How’s Sherwood?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I went there in the 80’s and it was very normal to see the confederate flag on belt buckles, t-shirts, car bumper sticker, and stickers on notebooks. I experienced this daily. It’s been 40 years so I hope a lot has changed. Because of my Sherwood experience, I only considered HBCUs.

I don't see any confederate flags, but there is a small subset of students who wear clothing you'd see at a country music concert. Boots, jeans, some cowboy hats, mullets. There are more students who don't. From what is posted on this forum about flights and lockdowns, Sherwood admin is doing well to keep anything from spiraling out of control.

I hope you’re not implying that country music and cowboy boots equals confederate and racism. And jeans? Come on now.

Not at all, but there's no point in ignoring the reality. Who was wearing the confederate flag the PP referenced in the 80s? Students wearing Adidas track suits? The students wearing Benetton or Britches? Or the guys who dressed like country boys? Does that mean every person who wears this style is racist? No. But don't ignore reality. There are certain groups who will openly wear the confederate flag and we're not surprised when we see them dressed.

Having lived in the Sherwood area for almost 20 years, I have yet to see one confederate flag.

Lots of people commenting that have no idea.

Signed,
Parent of mixed raced children with culturally and religiously diverse neighbors.

So the point that there are Sherwood students who dress in a country style and are NOT wearing the confederate flag is accurate. The PP said in the 80s there were confederate flags. Another poster said there are Sherwood students who are "country* but are not wearing the confederate flag. Thank you for supporting both points with your experiences.

The 80s poster was probably right, but you could say that about the entire county. Confederate flags were seen even down in Bethesda so it’s not relevant to 2025.

The MCPS BOE didn't even officially ban the confederate flag until 2020. It is relevant in 2025 when some automatically say a school is racist. Can there be racist students without a confederate flag? Absolutely. But if they're openly displaying the confederate flag, then there's a problem. Sherwood doesn't have students openly displaying confederate flags. Are there racists students there? Most likely. Does racism define the school culture? My opinion is that it does not.

I think we’re mostly agreeing. I am a minority with two students at Sherwood and I do not perceive, and my kids do not perceive any racism there. My kids are part of a very diverse group of friends and I find the community to be welcoming and not at all exclusionary towards me and my family. It’s possible there are racist kids there just like it’s possible there are racist kids at any single high school in MC.

I think my point was that country boots, jeans and mullets doesn’t mean those kids are racist or secretly waving the Confederate flag at home. I know a couple of these kids and they are regular kids with a regular diverse group of friends and who are not racist.

Many people outside of the community chime in on Sherwood threads spewing ignorant lies about racism at the school.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I went there in the 80’s and it was very normal to see the confederate flag on belt buckles, t-shirts, car bumper sticker, and stickers on notebooks. I experienced this daily. It’s been 40 years so I hope a lot has changed. Because of my Sherwood experience, I only considered HBCUs.

I don't see any confederate flags, but there is a small subset of students who wear clothing you'd see at a country music concert. Boots, jeans, some cowboy hats, mullets. There are more students who don't. From what is posted on this forum about flights and lockdowns, Sherwood admin is doing well to keep anything from spiraling out of control.

I hope you’re not implying that country music and cowboy boots equals confederate and racism. And jeans? Come on now.

Not at all, but there's no point in ignoring the reality. Who was wearing the confederate flag the PP referenced in the 80s? Students wearing Adidas track suits? The students wearing Benetton or Britches? Or the guys who dressed like country boys? Does that mean every person who wears this style is racist? No. But don't ignore reality. There are certain groups who will openly wear the confederate flag and we're not surprised when we see them dressed.

Having lived in the Sherwood area for almost 20 years, I have yet to see one confederate flag.

Lots of people commenting that have no idea.

Signed,
Parent of mixed raced children with culturally and religiously diverse neighbors.

So the point that there are Sherwood students who dress in a country style and are NOT wearing the confederate flag is accurate. The PP said in the 80s there were confederate flags. Another poster said there are Sherwood students who are "country* but are not wearing the confederate flag. Thank you for supporting both points with your experiences.

The 80s poster was probably right, but you could say that about the entire county. Confederate flags were seen even down in Bethesda so it’s not relevant to 2025.

The MCPS BOE didn't even officially ban the confederate flag until 2020. It is relevant in 2025 when some automatically say a school is racist. Can there be racist students without a confederate flag? Absolutely. But if they're openly displaying the confederate flag, then there's a problem. Sherwood doesn't have students openly displaying confederate flags. Are there racists students there? Most likely. Does racism define the school culture? My opinion is that it does not.

