Another family considering moving to MoCo for the schools, but must stay east - recommendations?

[Anonymous]

OP is not going to move to Fairfax if they have a commute to Baltimore.

My daughter is at RHPS and we have had a fantastic experience - and I looked up the diversity stats - it's about 65% white.

[Anonymous]

23:16 here. It's funny that you mention Friends Community School because that was one of the private schools we had a bad experience with. I definitely don't think it is worth the money although I know a lot of people really like the school. I think it has changed quite a bit since we left but I do have a friend who pulled her daughter out of the school mid-year. We tried Catholic School too (St Hugh's) but when the school closed due to low enrollment, we gave up on PG County and moved. Catholic School wasn't a good fit for us but the kids were happy there.

You asked what I miss about PG County. Mostly I miss my neighbors and friends. I miss the more down-to-earth feeling. Montgomery County is a LOT more uptight about a lot of things. I miss the diversity very much- our new neighborhood is primarily white and upper middle class. Berwyn Heights has a small town vibe which is hard to find these days- people really look out for each other there. I miss being able to leave my house and NOT hit major traffic! I could go on and on about what I miss but there is a lot that's better in my new neighborhood too.

I would not call Rosemary Hills a "rainbow school," especially after living in PG county, but it's a lot more diverse than most of the Bethesda and Potomac schools. On the other hand, some of the schools in Silver Spring and Takoma Park have much more diversity. Good luck with French Immersion!

[Anonymous]

Back to OP's original question, just wanted to chime in that several Woodmoor families are in your boat of commuting with one parent up to Baltimore (here you have options -- Beltway to 95, or up 29, or up 29 to BW parkway) and one to downtown (some drive, some use the SS metro, some FG metro). The kids in our neighborhood go to the local elementaries (Montgomery Knolls and Pine Crest), magnets, or St. B's. It is very friendly neighborhood with a lot of fun traditions, and you can walk to a fair number of things (Starbucks, CVS, dentist, small theate, deli, etc.). But good luck with whatever you do -- lots of good options.

[Anonymous]

Have you considered Olney or Brookeville? Great schools and tons of families. It would essentially put you and your husband in the middle in terms of commutes to DC and Baltimore. We moved out this way after living in Silver Spring and we love it (and we commute to DC). We weren't thrilled with our neighborhood schools, and the influx of renters and foreclosures in our area troubled us (lots of folks couldn't sell their homes so they rented them out and it seemed like multiple families were piling into SFHs --- and this impacted the local elementary school). Be sure to check to see if there are lots of rentals and foreclosures in the area before you buy. Woodmoor is a nice area if you are set on SS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We lived in Montgomery County and could not get out fast enough. We have been MUCH happier with Fairfax.

Can you describe the differences btwn MoCo and FFX?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. To those of you who offered suggestions on schools & neighborhoods, thank you very much. I wish there were a way to delete some of the ridiculous arguments, because it makes it hard to find the helpful posts which get lost in the mix.

To PP 23:16: thanks again for your feedback. I'm also looking at a couple private schools as backups, in case we A) dont "win" the french immersion school lottery, and B) can't get it together to sell our house and relocate to MoCo before next fall. We're looking at Friends Community School, which I really love but is expensive and would be a horrible commute / logistical situation wrt to our jobs; and a catholic school near our house which is convenient and relatively cheap and better than our local public school. We're not remotely Catholic, though. But honestly, I think I'd rather move to MoCo than pay for private school just for the privilege of continuing to live in our not-so-great neighborhood. That's pretty great to hear that you've preferred RHES to the private schools your older child attended.
I'm curious, what aspects of PG do you miss? I do like my down-to-earth neighbors a lot - there are a lot of really interesting and friendly people here who I would miss a lot. At the same time, there also a lot of people I have pretty much nothing in common with, so I wouldn't miss that. You (I think it was you) mentioned that RHES isn't that racially diverse ...that's funny since don't they call themselves the Rainbow School? Is it really not so diverse any more?

To the PP who mentioned that MoCo's little secret is that all the best schools are overcrowded ... interesting point. I hadn't realized that, but once you say it, it seems like it could well be true. But italso seems to me that this is only true in the close in burbs, right? It seems like if we were willing to move out to Colesvillle or Ashton or thereabouts, there are some great schools that are not overcrowded like the close in ones. But that just is a really high cost for me, in terms of my personal happiness, as I mentioned before ...

To the PP who suggesed Woodside / Woodlin: yes, that's another area that I've been looking at. What's the deal with Woodlin, is it a Title I school? It seems like somehow they manage to have smaller class sizes than other nearby schools (like RHES)?

