Diamond Elementary

[Anonymous]

DC is at Darnestown which is districted for Northwest too but out of our community there are no kids attending there. All go to private expect a few at Poolesville or QO. My plan is to keep DC in public through lakelands and then try to get into Poolesville or QO. If we can't we will go to private. Germantown is just not the place to be right now. This happened last school year:

https://www.germantownpulse.net/single-post/2017/10/31/Northwest-High-School-Latest-Target-in-String-of-BB-Gun-Vandalism

Imagine if your kid was there!? I just here some very concerning things happening at that school so DC will NOT be going there. Just praying we somehow get redistricted to a different high school by the time DC is of age.

[Anonymous]

OP, I just want to put in another plug for the area. We are districted for RCES, and despite the overcrowding (which should hopefully be addressed soon), it’s a great area with great community.

Don’t let the Potomac and Bethesda elitists convince you Gaithersburg is Ganglandia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC is at Darnestown which is districted for Northwest too but out of our community there are no kids attending there. All go to private expect a few at Poolesville or QO. My plan is to keep DC in public through lakelands and then try to get into Poolesville or QO. If we can't we will go to private. Germantown is just not the place to be right now. This happened last school year:

https://www.germantownpulse.net/single-post/2017/10/31/Northwest-High-School-Latest-Target-in-String-of-BB-Gun-Vandalism

Imagine if your kid was there!? I just here some very concerning things happening at that school so DC will NOT be going there. Just praying we somehow get redistricted to a different high school by the time DC is of age.

I am too polite to roll my eyes at this statement, but if I weren't, I wouldn't have enough eyerolls for it.

Here's the boundary map for Northwest HS: http://gis.mcpsmd.org/ServiceAreaMaps/NorthwestHS.pdf

(Keep in mind, also, that Northwest, Seneca Valley, and Clarksburg HSs will be rezoned when the new Seneca Valley HS building opens in the fall of 2020, and that Wootton, Gaithersburg, Quince Orchard, and Richard Montgomery HSs will be rezoned when the high school at Crown gets built.)

-person whose kid goes to school in Germantown

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter spent K-5 at Diamond (she is headed to Lakelands in the Fall) and we have had a great experience. She has an IEP and I felt the school was very responsive and relatively easy to work with in that regard. We chose it for the diversity, affordable housing and academics. No regrets, although I am still on the fence about NW high school. I am hoping to learn more about NW as we get closer to her attending HS.

Wouldn’t she go to Ridgeview? Why Lakelands?

most of Diamond goes to Lakelands/NW. A small portion go to Ridgeview/QO

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter spent K-5 at Diamond (she is headed to Lakelands in the Fall) and we have had a great experience. She has an IEP and I felt the school was very responsive and relatively easy to work with in that regard. We chose it for the diversity, affordable housing and academics. No regrets, although I am still on the fence about NW high school. I am hoping to learn more about NW as we get closer to her attending HS.

Wouldn’t she go to Ridgeview? Why Lakelands?

most of Diamond goes to Lakelands/NW. A small portion go to Ridgeview/QO

Lakelands goes to QO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter spent K-5 at Diamond (she is headed to Lakelands in the Fall) and we have had a great experience. She has an IEP and I felt the school was very responsive and relatively easy to work with in that regard. We chose it for the diversity, affordable housing and academics. No regrets, although I am still on the fence about NW high school. I am hoping to learn more about NW as we get closer to her attending HS.

Wouldn’t she go to Ridgeview? Why Lakelands?

most of Diamond goes to Lakelands/NW. A small portion go to Ridgeview/QO

Lakelands goes to QO.

yes part of it does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter spent K-5 at Diamond (she is headed to Lakelands in the Fall) and we have had a great experience. She has an IEP and I felt the school was very responsive and relatively easy to work with in that regard. We chose it for the diversity, affordable housing and academics. No regrets, although I am still on the fence about NW high school. I am hoping to learn more about NW as we get closer to her attending HS.

Wouldn’t she go to Ridgeview? Why Lakelands?

most of Diamond goes to Lakelands/NW. A small portion go to Ridgeview/QO

Lakelands goes to QO.

yes part of it does.

The kids from Darnestown ES and most of Diamond ES go to Lakelands and then to NW. RCES and Brown Station go to Lakelands and then to QO.

[Anonymous]

Northwest is actually far, far better than any of the schools on the eastern side of the county. However, it is academically far below Wootton and Churchill. Its not that far below Quince Orchard but the perception is that QO is far superior to NW.

It is harder from friend group standpoint. The ES/MS paths into Wootton and QO stay contiguous but the Darnestown/Diamond kids lose most of their friends whose families will not send them to NW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Northwest is actually far, far better than any of the schools on the eastern side of the county. However, it is academically far below Wootton and Churchill. Its not that far below Quince Orchard but the perception is that QO is far superior to NW.

