Tell me about Woodacres and Sommerset Elementary Schools
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Anonymous
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hi Parents,
Considering a move from a top NW DC ES district; into one of these two. Kid is currently First Grade. Just curious: how do you like the schools, teachers, enrichment, aftercare? How does your kid like the school and classmates? How do you find the other kids and parents? Are parents friendly and down to earth, easy to make friends with, or not? Also, in case any of you has kids in middle or high school in these school zones, please give me your feedback. Just curious, that's all. Thanks. |
Anonymous
| Somerset has been disappointing. Principal is not a strong leader, doesn't show much passion for kids, education, the school. It's hard to say exactly what's missing beyond that, it just doesn't seem like a place that inspires a lot of joy, curiosity, etc. (Although of course some individual teachers are amazing.) Parent involvement seems to be discouraged. I recently toured another MCPS e.s. and was struck by how much more vital and nurturing it seemed. Maybe Westbrook would be better? (That's not the school I toured but I've heard good things.) |
Anonymous
My kids are at Somerset too. I agree the principal is not stellar, but I've been very happy with the teachers my kids have had, the resources provided, and the PTA has a lot of good programs that push in resources to the kids. I have friends at Westbrook and think it's pretty similar. It's a smaller school, but depending on how enrollment turns out, you could end up having 3 huge classes in 1 grade or 4 small ones (which is an MCPS issue). |
Anonymous
| If you like your current DCPS, I don’t know why you would move to MCPS - I think MCPS is stronger for middle and high school, but the upper NW DCPS are better for ES, especially Mann where the parents each pay $1,500 to hire extra aides and have much lower ratios. This is not allowed to happen one MCPS, where you will therefore find much worse ratios. |
Anonymous
We moved to McPS from DCPS and feel we made a good decision. My kid has had far smaller classes in his time at Somerset than my friend’s kids at Janney where classes approach 28. Mann might be a different case. And while it’s true that there are no FT aides in McPS, they have reading resource teachers and other special services daily. Plus if your kid is well above grade level, there are enriched curricular material that the teachers use, from kindergarten on. |
Anonymous
| OP here - thanks. We are at Mann which is great of course. Kid loves it. Might move due to real estate purchase and also want kid to go to Middle/High school in MD. So, just doing some research. While Mann is great, I have difficulty connecting with many of the parents. Maybe I am the problem, I don't feel that I have much in common with most parents. |
Anonymous
| We’re zoned woodacres. Not in the elementary school yet but we specifically chose this neighborhood because we like pyle/Whitman better than BCC. I actually have heard woodacres is a HUGE elementary school and probably a little easier to feel lost. |
Anonymous
PP you are responding to - we also moved from DCPS to MCPS, and I have to say that my experience at an upper NW elementary (not a JKLMM) was at least as good as our MCPS experience (not a Somerset or Woodacres). I think the experience at Mann would be vastly better. My child does receive enrichment, and does get the benefit of the smaller reading class sizes, but the teachers aren’t nearly as accessible in MCPS, the ratios worse, and the principal at our school is terrible and not going anywhere. I found DCPS to be a lot more responsive and genuinely interested in parental involvement. This could very well be an issue with our specific MCPS, as I only have experience with the one. I’m glad we moved because I love our new neighborhood, and I think the middle and high school tracks are much better here, but if I were OP, I’d stick with Mann through 5th and then move to MCPS for 6th on, at least if schools were the only consideration. |
Anonymous
Hardy is about 1/3 the size of Pyle. |
Anonymous
| OP here- thank PP, yes, that's what I have been thinking. To stick with Mann and move for Middle / High either to Pyle/WW or Westland/ BCC or even further out in 20817 zipcode. I just feel a bit lonely and wish I would find it easier to connect with parents at Mann. Also, I was told to move kid to MD school by 3rd or 4th grade, so they know some kids in Middle School. Not sure that's a good idea though. Maybe just moving to start Middle School would be better? |
Anonymous
OP here - thanks, but I am not thinking in terms of Hardy/ Wilson. |
Anonymous
Yah not considering hardy |
Anonymous
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Westland MS (just split in half with new MCPS Ms) is now half the size as huge pyle (500 kids per grade!!!).
I would move for 9-12 if DCPS Hs not cutting it. DCPS has trended up and up the last 10 years and MCPS is too big and has too many demographic issues to trend up. |
Anonymous
| True, the liberals on the MCPS might push to institute bussing in order to mix bottom performers with top performers so doesn’t matter where you live. Your kid could have an hour commute in rush hour. |
Anonymous
Doubt that's going to happen. There would be a huge uproar. Right now, my kid walks to school in 6 minutes. |