Bells Mill ES neighborhood

[sammoth]

Hi everyone!

We are looking for a house, and narrowed our search to Bells Mill ES zone, due to good school and fairly close proximity to my work at NIH.
I also like the fact that cabin johns MS is close by. We have 6 and 2 yo, and hoping to stay long term..

Just looking for more insider point of view of this area. Any future rezoning rumor, development, flooding, etc..Any particular streets to avoid?
I am being overly cautious but I dont like surprises.. if there is any complaints, or info that is not apparent on map or paper would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

[Anonymous]

I would be wary because BM feeds into CJMS. Half of CJMS goes to Wootton and half goes to Churchill. BM goes to Churchill. It means they would lose a lot of friends, but I guess everyone manages. It's a great school pyramid and the schools are basically new. Go for it!

[Anonymous]

There are million-message-long-threads on MCPS redistricting in the MCPS forum. MCPS is undertaking planning processes to redraw school boundaries everywhere. I'm guessing it wouldn't affect your elementary school (and even if it does, the close-by ones are all very good). But it could shift Bells Mill to go to, say WJ or Wootton instead of Churchill for high school. (All good schools, though, so maybe that won't be a problem for you.) In sum, if you are buying a house for the school district, go check out the MCPS forum on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Amazing school and neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are million-message-long-threads on MCPS redistricting in the MCPS forum. MCPS is undertaking planning processes to redraw school boundaries everywhere. I'm guessing it wouldn't affect your elementary school (and even if it does, the close-by ones are all very good). But it could shift Bells Mill to go to, say WJ or Wootton instead of Churchill for high school. (All good schools, though, so maybe that won't be a problem for you.) In sum, if you are buying a house for the school district, go check out the MCPS forum on DCUM.

Keeping in mind that "good schools" means "schools attended by a low percentage of kids from low-income families." It doesn't mean that the curriculum is better, or the teachers, or the administration, or the facilities. It just means that the standardized test scores are higher because most of the kids come from affluent families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are million-message-long-threads on MCPS redistricting in the MCPS forum. MCPS is undertaking planning processes to redraw school boundaries everywhere. I'm guessing it wouldn't affect your elementary school (and even if it does, the close-by ones are all very good). But it could shift Bells Mill to go to, say WJ or Wootton instead of Churchill for high school. (All good schools, though, so maybe that won't be a problem for you.) In sum, if you are buying a house for the school district, go check out the MCPS forum on DCUM.

Keeping in mind that "good schools" means "schools attended by a low percentage of kids from low-income families." It doesn't mean that the curriculum is better, or the teachers, or the administration, or the facilities. It just means that the standardized test scores are higher because most of the kids come from affluent families.

My kids are at BMES and the teachers are fantastic.