I think we’re mostly agreeing. I am a minority with two students at Sherwood and I do not perceive, and my kids do not perceive any racism there. My kids are part of a very diverse group of friends and I find the community to be welcoming and not at all exclusionary towards me and my family. It’s possible there are racist kids there just like it’s possible there are racist kids at any single high school in MC.

I think my point was that country boots, jeans and mullets doesn’t mean those kids are racist or secretly waving the Confederate flag at home. I know a couple of these kids and they are regular kids with a regular diverse group of friends and who are not racist.

Many people outside of the community chime in on Sherwood threads spewing ignorant lies about racism at the school.

Yes, I agree with these points. I was pointing out that there is subset of students who may be received as beng racist. If the original poster were to visit Sherwood and see those students, they might have misconceptions. It's not fair, but it is a reality and there is an unfortunate history of students who have been known to proudly display racist memorabilia. I'm glad I don't see that at all within the school and that students do feel safe now.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Oh my. We are black, so i will definitely take this into consideration. Thank you 13:02

Come to Burtonsville! You’ll be welcomed with open arms.

If you are black Sherwood is probably last MCPS you want to consider. I agree with pp that burtonsville area school is better

You’re going to have incidents wherever your kid goes. You’re going to have some amazing teachers and some checked out ones. You’re going to have bathroom issues. The questions are whether the staff work to make the school safe; what types of electives are offered; if they want sports are they likely to have the opportunity; are the subjects your child needs available; and that sort of thing.

We’re at Blake and in 12 years only once did any of my kids ever call and say they felt unsafe and it was a cafeteria fight so easy to avoid. One of my kids loves dance and Blake has a fantastic program for that. They had/have great math resources (which probably do most schools). I found them to be excellent with special education issues.

There aren’t many schools in MCPS that I feel like I’d avoid. But as a parent of non white kids who are in sports, based on my experiences with Sherwood, I wouldn’t choose that if I had options. And I definitely wouldn’t intentionally move there if I had kids going to HS.

Good luck OP. I think it’s going to be tough to find a private that will make you happy in MC. So I hope you can figure out a good public option if you move into MC.

[Anonymous]

Why not go to Blake? There are fights sometimes but no more than other schools, I don't think. It's diverse, good academics..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not go to Blake? There are fights sometimes but no more than other schools, I don't think. It's diverse, good academics..

Actually, Blake has a lot of fights that the principal does a very good job of suppressing from getting into the news. But there are plenty of video clips of Blake fights circulating among the Blake student community.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Oh my. We are black, so i will definitely take this into consideration. Thank you 13:02

I’m Black, and I can also say I wouldn’t recommend you send your kid to Sherwood—only 15% Black, and my kid had many racist encounters. I also wouldn’t recommend the Northeast Consortium. If you can afford private, do it. I was faced with that decision last year.

Sherwood is roughly 48% white. If you’re solely considering a school based on the percentage of black students, which private has more than 15% of the population is black?

Dematha, Saint johns, Good counsel.

All 3 of those schools are nearly impossible to get into.

SJC had 1,700 applications for 300 seats.

GC had nearly 1k applicants.

Uncertain about exact #s for DeMatha, but they have a waitlist as well.

The private school forum is abuzz with parents whose straight A kids with high test scores didn’t get in.

But there might be small non-catholic privates (baptist, some other Christian sect) in PG that are easier to get into.

And the percentage of AA students is about the same as Sherwood, at SJC & GC.

Actually, those private schools are very diverse—particularly DeMatha and GC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FYI, the WaPo article about the alleged racist incident at a sporting event shouldn’t raise concerns because it turned out to be a false allegation. Of course the WaPo and media didn’t bother to clarify that.

People down county love to paint Sherwood as as a lily-white school because it isn’t as diverse as schools like Einstein, Wheaton, Kennedy, etc.

But Sherwood is still diverse.

And like all mcps high schools, the bathroom situation isn’t great.

Re: private - good luck. So many people are scrambling to jump ship snd get their kids into private, but there are limited seats.

I think Sherwood, Blake, and Einstein are fine. Ditto for Rockville.

I think Wheaton and Kennedy are problematic.

You can google the mcps “At a glance” stats on racial and socioeconomics, noting it’s a bit out of date. Fwiw, assume all schools are more diverse now/2025 (particularly more Latinos).

