Relocating from Overseas - Montgomery County Elementary/Middle school Info needed

[Yumi]

Moving to DC area for a job in Bethesda (near Bethesda Metro) so we are considering living in the same general area and will have children entering grade 3 and grade 6 fall 2013. We want to be a 1 car family and do as much walking/biking/metro as possible.

1. What neighborhood near Bethesda has the best Elementary AND Middle school?
2. Is there a neighborhood near Bethesda where the Elementary and Middle school are near to each other (ie kids in the same family could walk to school in the same direction)?

Other general questions:

I. Provided we have either a deed or a lease to establish residency in a given neighborhood, will our children be GUARANTEED a spot in that school or can a school fill up?

II. Can students join a school mid-year or do classses fill in September and close for the year?

Thanks for your input!

[Anonymous]

Public Schools in Montgomery county don't close for enrollment. As long as you can prove residency, you can enroll your child in the school you are zoned for.

You can enroll at any time.

For the MS child, it is likely they would take a bus to the middle school.

[Anonymous]

One possibility to consider would be finding someplace near downtown Bethesda that is in district for Chevy Chase elementary. CCES is a grade 3-6 school (one of the last schools where 6 is not in MS-- at least til the new MS is built in 2017 or so). Your kids would be at a very good school, together, and it's possible you would be walkable both to school and to downtown Bethesda (although RE prices in that neighborhood are very high).

[Anonymous]

All the schools in Bethesda are very good. For the area you are talking about the MS options would be Pyle or Westland. Those 2 cover a pretty big area of Bethesda. They are both good schools. They feed to different high schools so if you will be here that long you might want to consider that as well. There are lots of posts on the 2 high schools (BCC and Whitman).

[Anonymous]

Also, Bethesda has busses for elementary or middle school pickup, should you be too far or across a major road from the school.

[Anonymous]

You can't go wrong with Bethesda, but might be expensive
you can look up some area in Rockville along the Rockville pike, just stay on west side of 355 if possible.
There are quite few good options around Grosvenor/White Flint/Twinbrook metro that would be cheaper than Bethesda, but still have good accesability to public transportation, shops and kids activities.

[Anonymous]

#2 on your wish list is no longer possible in Bethesda... since Leland Junior High School, which was located a few blocks from Chevy Chase Elementary, closed a number of years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:#2 on your wish list is no longer possible in Bethesda... since Leland Junior High School, which was located a few blocks from Chevy Chase Elementary, closed a number of years ago.

Westbrook Elementary is only a few blocks from Westland, but you have to cross a couple of busy streets to get to Westland (which I did when I went there and it's perfectly fine for middle schoolers).

OP you should keep in mind that the school start/end times are staggered so ES and MS kids wouldn't typically be walking together anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:#2 on your wish list is no longer possible in Bethesda... since Leland Junior High School, which was located a few blocks from Chevy Chase Elementary, closed a number of years ago.

Westbrook Elementary is only a few blocks from Westland, but you have to cross a couple of busy streets to get to Westland (which I did when I went there and it's perfectly fine for middle schoolers).

OP you should keep in mind that the school start/end times are staggered so ES and MS kids wouldn't typically be walking together anyway.

And that neighborhood isn't all that walkable, is it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:#2 on your wish list is no longer possible in Bethesda... since Leland Junior High School, which was located a few blocks from Chevy Chase Elementary, closed a number of years ago.

Westbrook Elementary is only a few blocks from Westland, but you have to cross a couple of busy streets to get to Westland (which I did when I went there and it's perfectly fine for middle schoolers).

OP you should keep in mind that the school start/end times are staggered so ES and MS kids wouldn't typically be walking together anyway.

And that neighborhood isn't all that walkable, is it?

Depends where you want to walk. It's a pretty easy walk down Willard Ave, although you have to cross River Rd, to Friendship Heights, which has a metro, Whole Foods, tons of shopping, etc. I lived there as a kid and took the metro bus or biked to school in DC (this was for HS) and walked to F. Hts on a very regular basis. A friend who lives there now walks to the metro every day to go to work.

If you live in Westgate or Green Acres it's safe for kids to walk to Westbrook and Westland and most do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:#2 on your wish list is no longer possible in Bethesda... since Leland Junior High School, which was located a few blocks from Chevy Chase Elementary, closed a number of years ago.

Westbrook Elementary is only a few blocks from Westland, but you have to cross a couple of busy streets to get to Westland (which I did when I went there and it's perfectly fine for middle schoolers).

