PG -> Bethesda.. Will we fit
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Anonymous
We are a 30 something African American dual income (150kish) family with a 8th grade daughter currently in a private school. We are looking to rent our PG home (at a loss) and rent 'something' zoned to BCC or WJ high schools. We looked extensively at private high schools and are just not interested. This move could potentially put both DH and I in better commuting situations and Bethesda supports our Buppie lifestyle (running/biking/box wine/espadrilles and linen/Audi). 
We are far from being wealthy but can afford 3K rent and the expected lost from the renting of our home. It's most important that DD is in a great school situation coming from one . The two schools were picked from an extensive research and recons. We like what we see in respect to academics, arts and diversity. Help... thoughts?... comments?... flames? |
Anonymous
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Our quiet Bethesda street next to the Bethesda ES is not snobby or racist, if that's what you mean.
At least not against our Asian looking and French-speaking family
We check the mail or take out the trash for each other when a family goes away, and the children have the run of most of the gardens on the street. It is true that the least represented "ethnic group", by far, is AA. Were I you, I would not mind - I lived all my happy childhood in parts of the world that had no asians. Last night, we walked 5 minutes to one of the Bethesda restaurants. This morning at 9am, I walked to the Farmer's Market across the road. I love it. |
Anonymous
| We're in the BCC school district. Within spitting distance of our home are white families, black families, interracial families, international families, immigrant families, families with same-sex parents, business people, blue color workers, feds, lawyers, retirees. I'm not kidding either. That doesn't make it nirvana, fwiw. But diverse it is. The elementary where my daughter goes doesn't seem quite as diverse, but there are at least as many African American families who appear to be at the high end of the income spectrum as who appear to be at the low end of the income spectrum. |
Anonymous
| You might think about the Rock Creek Forest neighborhood. It is half in Silver Spring and half in Chevy Chase and is zoned for B-CC HS. The homes are less expensive than on the other side of Beach Drive. You will definitely find buppy AA and multiracial (AA/other) families. Something for $3K or less should absolutely be doable. Bethesda is not as diverse but I don't think you'd feel unwelcome by any means. |
Anonymous
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Reassuring that Bethesda may have Asians or French speaking families, that means Connie Cheung or Thomas Jefferson would have been accepted.
To me that was not a given, thanks for the info. |
Anonymous
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OP here. Thanks for all the great responses!
I have one other thing I'd like the forums opinion on. One of my coworkers has a HS aged son and they live in an apartment. He is a military Officer so their situation is a little different. Is there a stigma about living in an apartment complex for area H.S. students? |
Anonymous
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DH's colleague moved his family from PG to Bethesda and had to do some serious work with the kids to get them up to the MoCo standards. Hard to believe, I know, given what's said about MoCo here. But apparently this family needed lots of tutors.
We know a few other HS families that live in apartments. One family is from Europe where lots of people live in apartments. The other family moved from the midwest just a year or two ago and the parents, facing a soon-to-be-empty nest, didn't want to deal with a full-on suburban house. I haven't heard anyone look down on these families at all. |
Anonymous
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Not the OP, but it's good to know that other folks with kids in Bethesda area do apartments. We are moving to the WJ Cluster and plan to live in a townhome. We just cannot afford a SFH that we'd be happy with this close-in. Also, we've got one in college and another headed there in 2 years, so we're headed into the empty nest phase fairly soon.
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Anonymous
Just realized I actually typed that earlier. Sorry, everybody. |
Anonymous
Unless the kid told half of the school how would anyone know that he lived in an apartment? On the west side of the county it might be looked on as a bit odd but on the east side its very common. |
Anonymous
| OP you may want to consider parts of Kensington. Parkwood and town of Kensington are zoned to WJ and ToK has a lot of very down to earth families and you don't have to congestion of Bethesda but can get do downtown Bethesda in 15 mins tops. We love it. We are AA. If you know someone on the town listserv you can find out about rentals that are not advertised publicly. |
Anonymous
| I'm the immediate PP. I have neighbors who rent their ToK house for $2,400. It is a 4bd/2ba with a nice yard. Kitchen is not updated. |
Anonymous
| NP here - How does WJ compare to BCC in terms of the experiences of AA students? TIA! |
Anonymous
Why would anybody on the west side look on it as odd? There are some really nice apartments on that side. |
Anonymous
Maybe you don't know what "west" means. Perhaps you don't understand the difference between a townhouse and a condo. Tell me where a "nice apartment" is located on the west side of the county. |