattern.

There's also Germantown ES, Matsunaga ES ( might be harder to move into this area) and Great Seneca Creek ES. All have the same feeder pattern as Clopper Mill (at the moment at least).

Matsunaga goes to Kingsview MS. Some of Great Seneca Creek also goes to Kingsview.

There is supposed to be rezoning involving Seneca Valley HS after the renovation is complete (now scheduled for 2020, I think) that may involve Northwest HS as well as Clarksburg HS.

It will involve both schools. The current plan states that Seneca well be able to accommodate 1000 seats from the two high schools so I'm assuming ~500 from Northwest and ~500 from Clarksburg. That's virtually a whole elementary school. I'm not sure if they will take from McNair to balance demographics or from Clemente which already has split articulation and just make the whole school go to Seneca.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are all bashing this ES school but saying the middle and high school are okay? Aren't all these problem kids going into the middle and high school. Doesn't sound very positive at all.

Clopper Mill ES enrollment per grade: 52-75
Roberto Clemente MS enrollment per grade: 374-450
Northwest HS enrollment per grade: 454-616

Also, I don't think that anybody has said anything about "problem kids", let alone "all these problem kids". Unless you assume that poor black and Hispanic kids are by definition problem kids? But you wouldn't do that.

Well obviously everyone else here on the thread thinks they are. No one is talking about an overcrowded school or ineffective teachers. That leaves the students that are the problem, correct?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are all bashing this ES school but saying the middle and high school are okay? Aren't all these problem kids going into the middle and high school. Doesn't sound very positive at all.

Clopper Mill ES enrollment per grade: 52-75
Roberto Clemente MS enrollment per grade: 374-450
Northwest HS enrollment per grade: 454-616

Also, I don't think that anybody has said anything about "problem kids", let alone "all these problem kids". Unless you assume that poor black and Hispanic kids are by definition problem kids? But you wouldn't do that.

Well obviously everyone else here on the thread thinks they are. No one is talking about an overcrowded school or ineffective teachers. That leaves the students that are the problem, correct?

I'm not sure about the student body per se.. I do know that personally I want my child in a challenging environment and Clopper Mill is one of the worst performing elementary schools in the county and certainly in Germantown. That would be my criteria for judging the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are all bashing this ES school but saying the middle and high school are okay? Aren't all these problem kids going into the middle and high school. Doesn't sound very positive at all.

Clopper Mill ES enrollment per grade: 52-75
Roberto Clemente MS enrollment per grade: 374-450
Northwest HS enrollment per grade: 454-616

Also, I don't think that anybody has said anything about "problem kids", let alone "all these problem kids". Unless you assume that poor black and Hispanic kids are by definition problem kids? But you wouldn't do that.

Well obviously everyone else here on the thread thinks they are. No one is talking about an overcrowded school or ineffective teachers. That leaves the students that are the problem, correct?

I'm not sure about the student body per se.. I do know that personally I want my child in a challenging environment and Clopper Mill is one of the worst performing elementary schools in the county and certainly in Germantown. That would be my criteria for judging the school. [/quote

Riiiiight. And what makes it so bad?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I'm not sure about the student body per se.. I do know that personally I want my child in a challenging environment and Clopper Mill is one of the worst performing elementary schools in the county and certainly in Germantown. That would be my criteria for judging the school.

You would judge the school based on its overall scores on standardized tests?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'm not sure about the student body per se.. I do know that personally I want my child in a challenging environment and Clopper Mill is one of the worst performing elementary schools in the county and certainly in Germantown. That would be my criteria for judging the school.

You would judge the school based on its overall scores on standardized tests?

That and neighborhood parents

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'm not sure about the student body per se.. I do know that personally I want my child in a challenging environment and Clopper Mill is one of the worst performing elementary schools in the county and certainly in Germantown. That would be my criteria for judging the school.

You would judge the school based on its overall scores on standardized tests?

That and neighborhood parents

Have you met any?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'm not sure about the student body per se.. I do know that personally I want my child in a challenging environment and Clopper Mill is one of the worst performing elementary schools in the county and certainly in Germantown. That would be my criteria for judging the school.

You would judge the school based on its overall scores on standardized tests?

That and neighborhood parents

Have you met any?

