Would you do the Rosemary Hills split? (Alternatively, is it going away anytime soon?)

[Anonymous]

We're looking at new neighborhoods. A couple of places we're considering feed into an elementary school that sends kids to Rosemary Hills for K-2 (so, either North Chevy Chase or Chevy Chase ES). Has anyone done the split and have thoughts?

On one hand, I kind of like the idea of separating the little kids from the big kids. On the other hand, it would mean having the kids at 2 separate schools for years. Just when our younger one gets to K, the older one will be starting 3rd grade and would be leaving RHES. They wouldn't be at the same elementary school until the older one is in 6th grade (since I think NCCES and CCES go to grade 6) and the younger is in 3rd. That just seems like a logistical nightmare.

I know Bethesda ES used to split also. Since they were able to reconstitute their school, any hope that the split in general will end in the next few years?

[Anonymous]

It's a well-regarded school chain, and CCES has the highly gifted center. I imagine that if your kids (or even just the oldest) takes the school bus that would eliminate any logistical concerns?

[Anonymous]

I don't think that its going away, since there was just a large boundary study that changed school boundaries for RH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a well-regarded school chain, and CCES has the highly gifted center. I imagine that if your kids (or even just the oldest) takes the school bus that would eliminate any logistical concerns?

Just to clarify from what a PP said: CCES is a well-regarded school, yes, but the fact that it houses the HGC is irrelevant since kids from all over test in to that.

[Anonymous]

Msot parents worry about the split but by the time they leave there they are very happy with it.

[Anonymous]

The split is not going away.

Our oldest is in 4th at NCCES, and we have loved it and RHPS. Logistically it is annoying but our younger kid doesn't go to K until next year so there would normally be only a year when they would be in the same school. Your kids will most likely not be going to 6th at CCES/NCCES because the new middle school will be opening for 2017-2018.

[Anonymous]

Another parent that wondered about RHPS but really liked it. I think the k-2 focus of the school really benefits those kids and is evident in non-obvious ways (for example, aside from the buses, the entire "media center" is for k-2, and parents seem pretty invested in giving kids a good start, and there's no testing in those years at all).

Bethesda ES was odd because for the large majority of kids it was always k-5, but there was a group of kids that was supposed to go k-2 at RHPS and then 3-5 at BE, so what they did was move that group of kids to BE for k-5.

The bus trip isn't that long (but as a working parent I actually didn't mind a little extra time in the day).

[Anonymous]

Love hearing all these positive comments about RHPS. We're starting K next year and have been really worried about the size. It's nice to hear people have been so happy with the experience.

[Anonymous]

PP here with the 4th-grader. To clarify my earlier response, 6th grade will no longer be at NCCES and CCES once the new middle school is open.

And I would encourage anyone who has concerns about RHPS to get on the listserv and attend PTA meetings. It really is a fabulously dedicated parent community.

[Anonymous]

Doesn't RHPS feed into NCC, not CCES?

[Anonymous]

It feeds into both depending on in what neighborhood you live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It feeds into both depending on in what neighborhood you live.

Correct - maps are here: http://gis.mcpsmd.org/ServiceAreaMaps.html

Very generally, north of East-West Highway goes to NCC, south of it goes to CC.

[Anonymous]

Parent with kids who went thru RHPS and CCES. If I had it to do over again, I would look more closely at Somerset area. If your kid is extremely bright and can test into the CCES HGC, I would consider sending them from Somerset to the CCES HGC. Otherwise, I would say our experience with RHPS and CCES was not great from both an academic perspective and from a logistical perspective due to the split school.

If your choice is between NCC/CCES or BES, then I would say it's all about the same (except that BES no longer sends K-2 away.)

[Anonymous]

We have had a great experience at RHPS thus far. Having a school that is dedicated to the younger set is wonderful. The school is really set up for the youngest learners. Our oldest goes to CCES next year. Our neighbors have all raved about it. A few who sent their kids from CCES to private schools said that their children were very well prepared when they made the switch.

The PP who mentioned the new middle school is correct. If the current schedule holds, this year's second graders will be the first set of 6th graders at the new middle school. I'm excited have him in a new school that is MUCH closer to home than Westland, our current middle school.

This split means that I will have kids in 3 different schools for two years, and my oldest two kids will not meet up until they are a senior/freshman in high school. I figure that it's doable with the bus system. If we ever lose our buses, I'm up a creek!

I second the praise for Somerset. It's another wonderful school. We looked long and hard in that area before we moved her (about 1.5 years ago), but we were priced out.

I did a lot of reading about the school boundaries before we bought this home and I agree that the articulation pattern is unlikely to change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think that its going away, since there was just a large boundary study that changed school boundaries for RH.

Agree that it is unlikely the split would go away. The pairing was initially made to desegregate the broader Chevy Chase area. To undo the split would be difficult as RHPS area still has more of the lower income /higher minority students. Yes, it's true that the disparity isn't as great these days as it used to be, but it would still be difficult politically to undo. Also, undoing the pairing would mean expensive construction at both RHPS and the upper schools to accommodate the students of wider age range. (Try getting a fifth grader to use the tiny toilets at RHPS, for example.)

FWIW, the Super has been asked to undo the Oak View/NHE pairing (see current thread on this) and he has declined. This after intensive campaign from parents. It would be hard to say "yes" to undoing a pairing when lobbied by the wealthy, politically powerful parents, when you have already said no to a similar request from parents with less financial and political clout (presumably). The optics of that would be bad.