Is there a way to get my son into a school other than our assigned ES?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, what's your budget and where are you working? There are lots of great downcounty ESes that are in more reasonably priced areas than Bethesda. If it's only for ES and the high school cluster doesnt matter, you may have tons of options.

Rental market is slim pickings right now. Our top is 3,200 with at least a small yard and 2-3 bedroom.

You might take a look at these schools which each have affordable rental options in closer-in Silver Spring.

Woodlin ES: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/9013-3rd-Ave-Silver-Spring-MD-20910/37317590_zpid/

Flora Singer ES: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1605-Imperial-Dr-Silver-Spring-MD-20902/37288431_zpid/

Oakland Terrace ES: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/Haywood-Dr-Silver-Spring-MD-20902/2078932170_zpid/

Forest Knolls ES: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/10308-Gilmoure-Dr-Silver-Spring-MD-20901/37312291_zpid/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, what's your budget and where are you working? There are lots of great downcounty ESes that are in more reasonably priced areas than Bethesda. If it's only for ES and the high school cluster doesnt matter, you may have tons of options.

Rental market is slim pickings right now. Our top is 3,200 with at least a small yard and 2-3 bedroom.

You might take a look at these schools which each have affordable rental options in closer-in Silver Spring.

Woodlin ES: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/9013-3rd-Ave-Silver-Spring-MD-20910/37317590_zpid/

Flora Singer ES: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1605-Imperial-Dr-Silver-Spring-MD-20902/37288431_zpid/

Oakland Terrace ES: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/Haywood-Dr-Silver-Spring-MD-20902/2078932170_zpid/

Forest Knolls ES: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/10308-Gilmoure-Dr-Silver-Spring-MD-20901/37312291_zpid/

I would add Stonegate. That neighborhood is somewhat close to what you were looking at before and has an excellent reputation as a neighborhood school. The houses will be bigger and more affordable the the homes in Woodlin or the bethesda schools

[Anonymous]

My kids go to Viers Mill Elem, which is somewhat close to Weller Road, but has none of the issues PPs have mentioned. We love it. It is moving to Title I next year, so the class sizes will be very small. The teachers are awesome and many of them come to PTA meetings (well, back when we had face to face PTA meetings!) They did a car parade early on in the shutdown, before I had heard about other schools doing them, and then they did another one for the last day of school. The PE and art teachers especially are awesome! My understanding is that with Title I, there is now a teacher dedicated to providing enrichment to above grade level students in the younger grades. There are a lot of extra events like Art Night, International Night, Author Night, STEM Night, Halloween party, etc. Hispanic is the largest group, but there are Black, White, Asian, and multiple race students in decent numbers. There are many MC Black families, so your DS would not be unusual or stand out in his class. The Randolph Hills community is lovely, with mostly families and empty nesters. There is a nice community spirit and the Rockville Civic Association put on outdoor community events (pre-COVID) frequently. We moved here expecting this to be our starter home, but we really don't want to leave, even though we've outgrown the house. I know you said it's just for a year, but Viers Mill 5th graders can choose from 3 different middle schools, and many of the 5th graders I know were admitted to the magnets at Takoma Park or Eastern, so I think that speaks well about the instruction quality at Viers Mill.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/02772.pdf

Here are some rentals that are in your budget and meet your criteria:
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/11227-Troy-Rd-Rockville-MD-20852/37093211_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/11501-Monongahela-Dr-Rockville-MD-20852/37093249_zpid/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are moving from CA where it is relatively easy to get your child into a school in a different neighborhood. I don’t love what I have read about our assigned school and want to look into other options. Is there a such thing as getting him into the school near my job, for transportation reasons? Thank you!

Yes, you can do this.

No, that is not generally a good enough reason for a COSA.

OP, where is your job? What school would you hope to get him into based on that criteria? It may be somewhat easier for some schools than others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are moving from CA where it is relatively easy to get your child into a school in a different neighborhood. I don’t love what I have read about our assigned school and want to look into other options. Is there a such thing as getting him into the school near my job, for transportation reasons? Thank you!

Yes, you can do this.

No, that is not generally a good enough reason for a COSA.

