Wootton or Churchill or RM

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:RM doesn't belong in this comparison if you are comparing schools. It's over crowded with poor test scores despite having magnets.

Yes because RM has poor kids and the other schools don't. Ripe for boundary redrawing. What will W parents do when more poor kids come into their schools and bring down the test scores? I guess you will move to private because the poor kids might infect your kid and bring down your kid's test scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Churchill is tier 1, wootton is tier 1.5, and RM is tier 3.

RM is actually headed down further. Look at how city is trying to make their over crowding situation worse. There is thread for that.

No worries... Wootton and probably Churchill will get their boundaries redrawn soon, and *gasp* they might get more poor people.

Well, they won't be having overcrowded situations like RM.

You don't think RM's boundaries would be included in the changes? Why would RM be ay more likely to be overcrowded then any other school if the county redraws all the boundaries.

No.. clearly the ^PP doesn't think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to school in MoCo, my mom taught for many years there, and now my friends/co-worker's kids are there and we're considering moving, so have been asking around about some of the high schools, too.

Churchill = Beverly Hills 90210, but academics have always been very good.

Wootton has always been good academically, and science/math oriented long before STEM was a thing. Not sure if that's turned into an ultra competitive culture more recently, but it wasn't that way historically. It has (historically and now, I think) a significant Asian population, so also not sure if there is some stereotyping in the opinions.

I'm not that familiar with RM.

A PP mentioned QO, but unless that has DRASTICALLY changed, it in no way compares to Churchill or Wootton.

My dd goes to Churchill. We chose to live here because of high test scores/academics but have been quite disappointed. Much less academically rigorous than I was expecting and deficient in a number of ways. I somewhat regret not selecting Wootton, but I don't know anything about the stress issues there.

Churchill has high test scores because it is wealthy and many parents supplement with tutoring, etc. I don't think the teaching is any better than many other schools. In addition, although parents prioritize education enough to push their kids for As or high SAT scores, I wouldn't describe the parents or kids as intellectual in any way. There is much more talk/prioritization about things like sports and poms than about academic clubs. Things like science/model UN, and other academic clubs are not strong, and the kids in those areas seem to be thought of as 'not cool.' Kids in some of these clubs try to distance themselves from the clubs even if they participate in them. Kids complain about the instrumental music program, and there aren't things as basic as a marching band or a science fair. I heard (rumor) that the Model UN was disbanded this year because there were so many kids doing drugs at the conference that they couldn't get it under control without disbanding.

My sense is that this is different in Wootton (but again, I'm only seeing from the outside).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Churchill is tier 1, wootton is tier 1.5, and RM is tier 3.

RM is actually headed down further. Look at how city is trying to make their over crowding situation worse. There is thread for that.

No worries... Wootton and probably Churchill will get their boundaries redrawn soon, and *gasp* they might get more poor people.

Well, they won't be having overcrowded situations like RM.

You don't think RM's boundaries would be included in the changes? Why would RM be ay more likely to be overcrowded then any other school if the county redraws all the boundaries.

There is no date to redraw boundary. Not sure what some posters are talking here. Right now RM is very over crowded and city wants to build more apartments. Even if redrawing happens after 5 years, city attitude towards school will insure that RM will again become over crowded. That's what makes RM different when it comes to over crowding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:RM doesn't belong in this comparison if you are comparing schools. It's over crowded with poor test scores despite having magnets.

Yes because RM has poor kids and the other schools don't. Ripe for boundary redrawing. What will W parents do when more poor kids come into their schools and bring down the test scores? I guess you will move to private because the poor kids might infect your kid and bring down your kid's test scores.

Oh, and when this is going to happen?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:RM doesn't belong in this comparison if you are comparing schools. It's over crowded with poor test scores despite having magnets.

Yes because RM has poor kids and the other schools don't. Ripe for boundary redrawing. What will W parents do when more poor kids come into their schools and bring down the test scores? I guess you will move to private because the poor kids might infect your kid and bring down your kid's test scores.

Oh, and when this is going to happen?

They'll complain mainly and threaten to move. Most will shut-up and bear it since deep down they realize it doesn't get better elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to school in MoCo, my mom taught for many years there, and now my friends/co-worker's kids are there and we're considering moving, so have been asking around about some of the high schools, too.

Churchill = Beverly Hills 90210, but academics have always been very good.

Wootton has always been good academically, and science/math oriented long before STEM was a thing. Not sure if that's turned into an ultra competitive culture more recently, but it wasn't that way historically. It has (historically and now, I think) a significant Asian population, so also not sure if there is some stereotyping in the opinions.

I'm not that familiar with RM.

A PP mentioned QO, but unless that has DRASTICALLY changed, it in no way compares to Churchill or Wootton.

My dd goes to Churchill. We chose to live here because of high test scores/academics but have been quite disappointed. Much less academically rigorous than I was expecting and deficient in a number of ways. I somewhat regret not selecting Wootton, but I don't know anything about the stress issues there.

Churchill has high test scores because it is wealthy and many parents supplement with tutoring, etc. I don't think the teaching is any better than many other schools. In addition, although parents prioritize education enough to push their kids for As or high SAT scores, I wouldn't describe the parents or kids as intellectual in any way. There is much more talk/prioritization about things like sports and poms than about academic clubs. Things like science/model UN, and other academic clubs are not strong, and the kids in those areas seem to be thought of as 'not cool.' Kids in some of these clubs try to distance themselves from the clubs even if they participate in them. Kids complain about the instrumental music program, and there aren't things as basic as a marching band or a science fair. I heard (rumor) that the Model UN was disbanded this year because there were so many kids doing drugs at the conference that they couldn't get it under control without disbanding.