It is harder from friend group standpoint. The ES/MS paths into Wootton and QO stay contiguous but the Darnestown/Diamond kids lose most of their friends whose families will not send them to NW.

What data are you basing your comparison of the goodness of Quince Orchard vs. Northwest on?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Northwest is actually far, far better than any of the schools on the eastern side of the county. However, it is academically far below Wootton and Churchill. Its not that far below Quince Orchard but the perception is that QO is far superior to NW.

It is harder from friend group standpoint. The ES/MS paths into Wootton and QO stay contiguous but the Darnestown/Diamond kids lose most of their friends whose families will not send them to NW.

What data are you basing your comparison of the goodness of Quince Orchard vs. Northwest on?

np.. everybody knows it's all based on SAT scores and GS ratings

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Northwest is actually far, far better than any of the schools on the eastern side of the county. However, it is academically far below Wootton and Churchill. Its not that far below Quince Orchard but the perception is that QO is far superior to NW.

It is harder from friend group standpoint. The ES/MS paths into Wootton and QO stay contiguous but the Darnestown/Diamond kids lose most of their friends whose families will not send them to NW.

What data are you basing your comparison of the goodness of Quince Orchard vs. Northwest on?

np.. everybody knows it's all based on SAT scores and GS ratings

But Northwest's average SAT scores are higher, and they both have an 8 on Great Schools.

[Anonymous]

But Northwest's average SAT scores are higher, and they both have an 8 on Great Schools.

Yes this was my point, NW and QO are not far apart in scores BUT there is a BIG premium on being in QO over NW. Its weird. There is a big gap between Wootton and QO but not QO and NW.

Some of it is historical but its also that out in this area everything gets measured against Wootton and Churchill. There's still a 100K premium to be in Wootton over QO. However, QO is a very nice school and everyone from Wootton hangs out in QO areas -like the Kentlands etc. Many people years ago who would have held out for Wootton only moved into QO and like it. Kentlands and Lakelands is very popular. So at some point QO became acceptable but NW did not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

But Northwest's average SAT scores are higher, and they both have an 8 on Great Schools.

Yes this was my point, NW and QO are not far apart in scores BUT there is a BIG premium on being in QO over NW. Its weird. There is a big gap between Wootton and QO but not QO and NW.

Some of it is historical but its also that out in this area everything gets measured against Wootton and Churchill. There's still a 100K premium to be in Wootton over QO. However, QO is a very nice school and everyone from Wootton hangs out in QO areas -like the Kentlands etc. Many people years ago who would have held out for Wootton only moved into QO and like it. Kentlands and Lakelands is very popular. So at some point QO became acceptable but NW did not.

1. What data do you have to substantiate this “big gap” between QO and Wootton? QO is 243 in US News and Wootton is 178. Given how many high schools there are in the US, that’s barely a difference. GS ratings are different because QO has more minority kids. Test scores among white and Asian kids are virtually the same at each school.

2. You’re wrong about the real estate premium. Plenty of homes in QO district that are just as expensive, if not more, than Wootton homes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

But Northwest's average SAT scores are higher, and they both have an 8 on Great Schools.

Yes this was my point, NW and QO are not far apart in scores BUT there is a BIG premium on being in QO over NW. Its weird. There is a big gap between Wootton and QO but not QO and NW.

Some of it is historical but its also that out in this area everything gets measured against Wootton and Churchill. There's still a 100K premium to be in Wootton over QO. However, QO is a very nice school and everyone from Wootton hangs out in QO areas -like the Kentlands etc. Many people years ago who would have held out for Wootton only moved into QO and like it. Kentlands and Lakelands is very popular. So at some point QO became acceptable but NW did not.

People think that Quince Orchard is great and Northwest is Ganglandia, because Quince Orchard is next to Wootton?

There's a simpler explanation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

But Northwest's average SAT scores are higher, and they both have an 8 on Great Schools.

Yes this was my point, NW and QO are not far apart in scores BUT there is a BIG premium on being in QO over NW. Its weird. There is a big gap between Wootton and QO but not QO and NW.

Some of it is historical but its also that out in this area everything gets measured against Wootton and Churchill. There's still a 100K premium to be in Wootton over QO. However, QO is a very nice school and everyone from Wootton hangs out in QO areas -like the Kentlands etc. Many people years ago who would have held out for Wootton only moved into QO and like it. Kentlands and Lakelands is very popular. So at some point QO became acceptable but NW did not.

People think that Quince Orchard is great and Northwest is Ganglandia, because Quince Orchard is next to Wootton?

There's a simpler explanation.

Yup. This is it.