Moving to Bethesda -- Renting then buying, choosing an elementary school, all advice welcome...
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Anonymous
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Our house sold much more quickly than we anticipated, and though I would have like to finish the school year here, we are now moving to Bethesda in one month.
We are going to rent for 1 year (possibly 2), because I want to get to know the area before rushing into a home purchase. My twins are in third grade and will be completing the school year in Bethesda starting just after your spring break. I have been doing all my due diligence using greatschools.org and looking at school websites, but now that I have found this board I was hoping for first hand experience and advice. Based on our rental budget and what is available in the market right now there are 6 elementary school possibilities that feed into 2 high schools. I will be looking at rentals in Ashburton, Wyngate, Kensington Parkwood -- feeding into Walter Johnson. Also, a few homes in Bannockburn, Bradley Hills, and Wood Acres -- feeding into Walt Whitman. My realtor would like me to go around and tour schools so that I can narrow my list and prioritize, but the house hunting weekend is short and I am not sure how feasible it would be to to see all six of these schools. Plus I feel the need to turn my attention forward. My kids will only be in elementary school two more years, then it is onto middle school. I am hoping to make their transition as smooth as possible. If we find an elementary school that makes us happy, then we can buy a home that zones them in the same middle school school and eventually high school. This opens up our home search so we can look in a high school cluster versus a tiny elementary school zone. It seems like all these schools are good to great, I am a little nervous about Ashburton -- why is it's goodschools.org rating only a 7 when all the schools around it are primarily 8 to 10? What are your opinions and/or experiences with these schools? Is is worth it to tour them? If this information helps, we don't have any special needs. Many thanks, any and all advice is welcome. |
Anonymous
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Of the schools you have listed, the best are Bannockburn and Bradley Hills. Wood Acres is in the middle of a massive re-model and has been heavily over-subscribed for a few years since it hit the top spot around 2010. And hence, its gone down a little too, in terms of where it ranks.
I know nothing of Ashburton as it wasn't on our radar when we moved here last summer. We visited Bradley and Bannockburn, Carderock Springs, Chevy Chase (for the Magnet program), Wayside. Find the top schools, visit them all, as they do vary and rent if you can in areas which fit with say the top 2 or three you like best. |
Anonymous
| Be prepared to pay 5k+ for your monthlly rent. Seer of you can get a long term lease. Also look into BCC feeders |
Anonymous
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The Hillmead area feeding to Bradley Hills seems like a great community. And friends of ours who live closer to downtown Bethesda have a kid there and are quite happy.
Another friend has a kid at Ashburton and although they like their neighborhood quite a bit (Wildwood Manor) the overcrowding at Ashburton is really extreme. Friends with kids at Kensington Parkwood love it -- especially the arts focus. You have to be careful as not all houses in Kensington feed to KP so if you really want KP then you need to look at specific neighborhoods. If you're interested in schools that feed to Walter Johnson, you might also look at the elementary schools that go to Tilden Middle School first -- either Garrett Park Elementary School, which pulls from Garrett Park, Garrett Park Estates and other areas, or Farmland. |
Anonymous
| It depends on what you want in a school. Most of the schools you are looking at are big (ie 4+ classes per grade) Bannockburn is smaller (2-3 classes per grad) but its an old facility, Wood Acres is still at Radnor, the holding school for the rest of this school year but in the fall is back at a newish building (2000) with a brand new addition; it even had the only planetarium at an MCPS ES. Wyngate has a new addition too. |
Anonymous
| They are all good. Choose based on commute, rent, house. |
Anonymous
| My feeling is that the differences between elementary schools aren't all that big. While schools are a priority for me in general, I think other things (commute, walkability, house size/layout) would probably be more important to me when choosing between these schools. |
Anonymous
| Avoid Ashburton - crazy overcrowded. |
Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
| You want to go with the Whitman cluster. |
Anonymous
+2 And contrary to PP, I'd avoid the Whitman cluster, since Whitman is a crazy pressure cooker of a school. Not for my kids, thanks. |
Anonymous
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I disagree about the $5000 rent. That's actually an old benchmark from about 2009 when prices were well, high.
You can get a 3-4 family house with a nice back yard for between $3000 and $4000 in most areas. Carderock Spring and Bannockburn tend to be higher - so $4,500-$6000 is probably more realistic (also the stock is usually lower, which pushes those prices up). |
Anonymous
| Luxmanor ES, while technically Rockville is a good one to add to your list. Lists of spanking new rentals, close to the highway and metro. Feeds up to Tilden and then WJ. |
Anonymous
| Bannockburn is a lovely neighborhood and small school with smaller than typical class sizes. This has some downsides - there is only a half-time counselor, for example. |
Anonymous
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Why not downtown Bethesda, and the Bethesda-Chevy Chase cluster? The schools are very good, more socio-economically diverse than the other clusters you mention, but still have high educational standards. If you rent a home close to downtown, it will be walkable to Metro, shops and restaurants - quite a pleasant lifestyle! |