My sense is that this is different in Wootton (but again, I'm only seeing from the outside).

I have to say the clubs in general have been very disappointing at Churchill. The teacher sponsors don't take an active role in advising the clubs and they whither and die, even when there had been demand. I'm hoping that the new principal will provide more oversight going forward. I'm sure there are some exceptions and I'd love to know of them, but my child's experience has been disappointing with the clubs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to school in MoCo, my mom taught for many years there, and now my friends/co-worker's kids are there and we're considering moving, so have been asking around about some of the high schools, too.

Churchill = Beverly Hills 90210, but academics have always been very good.

Wootton has always been good academically, and science/math oriented long before STEM was a thing. Not sure if that's turned into an ultra competitive culture more recently, but it wasn't that way historically. It has (historically and now, I think) a significant Asian population, so also not sure if there is some stereotyping in the opinions.

I'm not that familiar with RM.

A PP mentioned QO, but unless that has DRASTICALLY changed, it in no way compares to Churchill or Wootton.

My dd goes to Churchill. We chose to live here because of high test scores/academics but have been quite disappointed. Much less academically rigorous than I was expecting and deficient in a number of ways. I somewhat regret not selecting Wootton, but I don't know anything about the stress issues there.

Churchill has high test scores because it is wealthy and many parents supplement with tutoring, etc. I don't think the teaching is any better than many other schools. In addition, although parents prioritize education enough to push their kids for As or high SAT scores, I wouldn't describe the parents or kids as intellectual in any way. There is much more talk/prioritization about things like sports and poms than about academic clubs. Things like science/model UN, and other academic clubs are not strong, and the kids in those areas seem to be thought of as 'not cool.' Kids in some of these clubs try to distance themselves from the clubs even if they participate in them. Kids complain about the instrumental music program, and there aren't things as basic as a marching band or a science fair. I heard (rumor) that the Model UN was disbanded this year because there were so many kids doing drugs at the conference that they couldn't get it under control without disbanding.

My sense is that this is different in Wootton (but again, I'm only seeing from the outside).

I have to say the clubs in general have been very disappointing at Churchill. The teacher sponsors don't take an active role in advising the clubs and they whither and die, even when there had been demand. I'm hoping that the new principal will provide more oversight going forward. I'm sure there are some exceptions and I'd love to know of them, but my child's experience has been disappointing with the clubs.

+1 DS is at Churchill and I could have posted many of the same comments above. Model UN is known for poor supervision that allowed drug and alcohol use. Tutors are needed especially for math and science. School climate is in the toilet. It is definitely not a happy place for a child to learn and grow. In hindsight, I wished we would have moved into a cheaper neighborhood so we could have sent all of our children to private schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:RM doesn't belong in this comparison if you are comparing schools. It's over crowded with poor test scores despite having magnets.

Yes because RM has poor kids and the other schools don't. Ripe for boundary redrawing. What will W parents do when more poor kids come into their schools and bring down the test scores? I guess you will move to private because the poor kids might infect your kid and bring down your kid's test scores.

Oh, and when this is going to happen?

don't know.. how old are OP's kids?

After the Metis report came out, it took them about a year to make changes to the admissions for the magnet programs.

[Anonymous]

The "poor supervision that allowed drug and alcohol use" started in your home. Not at Model UN.

[Anonymous]

Churchill parking lot after school is basically the Wire with fancier cars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

My dd goes to Churchill. We chose to live here because of high test scores/academics but have been quite disappointed. Much less academically rigorous than I was expecting and deficient in a number of ways. I somewhat regret not selecting Wootton, but I don't know anything about the stress issues there.

Churchill has high test scores because it is wealthy and many parents supplement with tutoring, etc. I don't think the teaching is any better than many other schools. In addition, although parents prioritize education enough to push their kids for As or high SAT scores, I wouldn't describe the parents or kids as intellectual in any way. There is much more talk/prioritization about things like sports and poms than about academic clubs. Things like science/model UN, and other academic clubs are not strong, and the kids in those areas seem to be thought of as 'not cool.' Kids in some of these clubs try to distance themselves from the clubs even if they participate in them. Kids complain about the instrumental music program, and there aren't things as basic as a marching band or a science fair. I heard (rumor) that the Model UN was disbanded this year because there were so many kids doing drugs at the conference that they couldn't get it under control without disbanding.

My sense is that this is different in Wootton (but again, I'm only seeing from the outside).

I could have written this same paragraph except that the school we somewhat regret not selecting is Whitman. (I think that Wootton and Churchill are comparable.) At least when I went to Whitman many years ago, kids would pursue their academic interests outside of class, even if it could do nothing to help their GPA.

I suspect though that Whitman is no longer like this, and we are seeing a generational divide.

[Anonymous]

My non-magnet RM kid really had a good experience with sports and clubs. He graduated last year and is a solid college student as well. No regrets here. I am sure he would have been fine at the other schools too. We didn't choose our neighborhood/school based on test scores.

[Anonymous]

Wootton was way on top when DR. Doran was principal. He was engaged across the entire school and was respected by students, parents and teachers. When my 2 sons went to Wootton it was way above the rest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The "poor supervision that allowed drug and alcohol use" started in your home. Not at Model UN.

From what I hear, the problems with the Model UN sponsor extended beyond his lack of supervision of students on overnight trips. He also was caught inappropriately driving individual students alone his car. I think the list of problems with this teacher probably gave the new principal justification for not having him chaperone students on overnight trips.