Thoughts on Montgomery County vs VA schools

[Anonymous]

Hello,

My family is relocating from FL to the DC area. DH will be working in downtown DC. We are looking at living in Montgomery County (silver spring, rockville,gaithersburg) or in Arlington/Alexandria/Falls Church. I know this is pretty vague, but in general, is one area better than the other for public schools?

thanks!

[Anonymous]

Well, you're trying to compare MoCo to possibly 4 different school districts: Arlington County, Falls Church Public, Alexandria City and Fairfax County. Each district is a little unique in how they do things, so you can't make make generalizations. And MoCo itself is a huge area with very different areas.

[Anonymous]

Oops, meant to say different areas with very different characteristics.

[Anonymous]

There are so many threads on this already. Did you try a search? The answer to your question is not really (well except for Alexandria City). What it will come down to is if you have a preference for MD or VA living.

[Anonymous]

We moved here from Miami last year, so I know what OP is going through. As one PP mentioned, a search is very helpful--lots of threads on this topic. We are moving to VA (falls church city), btw.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, OP - all of those areas are fine with the one exception (maybe) of Alexandria City. I actually live in Old Town and LOVE it, and our area feeds into a great elementary school, but can't say that about some of the other areas of Old Town.

If I were you , I would decide where you want to live based on cost of living, neighborhood feel, taxes, commute, etc. and then - once you have a fairly good idea - figure out how the schools are there. Chances are, the schools will be fine (great even).

Can you spend a few days and just drive around those areas?

[Anonymous]

Silver Spring, while close in and appealing doesn't have very good schools. Rockville and Gaithersburg have better schools but they are completely awful locations. Strip mall Applebee paradise.

Arlington and FFX County are much better, but look at NORTH Arlington. Fairfax County has one of the best school systems in the entire country - they've always been a model. However, be advised that they're undergoing budget cuts and some of the special programs which set them apart are being cut.

[Anonymous]

... but don't forget, FFX County is also a completely awful location if you're working in downtown DC and it is full of strip malls and Applebees.

[Anonymous]

it is full of strip malls and Applebees.

Right. Because there are none of those in Maryland.

OP, all the systems are "good" but there are differences. In particular, if your child has and special needs, has an IEP/504 or is gifted, then I would most definitely pay attention to the nuances between the different systems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, OP - all of those areas are fine with the one exception (maybe) of Alexandria City. I actually live in Old Town and LOVE it, and our area feeds into a great elementary school, but can't say that about some of the other areas of Old Town.

If I were you , I would decide where you want to live based on cost of living, neighborhood feel, taxes, commute, etc. and then - once you have a fairly good idea - figure out how the schools are there. Chances are, the schools will be fine (great even).

Can you spend a few days and just drive around those areas?

This is very good advice. There is quite a spread on housing prices, commute time, and variation of public school even within the 6 communities you listed. I'd figure out how commute/housing price first and then look at those areas.

[Anonymous]

If you live in VA for five years (I believe) then your kid gets in-state tuition for VA schools. These have traditionally been considered somewhat better than UMD, although UMD is up-and-coming, especially in certain areas like poly sci and economics (lots of people with administration connections) and in the UMD honors program. Plus there have been some reports on how difficult it is to get into UVA from northern Virginia, where there are tons of qualified applicants (do a search of the Post for info on this).

[Anonymous]

Silver Spring, while close in and appealing doesn't have very good schools.

This is a misleading blanket statement. I live in Takoma Park and DC attends a close-in (inside the Beltway) SS school that is quite good. What the OP needs to realize is that Silver Spring is a big place comprised of multiple zip codes and neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

In state tuition requirements for VA:

http://www.schev.edu/Students/VAdomicile.asp

It's one year not five.

[Anonymous]

OP move to Arlington or Falls Church. We made the wrong choice and live in Montgomery County. We live in one the top rated public school districts and this is why we moved here. Unfortunately, we did not realize that Montgomery County takes a different approach to testing than VA. Montgomery County ranks high because ALL they do is drill the kids, starting in K, to prep for these tests. I have several neighbors who pulled their kids to go to private even though they like us completely planned on going to the public schools. I have friends and co-workers in Arlington and FallsChurch who do not have the same experience and love their schools. When the market gets better, we will seriously consider moving to VA and I wish we had done so originally.

On a different issue, the taxes are much better in VA than MD as well. I didn't care about this a few years ago because I wrongly thought the overall service in MD were better. Ugh.

[Anonymous]

OP, in my opinion there's a big difference between the state curriculua in VA versus MD. I prefer the one in VA because it seems to require more teaching of Social Studies and Science, and it covers topics more deeply, in the early elementary years than the curriculum in MD. MD seems heavily focused just on math and language arts, and I find their state tests annoying, with all the Brief Constructed Responses. I am a former VA teacher, living now in MD, but wishing my kids could be going to VA schools.