Which Bethesda / Chevy Chase ES am I describing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Noting that there’s a new principal next year, Somerset is great due to its size and community feel. It’s BCC, but I personally think BCC is a better school with better offerings (eg IB program)

Yes, Somerset is like 350 kids now down from 650, due to the exodus under the previous principal and also the boundary change which sent many of their kids to westbrook. The new principal (who just started) seems amazing and actually the whole leadership team has changed over (so they have a new counselor and a new AP). I think given problems under old principal as far as bullying, meanness, etc. they are really prioritizing SEL and DEI now more than is typical for other schools in the area.

Very interesting. I was coming on here to say

Bethesda ES
Westland MS (Awesome!)
B-CC (Excellent outcomes, excellent for mix-and-match AP, Honors, ADV and IB, better with the new administration)

We went to Somerset ES under the principal who appears to be leaving while friends went to Bethesda ES. She was not an effective leader and the parent group is filled with a bunch of difficult to corral social climbing moms. Friends at Bethesda ES raved about the inclusiveness and academic support, diversity of students and parents and how the larger school allowed for more social movement than what we experienced at Somerset ES.

HTH

Somerset parent here. I hate to say this but I don't disagree with your sense of how it was. I do feel that the vibe has changed for the better over the years though... Part of this is the enrollment drop (the leadership was so bad that they lost like 25 or 30% of of their students to private during the pandemic and I think a lot of the social climbers were among them). I found it startlingly stepfordy before but somehow a little more simpatico now. Of course this could be just luck of the draw in terms of the different classes my three kids have had over the years.... a few snobby parents in a given year can make the overall feeling chilly... And a few nice ones can do the opposite. Or maybe the younger gen of parents are less status driven... Dunno, but whatever is going on it feels a lot warmer.

New Somerset parent here and it has definitely felt like a warm, welcoming environment. I can't really imagine what being a social climber at a public school would look like, but when I read that above I was really confused! It makes sense they may have been zoned out. We're excited about the new administration too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CCES, but it’s BCC. And I’m not in love with RHES.

I preferr RHES to CCES. CCES has such a divide between the CES and “regular” classes. Also the events at RHES seem more inclusive - like international night.

Agreed. My shy child with an IEP fared better at RHES than at CCES, where all the focus was on the CES (gifted and talented) program kids all the time. Being there through the pandemic didn’t help either, to be fair.

Very few, if any, of the CES kids have IEPs at CCES, so they really do not generally interact with any of the special Ed resource staff at all. The focus would be almost entirely on the gen Ed students receiving services.

[Anonymous]

I don't know how much shyness and school/class size are correlated with success. I mean, one would ultimately "think" smaller size means more attention and that maybe happens with certain classes/teachers, but it all just comes down to who ends up in your kids' class, and there is a limit to class size no matter what anyway. If a class is loud and chaotic that is going to stress everyone, shy or not.

Shyness and socialization, however def do seem to be correlated. So, since social joy can be just as, if not more, important than competitive academic success to some folks, sometimes bigger can actually be better depending on the circumstances. I have heard a great argument for sending quieter kids to Walter Johnson than say, WW, because of the immense size and diversity of personalities that follow; it is actually easier for a shy kid per se to find their peeps and enjoy their social life versus at WW where it is more homogenous and competitive amongst students. (at least that is what I have
heard.) So, I would not necessarily base your decisions on size, as many other posters have pointed out some schools excel at certain things because of the way they are structured, and some are just a certain way due to the student population diversity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t kid yourself. You are describing a private school environment. Sadly, public schools do not have the luxury of focusing on these things. They focus on teaching to the test, special ed / needs kids, and equity. OP, check out the Woods Academy in Bethesda. It’s reasonably priced and very diverse; kind of a hybrid Catholic / Montessori approach though they have students of all faiths.

Yup

[Anonymous]

CCES has a lot of problems especially the kooky but also vicious principal who may have finally retired. Check previous threads. I think there's just one person posting multiple positive things bout CCES.

[Anonymous]

Bannockburn, Carderock, Somerset, Bradley Hills, Burning Tree in that order

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CCES has a lot of problems especially the kooky but also vicious principal who may have finally retired. Check previous threads. I think there's just one person posting multiple positive things bout CCES.

