Takoma Park or SS MD?

[Anonymous]

We are thinking about moving to MD. What are the good public elementary and middle schools in Takoma Park and Silver Spring? Can anyone point me in the direction of a website that explains the different clusters in MD? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are thinking about moving to MD. What are the good public elementary and middle schools in Takoma Park and Silver Spring? Can anyone point me in the direction of a website that explains the different clusters in MD? Thanks.

Takoma isn't really known for their elementary schools. The middle school is decent as they stuck a magnet program in it as well as the zoned high school but they fall off quickly if you don't make it into the small programs. Piney branch is by far perfered to rolling Terrace in both school quality and location.

Careful looking in Takoma Park and try and shoot for the historic area near the metro and be aware that the areas near New Hampshire Ave, flower and the big apts on dale are going to be cheaper for a reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are thinking about moving to MD. What are the good public elementary and middle schools in Takoma Park and Silver Spring? Can anyone point me in the direction of a website that explains the different clusters in MD? Thanks.

Takoma isn't really known for their elementary schools. The middle school is decent as they stuck a magnet program in it as well as the zoned high school but they fall off quickly if you don't make it into the small programs. Piney branch is by far perfered to rolling Terrace in both school quality and location.

Careful looking in Takoma Park and try and shoot for the historic area near the metro and be aware that the areas near New Hampshire Ave, flower and the big apts on dale are going to be cheaper for a reason.

v

There are some delightful neighborhoods in Takoma that aren't in the historic area. They are a bit less expensive because they are farther from the metro (but really not that far), but they are safe, filled with kids running around having a great time, and full of great neighbors, many of whom are highly educated and work for non profits and the government. People who live in TP like the schools a lot, generally. It's a great community!

[Anonymous]

The big negative for living in Takoma park versus SS is the extra taxes you pay for the right to have a mayor and town council. Who wants to pay extra?

[Anonymous]

Forgot to add: If you live in Takoma park md you pay extra not SS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The big negative for living in Takoma park versus SS is the extra taxes you pay for the right to have a mayor and town council. Who wants to pay extra?

I agree, but the flip side is TP has a lot of control about local governance, e.g. development, community resources, etc.

[Anonymous]

Silver Spring -- Sligo Creek, Forest Knolls, Flora Singer

[Anonymous]

OP: I would look at neighborhoods in TP or SS that are zoned for Takoma Park Middle school or SSIMS. Piney Branch ES is rated an 8 or 9 and Rolling Terrace has a language immersion program, which is a school within a school (you would have zone preference if within boundary). Your child is more likely to get into Blair magnet or CAP through this path (outside of Eastern magnet, which you can apply). Most of the STEM Blair magnet kids went to TPMS magnet. Living within the boundaries increases your kids chances of getting in. Also, it seems like Piney Branch will have its own HGC. If you get into a language program SSIMS is a good option and many of those students go on to CAP at Blair.

[Anonymous]

Blair seems to be the better high school than the SS high schools (even if you are not in the magnet).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Blair seems to be the better high school than the SS high schools (even if you are not in the magnet).

Blair is a silver spring high school and any little bump it has in the rankings is almost exclusively the result of it's busing programs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The big negative for living in Takoma park versus SS is the extra taxes you pay for the right to have a mayor and town council. Who wants to pay extra?

I agree, but the flip side is TP has a lot of control about local governance, e.g. development, community resources, etc.

And its own police, library, twice a week trash, etc. Not just the mayor and town council.

[Anonymous]

We live a block from tp on the silver spring side and the TP community center that we pay extra to use for classes, library, etc, is pretty damn nice.

My neighbors all seem happy with east silver spring elementary, which is our zoned, then tpms and then Blair. The neighborhood is called Sligo Park hills, and it's pretty nice.