Thanks,
R

FYI, Rosemary Hills pulls from Silver Spring, Chevy Chase and Bethesda so there is actually quite a bit of diversity as long as your definition of diversity includes some children from a higher SES. It pulls from some VERY expensive homes, so VERY needy homes and lots of homes in the middle. Couldn't be more perfectly diverse, IMO, but I realize that for some on this board, diverse and high SES cannot coexist.

[Anonymous]

I'll second Olney/Brookeville.

[Anonymous]

FYI, Rosemary Hills pulls from Silver Spring, Chevy Chase and Bethesda so there is actually quite a bit of diversity as long as your definition of diversity includes some children from a higher SES. It pulls from some VERY expensive homes, so VERY needy homes and lots of homes in the middle. Couldn't be more perfectly diverse, IMO, but I realize that for some on this board, diverse and high SES cannot coexist.


I'm the PP who said that I don't see RHES as terribly diverse. I live in one of those nice houses in Chevy Chase so my comment had nothing to do with thinking that "diverse and high SES cannot coexist." It had to do with the fact that my kids are biracial and there are no other biracial or African American kids in my DS's class. I have observed this same situation in some of the other classes as well. I haven't taken a poll of the entire school but, coming from my kids' former schools in PG county, the school doesn't seem all that diverse to me. Because the OP is also from PG and also has a multi racial family, I thought she might be interested. I know what diversity stats the school reports but, just looking at my son's classroom, I'm not really seeing it.

[Anonymous]

Ashton kids go to Sherwood HS if you're set on public schools and the commute to BWI would be easy.

[Anonymous]

Just a quick note on some of the schools mentioned here:

Lots of parents rave about Highland View, but I know some who have had bad experiences there, particularly for kids with special needs. If your child has extra needs, this may not be a good fit for you.

re your hope to win the French lottery. Good luck, but don't think Sligo Creek -- even as a French parent -- is a panacea. The French parents are generally happy, but the school has major problems. That principal is still the principal, regardless of which program you are in. Now that we're out of that school (used to be there), we've seen how much better our new schools are and just how much that school was not doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We lived in Montgomery County and could not get out fast enough. We have been MUCH happier with Fairfax.

Same with us. If we were forced for some reason to move back to Montgomery County and we couldn't afford private school, I would home school my kids before I would ever allow them to go to another Montgomery County school. And I am NOT the home-schooling type. That's how bad our experience was.

We have been thrilled with Fairfax.

[Anonymous]

The two folks in Fairfax, we are currently in Fairfax but considering moving to MoCo to be closer to my work. (Same area as the OP so this thread is of great interest to me.) What was it that you didn't like about MoCo compared to Fairfax?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The two folks in Fairfax, we are currently in Fairfax but considering moving to MoCo to be closer to my work. (Same area as the OP so this thread is of great interest to me.) What was it that you didn't like about MoCo compared to Fairfax?

we're in a similar boat - any comments contrasting mcps and fcps experiences, approaches, or curricula would be very helpful to us

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The two folks in Fairfax, we are currently in Fairfax but considering moving to MoCo to be closer to my work. (Same area as the OP so this thread is of great interest to me.) What was it that you didn't like about MoCo compared to Fairfax?

we're in a similar boat - any comments contrasting mcps and fcps experiences, approaches, or curricula would be very helpful to us

I think you should start a new topic...

[Anonymous]

I had similar concerns re parental quality of life, but I held my breath and moved to Olney 3 years ago to accomodate our expanding family. To my surprise, I like it a lot. Coming as I did from Takoma Park, the backyards seem huge and housing very affordable for what you get (we bought a 4 BR house on 1 acre for under $600K). There are a lot of less expensive nice houses available as well (as well as nicer and more expensive houses). I am happy with the public schools and there are good private schools as well in Olney (St. John's, Julia Brown Montessori) and nearby (Sandy Spring Friends School). Parking is easy anywhere you want to go. Before we moved here I thought all of the restaurants were fast food/chain, but not so -- the Olney Tavern, Ricciutis, Sospiro, Mannequin Pis and the new Taste rival the restaurants in Bethesda and downtown. As some of the previous posters mentioned, people are friendly and not showy even when they have money. Yes, I do have to drive 45 min. to my book club which mostly meets in Bethesda and Chevy Chase DC; my friends gave me quizzical looks when I said I was moving to Olney and asked "is that in Maryland?"; there are not many hip local shops -- but I am much happier than I thought I would be. Just saying that upcounty might not be as bad as you think for your interests...good luck with your decision!