Boyds and Sparks/Jones Lane/Thurgood Marhsall Elementary school?

[Anonymous]

Hi-
Hubby and I are considering a move to either the Jones Lane ES, Thurgood Marshall ES or Sparks Matsunaga (aka Boyds) elementary school. Do any of you have experience with these schools? Good/Bad/Indifferent feedback is greatly appreciated. I tried to search all the bulletin boards, but nothing is coming back.

Thanks!
Jody

[Anonymous]

I have heard that Jones Lane is good. Does it feed into Quince Orchard or Northwest? I think Quince Orchard is very good. I have yet to meet anyone who is not happy there. We moved into the area from DC and avoided QO because it was rated lower than Wootten or Churchill. We ended up in Wootten. I'm glad we are not in Churchill but I'm not sure that the hypercompetitive nature of Wootten will be great for more kids who are very smart but not hypercompetitive about academics and more into sports. QO might be a better for us down the road and I regret passing on houses that I liked better just to stay in Wootten. We'll see. My advice would be to take school clusters into account but if it is the difference between a good school and great, highly ranked school to just pick the neighborhood you like best.

The areas themselves are pretty different. I like the Jones Lane area and we live south of it near River Rd and Travliah. We drive through Jones on the way to the grocery store. The elementary school has great sledding during the winter. Houses are always decorated for holidays. You are close to the Kentlands for shopping.

Matsunga (Boyds) is close to the soccerplex. I love the park. The indoor pool is the nicest in the county. The splash park and mini gold is great. My kids love the Adventure Playground. It is farther out though so if you commute into DC Jones Lane would save you about 15-20 minutes. You may want to look into crime though as there was a thread on Germantown talking about alot of crime. We have never seen any issue but we only go to the soccerplex during the day and no where else in Boyds.

I'm not sure where TH is located.

[Anonymous]

Hiya-

Jones Lane (and Thurgood Marshall) actually feeds in to the QO High School. The Sparks ES feeds into NW. One house we looked at in Darnestown feeded into Northwest.

[Anonymous]

I was very surpised and concerned when I looked at the bus routes for Thurgood Marhsall.

On the plus side, I was pleased when I went in for K registration. And, the school will be using Bar-T for before/after care this year. From what I understand, some parents did not like the previous program.

[Anonymous]

what was the issue with the bus routes? Were they crazy all over the place?

I'll have to do some research about Bar-T

[Anonymous]

Matsunga is one of the largest elementary schools in the county with over 1000 students. Marshall & Jones Lane are smaller, in the 400-500 range. That could make a big difference depending on the temperment of your child.

[Anonymous]

The bus routes comment probably refers to the fact that part of the Orchard Pond apartment complex feeds into TMES, which is not exactly close.

The principal at TM is great and the students are too. Lots of "lifer" teachers who have been at the school since it opened. We love it.

[Anonymous]

My daughter attends Jones Lane and I think it is a great school. It is not hyper-competitive like we've heard about some of the schools that feed into Wooton that are a few neighborhoods over. It's diverse (which we view as a positive), but without any particular group being dominant. The parents - for the most part - really care about their children's success and are very involved in the school. Bar-T, who runs the before and aftercare program, is fantastic. They also run summer camps in the area that our children attend. There is a woman's club in the surrounding neighborhood (Potomac Chase) that also plans a ton of activities for the kids (a 4th of July Parade, Halloween party, etc.) I'm not sure about the middle school (Ridgeview) or high school (Quince Orchard) just yet since my oldest child is going into third grade. I would say my one complaint is that, since I work full time, sometimes I feel like the local swim team, PTA, neighborhood activities, etc. are much more oriented towards SAHM. So it's been a little harder to find other working moms who face some of the issues and challenges that I do! I can't be at the school all the time the way that a lot of the other moms are. But, for the most part, I'm grateful for all of the parental involvement since it provides so many opportunities for the kids.