Buying a House in a Neighborhood w/ Less than Stellar HS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, but no way would I describe Eleanor Roosevelt as a good school. I spent a day visiting that school, and I was not at all impressed. School quality comes first for me (and I'm African American), and there's no way I would send my child there if I had any options at all.

While it isn't like the three gold level schools in Montgomery county, it is a silver level school. It has a wonderful Math and Science magnet program. Who cares if you are African American or not, you are acting as if this is some ghetto school, which it is not. Sure not all the kids there are from well to do families, and many are from the infamous Spring Hill Lake apartments, but it is a good school, and you can't take that away from them.

[Anonymous]

Sometimes I really wonder about the future of our country, because if you read these boards, it seems as though there are only about 5-8 "acceptable" public schools to send your kids to in the DC area! What about all these kids who are at these "other" schools? Are they all doomed to failure? People really need to go beyond test scores and income level of a school to assess them before just disregarding them as "bad" schools. It also really depends on your child. A student who is motivated and wants to do well, will do well anywhere. And unfortunately, you can't really decide that until they are much older. But just because a school is not sending all its students to top universities or its test scores are a little bit lower due to Limited English students does not make it a bad school. Look beyond the test scores and go see the school for yourself - then make a decision. OP - I hope it all works out for you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes I really wonder about the future of our country, because if you read these boards, it seems as though there are only about 5-8 "acceptable" public schools to send your kids to in the DC area! What about all these kids who are at these "other" schools? Are they all doomed to failure? People really need to go beyond test scores and income level of a school to assess them before just disregarding them as "bad" schools. It also really depends on your child. A student who is motivated and wants to do well, will do well anywhere. And unfortunately, you can't really decide that until they are much older. But just because a school is not sending all its students to top universities or its test scores are a little bit lower due to Limited English students does not make it a bad school. Look beyond the test scores and go see the school for yourself - then make a decision. OP - I hope it all works out for you!

OP here, thank you all for your words of advice. I attended one of these "rough" HS myself, and turned out pretty well! I do worry though about my childrens' safety (even way back when, violence was quite prevalent at the HS I attended). I want my kids to attend a diverse public school where they can get a good education- nothing more, nothing less, and no big fancy house required. I have a lot of decisions to make and thank you all for your input (feel free to keep it coming!).

[Anonymous]

Rough schools in the 1980s or 90s are very different from the rough schools of today. Back in the late 80s early 90s, Einstein, Kennedy and even Wheaton were good enough for most parents to feel comfortable sending their kids there. Not so today. How prevalent was MS 13 (the biggest latino gang in MC) back then? What about now? What were the neighborhoods surrounding those schools like back then? I can tell you since I grew up in the Kennedy/Wheaton area and still live there today (at least until next week when I move) that the neighborhoods weren't as dangerous as they are now. Try to find out how many houses are rented out in the area you are looking into -- it makes a difference. Try to see how many homes have been listed and sold in the last year as short sales or foreclosures -- or if any were neglected properties that sold for much less than other houses. Go to the neighborhood around 7pm, park your car, and walk around for an hour or so. See if you feel safe. Maybe the area the OP is looking at isn't as bad as other areas. These are steps you can take to test out the waters. Good luck to you.

[Anonymous]

I live in the Einstein school district and when we bought the house, having children was the last thing on our mind. However, now that I have a two year old with another on the way- we can't wait to move. I live off of Conn, just passed Viers Mill. I can honestly say that the neighborhood is not family friendly and while I feel safe most of the time- this is not the neighborhood where I imagined I would raise my children.
My opinion is that its better to pick the neighborhood with the better school district now, then to uproot your children when they are at the high school level.
Good luck!

[Anonymous]

http://www.nbc4.com/news/16494660/detail.html?dl=headlineclick

Police: Einstein Student Arrested After Displaying Knife During Fight

POSTED: 2:14 pm EDT June 4, 2008
UPDATED: 2:24 pm EDT June 4, 2008

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://www.nbc4.com/news/16494660/detail.html?dl=headlineclick

Police: Einstein Student Arrested After Displaying Knife During Fight

POSTED: 2:14 pm EDT June 4, 2008
UPDATED: 2:24 pm EDT June 4, 2008

This is so scary--and sad. Guess that answers OPs question.

[Anonymous]

OP, can you find a house in your price range in the Montgomery Blair district?

[Anonymous]

Schools are rougher today?

My school in the early 80's was "nice" in a "nice area" with "nice families."

The drugs were out of control. Bathrooms were unusable for kids like me - I wasn't into smoking dope.

Then I went to an elite private school, and the drug use was even worse - those kids could afford cocaine, and since they were "nice" private school kids, everyone trusted them to behave.