OP you should keep in mind that the school start/end times are staggered so ES and MS kids wouldn't typically be walking together anyway.

And that neighborhood isn't all that walkable, is it?

Depends where you want to walk. It's a pretty easy walk down Willard Ave, although you have to cross River Rd, to Friendship Heights, which has a metro, Whole Foods, tons of shopping, etc. I lived there as a kid and took the metro bus or biked to school in DC (this was for HS) and walked to F. Hts on a very regular basis. A friend who lives there now walks to the metro every day to go to work.

If you live in Westgate or Green Acres it's safe for kids to walk to Westbrook and Westland and most do.

But Westbrook starts 56 minutes after Westland, making it impossible for the kids to walk together unless you're comfortable with your 3rd grader on an empty playground.

[Anonymous]

6:09 here again:

We're in Westland and very happy. Pyle doesn't have enough diversity for us, although the test scores are higher, there are also more walkable neighborhoods in Westland's catchment area than in Pyle's.

I don't think you can go wrong with any of the the Westland feeder schools academically, but Bethesda, and Somerset will be the most consistently walkable, with parts of Westbrook and Chevy Chase being quite walkable as well. Rock Creek Forest and North Chevy Chase have a few shops in the neighborhood and some reliable bus lines, but it's not the same as being able to walk to downtown Bethesda, hop on the metro etc . . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:#2 on your wish list is no longer possible in Bethesda... since Leland Junior High School, which was located a few blocks from Chevy Chase Elementary, closed a number of years ago.

Westbrook Elementary is only a few blocks from Westland, but you have to cross a couple of busy streets to get to Westland (which I did when I went there and it's perfectly fine for middle schoolers).

OP you should keep in mind that the school start/end times are staggered so ES and MS kids wouldn't typically be walking together anyway.

And that neighborhood isn't all that walkable, is it?

Depends where you want to walk. It's a pretty easy walk down Willard Ave, although you have to cross River Rd, to Friendship Heights, which has a metro, Whole Foods, tons of shopping, etc. I lived there as a kid and took the metro bus or biked to school in DC (this was for HS) and walked to F. Hts on a very regular basis. A friend who lives there now walks to the metro every day to go to work.

If you live in Westgate or Green Acres it's safe for kids to walk to Westbrook and Westland and most do.

But Westbrook starts 56 minutes after Westland, making it impossible for the kids to walk together unless you're comfortable with your 3rd grader on an empty playground.

Sorry - should have been clearer, and I already noted the difference in start times above. What I meant was that it's safe for kids to walk to Westbrook and Westland independently (not together) from the Westgate/Green Acres neighborhoods since it's only neigborhood streets to Westbrook and many kids are walking to school (and 3rd grade is old enough to walk there) and there are crossing guards for the intersections on the way to Westland. I usually see groups of kids walking home from Westland after school and up Mass Ave.

Isn't there on site before care at Westbrook? That could be another option to cover an early drop off.

[Anonymous]

Where are you moving from? What kind of school/school culture? Chevy Chase Elementary is incredibly strict and authoritarian. Careful looking for the "best" schools. Best scores does not mean best schools as far as a pleasant, nurturing community. These are not schools that educate the whole child. I deeply regret we did not move to a more laid back area like parts of Silver Spring or Takoma Park. Kensington might be a better bet for you. School is a bit more of a community with an arts focus and HS is very good--it's also more international. There are a lot of NIH-affiliated families in that area (northern part of Bethesda and Kensington and Garrett Park area). CCES is not international. This is not the most walkable area either. Takoma Park is more walkable. Downtown Bethesda is quite sterile and uninteresting after the first few ice cream cones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where are you moving from? What kind of school/school culture? Chevy Chase Elementary is incredibly strict and authoritarian. Careful looking for the "best" schools. Best scores does not mean best schools as far as a pleasant, nurturing community. These are not schools that educate the whole child. I deeply regret we did not move to a more laid back area like parts of Silver Spring or Takoma Park. Kensington might be a better bet for you. School is a bit more of a community with an arts focus and HS is very good--it's also more international. There are a lot of NIH-affiliated families in that area (northern part of Bethesda and Kensington and Garrett Park area). CCES is not international. This is not the most walkable area either. Takoma Park is more walkable. Downtown Bethesda is quite sterile and uninteresting after the first few ice cream cones.

This made me chuckle.