High school if you had to choose...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:#1 Poolesville but magnet so commute
#2 Quince Orchard
#3 depends what signature program was best for my child.
#4 cheaper house, private school

Why Quince Orchard?

Quince Orchard is the most balanced school in moco right now.

Balanced diversity, SES, locations.

They have the best school spirit and community connection.

There are signature programs that are intense (CS) and are not as intense, they have music and art.

Kids do very well in the non-signature programs.

But if you kid is good enough for magnet I would still go Poolesville or one of the more intense signature programs like Ulyssees at NW HS. Churchill does have a Science program and Art. But Churchill has too many social issues.

Here are the signature programs...

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/high/signatures.aspx

Wheaton has engineering https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/wheatonhs/academies/engineering/

How many kids, what are their interests, could they get into a magnet program?

Agree with this, and we are actually zoned for Wooton. As an AA family, I think it is more balanced all of the way around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your family was at a crossroads and housing costs were not an issue, would you choose Churchill, Poolesville, or Whitman?

I'd get far away from the money in Churchill and Whitman. I'm not a huge fan of Poolesville, either, but that's where I would go.

AA PP is right. They are racist as **** in the W schools. I guess it's "good" that it's so blatant? At least you know what you are dealing with.

But there is so much money, and so little supervision, many kids are doing drugs -- lots of them and hard core.

Ok. That’s not what I need in my life now or later. Are the Potomac area private high schools the same?

Incorrect stereotype. People love to bash Whitman on DCUM. Mostly because they are jealous. The racist incidents last year were done by a biracial kid to get attention. My DC has a large group of friends at Whitman, none of whom are racist or do drugs. I’m sure there are some, but it is by no means widespread.

I agree. My AA son just graduated from Churchill and says he didn't experience any racism during his years there. (He did have a blatantly racist teacher -- now retired -- in 3rd grade in a Churchill feeder elementary school.) And he estimates that 20% of the students were drug users, but that they are easy to avoid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your family was at a crossroads and housing costs were not an issue, would you choose Churchill, Poolesville, or Whitman?

I'd get far away from the money in Churchill and Whitman. I'm not a huge fan of Poolesville, either, but that's where I would go.

AA PP is right. They are racist as **** in the W schools. I guess it's "good" that it's so blatant? At least you know what you are dealing with.

But there is so much money, and so little supervision, many kids are doing drugs -- lots of them and hard core.

Ok. That’s not what I need in my life now or later. Are the Potomac area private high schools the same?

Incorrect stereotype. People love to bash Whitman on DCUM. Mostly because they are jealous. The racist incidents last year were done by a biracial kid to get attention. My DC has a large group of friends at Whitman, none of whom are racist or do drugs. I’m sure there are some, but it is by no means widespread.

I agree. My AA son just graduated from Churchill and says he didn't experience any racism during his years there. (He did have a blatantly racist teacher -- now retired -- in 3rd grade in a Churchill feeder elementary school.) And he estimates that 20% of the students were drug users, but that they are easy to avoid.

Is OP black? Or of color?

I responded about the pervasive racism at the Ws. It's not just about kids of color. It also influences (often heavily) white kids who pick up these ways of thinking. Many of the kids have superiority complexes because they are in the richest of the rich schools, think they are better than everyone else, and that mentality easily translates into racist and sexist beliefs and conversations. Many white male students at these schools think (and have been told by parents) they are better than everyone else. So if you are raising a white kid and you don't want them hanging around this kind of stuff, the Ws may not for you.

Doesn't mean all white and Asian kids are racist. Many aren't. But it's much uglier down there than other parts of the County. If you look at where bias incidents occur in the county, they are everywhere, but there's a large concentration in Bethesda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All three schools are fine. I would not choose a house based on one or the other. Is your child interested in a Poolesville magnet? Is Poolesville where you want to live in term of commute and life style? Same for Potomac vs Bethesda. I would start looking at houses and see what you like in those areas. Poolesville is not at all similar to the other two.

What is Poolesville like?

[Anonymous]

I would choose Poolesville

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Quince Orchard is the most balanced school in moco right now.

How do you know this? I feel like lots of schools in moco are balanced. QO, Clarksburg, Northwest, Einstein, Seneca Valley, Sherwood, Rockville, Magruder, etc.
QO just gets the popular vote because it has more white kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would choose Bethesda, because I don't want to live in Potomac (too far, too car-dependent) or Poolesville (way too far). And I guess Whitman would come with that. But I wouldn't base my decision on the high school.

+1 We did this and ended up at BCC which we actually preferred to Whitman fwiw.

