Pyle/Whitman or Westland/BCC cluster better fit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for the useful comments. If you read my original question, I am picking according to 1. strength of school and 2. proximity to downtown DC/ work. If I look at these two, the Whitman and BCC clusters are the best bet. I am not wealthy in DC-terms if you are only looking at only $$$$ income, but I am an educated international professional with smart kids, so obviously I am looking for like-minded kids/ parents, so we can feel like a good fit. So, I am not looking for wealth, but fit. As a single Mom, I NEED the schools to be strong and I WANT the kids who attend these schools to be similarly smart and ambitious. Not because I am snotty or snobby as someone suggested, but because those are my values and those are the values I want to install into my kids. I am tending towards the Pyle/Whitman cluster, I like the 20816 zip code; lots of green space, quiet, nice neighborhood; easy commute to downtown.

So, what you think other schools don’t have smart kids whose parents valve academics? Go to Whitman. Lots of folks think like you and better for the rest of us not to have our kids exposed to people like you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for the useful comments. If you read my original question, I am picking according to 1. strength of school and 2. proximity to downtown DC/ work. If I look at these two, the Whitman and BCC clusters are the best bet. I am not wealthy in DC-terms if you are only looking at only $$$$ income, but I am an educated international professional with smart kids, so obviously I am looking for like-minded kids/ parents, so we can feel like a good fit. So, I am not looking for wealth, but fit. As a single Mom, I NEED the schools to be strong and I WANT the kids who attend these schools to be similarly smart and ambitious. Not because I am snotty or snobby as someone suggested, but because those are my values and those are the values I want to install into my kids. I am tending towards the Pyle/Whitman cluster, I like the 20816 zip code; lots of green space, quiet, nice neighborhood; easy commute to downtown.

So, what you think other schools don’t have smart kids whose parents valve academics? Go to Whitman. Lots of folks think like you and better for the rest of us not to have our kids exposed to people like you.

OP here - did you even read my post? Or read it carefully? I stated that 1. school has to be strong. 2. Has to be relatively close to DC/ downtown (but in MD). Pls suggest alternatives then, since it seems you are not satisfied with my potential choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whitman is the richest school in the county. It will not be down to earth. Bcc is a mix of very wealthy to a mix of everything else. Google the w schools. Many have had serious issues this year and student deaths. Very tragic.

Mcps employee says BCCis the wealthiest school in the county, not Whitman.

Actually the real richest school in the county is Churchill.

No it is not. It is BCC.

This is a stupid argument.
BCC does pull from some more working class areas. Churchill has no working class areas that are inbounds I think.
Average home price in 20854 is something like 1.3 mil. In the BCC zip code it's under a mil. Are the very wealthy families in BCC as wealthy or wealthier than some at Churchill? Sure but again this is a stupid debate.

I work in the school district and bcc is the wealthiest. You don’t have to like it but it is what it is.
You make up a large part of the “stupid debate.”

I have no stake in this argument but BCC has a higher FARMS percentage than the other schools.
What do you mean BCC is the wealthiest? How are you measuring that because if you measure by FARMS it is not 10-11% versus less than 5% for Churchill.
Why does it matter that you work in the school district?

NP-working in the school district is relevant as they likely have access to that information.
The farms rating does not correlate with the amount of wealth of individuals or money the school receives.

The only wealth-related information MCPS has access to are the FARMS and Ever-FARMS rates.

DP-Farms is not the only factor in determining a school’s wealth. School receive monies from through various entities.

If you're talking about PTSA and foundations, that is a separate issue.

I’m talking about what school has the most wealth. You know what is being talked about.

The most wealth is at Churchill.

You would be wrong.

It's not wrong. There's more wealth at Churchill period.
Whitman, BCC are wannabes

Nope, BCC is the wealthiest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You ought to be careful about moving to of these schools/clusters as a way to get into the desired schools. Depending on how the Board of Ed election turns out tomorrow, MCPS could see a lot of redistricting in order to try to even out schools across the county and make more equitable the distribution of what folks on this thread are pointing to as reasons why Whitman, BCC, Pyle, etc. have "the best" in the state.

Well, you gotta pick a school at some point, don’t you?

No. The point is that you pick a neighborhood, house, apartment building, condo, etc. and you don't "pick a school". That's the kind of thinking that perpetuates the inequities across the county's schools.