Lol? No way is Rockville the same as Sherwood, JHB, and AE. Rockville has has plenty of fights since the new principal was appointed and barely any fights have made local news. Despute the fact how RHS’ white population was 24.1%, which is pretty high for todays standards too.

[Anonymous]

You can look up 23-24 demographics here. https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiNWY4ODhiMmUtNTcwNi00NjEwLTgxZjQtMDQ5MzA1NDQ4MDI3IiwidCI6ImRkZjc1NWU5LWJjZDYtNGE1ZS1hNDcyLTdjMzc4YTc4YzZjNyIsImMiOjF9

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI, the WaPo article about the alleged racist incident at a sporting event shouldn’t raise concerns because it turned out to be a false allegation. Of course the WaPo and media didn’t bother to clarify that.

People down county love to paint Sherwood as as a lily-white school because it isn’t as diverse as schools like Einstein, Wheaton, Kennedy, etc.

But Sherwood is still diverse.

And like all mcps high schools, the bathroom situation isn’t great.

Re: private - good luck. So many people are scrambling to jump ship snd get their kids into private, but there are limited seats.

I think Sherwood, Blake, and Einstein are fine. Ditto for Rockville.

I think Wheaton and Kennedy are problematic.

You can google the mcps “At a glance” stats on racial and socioeconomics, noting it’s a bit out of date. Fwiw, assume all schools are more diverse now/2025 (particularly more Latinos).

Lol? No way is Rockville the same as Sherwood, JHB, and AE. Rockville has has plenty of fights since the new principal was appointed and barely any fights have made local news. Despute the fact how RHS’ white population was 24.1%, which is pretty high for todays standards too.

again with Blake, Rockville has great academics but it’s admin team and safety problems are so abysmal. (Coming from a RHS parent with 3 kids who went there).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not go to Blake? There are fights sometimes but no more than other schools, I don't think. It's diverse, good academics..

Actually, Blake has a lot of fights that the principal does a very good job of suppressing from getting into the news. But there are plenty of video clips of Blake fights circulating among the Blake student community.

Right. I’m a PP that said this and another poster said my racism is showing.
I live in the nec and it’s amazing how many who’re people say Blake is the best choice based solely on the fact it’s got more white people. No one says that out loud though. They just say it’s the better school.
If you push as to why it’s better, there’s no good answer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not go to Blake? There are fights sometimes but no more than other schools, I don't think. It's diverse, good academics..

White Oak MS has had a lot of problems recently. It feeds into Blake so the problems are following.

[Anonymous]

I’ve been in the NEC since 2004 and still live in the same townhome I purchased for $250K back then. Even at that time, the schools weren’t great. My son was 13 when we moved here, and he attended Benjamin Banneker Middle for two months before I picked up a second job to send him to St. Bernadette. For high school, I chose DeMatha, because even 20 years ago, the local options weren’t ideal.

By the time freshman year rolled around, I looked at the students at Banneker and thought, If this is the middle school environment, why would I send him to a local high school? And before anyone calls me racist, I’m a Black woman. I’ve been watching the bus stop near my house for 20 years now, and there’s no denying that the kids have gotten rougher. If I had a school-aged child today, there’s no way I’d send them to an NEC school—elementary, middle, or high.

[Anonymous]

I’m just referring to the academics and course offerings. Look at what classes are offered at Blake compared to other schools that are in the NEC or Rockville HS. Teachers and staff have been there a long time and like it and are professional and growing and trying stuff. I am not basing my opinion of Blake on the percentage of white kids. Acknowledging there are fights, but it’s a good school for lots of different kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been in the NEC since 2004 and still live in the same townhome I purchased for $250K back then. Even at that time, the schools weren’t great. My son was 13 when we moved here, and he attended Benjamin Banneker Middle for two months before I picked up a second job to send him to St. Bernadette. For high school, I chose DeMatha, because even 20 years ago, the local options weren’t ideal.

By the time freshman year rolled around, I looked at the students at Banneker and thought, If this is the middle school environment, why would I send him to a local high school? And before anyone calls me racist, I’m a Black woman. I’ve been watching the bus stop near my house for 20 years now, and there’s no denying that the kids have gotten rougher. If I had a school-aged child today, there’s no way I’d send them to an NEC school—elementary, middle, or high.

That’s great insight. I’m not op,but i found this interesting.

[Anonymous]

It’s true that some of the middle school feeders aren’t great, but some are okay. And that’s why at the high school level you wind up with an okay mix of students.