Thoughts about Richard Montgomery HS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to stay in RM cluster and have young kids, I will avoid CG.

CG is likely to move out of RM and join either Gaithersburg or Crown HS.

CG has the IB program as does JW and RM. Seems like they’d want to keep the program together, instead of moving CG.

Whenever Crown opens, lots of things could change. There were county meetings about changing the HS IB programs last week. Nothing ever stays the same...

[Anonymous]

The first couple pages are unbelievable. Any time RM is discussed, someone from Wooton jumps in and says “RM sucks Wooton is the best”. Wooton costs more and is far more suburban. I live in Beall ES’s zone and it’s got the Town Center close by and has close access to 270 and Metro. None of that is in Wooton’s zone. Beall is a great school and the principal is really good.

[Anonymous]

2 kids...straight through CG, JW, RM. Happy and successful college students. I try to avoid all the micro analyzing of scores and incidents that usually goes on here. Was everyday perfect in every class? No. Did my kids grow into informed young adults ready for college..yes. I would make the same choice again.

PS>>Neither had any interest in the IB magnet for HS. We actually did not have much enthusiasm for the whole progression( PYP/MYP) because so often it felt like The IB curriculum forced into the MCPS curriculum which really did not work well..That was our biggest overall issue which is funny because many people come to the cluster for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2 kids...straight through CG, JW, RM. Happy and successful college students. I try to avoid all the micro analyzing of scores and incidents that usually goes on here. Was everyday perfect in every class? No. Did my kids grow into informed young adults ready for college..yes. I would make the same choice again.

PS>>Neither had any interest in the IB magnet for HS. We actually did not have much enthusiasm for the whole progression( PYP/MYP) because so often it felt like The IB curriculum forced into the MCPS curriculum which really did not work well..That was our biggest overall issue which is funny because many people come to the cluster for it.

I would have preferred not having IB as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to stay in RM cluster and have young kids, I will avoid CG.

CG is likely to move out of RM and join either Gaithersburg or Crown HS.

CG has the IB program as does JW and RM. Seems like they’d want to keep the program together, instead of moving CG.

Lots of changes will happen in near future.

Either CG or TB has to move out of RM cluster due to over crowding. CG may help with balancing diversity in Gaithersburg/Crown so I expect CG to move out of RM cluster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Be aware that the school is already overcrowded and there is a ton of overdevelopment scheduled for that cluster. There will be a boat load of new housing going up in the area, and there are no plans to alleviate the already overcrowded HS.

The development is taking place over decades, and is mostly luxury METRO-based development that will have few kids. It's really a non-issue when you factor in that two new HSs will open before that development ever fully builds out.

1. RM is already overcrowded without any additional developments
2. There are other approved developments already in production that have nothing to do with the Twinbrook apartments. If you lived in the cluster you would realize this was an issue that was brought up during the RM ES #5 boundary study. There is new development expected in Tower Oaks which will be assigned to Bayard Rustin and other approved housing in the cluster. I believe around Fallsgrove was another approved site. I can't remember the other sites off the top of my head, but you can look in.the boundary study info online for all the developments that MCPS included for informational purposes, but conveniently did not include in their future projection numbers.

If the developments are already approved, then they're also already included in the enrollment projections.

You can look at projected number of Bayard Rustin used by MCPS and just take a look at capacity. BRES will be near capacity in 1-2 years. MCPS was still projecting that there will be empty seats after many years.

Clearly, numbers from new developments are included, but they are under-projected numbers and wrong.

Part of the issue with the Bayard Rustin projections is the changes in the neighborhood.

Many of the SFHs in that neighborhood are being converted into multi-family rentals (illegally). This leads to many more kids than expected in each home. This has been a trend in some parts of the County. Where the owner takes a SFH and converts it into an illegal accessory apartment and rents it to multiple unrelated families.

Impossible for MCPS to predict enrollment when this type of issue arises.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Either CG or TB has to move out of RM cluster due to over crowding. CG may help with balancing diversity in Gaithersburg/Crown so I expect CG to move out of RM cluster.

Keep in mind that there are broader redistricting issues in play here as well. When it's all said and done, I would not be surprised to see TB move to Wootton or Churchill to balance out demographics better. It's a pretty easy commute from TB to both schools.

[Anonymous]

The new es, Rustin, is wonderful. Our experience at Beall was great too.

