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Wood Acres opinions?
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linuxangel
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I am in charge of figuring out schools and home purchase in Bethesda. So far, I have seen 2 houses in Wood Acres that I like. I have a 3.5 year old and 1.5 year old.
I am told Wood Acres is a good school - any current parents have some opinions for me? All input much appreciated ! |
Anonymous
| way too big. Class sizes are upwards of 25 per class with one teacher. Next year they are getting more trailers and are expecting capacity to exceed building limits. |
Anonymous
|
OP here, any other elementry schools that seem better?
Are you a Woods Acre parent? Thanks for giving me your opinion. |
Anonymous
| Toured both Wood Acres and Westbrook. Loved the modernization of Wood Acres and some other amenities that Westbrook (closer to Westomoreland Circle) has. Planetarium, gym, etc. Wood Acres is big (close to 800 kids I think they are projecting for 2010) for K-5th. All schools are going to have the trailers. Westbrook is getting them too. Was not impressed with Westbrooks upkeep - peeling paint and chipped floor tile. Both have amazing PTA involvement. Both have open houses almost every Friday and tour many new families all the time. I would also look at Caderock. Twice I have heard great things. I think the education from all 3 is very much the same. I would recommend to any family looking to relocate check out the schools when you are making an offer. I wish we had and may head over to Wood Acres area. |
Anonymous
| PP - meant to say like the things about Wood Acres that Westbrook does not have. |
Anonymous
| The trailers are unfortunately a sign of the (high population) times in most elementary schools in Bethesda. Certainly not desirable but I wouldn't cross one school off your neighborhood list because of the trailers (called portables, in MCPS speak). |
Anonymous
| current woodacres parent here (kindergarten). definitely a big school. that said, that place runs like clockwork. the teachers can handle the big classes. there is a special ed teacher who floats among a couple of classes, but she seems like she's there a lot, and that helps too. my dd's teacher knows my dd -- she seems to really understand her. plus, i have to say, my dd has learned how to read well, and has learned addition, subtraction, and has started on multiplication. and she has learned it pretty seamlessly. i have my issues with the curriculum, but that's a mcps issue. the community is strong and the pta is super active. it's also much more diverse than i ever would have expected. overall, we've been pretty pleased despite the size. |
Anonymous
| I live near Wood Acres but my kids do not attend. Our neighbors all seem happy there. I have heard of struggles with teacher turnover this year in a certain class and some folks think it's chaotic, but that 's somewhat expected in a school so big. It does seem odd that they have so many trailers given that they have been very recently renovated. It seems like a nice community school and the parents are very involved. I liked the school well enough but it was just way too big for us. The feeder middle school scared since it is gigantic! |