+2 for BCC. more diversity, has some challenging programs, and kid is doing very well and happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would choose Bethesda, because I don't want to live in Potomac (too far, too car-dependent) or Poolesville (way too far). And I guess Whitman would come with that. But I wouldn't base my decision on the high school.

+1 We did this and ended up at BCC which we actually preferred to Whitman fwiw.

+2 for BCC. more diversity, has some challenging programs, and kid is doing very well and happy.

Fortunately (despite DCUM's best efforts to malign it), MCPS has a number of excellent high schools.

[Anonymous]

None

[Anonymous]

It I had to pick between just those three high schools, I’d choose Whitman. However, Whitman wouldn’t be my first choice school in MCPS as a whole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your family was at a crossroads and housing costs were not an issue, would you choose Churchill, Poolesville, or Whitman?

I'd get far away from the money in Churchill and Whitman. I'm not a huge fan of Poolesville, either, but that's where I would go.

AA PP is right. They are racist as **** in the W schools. I guess it's "good" that it's so blatant? At least you know what you are dealing with.

But there is so much money, and so little supervision, many kids are doing drugs -- lots of them and hard core.

Ok. That’s not what I need in my life now or later. Are the Potomac area private high schools the same?

Incorrect stereotype. People love to bash Whitman on DCUM. Mostly because they are jealous. The racist incidents last year were done by a biracial kid to get attention. My DC has a large group of friends at Whitman, none of whom are racist or do drugs. I’m sure there are some, but it is by no means widespread.

I agree. My AA son just graduated from Churchill and says he didn't experience any racism during his years there. (He did have a blatantly racist teacher -- now retired -- in 3rd grade in a Churchill feeder elementary school.) And he estimates that 20% of the students were drug users, but that they are easy to avoid.

Is OP black? Or of color?

I responded about the pervasive racism at the Ws. It's not just about kids of color. It also influences (often heavily) white kids who pick up these ways of thinking. Many of the kids have superiority complexes because they are in the richest of the rich schools, think they are better than everyone else, and that mentality easily translates into racist and sexist beliefs and conversations. Many white male students at these schools think (and have been told by parents) they are better than everyone else. So if you are raising a white kid and you don't want them hanging around this kind of stuff, the Ws may not for you.

Doesn't mean all white and Asian kids are racist. Many aren't. But it's much uglier down there than other parts of the County. If you look at where bias incidents occur in the county, they are everywhere, but there's a large concentration in Bethesda.

Genuinely curious PP - do you have personal experience at a W school or is this just based on your assumption that white + $ = racist drug user? I have personal experience and would not attempt to paint with the broad brush you do, but your stereotype is just that. A stereotype. Lots of good kids at all MCPS schools, including W schools.

[Anonymous]

The W schools are mainly non white

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your family was at a crossroads and housing costs were not an issue, would you choose Churchill, Poolesville, or Whitman?

I'd get far away from the money in Churchill and Whitman. I'm not a huge fan of Poolesville, either, but that's where I would go.

AA PP is right. They are racist as **** in the W schools. I guess it's "good" that it's so blatant? At least you know what you are dealing with.

But there is so much money, and so little supervision, many kids are doing drugs -- lots of them and hard core.

Ok. That’s not what I need in my life now or later. Are the Potomac area private high schools the same?

Don't pay attention to PP. There been a concentrated effort by east county residents to raise their property values. One of they ways they try to do this is by maligning the W schools every chance they get. They also tried to pass legislation that would hide which schools a home is zoned for in eal estate listings in an attempt to dupe buyers into less desirable school clusters.

The W schools and the parents do that by themselves.
They need no help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your family was at a crossroads and housing costs were not an issue, would you choose Churchill, Poolesville, or Whitman?

If you can't get into one of the magnet programs - Blair STEM, RM IB, or PHS... I'd seriously look into one of the W schools and BCC. OR move to Howard county.

I'd probably still go with Blair since you can take many of the magnet courses by meeting the pre-reqs.

[Anonymous]

There were some helpful posts on a different thread from Whitman students and ex students saying their experience in that school as non-whites was that it was not a racist environment.

I think there was some racist graffiti posted at the school in 2019 or early 2020 by a student who had been expelled and the claims that the entire student body and teaching staff are "racist" has bounced off the back of that incident.

And then someone else comes along to support this saying "there are lots of incidents" but is at the same time, unable to specifically detail any of them.

So I think it is safe to say it is a largely liberal minded population, not one where racist culture is tolerated.

All this aside, I think all three of these high schools have pluses and minuses and your kid should be fine at any of them.