Rm is a solid hs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Either CG or TB has to move out of RM cluster due to over crowding. CG may help with balancing diversity in Gaithersburg/Crown so I expect CG to move out of RM cluster.

Keep in mind that there are broader redistricting issues in play here as well. When it's all said and done, I would not be surprised to see TB move to Wootton or Churchill to balance out demographics better. It's a pretty easy commute from TB to both schools.

Unlikely when students in the northwestern parts of Twinbrook can easily walk to RM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Either CG or TB has to move out of RM cluster due to over crowding. CG may help with balancing diversity in Gaithersburg/Crown so I expect CG to move out of RM cluster.

Keep in mind that there are broader redistricting issues in play here as well. When it's all said and done, I would not be surprised to see TB move to Wootton or Churchill to balance out demographics better. It's a pretty easy commute from TB to both schools.

Unlikely when students in the northwestern parts of Twinbrook can easily walk to RM.

DP.. We live in Horizon Hill. We could easily walk to Wootton, and 20 or so years ago, this neighborhood was in fact zoned for Wootton. But MCPS decided that RM needed more upper income families, so now our kids take a bus to RM. Not that I'm complaining, since we purposefully picked RM cluster over Wootton (we looked in Fallsmead neighborhood which is literally across the street from HH neighborhood), but MCPS doesn't care if the HS kids could literally walk to school if it means that there is more diversity spread around. So don't put too much stock into "but that school is so much closer that my kids could walk to it".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Either CG or TB has to move out of RM cluster due to over crowding. CG may help with balancing diversity in Gaithersburg/Crown so I expect CG to move out of RM cluster.

Keep in mind that there are broader redistricting issues in play here as well. When it's all said and done, I would not be surprised to see TB move to Wootton or Churchill to balance out demographics better. It's a pretty easy commute from TB to both schools.

Unlikely when students in the northwestern parts of Twinbrook can easily walk to RM.

Actually, it's not really walkable to RM from there. The distance isn't too great on a map, but it's not pedestrian friendly and the street grid doesn't connect it efficiently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just like Blair, the magnet is super but that’s about it. Non magnet portion is like any other MCPS HS (not counting BCC and w schools).

Yup, they add the magnets to the schools that need the most boost in test scores. QO is just as good as RM without the magnet. Cheaper real estate too. Rockville is trying to improve Twinbrook, but I don't see it turning even after all the massive construction.

It isn't a bad school, but it sure is cliquey. They try to say it is diverse and it is, but they all hang out with their own at RM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Either CG or TB has to move out of RM cluster due to over crowding. CG may help with balancing diversity in Gaithersburg/Crown so I expect CG to move out of RM cluster.

Keep in mind that there are broader redistricting issues in play here as well. When it's all said and done, I would not be surprised to see TB move to Wootton or Churchill to balance out demographics better. It's a pretty easy commute from TB to both schools.

TB is better off going WJ since their boundary lines are right by them. You would leave them on an island if you put them in Wootton or Churchill. I am all for diversifying schools, but not cherry picking neighborhoods as a social science experiment.

The county should be building more diverse areas in upscale areas instead of this expensive bus system in an already traffic littered county. Crown, Cabin John shopping center, Bethesda, Rockville Town Center, Fallsgrove, etc.. should have low income apartments built. Not a percentage like 10 or whatever they need to fulfill. Like 30% minimum. Get some built in the village too. But the builders want $$ and they rule the county. So it will never happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Either CG or TB has to move out of RM cluster due to over crowding. CG may help with balancing diversity in Gaithersburg/Crown so I expect CG to move out of RM cluster.

Keep in mind that there are broader redistricting issues in play here as well. When it's all said and done, I would not be surprised to see TB move to Wootton or Churchill to balance out demographics better. It's a pretty easy commute from TB to both schools.

Do we have an example of entire ES being an island in MCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just like Blair, the magnet is super but that’s about it. Non magnet portion is like any other MCPS HS (not counting BCC and w schools).

Yup, they add the magnets to the schools that need the most boost in test scores. QO is just as good as RM without the magnet. Cheaper real estate too. Rockville is trying to improve Twinbrook, but I don't see it turning even after all the massive construction.

It isn't a bad school, but it sure is cliquey. They try to say it is diverse and it is, but they all hang out with their own at RM.

Agree with this. I am in RM cluster and all this talk of diversity is fine in theory, but practically kids segregate themselves.