I can pick whatever school I want. You don’t dictate where and why someone chooses to live.

Of course I don't. I didn't say I did. I simply said that there is some degree of likelihood that your attempt to "pick whatever school I want" doesn't actually work out because you can't technically "pick a school". You can pick a neighborhood, a house, a cluster, an apartment building that, today, will guarantee your kids go to a particular school but that guarantee is only as good as the Board of Ed's desire to redistrict schools. So, no, I don't dictate where and why someone chooses to live in a particular place. But the BoE sure does dictate where kids go to school depending on where they live. Not you.

Neither do you. Don’t tell anyone to not pick a school “in case” it may change. You have to pick. You deflected that you want people to choose schools that are not desirable for them bc your hypocrisy in your attempts to guilt trip others into picking poorer schools.

Oh, ok. I’ll just pretend on these threads where people are making one of the most significant choices in their lives (where to buy/rent a place to live) that their choice to prioritize school placement is a great, iron-clad idea because the school to which they’re assigned will never change.

Good, keep on pretending that you don’t have to make a choice at some point. Or you can go on stewing forever that your school will change, therefore never pick a school and stay home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whitman is the richest school in the county. It will not be down to earth. Bcc is a mix of very wealthy to a mix of everything else. Google the w schools. Many have had serious issues this year and student deaths. Very tragic.

Mcps employee says BCCis the wealthiest school in the county, not Whitman.

Actually the real richest school in the county is Churchill.

No it is not. It is BCC.

This is a stupid argument.
BCC does pull from some more working class areas. Churchill has no working class areas that are inbounds I think.
Average home price in 20854 is something like 1.3 mil. In the BCC zip code it's under a mil. Are the very wealthy families in BCC as wealthy or wealthier than some at Churchill? Sure but again this is a stupid debate.

I work in the school district and bcc is the wealthiest. You don’t have to like it but it is what it is.
You make up a large part of the “stupid debate.”

I have no stake in this argument but BCC has a higher FARMS percentage than the other schools.
What do you mean BCC is the wealthiest? How are you measuring that because if you measure by FARMS it is not 10-11% versus less than 5% for Churchill.
Why does it matter that you work in the school district?

NP-working in the school district is relevant as they likely have access to that information.
The farms rating does not correlate with the amount of wealth of individuals or money the school receives.

The only wealth-related information MCPS has access to are the FARMS and Ever-FARMS rates.

DP-Farms is not the only factor in determining a school’s wealth. School receive monies from through various entities.

If you're talking about PTSA and foundations, that is a separate issue.

I’m talking about what school has the most wealth. You know what is being talked about.

The most wealth is at Churchill.

You would be wrong.

It's not wrong. There's more wealth at Churchill period.
Whitman, BCC are wannabes

Nope, BCC is the wealthiest.

Based on what measure?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. Before making any decision, you should know that Whitman has a far superior academic rep.


Whitman is #1 in MCPS rankings, #1 in Maryland rankings, and #104 in National Rankings.
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/maryland/districts/montgomery-county-public-schools/walt-whitman-high-school-9150

BCC is #5 in MCPS rankings, #8 in Maryland rankings, and #491 in National Rankings.
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/maryland/districts/montgomery-county-public-schools/bethesda-chevy-chase-high-school-9137

Notice the % meeting UofM standards to prep for college:

Whitman Profile:
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04427.pdf

BCC Profile:
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04406.pdf

Although Whitman did have a serious incident with it's students this year, those kids were not typical Whitman profile. They were from the Greentree Group Home in Bethesda. You can read about it here.

https://theblackandwhite.net/71161/news/three-whitman-students-charged-with-murder-after-bethesda-killing/

Subtract the group home and BCC is a tougher crowd overall.

https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/bethesda-chevy-chase-high-school-student-attacks-assaults-security-guard-montgomery-county-public-jacob-moore

https://wjla.com/news/local/bethesda-chevy-chase-hs-student-jumped-in-school-bathroom-taken-to-er-for-injuries

Overall, I think the parents advocating Whitman are giving you good advice. About what the other parent says about "my kid says Whitman has the best drugs" - do you really want to take advice from an anonymous drug using family?

Personally, if I were in your shoes, I would go with Whitman.

Good luck!

