Bethesda vs Kensington

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BCC is outstanding. I wouldn’t consider any school district except it or the “W’s”)—Whitman, Wootton and Winston Churchill). They’re the best by every metric. You can find a modest home in your budget.

The school district is Montgomery County Public Schools.

B-CC academically is a GS 7. It's hardly stellar but seems like a fine school. Overall it's comparable to most other MCPS high-schools.

Whitman academically is a GS 4.

Churchill's math program was recently cited on this board as subpar. W's are also just coasting on past glory.

You’re misinformed, bitter, and/or ignorant.

[Anonymous]

OP, I'll disagree with one of the previous posters who said only to focus on elementary/MS since HS is so far away for your kids. I have a freshman now, and even though he's not super social, it would have been really tough to move him in late MS. We're staying put in our imperfect house in part for that reason. So ideally you want to buy somewhere that you'd be happy to stay through HS.

On Bethesda vs Kensington, I lean strongly toward Kensington. Old town is great, there's nice real estate, it's central to both Bethesda and SS. However, there is undoubtedly more of a roulette wheel in terms of the future value of a home because of the reopening of Woodward. How the boundaries are drawn for that school will inevitably affect a lot of Kensington; some people will suddenly find their houses appreciate in value; others will find the opposite. I'd be very hesitant to buy anywhere in Kensington right now for that reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BCC is outstanding. I wouldn’t consider any school district except it or the “W’s”)—Whitman, Wootton and Winston Churchill). They’re the best by every metric. You can find a modest home in your budget.

The school district is Montgomery County Public Schools.

B-CC academically is a GS 7. It's hardly stellar but seems like a fine school. Overall it's comparable to most other MCPS high-schools.

Whitman academically is a GS 4.

Churchill's math program was recently cited on this board as subpar. W's are also just coasting on past glory.

You’re misinformed, bitter, and/or ignorant.

I have no dog in this race, but I think pp may be referring to this thread. http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/749557.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'll disagree with one of the previous posters who said only to focus on elementary/MS since HS is so far away for your kids. I have a freshman now, and even though he's not super social, it would have been really tough to move him in late MS. We're staying put in our imperfect house in part for that reason. So ideally you want to buy somewhere that you'd be happy to stay through HS.

On Bethesda vs Kensington, I lean strongly toward Kensington. Old town is great, there's nice real estate, it's central to both Bethesda and SS. However, there is undoubtedly more of a roulette wheel in terms of the future value of a home because of the reopening of Woodward. How the boundaries are drawn for that school will inevitably affect a lot of Kensington; some people will suddenly find their houses appreciate in value; others will find the opposite. I'd be very hesitant to buy anywhere in Kensington right now for that reason.

Woodward's boundaries are just as likely to affect Bethesda as Kensington. The schools feeding to Tilden MS (GP, Luxmanor, and Farmland) are closer to Woodward than the schools feeding to North Bethesda MS (KP, Ashburton, Wingate). I would not hesitate to buy in Kensington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'll disagree with one of the previous posters who said only to focus on elementary/MS since HS is so far away for your kids. I have a freshman now, and even though he's not super social, it would have been really tough to move him in late MS. We're staying put in our imperfect house in part for that reason. So ideally you want to buy somewhere that you'd be happy to stay through HS.

On Bethesda vs Kensington, I lean strongly toward Kensington. Old town is great, there's nice real estate, it's central to both Bethesda and SS. However, there is undoubtedly more of a roulette wheel in terms of the future value of a home because of the reopening of Woodward. How the boundaries are drawn for that school will inevitably affect a lot of Kensington; some people will suddenly find their houses appreciate in value; others will find the opposite. I'd be very hesitant to buy anywhere in Kensington right now for that reason.

Woodward's boundaries are just as likely to affect Bethesda as Kensington. The schools feeding to Tilden MS (GP, Luxmanor, and Farmland) are closer to Woodward than the schools feeding to North Bethesda MS (KP, Ashburton, Wingate). I would not hesitate to buy in Kensington.

Ashburton and wyngate for sure. What about Kensington parkwood? Old town Kensington is a stone’s throw from silver creek middle school (BCC) and of course Oakland Terrace ES (Einstein ha)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BCC is outstanding. I wouldn’t consider any school district except it or the “W’s”)—Whitman, Wootton and Winston Churchill). They’re the best by every metric. You can find a modest home in your budget.

And what metrics would those be? Don't get me wrong, BCC is a great school and I would have no hesitation sending a kid there. But it is ridiculous to say that it is clearly better than the other schools you mentioned by both quantitative and qualitative measures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'll disagree with one of the previous posters who said only to focus on elementary/MS since HS is so far away for your kids. I have a freshman now, and even though he's not super social, it would have been really tough to move him in late MS. We're staying put in our imperfect house in part for that reason. So ideally you want to buy somewhere that you'd be happy to stay through HS.

