Planning a move to Wootton HS School District

[Anonymous]

Hi - I currently live upcounty (Clarksburg) and am toying with the idea of moving to the Wootton School district.

MY daughter will be a 9th grader next year and is waitlisted on Poolesville Magnet. She also got accepted in the APPS (Advanced Placement) Program in Clarksburg HS. I am wondering if she would be better served in my local school (she is high performing child here) vs. Wootton HS (perhaps she might be average performer possibly)

I was looking for advise on wootton ......is it academically very hard ? Is it a diverse environment (we are asian) ? Would my daughter adjust easily (entering 9th gr next yr) ?

Any other advise you can offer would be very useful.
Thanks

[Anonymous]

If she wants to go to Poolesville why not move to Poolesville?

[Anonymous]

DCUM hates Wootton so be ready for that. If your kid is academically driven, she will do fine at Wootton. Having a lot Asian kids, it’s a competitive environment which is not necessarily a bad thing.

[Anonymous]

OP, Clarksburg and Wootton are in the same school district. I am not just saying that to be pedantic. They're both high schools in MCPS. The academic offerings are basically the same.

Do you only want to move from Clarksburg to Potomac for Wootton HS, or are there other reasons for your move?

[Anonymous]

I don't think you can do wrong with the APPS program in Clarksburg, OP. Why are you considering the move? Wootton has a high number of Asians so yes, your daughter won't have an issue with feeling out of place there. Clarksburg also has a high number of Asians, by the way.

[Anonymous]

^ OP is probably looking for a school that her daughter can thrive without having to commute to PHS. Just a guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ OP is probably looking for a school that her daughter can thrive without having to commute to PHS. Just a guess.

Why can't OP's daughter thrive at Clarksburg HS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ OP is probably looking for a school that her daughter can thrive without having to commute to PHS. Just a guess.

Why can't OP's daughter thrive at Clarksburg HS?

Who knows but I’d say OP, as a parent, should do whatever she feels more comfortable with her daughter‘s education. You and I are not in a position to judge her wishes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ OP is probably looking for a school that her daughter can thrive without having to commute to PHS. Just a guess.

But OP stated her daughter got into the APPS program at Clarksburg which is practically a school for the high achieving kids within that HS. If it were me, I would see if daughter got into Poolesville magnet; if yes, great since Clarksburg is not far from Poolesville. If no, then stay at Clarksburg in the APPS program. To me it's not worth moving to attend Wootton when your kid is already in Clarksburg APPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ OP is probably looking for a school that her daughter can thrive without having to commute to PHS. Just a guess.

But OP stated her daughter got into the APPS program at Clarksburg which is practically a school for the high achieving kids within that HS. If it were me, I would see if daughter got into Poolesville magnet; if yes, great since Clarksburg is not far from Poolesville. If no, then stay at Clarksburg in the APPS program. To me it's not worth moving to attend Wootton when your kid is already in Clarksburg APPS.

No, it's not.

[Anonymous]

Yes there are other reasons for the move (commute etc) but my priority is doing right by the kids.

APPS is a great program however my problem is the environment that CHS has to offer...not very motivated kids and parents that just dont care and are not engaged.

WOOTTON - i believe would push her academically more than CHS perhaps - however, i dont want her to go to a pressure cooker type environment that drives her crazy. I want her to indulge in extra curreculars while not killing herself with HW etc. Thus all these questions.

Poolesville - also i am not sure about. Would involve an hour commute both ways. Plus i am not sure she knows as yet what she wants to do....so i dont want to push her into humanties or global without her being sold on the program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ OP is probably looking for a school that her daughter can thrive without having to commute to PHS. Just a guess.

But OP stated her daughter got into the APPS program at Clarksburg which is practically a school for the high achieving kids within that HS. If it were me, I would see if daughter got into Poolesville magnet; if yes, great since Clarksburg is not far from Poolesville. If no, then stay at Clarksburg in the APPS program. To me it's not worth moving to attend Wootton when your kid is already in Clarksburg APPS.

No, it's not.

Here we go.

Op, moving when you have two reasonably good options seem overkill to me. Clarksburgvis not too far from PHS, why not send her to PHS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes there are other reasons for the move (commute etc) but my priority is doing right by the kids.

APPS is a great program however my problem is the environment that CHS has to offer...not very motivated kids and parents that just dont care and are not engaged.

WOOTTON - i believe would push her academically more than CHS perhaps - however, i dont want her to go to a pressure cooker type environment that drives her crazy. I want her to indulge in extra curreculars while not killing herself with HW etc. Thus all these questions.

Poolesville - also i am not sure about. Would involve an hour commute both ways. Plus i am not sure she knows as yet what she wants to do....so i dont want to push her into humanties or global without her being sold on the program.

Why do you say that?

My kid is at Clarksburg HS. Some of the kids are very highly motivated. Some of the kids are not at all motivated. Most of the kids are somewhere in between. But there are certainly plenty of academically-motivated kids at Clarksburg HS for your kid to take classes and hang out with.

[Anonymous]

Do you have any first hand knowledge of Wootton? Or is it only what you have read here?

You need to visit the school, look at the housing market. Can you find a house (and win a bid) in the Wootton cluster? Is your current house ready for the spring market?

This is a decision that I would research the heck out of, and not crowd source.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes there are other reasons for the move (commute etc) but my priority is doing right by the kids.

APPS is a great program however my problem is the environment that CHS has to offer...not very motivated kids and parents that just dont care and are not engaged.

WOOTTON - i believe would push her academically more than CHS perhaps - however, i dont want her to go to a pressure cooker type environment that drives her crazy. I want her to indulge in extra curreculars while not killing herself with HW etc. Thus all these questions.

Poolesville - also i am not sure about. Would involve an hour commute both ways. Plus i am not sure she knows as yet what she wants to do....so i dont want to push her into humanties or global without her being sold on the program.

YEs, there are kids and parents like that (I would argue that this is the case in almost all schools); however I as a Clarksburg parent also knows of a ton of Clarksburg kids who are very motivated with super engaged parents. If your kid is bright and high-achieving there's a high likelihood that she'll stick to or be friends with similar kids. She's not going to have a difficult time finding her "own kind" here.