These schools are segregated so there are few low-income students dragging down their test averages. For the low FARMS rate their stats are not all that impressive.

Say what you want but the scores are among the highest in the country. And the schools aren't segregated you nitwit they just draw form areas with high cost of entries so the wealth/achievement gap of minorities is manifested in those percentages and consistent in most expensive areas or super zip codes in the country. Some of that is a vestige of segregation but some of that is up to millionaire minorities buying homes too. It takes a measure of humility to spend over 1 mil for a small house to be the poor neighbor opposed to a huge house in a cheaper part of the city where you might just be the richest person on your street. Lots of new to money types chose the latter, this is one of the reasons that formerly poor people have the highest chances for negative mobility or economic recidivism.

So your saying people pay extra to ensure their children are not in school with poors.

+1 I am not sure what PP (above the immediate quote) thinks the definition of segregation is, but this is literally class-based segregation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for the useful comments. If you read my original question, I am picking according to 1. strength of school and 2. proximity to downtown DC/ work. If I look at these two, the Whitman and BCC clusters are the best bet. I am not wealthy in DC-terms if you are only looking at only $$$$ income, but I am an educated international professional with smart kids, so obviously I am looking for like-minded kids/ parents, so we can feel like a good fit. So, I am not looking for wealth, but fit. As a single Mom, I NEED the schools to be strong and I WANT the kids who attend these schools to be similarly smart and ambitious. Not because I am snotty or snobby as someone suggested, but because those are my values and those are the values I want to install into my kids. I am tending towards the Pyle/Whitman cluster, I like the 20816 zip code; lots of green space, quiet, nice neighborhood; easy commute to downtown.

So, what you think other schools don’t have smart kids whose parents valve academics? Go to Whitman. Lots of folks think like you and better for the rest of us not to have our kids exposed to people like you.

OP here - did you even read my post? Or read it carefully? I stated that 1. school has to be strong. 2. Has to be relatively close to DC/ downtown (but in MD). Pls suggest alternatives then, since it seems you are not satisfied with my potential choices.

NP. I'm also a single mom, well-educated, working one of those prestigious but not incredibly lucrative jobs, with bilingual kids. Here's the thing - you think you are like the Whitman moms because of all of the above, but they don't. They see your lack of a partner, and your not-rich-by-DC-standards condo or small SFH, and they make assumptions about how well your kids are supervised, what kind of influence you are, whether you are "bringing men home," and whether you can really afford to live there or whether you'll be gone a year from now and your kids' friendships aren't worth investing in.

But, sure, give it a shot. If it doesn't work out, look at some schools that are just as convenient but not as "good" by the metric of mean test scores. You'll find plenty of families like yours and lots of motivated and smart kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for the useful comments. If you read my original question, I am picking according to 1. strength of school and 2. proximity to downtown DC/ work. If I look at these two, the Whitman and BCC clusters are the best bet. I am not wealthy in DC-terms if you are only looking at only $$$$ income, but I am an educated international professional with smart kids, so obviously I am looking for like-minded kids/ parents, so we can feel like a good fit. So, I am not looking for wealth, but fit. As a single Mom, I NEED the schools to be strong and I WANT the kids who attend these schools to be similarly smart and ambitious. Not because I am snotty or snobby as someone suggested, but because those are my values and those are the values I want to install into my kids. I am tending towards the Pyle/Whitman cluster, I like the 20816 zip code; lots of green space, quiet, nice neighborhood; easy commute to downtown.

Pyle and Whitman definitely fit your criteria (as do all the Bethesda area schools for all your criteria other than proximity to DC), and I think your kids will enjoy their school experience. My DS is having a great time at Pyle, with none of the middle school angst or bullying I recall from that age. I’m partial to 20817 and West Bethesda, but you really can’t go wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for the useful comments. If you read my original question, I am picking according to 1. strength of school and 2. proximity to downtown DC/ work. If I look at these two, the Whitman and BCC clusters are the best bet. I am not wealthy in DC-terms if you are only looking at only $$$$ income, but I am an educated international professional with smart kids, so obviously I am looking for like-minded kids/ parents, so we can feel like a good fit. So, I am not looking for wealth, but fit. As a single Mom, I NEED the schools to be strong and I WANT the kids who attend these schools to be similarly smart and ambitious. Not because I am snotty or snobby as someone suggested, but because those are my values and those are the values I want to install into my kids. I am tending towards the Pyle/Whitman cluster, I like the 20816 zip code; lots of green space, quiet, nice neighborhood; easy commute to downtown.

