MoCo vs NW DC Schools

[Anonymous]

What about other Montgomery schools that are NOT WW and BCC? I only ever see these two mentioned. Is Montgomery Blair okay?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd recommend you read the MoCo thread. DCPS certainly has it's issues. But MoCo is in chaos right now and has a lot of uncertainty. If your kid gets into the magnet program, MoCo is head and shoulders above anything DC offers. Just don't be one of the geniuses that spends $1.5M for a house in MoCo district and still ends up at a private school...

+1 I used to be very fixated on moving to MoCo, mostly for a larger home that we can afford but also for the schools, so I loosely followed the MoCo Schools thread over a year or two. They … kind of dissuaded me from moving. And that was before all the Covid-times and test-in-school-change craziness!

I am not going to argue that MCPS is clearly better than DCPS but I think it would be at least as big a mistake to take what you read on these boards as evidence that MCPS is falling apart.

+1 I've criticized MCPS on this forum, but I know not to look at anything through the eyes of dcum only.

YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about other Montgomery schools that are NOT WW and BCC? I only ever see these two mentioned. Is Montgomery Blair okay?

I think the magnet program at blair is amazing, but it's an enormous school with a lot of variation in the regular program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about other Montgomery schools that are NOT WW and BCC? I only ever see these two mentioned. Is Montgomery Blair okay?

I think the magnet program at blair is amazing, but it's an enormous school with a lot of variation in the regular program.

The magnet is about 400 kids out of 3250. There is lots more meh than great

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about other Montgomery schools that are NOT WW and BCC? I only ever see these two mentioned. Is Montgomery Blair okay?

I think the magnet program at blair is amazing, but it's an enormous school with a lot of variation in the regular program.

The magnet is about 400 kids out of 3250. There is lots more meh than great

i work with mcps and a kid who does no work could graduate magically from any downcounty HS. i dont know if dcps does the same thing

[Anonymous]

As a parent of a 5th grader on their way to Deal/Wilson, I can't say I am 100% psyched. My neighbor's kid is currently in Deal and apparently, e-cigarettes are a huge thing in school, plus kids walking in and out of classes not listening to the teachers. We live right near the CVS near Wilson I have personally witnessed enough fights that my kid is nervous about attending Wilson. And if you tell me get over it- don't worry I will but I am sure many of you with younger kids also had the same hesitations. I know as my kid matures, she'll learn to navigate it all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about other Montgomery schools that are NOT WW and BCC? I only ever see these two mentioned. Is Montgomery Blair okay?

I think the magnet program at blair is amazing, but it's an enormous school with a lot of variation in the regular program.

The magnet is about 400 kids out of 3250. There is lots more meh than great

So Blair seems a bit on par with Wilson but with strong magnet program?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of a 5th grader on their way to Deal/Wilson, I can't say I am 100% psyched. My neighbor's kid is currently in Deal and apparently, e-cigarettes are a huge thing in school, plus kids walking in and out of classes not listening to the teachers. We live right near the CVS near Wilson I have personally witnessed enough fights that my kid is nervous about attending Wilson. And if you tell me get over it- don't worry I will but I am sure many of you with younger kids also had the same hesitations. I know as my kid matures, she'll learn to navigate it all.

Deal is fine. I actually think every kid should have a few years in that environment. They learn how to advocate for themselves, learn in a less-than-perfect environment (as you mentioned, kids walking in and out of class), etc.
We moved our kids to private for high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of a 5th grader on their way to Deal/Wilson, I can't say I am 100% psyched. My neighbor's kid is currently in Deal and apparently, e-cigarettes are a huge thing in school, plus kids walking in and out of classes not listening to the teachers. We live right near the CVS near Wilson I have personally witnessed enough fights that my kid is nervous about attending Wilson. And if you tell me get over it- don't worry I will but I am sure many of you with younger kids also had the same hesitations. I know as my kid matures, she'll learn to navigate it all.

Deal is fine. I actually think every kid should have a few years in that environment. They learn how to advocate for themselves, learn in a less-than-perfect environment (as you mentioned, kids walking in and out of class), etc.
We moved our kids to private for high school.

Deal is having a rough year this year- a LOT more behavior problems. Fights in the halls all the time etc. It's the result of the pandemic and as far as I can tell, it's the same at most big middle and high schools in the area that were shut last year. Which is to say, both pps are right. Whether things improve next year obviously remains to be seen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of a 5th grader on their way to Deal/Wilson, I can't say I am 100% psyched. My neighbor's kid is currently in Deal and apparently, e-cigarettes are a huge thing in school, plus kids walking in and out of classes not listening to the teachers. We live right near the CVS near Wilson I have personally witnessed enough fights that my kid is nervous about attending Wilson. And if you tell me get over it- don't worry I will but I am sure many of you with younger kids also had the same hesitations. I know as my kid matures, she'll learn to navigate it all.

Deal is fine. I actually think every kid should have a few years in that environment. They learn how to advocate for themselves, learn in a less-than-perfect environment (as you mentioned, kids walking in and out of class), etc.
We moved our kids to private for high school.

Deal is having a rough year this year- a LOT more behavior problems. Fights in the halls all the time etc. It's the result of the pandemic and as far as I can tell, it's the same at most big middle and high schools in the area that were shut last year. Which is to say, both pps are right. Whether things improve next year obviously remains to be seen.

https://www.chalkbeat.org/2021/9/27/22691601/student-behavior-stress-trauma-return
https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2021/11/08/covid-harmed-kids-mental-health-and-schools-are-feeling-it
https://www.wsj.com/articles/schools-student-misbehavior-remote-learning-covid-11639061247

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here’s where this thread will go: people will ask what you plan to do for HS—that if you plan to do private, it doesn’t matter, but that BCC and Whitman are a million times better than Wilson.

I’m a Wilson parent uninterested in that debate, just saying that that’s where this conversation will inevitably go since there’s no difference at the ES level (except DC has universal pre-K) and minimal difference at the MS level (except that Deal is pretty overcrowded—but maybe Pyle is too?).

DP. I appreciate this synopsis, and can also attest to OP that this assessment is pretty much correct.

+1.

Is BCC really a million times better than Wilson? What about the atmosphere/culture/diversity between the two? Genuine questions as we also consider whether trying to stay in the city or move to MoCo. Also considering the actual differences between a BCC type school and Blair or Einstein, though that’s not a discussion for this forum.

We moved to MoCo in 9th — not for school reasons. Both DD and DS’s peers at Wilson love the school and are very happy. My kids in a W are constantly caught off guard by lack of diversity and lack of social awareness of peers. Overall CONSISTENCY of teaching and ability to say — put a qualified sub in a room — is much higher in MoCo but not sure if overall quality isn’t pretty equal.