On Bethesda vs Kensington, I lean strongly toward Kensington. Old town is great, there's nice real estate, it's central to both Bethesda and SS. However, there is undoubtedly more of a roulette wheel in terms of the future value of a home because of the reopening of Woodward. How the boundaries are drawn for that school will inevitably affect a lot of Kensington; some people will suddenly find their houses appreciate in value; others will find the opposite. I'd be very hesitant to buy anywhere in Kensington right now for that reason.

Woodward's boundaries are just as likely to affect Bethesda as Kensington. The schools feeding to Tilden MS (GP, Luxmanor, and Farmland) are closer to Woodward than the schools feeding to North Bethesda MS (KP, Ashburton, Wingate). I would not hesitate to buy in Kensington.

Ashburton and wyngate for sure. What about Kensington parkwood? Old town Kensington is a stone’s throw from silver creek middle school (BCC) and of course Oakland Terrace ES (Einstein ha)

Kensington Parkwood is the aforementioned KP which feeds to NBMS. I think the NBMS feeders are likeliest to stay at WJ and the Tilden schools are likeliest to move to Woodward. A couple more elementaries from nearby may join each of them.

[Anonymous]

So why does the county spend so much on bussing Kensington residents to other high-schools when Einstein is so close?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So why does the county spend so much on bussing Kensington residents to other high-schools when Einstein is so close?

Einstein already is overcapacity now, and it's not getting an addition. It doesn't have room for more students. Some students currently zoned for Einstein may be zoned to Woodward or WJ in the future to help ease overcrowding.

[Anonymous]

Student population is booming in the southern and eastern parts of the county where they are approving lots of in-fill development. All the schools are overcrowded and they need to send kids N and W for high school because there’s no cheap land large enough to build new high schools in that area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Student population is booming in the southern and eastern parts of the county where they are approving lots of in-fill development. All the schools are overcrowded and they need to send kids N and W for high school because there’s no cheap land large enough to build new high schools in that area.

Isn't BCC the only HS in the Southern part of the county?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Student population is booming in the southern and eastern parts of the county where they are approving lots of in-fill development. All the schools are overcrowded and they need to send kids N and W for high school because there’s no cheap land large enough to build new high schools in that area.

Isn't BCC the only HS in the Southern part of the county?

If you define southern part of the county as inside the beltway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Looking at Kensington, I read that a new HS may open and may not be as good. I know we have many years and a lot of things may change, but in general, I want to get a feeling of the community and neighborhood. As I think if other like-minded people live in the neighborhood they may have this as their priority and somehow keep the school quality high.

I live in Wheaton and there are loads of parents at the school who value education and community. There has beens some concern expressed here and on the Real Estate forums about some of us leaking into Woodard. If you want to pay a 150-300k premium to segregate your children from mine...by all means go do it.

The biggest challenge for us parents outside of the W school zones is actually the occasional teacher who shares your mindset and either conciously or subconsciously imposes a ceiling on the expectations of students in the classroom as they assume that we don’t hold education as a priority because of the neighborhood where we live. The curriculum is the same, but the fidelity of implementing it is not often the case if the teacher approaches the class with a preconceived notion that the students will only have only low wage outcomes post education. Ultimately we are not “buying into” a good school, but rather rolling up our sleeves and working hard to make sure the teachers are providing the learning environment all students deserve regardless of SES.

Best wishes with your move wherever you choose to buy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Student population is booming in the southern and eastern parts of the county where they are approving lots of in-fill development. All the schools are overcrowded and they need to send kids N and W for high school because there’s no cheap land large enough to build new high schools in that area.

Isn't BCC the only HS in the Southern part of the county?

If you define southern part of the county as inside the beltway.

You mean if you define southern as being south where they're building all that new housing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Looking at Kensington, I read that a new HS may open and may not be as good. I know we have many years and a lot of things may change, but in general, I want to get a feeling of the community and neighborhood. As I think if other like-minded people live in the neighborhood they may have this as their priority and somehow keep the school quality high.

I live in Wheaton and there are loads of parents at the school who value education and community. There has beens some concern expressed here and on the Real Estate forums about some of us leaking into Woodard. If you want to pay a 150-300k premium to segregate your children from mine...by all means go do it.

The biggest challenge for us parents outside of the W school zones is actually the occasional teacher who shares your mindset and either conciously or subconsciously imposes a ceiling on the expectations of students in the classroom as they assume that we don’t hold education as a priority because of the neighborhood where we live. The curriculum is the same, but the fidelity of implementing it is not often the case if the teacher approaches the class with a preconceived notion that the students will only have only low wage outcomes post education. Ultimately we are not “buying into” a good school, but rather rolling up our sleeves and working hard to make sure the teachers are providing the learning environment all students deserve regardless of SES.

Best wishes with your move wherever you choose to buy.

W zones - have you been paying attention? Whitman is a 4. BCC is a 7. Churchill students can barely count. W are overrated by any factual measure.