So, what you think other schools don’t have smart kids whose parents valve academics? Go to Whitman. Lots of folks think like you and better for the rest of us not to have our kids exposed to people like you.

OP here - did you even read my post? Or read it carefully? I stated that 1. school has to be strong. 2. Has to be relatively close to DC/ downtown (but in MD). Pls suggest alternatives then, since it seems you are not satisfied with my potential choices.

NP. I'm also a single mom, well-educated, working one of those prestigious but not incredibly lucrative jobs, with bilingual kids. Here's the thing - you think you are like the Whitman moms because of all of the above, but they don't. They see your lack of a partner, and your not-rich-by-DC-standards condo or small SFH, and they make assumptions about how well your kids are supervised, what kind of influence you are, whether you are "bringing men home," and whether you can really afford to live there or whether you'll be gone a year from now and your kids' friendships aren't worth investing in.

But, sure, give it a shot. If it doesn't work out, look at some schools that are just as convenient but not as "good" by the metric of mean test scores. You'll find plenty of families like yours and lots of motivated and smart kids.

hi PP, no, I do not think I am like the Whitman Moms, therefore my post and question. I already have the experience and I know what it is like. That's my dilemma. Which other schools are you referring to please?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You ought to be careful about moving to of these schools/clusters as a way to get into the desired schools. Depending on how the Board of Ed election turns out tomorrow, MCPS could see a lot of redistricting in order to try to even out schools across the county and make more equitable the distribution of what folks on this thread are pointing to as reasons why Whitman, BCC, Pyle, etc. have "the best" in the state.

Well, you gotta pick a school at some point, don’t you?

No. The point is that you pick a neighborhood, house, apartment building, condo, etc. and you don't "pick a school". That's the kind of thinking that perpetuates the inequities across the county's schools.

I can pick whatever school I want. You don’t dictate where and why someone chooses to live.

Of course I don't. I didn't say I did. I simply said that there is some degree of likelihood that your attempt to "pick whatever school I want" doesn't actually work out because you can't technically "pick a school". You can pick a neighborhood, a house, a cluster, an apartment building that, today, will guarantee your kids go to a particular school but that guarantee is only as good as the Board of Ed's desire to redistrict schools. So, no, I don't dictate where and why someone chooses to live in a particular place. But the BoE sure does dictate where kids go to school depending on where they live. Not you.

Neither do you. Don’t tell anyone to not pick a school “in case” it may change. You have to pick. You deflected that you want people to choose schools that are not desirable for them bc your hypocrisy in your attempts to guilt trip others into picking poorer schools.

Oh, ok. I’ll just pretend on these threads where people are making one of the most significant choices in their lives (where to buy/rent a place to live) that their choice to prioritize school placement is a great, iron-clad idea because the school to which they’re assigned will never change.

Good, keep on pretending that you don’t have to make a choice at some point. Or you can go on stewing forever that your school will change, therefore never pick a school and stay home.

You're the one pretending that you get to "choose a school"; I'm trying to educate people that you don't actually choose a school, you choose a place to live that, as of now, sends kids to a particular school but that will change. So, if I'm a single Mom with limited resources to pay for housing, I might want to take a look at the school boundary map so that I don't stretch my budget to live in a particular school cluster, only to have it switched on me 2 years later. Maybe the house that's located more centrally within the cluster would be a better choice, since that's less likely to be redistricted. Since when is making informed decisions "staying home and never picking a school".

[Anonymous]

OP, you may be able to rent a small house in bounds for Pyle/Whitman for about the same price as a condo rental. I have known people who have done so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You ought to be careful about moving to of these schools/clusters as a way to get into the desired schools. Depending on how the Board of Ed election turns out tomorrow, MCPS could see a lot of redistricting in order to try to even out schools across the county and make more equitable the distribution of what folks on this thread are pointing to as reasons why Whitman, BCC, Pyle, etc. have "the best" in the state.

Well, you gotta pick a school at some point, don’t you?

No. The point is that you pick a neighborhood, house, apartment building, condo, etc. and you don't "pick a school". That's the kind of thinking that perpetuates the inequities across the county's schools.

