How’s Sherwood?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t recommend Sherwood due to the reasons already stated. My kids went/are at Blake. We’ve been really happy there. You listed a bunch of areas but not the Stonegate area. It’s in the same price range as Olney.

Blake was 41% Black in 2022/3.

Blake is good academically, but environment SUCKS. There is always something going on. Plus Op already ruled out northeast consortium schools.

[Anonymous]

I went there in the 80’s and it was very normal to see the confederate flag on belt buckles, t-shirts, car bumper sticker, and stickers on notebooks. I experienced this daily. It’s been 40 years so I hope a lot has changed. Because of my Sherwood experience, I only considered HBCUs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went there in the 80’s and it was very normal to see the confederate flag on belt buckles, t-shirts, car bumper sticker, and stickers on notebooks. I experienced this daily. It’s been 40 years so I hope a lot has changed. Because of my Sherwood experience, I only considered HBCUs.

I’m very sorry you experienced that, PP.

But the entire county was around 8% Black in the 1980s, and that was largely concentrated down county.

Even the most diverse schools were overwhelmingly white in the 1980s.

The county did begin diversifying more rapidly towards the second half of the 80s and throughout the 90s.

At the risk of stating the obvious, it’s not the 1980s anymore.

The biggest difference I see as a lifelong county resident is socioeconomics: the Sherwood cluster is less poor and more uniformly MC/UMC than most parts of the county. Lots of BIPOC families move out there precisely to have their kids go to school in a more MC/UMC environment. The gang stuff that is more prevalent down county (thanks to more rentals) isn’t as big an issue in Sherwood (very few rentals).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went there in the 80’s and it was very normal to see the confederate flag on belt buckles, t-shirts, car bumper sticker, and stickers on notebooks. I experienced this daily. It’s been 40 years so I hope a lot has changed. Because of my Sherwood experience, I only considered HBCUs.

I don't see any confederate flags, but there is a small subset of students who wear clothing you'd see at a country music concert. Boots, jeans, some cowboy hats, mullets. There are more students who don't. From what is posted on this forum about flights and lockdowns, Sherwood admin is doing well to keep anything from spiraling out of control.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh my. We are black, so i will definitely take this into consideration. Thank you 13:02

I’m Black, and I can also say I wouldn’t recommend you send your kid to Sherwood—only 15% Black, and my kid had many racist encounters. I also wouldn’t recommend the Northeast Consortium. If you can afford private, do it. I was faced with that decision last year.

Sherwood is roughly 48% white. If you’re solely considering a school based on the percentage of black students, which private has more than 15% of the population is black?

[Anonymous]

A Sherwood High School teacher just had an attempted carjacking happen to her on Friday: https://mocoshow.com/2025/03/16/attempted-carjacking-of-sherwood-high-school-teacher-at-starbucks/

On Friday, March 14th, at approximately 6:45 AM, a Sherwood High School teacher experienced an attempted car theft while visiting the Starbucks located in the Shoppes at Olney shopping center (3126 Olney Sandy Spring Rd). We interviewed the teacher who told us she typically visits the Starbucks on Friday mornings as a weekly treat and reported that she has never encountered anything like this at that location.

According to the teacher, she parked her vehicle under a lamp post and locked the doors before heading inside to pick up her mobile order, which took no longer than 30 seconds. As she exited the store and unlocked her car from a distance of about 50 feet, she noticed a silver SUV parked next to her with its passenger side door open. To her shock, she saw a man inside of her vehicle.

In response, she screamed loudly, prompting the suspect to jump out of her car. The teacher instinctively chased after him, grabbing onto the door handle of the SUV as the driver attempted to speed away. She let go of the handle as the vehicle accelerated, and fortunately, her car remained untouched, with no belongings taken from inside. She believed the suspects may have been trying to steal her car or something inside of her car, but her screams appeared to have scared them off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A Sherwood High School teacher just had an attempted carjacking happen to her on Friday: https://mocoshow.com/2025/03/16/attempted-carjacking-of-sherwood-high-school-teacher-at-starbucks/

On Friday, March 14th, at approximately 6:45 AM, a Sherwood High School teacher experienced an attempted car theft while visiting the Starbucks located in the Shoppes at Olney shopping center (3126 Olney Sandy Spring Rd). We interviewed the teacher who told us she typically visits the Starbucks on Friday mornings as a weekly treat and reported that she has never encountered anything like this at that location.

According to the teacher, she parked her vehicle under a lamp post and locked the doors before heading inside to pick up her mobile order, which took no longer than 30 seconds. As she exited the store and unlocked her car from a distance of about 50 feet, she noticed a silver SUV parked next to her with its passenger side door open. To her shock, she saw a man inside of her vehicle.

