Rosemary Hills, public vs. private in Montgomery County

[Anonymous]

Re: the previous poster about what Wyngate Elem feeds into...Wyngate is in the Walter Johnson cluster (with North Bethesda as the Middle School)

[Anonymous]

I have no personal experience with Westland. But, have driven past it during school times on my way to the Public Library. The groups (gangs) of kids standing outside gave me pause for consideration, let's say.

[Anonymous]

Don't get too tied up on test scores....data can be manipulated in many ways. Besides, many kids get accom. for whatever reason and therefore their test scores don't really reflect what they can do. As i work in one of the public schools mentioned above we have high test scores but I see kids "running " the halls during class time, not being respectful and thinking they are entitled to do what they want. Just food for thought.

[Anonymous]

North Chevy Chase is 3-6; most kids go to Westland for 6th grade but you have the option of staying at North Chevy Chase for 6th.

I think the problem with Westland is that it's a middle school. Kids just suck at that age so there is no such thing as a good middle school. What's more annoying is that it's 20-30 minutes away in traffic from a lot of the neighborhoods it serves so kids are on the bus forever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have no personal experience with Westland. But, have driven past it during school times on my way to the Public Library. The groups (gangs) of kids standing outside gave me pause for consideration, let's say.

What does this imply? The word 'gangs' brings to mind low-income minority kids hanging around looking for trouble. Or is it just middle school kids of all races and incomes just being themselves, ie looking scruffy, hanging out and making a lot of noise.

I would like to know. I don't want my kids going to school with gang members (in training?), and if that were the case, I'd avoid Westland.

[Anonymous]

I've also heard complaints about Westland but like the PP, I've always heard it put in context of the age of the kids... which rings true from my own junior high experience! I've never heard anything about gangs or discipline issues - remember this school feeds into one of the top-performing high schools in the area (and highly ranked nationally) so take the concerns with some dose of realism. As I understand it, a lot of local parents think of Westland as "the weak link" in an otherwise great set of schools, and the ones I've talked to acknowledge that perception is related to the difficulty of kids that age.

[Anonymous]

Who has ever heard of a "good" middle school? Even the very best school systems have relatively weak middle schools--as a pp states, I think it is due to the developmental stage of middle schoolers. Westland is just fine--just stay involved with your kids, attend PTA, etc.

[Anonymous]

How do people manage the commute to Rosemary Hills HS? We're looking at moving into that cluster, but it seems that the school is pretty far away from our (prospective) home. Just asking from logistical perspective here - if the kids take the bus, bus pickup time, or what time to leave the house if you're driving, etc. We're looking at the Bethesda or North CC 'hoods. Thanks

[Anonymous]

they take the bus

[Anonymous]

they take the bus

[Anonymous]

I'm the OP on this ancient thread, and I'm fascinated that it gets resurrected periodically. My child is doing well and is very happy at RHPS after a year. To the PP who asked about commute time, the school is very close (10 mins drive max) to the North Chevy Chase neighborhood, and not really all that far from most parts of East Bethesda where a lot of the kids live. Plus, the whole bus thing seems to take a while no matter what you do - we live near NCC and the bus usually arrives at 4pm after a 330pm dismissal.

[Anonymous]

Which elementary school is better: Rock Creek Forest or Rosemary Hills? We're looking to buy in the vicinity of both/either, and was wondering if either school is better overall.

[Anonymous]

The stats for Rosemary Hills are a bit better if I recall (I'm in RHPS but was looking at Rock Creek because it has the Spanish immersion program.) The two schools are geographically very close, but their student bodies are from different socioeconomic pools overall. RH draws on Bethesda and Chevy Chase neigborhoods (as well as Silver Spring and Kensington) - I think that Rock Creek draws mainly from Silver Spring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The stats for Rosemary Hills are a bit better if I recall (I'm in RHPS but was looking at Rock Creek because it has the Spanish immersion program.) The two schools are geographically very close, but their student bodies are from different socioeconomic pools overall. RH draws on Bethesda and Chevy Chase neigborhoods (as well as Silver Spring and Kensington) - I think that Rock Creek draws mainly from Silver Spring.

RCF mom here: the school (English program) draws from about half SS and half CC. The part of CC it draws from is the less expensive part..but the parents tend to be upper middle class and well-educated. The Silver Spring part is a mix of lower-income families and families similar to the Chevy Chase part.