Silver Springs schools?
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eloisetheo
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Hello,
My family will be moving to the DC area over the summer. We have found a couple of homes we like and that meet our needs (price, # of bedrooms, etc.) in Silver Spring and really think we will enjoy living there (it seems like a nice blend of urban and suburban, if that makes sense).It's also very convenient to DH's work and to a place where I'm planning on volunteering at a few hours a week (I'm a SAHM).We'd like to send our kids to public school (our older D will be in third grade next fall, my older son will be in kindergarten, my middle son just turned 3 and my younger D will be 1 in May) if possible and would also like to keep them in the same school system through high school as my older D, in particular, has already faced a lot of upheaval in her young life (her twin brother died a month before their 4th birthday).So ideally we'd like to find a good public elementary that feeds into good middle and high schools. It's hard to gage, IMO, which schools are the "best" solely by test scores. We also want a supportive environment with caring teachers and peers and parents who will be accepting of our family (we're an interracial couple and all our children except our my older D are adopted and of different ethnicities so we don't look like a "typical" family -- whatever that is lol!) .Is there a certain area of SS or certain schools that you think would fit our needs better than others? I'm also looking for preschool recommendations if anyone has any. Thanks so much! |
Anonymous
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Takoma Park would have lots of similar families to yours, and has good schools throughout, Highland View in Silver Spring is an excellent elementary feeding into a pretty good middle school. High school is less strong (Northwood). Forest Knolls is the same trajectory as Highland view.Woodside has an excellent middle elementary school in Woodlin, a good high school with Einstein, but I am not sure of the middle school.
Lots of people on this forum will tell you to go to Bethesda, they will bad mouth Silver Spring, etc. They will tell you about the one diverse family they know in their bethesda school, and how everyone is nice to them. But if you want a supportive environment with lots of other families who look like yours, your best bet is Takoma Park or Silver Spring. |
Anonymous
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Silver Spring is huuuuuuuge, but 20910 is generally a more preferred zip code. Elementary schools frequently given positive reviews on here are Highland View, Oakland Terrace, Flora Singer, Woodlin, Forest Knolls (am I missing any?) I also see Viers Mill, Montgomery Knolls/Pine Crest, and Rock View discussed positively. If you go to Redfin.com, you can put in a school into the search and see the assignment area.
Most (all?) schools in Silver Spring feed into the Downcounty Constortium for high school, which means you may be zoned for one high school, but have the option to apply for any of the five DCC schools, if there are programs that your DCs are interested in. Skip Bethesda--it's nice, but so is SS, and you will get a much nicer home for your money. We live in Silver Spring (we are a mixed-race family as well) and love it! |
Anonymous
| PP here, forgot to add that not all those schools are part of 20910, and the other zips in SS are not automatically un-preferred. Just saying that 20910 is a good starting point. |
Anonymous
| Also, parts of 20910 are zoned for Rock Creek Forest and Rosemary Hills, which feed into Westland Middle and Bethesda Chevy Chase high in Bethesda. |
Anonymous
| If public school is important, then scratch SS off your list period. And I am born and raised from SS. It's a shit hole. Don't listen to all of the hippy posters on here who talk about how diverse or international or wonderful or la la la it is. It's not. Move farther west in Montgomery County if a decent school is important to you. |
Anonymous
| And FYI Blair is a magnet school (to attract better kids) so their numbers are totally skewed. Bad school. |
Anonymous
Ridiculous, false post. We hippies are very happy here. Please join us. 
Plus, in all seriousness, I don't know how old this person is but things change a lot in 10 or 15 years and SS is huge -- some parts I would not live in, but I love where we live (zip code 20901). |
Anonymous
+1 We live in 20910 (Woodside Park) and love our neighborhood and schools. My Bethesda sister is envious of how friendly my neighborhood is. Lots of diverse families, close to everything, lots of parks and playgrounds. Come be our neighbor, OP! |
Anonymous
| Sligo Creek elementary is a great school. Less diverse since redistricting a few years ago. The neighborhood is south woodside. |
Anonymous
FYI, for "decent" read "white" or "affluent," because that's what this poster means. This is actually one of her less offensive posts. |
Anonymous
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We live in Sliver Spring, 20901, Forest Knolls ES district. We like it pretty well. Our neighborhood and school are diverse, including multiethnic families. The homes are fairly modest, and the neighbors are a mix of white collar and blue collar workers. There are many kids on my block, and they run around and play outside together, which is nice.
We've been pleased with the school community, the PTA is active, there are many family-oriented events held at the school. Good luck! |
Anonymous
| I don't know anything about the elementary or middle schools in Silver Spring (although my friends who came from Banneker were a little nicer and people from the other middle school - Briggs Chaney or something - were a little snobbier). In terms of the high schools, as long as your kids are in honors classes, they will receive a pretty good education. I enjoyed Paint Branch and my brother went to Springbrook. |
Anonymous
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Choose west of 270. Silver Spring is nearly a third world country these days. In twenty years it will look like downtown Mexico City or Lagos.
Zip codes that identify "Silver Spring" go nearly 20 miles north and east of what used to be traditional Silver Spring. At your age with such a young family you should be thinking as far west and north as you can go in Montgomery County. |
Anonymous
Don't you think that this family would grow Bethesda's diversity? Wouldn't you be in favor of more diversity in Bethesda instead of discouraging it? |