In response, she screamed loudly, prompting the suspect to jump out of her car. The teacher instinctively chased after him, grabbing onto the door handle of the SUV as the driver attempted to speed away. She let go of the handle as the vehicle accelerated, and fortunately, her car remained untouched, with no belongings taken from inside. She believed the suspects may have been trying to steal her car or something inside of her car, but her screams appeared to have scared them off.

Yes, we are seeing an uptick of crime across the county, including in Olney.

Apparently the affluent residents are easy targets.

But the criminals aren’t from the local area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh my. We are black, so i will definitely take this into consideration. Thank you 13:02

I’m Black, and I can also say I wouldn’t recommend you send your kid to Sherwood—only 15% Black, and my kid had many racist encounters. I also wouldn’t recommend the Northeast Consortium. If you can afford private, do it. I was faced with that decision last year.

Sherwood is roughly 48% white. If you’re solely considering a school based on the percentage of black students, which private has more than 15% of the population is black?

Dematha, Saint johns, Good counsel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.mymcmedia.org/sherwood-high-principal-issues-2-letters-after-noose-found-at-tennis-courts/

This was about suicide, not racism. Still not ok, and very hurtful, but the intent by the students wasn’t a racial message. And I believe there were 3 students involved, and at least one wasn’t a Sherwood student.

[Anonymous]

Tons of fighting and horrific bullying. Teachers are leaving right and left because there is no support. Na na na hey hey hey education sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh my. We are black, so i will definitely take this into consideration. Thank you 13:02

Come to Burtonsville! You’ll be welcomed with open arms.

I have family in burtonsville, if I moved there I would have to do private school. As I know from them the NEC is not a great choice. That’s why I looked at Olney.

I’m the Burtonsville poster. I have one child at Blake and another that’s graduating from Paint Branch in June. Both are great schools. The NEC (mainly Paint Branch) is always looked down on here for obvious reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh my. We are black, so i will definitely take this into consideration. Thank you 13:02

Come to Burtonsville! You’ll be welcomed with open arms.

I have family in burtonsville, if I moved there I would have to do private school. As I know from them the NEC is not a great choice. That’s why I looked at Olney.

Op,if you’re going private just move to Pg. Doesn’t make sense to pay more in burtonsville, when the schools are bad like you said.

If she weren’t black, would you still tell her to move to PG?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh my. We are black, so i will definitely take this into consideration. Thank you 13:02

I’m Black, and I can also say I wouldn’t recommend you send your kid to Sherwood—only 15% Black, and my kid had many racist encounters. I also wouldn’t recommend the Northeast Consortium. If you can afford private, do it. I was faced with that decision last year.

Sherwood is roughly 48% white. If you’re solely considering a school based on the percentage of black students, which private has more than 15% of the population is black?

Dematha, Saint johns, Good counsel.

All 3 of those schools are nearly impossible to get into.

SJC had 1,700 applications for 300 seats.

GC had nearly 1k applicants.

Uncertain about exact #s for DeMatha, but they have a waitlist as well.

The private school forum is abuzz with parents whose straight A kids with high test scores didn’t get in.

But there might be small non-catholic privates (baptist, some other Christian sect) in PG that are easier to get into.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh my. We are black, so i will definitely take this into consideration. Thank you 13:02

Come to Burtonsville! You’ll be welcomed with open arms.

I have family in burtonsville, if I moved there I would have to do private school. As I know from them the NEC is not a great choice. That’s why I looked at Olney.

Op,if you’re going private just move to Pg. Doesn’t make sense to pay more in burtonsville, when the schools are bad like you said.

If she weren’t black, would you still tell her to move to PG?

I mean it would make sense, she could use the saved mortgage on tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FYI, the WaPo article about the alleged racist incident at a sporting event shouldn’t raise concerns because it turned out to be a false allegation. Of course the WaPo and media didn’t bother to clarify that.

People down county love to paint Sherwood as as a lily-white school because it isn’t as diverse as schools like Einstein, Wheaton, Kennedy, etc.

But Sherwood is still diverse.

And like all mcps high schools, the bathroom situation isn’t great.

Re: private - good luck. So many people are scrambling to jump ship snd get their kids into private, but there are limited seats.

I think Sherwood, Blake, and Einstein are fine. Ditto for Rockville.

I think Wheaton and Kennedy are problematic.

You can google the mcps “At a glance” stats on racial and socioeconomics, noting it’s a bit out of date. Fwiw, assume all schools are more diverse now/2025 (particularly more Latinos).

Blake has had a lot of incidents recently. It still has the good reputation because it’s more white than PB and Springbrook. But the reality is it’s had more violence/fights in the last year or so but they get swept under the rug