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[quote=Anonymous]There are some good daycare options in the area, though we're talking DC-area daycare, so fairly expensive, and access wouldn't be better than from the other Four Corners neighborhoods.  The YMCA (daycare, yes, but also pool/athletics/etc.) is just across the Beltway off of Colesville Rd, but is not easily walkable.

Saint Bernadette's (Catholic church + K-8 school, if of interest) is there, as mentioned, and there is some associated community feel, but it is not completely ubiquitous. Pinecrest ES is in the middle of the Woodmoor neighborhood, as well.  For those hoping to lottery into a Center for Enriched Studies (basically MCPS's elementary GT program), Pinecrest hosts the one for the nearby catchments.  The facility also is in good condition.  Lottery-based language immersion elementary programs in French and Spanish are reasonably close; though French is closer, there is some uncertainty about it's continuing at its current location due to MCPS facilities planning.  An upcoming systemwide elementary boundary study has almost no chance of affecting Woodmoor, though other nearby neighborhoods might be affected.

Eastern MS, to which Woodmoor is zoned, and almost certainly will remain so in the current secondary boundary study, also hosts a criteria+lottery humanities magnet program.  Though not right in the neighborhood, it is right across the Beltway on University Blvd (again, not a great walking situation, but a quick bus ride/drive).  It is being scheduled for a rebuild, as the facility is not in good condition, and the years that would be under construction may or may not matter to you based on the ages of your children.  The criteria+lottery math/science magnet at Takoma Park MS is not too far away, and both Spanish and French immersion programs continue at nearby SSIMS, though that facility may close, with the programs moving to one of the two others mentioned or also-nearby Sligo MS.

There are a lot of moving parts as it relates to high school.  There is a large boundary study underway, and there is the remote possibility of Woodmoor being zoned away from Blair HS to Northwood HS.  The latter is a mile and a half down the road, and is finishing up a complete rebuild, but the former is directly across University Boulevard, is not ancient, and has an academic situation there that tends to be better for those seeking more advanced options.

Blair is the largest HS by enrollment in the state, and that, in combination with two magnet programs, tends to afford a variety of classes not always available elsewhere, though a shift to HS programming across the county is coming.  The current Down-County Consortium (DCC), which afforded [i]some[/i] general school choice among 5 area high schools is being replaced by more static HS assignments with more magnet seating (both criteria- and interest-driven, but not simply ranked choice enrollment) across a different set of schools, trading the DCC's Kennedy and Wheaton high schools for the new region's BCC & Whitman (but, again, only for the magnets to be hosted there).

MCPS has remained mute on the disposition of the aforementioned MS magnet programs as part of this whole secondary school plan.  Some change might be anticipated, there, though it may simply be replication of the humanities and math/science programs to more schools across the county, drawing from smaller regions and lessening the need for lotteries.

The small/somewhat quaint Woodmoor shopping center is slightly more approachable from Woodmoor than from the neighborhoods on the other side of Colesville.  Four Corners, as a whole, isn't that big, though -- it's just busy from a vehicular traffic standpoint, and Woodmoor is the most insulated from this, with little to no cut-through.  Access to the Beltway may be slightly better going east and slightly worse going west, though the net may be slightly on the positive side.  Return [i]from[/i] the Beltway is slightly better in each case.  The one car-centric negative vs. South Four Corners may be the reliance on Colesville Road to get to downtown Silver Spring -- S4C has Brunett crossing under the Beltway.  Lots with slightly better off-street parking in Woodmoor than some of the commercial-bordering blocks elsewhere in that area tend to mean that street parking for guests is not an issue, not that it is terribly difficult in much of the other Four Corners neighborhoods, at least currently...

The upzoning, etc., impact of the just-passed University Blvd corridor plan (against the sentiment of the majority of those living in the immediate vicinity -- Welcome to MoCo!), though touching Woodmoor, is likely to be more constrained, there, than in the neighborhoods across Colesville, too, though I'd educate myself about that and which blocks might be most affected.

The higher prices in Woodmoor tend to mean that rentals, and some rental-associated uses, are less prevalent than in South Four Corners -- Woodmoor is less economically diverse, though we are talking about MoCo & Silver Spring, so that is on a relative basis in one of the most diverse suburban places in the country.  The relative stability also sees a lower percentage of properties on the market, all kind of self-reinforcing.[/quote]

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