I'm this poster... "Not PP, you are replying to but I know many families whose kids go to Clopper Mill, I know families that have from the beginning gone private and I know those that initially sent their child there and pulled them out. I think its pretty well established that there are many issues with the school no matter which 3 of these groups is doing the talking. That being said I know a child who is doing great there. I have a close friend who pulled their kid out because the school had little parent involvement and a ton of discipline issues. It depends on the kid and the family but clearly its not going to be on the list of more desirable schools. "

[Anonymous]

Not the OP, we are currently considering a TH in the Seneca Hill area, but we don't know too much about the area. Reading this thread has generated mixed emotions.

How is the neighborhood (population? occupations? crime?) and what are the parents like? Are there SAHMS of 2 parent family, 1-parent family, low income housing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not the OP, we are currently considering a TH in the Seneca Hill area, but we don't know too much about the area. Reading this thread has generated mixed emotions.

How is the neighborhood (population? occupations? crime?) and what are the parents like? Are there SAHMS of 2 parent family, 1-parent family, low income housing?

Since that is a new development I can't say much about it and perhaps it will have a positive impact on the area. Certainly the neighborhood immediately surrounding it is low income housing. I personally have nothing I can really add to that as I don't know anyone personally who lives there. But there are higher income neighborhoods sprinkled all throughout that whole area which feed into Clopper mill which are probably similar to yourself in SES. But Clopper mills student population is 75% Farms. So it's certainly not one of the most affluent boundary zones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clopper Mill has a lot of challenges. I have several friends who live there and they all send their kids to private school. The middle school, Roberto Clemente, is pretty good and has a magnet program in it. My friends with kids at Northwest have been happy too.

So they actually know nothing first-hand about Clopper Mill, because their children don't go there? I knew somebody who lived in one of the non-poor areas that is zoned for Clopper Mill, and she refused out of hand to send her child there. She never even set foot in the place, and from what she said, none of her neighbors ever did either. Too many poor, brown kids.

OP, Clopper Mill is a Title I school. That means that

1. There are lots of poor kids who go there.
2. Class sizes for K-2 are small.

Here is the MCPS summary sheet for Clopper Mill: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/02100.pdf

Are there high-poverty schools in MCPS that are well-run, with good teachers? There certainly are, just as there are badly-run schools with bad teachers in Bethesda and Potomac. Is Clopper Mill a well-run, good-teacher high-poverty school? I don't know, unfortunately. I hope that somebody with first-hand experience with Clopper Mill will post.

No, they transferred out after either one or two years there. Don't be so judgy. We all do what's best for our kids. One needed an IEP and was not being served well at all at Clopper Mill. Not at all.

Title 1 schools can be strong schools, but a lot depends on who the principal is, and whether they are a strong leader. I have other friends with kids at Stedwick Elementary, and they are doing great. Also a very low income, Title 1 school. But Clopper Mill, not so much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not the OP, we are currently considering a TH in the Seneca Hill area, but we don't know too much about the area. Reading this thread has generated mixed emotions.

How is the neighborhood (population? occupations? crime?) and what are the parents like? Are there SAHMS of 2 parent family, 1-parent family, low income housing?

Is "Seneca Hill" where the Weis supermarket used to be? I wouldn't buy a house there, and not because of the schools. The houses themselves were slapped up in a day and a half; the rest of the housing in the area is not aging well; and there's not going to be any redevelopment of that housing because it isn't really anywhere and there are no plans for it to be anywhere. If you're planning to stay in your house for more than a few years, it might be a good idea to look for a house that's closer to something/somewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not the OP, we are currently considering a TH in the Seneca Hill area, but we don't know too much about the area. Reading this thread has generated mixed emotions.

How is the neighborhood (population? occupations? crime?) and what are the parents like? Are there SAHMS of 2 parent family, 1-parent family, low income housing?

Is "Seneca Hill" where the Weis supermarket used to be? I wouldn't buy a house there, and not because of the schools. The houses themselves were slapped up in a day and a half; the rest of the housing in the area is not aging well; and there's not going to be any redevelopment of that housing because it isn't really anywhere and there are no plans for it to be anywhere. If you're planning to stay in your house for more than a few years, it might be a good idea to look for a house that's closer to something/somewhere.

Not PP, but I believe that is the same place. This is the community built up where most recently there was a Latin American Market. Right behind the 7-11 gas station on Clopper Rd.

[Anonymous]

Yes that is the community we re looking at...is there a better community in Germantown that others would recommend?
Ideally we want to be there through elementary years before moving into sfh.

[Anonymous]

Manchester Farm might have townhouses for similar prices, although probably no garages, and it's more centrally-located. Maybe take a look?

The schools would be Ronald McNair-Kingsview-Northwest.