[Anonymous]

OP, how about other areas of Silver Spring? I too was concerned about Einstein when we were house hunting and purposely avoided houses that fed into it. We ended up settling in the Woodmoor area, which feeds into Montgomery Blair, and there are definitely houses here in the $450-500K range right now. We probably could have stretched a little and ended up in BCC or Walter Johnson districts, but we made a conscious decision not to, because 1) we're african-american and were concerned about the low numbers of african-americans at these schools and 2) since we'd be stretching financially, we were concerned about our children growing up feeling deprived in comparison to our wealthier neighbors, when in fact they would be having a very high standard of living. For what it's worth, a lot of my classmates from elementary school ended up going to private schools for high school. While I'm sure they got a stellar education (although objectively they have done no better in life than I have in terms of career, etc.), they were pretty messed up socially between race and class issues. I don't know if that's still as big a consideration these days, but just something to think about when considering the private school route.

[Anonymous]

We bought in the Einstein district because it was in our price range. We are in a wonderful, family friendly neighborhood on a quiet street with several young children. We bought KNOWING that this was an opportunity to get our foot in the door for home ownership but that we would move prior to even middle school. The only way we could have purchased in an area where we liked the high school would have been to buy a fixer upper....and that wasn't an option for us. Based on the school today, I would not send my child to Einstein under any circumstances....but I agree that schools change, districts change, etc....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, how about other areas of Silver Spring? I too was concerned about Einstein when we were house hunting and purposely avoided houses that fed into it. We ended up settling in the Woodmoor area, which feeds into Montgomery Blair, and there are definitely houses here in the $450-500K range right now. We probably could have stretched a little and ended up in BCC or Walter Johnson districts, but we made a conscious decision not to, because 1) we're african-american and were concerned about the low numbers of african-americans at these schools and 2) since we'd be stretching financially, we were concerned about our children growing up feeling deprived in comparison to our wealthier neighbors, when in fact they would be having a very high standard of living. For what it's worth, a lot of my classmates from elementary school ended up going to private schools for high school. While I'm sure they got a stellar education (although objectively they have done no better in life than I have in terms of career, etc.), they were pretty messed up socially between race and class issues. I don't know if that's still as big a consideration these days, but just something to think about when considering the private school route.

OP here-thank you. Woodmoor is one of the areas we are looking into. I would much prefer a public school education, and incidentally, it's really all we can afford. Thank you so much for the input, I feel the same way as you do re: being middle class in a wealthier neighborhood...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What neighborhood are you looking into? The area right around Einstein? Have you noticed the demographics? Once they head in a certain direction, they won't magically turn around IMHO. Things will only get worse. We're moving out of Silver Spring because of this. While our immediate neighbors were great, as new folks moved into the neighborhood and school district you could sense that things were changing. Folks started renting out their SFH to multiple families. All of a sudden there was an influx of low income kids in the neighborhood school (causing it to become a Title I school). When selling the home we quickly learned about foreclosures nearby and that our zip code had been labelled as a declining area. I think the Einstein area is the same situation. You can buy a nice home in the Olney/Brookeville area with great schools (elementary through high school) for $450k. Check out Olney Mill, Tanterra, Brookeville Knolls, etc. -- very family friendly. If you are looking up to $550k, you have even more options. Folks will say that Olney is way out there and that it lacks a metro stop -- but that's a good thing IMHO. There was lots of crime around the immediate area of our local metro stop -- folks were mugged walking home at night, etc. While my commute will be a bit longer (20 mins), it's worth the trade off to be in a family-friendly neighborhood with great schools. Lots of folks are saying that Brookeville is the new Potomac -- they're building million dollar homes left and right -- but there are older more modest homes (built in the 1970s, 80s and 90s) with 4+ bedrooms, all hardwood floors, etc. in established neighborhoods for under $550k.

White flight. Fabulous.

OP, why buy a house now? It's not a great time anyway.

I totally agree about the White flight comment. Was thinking the same thing.

[Anonymous]

"I totally agree about the White flight comment. Was thinking the same thing. "

Again -- not really white flight -- more like socioeconomic status flight. My local elem school became a Title 1 school b/c more than half of the students attend free and reduced meals. The school is roughly 10% caucasian, which I guess supports your white flight argument (it was nearly 40% white 6 years ago). But again, my African American neighbors yanked their three kids out of the local schools once things started changing -- is that white flight? Their decision had to do with the low-income factor. And the increased problems in the classrooms and suspension rate. Kids in elem schools typically don't get suspended -- if your elem school has a suspension rate, you should find out why.

[Anonymous]

I would consider leaving any school where I was in fear for my children's safety or felt like their capacity to learn on a daily basis was compromised by chaos.