Richard Montgomery or Rockville?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:RM has kids that feed in from Julius West. JW has problems with bullying, violence etc that have impacted RM.
I would choose Rockville. It’s also a smaller school so feels more personal.

I have a kid at Wood MS and it’s the same. Lots of fights and kids vaping/smoking weed AT school.

DS told me that Security was called to his Science classroom twice last week. There are a lot of kids who just don’t want to be in school, and cause disruptions for the rest of the students.

That's all MS. I know Twinbrook gets a lot of hate on DCUM, but my kids love Twinbrook-JW-RM. We love Rockville as a whole, so RHS would be our second choice out of all of MCPS.

I’m this PP. I agree, it’s all MS. Just pointing that out to the OP. I don’t think the violence/fighting in schools is unique to West MS or to Wood MS. Same situation at both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:RM has kids that feed in from Julius West. JW has problems with bullying, violence etc that have impacted RM.
I would choose Rockville. It’s also a smaller school so feels more personal.

I have a kid at Wood MS and it’s the same. Lots of fights and kids vaping/smoking weed AT school.

DS told me that Security was called to his Science classroom twice last week. There are a lot of kids who just don’t want to be in school, and cause disruptions for the rest of the students.

That's all MS. I know Twinbrook gets a lot of hate on DCUM, but my kids love Twinbrook-JW-RM. We love Rockville as a whole, so RHS would be our second choice out of all of MCPS.

I’m this PP. I agree, it’s all MS. Just pointing that out to the OP. I don’t think the violence/fighting in schools is unique to West MS or to Wood MS. Same situation at both.

As well as at every other school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:RM has kids that feed in from Julius West. JW has problems with bullying, violence etc that have impacted RM.
I would choose Rockville. It’s also a smaller school so feels more personal.

Exactly!

JW into RM has so many fights, drugs, and gang related activity. The 3rd floor bathrooms were basically 8 hours of drugs and drug deals until they were locked up.

Also RM is already so big and still so over crowded, that after the Crown reconfiguration, the other half of King Farm will be going to Gaithersburg HS and Fallsgrove will be going to Crown. Then RM can get more IB and the extra Twinbrook and Tower Oaks condos and homes. It’s another step backwards for RM.


And the IB program has declined since 2018 and Poolesville and Blair and even Wheaton are perceived as better.

If I was in Rockville, I would say:

1. Wootton
2. Rockville
3. RM

Do you have a kid in the IB program now & did you have a kid there in 2018?

I have a kid there now, and they're getting a fantastic education! I did not have a kid there in 2018.

General feeling towards school has declined since 2018, but that's not related to the decline of the IB program.

But the pp, but it has to do with the program director. Since she left it’s been bad and they continue to decline in rankings

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've lived in MoCo for 40 years and I never knew there was a Rockville High School.

RM

I've only lived here two years but same! I don't think my kid's sports teams have ever played them. Maybe not enough interest to field teams in field hockey and lacrosse (admittedly very UMC sports)?

RM and Rockville are actually informal rivals. RM kids called RHS "the school in the woods"

Ummm RM is 4A and Rockville is 2A so they can’t be rivals lol.

[Anonymous]

Neither, but RM if you have to pick one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've lived in MoCo for 40 years and I never knew there was a Rockville High School.

RM

I've only lived here two years but same! I don't think my kid's sports teams have ever played them. Maybe not enough interest to field teams in field hockey and lacrosse (admittedly very UMC sports)?

RM and Rockville are actually informal rivals. RM kids called RHS "the school in the woods"

They definitely have lacrosse and field hockey teams!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've lived in MoCo for 40 years and I never knew there was a Rockville High School.

RM

I've only lived here two years but same! I don't think my kid's sports teams have ever played them. Maybe not enough interest to field teams in field hockey and lacrosse (admittedly very UMC sports)?

RM and Rockville are actually informal rivals. RM kids called RHS "the school in the woods"

Ummm RM is 4A and Rockville is 2A so they can’t be rivals lol.

Not true. My kid at Rockville HS just played against RM this season in baseball. And we won!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've lived in MoCo for 40 years and I never knew there was a Rockville High School.

RM

I've only lived here two years but same! I don't think my kid's sports teams have ever played them. Maybe not enough interest to field teams in field hockey and lacrosse (admittedly very UMC sports)?