OP, where is your job? What school would you hope to get him into based on that criteria? It may be somewhat easier for some schools than others.

My job is in rock creek park. I mentioned transportation because in my district one can literally say, “ I’d rather my child attend school closer to my job” and they allow it more often than not. Clearly isn’t the case in MCPS

[Anonymous]

We intended to send our children to private school all the way through, but because of various reasons, switched our eldest son to the local public school in 4th grade (also happened to be title 1 and Spanish immersion with a few monolingual classes at the time). Honestly, as warm and caring as the school and teachers were, my son came home feeling like the kids were talking about him at the playground and complained that school staff would speak to him in Spanish and he didn’t understand what they was saying. I think many kids would just brush these things aside, but for this child, it was not a good fit. We did end up moving to another part of the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We intended to send our children to private school all the way through, but because of various reasons, switched our eldest son to the local public school in 4th grade (also happened to be title 1 and Spanish immersion with a few monolingual classes at the time). Honestly, as warm and caring as the school and teachers were, my son came home feeling like the kids were talking about him at the playground and complained that school staff would speak to him in Spanish and he didn’t understand what they was saying. I think many kids would just brush these things aside, but for this child, it was not a good fit. We did end up moving to another part of the county.

If it was an immersion school, the staff were speaking to him in Spanish so he could learn it. It was on purpose, not the consequence of attending school with poor Latino children.

[Anonymous]

OP- not too far from Weller Rd is a community that feeds into Rock Creek Valley Elementary School/Wood MS/Rockville HS. This school cluster is more diverse. And you will love Rock Creek Valley. It is such a great community with an active PTA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here- we have not signed the lease, thankfully. It looks like someone did a very nice remodel on the house we were looking to rent so it made it very appealing. Large yard for our two dogs, garage, etc. But with the comments on this thread, we’ll probably be looking elsewhere.

You may want to try an experiment, OP. Find a school where the majority of kids look like your son. Ask this board what people think of the school. Then ask yourself if this is really the best echo chamber to ask about schools that are majority kids of color.

My child IS a POC. I would love him to go to a school of all backgrounds. Just don’t want him to be one of few in the entire school who speaks English. I am from San Diego, I know how it is at schools with majority ESL kids, and my son would not fit in that’s a guarantee. Talk about a shock as a fourth grader who is an only child moving to a place he knows no one, then putting him in a school where he would be hard pressed to find other kids speaking English at recess.

OP, in Montgomery County, most elementary-school-aged children of immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries speak English. (Just like my child-of-immigrants grandfather spoke English.) In fact, most were born in the US.

DCUM is a terrible place to ask for advice about majority Black/immigrant schools. The teacher's response was good. Everybody else's should be thrown out - including mine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here- we have not signed the lease, thankfully. It looks like someone did a very nice remodel on the house we were looking to rent so it made it very appealing. Large yard for our two dogs, garage, etc. But with the comments on this thread, we’ll probably be looking elsewhere.

You may want to try an experiment, OP. Find a school where the majority of kids look like your son. Ask this board what people think of the school. Then ask yourself if this is really the best echo chamber to ask about schools that are majority kids of color.

My child IS a POC. I would love him to go to a school of all backgrounds. Just don’t want him to be one of few in the entire school who speaks English. I am from San Diego, I know how it is at schools with majority ESL kids, and my son would not fit in that’s a guarantee. Talk about a shock as a fourth grader who is an only child moving to a place he knows no one, then putting him in a school where he would be hard pressed to find other kids speaking English at recess.

OP, in Montgomery County, most elementary-school-aged children of immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries speak English. (Just like my child-of-immigrants grandfather spoke English.) In fact, most were born in the US.

DCUM is a terrible place to ask for advice about majority Black/immigrant schools. The teacher's response was good. Everybody else's should be thrown out - including mine.

+1 Some of the PPs have good suggestions for diverse schools, but the folks telling you to focus on "W clusters" are telling you to focus on schools where no more than 10% (AT MOST) of the kids will look like your son.

There is one person on this thread with experience with Weller Road, and a bunch of anecdotes about schools that aren't Weller Road and may not even be MCPS (the person claiming to have joined a full immersion program in 4th is probably not in MCPS, for example).