Moving to MoCo from out of state — W schools are not an option

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

OP,

We moved to Bethesda years ago specifically for two things:
1. Short commute.
2. The school had a great reputation for taking care of its special needs population.

The two above criteria are the most important! Wealthy neighborhoods don't always have the best IEP teams. You have to create a thread specifically for that. It depends on the Principal of each school. As a rule of thumb, if the school houses a special program, then you can have some reassurance that they take special needs seriously, even if your child is not necessarily in that program. Walter Johnson is a north Bethesda cluster that houses the GT/LD and Asperger's programs. You need to look at each website, see what programs they have in each school.

I’m not OP and I think this is solid advice. I have no idea that the Principal makes such a huge difference! I’m in a ES that feeds to a W school and I don’t feel the team or principal is very supportive of my kid. I should also note that there is no special program at this ES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Avoid MCPS if you can…seriously suboptimal. I would pick the cheapest house and go private.

More backdoor recruiting from the privates?

I don't see any backdoors here. I would avoid MCPS if I could do it all over again....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Avoid MCPS if you can…seriously suboptimal. I would pick the cheapest house and go private.

More backdoor recruiting from the privates?

I don't see any backdoors here.

Then you must not be looking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OP,

We moved to Bethesda years ago specifically for two things:
1. Short commute.
2. The school had a great reputation for taking care of its special needs population.

The two above criteria are the most important! Wealthy neighborhoods don't always have the best IEP teams. You have to create a thread specifically for that. It depends on the Principal of each school. As a rule of thumb, if the school houses a special program, then you can have some reassurance that they take special needs seriously, even if your child is not necessarily in that program. Walter Johnson is a north Bethesda cluster that houses the GT/LD and Asperger's programs. You need to look at each website, see what programs they have in each school.

It doesn't sound like OP can afford Bethesda

DP. There are a few spots in Bethesda near Democracy Boulevard, ex. Battery Lane. There are also HOC options, depending on how much help is needed. Just do a Zillow search on Montgomery County and put in your price range. There are places.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Avoid MCPS if you can…seriously suboptimal. I would pick the cheapest house and go private.

More backdoor recruiting from the privates?

The public high schools recruit from other areas for sports. I wouldn't consider "go private" a recruitment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Avoid MCPS if you can…seriously suboptimal. I would pick the cheapest house and go private.

More backdoor recruiting from the privates?

I don't see any backdoors here. I would avoid MCPS if I could do it all over again....

Yep more backdoor recruiting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The W schools have issues too. There are gangs/violence at every school.

There are no gangs at W schools. Privilege and spoiled children are the issues.

There are also murderers and kids smack teachers with fry pan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. I want a house with a yard, which I can’t afford on the west side of the county where the W schools are. I like the feel of Rockville a lot but I don’t think the large elementary schools would be ideal for my elementary school child. I work from home, so commute isn’t a factor right now but could be in a future job. If there really are gangs at all of the high schools, that is very different from when I was in school.

I'm sorry but there are not gangs in every school. Yes, there are some schools that have had issues with gangs, but it's definitely not rampant in the majority of schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Avoid MCPS if you can…seriously suboptimal. I would pick the cheapest house and go private.

More backdoor recruiting from the privates?

I don't see any backdoors here. I would avoid MCPS if I could do it all over again....

Yep more backdoor recruiting.

People, people I am going through the front door. MCPS is a dumpster fire right now.

[Anonymous]

I have not read 5 pages of responses but if you could I'd avoid MCPS and move to Howard instead. If that's not possible and W schools (including BCC) are not an option, then I'd try PHS (non-magnet part), QO or RM (in that order). As PP said, MCPS is a dumpster fire (and it's been like that for a number of years). It is not getting any better. For full disclosure, I've a resident of MoCo for over 30 years and raised 3 kids here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Avoid MCPS if you can…seriously suboptimal. I would pick the cheapest house and go private.

More backdoor recruiting from the privates?

I don't see any backdoors here. I would avoid MCPS if I could do it all over again....

Yep more backdoor recruiting.

People, people I am going through the front door. MCPS is a dumpster fire right now.

And yet none (be it privates or other jurisdictions) seems to be able to beat MCPS in anything remotely competitive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have not read 5 pages of responses but if you could I'd avoid MCPS and move to Howard instead. If that's not possible and W schools (including BCC) are not an option, then I'd try PHS (non-magnet part), QO or RM (in that order). As PP said, MCPS is a dumpster fire (and it's been like that for a number of years). It is not getting any better. For full disclosure, I've a resident of MoCo for over 30 years and raised 3 kids here.

LOL - 3rd rate system that presents as mediocre due to low diversity

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Avoid MCPS if you can…seriously suboptimal. I would pick the cheapest house and go private.

More backdoor recruiting from the privates?

I don't see any backdoors here. I would avoid MCPS if I could do it all over again....

Yep more backdoor recruiting.

People, people I am going through the front door. MCPS is a dumpster fire right now.

And yet none (be it privates or other jurisdictions) seems to be able to beat MCPS in anything remotely competitive.

By any objective measure yes, MCPS beats all these other counties by a wide margin. Even VA's vaunted TJ, America's No #1 HS, loses consistently to Blair in every academic contest. The issue here is that MCPS is great if you value education and take some personal responsibility. If you want a school system to raise your kids, Howard is probably a good bet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have not read 5 pages of responses but if you could I'd avoid MCPS and move to Howard instead. If that's not possible and W schools (including BCC) are not an option, then I'd try PHS (non-magnet part), QO or RM (in that order). As PP said, MCPS is a dumpster fire (and it's been like that for a number of years). It is not getting any better. For full disclosure, I've a resident of MoCo for over 30 years and raised 3 kids here.

Are you over 60 with no kids currently in MCPS? Apparently studies show current parents in MCPS, like me, are generally happy with the quality of education. Those most vocally anti-MCPS are over 60 and don't even have kids in the county schools. I don't work for MCPS, but it explained a lot when I read it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have not read 5 pages of responses but if you could I'd avoid MCPS and move to Howard instead. If that's not possible and W schools (including BCC) are not an option, then I'd try PHS (non-magnet part), QO or RM (in that order). As PP said, MCPS is a dumpster fire (and it's been like that for a number of years). It is not getting any better. For full disclosure, I've a resident of MoCo for over 30 years and raised 3 kids here.

Are you over 60 with no kids currently in MCPS? Apparently studies show current parents in MCPS, like me, are generally happy with the quality of education. Those most vocally anti-MCPS are over 60 and don't even have kids in the county schools. I don't work for MCPS, but it explained a lot when I read it.

Not over 60 yet. That makes a lot of sense because those older folks understand how MoCo/MCPS used to be. By the time my youngest came out of MCPS, the school system was nothing like the one we started with. It's too bad you don't know what you are missing and how great it used to be.