RM and Rockville are actually informal rivals. RM kids called RHS "the school in the woods"

Ummm RM is 4A and Rockville is 2A so they can’t be rivals lol.

They certainly play football against each other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've lived in MoCo for 40 years and I never knew there was a Rockville High School.

RM

I've only lived here two years but same! I don't think my kid's sports teams have ever played them. Maybe not enough interest to field teams in field hockey and lacrosse (admittedly very UMC sports)?

RM and Rockville are actually informal rivals. RM kids called RHS "the school in the woods"

They definitely have lacrosse and field hockey teams!!

Not all schools have enough players to also field JV teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:RM has kids that feed in from Julius West. JW has problems with bullying, violence etc that have impacted RM.
I would choose Rockville. It’s also a smaller school so feels more personal.

There are issues at Earl B Wood MS, too. Actually, there are issues at all MS. It's the nature of the beast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid at Rockville.

Pros—it’s nice to be at a small school because you have more chance to get on the sports teams and you can always get into clubs. It is a nice community—when I volunteer the students are incredibly polite. I have one kid in IB and they enjoy it. Academically you can shine in a smaller school (big fish, small pond).

Cons—the sports teams quality vary because they’re pulling from a smaller population of possible good athletes. Some sports have to actively recruit when numbers are low. This can be great for kids who want to try something new, but if your kid wants to get recruited for college, they may not get noticed as much. Coaches are pretty good. The theater department is weak. There is a marching band where a lot of HS don’t have them. There aren’t as many choices in classes as there may be in a larger HS.

Closed campus for lunch can be a pro or con depending, but there’s no going out for fast food for lunch because they’re not allowed since the closest food option is a 15-20 min walk.

Overall? We love Rockville. So glad we are in this neighborhood.

RM Black Masker theater is amazing! Some really talented students there. I was really impressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:RM has kids that feed in from Julius West. JW has problems with bullying, violence etc that have impacted RM.
I would choose Rockville. It’s also a smaller school so feels more personal.

There are issues at Earl B Wood MS, too. Actually, there are issues at all MS. It's the nature of the beast.

This. I have family and friends around the county and I hear similar stories of kids vaping/fighting/smoking weed from parents at all of the middle schools. There seems to be little enforcement and the kids know it. I wouldn't choose one MS in MCPS over another based on a perceived lack of fighting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you value more? If it's a bigger size, bigger athletics program and high-performing academics, RM is probably better. Rockville is going to be a safer, small, more tightknit experience.

Agree with RM being bigger size and bigger athletics with more available advanced classes as a result of the competitive IB program. On the other hand, Rockville might be more attractive to someone who is looking for a smaller, tight-knit community. One can certainly shine academically at Rockville though. There's also an IB program that is open to everyone there. Bottomline, it depends on what your family is looking for. One thing to consider- there's only one middle school (Wood MS) that feeds to Rockville HS so many of the Rockville students have attended middle school together (even elementary) and will likely have a close group of friends already coming into 9th grade.

Rockville HS IB program is much smaller.

You can also see the IB exam rate by HS:

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/data/LAR-charts/IB-Exam-by-Subject.html

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED630935.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've lived in MoCo for 40 years and I never knew there was a Rockville High School.

RM

I've only lived here two years but same! I don't think my kid's sports teams have ever played them. Maybe not enough interest to field teams in field hockey and lacrosse (admittedly very UMC sports)?

RM and Rockville are actually informal rivals. RM kids called RHS "the school in the woods"

Ummm RM is 4A and Rockville is 2A so they can’t be rivals lol.

Not true. My kid at Rockville HS just played against RM this season in baseball. And we won!

I didn’t say they don’t play out of divisions during regular season, but the point is 4A are in rival divisions with other 4A teams is more even. The divisions are based on school populations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:RM has kids that feed in from Julius West. JW has problems with bullying, violence etc that have impacted RM.
I would choose Rockville. It’s also a smaller school so feels more personal.

There are issues at Earl B Wood MS, too. Actually, there are issues at all MS. It's the nature of the beast.

Back when my kid who is a Rockville High student and was at Wood MS at the time in 2018, he remembers when a kid brought a fake hand-gun to the school and even make matter worse, the kid was only 12. Look it up. I can also guarantee that Wood MS hasn't gotten any better even before the gun incident if you check news related articles involving the school.