Crazy to move from BCC cluster ES to Janney/Deal/Wilson for schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NW doesn't closely resemble the country.

MD/DC is an odd place, it's much richer and much less white than most everywhere else, even though in general wealth and race are correlated (both in DC and elsewhere).

So sometimes you get crazy people going on about how white certain areas are (see the Bethesda RE thread) even though they aren't really all that white compared to our nation as a whole. Then other times you have people totally out of touch who think $1.3 million for a fixer-upper is somehow normal.

Dunno much about VA even though I've lived MD/DC my whole life. I think it used to be farms and now there are a lot of IT people from Kansas and India there or something, and they all seem rich and like their jobs vaguely involve bombing places, or building bombs or selling bombs or whatever.

Apparently your reading skills are very limited.

One hundred years ago, no one cared.

Today, good luck!

[Anonymous]

OP, yes, it's crazy. You said it. It's crazy. To me, it's more important to have a strong HS, as that's when it counts the most. Wilson and BCC are wolds apart; can't even touch the academic, sports and cultural options at BCC. Don't do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, yes, it's crazy. You said it. It's crazy. To me, it's more important to have a strong HS, as that's when it counts the most. Wilson and BCC are wolds apart; can't even touch the academic, sports and cultural options at BCC. Don't do it.

That is certainly true today. But do we know that to be true 10 years from now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, yes, it's crazy. You said it. It's crazy. To me, it's more important to have a strong HS, as that's when it counts the most. Wilson and BCC are wolds apart; can't even touch the academic, sports and cultural options at BCC. Don't do it.

That is certainly true today. But do we know that to be true 10 years from now?

+1. If OP's kid was say, in middle school, I'd say she's crazy to want to move. However, she's got a 1st grader. Wilson will likely look a lot more like BCC by the time he's ready for high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, yes, it's crazy. You said it. It's crazy. To me, it's more important to have a strong HS, as that's when it counts the most. Wilson and BCC are wolds apart; can't even touch the academic, sports and cultural options at BCC. Don't do it.

I think it is a mistake to assume that a school with a broad demographic is not strong simply because not all students at the school are high achievers.

Basically, you are just saying you prefer a suburban demographic. Which is fine. But it is silly to tell a kid who got 5s on all of her AP tests and rocked the SATs and attended her top choice university -- or any kid really -- that she was crazy to have gone to Wilson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, yes, it's crazy. You said it. It's crazy. To me, it's more important to have a strong HS, as that's when it counts the most. Wilson and BCC are wolds apart; can't even touch the academic, sports and cultural options at BCC. Don't do it.

That is certainly true today. But do we know that to be true 10 years from now?

+1. If OP's kid was say, in middle school, I'd say she's crazy to want to move. However, she's got a 1st grader. Wilson will likely look a lot more like BCC by the time he's ready for high school.

Are you hypothesizing that in 10year after much hard work, mass gentrifying tied with locking down boundaries that the only acceptable high school in DC might(?) gain parity with the 5th or so best High School in a neighboring county? Is that supposed to encourage parents trying to make staying in the city work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, yes, it's crazy. You said it. It's crazy. To me, it's more important to have a strong HS, as that's when it counts the most. Wilson and BCC are wolds apart; can't even touch the academic, sports and cultural options at BCC. Don't do it.

That is certainly true today. But do we know that to be true 10 years from now?

+1. If OP's kid was say, in middle school, I'd say she's crazy to want to move. However, she's got a 1st grader. Wilson will likely look a lot more like BCC by the time he's ready for high school.

Are you hypothesizing that in 10year after much hard work, mass gentrifying tied with locking down boundaries that the only acceptable high school in DC might(?) gain parity with the 5th or so best High School in a neighboring county? Is that supposed to encourage parents trying to make staying in the city work?

Janey and Deal are definitely at least on par with the better Montgomery county schools. Since OP's kid is a 1st grader, I see where she could justify the decision to make the move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, yes, it's crazy. You said it. It's crazy. To me, it's more important to have a strong HS, as that's when it counts the most. Wilson and BCC are wolds apart; can't even touch the academic, sports and cultural options at BCC. Don't do it.

I think it is a mistake to assume that a school with a broad demographic is not strong simply because not all students at the school are high achievers.

Basically, you are just saying you prefer a suburban demographic. Which is fine. But it is silly to tell a kid who got 5s on all of her AP tests and rocked the SATs and attended her top choice university -- or any kid really -- that she was crazy to have gone to Wilson.

Wilson kids actually get admitted to great colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, yes, it's crazy. You said it. It's crazy. To me, it's more important to have a strong HS, as that's when it counts the most. Wilson and BCC are wolds apart; can't even touch the academic, sports and cultural options at BCC. Don't do it.

I think it is a mistake to assume that a school with a broad demographic is not strong simply because not all students at the school are high achievers.

Basically, you are just saying you prefer a suburban demographic. Which is fine. But it is silly to tell a kid who got 5s on all of her AP tests and rocked the SATs and attended her top choice university -- or any kid really -- that she was crazy to have gone to Wilson.