I can pick whatever school I want. You don’t dictate where and why someone chooses to live.

Of course I don't. I didn't say I did. I simply said that there is some degree of likelihood that your attempt to "pick whatever school I want" doesn't actually work out because you can't technically "pick a school". You can pick a neighborhood, a house, a cluster, an apartment building that, today, will guarantee your kids go to a particular school but that guarantee is only as good as the Board of Ed's desire to redistrict schools. So, no, I don't dictate where and why someone chooses to live in a particular place. But the BoE sure does dictate where kids go to school depending on where they live. Not you.

Neither do you. Don’t tell anyone to not pick a school “in case” it may change. You have to pick. You deflected that you want people to choose schools that are not desirable for them bc your hypocrisy in your attempts to guilt trip others into picking poorer schools.

Oh, ok. I’ll just pretend on these threads where people are making one of the most significant choices in their lives (where to buy/rent a place to live) that their choice to prioritize school placement is a great, iron-clad idea because the school to which they’re assigned will never change.

Good, keep on pretending that you don’t have to make a choice at some point. Or you can go on stewing forever that your school will change, therefore never pick a school and stay home.

You're the one pretending that you get to "choose a school"; I'm trying to educate people that you don't actually choose a school, you choose a place to live that, as of now, sends kids to a particular school but that will change. So, if I'm a single Mom with limited resources to pay for housing, I might want to take a look at the school boundary map so that I don't stretch my budget to live in a particular school cluster, only to have it switched on me 2 years later. Maybe the house that's located more centrally within the cluster would be a better choice, since that's less likely to be redistricted. Since when is making informed decisions "staying home and never picking a school".

Op here - hi PP, are BCC and Whitman also affected by this boundary change plan? my kids will enter middle school next August, i.e. August 2023. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you may be able to rent a small house in bounds for Pyle/Whitman for about the same price as a condo rental. I have known people who have done so.

OP here - thanks PP; I always look and houses rent for $ 4-6K per month. Condos rent for $ 2.5-3.5K per month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:hi DCUM Parents:
I know both are excellent choices, but which one do you think might be a better fit for our family? Below the specs:

Single Mom with two boys, entering Middle School in 2023/24 SY (entering 5th grade in August).
One earner household, we usually live in condo buildings (rent or own), international background and travels frequently, educated, well-traveled etc. Kids are smart, do well at school. We spend the summers overseas.

What's important: strong academics, but also attention to emotional development/ caring teachers and school administration, sports, arts, music, international/global issues, smart-ambitious kids, nice parents (meaning down to earth, not too snotty if that is possible). Diversity is great, but due to our lifestyle and circle, we know people from diverse backgrounds (socio-economic and racial).

I know there is always compromise in these questions, but would be interested in your feedback and experiences. Private is not possible due to $$$$, so looking for the best fit within MCPS. Would prefer to pick between these school zones due to proximity to work/ DC.

Thank you!

These schools are all about the same. They have the same curriculum and teachers. Sure, there are some demographic differences but the same kid will do exactly the same at any of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for the useful comments. If you read my original question, I am picking according to 1. strength of school and 2. proximity to downtown DC/ work. If I look at these two, the Whitman and BCC clusters are the best bet. I am not wealthy in DC-terms if you are only looking at only $$$$ income, but I am an educated international professional with smart kids, so obviously I am looking for like-minded kids/ parents, so we can feel like a good fit. So, I am not looking for wealth, but fit. As a single Mom, I NEED the schools to be strong and I WANT the kids who attend these schools to be similarly smart and ambitious. Not because I am snotty or snobby as someone suggested, but because those are my values and those are the values I want to install into my kids. I am tending towards the Pyle/Whitman cluster, I like the 20816 zip code; lots of green space, quiet, nice neighborhood; easy commute to downtown.

So, what you think other schools don’t have smart kids whose parents valve academics? Go to Whitman. Lots of folks think like you and better for the rest of us not to have our kids exposed to people like you.

OP here - did you even read my post? Or read it carefully? I stated that 1. school has to be strong. 2. Has to be relatively close to DC/ downtown (but in MD). Pls suggest alternatives then, since it seems you are not satisfied with my potential choices.

Whitman is not close to downtown so your post makes no sense. BCC or the down county schools make far more sense for commute. Strong school is subjective. You are really looking for rich schools.