Principal was kooky but lots of great teachers (DP).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CCES, but it’s BCC. And I’m not in love with RHES.

I preferr RHES to CCES. CCES has such a divide between the CES and “regular” classes. Also the events at RHES seem more inclusive - like international night.

Agreed. My shy child with an IEP fared better at RHES than at CCES, where all the focus was on the CES (gifted and talented) program kids all the time. Being there through the pandemic didn’t help either, to be fair.

Very few, if any, of the CES kids have IEPs at CCES, so they really do not generally interact with any of the special Ed resource staff at all. The focus would be almost entirely on the gen Ed students receiving services.

I’m guessing you don’t have a kid with an IEP. The administrators at the school are extremely important to making sure services are actually provided and that children who receive special education services feel welcome and supported. That did not happen at CCES where the admins are focused on the gifted cohort pretty much all the time.

[Anonymous]

CCES special ed teachers have a reputation of being evil.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CCES has a lot of problems especially the kooky but also vicious principal who may have finally retired. Check previous threads. I think there's just one person posting multiple positive things bout CCES.

Principal was kooky but lots of great teachers (DP).

Same for Bannockburn. If it weren’t for the principal, it could truly be a special place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CCES special ed teachers have a reputation of being evil.

Fabulous sliming! Worthy of the DCUM Hall of Fame!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bannockburn, Carderock, Somerset, Bradley Hills, Burning Tree in that order

This list seems exactly right based on our experience with our kids, their cousins, and our friends’ kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CCES has a lot of problems especially the kooky but also vicious principal who may have finally retired. Check previous threads. I think there's just one person posting multiple positive things bout CCES.

She's still there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CCES special ed teachers have a reputation of being evil.

No they don’t. The problem is that they’re too inexperienced and constantly get shuffled into different jobs. The kids get no continuity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Chevy Chase ES for less stressful environment.

In my experience of Bethesda area schools, it is the best for that. They're not overcrowded like so many schools are, and they have a wealthy parent-funded foundation, so one room in the school is dedicated to relaxation and alternative learning, with walking desks, and yoga balls and bean bags, and a fountain (my daughter had standardized testing there, to reduce stress). The counselor is great and also has lots of fun stuff.

Bethesda Elementary has the best reputation for catering to special needs - they accept students from the area that other MCPS schools cannot welcome and they also get the kids undergoing treatment at NIH. They make it very easy to get an IEP or 504 if your child needs one - unlike in other MCPS schools, parents there rarely have to fight to for their child to receive accommodations. The Principal and Assistant Principal are wonderful people. However they are overcrowded due to the unending high-end condo and apartment construction in downtown Bethesda that attracts more families than developers and the school board (who is in the pocket of developers) ever thought possible.

Middle schools are the weakest link in any school system, due to raging hormones If your child has serious special needs, I have to say that it's best they then switch to North Bethesda MS then Walter Johnson HS, which is the neighboring cluster to the north that houses many excellent special programs (cluster switching is allowed if your child is approved for a special program). The teachers are great, the academics are very strong, but it's overcrowded. If you want to live in that cluster, please know that WJ is first in line to have its boundaries recalibrated because of the construction of the new high school, Woodward, to the north of it on Old Georgetown Rd. The boundary study will affect ALL Bethesda clusters and will be done in 2024, for a Woodward opening for 2025. BCC and WW boundaries might not change much, but they are included in the study.

Westland MS, the middle school in the BCC cluster after Bethesda ES, is small, not yet overcrowded, and tries not to create an atmosphere of academic striving - which has its drawbacks for kids who actually WANT that sort of thing. Special needs aren't well catered to, though.

BCC high school is nearly as good, academically, as WJ, Walt Whitman, and Winston Churchill. It's conveniently located in downtown Bethesda. It sells its IB program hard, but the dirty secret of IB is that it's not as well recognized by US/Canadian/UK college admissions officers as AP courses/exams. If you want a university in Singapore or Switzerland, then sure, IB is the way to go. As a result of offering IB, it has fewer AP courses than other "W" high schools in the area. So buyer beware.
If you're looking for a high school that's not a pressure cooker like WW or WJ, then BCC is also a good balance of academics and not sky-high stress.

There is no high school in MCPS that is quite as academically ambitious as Walt Whitman, OP. That comes with certain emotional sacrifices.

Did I make your head spin?