Wilson kids actually get admitted to great colleges.

A small number, and almost all of them get lots of support from college counselors outside the school. The low-income high achievers generally use NGO college counseling services and the high SES get help from Ivy League parents and paid college admissions coaches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, yes, it's crazy. You said it. It's crazy. To me, it's more important to have a strong HS, as that's when it counts the most. Wilson and BCC are wolds apart; can't even touch the academic, sports and cultural options at BCC. Don't do it.

That is certainly true today. But do we know that to be true 10 years from now?

+1. If OP's kid was say, in middle school, I'd say she's crazy to want to move. However, she's got a 1st grader. Wilson will likely look a lot more like BCC by the time he's ready for high school.

Are you hypothesizing that in 10year after much hard work, mass gentrifying tied with locking down boundaries that the only acceptable high school in DC might(?) gain parity with the 5th or so best High School in a neighboring county? Is that supposed to encourage parents trying to make staying in the city work?

You should only stay in the city if you're willing to live in the city. Not your gentrified enclave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, yes, it's crazy. You said it. It's crazy. To me, it's more important to have a strong HS, as that's when it counts the most. Wilson and BCC are wolds apart; can't even touch the academic, sports and cultural options at BCC. Don't do it.

That is certainly true today. But do we know that to be true 10 years from now?

+1. If OP's kid was say, in middle school, I'd say she's crazy to want to move. However, she's got a 1st grader. Wilson will likely look a lot more like BCC by the time he's ready for high school.

Are you hypothesizing that in 10year after much hard work, mass gentrifying tied with locking down boundaries that the only acceptable high school in DC might(?) gain parity with the 5th or so best High School in a neighboring county? Is that supposed to encourage parents trying to make staying in the city work?

You should only stay in the city if you're willing to live in the city. Not your gentrified enclave.

I like the city better gentrified.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, yes, it's crazy. You said it. It's crazy. To me, it's more important to have a strong HS, as that's when it counts the most. Wilson and BCC are wolds apart; can't even touch the academic, sports and cultural options at BCC. Don't do it.

I think it is a mistake to assume that a school with a broad demographic is not strong simply because not all students at the school are high achievers.

Basically, you are just saying you prefer a suburban demographic. Which is fine. But it is silly to tell a kid who got 5s on all of her AP tests and rocked the SATs and attended her top choice university -- or any kid really -- that she was crazy to have gone to Wilson.

Wilson kids actually get admitted to great colleges.

A small number, and almost all of them get lots of support from college counselors outside the school. The low-income high achievers generally use NGO college counseling services and the high SES get help from Ivy League parents and paid college admissions coaches.

Just curious, but how do you have all of this inside information on the lives of 1800 kids and whet they may or may not be doing outside of school? And what does the college counseling choice have to do with the quality of the education?

[Anonymous]

Hi OP,
I found this thread as I am in a similar situation to the one that motivated your post (in BCC cluster but with very young children so i am concerned with the over crowding in MCPS ES, but otherwise happy with the neighborhood) and I am considering/thinking about a similar move to DC within a year for similar reasons—smaller class sizes. It’s been 2.5 years, more or less, since your original post so I am curious about what you did at the end and what you found out as a result of your research on both MCPS and DCPS. Any feedback you feel comfortable to share will be appreciated. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Moved to DCPS. A different elementary than Janney but it is spectacular. We really liked or MoCo school, but the DCPS elementary school we are now in (one of the usual ones) is actually much, much better. (Kids are equally happy, but we see considerably better lessons being taught all throughout the school.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, yes, it's crazy. You said it. It's crazy. To me, it's more important to have a strong HS, as that's when it counts the most. Wilson and BCC are wolds apart; can't even touch the academic, sports and cultural options at BCC. Don't do it.

I don't know much about BCC athletics, except that my kid's Wilson team beat BCC in the one game I remember when they played each other . Oh, and some kids that I know at BCC were out of luck for basketball after middle school because BCC doesn't have a freshman team, which Wilson and the privates do. I know kids on the Wilson crew, lacrosse, baseball, basketball, football, ultimate, wrestling, tennis, track, cross country, and soccer teams, and they all seem pretty happy with Wilson's offerings. Maybe BCC golf is better?

I have no idea what PP is talking about with cultural options, but I'm not really sure what a school with MORE cultural options than Wilson would look like. My kid has only been in one play during his years at Wilson, but he seems to attend one every other week -- one acts, 24 hour plays, a musical, a mystery, etc. And, one of the coolest things about the parent open house we attended at Wilson was the performance by the large, incredibly diverse choir (actually one of 3 choirs, I think), which was getting ready to go perform in Vienna or somewhere. My kid is not in WIS, but the international relations speakers who come are pretty cool, as are the visits by people like Broadway playwrights to the drama department.

I'm sure BCC is awesome, but the Wilson kids I know are pretty happy.