Gaithersburg/N Potomac/Darnestown HS's

[Anonymous]

The HS's in the area that we are looking, our real estate agent tell us that Quince Orchard would be considered, the "best", next Northwest and finally Gaithersburg. I am new to the area. Is she correct? This is the area we can afford for our family of six, that is also a reasonable commute for my dh. He is in Rockville/N Bethesda. Thanks for any thoughts!

[Anonymous]

Out of those 3, QO is by far the better school. You can also get much more house for your money in than QO district than if you went further south to Rockville/Bethesda/Potomac.

[Anonymous]

QO and NW are the better ones, with QO probably being better. Do you have children in high school currently? If so, I would not buy a house zoned for Gaithersburg.

[Anonymous]

OP here: I should have said that my children are still in elementary but this will be our last house purchase for a while we hope. My dh grew up in the area (College Pk) but has been out of state for the last number of years.

[Anonymous]

I live in a neighborhood that goes to Northwest and have multiple friends moving to the QO zoned neighborhood. My friends that have children at NW are not happy. They were happy with their elementary school but not their middle school.

So I would go QO all the way.

Now you need to look at elementary and middle. I would stay away from Kingsview as a middle school. Jones Lane and Darnestown ES are very good ES. I don't know much about Rachael Carson.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Totally agree with the real estate agent, although I thought realtors couldn't talk about the quality of schools when trying to make a sale. ??

In any event, I live on the Wootton/Quince Orchard high school zoning line, or whatever it's called. Right now we are zoned for Wootton, but I think Quince Orchard is a lovely school. I have friends who have had their kids in both Northwest and Gaithersburg, and they have all been happy. Gaithersburg has had some historic problems, but it's getting a new facility, which might boost morale (and therefore performance) a bit.

And keep in mind that there is a STEM magnet program at Poolesville High for the upcounty region. It's similar to the STEM program at Blair, which is the one most people are familiar with. And the Richard Montgomery IB magnet program is open to all county students if they apply and are accepted. In other words, that one isn't regional.

If you don't know about School at a Glance yet, here's the link. It provides some comparative date for each school.


http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/

[Anonymous]

Stay far, far away from Gaithersburg. Tough school, gangs, you will be in the minority.

Northwest? Fights that are not reported, have had guns in the school in the past, I would not send any of my children there.

Quince Orchard - by far the best of the three. Well run, safe, great school spirit, nice kids, great athletic program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here: I should have said that my children are still in elementary but this will be our last house purchase for a while we hope. My dh grew up in the area (College Pk) but has been out of state for the last number of years.

Okay, I'm the one who asked, and I was trying to be optimistic that Gaithersburg might experience some kind of change (I would NEVER send my kid there right now!) But really, PP is right, stay far away. It has a very bad reputation. We are actually zoned for GHS right now, but with the oldest only in K, we hopefully have another house in the future before HS rolls around. QO is great, NW is less great but still good by most standards, and well, Gaithersburg...

[Anonymous]

Quince Orchard would be my choice among the listed schools, although I have to say that know quite a few kids from nice families who have attended and are attending Gaithersburg High, and they have done very well there. It is a very different environment than QO is, though. And honestly, the kids who have attended the schools which feed into G'burg High don't pay much attention to the diversity, because it is what they have experienced at their other schools. I hate the fact that people think it's full of gangs and that no non-minority child would be in danger there, because it's just not true.

Information on incidents at each school is available on the MCPS website if you dig a little. You might be surprised. Here are a few facts from 2010-2011: Northwest had higher reported incidents of Arson, Attack, Disrespect/Insubordination/Disruption (almost 3x that of Gburg and QO), and twice the amount of Theft incidents than Gaitherburg. Did you hear that? More than the 'tough' Gaithersburg!! Gaithersburg had more Fighting and more Threat incidents than Northwest. QO had fewer incidents of all types than Gaithersburg or Northwest, except it had more incidents of Dangerous Substances than Northwest.

Good luck with your search for a home, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Quince Orchard would be my choice among the listed schools, although I have to say that know quite a few kids from nice families who have attended and are attending Gaithersburg High, and they have done very well there. It is a very different environment than QO is, though. And honestly, the kids who have attended the schools which feed into G'burg High don't pay much attention to the diversity, because it is what they have experienced at their other schools. I hate the fact that people think it's full of gangs and that no non-minority child would be in danger there, because it's just not true.

Information on incidents at each school is available on the MCPS website if you dig a little. You might be surprised. Here are a few facts from 2010-2011: Northwest had higher reported incidents of Arson, Attack, Disrespect/Insubordination/Disruption (almost 3x that of Gburg and QO), and twice the amount of Theft incidents than Gaitherburg. Did you hear that? More than the 'tough' Gaithersburg!! Gaithersburg had more Fighting and more Threat incidents than Northwest. QO had fewer incidents of all types than Gaithersburg or Northwest, except it had more incidents of Dangerous Substances than Northwest.

Good luck with your search for a home, OP.

I have often looked for this and can't find it. Can you share a link?

I don't think that people are talking about non-minority children. I know minority children who have parents that have moved (NW not GB) or gone private.

I would like to add that many students from NW that live in my neighborhood have graduated from NW, gone to great colleges and are very successful 20 somethings (most are girls though).

[Anonymous]

OP here: Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my post. All sounds good regarding QO - looking in Potomac Chase today, just off Jones Lane so that may well be the area where we end up. Any of you posters have children that attend or attended Jones Lane ES? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Mine go to Darnestown, which is very close to Jones Lane ES--they have some teammates that go to JLES. I can say that those parents seem to regard it highly. Of course, I think Darnestown is better, but I'm a little biased!

[Anonymous]

To the pp who asked for the link: it's by individual school. Google this: mcps (name of school) assault then look for the link which has the school name with a number. It will take you to a report of incidents for that school.

As a parent of MCPS students, I think the reports are very interesting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the pp who asked for the link: it's by individual school. Google this: mcps (name of school) assault then look for the link which has the school name with a number. It will take you to a report of incidents for that school.

As a parent of MCPS students, I think the reports are very interesting.

Actually go here: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/SafetyGlance/

and you can select the schools from a drop down menu

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the link! Wow - some schools have more than 20% of the kids that don't feel safe.